Screw the haters, this will be an awesome summer to be in London

http://d4k7s9ho8qact.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/shardlights.jpg?9d7bd4

Now that the Jubilee is safely receding into the distance and it's hopefully stopped fucking raining for a bit it's probably the right time for a catch-all thread to flag up all the cool stuff that's going to be happening in London over the next couple of months.

I guess the actual sporting side of the Olympics will be covered on another thread but there's so much cultural stuff going on that I probably don't know about yet, and also to just generally talk about the entire world descending on our city for a month.

Thread rule = NO WHINING. Anyone complaining about public transport will be banned from the thread. (Yes I know too well that if you are about to lose your job or have no prospect of getting one in the first place or are having your housing benefit cut then this is probably going to be a shit summer to be in London or anywhere but this isn't the thread for that).

fuck the olympics

just joking (though i mean it) it's always an awesome summer in london though, is my positive opinion here.

wtf is that picture?

I'm looking forward to it. Mainly because I get two weeks sitting around in front of the TV and going to the pub early 'working from home' during the Olympics.

Also timely because at the weekend London Pleasure Gardens will be opening for the first time and in a couple of weeks there'll be the opportunity to rave on an actual East German industrial ship and next week they'll be shooting massive lasers off the top of the Shard and it generally feels like a pretty great time to be here.

tell us more about these massive lasers already

I'm looking forward to it. Mainly because I get two weeks sitting around in front of the TV and going to the pub early 'working from home' during the Olympics.

i hate the whole "working from home" concept, not least cos i can't do it and it's a byword for "doing a shit job" when anyone else does it.

http://londonist.com/2012/06/shardopens.php

^^^ Great rejected Russell T Davies setups of our lifetime.

I'm mostly wondering where will be the best vantage point in London from which to watch it. Maybe on top of the National Theatre or something?

I'm thinking about heading up to Hampstead Heath, if it's clear that evening, to see it.

Might just stroll up to Waterloo Bridge. The public terrace on the NT is on the north & west sides so no great view from there.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8148/7447346934_3b39d30404.jpg

This thing in Greenwich last Friday was pretty fucking cool as well. That's the Maritime Museum in the background behind the giant C3PO.

Wow. Is that the Sultan's Elephant people or a different bunch?

Some Catalan dudes I believe, not the Sultan's Elephant guys. There were like 30 people hanging off a crane with fireworks going off around them by the end. Also they did this:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7132/7425809394_84be2a52b3.jpg

"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station skyscraper!"

I'd probably get more excited/happy about it if I heard about the cool stuff in advance, rather than someone posting photos a week later going "this awesome thing happened..."

(But given that crowds are very difficult for me, it's probably better if I just look at the pictures afterwards.)

www.google.com

I'd probably get more excited/happy about it if I heard about the cool stuff in advance

Point of the thread innit.

Remember when ILX used to be full of helpful Londoners who would let each other know about cool stuff going on in the town, and maybe organise get-togethers (like indeed the Sultan's Elephant) instead of just being sarcastic assholes?

Yeah, stupid of me to remember that kind of thing.

x-post to Ronan being a twunt

Because Matt, I was hoping that would be the case.

you should try google, i'm serious. lots to discover.

god you're a cunt ronan

All this is seriously testing the boundaries of 'no whining'.

Should be quite a few interesting cultural events tied in to the Olympics. The Czech delegation is taking over the Business Design Centre in Islington for the duration with art, music and stuff.

http://www.businessdesigncentre.co.uk/czech

this looks good to me, at the goethe institut: http://www.hot-dinners.com/Gastroblog/Latest-news/top-international-supperclubs-partner-in-london-for-one-off-dinners-with-supperclub-summit

There's acrobatics and theatre (but sadly precious little juggling this year) outside the National Theatre at lunchtimes and early evenings:

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/wts

and still some stuff at the greenwich & docklands festival, the extravagant finale is tomorrow at woolwich:

http://www.festival.org/festival/overview/1/2012/

And dancing at Canary Wharf:

http://londonist.com/2012/06/preview-dancing-city-at-greenwich-and-docklands-international-festival-30-june.php

Is anyone off to the Grand Opening of the Pleasure Gardens this weekend?

