london

how was the preparations?

hope you are ok, much love and hugs and salutations and good wishes for an arty-farty fun filled nine days

It's Berwick Street in Soho. How to get to it of course is an entirely different matter and one which can lead to ending up in bizarre pubs.

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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/5763758761_262964c9c7_b.jpg

unreal city

movin there in october. where should i live?

http://s2.postimage.org/8h1gg0rt1/londonlive2.gif

i like all those places

Even the arse end of Harringay?

Nakh is that taken from the top of the Monument?

Centrepoint was my guess.

Yes you're closer I think - I was at the top of Centrepoint the other week and it looks right in relation to the Opera House, but maybe not high up enough to be the top floor.

was that the day when it was hot and cold and it hailed for a bit? there were some epic skies that day.

http://www.fyms.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/VLC001-580x542.jpg

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/9594/london3q.jpg

bit more difficult to guess where this was taken from...

Yes you're closer I think - I was at the top of Centrepoint the other week and it looks right in relation to the Opera House, but maybe not high up enough to be the top floor.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 1 June 2011 14:13 (7 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah i think so, i should have credited the ever interesting nicohogg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/5763758761/in/photostream

So, I guess I live here now.

It's good here. Explore, you'll have fun.

here 3 and a half years as of about 2 weeks ago. love it. always something new to discover and the familiar stuff is pretty great as it is!

I guess I live here now too! As of... an hour ago. When I decided that a tube ride then an overground ride would be the best way to get to Hackney from Euston I wasn't really thinking of the myriad escalators and stairs I'd have to be tugging my two suitcases over. As such for my first wee while in London I will be doing things that don't involve the use of my right arm.

Yeah, I got about a months worth of pushups yesterday.

haha that IS the best way to get to hackney from euston though

just think of it as an efficient way to travel and exercise at the same time

I've been burned by the 30 so many times but I keep coming back for more

welcome to you both!

Thanks.

And now the obligatory asking for book/recordstore recommendations! I remember recently seeing a feature on the 10 best record stores in London, but can't remember where it was. All I know offhand are Phonica, Rough Trade, and the Notting Hill Music Exchange (where I went today and, well, I am happy as a result.)

Bloomsbury is supposed to be bookstore central, no? I'm gonna be going there tomorrow, so if anyone wants to point me to good academic/art bookstores then my gratitude is to you.

here 3 and a half years as of about 2 weeks ago. love it. always something new to discover and the familiar stuff is pretty great as it is!

Awww. it's stuff like this that makes me think about moving back

lot of the second-hand places in Bloomsbury have closed down, EDB. There's still Skoob in the Brunswick Centre off Russell Square, which is slightly expensive for a 2nd hand bookshop but good for a browse, and I guess the London Review of Books bookshop, which is just expensive for any kind of shop.

There's the big UCL Waterstones on
Gower St which as you might expect has a reasonable remainder/2nd hand section.

For 2nd hand bookshops you might be better off heading to the tape and record exchange shops down in Notting Hill (same for music!). But there are others (xyzzz____ & woof to thread) who will have some good 2nd hand bookshop recommendations.

The charity Oxfam bookshops have a reputation for mendacity but can be worth popping in.

And welcome to London!

EDB record shops you may want to consider;

West - Other than Record Exchange there is Honest Jons (for UK bass/dstep ask them cos they keep stuff back)
North - Camden Record Exchange
East - Flashback & Haggle on Essex Road, Rough Trade East (Not great TBH, you've just missed a big sale where they got rid of stuff v cheap) and Spitalfields Record Fair which is bi-monthly on a Friday I think (it used to be good but getting worse).
Central - On and around Berwick St; Reckless, Record Exchange, SoundsoftheUniverse, Black Market (nr Phonica) and for older stuff - JBs & On The Beat on Hanaway St.
I don't go South fr Record Shopping except to Greeenwich Record Exchange but it's been a while.

For books I get all my academic texts from UCL Waterstones and Blackwells & Folyes on Charing Cross Road. Not sure about Art stuff there was a couple of good shops on Charing Cross Road after Cambridge, maybe Koenig Books is still there? There's also Magma nr there and Artwords in East London - my Art book shopping is for recreational only.

Koenig books is there yeah, and half a dozen second hand places on the same strip. Tate Modern shop has a pretty damn big book section, larger than Foyles even, perhaps.

