Ah, New York


Seal & Heidi in SoHo
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

It’s been a non-stop whirlwind of catching up with folks since I got into New York on Friday night after a long flight (complete with lightning strike as we landed). Thankfully last night I finally got more than four hours sleep – such is the price of wanting to catch up with as many friends as possible over a weekend.

It’s great to be back, even if only for a visit. Everything is so familiar, yet at the same time many things have changed. 8th Ave has a cycle land and mid-ave parking. Williamsburg has more high rise towers. Some of our favourite places have closed – such as Palacinka in SoHo – others have expanded – like Kid Robot. What do we learn from this? That small plastic unnecessary but cute toys are recession proof, wonderful crepes are not. It also transpires that for the first time in my knowledge, it’s cheaper to buy DVDs and CDs in England! No wonder the Virgin megastores are closing.

Today has been my first day to myself as everyone’s back at work. So I’ve run some errands including getting replacement jeans at Uniqlo since the ones I’d brought had developed an embarrassing hole in travel. Any excuse to shop. On the way a pack of paps, big lenses blocking my southerly trajectory as they aimed across the street, alerted me to the random celeb sighting of Seal, Heidi and kids waiting to cross Broadway. All very exciting, but not as exciting as finding out that my favourite Uniqlo jeans are on sale. Huzah!

Ps, In case anyone’s around in town and reading this I’m planning some group drinks on Thursday night (16 April) down at Stanton Public (17 Stanton between Bowery and Chrystie) from around 8-9 on. I have a US cell for the week if you want to get in touch which I posted on my facebook wall otherwise just email me.

My very own 1972 New York subway map


Finally! My own 1972 New York subway map
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

It’s taken a while… but I finally have my very own 1972 Massimo Vignelli NYC Subway Map. Huzah! It’s not only a design classic, but a representation of a city I love from the year I was born. Ah, bless.

Thanks to Jem, map lover extraordinaire, for telling me about this map originally. Thanks to Anne for selling and packing them so carefully to make their journey to the U of K, arriving at roughly the same time as Obama. And thanks to eBay for constantly bugging me as the prices went from a ‘reasonable’ $50 right up to $300 in the middle of last year (ug! due to an updated surge of interest after a magazine reprinted an updated version for 2008).

Now it’s time to retire my eBay search… and to find a suitable frame. Maybe one made entirely out of old subway tokens perhaps?

A Night At the Book Slam


At the Book Slam
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Spent a fun evening over near Ladbroke Grove enjoying the latest Book Slam, a night of literary fun and frolics for all the family. As long as the family enjoys quality author readings, short plays and excellent live music interspersed with crap expensive drinks. too loud DJ interludes and be-lated cold Thai fold. Still, these downsides did not detract from an overall quality literary night.

The line-up was Nick Laird, reading from his novel ‘Glover’s Mistake’, followed by a selection of excellent short plays from Craig Taylor’s ‘One Million Tiny Plays about Britain’. Last, but not least, there was some soulful, beautiful acoustic “Mersey blues” from Delta Maid. Expect more photos and video soon(ish).

How to Invade – Space Stylee

These days city visits, and even my daily walk into work, have an added bonus – tracking down every Space Invader hidden alongside the ‘real’ tourist sights. Space Invaders, little (and sometimes big) mosaics stuck onto walls, are colourful distractions from the every day. They’re whimsical and always surprising, and now you can see how the Space Invader himself does an invasion.

"Do you see this?" – King Lear @ The Young Vic

We were fortunate enough to get tickets to see Pete Postlethwaite King Lear at The Young Vic before it, very deservedly, sold out. So last wednesday we all headed down nice and early to get our seats, as it’s open seating, and ended up three rows back in the centre with splendid views. Nice. The seats are also pretty comfortable, which was useful as the performance is just shy of four hours including its two, very short, intervals.

