London on Video

Here's some quick videos (courtesy of my new Flip camera) just to give a flavour of my day Thursday, a quite wonderful day. I had lunch with Adele and Mark from UnBound, then Adele and I made our way from Victoria toward Soho, stopping at a couple of pubs that looked interesting and saying hello to squirrels in St. James Park. We met up with some of the book bloggers that Adele knows who were gathering for a big signing at Forbidden Planet.

I headed off to see Four Lions, Chris Morris' new film at the Curzon which was followed by a Q&A with Morris, one of his co-writers and a couple of cast members. The film treads an uneasy line between comedy and terrorism with a good bit of success. There's a normalising influence from the comedy of the story, yet there's no shrinking from dealing with the lethal nature of the bombing plans. Because I was hanging out with Hamilton and Hind, who seem to know just about everybody, we also chatted with Morris after the Q&A. In contrast to his edgy image, he's a real sweetie.

Afterward we (H&H and friends) went to the pub (of course) and had the usual post-film discussions and wandering of to all kinds of topics that nights like this generally involve. After the pub closed, we headed to Leicester Square and a late coffee. A fun day, but also long, so Friday has had to be a work day (writing, writing). Hoping to catch a matinee on Saturday. More news as I live it :-)

Bike

What I'm doing in London:




I do feel a bit intimidated by riding in so much traffic, but it's certainly cheaper in the long run and sometimes, faster and more direct. And yes, good exercise. Yesterday cycled to the Tate Modern. Two new shows setting up, so a wander through the regular exhibits -- miss the Rothkos so much! -- and a pub lunch at the Founders Arms, Thameside. Never noticed before that their menu, which features the skyline along the river with buildings identified, points out that the BT Tower was destroyed by Twinkle 1972. :-D

Today lunch with Adele and then Q & A with Chris Morris after Four Lions. Yes, I am going to remember to take my new Flip camera along and take some video to post. No, not biking it today.