Planvine Ponders

Welcome to the Planvine Blog Here our team will be posting news, the best upcoming events, reviews, general life advice and some stuff to keep you entertained. What is Planvine? Planvine is the place to find things to do in London. Join to get personalised event recommendations for the best of what's coming up in town; so you'll never miss out again. Request an invite. Follow Planvine: Go on, Like us:

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Things to do in London this weekend: 21/09/12 - 23/09/12

It finally seems that, to quote House Stark, winter is coming; this week we've seen the days get shorter and we've felt the temperature get cooler.  Fear not though, the leaves may be starting to fall off the trees but there's still some cracking events in London going on over this forthcoming weekend.

Here's Planvine's top picks of things to do this weekend:

Friday

      Drop-in drawing session at the National Portrait Gallery - kick off Friday evening with a free drawing session at the NPG.  Materials are provided and you can stay for as long as you like.

Cat Face Presents at the Macbeth - Dance the night away at The Macbeth.  In their own words: "We play dirty party music -indie, dubstep, rock, pop, hip hop, dancehall, old stuff from when we were kids, bla bla anything but house music basically."

The Rollin' Clones - Meals on Wheels Tour at The O2 Academy Islington - Rolling Stones fan?  See the next best thing to the real thing this Friday.

Saturday

      Indian Street Food at The Central Street Cookery School - Learn how to cook some Indian street food favourites this Saturday at one of London's best cookery schools.

Drum and Bass night at Cable Club - Fancy a big night?  Cable have got a host of upcoming drum and bass DJs to keep you dancing until 6am.

Eurotrash all-nighter at The Roxy - Filmbar70 present a whole night of bizarre European cinema - with free coffee from 2am and a bacon buttie at 5am!

Sunday

      BP Portrait Award 2012 Final Day at the Royal Portrait Gallery - If you haven't had a chance to get over to this so far, Sunday's your last chance.  Don't miss out on this one, it's definitely worth the trip.

One Love, One Life! at the Hackney Empire - An afternoon of dance, drama, song and comedy by The Robert Levy Foundation.

Sunday's Premier League action on the big screen at The Roxy - Get yourself back to the Roxy for a great afternoon of football on the big screen: Liverpool vs Man U followed by Man City vs Arsenal.

We hope that you enjoy the weekend!  Check out the full list of upcoming events in London.

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London's best independent cinemas

As much as the multiplex can be fun, sometimes it's worth ditching the crowds and heading somewhere different for more memorable cinema experience. Luckily, London has no shortage of great independent cinemas and film experiences that make a night at the flicks a bit more interesting.

Here's a rundown of some of the best independent cinemas in London:

Prince Charles Cinema The Daddy of Independent Cinemas in London.  With Classic Film seasons, double-bills, quote-a-longs, sing-a-longs, Director Q&As to name only a few things on offer, The Prince Charles Cinema is a film buff's dream.  It's also cracking value, especially if you join as an annual member.

Planvine Pick - Check out the PCC's monthly screening of Tommy Wiseau's 'masterpiece' The Room.

Secret Cinema

The not-so-secret Secret Cinema has experienced phenomenal success since its launch.  Not so much watching a film but living it, it's an experience that any film fan will love.  The premise is simple; it's a secret film in a secret location.  Having bought tickets, you are given the details of the meeting place and instructions of what to wear.  The rest is unknown and the results, often mesmerising.  We'd better not say anymore.  You'll need to act fast though, Secret Cinema is often a sell-out.

Phoenix Cinema

The beautiful Art Deco Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley is one of the UK’s oldest cinemas and it's vaulted ceiling dates back to 1910.  A true gem of the community, the Phoenix has been run as a charitable trust since 1985, giving it total independence to show whatever it wants.  Worth a trip for the architecture alone!

Prism

Did you know that Prism, the Harvey Nichols-owned, superbly rated restaurant in the City also hosted film nights?  Neither did we until last year.  Prism run a Monday Night Film club - usually with themes that run for a quarter.  The best part?  Tickets are just £10 and this includes a movie-themed cocktail on arrival.