The lights come up on the members of King Lear’s court dressed in late 70s garb, with everyone gathered around as Lear splits his kingdom unfairly between his daughters, and from that moment on we were gripped. Postlethwaite sounded for a moment as if his voice was going, but that might have been affected for the role as later his voice sounded amazing. The stage is set up to look somewhat like an abandoned set of steps, with grass growing through (freshly sown each performance I’d imagine given the treatment it gets later), and in the background corrugated iron leading up to a rickety set of covered steps.

So much happens in this amazing play, from the length and epic scale of the play itself, through the amazing performances of Lear, Gloucester, Kent and Gloucesters sons Edmund and Edgar, amongst others, through to the staging itself – at times light and whimsical, at times bloody and gory, but always gripping. This is not a lightweight Shakespeare, it grabs the play by the lapels and shakes it into a worthy spectacle. Modern, yet timeless, owing much to cinema, but rooted in the theatre. That said it’s not one to bring young kids to, as some of the gore is mildly brutal and disturbing, as well as the more overt sexual themes in places.

This is a great play. Postlethwaite is brimming with emotional intensity, not least during Lear’s steady decline into madness. His loss at the end, fighting for sanity and gripping his dead daughter Cordelia between his legs as he himself dies is wrenching. A solemn contrast to some of the set pieces that went before. Stand out moments: Lear in a dress twirling his parasol having completed his descent to madness, Gloucester’s son Edgar avenging his father against his half-brother Edmund with an amazing ‘play fight’ with bright plastic swords that ends with brutal reality, Gloucester’s earlier torture scene – paying homage to Reservoir Dogs, the flight through the rainstorm – with real rain – and the birth of Lear’s grand-child, the late 70s/early 80s staging – subtle and pervasive alongside English flag painted faces in Lear’s retinue, the fool’s capering intensity and banter, and Lear’s rage as his plotting daughters abandon him. So much to enjoy, and enjoy it we did. Very much indeed.

Don’t Let the Door Hit Your Ass On The Way Out

We’re almost there. Under 12 hours till the grinning idiot who somehow stole the US Presidency eight years ago is gone. At 12 noon EST, 5pm in England, Barack Obama is sworn in as the US President. It’s an historic day, of that everyone is sure. Whether or not Obama can fulfil the hopes that are now pinned on him for a brighter American and global future is on all our minds, but the reality is whatever he does or doesn’t achieve he has created an iconic moment in American history. Never in my life can I remember a time when people around the world even considered watching the US inauguration. Is this as dramatic as a ‘moon’ landing? As monumentous as JFK’s assassination? Probably.

Whatever Obama achieves, Bush is going Soon. No more of that grinning idiot apparently totally unaware of the impact of this actions, of his lack of public talking ability, of his desire for more and longer holidays as the world he helped create went to pot. Even in his extensive exit interviews (on every American TV show that will have him barring The Daily Show) he seems to believe that history will vindicate him, I wonder if Nixon felt the same way? America deserved better than your obliviousness to the wake of damage your frat-boy actions caused, both for the lives lost and the damage to America’s reputation on the world stage. You’re an embarrassment.

So here’s to Obama, on his first day as US President. There’s a lot resting on his shoulders now, but maybe he’ll be able to hold that weight and carry out his responsibilities with dignity. We can but hope, history will tell the rest.

Goodbye 2008

Another year over, a new one almost begun… So as we all face the imminent prospect of extreme party pressure it’s time to reflect on the highs and lows of the last year – Matt Hobbs stylee:

First up, the lows. The economic situation is certainly a bit of a downer, especially as we chose to go job hunting right in the middle of it. Ah, if only my crystal ball had been working – must get some new batteries for it. Heath Ledger’s unexpected death just before the release of his epic performance as the Joker also sticks in my mind – especially being a fan of Terry Gilliam, whose latest film Ledger stars in (and still is – along with some replacements such as Johnny Depp). On a personal note we got screwed over royally by the spineless sh*t who sub-let our apartment – Sonny, who trashed the place then did a runner without paying rent. If anyone sees him on the streets of Montreal, give him a good, hard kick in the nuts from us. A big up to Graham for coming to our rescue, and good luck with your job hunt in the new year! On which note, leaving Montreal was certainly a low as we both miss the place and our friends terribly (and the snow) but London is fun, and more of that in a mo. Oh, and more recently there was the huge disappointment of David Tennant not performing in Hamlet, after we’d been excited about seeing this top rated performance for three months. Ah well.

