Things I did

Well, I discovered at 7pm that the Santos City of Light thingo was on. This is where a few buildings in the city flash big beams of light in time to some rousing music and then there are also these barges that are shooting arcs of water. They beam laser images onto the sheet of water. Marvellous!

There was a tent on the South Bank forecourt as well that has this installation. You walk through and the base and ceiling is mirrored and there are long screens all through that are playing graphics that react to your passing by. Wonderful, enchanting.

Mortal Engine was quite good but sadly the Playhouse was not. Upon the soundtrack commencing, which was a deep throbbing, things rattled in the ceiling. The seats creaked as people moved. And then the smoke machine, you could hear it gushing. It made the whole affair have the ambience of the ghost train at the show. The sound throughout was like a stereo placed on the stage. I despair. I seemed to recollect various graphics and music from Glow. There were two long passages with no dancers that I felt were meaningless and not a very convincing display of technology. Where Glow was gripping because you watched a solo dancer power through 30 or 40 minutes of non stop movement, this one was not as empathic. Also where Glow gave you a sense of dread where the lines, beads and curves sought to demolish and take over the dancer, this time it seemed more like a pretty coating over the dancers.

Finally, I've come home and have now listened to Saint Saens Danse Macabre and Le Carnaval des animaux.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjaBGAfWGSU  This is a video with 7 of the movements of the carnival. The last movement, the aquarium is probably recognisable to most people. So here I am, putting names finally to a long history of knowing these tunes.