Holly’s Highlights: Week 5

I’m astonished to find that for the two weeks without my highlights there were no (verified) instances of tabs wandering the streets tearing out their hair wailing ‘I’m in a cultural WASTELAND without Holly’s Highlights!’

However, I have no hint of the week 5 blues as, after a week of buying bondage tape and filling condoms with fake blood, I no longer have to spend my days in the dark orifice of the Judith E Wilson studio. Today I step out, blinking in the daylight, knowing that I can go to the theatre, to art galleries, to the cinema and out to coffee! Share my childlike joy. Share it.

Art

What? Cambridge Art Salon

When? Whenever you dare to roam past Parker’s Piece.

Where? 29 Cromwell Road, Romsey, Cambridge (just off Mill Road)

Why? The Art Salon is just one of the amazing places that occupies the Narnia of Mill Road. A unique space that is not affiliated with any institution or academy, the Salon manages to exhibit a ‘range of contemporary art showcased by the public’ without being too twee, pretentious or desperate. And there’s something different on every week. Get out of the bubble. Go on, I dare you.

Film

What? The Rocky Horror Picture Show

When? 9pm, Sun 26th Feb

Where? New Court Theatre, Christ’s College

Why? Christ’s Film Society may be the last place on earth where cinema still makes me giggle with child-like glee. For £3, you get a truly interactive experience. I could barely make out the dialogue of The Room over ‘Oh, hi Mark’s and the reckless throwing of plastic forks, but it was joyous. Dust off your fishnets and corsets, and get there early for the annual showing of Rocky Horror. You won’t leave anywhere else this term with a bigger smile on your face.

Food

What? Bill’s

When? When you are in caffeine withdrawal.

Where? Green Street

Why? The restaurant/cafe itself is a little on the pretentious side, with uplifting quotations in cutesy font and shelves of expensive vintage soft drinks, but there is one huge redeeming feature: order tea, and instead of getting a sad small cup with barely enough liquid within to drown a fly, you are handed a teapot bigger than your head, plus a milk jug and a sugar bowl. I managed to make it last six and a half cups; and for that I paid £1.85. The kind of thing that makes me weep with pleasure.

TV

What? The Brit Awards

When? 8pm, Tues 21st Feb

Where? ITV1

Why? Jarvis’s protest bum-wiggle against Michael Jackson’s rendition of Earth Song. Joss Stone’s American accent. The Osbournes fucking literally everything up. The Brits may be corporate and overblown, but it is glorious in its ridiculousness. I still wish it was 2007, when Russell Brand was let loose on the first live broadcast since 1986. And if the Ed Sheeran arse-kissing gets too much, you can always play Brits bingo.

Just another excuse to feature Jarvis, quite frankly.

Music

What? Leisure Society

When? 7pm, Sat 25th Feb

Where? The Junction

Why? Hushed, ethereal tones? Check. Swelling strings? Check. A group of earnest looking young men in jumpers you would only consider shagging because they are in an indie band? Double check. But the Leisure Society are a band bigger than the sum of their parts, and are a dusky ray of bucolic sunshine illuminating the darkness of Lent term.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MhHXAIGhQQ

I personally eat three indie boys for breakfast.

Something different

What? Jarvis Cocker reads his lyrics

When? 7pm, Wed 22nd Feb

Where? Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick site, West Road

Why? Quite frankly I am astounded that anyone would need a reason to see the frontman of Pulp, unabashed Geography teacher lookalike, cultural icon and possessor of my soul, but at least it will mean fewer people to battle on Tuesday for a chance to touch the Jarvinator.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVibsNPXBx0

Chris Morris’s perfect spoof of Pulp.