Movies in London at least at a typical theatre like the Odeon Whiteleys down the street from me costs you a lovely 9.25 gbp. Yes, folks, £9.25 bloody quid (British slang for pound). Translated to USD, we’re talking about paying like 20 bucks(rounded up). Now, I think $10 is steep for a movie already …. but $20 USD for a bloody movie!?!! That’s totally crazy…and I mean Gnarls Barkley style. I wouldn’t pay $20 if Bruce Willis and that black limo driver came to the theatre and reenacted Die Hard 1 for me. Hell, I wouldn’t pay $20 if Jessica Biel and Scarlett Johansson showed up for a live mud-wrestling match…ok maybe I would, but only if you throw Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan in there too….and maybe some Bradgelina.
All this, of course, was until Transformers hit the scene. A lot of people have been praising this movie as a throwback to the old T2 and Total Recall Days. Back when you can count on a big action flick every summer that you HAVE TO SEE on the big screen. The kind of movies where big screen and big sound matter.
So how do you watch a movie in London without giving up your 2nd iPod? There are just three ways that I have found:
1. Orange, the UK mobile company, has a deal for its customers to get two-for-one tickets on Wednesdays called Orange Wednesdays. That’s pretty cool. Will blog more about phones in the UK later.
2. Cineworld has a deal where you pay 11 quid for all-you-can-watch tickets. So you can watch Hostel 2 as many times as you want when it comes out. There are only a few locations in London and it requires a 1-year commitment, so not good unless you watch a few movies a month.
3. Download your movies.Totally legal movies only, of course. I would never suggest that you download whole Hollywood movies, burn them on to a DVD+RW and play them on your DVD player. Alternatively you could stream them to your TV if you have a receiver that can connect via wifi. If you have a laptop, many of them have s-video that can plug directly into your TV. I would most definitely never suggest downloading any movies that come out around Oscar season that say “For your Academy Consideration Only”. That would just be wrong.
I’ll let you know when I try one of these methods, which will probably be the Orange Wednesdays, as I am getting sick of watching re-runs of Dark Angel, which always seems to be on the tube here(Jessica Alba’s overrated) along with that Rihanna video. Man, I miss Tivo. Optimus Prime awaits.
Along with the rise in the British pound, which has been trading above $2 amid robust growth in the British economy, the stronger euro also makes visits to much of Europe more expensive for travelers from dollar-denominated countries, and makes shopping trips to the United States more appealing to Europeans. The pound touched $2.0275 against the dollar Tuesday, its highest in 26 years.
London has just been named the top poker destination in the world. I haven’t gone to any casinos yet, but there are tons of them around. There are two right on the high street here in Notting Hill. There’s also the big one in Leicester Square. I think the procedure is that you have to apply for membership before you can actually play. That application takes a day to clear. I guess that gives you a “cool-off period” before losing your arse to the Johnny Chans of the world.
LONDON, England — (PRESS RELEASE) — Bluff Europe, Europe’s most widely read poker magazine, has named Europe’s top five poker destinations based on a number of criteria and on the general level of poker enthusiasm in the city.
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1. London
“It was a difficult decision naming the top five poker cities in Europe,” said Michael Caselli, Editor-in-Chief of Bluff Europe, “but poker in London is like poker in no other city on earth. From the major TV tournaments like the European Poker Tour, to the gorgeous new poker room at the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square, right through to the grassroots home games, private club games, pub tournaments and online games – which are going to be regulated by the British government come September – poker is quickly becoming one the city’s most popular past times. If you want a game, anytime day or night, you’ll easily find one in London.”
Furthermore, changes in the UK gambling laws have paved the way for “Vegas-style” casinos to slowly make their way into the country, as well as to allow more licensed terrestrial poker. Poker’s growth in the UK has been recognised by the World Poker Tour® (WPT) which is expected to finalise a distribution deal with Challenge TV; and World Series of Poker, which has elected to hold the first ever WSOP Europe in the capital.
All that said. I don’t care what anyone says. There’s only ONE destination for gambling…Vegas, baby, Vegas!
I don’t own a bicycle. And if I did, I probably wouldn’t ride it in London since they drive on the wrong side of the road here. It gets pretty hectic to the point where I always look at the writing on the road that says “Look Right” or “Look Left”. If there is nothing on the road, I look Left, then Right, then Left, then Right again. Then I walk slowly until I see a car coming. I then stop in the middle of the road long enough where I get nervous and then I run right back to where I came from until the light turns green. Sorta like Frogger jumping on the wrong log…cept I make it look a lot better than that damn frog. Oh, and I also knit in my spare time. Where was I?
So this weekend, there was all kinds of stuff going on in London including Live Earth and Wimbledon, which is why I consider London to be one of the top 5 cities in the world (New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Tokyo). I’m not sure if it beats those other places but it is truly world class. One of the events that was happening in Hyde Park, which is right next to my hotel.
The coolest thing with being in London is that there seems to be an incessant number of activities always going on. I happened to be one of those million people that got to experience the event this last weekend. The following are some pics that I snapped…a couple of more in my Flickr Photostream.
Le Tour de France with all the promotional floats parading by….[Photographic panning effect]
Random Kid awaiting a stream of fast flying bikers
Lance Armstrong speeding by on his bike. Or maybe Floyd Landis…or maybe none of the above.
Everybody kicking it at Hyde Park watching the race on the big screen.
All in all the Tour de France was a pretty cool event. I’m not sure if I would pay money to see people riding bikes…unless I get a game of Frogger out of it somehow.
Here’s the start of a series on ex-pat finance. This first one is more for Travelers, which I am right now.
For Cash:
If you have a Bank of America checking account, you can get cash from any Barclays ATM in the UK and other Banks internationally without a surcharge. Otherwise you should still just hit the ATM with your bank account even through you will pay for it. That’s because the time to deal with money exchange and checking rates are not worth it while you’re on vacation. You know you will get good rates from the ATM, so just go with it.
Credit Card:
There’s only one credit card company you should consider when you travel abroad: Capital One Cash. They don’t assess the ridiculous 3% fee usually assessed by your credit cards like Chase and Bank of America. That’s $3 for every $100! In London that could buy you…well…maybe something on the 99 pence menu at McDonalds. Regardless, you should just get a Capital One credit card and use it for travel.
Definition: the main street of a town or city Translation: main drag
Usage:But there is real concern that people are not getting the right information about HD on the High Street so I pull out my gat and blast them.Source
There is some confusion on my part on what High Street really means because most of the towns in London have an actual street named High Street, like Kensington High Street, one of the popular shopping areas in London. High street can, however, just mean the main strip of a town without actually being named High Street. Clear as mud? Cool, welcome to London, mah Ninja.
I thought a Royale with Cheese was a Quarter Pounder in France where they use the metric system and do not have any clue WTF a pound is.
Vincent: And you know what they call a… a… a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.
Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Well, a Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-Mac.
Jules: Le Big-Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn’t go into Burger King.
Well, at the great British gourmet establishment Burger King, here’s your (Chicken) Royale with Cheese:
Don’t ask me why I’m eating Burger King in London. Sometimes you just need a quick hearty meal that doesn’t cost $20 USD. And yes, I am European now, I eat my fries with Mayo.
Lance Armstrong speeding by on his bike. Or maybe Floyd Landis…or maybe none of the above.
Everybody kicking it at Hyde Park watching the race on the big screen.