Now for the good stuff – first up, the obvious one. Obama-mania! Yep, we got swept along with everyone else on that one. It’s great to see such a positive response to an American President getting voted in – not just because we’ll all be mightily glad to see the back of the current idiot (anyone see his exit interviews? a complete absense of the decency to admit any mistakes over these ridiculous eight years – hello? 9/11 failure of intelligence? Iraq lack of WMDs? Global failure of respect for your once proud nation? Trashed economy? Grow some balls Bush and take responsibility for your actions.). Obama certainly signals a new hope for a country that needs some positive spin, both at home and abroad. Fingers crossed he delivers at least 10% of what people are hoping for right now. The only real downside of this is that the classic news based comedy shows such as The Daily Show and Colbert Report will now be lacking their greatest source of material.. sorry, writers.

Earlier in the year, after the end of a wonderful trip to Mexico with the Johnson clan, we bade our sad goodbye to our New York apartment and shipped all my stuff up into Montreal for the last time (literally just fitting in the car). Shortly after that it was packed up again and shipped over to England where it arrived safely, other than one broken bowl. Yes, the big news of the year for us was migrating to England – back in those happy days before we knew of such things as ‘global economic crash’. We arrived happy, landing into a typically grey day at Heathrow and then heading over to our current abode in Southwark. Which brings us merrily to the other highlight of our year – Mr T. T’other Matt has been our guardian angel this year, helping us sort out a place to live, wheels and many more things – as well as being a generally lovely chap. Cheers, Tully!

So we had our first London summer together, and the first one for me in six years. Wandering along the South Bank. Amazing Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre (Timon of Athens & Midsummer Night’s Dream). Fun with the nephews at Latitude Festival. Catching up with family. All interspersed with the stress of job hunting, as the economy gradually started to tank. Ug. Thankfully things started to come together in autumn with jobs at globally respected magazines for Miette, and a contract that turned into a job for me as well. Huzah!

There have been many more things that happened, and memories to recount, but for those of you who don’t regularly – just read the rest of this blog for the year (simple, init). And now 2009 rapidly approaches, under 24 hours left to go. We’re positive about the next year, even with the increasing economic down-turn. Everyone will baton down the hatches, but the world will still turn – and most people needed a good kick up the arse to stop the orgy of over-consumption we currently live with day to day. Enough preaching, on with the partying! See you next year.

Arty Day

Since I’m happily on Christmas hols already, combined with last week’s random purchase of a Tate membership, I decided to head down to the Tate Modern today to check out the Rothko and Cildo Meireles exhibitions. Oh, and the apocalyptic future vision currently in the turbine hall. Good fun – but have to say the Rothko didn’t grab me, so no real change there. The Meireles work on the other hand was wonderful. Highly engaging conceptual art that you get to play with and enter – from rolling balls around, to fighting your way through suspended rulers to cracking underfoot glass – my favourite. Well worth a visit, but hurry – it ends January 11th.

In other random news – it sounds like David Tennant may be returning to Hamlet in the last week, no guarantees though. Of course this means there will be a flurry of activity waiting for returns, etc if it does happen and I’ll find myself wondering if it’s worth the, usually effective, returns queue wait. Somehow I think returns will be unlikely after all the furore thus far. Still, if he does return to tread the boards we may brave the line. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always Pete Posthlethwaite in King Lear at the Young Vic I guess.