When your sister is having a Halloween themed birthday party, it’s only fair that you make a bit of an effort:
Fair play to the beagle for joining in…
Zeds
I had plans to do a proper blog post today, but for some reason, I’m feeling rather tired.
Maybe I didn’t sleep well last night?
Maybe I was just up a bit too early this morning?
Or maybe it’s the effects of 3½ hours with the fifteen seven-year-old girls we had round to celebrate our daughter’s birthday?
In the immortal words of Henry the Mild Mannered Janitor, “could be… “.
Good night all.
Is this an amazing bar or not?
I can’t decide.
At the new Reserve Bar Stock Exchange in London’s “Square Mile” financial district, drink prices swing up and down according to supply and demand, sending thirsty city workers on a roller-coaster ride in the hunt for the best priced bender.
With its real-time exchange screens, rapidly fluctuating prices and secondary markets, it has the feel of a trading floor, but without the nerving risk of a market tumble. The worst-case scenario — or best, if you will — occurs when drink quotes climb too rapidly, triggering a “market crash.” This means cheap booze all around: The market plunges between 35% to 40%, offering drinks well below the intraday lows.
Yes, really. The drinks’ prices behave like stocks on the local exchange, responding live to the demand in the bar. There’s even an app so you can check prices during the day and even order your drinks while you’re there, locking the prices at their current level, without having to go to rush the bar.
But that “market crash” seems to be the big draw:
When the market crashes, a loud siren is played and customers are notified on their phones as well. A market crash can lower prices all the way to their lowest prices in the evening. Be prepared because when that market crashes, everyone begin to order their drinks to take full advantage of the low prices.
Looking at the prices, though, it’s going to need a great depression before any visiting Saffa can get sloshed. With a shot of Bacardi going for R91 and the Tanquary for your G&T trading at R151.50 (eina!), you’re going to have to have done well at playing the real stock market to enjoy your evening out.
As a concept, I think this would be massive fun for a night out with a group of friends. But there are certain things that might put me off:
A guy recently bought 10 shots and then went down to another table to try to sell them with a 50 pence profit. So, in that sense, there is a secondary market.
Assuming he was successful, that profit is only just going to buy him a Bailey’s. Desperation, much?
There’s also the worry that the bar is right in the middle of the financial district in the City of London and will therefore be filled with real stockbrokers. Eww.
So in answer to my own question: in terms of concept, yes; in terms of clientèle, probably not.
Infinite Bridge
Here’s one for the bridge fans among you. It’s Gjøde & Povlsgaard Arkitekter’s Infinite Bridge in Aarhus (in the middle of Aarstreet), Denmark.
From above, it’s rather London Eye, isn’t it?
…but flat.
Say archdaily.com:
The Infinite Bridge has a diameter of 60 meters and is positioned half on the beach and half in the sea. It consists of 60 identical wooden elements placed on steel pillars housed about two meters into the sea floor. The deck of the bridge rises between one and two meters above the water surface depending on the tide. The curvature of the bridge follows the contours of the landscape as it sits at the mouth of a small river valley extending into the forest from the beach.
No fence. But Danish people are known for their sense of balance and are generally great swimmers, so it’s all ok.
Described by its designers as an opportunity to “experience the changing landscape as an endless panoramic composition and at the same time enter a space of social interaction with other people experiencing the same panorama” (i.e. there are views and crowds) (c.f. iterum London Eye).
It’s a very pretty thing, as you can see on the gallery at the link above, but while it is a bridge in that is is:
a structure carrying a road, path, railway, etc. across a river, road, or other obstacle.
it’s not exactly very functional, is it? And yes, I know it’s not meant to be functional – I do recognise that it’s sculpture, it’s “a true art piece”, but while you’re admiring the images of it – check out its little companion at the bottom of that pic above.
It’s basically a plank over a stream – an ugly, disappointing, almost pitiful effort against that sweeping, circular path of beauty next door. But look at how good it is at effectively carrying people from one side of the stream to the other. See how they can continue their onward journey. Note how they are physically able to access another place by using it.
So sure, the infinite bridge is the big, headline-grabbing principal player in this story and I’m sure it’s a wonderful addition to Aarhus’ landscape, but maybe there’s a lesson here to never forget the ordinary, hard-working backroom team that allow the star to shine.
Homefree
This is another of those “skilful people doing skilful things in front of great landscapes while being accompanied by cool music” videos. We’ve seen them before here and here. This one is slightly different though, in that it involves no bikes and is set on the Isle of Man.
Here’s Will Sutton’s Homefree:
Beautiful scenes, amazing ability. The two links at the end of the video include an interesting “The making of” mini documentary and an Isle of Man Tourism piece, both of which I also enjoyed.
And that music – First Light by Racing Glaciers, the video for which isn’t bad either.
Thanks Stu