This bathysphere is perplexing.
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Marcus Ericsson 'Strongtrousers''s LiveJournal:
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| Friday, May 23rd, 2008 | | 11:49 am |
Beer
Off to the Cambridge Beer Festival tomorrow. I guess I'll be around from 12.30ish until early evening or thereabouts, should anyone fancy running into me there. Mmmm beeeeer. | | Friday, March 7th, 2008 | | 9:52 pm |
Oh, what to do?
Hello, O lovely internets. Sorry I haven't been about in a while. The thing is, the corporeal world seems to be taking all my time.
However, I do seem to be a bit at a loss for tomorrow. The vague plan was to find some amenable company, and a hostelry showing the rugby, but initial enquiries suggest that rugby fans are in short supply in the Metropolis. So, anyone fancy a pint or several and some nice butch chaps chasing a funny-shaped ball? Or, for that matter, any other suggestions of what I could do with my Saturday, in London or within reasonable driving distance thereof? It would be nice to see some of you whom I don't as often as I should.
Adieu, M | | Tuesday, December 25th, 2007 | | 9:06 pm |
Merry Boozemas one and all
Back in the familial bosom, as 'twere, for my first Christmas at home in five years. A touch dull, but the food is adequate and the booze plentiful. Bless my family - I have received no fewer than six shirts and three pairs of trousers today. And some underwear. I hope you're all just as charmed by the whole affair.
Heading up to Cambridge tomorrow for a few days, so if any of you in that vicinity need any further excuse for a drink please let me know.
I've rather shamefully left my brandy downstairs, so I'd better get back to it before it evaporates. Adieu.
Current Music: Wizzard. Bloody Wizzard. | | Thursday, December 6th, 2007 | | 5:47 pm |
Coarseness Hello all. This is a reminder that my play starts tonight, details earlier in this journal to which I can't be bothered to link. I have bought tickets for some people as follows: Fri 7th: ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) atreic +1 Fri 14th: glamwhorebunniSat 15th: wildeabandon +1, kateqp, yvesilenaMost of you owe me money; cash on the night will be ideal. I understand that some others may have bought tickets through other people; if you are coming it would be nice to know when so I can be extra-good for you. If anyone else wants to come now is the time to shout; availability is limited and some nights have sold out. Wish me, um, broken limbs or something. | | Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 | | 2:46 pm |
Treading the (squeaky) boards As some of you know, I've been keeping myself busy on stage recently. Therefore you are all invited to come and see me in: COARSE ACTING - The Revenge An evening of four short plays celebrating amateur theatre at its worst, presented according to the rules of Michael Green's best-selling work "The Art of Coarse Acting". Present Slaughter Henry the Tenth (Part Seven) A Fish in Her Kettle The Cherry Sisters Shakespeare it ain't (well, mostly) but it is still funny at time of going to press, and we haven't peaked yet. The Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham Riverside, TW1 3DU Thursday 6th December - Saturday 15th December. 7.45 p.m. except: Sunday 9th December - 4.00 p.m. Matinees (as well as evening performances) both Saturdays at 3.00 p.m. No performance Wenesday 12th December Tickets can only be purchased by members of the Theatre, so if you want to come, let me know in comments and I'll arrange them. Tickets are £8, except the final Friday and Saturday evening performances, which are £10, and the first Saturday, which is a Gala Performance (I don't know what that means either) and therefore £12. Clear? Additionally, for anyone interested (and I know a couple of you have mentioned that you might be) auditions for the production of Titus Andronicus at the same theatre are coming up. Details are here. Strictly speaking, you need to be an Acting Member to audition, but you'll probably be able to join after the audition if you get a part and not bother if not. | | Friday, August 31st, 2007 | | 4:57 pm |
