So, it’s nearly 2009. Wow. That’s gone by pretty damned fast, scarily so actually. In the last few days of 2008 I’ll be thinking back over a year filled with parties and look forward to a year of credit crunches and redundancies. Ahem. If we’re all honest there’s an even bleaker spot on the horizon and it’s getting ever bigger in my vision. And that’s the impending doom of The End and AKA.

OK, so regular readers of my blog will know I’ve been harping on about the end of The End for months now (see New …

Total films seen in 2008: 500 (Yes, I made it to 500, thanks to a last minute push in the last three days. Go me!)
Films seen this week: Beverly Hills Chihuahua, The Transporter 2, Career Opportunities, Personal Best, All the Marbles (aka California Dolls), The Projectionist, Hollywood Knights, Kung Fu Panda, Strictly Ballroom, Chained For Life, They Saved Hitler's Brain, My Neighbour Totoro, Saint Jack, The Prestige, My Brilliant Career, The Big Doll House, Patrick, The Last Man on Earth, Hannah Takes The Stairs

"Flee! Flee! In terror from the badness..." - The Worst Movies of 2008
Last year (Blog …

Hands up who doesn’t have any money. Yup, my hand is reaching towards the ceiling… I’d better stop that now, it’s making typing difficult. After the overindulgence of Christmas and New Year and my ‘sod it’ attitude to budgeting, January has already gotten off to a frugal start. With the Credit Crunch at London bars, well, crunching it is looking like my nights out are going to be confined to one night at the weekend with the occasional trip to my local cheap independent cinema. Great.

However, if you’ve been reading the papers recently, you’ll have seen reports about Wetherspoons stepping up their assault to dominate the high street by slashing …

Despite the ominous warnings of doom and gloom from the financial sector, 2008 was a big year for restaurants with loads of new openings over the course of the year. It seems like everywhere I looked a new one was cropping up. And granted, I figure that most of these venues (especially the very posh ones) were probably planned well before the phrase credit crunch was even a glimmer in the eyes of City bigwigs. But crunch or not, it seems like next year is set to follow in the same footsteps, with loads of 2009 restaurant openings to look forward to.

Canary Wharf continues its quest to one up Central London (first the banks, then the restaurants!) with plenty of 2009 restaurant openings, including a new Roka, …