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Underground > Gathering >

Dinner and a movie? Non-pub meets

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Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

10:14 / 18.02.02

Formerly from another thread:

Re: non-pub barbemeets, there has been at least one museum trip back when I was a tiny young barbething, and various gig, club and theatre trips. These have often then gone to the pub, but not as the be-all and end-all. Simply put, the best way to get a large turn-out is to declare a meet in a pub, because the things people do in pubs - drink alcoholic drinks, drink soft drinks and eat crisps - are pretty universal, whereas, for example, it may not be so easy to find a restaurant serving both Thai and Indian cuisine. My personal uncertainty about restaurant meets is also that restaurant seating arrangements have comparatively little give, so the London Clique would position themselves around one and blank everyone else even more successfully than in an open-plan pub.

Notwithstanding this, it is worth noting that there have been quite a few pub meets of late and comparatively few other meets - excepting the trip to "A day in the death of Joe Egg", and the odd gig. So, should we be thinking of doing other things?

Like....restaurants?

Museums?

Art galleries?

Cultural events?

Movies?

What floats the barbeboat?

10:19 / 18.02.02

Any and all of the above. Keen to kickstart myself on some theatre-going in particular - and also quite fancy sharing nasi goreng once in a while, London Clique or whatever.

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:02 / 18.02.02

I like the idea of other meets like this - but it's worth remembering that the benefit of some of them - the discussion, I mean - is only going to come in the social activity after the play/gig/whatever; which will either be online, or in the pub, post-event... so, except for dining (or unless there's a massive cafe secreted nearby - the pub's still going to come up in the scheme of things.

Unless we picnic. Which is indeed an option.

11:07 / 18.02.02

Drink sangria in the park? Feed animals in the zoo?

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:19 / 18.02.02

Sangria: the fuel for the revolutionary fires...

11:43 / 18.02.02

Well with summer comming up picnics in the park are extremely pleasent...

But yes

while cultural event are all well and good (and already engaged in to a greater or lesser extent) when it comes to finding places large enough to accomodate a fair few of us for more than an hour or two at a time then there are very few options open... Starbucks anyone?

I would of course b keen to see any alterative suggestions

13:06 / 18.02.02

Alton Towers

Goodness Gracious Meme

13:21 / 18.02.02

This is absolutely a good idea.

think the picnic idea is a goody... people bring food and drink and chill out in a park somewhere (or on the beach if y'all wanna plod down here) - need useful fallback plan due to shitty british weather tho'

restaurants/dinner things also cool, it's a much different vibe to sitting in the pub all night, and one i like... and there are shitloads of good and not too expensive restaurants in london

gallery stuff would be fun but possibly a bit tedious wiht dozens of people?

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:28 / 18.02.02

Ghadis's suggestion isn't as crazy as it sounds - ages and ages ago, there was talk of a Barbelith trip to Edinburgh... We might not want to go that far, or to Alton Towers (or we might, I dunno), but I think getting together and going somewhere might be a lot of fun... Anyone got any ideas where? Again, this might be best done when the weather's nice... Brighton? Another beach? Somewhere nice and green?

Gallerys are a good idea too, although a large crowd of probably quite noisy Barbelods might not go down too well at anywhere smaller than Tate Modern...

13:40 / 18.02.02

Surely gallery meetings would be less likely to appeal across the board (ho ho) than a booze-up? I think people would be much more likely to pick and choose which ones they wanted to go to. This is probably true of any occasion-specific meetings - so, if someone posted to the Gathering saying they wanted to go and see a showing of a film I probably wouldn't sign up, because I hate films; and likewise if I were to post a thread about going to see some Gillray cartoons there probably wouldn't be a huge uptake (if any, in fact)...

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

13:41 / 18.02.02

Well, this is a thing - a lot of bits of "kultur" are best handled in small units, in which case not really a barbemeet as much as a few chums getting together (like a CLIQUE), unless you split into little groups, go around the gallery or whatever and then get back together at the end - see above, really.

Restaurants and things are fine, except I can;t shake the feeling that they would need a finite membership. Take Cherry Bomb's Saturday thing - if that had taken place in a restaurant, it would have been incredibly difficult for us all desperately to seek out Cherry's company in anything like an equitable distribution, and all 20-30 people would have been stuck in place, probably around 4 or 5 tables...plus, as has been pointed out, everyone would have to start and finish eating at about the same time.

Picnic does actually sound like a pretty cool idea, although it does place a pressure on people to stump up a contribution to the group in a way that the pub meet does not, which is perhaps a bit of a challenge for those without money or culinary skills...

Goodness Gracious Meme

13:42 / 18.02.02

dare i suggest going dancing? (as an end in self rather than a sozzled 'need more beer' exercise?)

no. thought not.

The Natural Way

13:49 / 18.02.02

Well, ordinarily I'm always up for dancing....

You asking?

