Weeds, vegetation and dense undergrowth

We've always had conflicting feelings about the V and A. It's particularly loved by so many people, probably because it has such a wide variety of exhibits that there's something there to please everyone. However, the museum's lack of focus and its inability to properly define just what it is a museum of exactly, can sometimes grate. Nevertheless, we quite like the attitude of simply saying "Here's a load of cool stuff. Enjoy.".

So yesterday, we travelled over to South Kensington to give the place the once over. It's always a pleasure to visit any of the museums in that area of London. It's a beautiful part of the world and there's a certain grandeur to its attractions which have a suitably regal air that fits in well with the classy neighbourhood.

Anyway, the main reason behind our visit was to check out their current exhibition Out Of The Ordinary: Spectacular Craft. The exhibition consists of eight installation pieces, all of which use unusual forms and techniques. This brings a degree of novelty to the proceedings which isn't necessarily a good thing but our unease was offset by the quality of the pieces on display.

Perhaps most impressive was the piece by Chicago based artist Anne Wilson (below). Using lace, thread and netting, Wilson has created a landscape from thousands of tiny, carefully pinned pieces. It's all laid out on a table to resemble a sort of military map. The sheer scale of it and the intricate detail of the work is quite overwhelming. Meanwhile, in the background she has created a video piece showing the pieces in animated action which is so convincingly put together that they assume an animal like presence.

Elsewhere, we were impressed by Lu Shengzhong whose piece consisted of hundreds of thousands of tiny red figurines falling waterfall-like to the floor from a book. And throughout the museum, Yoshihiro Suda (top) has planted weeds, flowers and orchids in unexpected places. For its unusual nature and because it was so well executed, we were also impressed by Naomi Filmer's holographic bodies which turn as you walk across them, fully exposing you to their faults and flaws. And we have no idea how Annie Cattrell managed to give the appearance of having trapped clouds inside glass boxes, but the effect was very pretty.

This is the kind of thing which the V and A does well and every piece was both technically interesting and had something interesting to say. Our visit was followed by a general wander through the museum which often resembles that big warehouse in Indiana Jones where they store all the ancient artifacts under lock and key. There were so many things to enjoy and it made for a perfect Sunday afternoon.

The exhibition is free and runs until 17 February 2008.

Sons, Daughters and Chip Shop Lighting

We can't think of many things that we'd rather do on a Tuesday evening than go and see some Scottish indie-pop. And FREE Scottish indie-pop-Well that's just the kind of thing that makes us get over-excited and shriek like fourteen year old fan-boys. Which is essentially what we are, although slightly older than fourteen.

So it was with great anticipation that on Tuesday we popped over to capitalist relic Fopp on Shaftesbury Avenue to see Sons and Daughters play a free set in promotion of their excellent new single, Darling.

Normally, these in-store things are a bit of a drag. No matter how good the band, it's always slightly odd to be stood inside under harsh lighting. Nobody ever moshes or jumps around. Meanwhile, nervous looking security men always watch from the side with a press officer camped just to the right of the stage. The hardcore fans are usually joined by city types who have popped in after work because it's something to do. Meanwhile, we are always overwhelmed by the horrible urge to...nick stuff.

But Sons and Daughters are more than aware of this. They compensate by joking with the crowd about the artificial atmosphere. Meanwhile, they have enough great songs that they have no trouble playing a full blooded 45 minute set. They argue onstage and charm us all, merely by being genuine, having fun and having twenty times the charisma of any other band playing in London tonight.

We hear that another, much more famous band played (or at least attempted to play) an in-store gig last night, to rather more publicity than that garnered by Sons and Daughters. But we doubt Thom Yorke and his overly earnest pals had the style, wit and talent to churn out anything as good as this.

Oh-and they're playing at at Trash successor Durr on the 21st. Bonus.

Bloody Time Out

We've been meaning to write an entry about the Poetry Library in the Southbank Centre for ages. So it was slightly irritating that a certain London listings magazine wrote an excellent piece about the library a few weeks ago.

The library was closed for a while when the Southbank Centre was having its makeover but it's now re-opened and evidently their press department are currently working overtime to bang up a it of publicity. It's located on the fifth floor of the Royal Festival Hall building which is a bit of a shame because it means that people don't generally seem to know it's there.

The layout of the library is slightly old fashioned. There isn't quite enough space available for the size of the collection they have. You have to move shelves around in order to access the various collections and it doesn't have the modern, revamped feel that the rest of the building now exudes. Nonetheless, it's a great way to spend an afternoon. The collection is excellent, with a wide variety of materials that are difficult to find elsewhere. But the real enjoyment of the library comes from browsing and finding something random that appeals. Once you do find something that takes your fancy, it's an extremely relaxing place to sit and read. As Time Out remark, it offers amazing views over the South Bank and a calm atmosphere in which to settle and lose yourself.

As a library, it's certainly not contemporary in outlook. There's none of the "Ideas Centre" style that many new libraries have taken up-in fact it's got quite a serious feel about it. Not that this is a bad thing by any means, it's just unusual to come across a library that seems to go to such little effort to make itself accessible. We'd definitely recommend it though-and there aways seems to be something interesting going on elsewhere in the Southbank Centre building too, so it won't be a wasted afternoon.

