One of the greatest things about London and New York is their diversity – it makes life (and this dear website) so much more interesting. Today, for example, we have four new lists for you that are all completely different in theme, but are united in helping you to discover something new in your city. Oh, but if you happen to be a gay Australian ice skater with a weakness for cake you may be particularly pleased!

Going Down Under – Who knew there were so many Aussie/Kiwi places in New York? Whether you’re wanting to watch the Wallabies thrash their opponents at some ungodly NYC hour or relive your travelling days by chowing down a meat pie, this list by NYKnifeAndFork is for you!

London’s Best Afternoon Teas – A world away from great hunks of antipodean steak and larger, this list by Bon Vivant is full of cucumber sandwiches, scones and exquisite blends of tea served in fine bone china. Think it’s just for girls? Think again – the Mandeville Hotel specialises in a men’s afternoon tea – you’ll get whisky and a selection of games alongside heartier-than-expected portions of chai and cake.

The Cutting Edge – Why not take advantage of New York’s rather bracing clime and attempt a spot of al fresco ice skating? After which, you can take advantage of this useful list and find a nearby place to warm your feet (and fill your stomach)

Gay London – Finally, Metrotwin has a list for all you confirmed bachelor/bahelorettes out there. Compiled by fruit-fly extraordinaire moi (with a little help from my friends) it’s a mixture of fun, legendary and ‘hot right now’ places, that hopefully won’t be distinctly ‘over’ before you finish this paragraph. We want to do an accompanying Gay New York list, so please, send us your suggestions, and we’ll put them on the site!

Photos by alisonlongrigg and darrell berry used under a Creative Commons License

Darrell Berry is a freelance photographer who lives in London. We stumbled across his work via his Flickr account, but he has had shots published in a wide range of publications, from L’Umo Vogue to Time Out. Basically, if you see a cool photo of some hedonistic metrosexuals, chances are he’s behind it.

As a photographer you are renowned for photographing London’s alternative club scene. What made you decide to focus on that subject matter?

I hadn’t taken photos for years, and hadn’t been out much in the 90s — commercial house music is NOT my thing, but then my partner foolishly bought me a little Leica digital camera for Christmas a few years back. Around the same time we started going out more in the East End — to cabaret and performance at Bistrotheque, to nights like Nuke Them All at Images strip club and illegal basement afterhours nights in Shacklewell… I started taking pictures, people liked the pictures, I bought a Nikon DSLR, it all just went from there! I’ve been lucky to be in the right place at the right time, and have had nothing but support from promoters and clubbers. They’re amazing people.

What London clubnights do you currently recommend?

Most everything at Dalston Superstore. Disco Bloodbath. One-offs that don’t even have names. Horse Meat Disco still rules!

What was/is your favourite ever club night?

Maniac Love, Tokyo 1993/4. Amazing after hours party in a tiny basement. Big name international DJs would drop by after their official gigs and play. Fantastic crowd, and energy unlike anything I’ve felt before or after. Maniac was home.

Do you think the London club scene has changed much, now we are in the throes of a recession?

I don’t know that it has made that much difference to the East End club nights themselves, but the collapse in retail has opened up new spaces — like Digiteria in the West End — for people to run one-off events in. If you keep your ear to the ground, there’s always something popping up for a few days, somewhere… still waiting for ‘the next punk’ music movement though!

What are your favourite London haunts?

Very East-End-centric…

Viet Grill on Kingsland Road for the £5 lunch special or a big dinner (try the grilled mackerel!). Rivington Grill to celebrate. Bocca di Lupo for the best food I’ve tasted in London for years. Moshi Moshi sushi at Liverpool Street station for sustainable kaiten sushi without rip-off prices. Nude Espresso on Hanbury Street for hangover brunch. A walk along the Union Canal for fish and chips at the Island Queen pub, or the other way out to Victoria Park on a summer day.

You also co-edit the website BigShinyThing...

We cover ‘edge culture’ — basically anything we’re interested in, from club culture, street art, digital… we’re non-commercial so we can say what we want. According to Google, we’re a top authority on New Rave fashion. Not true.