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

13:49 / 18.02.02

Actually, there was a teeny-tiny London Clique dancefest on Friday night, at which everyone was pretty sober...

It's not a terrible idea, though ideally would involve (a) dance clubs opening earlier and (b) a space with both quietness *and* noise...

Hooom.

21:10 / 18.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Lick my plums, bitch.:
restaurants/dinner things also cool, it's a much different vibe to sitting in the pub all night, and one i like... and there are shitloads of good and not too expensive restaurants in london

thank you for saying that.

see, it's not just me who thinks so!

and it's really not as difficult to organise as some people seem to think. i've recently been to 2 or 3 mass restaurant meets (20 or so people). simple. discuss and decide on price bracket, food type and numbers, and then just book the damn thing.

as far as concern that some people won't want to eat and will maybe only want to drink: this is rarely a problem for large groups. the wait-staff are always pleased not to have to deal with so many food orders (and they still get a tip!) and if we aim for somewhere that has reasonable starters or snacky food as well as main courses, they can nibble whilst drinking if they're that bothered (though i've never had a problem with that)

and i am aware that doing something "cultural" will possibly involve pub-based discussion afterwards. as i said in the other thread, i'm not against pubmeets. i just want a little more variety, and is that such a bad thing?

btw, i think the daytrip idea is a FAB one. we could pick somewhere that none of us have been to and make a real adventure of it. naturally i'm sure it would involve a pub somewhere (surely that'd be part of the fun), but for once the pub wouldn't be the main focus, and that would be refreshing.

Jack The Bodiless

21:40 / 18.02.02

I like the idea of a day trip... especially to Brighton, which will cost the same amount to get to as getting to London for us Soton types...

The thing Haus mentioned about the seating hassle in a restaurant is only a teeny issue with these things. Simply put, it's difficult enough talking to everyone you want to talk to at a large meet anyway, and usually involves a lot of moving tables, chairs, swapping seats, movements of bags, coats, et al... this is more difficult to do in a restaurant, but not impossible...

And not all of us are local. If people are just going to meet up in a restaurant for a couple of hours and then gradually drift away, it's unlikely to be worth the time and cash for some of us to attend. If I'm goingto be in London for a day or so anyway, for example, I might arrange to meet a couple of people, but this would be an addendum to my main reason for being there, as a rule (vis the RFH meet, which started out as a shopping trip for me and spooky for a couple of days, with a 'quick pint' with Haus thrown in, and ended up being a relatively oversized pub meet). I wouldn't necessarily be able to afford to 'pop' down to the smoke for a couple of hours to hang with people.

Also: not all of us will appreciate galleries/museums/etc. And believe it or not, and despite my own more obvious dependencies, my usual reason for attending these things is to hang out with people I like and respect very much, and enjoy their company. Drink not necessarily being that high on the list. So I'll go to the opening of an envelope, provided I get to see people, and provided it's worth a three/four hour round trip costing £15/£20 just for travel.

And kooky... no disrespect, mate, but the tragic, snippy tone is starting to weary. If this is such a big issue for you, stop griping and organise something you do feel fresh and daisy-like about. Going on and on like this and then saying 'but I'm not organising anything. I can't be arsed' is a little rich...

14:03 / 19.02.02

I think start in the pub, toddle off in various groups to do Cool Things, reconvene at a restaurant after, might be a plan.

Goodness Gracious Meme

18:46 / 19.02.02

tried to post with links and ubb's eaten it. bah.

anyway, an exhibition that i reckon lots of barbeloids would like is Steebecket, the Atom Egoyan installation at the old Museum of Mankind buildings. check out the artangel website for info. on till MArch 17, i think.

and purely selfishly, i fancy the annkika larsson/LA raeven show at the ica if anyone's up for it...

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

08:06 / 20.02.02

Saw the private view, alas, but could stomach it again - the Larsson is a bit disappointing - "Polisi" is good but "Dog" is unintentionally hilarious. Likewise "Wild Zone 2" is a bit shit but "Wild Zone 1" definitely worth seeing. And - hey! there's a restaurant/bar in the ICA itself! How perfect! Or we could go to a nearby Angus steakhouse. Go on....tell me you've never been curious....

08:14 / 20.02.02

I don't know though... I didn't feel much like eating after Wild Zone 1. Having a stiff drink, yes; eating, no.

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:20 / 20.02.02

What about Nan Golding at the Whitechapel Art Gallery? I keep meaning to go (and not just because it's local), although I have to confess I find it slightly annoying that almost every other exhibition at the Whitechapel has been free, but stick a few photos of trannies in there and suddenly it's just under a fiver to get in. But anyway, failing that I'd be up for the Atom Egoyan... And I'm rather fond of the ICA despite myself, but don't know anything about these people - who are they, and why did some of their work make you lose your appetite, Kit-Kat?