Hot Tub Cinema

Does exactly what it says on the tin.  Sit in Hot Tubs (or paddling pools) on a roof and watch a film.  With a lot of press in summer 2012, Hot Tub Cinema has become extremely popular so book you need to book your places fast!

Jameson Cult Film Club

With a pinch of the magic that has made Secret Cinema so popular, Jameson's Cult Film Club nights are more of an experience than simply watching a film - with free whiskey.  Jameson do a great job of transporting the audience into the universe of the film; with actors re-creating scenes from the movies they show.  A truly great cinema experience and best of all, tickets are free!

Rooftop Film Club

How better to spend a summer evening in London than watching a classic movie on the roof with a cold drink?  The wildly popular Rooftop Film Club (most nights are a sell-out) shows classic movies on the roof of either the Queen of Hoxton pub in Shoreditch or the plush Kensington Roof Gardens.

Everyman Cinemas

Tired of sticky floors, flat coke and inadequate leg-room?  Get yourself down to an Everyman Cinema.  With their exceptionally comfy chairs, great customer service and quality range of food and drink (beer or wine while you watch the film, no problem); Everyman have made the cinema a special event again.

The film programme is broad and they also showlive Met Opera performances, Q&As, NT Live theatre, live comedy, sport and music events. Everyman has several venues across town, as well as a few outside of London.

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August Bank Holiday in London

Excited about the long weekend on the horizon?  Here's our top picks of what's happening in London over the bank holiday weekend.

Click on the picture above to see the whole thing.

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The Dark Knight Rises Countdown: 18 Days

We are finally in July and it's just over 2 weeks now until The Dark Knight Rises is released Internationally!  Cue adverts, product sponsorship and the obligatory Batman Whopper at Burger King.

Whilst we probably won't see too much in the way of new footage between now and the 20th, the following are worth checking out to stoke the fire that's no doubt rising in you to see it!

Empire's Dark Knight Trilogy Celebration - an ace piece of content every day from now until TDKR is released.

Win Dark Knight Rises Tickets - Warner Bros will be screening TDKR on 18th July in 29 selected UK cinemas.  Win a ticket here by telling them just how excited you are!

Play The Fire Rises game - a cool browser based game where you can reek havoc as part of Bane's crew.  Worth clicking on to hear more of the awesome soundtrack before you start the game!

And finally...a new TV spot with a few shots we haven't seen before - looks like Batman has given Catwoman a pod to ride around on:

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The Dark Knight Rises Countdown: 36 days

There's been a ton of Dark Knight Rises stuff that's been released since we last posted.  As well as new banners, TV spots and a whole Batman edition of Empire Magazine, the presale tickets were also released causing an online ordering frenzy and crippling the BFI IMAX's website (lukcily the Planvine Team managed to get tickets for the second day!).

All hugely exciting as we're almost within a month of the film being released.

They'll be more to come from us and our countdown as we get ever closer but in the meantime, here's the UK TV spot that was shown at half-time of England's 1-1 draw with France on Monday:

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Jubilee Weekend Infographic

It may only be Monday but in 5 days time, it's a 4 day weekend!  All in honour of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.

There's tons of stuff going on in London to celebrate - so we've put together a handy infographic with some stats on the Queen's reign and the lowdown of how London will give the Queen a weekend she'll never forget.

Time to start planning your 4 days!  Click here or on the image below to see the infographic in full size.

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The Dark Knight Rises Countdown: 59 days

We've finally got below the 60 day mark and the 20th July is beginning to feel within touching distance!  Fingers crossed it won't be long until the cinemas start releasing their tickets for booking for opening night; the Planvine Team will be heading down to the BFI IMAX at Waterloo, should we get lucky when booking tickets (at least we've got Prometheus to keep us going in the meantime...).

For the time being, Warner Bros seems to be releasing a piece of marketing every 10 days or so - and after the trailer and the picture of Bane over the last couple of weeks, this week's new piece is the new poster, pictured below.  Whilst it's not perhaps up there with the best of them (sections of the internet saying that it looks fanmade aren't massively off the mark), it seems that the fire is most certainly rising...

