Wimbledon at Last

Patrick Entertainment, London To Do, Sport, UK Life

It’s only taken almost five years to finally turn up to Britain’s well known tennis championship, Wimbledon. I applied for the annual lottery – something all residents in the UK can do to buy tickets without lining up, and although I didn’t get any tickets, my sister managed to get some. So off, we went to Wimbledon on a bright sunny, perfectly summery day.

The court grounds were heaving, although perfectly civil. I’m glad we didn’t really have to queue very long to get in, and with allocated tickets for Court 2, didn’t have to line up for a seat for any of the outdoor courts as well.

On our court, the biggest player match was probably Sharipova who literally towered over her opponent and easily won out her match. It was amazing to see the speed of her serves live. Most men seemed to hit at last 120mph-130mph, which Sharipova came close to, averaging 110mph. Compared to many of the other women players who did less than 100mph, she was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Here’s a picture of her victory over her opponent:

The other big news of the day was the visiting of the Queen. Unfortunately we didn’t get to share Court 1 with her, but managed to see her walking around the grounds (accompanied and blocked off my plenty of security guards). I’m glad that I brought my new zoom as I was nowhere near her for the photo below:

Even if you don’t get a ticket to any of the court games, it’s definitely worth going and indulging in the whole atmosphere. It’s fun and with so many people enjoying themselves, you’ll find it hard not to do so yourself.

Henry Moore at the Tate Britain

Patrick Entertainment, UK Life

We’re really spoilt here in London when it comes to museums and art galleries. Not only do we have some of the finest and interesting collections, but many of them are free to the public for viewing as well. One of the museums I haven’t been to until quite recently was the Tate Britain, although I’ve run past it many times during my jogging route around the Thames. Located much further away from many of the other museums, it felt like this one was visited by those who really wanted to go.

One of their current exhibitions is the Henry Moore exhibit, an English sculptor and artist. Although this was one of their paid for exhibits, we managed to score some free tickets. The exhibit takes you through all of Moore’s work, including many of his drawings and massive sculptures.

I liked a lot of his work, although I did find the repeated theme of disfigured, or stretched body shapes, particularly focused around the mother and son theme slightly disturbing given the number of times it appeared.

I think I’d need to be a fan to have paid for the tickets, but it’s a great display and well laid out exhibit.

Japandroids at the Relentless Garage

Patrick Entertainment, Music, UK Life

I’d read about the Japandroids a while back and since then have been listening to their music for a while and was pretty excited to hear about them coming to London. Their music is edgy, part punk, part rock and absolutely full of energy. Every review that I’d read about these Vancouverites definitely spoke of the great show they put on.

It was last Thursday I went to go see them perform at Islington’s Relentless Garage was a great place for them as well, with a forgettable support act and a pretty happy crowd buzzing around them. What impressed me so much about them was the fact that they put on an amazing sound considering there was just the two of them. They had a laugh, obviously enjoyed performing and the music simply flowed from their. They played all the tracks from their first released album and a number of songs from a number of their earlier EPs.

Brisbane Music Scene

Patrick Brisvegas, Music, Travel

I used to have a weekly ritual when I worked in Brisbane, dropping into Rockinghorse Records (which I’m happy to report is still operating), and picking up the the free music magazines to find out what was going on in the music scene. The magazines were a great way to get insights into new bands and music as well as providing all the listings for the live music events coming up.

As you can see, all of the magazines seem to be doing really well and prospering and they made for some really good reads in the countless cafes dotting Brisbane.

Kick Ass

Patrick Movies, UK Life

Over this Easter holiday period, I ventured down to Brixton (I’ve forgotten what it looks like during the day) to the very nice Ritzy cinema. Tickets are a bargain at this place charging only £7 for a ticket, and you can even pre-book allocated seats. Just like band venues like the Brixton Academy, and The Forum, the Ritzy still has it’s traditional theatrical decorations, making it a much more enjoyable experience watching the movie in such a great atmosphere. Anyway, back to the movie…

I had little expectations about this movie, other than what someone told me over a birthday bash at the start of the Easter break – be warned… it’s violent! Indeed. However, it’s almost violent in a black comedy sort of way. The story is simple, following the life of a high school kid who dares to dress up as a super hero without the lack of special powers. His act triggers a set of consequences that makes for a very laughable story. I’m amazed at hearing (post-movie) that this film was made with British money as well, apparently turned down by Hollywood – it certainly felt a lot more like an American movie than anything else. What an amazing production.

This movie won’t win any acting awards, but it’s a fun movie that has lots of laughs, enough squeamish parts and plenty of action. Great for the bank holiday weekend.

Spoon at the Electric Ballroom

Patrick Entertainment, Music, UK Life

Tuesday proved to be a very wet evening but that didn’t stop me from heading out to Camden’s Electric Ballroom to watch American Indie band, Spoon. They’ve got plenty of albums and although they never really hit the mainstream, they certainly had enough fans to fill out the Electric Ballroom. When listening to some of their albums, I recognised a few of their songs, although by far probably the most popular is, The Way We Get By off their Kill The Moonlight album.

