london on reflection

The V and A. Wandered around the new Renaissance stuff, which was superb. Definitely worth a trip. The forgery exhibition was a disappointment, 'twas ok, but just showed the forgery. I would have preferred a bit more detail on how they established the forgery, and possibly the original next to the copy - to compare how good they were. Highlight was, undoubtedly, the renaissance religious iconography. Spent a lot of time there. Mmm pretty. Also of interest was the contemporary design stuff.

The St Peter's Brewery pub is a very very small place, with excellent food and superb beer. I had quite a few beers. Many of them were high alcohol. This was a good thing.

Went to the Courtauld Gallery as they had an exhibition on Michelangelo's Dream, this turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Brilliant little gallery, lots of Impressionists, post-impressionists, Ruben's - excellent. Spent a lovely few hours wandering around this quiet, relaxing gallery. Not too many tourists, a few school groups, but they were just sitting down copying pictures, so also quiet. So just me, my headphones, Radiohead and Elbow.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society rooms are a bloody nightmare to find, small glass door down a side street. but Craig and I managed it - and then tasted some excellent whisky. Not a huge surprise there. Not as much atmosphere as the Edinburgh rooms, but still quiet, relaxing, and not all pretentious. I have a review of a whisky, actually we made two reviews, but Wes forgot what
 the second one was. Silly boy.

Natural History Museum. Been awhile since I went there, and to be honest I was disappointed. Didn't help that it was packed with screaming school brats, but the exhibitions are dated, and the information is also 10-20 years old. It's a shame as the potential, with what they've got there, is immense, but it's not shown to it's best advantage. Possibly avoid unless it's very quiet. The human evolution section was poor, and the human biology section was dire - all looked liked late 70s, early 80s style of presentation. Urgh.

coffee: went to flat white, as one does, and found, in general, a much higher standard of coffee than previous visits. About bloody time. Small cafe off Leicester Square was quite a revelation. Even went back there a couple of times.

Overall, had a great relaxing time down there, my cold included :) I do like London for all it's grimy grotty chew-you-up attitude. Actually it's probably because of those. And it puts the Midlands into sharp relief. Nope, I'm not sold on this area of the world, but we shall see what happens.

Also saw The Lovely Bones. I think the critics have been unduly harsh on the movie. It's ok and flows well. I do agree the casting seems a bit 'must get a name actor here', which disrupts the flow slightly. Although having said that, the perspective is from the teenage girl, and so a 'everyone is pretty' view maybe accurate. If that is what Jackson et al were going for, they've nailed it, but it's not clear in the telling.
Dream sequences were average (if repetitive), but owed too much to Gilliam or LotR. Although why every dream sequence has to have a field of corn is beyond me. What is it with bloody corn?
One criticism has been that Jackson avoided the rape scene (I haven't read the book btw), but I don't think it woudl have added much to the story. It's certainly not central to the plot. My biggest criticism is that Jackson can't write an ending (LotR, Kong), there's about three false endings before the real one happens. Prompting a FFS from me. I'd give it a 6/10.

Me