typed for your pleasure on 1 February 2010, at 2.50 pm
Sdtrk: ‘Skelechairs (Venetian snares remix)’ by Venetian snares
Having never been to Las Vegas before in my life, it was a unique and alien experience to me. Not a bad one, but certainly not what I’m used to. You know you’re in a land — yes, ‘a land’, cos Vegas is kind of like its own country, a bizarre Disneyland for adults — where the traditional rules of day-to-day living don’t apply. Such as when you’re having a pleasant dinner with nine of your mates at a Denny’s, and all of a sudden, the shuddering rumble of a volcano explodes across the road. Of course, it’s not a real volcano; it’s spewing water coloured by lights, and gas jets blast flames into the sky, and of course the tiki soundtrack played over the speakers wouldn’t be found at the site of a genuine eruption, but yep, it’s a volcano. Across from a Denny’s. Sure, why the hell not. Velcome to Wegas!
Back during one of the 2009 autumn Doll Congresses, Mahtek, Euchre, and CJD discussed plans for attending the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, taking place in Las Vegas during the first week of January, as a handful of Doll manufacturers were going to be there. Since I wasn’t able to make the last one thanks to my laughable finances, they decided that I was coming with them for the 2010 show. I wasn’t going to argue the point! So tickets were purchased, and plans were henceforth made. Needless to say, we were pretty excited about the whole thing!
typed for your pleasure on 28 January 2010, at 4.48 pm
Sdtrk: ‘When it rains, the puddles shine black’ by Leyland Kirby
It appears that another one of my favourite authors has passed away: Jerome David Salinger has died of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire, at the age of 91.
When The Catcher in the Rye first appeared in 1951, chronicling 48 hours in the life of a teenage rebel, Holden Caulfield, as he wanders the streets of New York in a state of mental collapse, it enjoyed early, but modest success.
But within a few years, it had become a bible of teenage dissent in America and a staple of high school and freshman college English courses.
A study of adolescence — at once tender and harshly honest — it spoke for millions of young people who didn’t want to be “phoney” in a commercial, materialistic world.
Caulfield became a cult figure comparable with James Dean, but it seems the novel also had an undesirable influence on Mark David Chapman, who said he killed John Lennon to promote Salinger’s work, and the man who shot and wounded Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley.
Almost immediately after “Catcher” was published, Salinger became disillusioned with publishing.
He hated interviews and contact with the public and in 1953, increasingly fed up with publishing and the public, he bought a house at Cornish, New Hampshire, and retreated into a seclusion that was to last for the rest of his life. the entire article is here
Like many people, I was introduced to Salinger through ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, which stands as an honest tale of disillusionment. It may be slightly dated — it takes place during the very late Forties — but its sentiment still holds true. But then I began reading his other stories, and pretty much fell unhealthily in love with the Glass family, a family of five brothers and two sisters. They were blessed with precociousness at a young age, which was exploited for years through being panelists on a radio quiz show, and suffered the price for it as they grew older.
From Holden to the Glass family, as well as many other Salinger characters, the underlying theme of many of his stories is that of a dissatisfaction with the way society is, and how short of falling into lockstep conformity, living a decent individualistic lifestyle can be extremely difficult.
Salinger is once quoted as saying that he was in this world, but not of it, which is a sentiment I can completely empathise with. It may sound strange coming from someone who enjoys being a public face for the community that he represents, but apart from the resonant and bittersweet tone of his characters, I always admired the fact that Salinger was a recluse’s recluse, and yet still managed to garner the attention of millions. That’s really something to be proud of
typed for your pleasure on 12 January 2010, at 3.27 am
Sdtrk: ‘Notre Prof d’Anglais’ by Chantal Kelly
Ah-hem. Some news in brief!
Last Tuesday, I was unceremoniously fired from my mentally and morally offensive job, after three years of sterling service. ‘Consistently rude and terse to customers’, was their cowardly excuse for letting me go. Frankly, I’m surprised that it took as long as it did. I’m in the midst of rejoining the dole queue, but I’m trying not to let it get me down. As much as I hated that job — and believe me, I fucking loathed that job — I enjoyed receiving money from it. I’m viewing this event as the much-needed arse-kicking I… err, needed… in order to get something that isn’t as hideous and/or pays more. Since the past year and a half, I’d been looking into changing employment, but this should really get me motivated. I’m just not entirely keen on jumping without a parachute, but I’m hoping it turns out for the better real soon…
Just after that, iDollatorsEuchre, CJD, Mahtek and I attended the AVN expo in Las Vegas, from the 07th to the 11th of this month. It’s safe to say that we had a hell of a time! I managed to compile notes, in between walking up and down Vegas’ main drag and fondling Doll jubbleys, so expect a couple of posts describing the meetup, in protracted detail, relatively soon! Technically, I’ve really no excuse for dragging my heels! It’s not like I have a job to report to or anything!
