Sex and the City 2

Sex and the City’s crass fairytale: a barman writes

JULIAN HALL — 10TH JUNE 2010

An appalling film shouldn't erase the delights of Carrie and co.'s TV outings

“Customers—don’t serve them til you see the whites of their eyes, lads.”

These words of wisdom came from a colleague at a bookshop where I used to work part-time, and they rang in my head last week as I faced an army of women, all heels, elbows and attitude, stomping their way to the cinema bar where I work (also part-time) to lubricate their excitement at the prospect of Sex and the City 2. In the whites of these girls’ eyes were cosmopolitan-fuelled sugar plum princesses, dancing in expensive shoes, dreaming of romantic love and material comfort.

Did I resent them, for taking the bar’s promotional slogan seriously and getting “Carried away” by ordering fourteen cocktails in one go? For getting huffy and clicking their heels twice if they didn’t get served in the order of their perceived importance within the group rather than the order of their appearance at the bar? Probably. But did I blame them for being spellbound by fairytale imagery? No.

For the rest of this article please visit: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/06/sex-and-the-citys-crass-fairytale-a-barman-writes/#more-82614

Lembit Opik Tries Stand Up

Lembit Opik takes the stage

JULIAN HALL — 3RD JUNE 2010

He lost his seat... so he has to stand up

Perhaps Lembit Opik turning from politics to comedy was not such a surprise. After all, this is the man who played cheeky boy to a Cheeky Girl and had a penchant for backing doomed leadership campaigns within his own party, with the effect of Norman Wisdom’s incompetent Norman Pitkin character coming out as your running mate. With such comedy heritage, what could possibly go wrong?

This was entirely the approach of the former MP who lost one of the Liberal Democrats’ safest seats in last month’s election and so missed out on the consequent coalition jamboree. “It’s like Dr Pepper” he told those assembled at his press conference yesterday morning before the evening gig at the Backstage Comedy Club, adding the requisite tagline, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

For the rest of the article please visit: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/06/lembit-opik-takes-the-stage/