I'm going with a few people if the weather's good. Not sure quite what to expect - it's run by guys who do the Shangri-La area at Glastonbury isn't it? That's a pretty good sign.

There had better be enough beer tents.

Going for the Saturday night of Bloc the following week as well, attempting to avoid clunky post-dubstep DJs.

I really really really really wanna go to Bloc, but I'm not sure which day, and I don't know that many people who are going (mostly acquaintances and colleagues rather than mates). I'm also a bit put off by the sheer expense of it. £55 is pretty steep. But then the quality of the event is beyond awesome... Very torn.

who you gon see at bloc? and whats that pleasure gardens thing on this w/e

wanna see Binh on sat night but dunno if i can make it - also daniel bell is playing at secretsundaze but....a) secretsundaze, b) sunday, c) 2 hour set? and no interest in anyone else on bill

Orbital, Levon Vincent, Ellen Allien, Cosmin TRG, there appears to be some kind of Modeselektor/Dettmann/Shed back-to-back thing going on as well. Is Jeff Mills any good these days?

Think the thing this weekend is just a free-for-all open day thing. Probably quite family-oriented I'd guess.

http://i.imgur.com/39k8I.jpg

I sort of interested in going down to pleasure gardens this weekend. I'm going to BLOC on the Friday.. line up looks more my thing, not knowing what to expect with Steve Reich!

the picture in the original post is intriguing, rather reminiscent of enter the void except in london rather than tokyo, with aluminous mandala limning itself across the city, the apogee of the shard emitting pure being unto the second order financial monoliths, the spiritual nexus of st pauls, impliedly the temporal nexus of westminster

iow screw the haters, this will be an awesome summer to be a second rate psychogeographer(*) in london

(*) there is no other kind

iow?

isle of wight

exactly

friday Bloc does look more up my strasse. I have work that day though and get out at 5.30. Will I have missed much if I'm coming down from Kings X?

the times for BLOC are on FB. Earliest set times showing are 17.00..

Mills was apparently v v good at corsica last month

This should be good:

http://europe.eurostar.com/eurostar-traction/

Tellier, Baloji and a bunch of other people.

oh, I forgot to get tickets for that..

Still available, i think.

I rarely send detailed negative feedback to PRs but I have to say those three paragraphs about London Pleasure Gardens were very satisfying to write.

There is literally no way I am going back there. Including for Bloc. Desolate dust storm hell selling you vastly overpriced drinks, grim festival-grade fast food and pointless tat. Seriously, the dust, unbelievable. IT'S BY THE RIVER IT'S GOING TO BE WINDY how do you not think of that?

Yeah very disappointing, although the site was visibly unfinished and only half open. Still, unless you had an interest in the music there just wasn't very much to to do. It felt somewhere that would be alright for a big rave if there was no wind but certainly not somewhere you could take kids to or just lounge around for the day.

That said the fireworks off the old grain silo were fucking amazing, probably the best I've ever seen first-hand in London. They let people onto the grassy bit for that and that was a lot more pleasant. The whole site looked a lot better at night as well. I'd kind of expected the whole thing to be like park and didn't really understand why it wasn't. They hadn't even attempted to make the main section feel even remotely like a garden at all.

The problem that won't go away though is having to pay £4.50 for a can of lager.

Any open-air screenings to know about?

‏@TimeOutTheatre: Opening night of London pleasure gardens: no pleasure, no gardens and no booze, except beer. Might be ok when it's finished...

Haha OTM.

If you focus too much on the planned events, it's easy to get this sense that you might be missing some wonderful party that's just around the corner, if only you know about it.

Some of the best things about London in the Summer are away from the big events, and taking advantage of the long evenings: such as making the most of the incredible greenery (squares/parks/rooftop gardens), impromptu picnics in Primrose Hill, late evening chilling on Parliament Hill Fields, relaxed sunday walks well away from the crowds).

