Daily Archives: September 18, 2011

3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstacy

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People may accuse me of being a perv, and yes I do just love looking at anyone and anything, but I’m sure admitting to going to watch this movie in a public cinema no less would certainly cement that title! Ha! It had me wondering what other type of person would go see this movie and looking around at those in attendance today I have to say that I couldn’t really pin-point a type!

Need I even bother with a plot? Well, ok – in short there is an egotistical scholar who thinks that to get the most out of life you should get as much sexual pleasure as you can. Although he falls in love with a woman she ultimately isn’t enough for him and off he goes to find pleasure elsewhere. I’m sure there’s a moral in there somewhere (Chinese stories always do) about love eventually triumphing but it was lost in the gore and horribleness that was the conclusion.

For those looking for eroticism and a bit of sexy fun don’t bother with this movie. If you want to laugh your head off then you may enjoy it … that is until the last third where suddenly there are some truly awful rape and dismemberment scenes. Not awful in the sense of bad acting but awful as in horrible, dark, and downright unpleasant. I’m not really sure why it needed to go there because up until then it could at least be sold on its merits as somewhat of a comedy.

Not really date material this one!

Roast and Duplo – great ways to spend an afternooon

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I worked up quite an appetite trekking around seeing all these lovely buildings for OpenHouse so it was with great delight that I landed on Nate and Caro’s doorstep for another beautiful roast prepared by Caro. She really should think about opening up a restaurant! But then … no doubt a food blogger will pick it up, her food will get all trendy and I’ll never get a booking! Ha!

I love visiting Nate and Caro. Not only do I get a proper feed, get a chance to catch up on all the goss in their lives but I also get to play with their adorable little darlings, Gas and Ces. Both are growing up so quickly and I’m honoured I get to spend time with them at this precious time of their life. Ces may be growing up too fast with his cigar …

… just kidding. He sure likes those breadsticks though!

Gas’s duplo train set got a work out, and we got to see what Dad Nate’s engineering skills were like .. um … maybe stick to your day job Dad? Just kidding again (sort of – heh heh). Nate made a decent enough track with the train … too bad Gas was most interested in destroying things!

Ces wanted to get in on the act too. Bless he is starting to turn over on to his stomach now. Won’t be long before he is up and running everywhere!

And then Gas did the most gorgeous thing ever – he started to play with my hair like he was a hair dresser – working my hair until it was “just right”. Soooo cute!

OpenHouse 2012 – Day 02

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Day 02 of my OpenHouse 2012 itinerary featured three distinctive buildings, all located in a nearby neighbourhood of Kensington High Street.

First up was the interesting flat called The LuxPod. The LuxPod was near and dear to my heart simply because I couldn’t conceive that there might actually be a shoebox smaller than mine that someone could actually live in!

At 13 square metres (!) the LuxPod is a super clever and inspired studio. You’d never believe it but in that tiny space there is a fully functioning:
– living area,
– kitchen,
– bathroom (complete with underfloor heating and a heated mirror wall.)

You also of course have a place to sleep in the form of a double-bed and all the high-end gadgets you could ask for including a smashing speaker system with ipod/iphone dock, a flatscreen TV, electric curtains and a super-cool lighting system.

Yes, admittedly you need to be rather tidy and you need to be moving your furniture around a bit but the way the whole flat has been designed actually makes it all fairly easy to manage. Not surprisingly you need to reserve your spot to go and see this house on OpenHouse weekend (since it could probably fit at the most four or five people in the space.) However, if you want to check it out outside of OpenHouse weekend I’m sure proud owner Judith Abraham would be more than happy to show you around. She was incredibly friendly during our visit and definitely deserves to be proud of what she has achieved with the flat.

From new to old my second building for the day saw me strolling back up to and down Kensington High Street to the Former Commonwealth Institute and future Design Museum. The building has stood empty for nearly a decade but with money to invest the Design Museum plans to relocate here in 2014. The Commonwealth Institute used to house an exhibition celebrating the 54 nations of the Commonwealth. The building itself, with its radial design extending from a circulate platform located exactly at mid-point of the height and diameter of the building, is the symbolic centre of the world of the Commonwealth. The copper roof itself was specifically designed to allow harmonization with the greens of Holland Park and the tent-line exterior to blend with the soft treelines of the park.

A more creative photographer than me would have had an amazing time with all the interesting angles and shot possibilities in this empty space. Beautiful even if a work in progress.

Finally a quick stop at the Leighton House (Museum.) The centerpiece of the house was the entrance hall with a beautiful display of gorgeous Islamic tiles and this really set the tone for the rest of the house. Full of dark rich colours – I like how each of the chairs seated a pine cone. The garden or backyard really was lovely too. Shame no photos allowed inside … hence my short visit. Ha ha.

Red Fort/Zenna

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Rather confusingly I didn’t know whether I was eating at Zenna or Red Fort – I think the cocktail bar on the one hand (located sub-ground level) and the restaurant (located ground level) must have some sort of connection though if this is the case I don’t know why they bothered giving them separate names. But anyway, Roops was good enough to plan a catch up tonight and we did start with cocktails downstairs before moving to dinner upstairs.

Red Fort is a very posh Indian restaurant located in Soho. The cool thing about the restaurant was that it offered some pretty cool drinks and unusual lassi. I especially liked the Salted Caramel Lassi but they also offer an intriguing sounding Vanilla and Cashew Lassi, Coconut Lassi and Super Fruits Lassi (in addition to the more traditional Mango Lassi) and though I enjoyed the lassi the cynical side of me was thinking it was a good excuse to charge you cocktailish-esque prices …

… speaking of prices the food at Red Fort is higher than your average Indian food for not much more portion-wise. Admittedly you are sitting in some fairly swanky surrounds, the food was a bit posher than your average Indian restaurant, and their dishes did offer something a little bit more special than regular offerings. And they did well to mix British ingredients with the Indian. However, do you really need to pay £18 for a curry or £5 for rice??? They don’t even have prices on the menu on their website (which I really really hate! Is this to trick me into the restaurant? And yes I’m well familiar with the saying “If you have to ask how much …”) I’ve read lots of reviews claiming that the food is exceptional, outstanding, best food ever … but I think I would settle for it was pretty good, but you’ll certainly pay for it.

Though I have to say it was nearly worth paying just to see this little fella come out: