Madame Zingara was an eccentric restaurant (lets pretend restaurants can be described in this way because it did have a personality). It was an eccentric restaurant on Loop Street in Cape Town. I probably went there about twice in my 12 odd years in Cape Town (from posts I assume you’ve already gathered that I do not get out much). Any way this place was a legend and it sadly burnt down a few years ago.
I was therefore gladly surprised when one of my co workers said that it had reopened its doors, but this time less solid doors as the restaurant was now in a tent. A circus type tent to be specific. The Madame Zingara crowd came up with an idea of taking the eccentricity to another level where patrons can sit down and enjoy a show, circus type show along with their four course meal. And so it was.
It took me a while to get to see this spectacle which I almost did not get to see, but, the planets aligned and my wish was granted.
Earlier this year I went to go see the Lion King. It was one of those experiences that when you are in it, your whole body tingles, your body is injected with such positive super charged energy that it becomes difficult to just sit still. You sit there in the dark, toes tapping, shoulders and heard bopping to and fro, side to side and tears of absolute joy and ecstasy flow down your cheeks.
The Madame Zingara gave me a semblance of my lion king experience.
So it’s kinda like a circus show with out the animals but with trapeze artists and the contortionists and strong men. Circ De Soule on a much, much, much smaller scale!
I cried for the Mongolian contortionist, I craved after the strong man Ivan, I was seduced by the host and amazed by enchanted by everything else.
The food was great, Madame Zingara was renowned for its chocolate chili fillet and I was ‘chocochillied’ to find out they had kept it on the menu. Delicious even at 21h00 at night (did not have nightmares at all afterwards!). The food was just great and well orchestrated to fit into the recesses of the show.
Check it out it is amazing.
Five spoons for first timers
Huge bonus about the show is that with all the energy that has been building up and building up (there is a ‘Supremes’-type-group that keeps the music going during the show), you get to release it at the end when they open the floor to some dancing from the audience!!! Cool cool place.
Friday 28 March 2008
Juno
I am the type of person that does not dislike uncomfortable silences, I do not try to fill these up with inane uttering just so that the uncomfortableness goes away. For me, the inane utterings make me feel even more uncomfortable so it is easier to deal with the discomfort of a silence, at least in that one has a 50:50 chance of coming out with some dignity.
This does not excuse my silence for the past few weeks, or months. The simple truth is that even with the cool movies I’ve see, I just did not have that overwhelming urge to put my take on it on paper for posterity.
But last week I watched Juno and I have to say something about this so that I can read this two years from now and remind myself why I liked it.
There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie, mainly because of the numerous Oscar nominations it received and being crowned the little miss sunshine of 2008.
The hype was deserved. It is a thoroughly enjoyable movie that makes no judgments (except maybe that teenage pregnancy happens and should not), and teaches nothing (except maybe that, in the midst of it all, wit will make the journey a little bit more bearable), and concludes touchingly with the thought that nothing happens as it is planned, but that does not mean that you go off the course and despair.
They called it the ‘little Miss Sunshine’ of 2008 and it is probably that, surprisingly uplifting on the first screening but after the second one you realise how far from reality it really is. And it should be far from reality, why the hell not, after all, we watch movies to escape and entertain other possibilities.
Jason Bateman is awesome, even when he is acting a borderline pedophile, Jennifer Gardner, still has that pained look about her which works for the character, the OZ/SVU guy as the father is also cool like that, the step mom, West Wing’s press woman has a nice scene in the doctor’s office. Juno, on the other hand, was mean little miss know-it-all who got stupid. I don’t think we would have been friends if I went to school with her. She is just plain mean!
Cool movie though.
Three spoons
This does not excuse my silence for the past few weeks, or months. The simple truth is that even with the cool movies I’ve see, I just did not have that overwhelming urge to put my take on it on paper for posterity.
But last week I watched Juno and I have to say something about this so that I can read this two years from now and remind myself why I liked it.
There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie, mainly because of the numerous Oscar nominations it received and being crowned the little miss sunshine of 2008.
The hype was deserved. It is a thoroughly enjoyable movie that makes no judgments (except maybe that teenage pregnancy happens and should not), and teaches nothing (except maybe that, in the midst of it all, wit will make the journey a little bit more bearable), and concludes touchingly with the thought that nothing happens as it is planned, but that does not mean that you go off the course and despair.
They called it the ‘little Miss Sunshine’ of 2008 and it is probably that, surprisingly uplifting on the first screening but after the second one you realise how far from reality it really is. And it should be far from reality, why the hell not, after all, we watch movies to escape and entertain other possibilities.
Jason Bateman is awesome, even when he is acting a borderline pedophile, Jennifer Gardner, still has that pained look about her which works for the character, the OZ/SVU guy as the father is also cool like that, the step mom, West Wing’s press woman has a nice scene in the doctor’s office. Juno, on the other hand, was mean little miss know-it-all who got stupid. I don’t think we would have been friends if I went to school with her. She is just plain mean!
Cool movie though.
Three spoons
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)