Sneak preview: one of the many, many highlights of those four and a half days was meeting sexpot photographer of sexpot Dolls, Stacy Leigh! Her sassy firecracker attitude makes me think that meeting her is about as close as I’m gonna get to meeting one of Warhol’s Silver Dream Factory superstars.
photo by Mrs ARDO, who is a star in her own right as well
And would you believe I was interviewed for an article for the Las Vegas Weekly whilst out there? It’s true.
So as I have a bollockload of notes and photos, I’ll attempt to sort the lot out this week and get it all finished!…
Now, let’s see about this godforsaken ‘jetlag’ that I keep hearing so much about. Personally, I don’t believe it really exisZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
EDIT (13 Jan): Just got a date confirmation: the episode of National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’ series that we’re in, ‘Strange love‘, will be aired on Wednesday, 10 February, at 10pm. Which will undoubtedly be spread all over the Intersnet about a week later, but there you have it
typed for your pleasure on 4 January 2010, at 11.49 pm
Sdtrk: ‘The romance of the telescope’ by OMD
Now that I seem to have my iPod properly functioning (although that Shake function is completely worthless. Drop your iPod by accident, and bam! Suddenly you’re listening to a different song. Yeah, that’s practical), I’ve begun downloading various podcasts that catch my fancy. One of them, which is to say two of them, cos they cover the same topic and are released by the same group, would be Talking Robots and Robots, both by the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (EPFL), in Lausanne, Switzerland. As I usually listen to them on the way to work, currently I’m a third of the way through the interview they conducted with one of my favourite people, David Levy, author of ‘Love and Sex with Robots’, and it makes for encouraging listening! Both podcast series have quite a backlog, so I’m fairly sure they’ll keep me occupied for some time…
Incientally, if anyone out there can suggest any more podcasts that you think I’d like — not just robots and Synthetiks, mind you, but stuff that fits in with the whole ‘Shouting etc etc’ oeuvre — do please let me know!
So what with the timing of me stumbling upon these podcasts, and learning about the following piece in the Washington Times from spurtBOT, it makes for a happy bit of synchronicity:
Futurologist Ray Hammond says he thinks […] machine consciousness will happen toward the middle of the current century – the same time frame in which Mr. Levy has said robot marriage will occur.
“There will certainly be emotional attachment between humans and machines,” Mr. Hammond says, “although I don’t think ‘marriage’ is anything other than a word for headline writers. People already form weak emotional bonds with inanimate objects, and as objects become increasingly intelligent, these bonds will strengthen.”
Mr. Levy, however, says he thinks sentience is not the real issue. He points out that it isn’t the algorithm people fall in love with, but the convincing simulation. “If a robot appears in every way to possess consciousness, then in my opinion, we should accept that it does,” he says. the entire article is here
Now, if you’ll recall, the date in this post’s title would be January 2010. That’s two thousand and ten, ladies and gentlemen. Now, it seems to me that if we’re in the future, which is now the present, we should be that much closer to fully-realised artificial humans, right? THIS IS NOT HAPPENING FAST ENOUGH. I’ll even overlook the distinct lack of manned commercial daily flights to one of the many colonies on the lunar surface, or the non-appearance of flying cars, if we can just get this whole Synthetik companion thing kick-started. Not just passive ones, such as Dolls, but active ones, like, I dunno… Cherry 2000. Let’s not have another decade pass without consumer-market Androids and Gynoids, here. *claps hands impatiently*
Until that glorious day arrives, however, we still have new models of Dolls to look forward to, thankfully. SynthCreations, for instance, have secretly debuted a new head for their standard Mecadoll body! Her name is Emanuelle; won’t you make her welcome?
Improved cleavage for… better cleaving
Her face is unusual, cos it falls between my particular parameters of being attractive, and not attractive. But that’s all right, cos again, it fills a niche! What may not be stunning to me may be pants-shrinkingly luscious to someone else, you know…
This here was brought to my attention via Wolfgang: an Organik lass had doll joint tattoos done. It should go without saying that I like the cut of this girl’s jib!
Very nice, but you can’t just stop at the legs! Perhaps this will inspire some enterprising young lass to go for an all-over ball-joint doll tattoo scheme. Hans Bellmer would be proud! And, more than likely, aroused, but you can hardly blame him, really. You can view the rest of the pics over at BME.
And thanks to various friends on le Twittré, I was informed that the episode of National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’ documentary series that Shi-chan and I shot back in June of 09 is finally due out! The episode is apparently entitled ‘Strange Love‘, and the Missus and I are occupying a segment of it, airing our views and voicing our opinions, cos that’s what we do. As of this writing, I don’t have the exact airdate — at the very least, it’ll be after 17 January — but you’ll want to keep an eye out for it, obviously, and I’ll let you know when I know, yada yada yada.
Hey, does this mean people will be hitting me up through Myspace again? Ergh
typed for your pleasure on 26 December 2009, at 3.24 pm
Sdtrk: ‘The salt path’ by Roj and Wolfram wire
Three quick things to bring to your attention:
+ Once again, fellow iDollatorEverhard has graced not only the pages of UK gossip rag Closer, but the cover as well! He and his affictitious lasses were featured in a two-page spread, where he’d dressed them up like Girls Aloud, which is apparently the Noughties version of the Spice Girls. Ah, thank Odhinn that particular music niche was filled. Guh.
It’s kind of a bittersweet article, as he’s been on the dole since summer, but thankfully, his Dolls bring him daily joy consistently, which is one of the many advantages of having a Synthetik partner. I could go on. I have gone on!
I’m sure dressing them is a tough job, but someone’s got to do it
When Closer last caught up with Everard in March, he’d just bought his sixth doll, Laura. Shortly afterwards he lost his job as a computer analyst, so to cheer him up we decided to bring him an early Christmas present – by transforming five of his dolls into his favourite girl band, Girls Aloud.
‘What a great way to cheer up December,’ he says. ‘Selling my dolls would ease my money worries but my life would be empty without them. It would be like getting rid of my family! I’d rather go without food.’ the entire article is here
For one, I’m glad to see him and his lasses getting the pro-iDollator word out there, but working with tabloid rags is always fraught with peril. ‘The article is not as I would have liked’, he confessed to me in an Email. ‘Getting these articles done is a constant tug-of-war between me and somebody at the magazine who wants a sensational slant, with the actual author of the article caught in the middle.’ O, I know, mate; believe me, I know…
Anyway, grab a copy if it’s still on the stands in the UK, or in your better newsagents’ if you’re not in the UK (pronounced ‘uhk’), and show your support for the iDollator lifestyle!
+ Euchre, another iDollator mate of mine — it’s not really a stretch to assume that most iDollators are mates of mine. Not all, but most — told me of a new company worth keeping an eye on: TrueCompanion.com, which has the grandiose claim of selling ‘the world’s first sex robot’. You can’t see me from there, but I’m raising a sceptical eyebrow.
TrueCompanion.com is comprised of a collection of very skilled artists and engineers that have designed the world’s first sex robot. Our caring staff deliver to you the specific sex robot which best meets your specific requirements. Your TrueCompanion.com robot will deliver the ultimate in robot sex. She will also be able to talk, listen, carry on a conversation, feel your touch, touch you and be your true friend. She can also have an orgasm when you touch her!
Obviously, I’ll believe it when I see it; I’ve subscribed to their newsletter, and I’m watching their website like a hawk. They’re supposed to make their debut at the 2010 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, and quite a number of personalities will be there to witness the unveiling, from what I gather. But as horny idealistic as I am, until I see concrete (or silicone) evidence that this company is doing what it says it can do, I’ll remain cautiously optimistic, which is why they’re not listed on the ‘Shouting etc etc’ sidebar. Frankly, their approach reminds me of that French-engineered Philips shaver ‘Perfect Woman‘ ad campaign from last year; which, as it turned out, had zero actual Gynoids in it. I say: put your money where your mouth is, TrueCompanion.com, and send me one of your ‘Roxxxy TrueCompanion’ Gynoids to evaluate. Will you accept the challenge??
+ And off and on during the past couple of months, I’ve been in contact with Emma Goddard, of UK company Landmark Films, who is working on a documentary… look, why don’t I just let her explain?
I work for Landmark Films — we are an independent television documentary company based in Oxford, England. We have made many films for BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and Ch4 here in the UK. And we pride ourselves on making sensitive, honest and well crafted films and on having excellent relationships with our contributors.
