Music Blast Off

Patrick Music, UK Life

Encounter SpeakersAfter having moved into my room for a while now, there has been something completely missing – the ability to play any music that actually sounds decent. Proper hi-fi systems over here are pretty expensive, and ideally I just wanted something I could play music off my mp3 player or computer without it sounding really tinny through my laptop speakers.

Even though I enjoy listening to music, I don’t really know that much when it comes to speakers, and thanks to Gerrod’s help I was able to learn a few things and work out exactly what I wanted in a system. So this Friday I ended up going out and purchasing the JBL Encounter set of speakers where the satellite speakers look like alien heads and the subwoofer like a space ship. I set them up and tested them, especially to see how the loudness would affect my flatmates and I’m glad to see that our walls are really thick and you can barely hear anything. They look great, but more importantly they produce really fantastic sound.

Mylo @ The Brixton Academy

Patrick Music, UK Life

MyloOne of the reasons I came to London was to take advantage of the opportunities see some more musicians do what they love doing and at a more reasonable price than the AU$70+ that some can charge back home. The first lesson that you learn when you first start looking is that it can take a while to actually get some tickets, with many artists selling out months in advance. This Saturday I finally got to see my first act, Mylo at the Brixton Academy.

The Brixton Academy has been voted many times as one of the better venues in London and understandably so. The building itself is an older building having been built in 1929 and its two floors has enough capacity for 4921 people (although it certainly felt like more on Saturday). The ground floor, and most likely the top one, is on a slight incline so that even if you are standing at the back, you have a good chance of seeing the stage instead of just the sea of people in front of you.

The doors to the Academy opened at 9 and like most dance acts, Mylo didn’t actually come on until after midnight (I think closer to 1). Before Mylo there were a few DJs that helped to warm up the crowd with a mix of some classic club tracks and even some cheesy 80s and early 90s songs. As for Mylo, I had heard and read that his performances were generally disappointing as it was just him DJing but it was obvious that he’d been working hard to change that perception. He had on stage with him a couple of other people doing various things as well as a massive screen and several tubes of light pulsating and cycling through images all in perfect time with the music. Mylo even had a go at playing a bit of sythn guitar to vary it up

To be honest I was pretty impressed with the entire night especially just because the atmosphere of the place was amazing. Mylo mixed all of his tracks from Destroy Rock ‘N’ Roll and predictably topped off his final encore with his most crowd-pleasingly tracks Muscle Car, and Drop the Pressure.

The only let down of the evening was probably the two night buses I had to catch home, taking me over an hour and a half to get home. It was still a great experience and certainly one that I would do again in a flash.

Program Payoff

Patrick UK Life

Coupon BonanzaSince I’ve got to the UK, I seem to have amassed a ridiculous number of cards. Other than the credit/debit variety I now have a few library cards, a few more general ID cards and plenty of supermarket program cards. I joined most of these things half heartedly, just to see if, during my stay here, I would get anything from them. As I was purchasing some items for lunch at Somerfield on my way to work this morning, amazingly a coupon was printed off with my receipt saying that I won £200 of groceries! I have to send in the coupon to get a voucher redeemable at any Somerfield store, and although I’m still not too sure if it’s all legit, I’m keen to see what comes of it.

So who’s in London that wants to go shopping with me? It seems I have a bit to spend (considering my average shopping bill is less than £15)

It’s Official, I’m a Researcher!

Patrick London To Do, The 'He Who Knows' Challenge, UK Life

British Library Reader CardLast week’s attempt at checking out the British Library had been thwarted by the fact that you need to join as a reader before you could enter any of the reading rooms. This week I was more prepared with:

  • A proof of signature (my passport); and
  • A proof of residency (my bank statement)

After you fill out an online application form detailing things such as what research project you are working on, what resources you have tried, what other libraries you have visited and what your book reading list is, you are given a brief introduction to the library by a New Reader Admissions Officer. Soon after you are issued with a card and are on your way to accessing pretty much, as its website states, “The World’s Knowledge” made available from over 200 miles of books, journals and other archived media and information.

With the ability to get access to the reading rooms, I headed to the software section (it is what I said my research project was on) and it just so happened to be the top floor. It is extremely surreal entering the reading rooms, almost like another world. You must adhere to strict rules when entering the rooms such as you cannot bring coats, bags, food or drink and anything taken in must be carried around in zip-lock carry bags they provide. Internet access is provided for free from many terminals and Wi-Fi is available upon request and with payment. The top floor looks out on all of the other floors, and it is simply breath taking to see all the other researchers sitting in the well spaced and almost luxurious cubicles with a wealth of information at their finger tips.

Pretty much any book in the archive can be requested, although some may be better to ask for in advance with the retrieval process taking up to 70 minutes. A quick scan of their catalogue has pretty much every book I would ever want and the books on the shelves seemed quite up to date as well.