OTM x a milli

Yeah it's not been a very park-friendly summer so far but I really hope it turns into one - pretty much all my favourite London summer memories involve parks/hills/heaths. And there's always space.

parks, parks, wherever they may be
they're full of dogs in this damn country

If you focus too much on the planned events, it's easy to get this sense that you might be missing some wonderful party that's just around the corner, if only you know about it.

At the same time, you can worry too much about this. It's London, you're always missing something wonderful that's happening nearby, as long as you're doing something else fun that's alright. I don't know anyone who only attends big pre-planned events, nor the opposite.

Serendipitously stumbling across amazing things, parties or otherwise, in London is pretty easy I think.

That light show was a bit rubbish, but had a lovely walk around the Heath in the dark.

The view of London at night (without the lasers) was great too. Need to do that more often.

Big Turnout on Waterloo Bridge, people on both sides & the middle. Disappointment was palpable. Still cool to hang out there in the evening with a couple of beers though.

From the photo up top, scrub out all the white lines and have it flicker slowly through half of the green ones. That was it.

Dear god I hope it manages not to rain this weekend. There is supposed to be an FIRE WALK on Streatham Common on Saturday night with human candles and catherine wheels and stuff.

(Naught to do with Olympics or Shardage, related to the same festival that had the GIANT PINK PIG and my art show last summer.)

i was at the national theatre last night (to see detroit, which i'd recommend) and afterwards the atmos for the shard thing was kind of terrifying. my friend told me nearer the actual building felt like 1984, with piped boris speeches raining down on the public.

So glad I didn't get close enough to hear that, although I did have an ironic chuckle at them opening the Shard with Fanfare For The Common Man.

The lasers were a bit rubbish but I think lasers usually are from distance. The nightly one from the Dome to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich is better than those were though. The Shard looked pretty cool all lit up though - we started at Waterloo Bridge and I walked to London Bridge from there, mostly along the north bank.

LG - I saw Detroit a couple of weeks ago, really enjoyed it, although I was biting my fist due to extreme cringing in many places.

yeah it was very very cringey, midway through i thought it might be losing the run of itself, but as it ended i felt it was very nicely complete.

hmmm comments above re. the Pleasure Gardens don't bode well for Bloc this weekend. I'm going tomorrow, hopefully the rain will lay off a bit by then.

the rain should at least solve the dust problem!

i found a dalston roof garden i hadn't known about last night. when we got up there we discovered that there was a massive obnoxious new-built apartment block between us and the shard but i didn't care all that much. it was a lovely night!

The word on the Pleasure Gardens was that there'd been an asbestos alert in the big old mill on the site, and they had to abandon the site for three weeks while they dealt with it. So a load of stuff just wasn't finished - it was meant to be all grass, etc.

I reckon it'll be alright for Bloc, part of the problem on Saturday was just lack of content, which won't be an issue with that line-up. Only half the site was open last week as well. The weather's looking pretty shit but all the music will be under cover.

It just looked much nicer in the dark and all lit up as well.

okay, thanks for the reassurance. Really I'm interested in hearing some amplified dance music, the surroundings are to some extent secondary. Not too keen on the idea of paying £4.50 for a can of lager, though.

The thing that might ruin Bloc is more likely to be poor organisation, crowd control, queues and stuff, but that's the risk with all the London festivals I find.

Going to go pretty easy on the booze I think.

lex where was that roof garden?

building next to cafe oto. they were showing a film or something there.

i do NOT cosign the child-size furniture in the roof garden, kmt @ adults tweely infantilising themselves once again

http://londonpleasuregardens.com/site/2012/07/05/the-directors/

^^^ This shows that they clearly had a few complaints, but at least they're listening to them and apparently acting upon them.

i'm sure i went on that roof garden 2-3 years ago and there was a bar on top of it? but then it got taken away maybe its a different one

didnt know about any lasers

they weren't very good lasers.

there was a bar on top of the roof garden, yes. it probably has been there for years

The Shard, this decade's Millennium Dome.

This is different to the Dalston Roof Park I'm assuming? That place looks insufferable.

There's no public money in The Shard unless I'm mistaken? If it really tries it can aspire to being this generation's Centre Point though.

That's how it'll end up, if nobody actually wants to move in.

