‘Blaspheming Buses’

BLASPHEMING BUSES WILL BURN IN HELL, SAY CHRISTIANS – Daily Mash

Although I was aware of the poster campaign a few weeks ago, I found that the Daily Mash’s synopsis of the reaction to this news to be hillarious hehe!

<3 The Daily Mash!

But Stephen Green, director of Christian Voice, said: “Any bus which allows itself to be abused in this way will spend eternity in the company of Satan’s bus.

“They will burn alongside gay buses, buses that have had abortions and buses that knowingly took people to see Jerry Springer: the Opera.“

Slug and Lettuce : Autumn / Winter Menu

So, I’m very sure that the Slug and Lettuce / Bay Restaurants Group need no additional advertising from the likes of me, so I’ll try and keep this brief post opinionated and not too ’sell-y’ hehe! P

Greg and I went to our local Slug in Kingston on Wednesday evening for the free Autumn/Winter menu tasting that they were offering for the members of the general public whom had booked their place on it in advance.

I must say, I think that this is a cracking idea, when I used to work in pubs/restaurants, we didn’t tend to have these for the public, just for the staff. Opening this kind of event to the public really does help to create a healthy buzz about the new menu as well as make customers feel like they’ve had a part in the process too. Similarly, Slug’s new online table reservation system is also a fabulous idea – someone at Slug HQ must have their brain/common sense working overtime! D

My last experience at a Slug was the one in Albert Square in Manchester and was for Christmas dinner in 2006 – an experience I wouldn’t want to relive again. Being seated for Christmas dinner practically in the middle of a dance floor is never a good idea! Therefore, it was with a degree of trepidation that I went along to the Kingston restaurant this time.

Apart from the state of the gents loos, I found it to be a much better experience! The bar was nice, not too busy and had a nice restaurant area. Helpful staff serving us with the new menu items and seemed relatively knowledgeable and interested.

Greg and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and ended up leaving stuffed and unable to walk! We’d tasted that much, and all for free! The only ‘let-down’ (and I use the term lightly!) was that there were no free deserts on offer!

We both heartily recommend the new carbonara and the Steak and Mushroom pie – both ’simple’ dishes that I’d normally avoid when going out for food (after all, you go out for something fancy!); however I’d definitely make the exception for these dishes – simply delicious!!!!

I found it very odd however that the comment cards that they passed around were just the tiny bog-standard ones, I was expecting to be able to give a full opinion on each of the dishes, and I feel that they wasted the valuable opportunity to do so with customers feeling willing to provide feedback in return for a free meal!

I’d never really considered Slug as a viable place to eat before, however this exercise has demonstrated to me how wrong I was, and therefore I think that we give Slug consideration next time we’re hungry and in the vicinity! D

James Blunt : O2 Arena

I was offered tickets for the James Blunt concert on Tuesday 14th October 2008 recently, and was rather pleased to get them. Although I’m not a huge fan of the man himself, I do rather like some of his songs, and especially his use of the piano in his music.

Therefore, I cannot say that I was disappointed with his concert earlier this week; more relieved to find that I really enjoyed it after all!

However, the support act (Teddy Thompson) was terrible, his songs were repetitive, he had no idea of how to address to a crowd, was rather rude and ignorant, and to be honest, he bored me rigid. Greg however, thought the opposite to me it would seem. Grrr @ him P

By the time Blunt came on, I was ready for a bit of action to be perfectly frank, and, although the gig was a little slow in warming up, by the time that he jumped from the stage at the front and ran through the masses towards the sound desk at the rear of the arena so that he could surface on a piano in the middle of the audience, I was well and truely captivated!

I was rather pleased to find that my favourite James Blunt song (1973) was saved for the encore and I really liked the rendition of it that they ended with. I must apologise to all those sat around me in the suite as I was a little vocal in my ’singing’ hehe!

All in all, a grand evening and one which I really (and surprisingly!) enjoyed!