I am currently developing a programme idea for Ch4 on personal intimate human relationships with robots, and whether this could ever become a reality? We are exploring the area about whether robots will become so human like in appearance that people could fall in love, have sex or marry them and exploring those who would like to have this kind of relationship.
The key thing I would like to find is people (UK based if possible) who would consider or would want a personal relationship with a robot.
So! I’ve not just reproduced that email for your edification — Emma has asked me to ask any iDollators or technosexuals that read ‘Shouting etc etc’ if they would like to be involved in the filming. If you’re genuinely interested, please pass along your email address to pulsedemon [at] gmail [dot] com, with the Subj.title ‘Robot Love documentary’, and I’ll forward it along to her. Your help is appreciated!
Right, that’s me done. Sidore-chan and I now have to decide what to do first — watch a DVD from Amber Hawk Swanson that she made with her very own hands, or marathon all six episodes of the Synthetik-centric anime series ‘Time of Eve‘, now that one of the legendary otaku fansub groups has finally finished doing all six episodes. Decisions, decisions…
See, he’d be the exact sort of person who should be in the documentary
Hope you lot had a happy and fun Crimbo, as well as an entertaining Boxing day! Completely unrelated: part one of Doctor Who’s ‘The End of time’? EXCITED
typed for your pleasure on 18 December 2009, at 8.09 pm
Sdtrk: ‘Outta state’ by US girls
Hello! Whole lot of topics to cover this month, and that’s mainly cos I slacked off for two months! So make yourself a decently-sized sandwich, pour yourself a pint, and let us henceforth begin.
+ First off, for all of you fans of leggy Russian Synthetik babes, Anatomical Doll have created two new heads, now available for purchase. Say Здравствуйте! (hello!) to Elena and Natalia.
My kind of Red Army
What is Natalia staring at, you ask? What isn’t Natalia staring at?
Elena is a modified version of Victoria, their first head sculpt, and Natalia is brand-new. For me, Natalia has the slight edge, as I’m completely in love with her luscious glassy-eyed stare. Either way, they’re both delicious lasses, wouldn’t you agree?
Coincidentally enough, I dreamt the other night that someone had shipped me a Victoria-type Anatomical Doll, apparently new and still in her box. I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the affair, so I called in Dexter — yes, he of the telly series — to give her a once-over before I got her out of her crate. ‘You and I both know we’re experts in our particular fields,‘ I said to him, ‘and I wanted to see if you could make sure she doesn’t have any contaminants or radioactive material before I keep her.’ So we proceeded to open the crate with a power screwdriver outside in my apartment’s parking lot, of all places. He’d brought his wife, who I wasn’t sure if she knew what I did, and she stood at a close, but safe, distance from the action. As Dexter opened the crate, I turned to her and said ‘No screaming! No screaming!’ Just as her eyes grew to the size of saucers, the ‘show’ cut to the opening credits of Dexter, which I thought was rather neat, but didn’t exactly tell me of the Victoria-type’s fate…
+ Next up, we have Lilica, yet another head out now from steady contenders 4woods, which is compatible with all of the body types that they sell. Damnit, people, how is anyone supposed to keep up with you??
‘Just to let you know, I had nothing to do with my ad copy’
‘She is a girl that is not beyond your reach but almost like a girl next door. She also makes you feel relaxed but has sexy daring appearance at the same time’, reads her ad copy, and I’m strangely compelled to agree with their assessment.
Not only that, 4woods are offering custom nail art for any model of silicone poppet that you wish to order: French nails, which would be a French manicure; Glitter nails, which are… glitter nails; and Colorful nails, which are great, should you wish to saddle your poor unfortunate Doll with a ridiculous candy kid look, thereby guaranteeing that she’ll never get a proper job, and she’ll probably end her days strung out on meth.
See? She already has a glazed look in her eyes from too many disco biscuits
Furthermore, they’ve got a new page flogging enticing lingerie, wigs, jewelry, boots, stands for extra heads, and suchlike in their Doll Accessories store, which is, quote, ‘Costumes and other accessories you must have to love your doll’. I love that — you must have them, otherwise loving your Doll will be patently impossible! Fact.
+ It seems that another new Doll manufacturer is stepping up to the silicone plate! This is always good news, of course, but this will particularly please iDollators who happen to live in the European Union. Behold: Dreamdoll Creation.
