Superbowl Sunday is as much about the film trailers as the game. So while Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrated their triumph, others were more excited about the first look at Han Solo’s new prequel. But while a new Star Wars is always welcome, Diary’s attention was drawn by another imminent blockbuster – without doubt the real estate movie of the year.
Skyscraper – surely pitched as Die Hard meets Towering Inferno – features Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson trying to save his family from some villainous types in the world’s new tallest building, 240 floors up. While it’s burning. They can take our money now, but if you are doubting its serious commercial property credentials, check out the trailer.
About a minute in, it features a convincing-looking infographic that shows the titular skyscraper, the Pearl, literally towering over other landmarks including the Burj Khalifa and One World Trade Centre. It’s the kind of diagram we see all the time. That’s nice attention to detail, so keep your eyes peeled for a real estate consultant in the credits.
Your lightbulb moment
It’s February, the 14th is just around the corner, so naturally our thoughts turn to… Christmas. Well, world-renowned festive tourist attractions don’t plan themselves. And so it is that Oxford Street has wasted no time in launching a global call for the redesign of its famous Christmas lights.
In the first-ever such competition, Oxford Street is looking in 2018 to “once again use the power of light to capture the world’s imagination”. Lighting designers and architectural specialists are invited to submit anonymous design proposals by 26 March for a chance to make it into the final round of four.
So, if you have always wanted to illuminate the West End with sparkly snowflakes and the like, cancel your Valentine’s Day plans, crank up the Christmas CD you haven’t got around to putting away, and get drawing.
A family restaurant
There’s no doubt that veganism is on the rise, and Colliers International has been in touch to let us know that it has let a former Strada in Parsons Green to City Pub Group for a new fully vegan restaurant. Apparently the eatery, set to open next month, is a collaboration with Lucy and Tiffany Watson, stars (Diary is told) of something called Made in Chelsea.
And, as it happens, daughters of City Pub Group’s executive chairman Clive Watson. With reality TV celebrities behind the project, and young professionals increasingly turning their backs on meat and animal products, Diary has little doubt that this will soon be the place to be spotted in Parsons Green. Colliers must be confident too, as it did not seek to fall back on the celebrity connection.
Instead of a photo of Lucy and Tiffany, the firm sent one of… Clive. To be fair, it seems he has been known to cameo on the E4 show. So, good for dad getting in on the fame game.
‘Ello, Ello, HOCOLOGO
Dominic Raab, the new housing minister, wrote a rousing piece for the Daily Telegraph last week on how “this government’s number-one domestic priority is building the homes the country desperately needs”. He listed the tools ministers would use – among them the recent rebrand to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and also a pledge to reduce obstacles to homebuilding by “consulting on changes to the National Planning Police Framework”.
Er, hang on. Was this a Telegraph subbing error, a ministerial mistype or some ambit-extending new government policy supporting a more muscular approach to delivering homes?
Diary didn’t bother to check but noted the piece was unchanged 24 hours later online. You’d think the Planning Police would have caught it – or at least the grammar police.
Monopoly: cheats never prosper?
Monopoly: dividing families since 1903. Based on the landlord’s game – famously created to show the evils of capitalism at the turn of the last century – it has been through many iterations since.
The latest is the “Cheater’s Edition”. Yes, you read that right. Finally, players get rewarded for skipping spaces, trying to dodge rent, and stealing from the bank.
Diary does not condone such behaviour and is advised by its lawyer to say that it has never knowingly engaged in these or other underhand practices.
But with a list of potential cheats that suggests placing a hotel on one of your properties without payment, discreetly removing a hotel from someone else’s property and collecting rent for a property you don’t own, Diary fears sympathy for landlords won’t be helped by the launch.