I figured that I’d wrap the post up by posting a few of my favourite James Blunt songs below…

(“1973″ – My fave!)

(“Carry You Home”)

[http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y7WDWP8WMs]

(“You’re Beautiful”)

(“Goodbye My Lover”)

Thanks for reading! x

Banksy hits New York

Just came across this article posted on BBC News and was pleased to see that they included a video clip of the exhibition too.   (BBC NEWS article)

Little unsure of how Banksy would hold a major exhibition without being seen by anyone… but I guess that’s all part of the charm of his work and the artist himself.

Cracking exhibition which I really enjoyed watching the video for.

Below is the article from The Independant which goes into a bit more detail and explains a little more of the thought behind it – again, a really enjoyable read – and comes complete with pictures!

Banksy becomes a pet shop boy in New York

Artist’s 7th Avenue ’shop’ installation has customers and art world surprised

For days, New Yorkers had walked past workmen installing a pet shop. Spotting what appeared to be a leopard and monkey through the window on 7th Avenue, a few had even marched in to complain about the small space in which the wild animals were confined. But yesterday, The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill was revealed to be the latest work by the street artist Banksy, complete with convincingly real “animatronic” creatures that moved around the store to beguile onlookers.

The pet shop is open for business every day until midnight until 31 October and although people cannot buy its contents, they can walk in and view the “exhibition”, Banksy’s first in New York.

Artworks inside include two fish fingers floating in a fish bowl, robotic rabbits wearing pearl necklaces, a couple of chicken nuggets which appear to be sipping ketchup, hot dogs writhing underneath heat lamps and a CCTV camera nurturing its young. A middle-aged man in overalls, employed by Banksy, dragged an “Open for Business” sign on to the pavement yesterday to mark its opening.

The street artist from Bristol offered a written explanation for the installation. He said: “New Yorkers don’t care about art, they care about pets. So I’m exhibiting them instead.”

He added that there was a serious, philosophical aspect to the work, saying: “I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing.”

For fans of his work, the sudden emergence of the guerrilla artwork was a characteristic move. There was no opening party, no guest-list and no complimentary drinks. The shop had taken him four weeks to refit a store that had sold trinkets. Before it was outed as an artwork by The New York Times, it had attracted genuine customers last weekend, who were sent away by workmen who claimed the shop was not quite ready for business.

It is the latest in a string of cultural hijackings that have seen Banksy travel the world installing fake museum exhibits, and statues. What appeared to be most extraordinary for New Yorkers yesterday was that the pet shop appeared to be a fully functioning retail outlet that boasted a menagerie of lifelike models of exotic creatures and several endangered species of wild birds.

There had been hints that Banksy was in town, days before the pet shop appeared, with a series of giant rat paintings appearing across lower Manhattan during the past seven days.

Banksy defended the pet show exhibition even though it contained no graffiti by saying: “If it’s art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art.”

The exhibition is clearly visible day and night through the large shop frontage and has caused scenes of congestion and concern amongst local residents. Banksy said: “There have been complaints from people who are unhappy about being on their way to work and seeing two hot dogs performing a sex act. But it’s no more unnatural than the process behind making a sausage in the first place.”

U.S. debt clock runs out of digits

BBC NEWS | Business | US debt clock runs out of digits

I must say, I saw this on the BBC News website this morning, and it did make me chortle some what.

Even in the current financial crisis, there’s still a glimmer of humour to be had.

It feels rather surreal however to be giggling at the idea of the USA taking on much more debt than was ever envisaged… especially when one wonders which countries/institutions can afford to be lending the US Government $11 trillion as debts. Surely they’ll never realistically see it back?!

Silence

Just to let regular readers know that I am ok and have not been posting recently due to moving house and the issues associated with that (namely no internet at home yet – grrr @ BT!)

I’ll try to periodically update from my work machine as/when/if I get chance )