But last night's non-show was, like the Dome, an example of What People Think Is Good For Us which does not equal What People Would Actually Pay To See.

think i will manage to miss all official culture except the proms this year (unfortunately subsumed under the cultural olympiad thing but hopefully as jingo free as usual absent the hideous last night)

ppl actually watching lazer shows in 2k12 makes u wish for a london version of ~bridge and tunnel~

i was at the national theatre last night (to see detroit, which i'd recommend) and afterwards the atmos for the shard thing was kind of terrifying. my friend told me nearer the actual building felt like 1984, with piped boris speeches raining down on the public.

― Know how Roo feel (LocalGarda), Friday, 6 July 2012 08:34 (4 hours ago) Permalink

A friend told me they're pumping Boris speeches over the London Bridge platforms too.

Boris was definitely going out over the tannoy at Charing Cross tube last night. This is just fucking weird.

He has a long-standing ambition to be a Roman Emperor, this is his version, I guess.

Shoving the Proms under the banner of "Cultural Olympiad" is lame. It happens every year, it just makes it look like the couldn't be bothered to put on a proper programme of events.

Looking at the tweets about the Bloc weekender, very glad that I got put off by the £££ booking fee and never got round to getting tickets for it.

I'm reading some horror stories. Police lines, huge queues, very quiet, bad sound.

Wow. Shut down now.

welp i guess i'm glad i didn't go.

o_O at bloc - never felt bad about not going as was obviously never going to be a user-friendly experience but that has to be a new low in organization, canceled tomorrow also. Free Rotation may be annoying with their constant administration emails and strictness about transferring tickets if you need to sell, but there's a lot to be said for a festival that has the correct number of people and doesn't have a queue for the bar

So sorry to hear about Bloc, guys.

feel so sorry for anyone who came to london especially for bloc. overcrowding is a fucking plague on london nightlife but yeah coal otm this is a new low. promoters need to start getting real abt how many people they can actually fit in their spaces.

went to bloc one year in minehead and it was pretty well organised but the staff there are very experienced.

after visiting the "pleasure" "gardens" last week i had a premonition bloc would be shit and accordingly went "thanks but no thanks" - compounded by discovering the disparity between the capacity of the boat that everyone was excited about vs the number of tkts sold - but i didn't think it would be quite this disastrous. feel sorry for everyone involved, hope they salvaged their nights and glad there weren't injuries etc.

part of the problem in my mind is that often if a given event is badly organised, ppl will still buy tickets for the next one! if there is no punishment there's no motivation for organisers to make conditions pleasant. the first few field day festivals spring to mind and half a dozen house & techno promoters i have personally boycotted whose nights seem to be well attended on RA every week.

it amazes me that people STILL get excited about field day - from what i gather every year a lot of the same problems persist? the first two were ghastly. you're right about no punishment tpp. name names re: the promoters you boycott!

boycott#1: EASTERN ELECTRICS

actually just boycott anyone who thinks the key to a good night is to book as many people as possible to fill a flyer

boycott secret east london location or in fact just secret location, ok fair enough it its that cambridge heath road building with the lift again but when your secret location turns out to be either a car park or Village Underground just no

pretty sure i've named names in the london dancing thread but recent calamities include CRECHE and KRANKBROTHER

boycott secret east london location or in fact just secret location

bane of my life when i'm putting together the clubs column

when i'm actually going to clubs i boycott it completely obv

What happened at Bloc? I didn't see tweets, I just saw tweets from ppl who weren't there, saying "oh god you ppl at Bloc it sounds hellish!"

It was the first time I was even tempted, walking by the posters and the whole "in London" thing but if it turned into some kind of survivalist nightmare like a real life @DubstepIsland that just justifies my fear of festivals

My Irish lads dragged me to Field Day. It was so quiet we all actually fell asleep

http://www.dummymag.com/news/2012/07/07/bloc-shut-down/

Jesus. That bad.

So, we arrived at Pleasure Gdns at 6.30 and finally get in at 8.30. The police were utterly bewildered that that people were being made to queue along the roadside. Chaotic inside as well. Told to leave at 1. Walked back home along the dual carriageway and managed to flag a cab at Westferry. Do feel sorry for the people who had weekend tickets. Fully expected to have issues getting home etc. but not this. Utter madness.

sorry mate that sounds shit!

Oh wow, so glad I didn't get tickets for last night then. Presuming I can get my money back on the ticket for tonight. I did wonder how they were presuming to put Snoop on in a tent of that size but it looks like a complete fucking disaster.

What else is happening on a manageable scale tonight then? Ideally inside and under a roof. We are all set to go dancing now.

This might be worth a try, Matt.

not a lot on this w/e maybe this

http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?355360

never actually been to basing house so no idea what its like as a venue, but Julietta should be good

it's supposed to be good, i've wanted to go for ages. reckon that night is a good shout.

We saw the funny side of it last night. Little bit angry that the promoters made such huge errors now. The only tent we could get in to had such poor sound. No thought gone into it at all. The organisational staff were woefully under experienced. It was like they had managed the doors of some small nightclubs but not events on this scale.

In the spirit of the thread, screw the haters. Has anyone been to the Yoko Ono exhib at the Serpentine or Ballgowns at the V&A? Thinking of heading over that way this afternoon.

It makes me rather annoyed that the official reason given for cancelling the rest of the festival is "security fears" rather than admitting that the whole thing was inadequately organised. "Security fears" is like this new omnipresent threat that pretty much anything can be blamed on.

Streatham Festival is good, albeit rainy! I'm not usually into yarnbombing and its twee discontents, but the Ninja Knitters on the Green is beautifully done. Chalkers seem to have been washed away, though.

Um, what on earth has y@rnb0mbing been turned into? I'm not clicking on that link.

ha i guess that's nb0mb! lemme try

http://kkkorner.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/nbomb5.jpg?w=350&h=259 http://kkkorner.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/nbomb5.jpg?w=350&h=259 http://kkkorner.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/nbomb5.jpg?w=350&h=259

wow

i have images turned off so dunno what that is

anyway on bloc, this seems fairly sensible http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/07/bloc-2012-and-why-speculative-coverage-of-last-nights-chaos-leaves-a-bad-taste/

Just reporting what angry people say on social media is the laziest form of "journalism" imaginable but I don't think you can accuse that of putting the boot in, sensationalist Dummy piece notwithstanding.

Dunno what Bloc can say for themselves other than "we fucked up and we're sorry, have your money back".

Never going to an untried London festival again.

Thanks for fixing my post!

Sorry but that FACT article is poor. "You get the impression that even if Bloc had gone ahead without issue, people still would have resented them expanding." Wrong. People went in good faith, to have a good time. Bloc made numerous errors and they shouldn't be allowed to run any more festivals again.

"let those eye witnesses sober up" is a cheap shot too

"There’s a particularly British mentality at work here: the same mentality that moves people to sneer the minute an artist, or brand, or sportsperson they like becomes successful, "

oh fuck off

Sounds like fact just wants to keep future ad revenue?

Yeah I dunno, people who have paid money to be stuck in that sort of disaster are well within their rights to start ranting at the organisers on Twitter. Pretty warped definition of "success" at work here.

This isn’t mere music gossip (something FACT are as guilty as any other magazine as reporting on): it’s a situation where, at worst, someone has died, and at best, people were put in a position where their lives were at risk and others have lost their jobs. Let’s take a step back, let those eye witnesses from last night sober up, and at least let Bloc have their say.

I had to read this two or three times before I realised what was actually being said.

Wait, someone died at Bloc? that wasn't something I saw widely reported. Or was it the idea that someone might have died had they been pushed off the boat by crowd surge? (the phenomenon, not the company. Unfortunate choice of names)

It's, err, speculating that someone might have died, and saying the best case scenario was that people were only scared as their lives were put at risk.

So they're having a go at other news sources for "wild speculation" while making wild speculations about non-existent punters that might have been dead?

And spurious speculation that people who were pissed off at having their weekends ruined by poor planning and organisation are actually, erm, jealous of Bloc's success?

I don't even know which is the pot and which is the kettle any more.

wonder how long that apologist article on fact will last, surely got to be embarrassed about writing that

i mean not right now, but when he's sobered up

Ha! Brilliant.

