Almost Perfect Sunday

A quick entry to share what's been going on with me. The last weekend was mainly spent on a Jazz concert I was invited to by a friend of mine and an exhibition dedicated to RCA graduation works.

This particular Jazz event was an interesting experiment since it turned out to be only music with hardly any lyrics which really did test my patience and attention. Meanwhile, friends I went with were mostly involved in small social conversations and alcohol consumption (which I was guilty of as well). Luckely the concert ended sooner then the staff had a chance to remove us after several warnings. But I guess it would be fun to see them doing it.

The following day was a lazy one. After 15 minutes run through the exhibition @ V&A me, Natalia and our common friends went to Brompton Quarter Brassiere for a quick dinner. It felt like it was almost everyone's desire to ruin the atmosphere by talking about work, the coming Monday morning etc etc, which made me think about calling ill next morning.

The next day an unpleasant surprise was waiting for me at work. After all the struggle for going to bed early and waking up at 7am it turned out that it was my day off. Fuck! Luckily I found something to occupy myself with, so all my effort was not for nothing.

My cultural experiences

Since I came back to London a bit earlier then my work should have started I decided to dedicate the previous week to cultural events I was dying to attend.

The first one on my list was the contemporary version of Molière's The Misanthrope with Keira Knightly as the lead actress. For me personally she seemed to be a strange choice for the role despite her ability to attract required attention and attendance as a celebrity. However, Martin Crimp's rewriting of the play appeared to be a worthy undertaking for her.

Being skeptical at the beginning I admit that I enjoyed the modern Misanthrope very much. Although, Ms Knightly overdoes it sometimes her partner Damian Lewis captivates the public from his very first appearance on stage and thereby makes slips of the others barely noticeable.

The next day I and my friend went to see Billy Elliot The Musical. Honestly speaking the idea of watching it hasn't crossed my mind at all before I learned of its success on Broadway.

The musical employs an interesting combination of theatrical performance and musical that does not let the audience get bored for 3 hours. It is also refreshing and funny to hear young actors using coarse words and see the use of a high-tech stage. No doubt it was well received across the pond.

Varekai by Cirque du Soleil became the climax of my cultural programme. I have always been kind of obsessed with Cirque and its performances. For me it represents the perfect

mixture of acrobatics, acting and design which define contemporary circus. What is special about the Cirque is that their different shows have different themes and that their performers are usually dressed in elaborate outfits with make up to go. The production format and act performed never fail to impress even the spoiled audience.

Saturday, 16th January 2010

This was the first weekend when I am properly back to my normal life, when weekends are for chilling and wondering aroung the city - trying new places and visiting old favorites.

 On Saturday we went to eat at Polpo, which was supposed to be the new buzzy little restaurant accoring to BA magazine. Well, the interior is cozy but a bit too dark, menu was limited for lunch  - which was a combo of Italian bite-size nibbles and slighly more substential  mains (though it was Italian, felt more like tapas)... I don't know if it was supposed to be pretentious but I think you have to be a pretty dull foodie to be impressed with potenta everyting and very poor seasoning - to the point that everything was either over or under saulted. We haven't tryed deserts though and will probably have to come back to see the full menu, but not in the near future

so after Polpo, we had to take our minds off with familiar Yamcha, where not only the tea is great but people spottingg is wonderful too

Then went to see a movie (which deserves a separate post) and had a walk to LOndon Bridge through a foggy South Bank.

Things and Thoughts

Since the year has just begun I am analyzing 2009 and thinking what to do in the next 12 months. In general I liked the way last year turned out and I though I became much calmer and self-composed in a way, however some presents from my very close friends made me think a little bit. To me knives, red nail polish and an address book divided according to the hair colour, suggests I am kind of an action woman, when I thought of myself as a monk recently… food for thought

Changing the subject, finally managed to see Pop Life at Tate Modern. Absolutely loved it, very good collection and really good audio guide (thanks for the advice :). Sex and incredible self-promotion definitely sells.

We are back!

As Natalia has written we are back!

A lot has happened during those weeks we weren't blogging. Not sure if N has desire to write about her stuff, so I'm gonna share a bit of mine. First of all, I got a temporary position in Burberry. I know it's not much and the pay isn't big, but at least it was fun and I got some pocket money to spend on Christmas presents. On the picture below you can see my working place in a showroom in Burberry's new headquarters, which luckily for me are 5 minutes away from my flat!

Oh God, I loathe my previous year UK Christmas experience. However, this time I decided to stay here with my dad for the sake of attending Christmas sale and doing things I couldn't earlier due to busy working hours. The major events worth mentioning Paul McCartney's concert at O2 and some gig at Ronnie Scotts that I truly enjoyed despite of being vaguely familiar with jazz or McCartney's work.

For the New Year I went back home. This year I was surprised by the amount of snow and cold that supposedly should be a regular thing for Moscow, but don't happen that often. It really did feel like a proper Russian winter! These winter holidays have been spent under the motto "get drunk and be happy".

Russian Winter

It's time to get back to blogging, which should really be one of our new year resolutions - to blog more and more often.

My 2010 statered at home, with a bunch of close friends, in the snowy country house, where I was given a role of a head (and only) chef, and I throughly enjoyed cooking for a lot of dear to me people... In general my trip home this time was dominated by food - it was way to cold outside so I spent most of the time indoors ... cooking, eating, smoking shisha, chatting, relaxing and sleeping like it's going out of fashion.

I liked it but I am glad to be back to my normal self .