The library is an amazing place and is definitely well worth signing up.

The Kua Rating: 9 out of 10

Ping Pong Dim Sum

Patrick Restaurants, UK Life

Dim Sum (or more affectionately known as Yum Cha back home) can be a relatively expensive meal in London but you will have no trouble finding a restaurant that serves it when in Chinatown. Aptly located in Soho you can find Ping Pong, one of the trendiest and upmarket Dim Sum places around London. If you enter any time around lunch, you will have to wait in a queue, but the turnover seems reasonable and it’s unlikely you won’t be waiting any longer than you would at any other Chinese restaurant.

When you first enter, its most striking feature is probably the restaurant’s seating arrangement. Two huge circular black marble bars provide communal seating for up to twenty (or more) people who come to dine by themselves or as a pair. A separate bar is located between them for people still waiting for guests and for the bartenders to create the spectacular cocktails listed in its drink menu. Downstairs you will find larger tables, but if especially busy, would no doubt be shared amongst small groups of diners as well.

Dim sum is ordered by filling out a piece of paper and handing it to your waiter. Although Ping Pong is supposed to be well known for its Dim Sum, if you really want a proper selection, this restaurant is not the place to go with only about twenty different dim sum offerings opposed to the twice or thrice you would find at any other Chinese restaurant. It is obvious the menu was carefully selected to appeal to a less adventurous palate, with only chicken feet being the most out of the ordinary on the menu. The quality of the dim sum is excellent, both in presentation and in flavour, but at £2.80 each, you would certainly hope it was.

The best thing that we ordered probably wasn’t the dim sum, but the fresh jasmine tea to accompany our meal. Tall glasses arrive filled only with a large flower bud. The waiter pours the hot water into your glass, and in only a matter of seconds, the bud literally flowers and starts to infuse the water. It’s a great novelty but once again, an expensive one at £1.75 per glass.

I had read several reviews of this place before I came and was prepared for the apparently bad service. I wouldn’t necessarily call it bad service, but rather non-existent as waiters were just difficult to locate at times. When you did get their attention, the service was actually quite pleasant and fairly prompt.

If you are a local to London, or even if you want to experience Dim Sum differently, then I recommend you visit Ping Pong at least once yourself and decide if it is what appeals to you. For me, it doesn’t quite represent the same sort of table-messing and noisy yet modest dining that Dim Sum means to me.

Details: Ping Pong
Found on: 45 Great Marlborough Street, Soho, W1F 7JL
Contactable on: 020 7851 6969
Highlights: Trendy atmosphere (good music) ideal for crowd watching and all dim sum is good quality. It provides a refreshing way for presenting dim sum to a greater audience and it’s jasmine tea is something to be seen.
Room for improvement: Dim sum selections were quite small and had a distinct lack of service. Not fantastic value for money.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

The Craft Council

Patrick Entertainment, UK Life

The Craft CouncilIf you are ever near the Angel tube station, I highly recommend you drop into the Crafts Council to check out the current exhibition showing entrants and winners to the the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2005: Metal. Admission to the exhibition is free and some of the sculptures and effects that people can create out of different metals is quite amazing. I found that the gallery is not large enough to occupy lots of your time but it is still a nice thing to peruse nevertheless and has a magentised wall for you to attach floating comments to.

It is a shame that photography was prohibited and even if you cannot visit the gallery in person, the Craft Council have a virtual gallery available on their website.

Housemates on Ice

Patrick Sport, UK Life

Last night, my housemates and I went ice skating at one of the few indoor ice skating rinks in London just down the road. I hadn’t done this for years (and before that, not even that often) so I was a bit hesitant at going but still thought it would be fun to do. We all arrived just to see the end of the pretty good figure skating practice but thankful we didn’t have to watch ourselves before we embarassed ourselves on the ice.

Skating is not too cheap (£9) and you end up putting on what looked like cheap rollerblade boots, and certainly felt like painfully tight ski boots yet still did the job (a word of advice – definitely trade in your boots if you aren’t happy with the edging – my first ones felt like someone had greased them up big time!). The ice skating rink in Bayswater is apparently a lot larger than what it used to be, until a bar and a ten pin bowling alley was put in. The rink itself is by no means small, comfortably fitting the fifty people, although some were more dangerous than others. White domes pulsating with multi colored lights cover the ceiling and give the place a little bit more of the disco feel, and when paired with cheesy 80s and early 90s music seemed pretty appropriate.

Amazingly all of us managed to go through the night without falling over and yet still managed to push through the boot pain and enjoy the night.

Guy Fawkes Day

Patrick UK Life

Nov 5 is a significant day for the English, which marks Guy Fawkes Day. It is the 400th year since Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up Parliament with apparently a lot of gunpowder. Either way it was a great excuse to have a huge get togetherwith a massive bon fire and fireworks display. My pictures of fireworks (taken from Battersea park) can be found online here.