I aten't ded (but my phone is) Hello everyone, I'm afraid my phone is a bit dead at the moment. If you have a really pressing need to get hold of me (though I can't for the life of me imagine why) please comment below (screened) and I'll get back to you as soon as I can be arsed. In other news, I'm moving house next week. Huzzah, shiny new place to spend all my money on at Ikea. If anyone was feeling nice to me they could come and help me move all my stuff out of the old place in Archway next Saturday at about one-ish as otherwise I'll be moving big heavy furniture all on my lonesome. Thank you. I'll buy you beer or somethng. And there'll be a housewarming at some point soonish. Yes. Elsewise, I went to see the RSC yesterday. That's Reduced Shakespeare Company, obviously. It's not seen them before and it was excellent, particularly an entirely unexpected roz_mcclure popping up as a very not-one-dimensional-at-all Ophelia. Um, that's kind of all I have right now, chaps. I'll take a leaf out of the RSC's folio and give you a musical interlude until the intermission. wim-o-weh In wim-o-weh the wim-o-weh jungle wim-o-weh the wim-o-weh mighty wim-o-weh jungle wim-o-weh the wim-o-weh lion wim-o-weh sleeps wim-o-weh tonight wim-o-weh ooh wim-o-weh ooh-ee-oo-um-wim-o-weh wim-o-weh wim-o-weh *intermission* | | Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 | | 4:12 pm |
On the road... Dear Internets, My lovely C and I, along with the also lovely yvesilena will be moving in together in a month and a bit or so, which is rather exciting. On the other hand, it leaves my also also lovely housemates, libellum and glamwhorebunni, with a bit of a housemate shortage. So does anyone want a room in a charming flat in London from sometime in September? I'm probably fairly flexible on just when I need to move out. Here (slight factual errors corrected) is what libellum has to say about it: " ( My lovely housemate strongtrousers is, alas, no more. )I can only say that it's a nice, characterful room in a nice, convenient spot, with nice people. I've been happy there and there will be a twinge of regret when I leave despite the shininess of my new arrangements. Do pass this on to anyone else who might be interested - the last thing I want to do is leave H and J in the lurch. | | Saturday, July 28th, 2007 | | 5:33 pm |
Pubbity-pub Britannia at the Pembury was a success last week, and much fun was had. vardebedian has written it up better than I can be bothered to. Which begs the question, does anyone fancy joining me at 4ish tomorrow for another game? I'll be in the Pembury anyway, so if no-one wants to commit in advance I'll recruit when I get there. | | Monday, July 16th, 2007 | | 10:37 pm |
Britannia in Londinium? Ever since I moved to London I have been missing Britannia, a board game that I played in my student days. I have a set, just not the requisite four people and long afternoon to play it. I wonder if some of the regulars or irregulars at the Pembury board games and beer Sunday gatherings might be persuaded to join me for a game this week? The basic premise is of a game of conquest based around the events in Britain from the Roman invasion to the Norman Conquest (just the period I happened to be "studying", in fact). Each player controls a number of nations, who arrive from the sea at designated times, and fight for Victory Points which are weighted towards historical occurrences and ambitions. Here is a site with some more information (much of which is to do with the recent reissue with tweaking, alas). It's good fun, but it does take a good four hours to play through (and only balances at the end). Does anyone fancy meeting me at the Pembury at say, 4 o'clock on Sunday, so as to leave time for some of the other excitements that fine hostelry provides? EDIT: Places for this Sunday have been filled. Since there's a bit of a clamouring from people unable to make it this week, I might just make it a (semi-)regular thing, so nobody gets left out. Aren't I nice? | | Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 | | 6:16 pm |
Booooooooooooooze (mostly of interest to Cambridge people)
I seem to have been neglecting my Cambridge people of late, what with not having been up since Christmas and all that. So I thought, how could I arrange it that I miss as few people as possible in a Cambridge weekend. The answer came in big spangly letters (you'll have to imagine the big and spangly as I don't do html)
BEER FESTIVAL
It is my intention to sit in the Cambridge Beer Festival from as early as I can make it on Friday 25th until it stops on the Saturday. I would be very surprised and somewhat annoyed not to bump into lots of you there. Let me know if you'll be there and want to see me and I'll make sure I find you.