Swan finally levels up to Capo in ‘Mafia wars’
Soria gets her rubbery jubbelys out for the camera
Tania proves that not all the Dreamdoll creation models have short hair
The company will aim for selling four body types, all 5’8″, 101.5 lbs, with busts that range from 35 B to 35 E/F, at the heart-stopping, finance-destroying price of EUR €6,990.00, or roughly $10,200 USD. But can you truly put a price on love?
+ So have you noticed that Miim-chan (the Gynoid formerly known as HRP-4C) has been increasing her presence as of late? She’s everywhere these days! Back in September, she put in an appearance at the 2009 Robofes in Toyama, answering questions from the press in her own inimitable fashion.
[AIST] also brought along their famous HRP-2 Promet humanoid and compared them side by side, which really shows off the incredible advances made between late 2002 and 2009. At one point during the demonstration, the presenter asked HRP-4C, “How tall are you?” to which she replies, “158cm.” The presenter then asked, “How much do you weigh?” to which HRP-4C covered her mouth and only whispered the answer, garnering laughter from the crowd. the rest of the article is here
Then in October, she was being automatically sexy at Tokyo’s Digital Content Expo 2009, displaying both her motion and acting skills.
O, mercy
Finally, her appearance at this year’s CEATAC JAPAN featured three performances of her singing, using Yamaha’s Vocaloid synthesiser software; in two of them, she was either cosplaying as Miku Hatsune or Megpoid, who would be two of the music programme’s mascots and virtual idol singers. If that wasn’t fab enough, Miim-chan was taking song requests through the use of an iPhone application. I suppose the iPhone has some use after all, then!
Although Miim sings along with the self-playing piano in a highly expressive manner at the demonstration, this humanoid robot can also move her entire body using approximately thirty integrated joints. In strictly technical terms, therefore, she is apparently already in possession of all she needs to move her hands and legs rhythmically in time with the music. taken from this site
Sure, she’s no Sylvie Vartan, but as I always say in these cases, you have to crawl before you walk — just think of how scintillating her singing voice will be in a few short years! Nevertheless, an impressive showing from everyone’s favourite Gynoid (until the next favourite Gynoid is built)…
And wow, it turns out that she made the cover of the October issue of ROBOCON Magazine as well! This just proves that it’s Miim-chan’s world; we just live in it.
+ He’s probably gonna kill me for mentioning this in a public venue, but one of my ex-roommates, spotted here and there on ‘Shouting etc etc’ as zszsz, once tore through 30 +/- different jobs during the course of a single year. I think Kobalab‘s Android SAYA is coming up on his heels rather quickly. She’s been a receptionist in both Japan and Israel, as well as a schoolteacher. This time, her latest temp assignment would be a stint in Japan’s Takashimaya department store, which she did from 14 – 18 October. So how was that paycheque, babe?
‘Excuse me, Saya-san? Do you know Actroid-san? I’ve always wanted to meet her! I love her work, and… say, what’s with that frown?’
Although she responded appropriately most of the time, the cyber-receptionist occasionally seemed to misunderstand what people said. For example, one person complimented Saya by saying, “You are pretty,” but the robot flashed a look of disdain and responded with, “Are you crazy?” the rest of the article is here
Sooo… probably not that good of a paycheque, then.
+ Which, of course, leads to news about Hiroshi Ishiguro’s pride and joy, the Actroid series. One of the models, Sara-chan, who was originally at the Aichi World Expo in 2005, was at the Kokoro booth at this year’s iREX at Tokyo Big Sight, demonstrating her company’s latest development:
Would she provide autographs upon request? Hmm
The Human-Type Head Basic assembly kit, which is dedicated for school education. You will be able to assemble it and your feelings will be the finishing touch. Thanks to this kit, students will be able to learn that a combination of simple mechanisms can produce complicated expressions. Thanks to the Pneumatic equipment, they will have the chance to learn how to use an air cylinder, or to study “link mechanism” (a mechanism to convert the linear movement of cylinders into the rotation movement such as open/close of the jaw) by assembling the real kit. the rest of the article is here
I can’t remember where I’d read it, but the kit is supposed to be reasonably-priced as well.
!!! *suddenly grabbing you by the lapels* Do you realise what this means?? If you were to combine that Human-type Head kit with, say, one of the Dolls pictured above, then…
HOLLYWOOD was right, robots are going to take over the world.
But we might as well lie back and think of the invasion because it’s going to be pleasurable, says a leading robot scientist.