Post containing the least interesting photo on this blog so far

'We're going to open our own bookshop in Wood Green. And this is going to be our story. We have the passion, the determination, and we also have a little bit of business acumen. With a little help, it might just work. It'll make for compelling reading whatever happens. We would love any advice, words of encouragement or money that you can spare, and we'll do our best to be as honest in this blog as possible.'

In August 2007, a Waterstone's in Wood Green closed down. Normally this wouldn't necessarily be a particular cause for complaint. However, if you worked there, loved books and knew that it was your local area's only bookshop, you might well have cause to be very upset indeed. That's what happened to Tim West and Simon Key, authors of the Wood Green Bookshop Blog.

Tim and Simon made the decision that they should try to open their own bookshop and that they should document their attempt to do this. The blog is a fascinating read, partly because of the docu-soap style interest that comes from reading about their plans progressing and partly because of the insights it provides into how book retail works. Equally though, it's written with great wit and never takes itself too seriously, whilst at the same time reflecting the fact that Tim and Simon clearly do have a genuine and heartfelt commitment to getting a book shop opened up in their local area.

One of their most recent entries lists the ways in which they have tried to get publicity for their cause. One of their methods was:

"Tell Chuggers (CH arity m UGGERS) "... Actually I don't have two minutes to discuss (insert cause here) But I do have twenty minutes or so to talk about my Bookshop..."". Another method was "Call up a radio phone-in with a spurious link to the subject being discussed. "..... Yes the war in Iran is a terrible thing. I was reading about it in the Big Green Bookshop... "".

Actually, to be honest, randomly selected quotes don't really do it justice. We wouldn't usually cover another blog but it's a great cause that deserves more attention. If you want to see what they're up against, check out the user comments at the bottom of this Telegraph article.

History Vs Journalism: You Decide

For all his hand-waving, stories of journalistic skulduggery and self-parody, Andrew Marr cut rather a serious figure at the annual Bagehot lecture which we previewed here. Marr came to give a talk on the subject of "History and Journalism". Beneath the media friendly veneer he had some serious points to make.It was clear right from the start that Marr considers himself to have undergone a career transformation since he left his role as the BBC's political correspondent. Since then he has authored "My Trade", part biography, part history of journalism and "A History of Modern Britain", also a very successful TV series. As a result, Marr sees himself as having undergone a partial conversion and to have become a sort of popular historian.

Having taken that path, most of his talk focused on the differences between the two professions. It was very clear that he had become tired with his role as the BBC's Political correspondent with its focus on making everyday stories sensational and easily accessible for a primtetime audience and that he was very happy to be out of the 24 hour news cycle. He spoke of his frustration at constantly being outside the room where decisions were made and how rarely he felt that he was witnessing anything that could genuinely be called "historic".

His talk was filled with snippets of insight into how his old job worked such as his delight at how Alastair Campbell's assessment of him changed from "a bit of a nuisance" to "that bastard Andrew Marr" and his accusation that he was directly "bullied" by the government during the Hutton enquiry. And inbetween, as predicted, we got the steady supply of entertaining anecdotes. Even if he could be accused of having frequently stated the obvious during the "History of Modern Britain" TV series, it was quite clear that he is taking his role as part time historian very seriously.

After a series of unusually well-chosen questions from the audience, we all wandered into the main hall where there were plentiful supplies of cocktail sausages and wine. Always a good way to end an evening.

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

We hate agreeing with the NME, who have been hyping Florida five-piece Black Kids (see above for awkward photo) recently, but we are most definitely fans. Check out their myspace site, particularly the brilliantly titled "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You". Despite the hype, they feel just a little bit too awkward to be massive. However, it's their awkwardness and (possibly calculated) rough around the edges sound that marks them out from the usual bands that are hyped in January. Also, what's best about them is that they seem to have a sense of humour and a genuine sense of fun. And don't listen to any lazy reviews which say they sound like The Cure.

On 1st February they are playing a free gig at 93 Feet East, one of our favourite venues. It's all being organised and sponsored by Vice Magazine so there may be a fair bit of brand-flogging at the event, but since it's free we can't be too bitter. To get tickets, you need to go to the Vice website and fill in a short form.

Support comes from Friendly Fires and Ipso Facto. The former are great, although they do have a nasty habit of inserting "funky" bass-lines into their songs. We don't know much about Ipso Facto but it's all free so is surely worth investigating.

His ears aren't as funny as people make out

Political journalist and ex-newspaper editor Andrew Marr will be giving a free lecture at the Queen Mary, University of London on Tuesday. Marr is best known for his hand-waving, over-excited style as chief Political Correspondent for the Beeb. He also wrote the excellent "My Trade", a journalist's guide to journalism. "My Trade" was occasionally a bit smug but gave some genuine insight into a what came a cross as a rather squalid, nasty business.

He will be speaking on the topic of "History and Journalism" for the University's annual Bagehot lecture. He's always engaging and can probably be relied upon to supply a steady line of entertaining anecdotes at the very least. There's more details about the event here. Tickets can be obtained by e-mailing them at this address. We'll certainly be going along and hope to give a full report next week.