If anyone were to volunteer crashspace for the Friday and Saturday nights to save me falling asleep under a tramp that would be extremely kind and I would repay you in BEER.
Big manly boozy bear hugs,
M | | Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 | | 8:42 pm |
"Base camp, can you hear me?" "Sure we can, sweetie-pumpkin. Mwah!" Dear friends list, Have you all gone butch? There's been barely a mention of the marvellous impending camptasm that is Eurovision on here. Surely all eyes should be on what the fuck is going to happen in the post-Lordi era (apparently more transvestites than you can shake a sequinned frock at and weird eastern European folk-trance, apparently, so no change there). And we've got air hostesses! I'd be inviting you all to a party for it if I had one of those tellybox doohickies for the watching of it. Trouble is, I don't. So the big question (other than "why is there Belgian Disco?") is, who (preferably in This London) will grant me a bit of sofa and a far-seeing machine for the purposes of indulging my queenier side? G'wan, I'll bring cocktails! Love and expansive kisses-in-the-vague-vicinity-of-the-chee k, M Current Mood:  camp as christmasCurrent Music: Verka Serdyuchka "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" | | Monday, May 7th, 2007 | | 10:06 pm |
Back from the Very Far North. 1,581 miles at the wheel of my aged jet-powered sofa, but oh so very much worth the effort. Beautiful sunshine all week, entirely deserted pure white sandy beaches (one of which squeaked excitingly when walked on), views to die for and marvellous company. Photos courtesy of the ever snap-happy mostly_a_cat are here. Being back at the grindstone in the big smoke tomorrow does not appeal in the slightest. | | Thursday, April 26th, 2007 | | 6:15 pm |
We ride North!
Off to Scotland. Back Sunday week. No internet. No mobile reception, will pick up texts every couple of days, so that's the best chance of getting hold of me if by some strange chance you neeeeed to.
Bliss.
Have a good week.
M | | Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 | | 5:31 pm |
If she don't give a damn or a damnlet... As some of you know, my relative absence from society of late has much to do with finding myself on stage again and the rigours of really quite a long rehearsal schedule. All this is coming to fruition quite soon so if you want to come and see me as Horatio in an obscure little play called Hamlet, by one W. Shakespeare, whoever he is, then now is the time to tell me to arrange you some tickets. It's at the Mary Wallace Theatre in Twickenham, which is an extremely pleasant little venue with a cheap bar. Dates and times are as follows: Saturday 10th March, 7.45 Sunday 11th March, 4.00 (don't come to this one if you could come another night, as there is an international rugby match kicking off in Twickenham at the same time as the show) Monday 12th March, 7.45 Tuesday 13th March, 7.45 No performance Wednesday Thursday 15th March, 7.45 Friday 16th March, 7.45 Saturday 17th March, 3.00 and 7.45 Tickets can only be bought by members, so if you want to come (and I can assure you you do; it's looking pretty good already) then comment below with your preferred night and I'll arrange you a ticket. Tickets are £7 for the early performances and £8 for those later in the run; I'll let you have bank details to send me the money by email or whathaveyou. It would be marvellous to see lots of you there. | | Saturday, December 23rd, 2006 | | 11:18 am |
Fill the cup and don't say when
A very merry winter festival of your choice to you and yours.
I seem to have started the excess already. Obviously after a very heavy night with family on Thursday, struggling into work yesterday before the champagne was brought out at 11, followed by the work Christmas lunch (being a family business this gets a bit silly) and then cocktails in the Savoy till late, was clearly the way to get rid of the hangover. Or not.
Today I have to drive to Bexhill to see my grandmother, since she's the only person I'm aware of being related to left in the country. Tomorrow to Cambridge (O great and terrible Gods of the M25 and M11, be kind!) where I will enter a drunken stupor at the earliest opportunity and emerge in time for driving home on Boxing Day. Cambridge people, if you are around in that time it would be nice to see you; drop me a text or summat.