This FACT story is a lot more useful than taht other opinion piece
http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/07/bloc-2012-cancelled-what-we-know-so-far-refunds-and-alternative-plans/

Sorry for you guys that this was such a massive fuck up

Screw the Shard. We had TEKNO ELEPHANT!!!! in Streatham.

And it was chased about the common by a giant fire-breathing metal chicken. And monkeys. Monkeys on stilts.

Then they got this man painted gold, and tied him to a giant catherine wheel and then they SPUN HIM ROUND AND SET HIM ON FIRE!!!!! With loads of fireworks!

They don't trust children in South London with actual fire-containing lanterns, so they had a procession of LED lights, but it was just as well in the drenching rain.

There are no decent photos in the dark, it seems, but here is the GIANT METAL CHICKEN breathing fire at the golden man who was RIDING THE TEKNO ELEFANT, but is now tied to a GIANT CATHERINE WHEEL AND ON FIRE!!!!!!!! On literal fire, not just "on fire!"

http://yfrog.com/ob69cpsrj

This is how cool the shard light show didn't look. Wasn't actually trying for this effect...

http://i.imgur.com/unbtf.gif

It won't upset any applecarts but the little show of Jacob Hashimoto at the Ranshini Gallery (on Dering Street, nr Bond Street) made my day the other day. http://www.ronchinigallery.com/mostre/jacob-hashimoto/

http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/09/bloc-2012-in-pictures-2/

fact have put some pics up from bloc, its good to see so many people having a wonderful time. After having sobered up a little and also seeing these pics, maybe it wasn't quite as bad as people were suggesting?

Haha, there was much grumpage on local Historical Walk yesterday that South London residents had gathered on Streatham Hill to watch the Shard laser show, only to discover that they hadn't bothered turning on any lights or displays on the South side of the building. Mild irony that a building on the south bank would choose to completely ignore that half of London.

That Hashmimoto looks terrific. I've never actually heard of the Ranshini Gallery before.

(My misspelling, it is Ronchini... it's in one of the spaces which used to be another gallery, but I can't remember its name - Anthony Reynolds? Annely Juda? One of those. I guess we only spent 5 minutes in there but it's lovely.)

Haters looking the more vindicated at the moment tbh

I see the LPG website has taken down that "statement" from its directors.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/09/bloc-2012-in-pictures-2/

fact have put some pics up from bloc, its good to see so many people having a wonderful time. After having sobered up a little and also seeing these pics, maybe it wasn't quite as bad as people were suggesting?

Comments pretty funny.

So. Jeremy Deller's life-sized inflatable bouncy Stonehenge, coming to some South London parks over the next few weekends. I'm trying to decide if this will be great or terrible. I suppose I need to go and experience to find out.

Jeremy Deller = great
Bouncy castles = great
London parks = great
Stonehenge = great
Weather = shite

The last one is the most significant right now.

Yes, that is a very good point. Because bouncy castle stonehenges... in a torrential downpour would quickly become a giant plastic pool of tepid filthy water.

I would still go and look at it, though. Probably in Clapham, not in Greenwich, as it's closer.

It's in Crystal Palace as well, which kinda feels like the perfect place for it.

we had the bouncy stonehenge in glasgow recently - v v popular with children, obv, and to get the most out of it you wld prob need to take a child along w/ you

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/images/localpeople/ugc-images/275779/Article/images/16420429/3894587.png

I know those are only small children but still that looks huge.

lmao what happened with the tubes this morning? olympic test run?

When is it in Crystal Palace? that wasn't listed in Streatham/Brixton local paper, oddly.

Looks absolutely brilliant and I don't even need an child.

Ah! 9th August

Here's the complete list. All over the place!

http://sacrilege2012.co.uk/

(Actually it looks like I probably will have to go to Greenwich as it's the only one in South London at the weekend.)

It's all the way out by the Dome, not Greenwich proper. Greenwich Park is completely closed for horsey Olympic stuff not. You might be better off going to Westminster the following week (except that'll be really crowded).

Giant inflatable art installations make me think of the horrible Dreamspace catastrophe a few years ago. Hope Greenwich isn't too windy...