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Event of the day - Willis Earl Beal, live at the Tabernacle

At a loose end tonight and fancy a few beers and some great music?  Head down to the Tabernacle and catch Willis Earl Beal whilst he's in London. 

Here's a bit about him from the Tabernacle website:

Willis Earl Beal manages to create warm, visceral and moving music seemingly out of nothing, just a little bit of imagination – it’s practically magic done without any fancy gadgetry. He made dozens of songs using whatever spare instruments and materials he could find in Albuquerque’s flea markets, thrift stores and alleyways. a red electric guitar, forgotten acoustic guitars, a lap harp, a makeshift drum kit created from pots and pans.

Go here for all the details.

In the meantime, enjoy this performance from earlier this year on Jools Holland:

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The Dark Knight Rises Countdown: 70 days

Holy anticipation Batman!  Total Film magazine has just bought out their Ultimate Batman Issue!  It's packed with all the latest on The Dark Knight Rises as well as retrospectives on all the other Batman films made so far (including the one we're all trying to forget *cough* Batman and Robin *cough*).

To celebrate their special issue, they've released this world-exclusive picture of Bane.  An excellent shot where we can see clearly the intricacies of his mark and the intensive Tom Hardy stare.  Head over to Total Film to read the full story.

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Planvine personality profiles

Great news - the clever chaps in the Planvine labs have just flicked the switch and made the personality profiles that they've been working on live on Planvine.com.  'What the heck does that mean?!' we hear you cry.  Well, what it means is that when you take our quiz when you sign up, you'll now be given a personality profile at the end of it.

So what's your profile?  We're not giving anything away!  Request an invite now to register and see for yourself!

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The Dark Knight Rises Countdown: 79 days

The final trailer surfaced yesterday for the most eagerly anticipated film of the 21st century so far; and boy, did it not disappoint.

In typical Chris Nolan style, the trailer didn't give much away; bar a couple of set pieces and the fact that Catwoman appears to be more friend that foe ('appears' being the appropriate word) but still managed to crank anticipation levels up to 'desperate'.

Being massive Batman/Nolan/Bale/Hathaway/Hardy/Caine/Oldman/Freeman/Gordon-Levitt fans over at Planvine HQ, we're super excited for July 20th and are, quite frankly, willing to wish the time away.  Hence we've started a countdown to the film's release and will be bringing you news, reviews and screening info right up until TDKR is shown to the world.

In the meantime, here's that new trailer in full...

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What to do this weekend

There's plenty of things to do in town this weekend, whilst it's most likely raining outside!  Here are our top picks:

Champagne Tasting Dating - Friday, 7:30pm

For the singles out there, this is speed dating but with Champage - and lots of it.

Saturday Night And Sunday Morning - Saturday, 2:30pm

A showing of the classic Albert Finney starrer at the National Gallery

Prohibition - Saturday, 8pm

Step back in time to the roaring 20s at London’s famous Prohibition night: guests are invited to enjoy delicious cocktails served in tea cups, live bands, dancing, DJs on gramophones, silent cinema, live piano room and gambling tables.

Opera Australia's La Boheme - Sunday, 5pm

It's the story of a group of young friends - a poet, a writer, a composer and an artist - living in poverty but believing in love.

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Planvine on Pinterest

As the cool kids amongst you will know, the hippest new social network around is Pinterest.  Being the zeitgeisty type people we are, Planvine are, of course, aboard the Pinterest bandwagon and you can find a handy board of the best London events right here - Events in London. 

Right, time to hop on the old fixie and go and get my moustache trimmed.

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The Best Easter Weekend Ever: Monday

Oh dear, Monday's your last day off; better make it a good one.  You should be well rested by now so we're going to give you a whole afternoon/evening's worth of great stuff to pack in:

Head down to the Science Museum

You may not have been for a while and it's really worth a trip, especially when they've got two fantastic exhibitions on at the same time.  Firstly, it's the last day of their excellent Stephen Hawking: a 70th Birthday Celebration exhibition.  The man's a bonafide genius and the Science Museum have done a great job with this tribute to him. 

