Product review: ORIGINAL WAYFARER SHADES (Rayban)

Now that the sun is shining in Britain, it's important to shield one's eyes from the scorching sun, whilst also looking the part. I have several pairs of sunglasses, but, due to my fixation with Nabokov's Lolita, they predominantly tend to be heart-shaped. I've seen characters in films ooze swag in Ray-ban sunglasses before, most memorably Emma Stone in Easy A when she struts down the hall wearing wayfarers and a basque and everyone gawps at her. 

Bar review: McQUEEN (Old Street)

Named after an actor who is generally perceived to be one of the coolest screen presences of all time, McQueen the bar is somewhat of a misnomer. It strives to be stylish, alright, but isn’t swagger something you just effortlessly have? It’s not really je ne sais quoi if you’re trying desperately to procure the quoi in question.

I went to McQueen last night on an "Asians in London" meet-up, and the entire ground floor was rented out to us, which was a nice gesture of hospitality. I thought such a busy event was a little under-staffed, considering Asians and non-Asians came pouring in in their droves, and at one point, I asked if I could have a drink to a boy at the til and he told me ‘I don’t serve’. Why do you stand behind the bar then mate?

I wasn’t completely sold on the décor, which consisted of lots of weird and wacky statues and ornaments, but the individual pieces didn’t fit with each other to give a cohesive image of the bar, and certainly not very Steve McQueenish. This wall hanging below is a bit creepy, truth be told:

I also wasn’t too impressed with the close positioning of the sofas at the centre of the room, which meant that it was practically impossible not to bump into someone if you wanted to head towards the bar.

My Litmus test for whether or not I consider a London bar overpriced or not is the price of that first round (assuming the round is for two people). If it falls below £10, then I’m a fan. Hence why I adore so many Wetherspoons so. 

If that first round exceeds £10, that’s not the end of the world, but the bar has to have a certain élan to atone for their above-median prices of drinks. And that isn’t an excessively taxing imposition; I’ve had excellent impressions of several bars in London that charge a pretty penny for their drinks, ranging from The Escapologist to Reverend JW Simpson, because their cocktails were just on point.

After all, I don’t mind paying over the odds if the ambience and quality of service matches the price. McQueen sadly didn’t have that; the atmosphere was fairly stale and consisted purely of the  noise from conversations of the people at the event. Would it have killed the managers to play some pop music?

For the next round, I ordered a soft drink in order to save some money. But a lime cordial was shockingly priced at £2.50 (it's 40p in a lot of London pubs!)

In terms of riding on the laurels of its Shoreditch location and not delivering on the rest, it’s definitely not the most guilty (that would be, hands down, Worship Street Whistling Shop, one of the worst bars in London). But McQueen was nothing earth-shattering, and certainly nothing the man it was named after would hurry to write home about.

Grade: C

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The rest of my bar reviews are all listed here. If you would like me to review your's, e-mail me at lemon_and_lime7@hotmail.com.

Concert review: KATY B (O2 Academy, Bristol)

22-year-old South London girl Katy B took to the 02 Academy in front of a very young, very trendy crowd for her On a Mission tour. And, from the moment she took to the stage in a pretty sparkly top, her firey red hair cascading down her back in electrifying style, we all knew we were in for a treat. Starting with a fan favourite Broken Record, Katy B was firmly in command of the audience throughout. 

The two female back-up vocalists and band accompanying her were all highly competent, without being so loud so that they stole the thunder from the main attraction.

Katy B was chatty and lively throughout, often engaging with the crowd to check that we were getting into it (rest assured, we were), and her accompanying MC was equally spirited. Her performance of Louder had everyone in the arena jumping up and down. Vocally, Katy B has a very powerful recording voice, as demonstrated on her effortlessly reaching the high notes on Power On Me. Her unusual style of half-rapping, half-singing some of her songs were exhibited at their best in Disappear, when she delivered the line “but how can I change direction / when you smile at me I’m infected”.

Her renditions of her crowd-pleasers Easy Please Me and Lights On, the latter which was done as the encore, also didn’t disappoint, and the headline song, Katy On a Mission, was fantastic with excellent production value.

Katy B has a great talent for writing about the mundane and the amusing and making poetry of it, as exhibited from the opening line of Easy Please Me – “standing at the bar with my mate Olivia, we were trying our best to catch up”. Choosing to tell us the rationale for writing some of her songs as an introduction into them also helped to keep the audience entertained. 

For me, however, the best Katy B’s performance of the night was of Witches Brew, wherein her back-up singers sang the sultry “oohs” perfectly to complement her on lead vocals, and the lighting crew also did a great job to help re-create the eerie Twighlightish vibe that was emulated in her music video.

All in all, it was a great 80 minutes spent with a young woman who quite clearly loved music, and loved performing. The audience loved it, she loved it – everyone had an ace time. 

Mission accomplished, Katy!

For more of my concert reviews, click here.

BAFTA Rising Star Nominees!

The list:

Gemma Arterton
Andrew Garfield
Tom Hardy
Aaron Johnson
Emma Stone

source

Haha, I remember whining two years ago of Gemma not being nominated. Well, now's her time! But although I love her, I don't think she should win this year; I just don't think she's a rising star so much as a star who's already risen. (two years ago, easily. She was in a handful of movies and starred in BBC's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which to this day is my fave performance of her's). 

Emma Stone carried Easy A and Tom Hardy almost made the trash that was Inception worth watching with his cheekiness. But my favourite of the nominees is Andrew Garfield, or as I still think of him, "him off Sugar Rush". Go, Andy!

There's your swagger.

Requiem for a Dream meets My Neighbour Totoro.

My friend introduced me to this genius video and I had to share... basically, it's taken clips from My Neighbour Totoro and set it to the music of "Requiem for a Tower" (which, for those who haven't seen RFAD may recognise as the music they played in Britain's Got Talent whilst a contestant was delivering a sob story), and the music is used to dramatic effect to tell a completely different story using the images. Amazing.