Saw Dreamspace when it was in Dulwich Park - it was so great I went back to see it several times. So I was kind of doubly horrified by that disaster. But I would hope that made people pay more attention to safety issues?

I suppose I'll just have to try to skive out of work early and go to the Crystal Palace one after all. Completely allergic to Central London at this point.

Yeah sorry I didn't mean to be a killjoy, cos bouncy rubberhenge does indeed look pretty great

I would totally go to one of these but dyou suppose they'll actually let adults without children in?

It's art! Of course adults are allowed to experience art without childrens.

Well, adults are not legally allowed into playgrounds without children, so...

As art, it strikes me as pretty glib and uninteresting, so i'd be more inclined to file it under playground.

has anything good happened in london this summer yet? everything has turned out to be a bit disappointing so far?? (apart from wimbledon)

mainly thinking of shard, bloc, and weather

i've had some great nights at Rowan's but that's kind of all year

Blockbuster events have been shite yes.

I'm still stuck on this idea of a giant inflatable theme park based on folksongs of the British Isles, as mooted on the other thread.

(n.b. any parents leaving babies got by their own true loves in the rubber inflatable Greenwood Side-i-oh do so at their own risk.)

Blockbuster events have been shite yes.

thread traitor

This thread was never just about the big events. It's actually mostly for the smaller ones that might go unnoticed.

i went to the ICA today expecting to find loads of sound art as part of their soundworks thing. turns out the pieces are all online, not in the gallery. lol. they do have a cool bruce nauman thing though, i zoned out in it for about 10 mins.

...and bloc goes into administration:

http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/11/bloc-goes-into-administration/

Came here to post that. Surely without refunding anyone and probably not paying all of the scheduled acts they are rolling in cash? I just feel like London (No) Pleasure Gardens and Bloc were on to a good scam. I might put together a rip off of the Sonar website, hire a couple of marques, stick them up on an abandoned building site and start collecting in some cash. It's seems that's all they did!

*marquee

I feel like Bloc Weekend 2012 was dance music's answer to the Lapland themepark

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2011/Feb/Week3/15936405.jpg

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2009/Feb/Week3/15223891.jpg

Well, maybe if they hadn't successfully run the festival in another venue for five years running, that might be a valid conclusion.

Wondering if the festival or the "pleasure" gardens were not adequately insured. Because based on ticket sales alone, you can't both refund punters and pay artists. The same money can't be assigned twice to two different sets of creditors.

Wondering if projected profits from alcohol sales were supposed to meet a big chunk of the costs?

I would imagine that cash for the drinks would go to the venue, not the festival bookers.

That is, if festivals work the same way as every other venue in the UK. Promoter makes their money from ticket sales, venue makes the bulk of their money from alcohol sales.

Fair enough.

I think there was little incentive to refund people. It's not as if Bloc were going to come out of this with a good reputation whatever the outcome. If they pay the artists then at least some of the individuals involved will have a career left. LPG have other events lined up, judging buy the 'no frills' space they have there I'm sure they'll make a tidy profit over the next few events. Newham Council will need to learn some serious lessons.

lol at google maps
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=london+pleasure+gardens&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

can't believe they thought that was a good venue for bloc

haha

and lol at bloc party's new single getting unexpected free twitter mileage.

I'd imagine that any insurance claim will take a while to go through, while punters and artists will both want paying now please.

If the rumours of the staggering overselling are true, then I imagine that they can handily pay the artists and still be rolling in cash - just not enough to actually refund all the tickets. Which is where you go into receivership, I suppose.

via fb

Is the Bloc Inquiry the new Levenson? Can't wait to see Snoop Dogg and Richie Hawtin summoned to the Terrace at DC-10 to explain themselves

walked past bouncy stonehenge this morning (ravenscourt park). was 75% inflated. they were busy anchoring it to the ground.

that's my lunchhour accounted for...

Damn, I'm going to miss it this weekend coz I'm going to Bristol. I should try to get to the Crystal Palace one. Let us know how it is, Koogs!