Stuff yourself silly, drink yourself and those around you under the table, and don't worry if you come out of it all looking like Richard Griffiths. You'll blend in with me just fine. | | Thursday, October 5th, 2006 | | 10:53 am |
Come laugh with me, let's laugh, let's split our sides
You may be aware that I've been spending all my recent weekends holed up in good ol' Cantab. Well, all that effort will soon come to fruition (though no rotten tomatoes, please). It's....
FIVE CHAIRS AND A STOPWATCH
THE SILLIEST DIGNITY-LOSS EVENT OF THE SEASON
CHRIST'S COLLEGE NEW COURT THEATRE, CAMBRIDGE
TOMORROW 8 P.M.
£2
BE THERE OR FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO DO | | Sunday, July 30th, 2006 | | 11:01 pm |
I'm gonna sing the beer song now. Beer beer beer beer beer... Beer. Black and gloopy, brown and foamy, golden and frothy, I love it all. And that's why I think I should go to the Great British Beer Festival in Earl's Court some time this week. So then, who wants to come with me? Which days/evenings can you make/are you already going? And if not why not? | | 2:15 am |
As I remarked to my mother in bed one Midsummer morning.
Does anyone remember the advert wherein Alan Davies of Jonathon Creek fame accidentally bought a large stuffed beaver or somesuch whilst fending off a wasp with a newspaper outside an auction house? Well, I did, and it got me thinking about these sorts of transactions which are confirmed by a nod of the head or other bodily movement, and what could be done to avoid such misunderstandings. The solution I came up with is perhaps radical, but would have the added benefit of preserving an increasingly rarely seen English tradition. Please bear with me.
The difficulty arises from the fact that Man is a fidgety and distractible animal. We can be forced to move by circumstances beyond our control, such as Mr. Davies’ wasp or a call of nature. We are also ill-adapted to standing or sitting stock still for a significant period, as any Groundling will testify. It is far easier for a man to walk for three hours than to stand still for the same period. What is therefore required to avoid this fidgeting in auction houses, stock exchanges and the like, is some kind of ritual, repeatable movement into which the transactions required can be coded. And then it hit me:
Wouldn’t it be cool if stockbrokers conducted their business by Morris Dancing?
They could use their umbrellas for sticks and everything! And maybe if they left their mobiles unlocked in their pockets with the keytones on, they would beep and jingle as they moved. I do not know sufficient details of trading-floor protocol as it stands to posit a particular coding system for the dance; however I do have a meeting with a firm of stockbrokers on Monday to discuss this particular issue.
It is up to the LSE as the spearhead of London’s financial district to ensure it is one step ahead of the game, while maintaining British values of tradition, fair play and prancing around looking a bit silly while maintaining a straight face. Write to your MP or Professor of Economics today to support these proposals and I’ll make sure that a many dropped umbrellas as possible land in your favour. | | Tuesday, July 25th, 2006 | | 2:18 am |
If all the world were pain et Boursin...
So, right, every year the EU produces more wine than it can drink, or, rather, than it wants to drink, since so many of us seem to have decided that Californian or Australian or Chilean wines are much more interesting and worthwhile than their Old World rivals, with all the bizarre lack of taste and uncountable environmental cost in booze miles that this implies, but I digress.
The point is, there’s a whacking great “wine lake” comprising hundreds of millions of bottles of perfectly adequate booze (although judging by the quality of the box of Sainsbury’s Vin Rouge de France I use for cooking, not necessarily that adequate) which are just boiled down to industrial grade ethanol, (and no, that’s almost certainly not the kind that’s used in Chemistry labs for really pure reactions, and is excellent when allowed to diffuse into a hollowed-out melon) a process which costs more energy and cash than the end result merits. “Quelle domage!” you might think, but other than insisting on serving only wines from the EU (a policy I try to stick to as far as possible, although I might have to be a little more stringent than that when Bulgaria accedes next year, on grounds of taste alone) you might also think “What other alternative is there?”
