Culture Tiger

This week has been a particularly thrilling one with the semi finals of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest from Malmö leading up to tonight’s grand final. On Tuesday night, viewers were stunned by a kilt-wearing giant carrying Ukraine’s Zlata Ognevich onto a rock, bedazzled by Ireland’s tattooed topless drummers and left aghast by Montenegrin dubstep astronauts failing to quality for the final. On Thursday, theatricality and drama were cranked up to the max with high pitched pop opera by a vampire cloak-clad Cezar from Romania and a dancer in a glass case mirroring the moves of Azerbaijan’s Farid Mammadov. This year’s contest will be a vintage year for Eurovision - viewers playing Eurovision-themed drinking games, such as a drink per smoke machine or folk musical instrument, will be pickled like gherkins.

If the glorious bank holiday sunshine didn't perk you up then look no further than Lekiddo - Lord of the Lobsters! Still from Beautiful London video © Lekiddo2012  Lekiddo's music is the ultimate in feel-good fun with a generous dose of eccentricity thrown in. 'Beautiful London', a sunny tribute to the capital,  is a vibrant mix of pop, rap and a chorus straight out of infectious musical theatre. A joyous guide through the city, 'Beautiful London' lovingly dances and leaps through the sights and sounds of the city including Buckingham Palace, the parks, the theatres and the markets. And there's no rain or commuter misery in sight. If anything, 'Beautiful London' makes me more proud to be a Londoner than last year's Olympics!

Following the success of Hollywood Costume, the V&A brings us another box office smash hit with David Bowie Is. So far in 2013, David Bowie has reappeared at the forefront of the public conscious with the build up to this exhibition and the release of new album The Next Day following a refreshingly subtle marketing campaign. The V&A’s latest offering will undoubtedly attract masses of visitors even more eclectic than usual to a single exhibition - there is no such thing as a typical Bowie fan. My first memory of Bowie was his introduction in the TV production of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman with butter yellow hair and patterned jumper. But for others, their first Bowie memory could be anything from a Top of the Pops appearance from one of several decades to one of many feature films.  

As part of my days-long birthday celebrations, I arranged an overdue trip to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden with Hull Girl to see a matinee of the Royal Ballet’s much anticipated latest triple bill. A 20th century classic and brand new ballets from two of today’s top choreographers? You’re spoiling us!

Valentino: Master of Couture at Somerset House explores the career of one of the world’s most prolific (and smoothest) Italian fashion designers with a vast display of his couture from the past fifty years.This exhibition is full-on excess glamour with a nod to the craft that went behind it. The first room is a walk-in biography of Valentino Garavani (famously known by only his first name just like Cher) with timelines highlighting key points in his career and displays of candid photographs, sketches, show invitations, press cuttings and correspondence from the likes of royalty, film stars, fashion editors and fellow designers. It resembles shoeboxes and scrapbooks of memoirs tipped out and meticulously categorised. I did become a little weary of the constant celebrity name-dropping - is it too vulgar? -  but it does emphasise the incredible influence Valentino had in the world of high fashion. Jackie Kennedy in a one shoulder Valentino gown during her visit to Cambodia i...

Hollywood Costume is the V&A’s latest show stopping event, dazzling with an immense collection of costumes from silent film  to contemporary blockbusters and a highly thorough insight into the painstaking work that goes into creating costumes. Walking into the exhibition evoked the feeling of walking into a darkened cinema  - spine-tingling dramatic music and a huge screen ahead of you with a montage of popular films from the past century. Rather than using the orthodox method of showing exhibits in chronological order, Hollywood Costume is laid out according to subject such as characters’ backstory and ever-changing technology so you’d have exhibits made in different time periods placed right next to each other. There are also in-depth case studies such as the research that went into each character’s costume in Ocean’s Eleven - brilliantly displayed with the costumes (with actors’ faces on suspended small screens) sitting around a table filled with projected images of s...

Welcome to my shiny new blog space devoted to arts, entertainment and good times from the decadent to the cheap and cheerful. Here I will update you with reviews and accounts of experiences of a diverse range of events and activities from exhibitions and theatre productions to cultural festivals and TV shows. I will also give you an insight into my culture heroes as well as films, music and shows that have made a long lasting impression on me.  2013 looks like it’s going to be a fun packed year whether you’re staying in watching the box or painting the town in all manner of sparkly colours. Enjoy the ride!   Next week: Review on V&A’s Hollywood Costume and my first Latin Ballroom class for Beginners.