Shopping, Culture and CAMP ATTACK!
Shopping in London isn't the same when you're not manorexic. I spent Friday afternoon shopping at Topman [again!], River Island, Joy [forgot about that store], Debenhams and House of Fraser. I'm having trouble finding jeans, (dress) shirts and waistcoats to fit properly. Sandra, my personal trainer, clealy whipped me into shape. But do not fret, I got some great tees, a jacket, sunglasses purely for the purpose of strutting down Oxford Street, and lets not forget the 'trinkets' as the boys call them.
Later, I went to the Tate Modern [I love that place] to see the graffiti art that Angelo told me about. It was massive! There were various images that spanned the entire height of the gallery's exterior walls.
I didn't feel like spending 10 quid to get into the street art photography exhibit [I feet poor from shopping] so I checked out the regular collection. I saw Mondrian's Composition #3, which I love, a MASSIVE Lichtenstein of a war scene - very cool - two connected panels both about 10' x 10'. There was also an artist who was new to the gallery called Thomas Demand. He had 5 large photos in one room. They were exterior and interior shots of a building. I really liked them but I felt they had a strange artificial quality to them that I couldn't figure out. I read the text and it said that Demand reconstructed the locations of crime scenes out of cardboard - in this case a pub in Germany where a boy was kidnapped - then he painted the cardboard and photographed the resulting tableaux. It looked amazing and the colours were so vibrant.
Afterward, I went to meet Marissa at Baker Street for a picnic in Regents Park. But it rained a bit earlier and the grass was wet so we went to a nearby Nando's instead. Delicious.
After dinner, we had to race back to Marissa's flat to meet Steven Brown for predrinking. He arrived around 8 and the three of us got ready, drank, and so on. Steve changed a lot [in a good way]. He used to be painfully shy and we thought he was going to pass out at our Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner back in 2006. He's much more confident and outgiong now. Naturally, he has the same wicked style.
Sexy time.
The three of us headed Central around 11. We thought about taking 'travellers' since drinking is banned on the tube. We chickened out but we saw a guy drinking a beer out in the open anyway. WE were going to be subtle about it. We met up with Nik Patel. Nick and I partied together a lot in '06 and it was so surreal to be doing it again. He also played 'Roger' in his uni's production of RENT. He knows it's one of my fav musical.. probably my fav.. and he STILL refused to sing. So I cut him. Just kidding.
Soho - Dina was just asking me about it!
Finally, we were off to the Astoria for CAMP ATTACK - my fav party at my fav club in the world. It's 'camp' music from the 70s, 80s and 90s that you can scream along to... I mean sing to. It's an old theatre that's been converted [as I'm sure I've said in previous posts] so it's a huge and stunning venue. As we walked out to the balcony, 'Gloria' was playing. Gloria, GLORIA!!!! I laughed as it reminded me of the Mexican butter by the same name. No one else cared much. Where are you when I need you, Chris + Anna?
So the four of us danced the night away, left around 1 only to get some chips at the infamous Dionysis. The post-bar food became the mid-bar food. Weird. We thought it would be funny for the Brits to speak in North American accents while the North Americans spoke in British accents. I must admit, Steven + Nik have really improved!
We returned to the club to dance a while longer then called it an early night at 3:30. I was sad to leave, so I made plans with Nik and Steve for the following week.
Walking to the bus stop at Oxford Circus, a girl complimented my shirt - take THAT, Ronnie, John + Matte. I told Steven and Nik that you generally don't like my style and they questioned your collective tastes. It's a cultural thing.
The infamous TOPMAN @ Oxford Circus.
The night bus approaches.
As we sat in the upper deck of the night bus, these three drunk British guys were talking about how they had the best teeth on the bus. Naturally, Marissa and I started laughing and they noticed our smiles and changed their minds. Then the dude in the front seat threw up. Lovely.
Later, I went to the Tate Modern [I love that place] to see the graffiti art that Angelo told me about. It was massive! There were various images that spanned the entire height of the gallery's exterior walls.
I didn't feel like spending 10 quid to get into the street art photography exhibit [I feet poor from shopping] so I checked out the regular collection. I saw Mondrian's Composition #3, which I love, a MASSIVE Lichtenstein of a war scene - very cool - two connected panels both about 10' x 10'. There was also an artist who was new to the gallery called Thomas Demand. He had 5 large photos in one room. They were exterior and interior shots of a building. I really liked them but I felt they had a strange artificial quality to them that I couldn't figure out. I read the text and it said that Demand reconstructed the locations of crime scenes out of cardboard - in this case a pub in Germany where a boy was kidnapped - then he painted the cardboard and photographed the resulting tableaux. It looked amazing and the colours were so vibrant.
Afterward, I went to meet Marissa at Baker Street for a picnic in Regents Park. But it rained a bit earlier and the grass was wet so we went to a nearby Nando's instead. Delicious.
After dinner, we had to race back to Marissa's flat to meet Steven Brown for predrinking. He arrived around 8 and the three of us got ready, drank, and so on. Steve changed a lot [in a good way]. He used to be painfully shy and we thought he was going to pass out at our Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner back in 2006. He's much more confident and outgiong now. Naturally, he has the same wicked style.
Sexy time.
The three of us headed Central around 11. We thought about taking 'travellers' since drinking is banned on the tube. We chickened out but we saw a guy drinking a beer out in the open anyway. WE were going to be subtle about it. We met up with Nik Patel. Nick and I partied together a lot in '06 and it was so surreal to be doing it again. He also played 'Roger' in his uni's production of RENT. He knows it's one of my fav musical.. probably my fav.. and he STILL refused to sing. So I cut him. Just kidding.
Soho - Dina was just asking me about it!
Finally, we were off to the Astoria for CAMP ATTACK - my fav party at my fav club in the world. It's 'camp' music from the 70s, 80s and 90s that you can scream along to... I mean sing to. It's an old theatre that's been converted [as I'm sure I've said in previous posts] so it's a huge and stunning venue. As we walked out to the balcony, 'Gloria' was playing. Gloria, GLORIA!!!! I laughed as it reminded me of the Mexican butter by the same name. No one else cared much. Where are you when I need you, Chris + Anna?
So the four of us danced the night away, left around 1 only to get some chips at the infamous Dionysis. The post-bar food became the mid-bar food. Weird. We thought it would be funny for the Brits to speak in North American accents while the North Americans spoke in British accents. I must admit, Steven + Nik have really improved!
We returned to the club to dance a while longer then called it an early night at 3:30. I was sad to leave, so I made plans with Nik and Steve for the following week.
Walking to the bus stop at Oxford Circus, a girl complimented my shirt - take THAT, Ronnie, John + Matte. I told Steven and Nik that you generally don't like my style and they questioned your collective tastes. It's a cultural thing.
The infamous TOPMAN @ Oxford Circus.
The night bus approaches.
As we sat in the upper deck of the night bus, these three drunk British guys were talking about how they had the best teeth on the bus. Naturally, Marissa and I started laughing and they noticed our smiles and changed their minds. Then the dude in the front seat threw up. Lovely.
posted by Douglas J. Stiles, BA Hons, MES! at 6/09/2008 03:58:00 p.m.
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