The Julian Opie show at the Lisson Gallery (http://www.lissongallery.com/#/exhibitions/2012-07-11_julian-opie/) is lovely, and something of a departure for JO (at least as far as I know) - sculpture! texture!

What time is it in each park until? I could probably get to Crystal Palace for 7ish.

I can't find a schedule? Maybe the Bromley Council site has times.

http://sacrilege2012.co.uk/venues_stone_henge_bouncy_castle_jeremy_deller/9th-august-crystal-palace/

i am so unfit.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7683823634_753ab97851.jpg

oddly accurate. there was one 'stone' towards the back that was on a slant. i thought it was only partialy inflated but, no, it's like that in the original. is it life-size? feels like it might be.

10 minutes, taking it easy, or trying to, and i was gasping. you can't just walk on it like a human, you have to do the astronaut thing. concept is great, is well made, and is fun.

is there til 6 tonight, but i don't know about elsewhere

Looks fun! I wonder if I can get to Crystal Palace by 6 or I should just skive out of work early.

Caught By The River give it a thumbs up:

http://www.caughtbytheriver.net/2012/08/sacrilege-in-the-capital/

it's almost as if there were no future in "England"'s dreaming

Got to say, I'm loving London now that all the miserable Evening Standard reading twats have fucked off for a fortnight.

The public transport seems ... easier? Provided that you can find some love in your heart for people who are looking forward to loving London but are a little dazed upon changing at Seven Sisters.

yeah, things seem a little quieter at rush hour - tubes aren't murder, buses moving really quickly outside town at least - and cycling along the no-car roads like constitution hill and south carriage drive is a blast.

It'd be quieter at this point in the year anyway, being August and all, but my train was half empty today.

Ditto here. I get a bus from n16 to fleet st- I've never had such pleasant commutes as this week and the end of last. It's a dream!

Got me some SACRILEGE at Hampstead Heath today, just as the sun came out. My friends' preschool-aged kids didn't want to get off (and it's big enough that nobody stumbles into others). It's at Clapham Common tomorrow. Go, just go.

cycling has been amazing for the past week - rush hour positively pastoral. I for one welcome our new slightly drifting and bemused pedestrian, public-transport-using friends.

Only the slightly sinister periodic sight of trains of Locog vehicles snaking round the empty lanes causes a brief unease.

there was even an Olympic marshal with a megaphone in Hyde Park telling idiot cyclists who insist on treating the park like a velodrome to SLOW DOWN. It's a place where people may wander in thought, find repose and take energetic pleasure in life, not a goddam arena for you to
show how you coulda won the Tour de France.

fuck outta my cycle lane, pedestrian

there was even an Olympic marshal with a megaphone in Hyde Park telling idiot cyclists who insist on treating the park like a velodrome to SLOW DOWN

Could have been some of the triathlon folk doing a bit of training/sussing out the course (Just for those who don't know, it all takes place within the park - women's tri is on Saturday morning, men's tri is on the 7th. Both of these events are FREE to attend iirc apart from entry into certain ticketed areas, and there is HUGE gold medal potential for GBR with Helen Tucker and Alistair Brownlee the respective favourites in each)

All the same, these people should still slow the fuck down if there are other folk around.

this was no triathlete. and it was v busy with tourists wandering a bit confusedly around, as is natural. don't think the triathlon goes on this particular bit. ach, I just get annoyed with middle-aged alpha male GET OUT OF MY WAY cyclists in the park - gives us a bad name!

also, marathon swimming in the serpentine! big It's a Knockout style bobbing inflatables set up around the lake. doesn't seem like much of a spectator sport tho.

there is HUGE gold medal potential for GBR

I have to be honest, the lack of gold medals for Team GB has certainly aided my awesome summer to be in London.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/08/03/london-pleasure-gardens-to-go-into-administration/

What the fuck am I doing indoors right now!?!?!?!

oh right, trying to write my dissertation.

Anyways, are there places that are particularly better or worse places to get a laptop in the UK, keeping in mind that I'm just gonna get a cheaper PC. Or are all the places like John Lewis/PC World all the same?

I got mine in Tesco! That was after comparing prices on loads of websites etc, they had a very good offer. Worth a look.