Ever since Gort clomped down those alien stairs in The Day The Earth Stood Still in 1951, cinemas have been overrun by robots – sometimes cute, but mostly evil and mostly intent on taking over the world. […] But if you listen to US robotics scientist Professor Rodney Brooks, robots of the future are more likely to be dominatrix than dominating. […] Australian-born Prof Brooks, former head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, said it was inevitable, and there was precedent, that such technology would be used for sexual purposes.
“Every technology that we’ve had, there has been a sexual driver of it,” said the professor, a founder and former chief technical officer of lucrative US company iRobot, which produces commercial robots.
“I mean, that’s certainly true of photographs in the 19th century; and home video players were really driven by sex; and of course the web has been a major source of sex.
“Yeah, there will be (sexbots) but it is not specific to robots per se.” the rest of the article is here
It’s like they say — the military-industrial complex produces technology, which then trickles down into the consumer market, and the sex industry makes it popular. During the course of our careers of being interviewed, filmed, and the like, Shi-chan and I have always been trying to steer common opinion away from the idea that artificial companions are strictly for sexual purposes, but sex is an interest-raising topic, as nearly everyone enjoys it, or is at the very least, curious about it. If people’s interest in sex drives them to fund research and development for Synthetiks, then so much the better…
As an aside, according to Pink Tentacle, Android SAYA had a booth at iREX as well! You have to wonder if she was soliciting potential employers, the poor dear.
+ In this, the first decade of the twenty-first century, it’s good to see that the concept of artificial human companions is on a lot of people’s minds — from scientists who are trying to make the idea into reality, and from insightful filmmakers who depict how a society with such creations in it might be. Milkman Films‘ ‘Android Love’ gives us a glimpse of the latter.
Although I do have to point out that I’m sure Rick Deckard will want his necktie back, and the white room at the end of the Stargate in ‘2001: a space odyssey’ is now missing its floor…
+ And finally, HOLY CRAPS QUICK SOMEONE GIVE ME USD $225,000 RIGHT NAO
TOKYO — Department store chain operator Sogo & Seibu Co said Friday it will offer two robots made to look like the people who buy them as a special sales event for the new year. The look-alike robots, which will be produced by robot maker Kokoro Co, will sell for 20.1 million yen each, Sogo & Seibu said.
The robots are made of silicone and can move the upper half of their body as they are in a sitting position. Sogo & Seibu will accept orders at most of its 28 outlets for two days from Jan. 2, and for three days from New Year’s Day at the others. If there are three or more orders, buyers will be chosen by lot. Humanoid robots, made by Kokoro, were used at the Aichi Expo in 2005 in Aichi Prefecture to help direct people to specific locations and events.
It should be shockingly obvious, but the robot wouldn’t be a replica of me, of course. Isn’t that right, Sidore? *sly wink to camera*
So there you have it! That’s literally three months’ worth of news in one post! And all told, it still doesn’t cover everything.
Guess that means you’ll be seeking more news about lovely rubber-skinned Synthetik women in January, eh? More than likely!
typed for your pleasure on 12 December 2009, at 6.38 pm
Sdtrk: ‘Modern cinema’ by The Summer Hits
Here’s a neat little follow-up: Vol.17 of this series spoke about the glass-and-concrete space phallus known as the Post Office Tower — which is nowadays called the BT Tower, after its current owners, British Telecom — located in London’s West End. As previously mentioned, one of its selling points was a restaurant at the top of the tower, bizarrely named topofthetower. It operated to great amounts of success until 1971, when it was closed to the public after an IRA-made bomb exploded in the mens’ toilets.
100 Cool Points to anyone who can correctly guess where this still is from.
Hint: you’d have to be a Dodo to not know where it’s from, really
However! According to Retro To Go, BT plan to refit and reopen the tower’s restaurant to the public; their plan is to have it completed by December 2011, so that it can be ready and running in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Nice! Although it’s more than likely not going to have similar fab 20th century Modern decor as it did thirty years ago, it’s good to see that one of London’s landmarks will get a new lease on life…
Incidentally, topofthetower was part of the Butlins conglomerate. Mr Butlins is known as the man behind the Butlins Holiday Camps, which were bargain-priced, chalet-based resorts located in various areas around England and Ireland, that provided entertainment and other recreational activities for holidaymakers. The site Butlins Memories has a fab page that has scans of the original topofthetower menu from the Sixties. Take careful notes BT, as that’s what you have to live up to
EDIT (01 JAN 2014): Why not check out the ‘Eating High’ segment of the Sixties-era ‘Look at Life’ film series? Finally, a video that hasn’t been yanked by YouTube! I say that now, of course…