But never fear, for I humbly believe I have the solution. Rather than waste all this wine, why not use it to fill the swimming pools of Europe? The ultimate accessory for every playboy or playgirl, whilst being seen to be environmentally friendly. Rather than processing this wine, let it slowly evaporate through nature’s bountiful sunlight. Averaging say, 12% by volume, that would be enough to eliminate the need for any polluting chemical processes such as chlorination, such that on the occasion of accidentally getting a mouthful of swimming pool, it would be both entirely safe and pleasant to drink.
I imagine most swimming pool owners would plump for a the more traditionally transparent white wine, while some a little more flamboyant might wish to use rosé for that classy look, and I’m sure there are some who would positively squirm at the idea of a blood-red swimming pool: Marilyn Manson, perhaps, or Michael Barrymore. Perhaps even the keen classicist wishing to recreate a portion of Homer’s “wine-dark sea”, or supervillains hiding the fact that their sharks don’t have any fricking laser beams. The list is endless, and colours could be mixed to suit every taste.
So why delay? Write to your MEP today requesting a subsidy to build a swimming pool to help drain the wine lake. And, ah, buy me a case of Alsace.
Current Music: Dean Martin - Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me | | Thursday, June 1st, 2006 | | 6:14 pm |
The Party To End All Parties Late in June my dear friend and flatmate libellum will once again be celebrating the anniversary of her birth. This date has a happy tendency to coincide with celebrating the finishing of academic toil for another year, the completion of exams, dissertations and degrees, and the start of summer revelry. This year it has a further aspect. Mere days after she turns 22, I (and my beloved sapphic and satyrical suities) will be leaving. libellum and I will be adventuring to the metropolis, becoming Cantabrigian ex-pats and seeking our fortune in the capital. wildeabandon will be staying in Cambridge to ensure that it remains fabulous. The Suite, Sapphic or Satyr, Sir Strongtrousers' Lesbian Emporium, the Young Ladies' Seminary for the Taking In of Eccentric Waifs and Strays, in short our fabulous abode, is being taken from us. And there will be a party before we leave, there will be such a party, that all the others we’ve thrown, outrageous though they invariably were, will look like a few dolls sipping tea in comparison. It will be the Party To End All Parties. Turn up to 27c Elizabeth Way from 8pm on Friday 30th June. Stay as long as you are able to keep partying, although be warned that the hosts will have to go to work on Monday morning. For the duration of the weekend it will be an open house; you are all invited, and encouraged to bring your friends, as long as they are not dull. We have floors you can sleep on if you bring a sleeping bag and can find a space free of party. There will also be locals at the party who might be willing to take in waifs and strays if you offer them sufficiently enticing bribes. Dress to seduce and to shock. Suggested themes include black tie, bridal, drag, lady or gentleman of negotiable affection (from Victorian prostitute to geisha to rent boy), pyjama party, fairytale, monster, pre-Raphaelite, Shakespearean, Dickens, Ankh-Morpork, fantasy, cyber, music hall and cabaret, fetish, undead, body art, uniform (military or otherwise), bondage, grotesque burlesque, carnival or none of the above. There is no enforced dresscode, but you are strongly encouraged to be fabulous. There will be gin&tea, endless pimms, cocktails (including the Hovelcraft and the Drunken Frog) and pure undiluted ethanol. In addition to the the consumption of alcohol and other intoxicants there will be as many pastimes as the guests provide. Come prepared to entertain and be entertained. Bring all the booze you can carry and anything or anyone you think might be amusing. We welcome wenches buxom or slender, gentlemen and rogues, wits, eccentrics, dandies, debauchers and drunks. At various points in the weekend the party will spill over onto Midsummer Common, so we are not confined only to indoor sports. If you spin poi bring your shiny things, and if you juggle, show us all your balls. Bring cult films, music, Jenga, Twister, plasticene, lego, glitter, guitars, magic tricks, pornography. Bring portable barbeques and things to cook on them, blankets and picnic hampers, cake, and exotic things to eat and drink. But above all bring yourselves. |
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