London Out Loud

Earth Hour

2008-03-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

We will be switching off our unnecessary home appliances and computers in IT rooms in a joint effort to demonstrate the significant change we can make simply by being more aware of the environmental impact of our habits. Join the Earth Hour wherever you are.

Bad season for cinema-goers

2008-03-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

The current movie season has been a fiasco so far. 10,000 BC is plainly atrocious (voted the most historically inaccurate movie ); Vantage Point serves as a kind reminder that Americans will never cease to be in love with the idea of democracy and a decent president; The Other Boleyn Girl proves even an all-star cast cannot make up for a poor script (although there were some convincing performances from supporting actors); The Accidental Husband is where Uma Thurman and Colin Firth illustrate that even big stars need money from time to time. Among the rare few films worth the odd £7-£8 for a night out are probably There Will be Blood - a solid story with great performance, although annoyingly slow and long (best served on a third date); No Country for Old Men - an Oscar-snatcher and a must see movie (perhaps for a second date); Orphanage (el Orfanato) , although subtitled, still delivers thrills that are just right for a first date.

Coming Attractions
Son of Rambow - a light-hearted comedy looks rather promising; Lars and the Real Girl - will showcase a refreshing and funny story and the Spiderwick Chronicles will no doubt bring back nostalgic feelings for magic stories of childhood.

London Mayoral Election Update

2008-03-11T18:06:00.001-07:00

Candidate	Party	Agenda
Richard Barnbrook	BNP	“Removing the one million or so illegal immigrants living here and making London a better place for us all to live."
Gerard Batten	UKIP	“As far as I am concerned there are only Londoners and British citizens. As Mayor I will only spend money where that is in the interests of London and Londoners as a whole.”
Sian Berry	Green	Transport, high cost of living, rent and mortgages, greener London.
Victoria Borwick	Conservative	US-style policing to tackle violent street crime, tax cut,
Alan Craig	Christian Peoples Alliance and The Christian Party	Religion, crime, poverty
Dennis Delderfield	New Britain Party	"Stop the waste of public money"
Lindsey German	The Left List (part of former Respect)	Housing, Transport, Education, Health, Inequality, Environment, Olympics, Work, War, Discrimination
Brian Haw	Independent
Damian Hockney	One London	"Cut council tax, cancel the £55 million 'free' bus travel for under-18s, scrap C-Charge Western Expansion, enhanced traffic management"
Boris Johnson	Conservative	Promote understanding, integration and harmony
Ken Livingstone	Labour	Modernise transport system; crime reduction; cheaper homes; to buy and homes at affordable rents; develop youth centres
Winston Mckenzie	Independent	Congestion, violent crime, youth, transport
Matt O'Connor	The English Democrats	“I want to bring Londoners together in the city we call home.”
Brian Paddick	Liberal Democrats	Transport, housing, crime
Chris Prior	Stop Congestion Charging	Abolish C-charge, transform public transport, policing, cut council tax

London Out Loud - Finally Online!

2008-02-29T06:43:00.000-08:00

After about a month of intensive work, we are happy to announce that our website London Out Loud is finally online! We aim to help our visitors learn about life in London with regular reports on the latest news, events and other exciting things in this huge cosmopolitan. Choose between conventional short articles/reviews and a range of multimedia reports, including photogalleries, podcasts and short videos.

Do let us know your thoughts and feelings on what you see!

From Cuban countryside to London city

2008-02-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

By Deny Extremera

When the plane was gliding towards Gatwick airport, ten hours after taking off from Havana, I could barely imagine that five months later I would be wondering if it has really been only five months.

From one capital to another and to a different life in just a few hours, it is not hard to imagine considering modern blessings like aviation and scholarships.

I have to confess it was a trauma, though a positive one: first passport, first passing by customs, first mobile phone and bank account, first journeys on the metro or walking through supermarkets as big as the hangar for the Jumbo jet that brought me here.

When I arrived in London it struck me how the train between Gatwick and Victoria station was so clean and moving on a gelatine-like rail, full of people absorbed in their newspapers, mobile phones or I-Pods.

A huge airport, with too many planes taking off one after the other, silent people and the cold... Those were my first impressions.

It was Monday 7 AM, maybe the most distressing time in the week for people around the world. Not only for Londoners.

I soon learned that Londoners make up for the weekly hassle on Friday nights. Many of them go straight from the office to the pub, flock bars and cafes. It is nice sitting in one of the stations in Central London and looking at so many happy and above all tipsy people.

Low-budget London

London constantly amazes me and sometimes I feel a sensation of vertigo when I walk around. There is so much to see.

It gets better because much of the best of London is freely available.

We are talking about an expensive mega-urban conglomerate in terms of accommodation, transport and meals. But you do not have to go to fancy restaurants, and the double-decker buses are not so expensive and allow you to see more in less time.

Just walking up and down the city, I have already lost count of the picturesque ambiences I have spotted in London, and the scenes I have witnessed in its markets and parks.

I enjoy wandering around Soho, Little Venice or Southbank, or sitting at the cafe at the National Gallery, the venue for a scene featuring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in Closer, with a view encompassing several London landmarks.

Cafes and pubs are omnipresent in London. As for eating, all the cuisines of the world are available.

A city of the world

London is one of the places that have built a complex and mixed human landscape on communities and influences from every corner of the world.

It has given me the opportunity to attend a traditional Hindi wedding, or “listening” to people speaking in Polish, Arab, Chinese and other languages…except in English, as I was travelling by bus.

It was real, though it happened to me just once.

At tube stations and in markets, street musicians perform from rock to a Spanish air, folk music from Britain or South America or even jazz, blues and Caribbean Steel drums.

Old stories and planes

I keep laughing everytime I see one of those big posh-pink limousines in the street struggling to turn around the corners.

On foggy nights, I imagine the dark old London depicted in films like The man who new too much, the London where Sherlock Holmes (so deeply imprinted in British minds, though fictional) solved his cases and Jack The Ripper built his bloody legend.

But current London is all light and music and life. I have never been alone here, never bored.

I must confess that after these five moths –or more, as they seem to me- I still look up to the skies as I did on the first day. There are so many planes up there.