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

08:20 / 20.02.02

Sorry, can't tell you because you are not an Ideal Individual.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:08 / 20.02.02

From the ICA Website:

quote:Annika Larsson['s] work presents a disturbing choreographed universe populated by highly stylised men playing carefully orchestrated but unfathomable games... the video is full of sado-masochistic longings, heightened suspense and speculation... a voyeuristic fantasy that pushes stereotypes to its extremes, whilst raising questions about control, normality, power and aesthetics.

L.A. Raeven are fascinated with body image, the fashion, art and media worlds and their marketing strategies, which they subvert in their performances, video installations and public interactions. LA Raeven subvert these strategies. In their work they also play with the notion of 'wicked twins' and 'evil twins'. The idea of twins gone bad, focusing on the sometimes unbearable psychological condition of closeness that is defining of twins relationships.

Eeeen-teresting...

12:13 / 20.02.02

Picnic is very good idea. Tremendous in fact. All that open space. And food.

As is a daytrip - remember we were gonna go to Blackpool on a bus? what happened to that?

As far as resturant's go, I'm something of a nazi-philistine-bastard when it comes to food. Bread is the way to go.

12:17 / 20.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Lick my plums, bitch.:

anyway, an exhibition that i reckon lots of barbeloids would like is Steebecket, the Atom Egoyan installation at the old Museum of Mankind buildings. check out the artangel website for info. on till MArch 17, i think.

What.

What?

WHAT???!!?

>>Hyperventilates with thoughts of Atom Egoyan's talent, passes out<<

12:22 / 20.02.02

flyboy - i went to the nan golding exhibition a couple of weeks ago and it left me thinking, loads of pics of nan golding's mates.....so what?. as both photography and art it left me cold. bjork's soundtrack was the best thing there. and it was terribly overpriced, although apparently it's free on tuesdays.

was far more impressed/stirred by del grace's portraits.

12:23 / 20.02.02

As an American, it struck me as kind of odd (cool, but odd) that even the NLP seminar meet wound up in a pub afterward. (Oof, and me on a schedule, too. Could've spent hours there.)

12:44 / 20.02.02

So what would Americans have done after NLP then, Grant? The pub's just a good place to stay with the people you've been working with and talk about the day, surely?

Thinking further about this, I suppose you could go for coffee - but it's not that easy to find comfortable coffee bars for a crowd here, and you don't tend to stay so long.

I remember when I first moved to New Zealand, going 'tramping' in the bush all day and then just assuming we'd retire to a pub when we got back... I was quite disturbed when everyone just went home to have their wholesome dinners!

[ 20-02-2002: Message edited by: Ariadne ]

13:54 / 20.02.02

The pub is definitely my natural habitat. If I'm at a loose end I automatically think "pub", even - possibly especially - not to get hammered. Just a couple of pints, half a packet of fags and some good chat. Shopping trips always end up in the pub. Post gig/theatre/performance - pub. Meeting people for interviews - pub. God, I don't know what I'd do without the pub. I love it.

13:59 / 20.02.02

I think we were a little hampered after the NLP thing by the fact that there wasn't really anywhere else we could have gone near Charlton House... but I suspect we would have ended up in the pub anyway.

06:05 / 21.02.02

Of course, some of us ALSOended up going to a resaurant after the pub after the nlp thing...

08:48 / 21.02.02

more nlp and pubs i say...

i was going to post about trying to sort out something like that again...is quiz-kid still about???

or maybe getting together some sort of creative writing workshop thingy...if anyone has any exercises they wanted to do we could take it in turns...something like that...maybe get Charlton House again on a nice day...

and then the pub

08:48 / 21.02.02

How about something like this -

Barbehouse

Probably a bit mad but has there ever been a Barbelith holiday? how about a Barbelith world tour of the UK - maybe a little far fetched...

08:48 / 21.02.02

suggestions that aren't entirely pub-based:

kew gardens. even if the weather's not that great, there's always the hothouses and museums.

boat cruise down the river. do it on a sunday and we can go for a wander round greenwich market. or the maritime museum which is free now (and might have stuff about pirates! arrr!)

alternatively, narrowboat trip on the canal.

picnic in the wetlands? (when it's warmer)

psychogeographic wander around the streets of our fair city? this could, indeed even be turned into something of a pub crawl, though it would be nicer to make the walk and the exploration the thing of the day.

trip up the london eye. something we can do as a whole group. well worth doing, i'd love to do it again (though we better book fast if we wanna do it before they stop it for repairs)

one of those cheesy jump-on-jumo-off tourist buses. never done it. would be fun in a crowd.

there's always an opp. to visit a pub at some point...

i'm still up for a meal though.

11:35 / 21.02.02

I think Americans probably would have wound up at a restaurant. Not sure.

If I was in London, depending on the direness of the weather, I'd like a picnic in Greenwich Common.

Mmm. Picnics.

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