EDB - where in London are you living? Generally speaking second-hand bookshops are better outside the centre of town, partly because the rents are less mental.

has anyone mentioned Judd Books yet? Judd Books, Marchmont Street. It's really pretty good.

all my best london bookshop experiences have been random 2nd hand places that i can't remember, though bear in mind when i actually know what i want i only ever consider ordering online as an option.

Welcome to London EDB! There is a pretty good second hand Art bookstore worth having a look at if you are visiting Tate Modern building, it's on Holland Street iirc, on the ground floor of a tall glass building.

there's a fantastic 2nd hand bookshop on blackstock rd, highbury - proper wonky shelves toppling over with a treasury of books.

X-Post - Think it is called Marcus Campbell art books.

the 2nd hand bookshop in flask walk in hampstead was always a wonderful place to go - not super good for contemporary 2nd hand but if you're into the minor lights of 1960s socialism it's a treasurehouse.

I can second Daniel’s recommendation for Rasa, went on one of my first dates with my now husband there and had about the highest praise I can give for a vegetarian place, ie “I didn’t even miss meat.” Seriously good place. That neck of the woods a little out of your way but if you go there, you can also visit some of the nearby Turkish places.

And yeah the dry lamb chops or w/e at Tayyabs are the best.

(Left sorry if it felt like correcting you, wasn’t trying to be a smartarse)

tayyabs lamb chops (which a table next to me said i wouldn’t be able to eat due to the volume of food i’d ordered: they were RONG) v Lahore Kebab House nargis kebab. filthy massive curry sauce spiced scotch eggs. order in advance.

A third vote for Diwana on Drummond St-- I love all the bhel poori bits and pieces! (vegetarian so not weighing in on the Tayyabs debate)

Diwana on Sunday means paneer thali!

I'm sorry Tim it looks pissier on the page than i felt! I just wanted to acknowledge the specific location for myself as much as anyone

No need to apologise.

I further clarification: gyac is right about tayyabs’s lamb chops, they’re great and justly famous. I’m on about a dish called dry meat, long slow stewed lamb (maybe mutton) and it’s outstanding

okay so Tayyab's is at the top of my list and Diwana is also up there too. In terms of like upscale Briths, I am thinking either St. John, Lyle's, or 40 Maltby St, though it looks like Lyle's is just an £89 prix-fixe so proooobably not that.

i'm sorry TAYYABS

also 100% going to Passyunk Ave. and no one can stop me

St John and Maltby Street are very different propositions, both brilliant. St John is the foundation stone of the re-emergence of taking offal and unusual meats (like hare or whatever) seriously, it's austere and scrubbed down, fairly strictly British (I think) and michelin starred. Maltby Street is primarily a natural wine bar that happens to have an excellent modern european food offer. Go to both IMO.

The William Kentridge show at the Royal Academy is incredibly brilliant by the way. When I went into the first room I thought WTF these are just boring charcoal drawings but it turns out to be a million times more than that, I've been once and I'm going again, at least once more.

oh this is good to know! Where does Lyle's fit into this? I see their lunch menu is cheaper, is that worth making time for as well?

If you visit the Kentridge, try to time it so you can see the puppet shows that are on at 20 past the hour every hour (I didn't but I will next time).

The Michael Craig Martin show at Alan Cristea also great, I laughed and laughed. Pop art takes on great works of art is in no sense a new idea but these really pop.

If you can catch "This Is Not Dying" by Nova Paul, a piece of video art showing at Phyllida Reid on Grape Street (a back street near the top of Shaftesbury Avenue, you will be seeing the best piece of video art I've seen in forever (The fourth para here does a decent job of desribing the technique: http://www.thirdtext.org/?location_id=637 ). The problem is it's on a two hour loop playing in the basement of the gallery so AFAICT it is not possible to tell whether you will see it when you arrive at the gallery. Perhaps the other stuff on the loop is just as good, I don't know.

Lyle's is somewhere between the two, less austere than either, more restauranty than Maltby St, a touch more modern european/less organ meaty than St John. (Not that St John will force feed you tripe or anything). I like Lyle's a lot, I'd say it has more in common with the kind of excellent restaurant I'd be unsurprised to find in Chicago than either of the others has.

When we have American visitors to is Kiln (on Brewer Street in Soho) which is Thai, specifically northern Thai and not really anything like the Thai cuisine I'm used to. It's consistently fantastic; no idea whether it's the kind of thing you could find in Philly, though physically the restaurant would be recognisable to hipsters across the globe, stripped down brick and dining sitting up at the bar. So great, don't miss the stir-friend greens and soy, which doesn't sound exciting but is unbelievable.