They were supported by New York band, White Rabbits who also put on a really amazing set. I noticed that they had their own gig at the ICA next week, so I’d definitely recommend checking them out if you happen to be free.

Spoon were here promoting their new album, Transference, which definitely takes a much more experimental take on their style of music, full of songs lacking choruses. Still pretty decent performance. A great night out and a perfect way to beat the poor weather.

Up in the Air

Patrick Movies, Travel, UK Life

Over the weekend, I managed to see the movie, Up in the Air. I remember this getting some really positive comments at the BFI Film Festival last year, and thought some of it would be quite appropriate, doing a lot of travelling as a consultant. It stars George Clooney, and Vera Farmiga, who looked stunningly different from her role in the thriller movie, Orphan and a very talented Anna Kendrick.

The movie focuses in the travelling lifestyle of Ryan Bingham (Clooney) who works for a firm that is brought in specifically to fire people. It reminds me of a scene out of Officespace or some movie like that. However his preferred lifestyle of not being attached to anything comes under threat when firm newbie, Natalie Keener (Kendrick) comes up with the idea of replacing this face-to-face lifestyle with video conferencing software.

There’s many great parts to the movie, including where Bingham teaches Keener some of the finer arts to travelling light. I can definitely relate to this, thinking of the many hours I spent last summer travelling to and from Copenhagen. Perhaps more typically represented is the life of the US-based travelling consultant where it’s all about racking up miles, status points and credit points. Overall the movie started off really well but then it started to drag its feet, pursuing too many different story lines to properly address in a single movie. This left the conclusion rushed and it felt like arriving at a banquet only to be told the kitchen was closed when dessert arrived. I’m puzzled as to why it’s had big screen success, as I think it’s place is definitely in a bit more of a niche crowd.

TheKua.com Rating: 6.5 out of 10

2009 A Personal Retrospective

Patrick Copenhagen, Entertainment, Food, General, Music, Restaurants, Travel, UK Life

It’s that time of year to look back and see what’s been going on for 2009. It seems like it’s been a quieter year than most before and despite not wanting to do a lot of travel, it still seems like I ended up doing a fair amount.

Travel
The year started off in the US where I spent the day getting back from Boston before celebrating the New Year in New York. Since I was travelling to Marlow for work during the week, I didn’t end up going anywhere until March where I met the rest of the family in Japan.

Rather than hitting Tokyo, we met them in Osaka where we headed out to places like Kobe, Nara, Himeji and then spent the rest of the time visiting the temples and shrines of nearby Kyoto. April saw me head up north to visit my old flatmate, now living in York. The start of May then saw me head to Chicago for the first time, for a wedding and catching up with lots of people I knew living there.

I also took advantage of the great weather to head to Brighton for the first time. The end of may, I headed out to Sardinia for a conference where we ended up pretty much isolated from anyone else for the entire week. Great times yet I still remember the water being particularly cold.

It was around this time that I also started doing the weekly commute to Copenhagen for several months. I think I ended up staying over on the weekend twice – once to see what life in Denmark was really like, and then another to head over to Malmo (Sweden) on a very convenient and modern train.

August then saw me returning to Chicago for another conference before finishing off the year with a trip to Edinburgh in November and then Finland for a pre-Christmas holiday. I’d also mention travelling to Cambridge daily since returning from Copenhagen but other than eating out and resting, I don’t really get to see much of Cambridge.

Music
I don’t think I got to see as many bands this year seeing Aussie bands Eskimo Joe and The Living End in April, followed by amazing musician and talented whistler, Andrew Bird in May. I then saw John Butler outshine the Union Chapel in July. October then saw a flurry of activity including The Cribs, Franz Ferdinand and then Scottish musician, Calvin Harris play a sweat inducing performance at The Forum. The year finished off with a performance by Japanese musician, Ryuichi Sakomoto.

Food
I think this was definitely the year of the Michelin-starred restaurants for me. I was very thankful managing to find the only booking open in a three month window for the world’s 3rd best restaurant, Noma. What an unbelievable experience the tasting menu here was.

Amazingly local food accompanied by great service. I still remember the evening sun setting at just before midnight casting an amazing warmth into the converted warehouse when we sat down to eat.

We had just as an amazing meal at Restaurant Paustian v. Bo Bech before leaving Copenhagen. When visiting Chicago for the second time, I made sure to head out to Moto to enjoy the delights of clever cooking techniques and dining dazzlery. I can still picture the sparkling bombs that explode in the mouth for dessert. I also took my sister out to Rhodes 24 for her birthday (admittedly quite late in the year) and also ended up having a lunch at (overrated) Gordon Ramsey’s Maze restaurant. There was plenty of other amazing food places eaten ate but I woulnd’t be able to list them all.