We’ve featured some of Darrell’s favourite shots – you can see more on his website darrell-berry.com.

The photograph at the top of the page is of Slumbarave at Metropolis 2009. A recession moment — the Metropolis lapdancing club opening its door to club promoters in the face of declining revenue. The venue is amazing. This shot is in the ‘wet room’.

The next photo is of Bistrotheque’s Drag Ball 2007 at Shoreditch Town Hall. One of my favourite shots. Says everything I’d want to say about the East End scene at its best: magic.

All photos by Darrell Berry used under a Creative Commons License

Please keep your suggestions for the site coming, and if you want to become a content editor and write your own recommendations on the site,  send an email to editor@metrotwin.com with an example review in the Metrotwin style. You can earn BA miles for each new place you add to the site!

Here are the new places we’ve added to the site over the last week:

New List

Cheap London Eats 2010 - nuff said.

New Places

Favela Chic – It’s like a Brazilian slum. But in Shoreditch. And Cool.

National Portrait Gallery – A rather shockingly late entry for this London institution.

Eisenberg’s – Big sandwiches from the little NYC shop.

Royal Vauxhall Tavern – The heart of alternative queer London

Heaven – ‘Baby you’re all that I want/When you’re lying here in my arms/I’m finding it hard to believe….’

Balans Cafe - 24 hour cafe that serves eggs benedict? Divine!

Incidentally, those last three entries are going to be part of our upcoming Gay London and NYC list. Where else do you think we should include? Let us know!

You might have heard of Jake. The social network for gay professionals has over 30,000 members worldwide and has written some great recommendations and lists for our site in their time too.

They hold monthly networking get-togethers in exclusive venues as it is, but November’s gathering is particularly special as it is their 10th birthday.  It’s being held at private member’s club Quintessentially in London’s Soho on 8th November, and is hosted by Sir Ian McKellen, with Boy George and Fat Tony lending their DJ skills to the event too. Oh, and in contrast with most 10 year olds’ birthday parties where it’s all ‘Me! Me! Me! Presents! Cake! Jelly!’ It’s all in aid of Albert Kennedy Trust, a great charity that helps homeless LGBT teenagers.

You can buy tickets from their website, and don’t say we haven’t given you enough warning to get that suit pressed, shoes shined and dig out those lovely taxidermy cufflinks….*

*I think most of London, both overground and in the sewers are glad I was born female…

Joe Orton’s plays, dark comedies such as Entertaining Mr Sloane and Loot, were the scourge of 1960’s censors, filled as they were with sex, death and immoral characters; but Orton was equally well known for his colourful personal life.

An unashamed and promiscuous homosexual, Joe lived with his lover Kenneth Halliwell in Islington, in a claustrophobic one bedroom flat that they decorated with huge collages from floor to ceiling, which only added to the oppresive smallness of the place. For fun they would send fake letters of outrage about Orton’s plays to local newspapers and humorously deface library books with ‘lewd’ images, an act that would lead to a six month jail sentence when the pair were eventually caught. As time went on, Kenneth, a failed writer himself, found it hard to deal with Joe’s fame and subsequent adulation and became increasingly unstable. Things came to a violent head on 9th August 1967 when an enraged Halliwell bludgeoned a sleeping Joe to death with a hammer before taking his own life.

Much has already been said about Joe’s life, by others and himself – he was an avid diarist, and it was these books that formed the basis of the 1987 film ‘Prick Up Your Ears’ which starred Gary Oldman as the talented scribe.

Now, the playwright Simon Bent as adapted ‘Prick up Your Ears’ into a stage play, starring Matt Lucas – he of Little Britain fame – as Kenneth Halliwell. It is an intriguing piece of casting, Lucas is known for his larger than life comedy roles, how he will take on the damaged, vulnerable and obsessive Halliwell will be anyone’s guess.

It’s playing at the Comedy Theatre in SW1 from today until 23rd December, so check it out if you like your theatre dark, twisted and wickedly comedic.

photo courtesy of the Leicester Mercury and diamond geezer via Flickr