That is supposed to read "when we have American visitors I want to impress, a place I generally take them to is..."

nearly went to kiln yesterday. didn’t.

more exciting posting like that whenever you like.

Is Kiln worth visiting even if you have a let's say sensitive stomach?

Yes - the staff will help you swerve the things that are likely to be troublesome, for whatever reason.

another question: where is a great place to do Sunday roast, ideally like relatively straightforward and not too much of a fancy/expensive reinterpretation? Places Eater recommends sort of close to where we're staying incl Harwood Arms, Canton Arms, and Hawkswood, and then farther out are Quality Chop House, Marksman, and Blacklock?

i really don’t know that part of town at all

Harwood Arms is pretty expensive, even compared to places like The Marksman. All the options you mentioned are good, if you want a straightforward roast which doesn’t do anything fancy but does everything well then Blacklock is hard to beat.

Also if you were thinking of going to St John I would suggest either going to Bread and Wine, or (a better option) having dinner at Quality Wines and then going for rarebit, pud and booze at the bar at St John. If you’re in Kensington, Hereford Road is relatively close and does a great impression of St John without the hype.

I’ve never been there myself for Sunday lunch but I’ve heard from friends that Hawksmoor does a good and well priced one. Think the Borough one is probably nearest to you?

xp yes we booked Saturday lunch at St. John B&W, which from what I am reading is just as good as (if not better) than the OG location

Definitely better these days, good choice

Camberwell Arms does a nice weekend lunch

Hawksmoor has always been esolidly excellent when I've gone there, as a treat, which I haven't in years (parenthood). My partner swears by the Quality Chop House.

Hawksman it is! Also it's only 25gbp which seems really inexpensive for a huge meat roast????

interesting detail: the same company that built the Berlin #aquarium that just burst also did the Nine Elms sky pool everyone hates

— Alex Harrowell (@yorksranter) December 16, 2022

I’ve seen that Berlin aquarium! Fucked up.

lol stayed there a couple of months ago for a work conference. they had a robot drinks room service machine called jeeves which i wanted to test out but when we were drunk we hit a few of its buttons and it said “OUT OF SERVICE” for the rest of the stay.

on your side lil fella.

i googled the nine elms sky pool and it's like an outrageous parody of parasitic luxury development, i don't know whether to laugh or cry

it also looks absolutely terrifying.

it should be safely taken down with a controlled explosion, preferably when it's full of rich bastards!

assassination co-ordinates easily found on google!

i feel like a good movie abt the modern city deserted after the great eco-social catastrophe shd include a scene w/a sky pool all busted and forlorn and covered in toxic algae -- this is why i don't much mind "emblems of social inequality", social changes will change the meaning !!

SKY POOL SKULL PILES COLLAPSE
controversial ilxor calzino is in the news once more etc etc

there was a program on ch4 I think roughly roundabout about 2008, about what the world would look like post-humanity. Like how long before all the structural steel in skyscrapers starts oxidising and falling apart etc etc. It was bad not good with terrible cgi and corny nat geographic voiceover but I did enjoy it at the time.

was it this? with pete postlethwaite?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pft7f

no, I have seen that one as well. This one was purely about showing how long it takes buildings and infrastructure to turn into ruins. Even the Hoover Dam eventually fails and crumbles to pieces iirc

Life After People?

it might be, but there seems loads of episodes of that and I think this was a one-off. Or maybe it was condensed into one ep.

yeah I just checked + that was the one broadcast on ch4 at the time, it wasn't a one-off so perhaps one episode was enough.. lol

I think I saw the first episode and thought "So without humans around, everything falls into shit? Yay, we're awesome!!!" and then didn't watch any more episodes.

speaking of such matters, in the SF podcast ep that tracer and i did with ilxor 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek) a long age ago -- abt arthur c.clark's short story "the forgotten enemy" -- there is a line something like "on london's horizon something glittered in the mountains to the north", which reminds us that london's tall yet overlooked enemy has always in fact been primrose hill

less than 2 months until we're being kicked out by our landlord as he's selling. have put absurd amounts of energy into trying to find somewhere. no closer. if we haven't secured anything after the 3 viewings we have tomorrow it's close to panic stations. london rental market is unbelievably fucked and we're a childless dual-income couple in our 30s so it's yet more fucked for others. inching ever closer to team guillotine here lads

i thought this was meant to ease, not least because of all the people leaving because of brexit, followed by all the people leaving because they are now remote workers.

(my neighbour's rent was just put up by 17%)