Once you're done there, head round to see Fenix 2, one of the capsules actually used as part of the Chilean miners rescue.  The rescue mission is one of the most fascinating stories of the 21st Century and here's your chance to see a capsule used as part of the rescue up close.  We have it on good authority that it's a must-see and another bonus, both exhibitions are free entry.

Rough Trade Pop Quiz

We then suggest you round off the day with some grub, a pint and a music-themed pub quiz over at the Lexington in North London.  Hosted by the legendary Rough Trade Records, prizes include wine, record shop vouchers and crisps for the best team name. A perfect treat to finish off a brilliant Easter weekend.

So there we have it.  Our final part of how to have the best Easter weekend ever is complete.  We hope that you have a fantastic one, whatever you get up to - and if you do follow our guide or any part of it, be sure to let us know!  Happy Easter from all of us over at Planvine.

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The Best Easter Weekend Ever: Sunday

By Sunday, you'll be on day three of the weekend. Fear not though because you've still got two full days left before the dreaded return to work.  If you've stuck to our guide, you'll have had a long night on Friday and then a day of full-on Dickens yesterday. Time for something a bit more laid back on Sunday, something cheap and something which means you'll have the evening free; as this is the normal weekend's equivalent of a Saturday!  In light of this, we recommend the following:

The African Market at RichMix

Head over to Rich Mix in East London from midday and spend the afternoon sampling African food, admiring African jewelry and clothing, listening to African music and deciding which piece of African arts and crafts you want to get for your bedroom.  It should be a great atmosphere down there and on top of that, it's free!

Be sure to come back, same time tomorrow for our final part of our Easter Weekend guide; Monday.

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The Best Easter Weekend Ever: Saturday

So what with the Alien Quadrilogy or Indieoke on Friday night, it may have been a late one.  Don't worry though as the main event for Saturday doesn't kick off until 3:30pm, so plenty of time to have a late brunch, take a stroll to clear the cobwebs or whatever it is you need to do (we won't mention that it's due to rain on Saturday).  Once you're sorted, you need to head over to the Isle of Dogs because it's Dickens time:

The Life And Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

This is by no means a normal performance of Dickens' classic; it's a two parter, the first part starting at 3:30pm and the second at 7:30pm; so be prepared to immerse yourself in 19th century England in this epic adventure tale.

It's a big cast in a great venue - and for some excellent culture on a Saturday, you can't really do much better.  Plus, even better, you'll still have Sunday and Monday to look forward to.  Talking of which, we'll be back tomorrow with the low down on how to spend your Sunday.

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...But fear not my friend, as it's also a 4 day week!  Provided you're in the UK of course.  Not only that but next week is a 4 day week too!  AND that's not all as this week, we're going to be giving you the lowdown on the best way to spend your Easter weekend, right here on the Planvine blog!

For each of the next 4 days leading up to your 4 days, we'll be showcasing the most excellent things to do in London.  So, first off, Good Friday:

Friday 6th April

Let's presume that Friday daytime is mostly going to be a lazy one.  After all, you'll possibly a little delicate after that one-drink-after-work-honest Thursday night and what the hell, you've still got three days left to get out there and explore this great city.

However, Friday night could well be on.  According to us, you've got two choices:

Spend the evening at the Prince Charles Cinema for their Alien Quadrilogy spectacular.  Whet your appetite for Prometheus with all 4 Alien films, back to back, in one sitting. Glorious (well, the first two at least). Find the details here.

If sci-fi isn't your bag, channel your inner Liam/Damon/Weller/Jarvis/Turner/Lennon/Cobain and get yourself down to Buffalo Bar on Upper Street for Indieoke; karaoke but with a live band.  Info here.

Hope you like the sound of them and we'll be back tomorrow with some suggestions for Saturday.