still here... again
23/July/2005 05:55 PM

I'm still here. Some people were concerned after this most recent round of 'incidents' on Thursday, but rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. There was only one minor injury on the tube after some more bombs (thankfully) failed to detonate properly. Ironically, the only person who has been killed in the last few days is the guy the police shot to death yesterday... and now they're saying he had nothing to do with Thursday's events. What a wonderful world we live in.

Anyway, my weekend with Stefy at Ken and Margaret's was wonderful. They absolutely spoiled us, and we had a lovely time with them. If nothing else, it was just nice to get outside of London for a little while. I took quite a few pictures while we were away, and hopefully I'll post them by the end of the weekend.

Ta ta for now.

the end of a three week semester
21/July/2005 12:16 PM

Four credits in three weeks. Not bad. The first mini-semester is over. No more ENG 332 classes, and from now on, I'll only meet with my ENG 431A class on Thursdays. It'll be a rough three weeks from here on out, let me tell ya.

My last ENG 431A session with Justus just ended a few minutes ago. We only actually talked about the readings for this week for the first 45 minutes of class. The rest of our time was spent having a totally open-ended discussion about nationality, culture, identity, politics, terrorism, globalization... pretty much anything and everything that was on our minds. Now I know that probably sounds like an unbelievable waste of time, but it was actually one of the most enjoyable class periods I've ever sat through. It was just a really cool, intellectual, ADULT conversation between the 8 of us and Professor Nieland. I think all of us are a little sad that he's leaving tomorrow. Professor Judith Roof, who's flying in to helm the last three weeks, has a pretty tough act to follow.

Anyway, I guess I'll keep this short. There's a few things I still need to do before leaving for Ken and Margaret's this afternoon, so I gotta run. I'm posting a new picture series though, so please have a look.

Have a great weekend!

paperchase
20/July/2005 08:13 AM

Today was probably the coolest 332 session we've had so far. We screened this film London, which was basically about the decline of the city from the mid-70s through the early 90s under Margaret Thatcher. The film wasn't exactly the most exciting thing I've ever seen--although it was very interesting--but what was cool was that the director came and spoke to our class about it. His name is Patrick Keiller, and he's this soft-spoken, bald-headed British guy who came across as being both insanely intelligent and very witty. I was almost kind of sad when the movie ended and after he showed us a couple more short examples of his work, because there was only about 10-15 minutes left in the class period to actually listen to him talk at that point. So, probably for the first and last time ever, I was really pleased when we decided to extend the class period so Mr. Keiller could continue his discussion. I think it finally struck me today just how cool it is that we're seeing films like this in London, at the BFI, and with the guy who actually made the movie. It was a pretty amazing day, to say the least.

On my way back to the dorm after class I made a short detour through Russell Square so I could check my email and look at some stuff online. Dad was at work already, so he and I chatted over AIM for a little bit, which was nice. I had to keep our talk short though, because I still had two more papers to work on today. It was pushing 3 p.m. by the time I finally made it up to my room, and other than stopping for a few breaks throughout the evening totaling about an hour or so, I pretty much worked until midnight. I know that sounds nuts, but I felt really productive by the time I went to bed. In that span of time I'd managed to write my entire five and a half page final paper for ENG 332, and knock off most of the introductory paragraph for my last ENG 431A essay. So, assuming that I'll get some time to work this morning, and have a fair amount of the afternoon open today, I should get everything done with time to spare. Whew. Six papers in three weeks, baby!

Well, Stefy will be getting back from her overnight stay at Stratford sometime in the mid-afternoon or early evening today. Hopefully I'll have everything done before she gets back. I can't wait to see my girl! Tomorrow we're leaving for Bognor Regis to see Ken and Margaret in the late afternoon, so I'm not sure if I'll have time to post again. If I don't, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Cheers!

home stretch
19/July/2005 09:00 AM

I don't think I could've had a better Monday. I woke up and started working on my scenester paper for ENG 332, and managed to knock off another page before class (I finished the first two last night). Things got even better when Justus told us that he was dialing back the page requirements for the last two papers (including the one I was already working on). So this means that I should be able to finish the scenester paper tonight, pound out our final 332 paper tomorrow, and quickly churn out my last ENG 431A paper on Wednesday. After that, I'll be done writing for the last three weeks. Shweet.

The film we watched in class today was beyond bizarre, but even with all the whacky stuff that was in it -- shootings, stabbings, suffocation, wild orgies, drug use, etc. -- I actually enjoyed it more than some of the other films we've seen. That said, I don't think anyone had a clue how to respond to the screening, so it was a painfully boring discussion afterwards. In fact, since there was so little to say, we actually went PAST our usual end time of 1:00 p.m. since Nieland was so concerned about why nobody was talking. That's all well and good, but I was itching to get out of there since I had plans to meet up with Stefy after class. Anyway, he eventually set us free, and finally handed back some of our papers. This made a good day even better -- I got a 3.7 on my first ENG 332 paper, and a whopping 4.0 on my second ENG 431A paper. Just call me Paul Pheiffer.

Stefy was already waiting for me just outside of the BFI, so she and I took a little walk over to Leicster Square for the afternoon. We went to the same movie theater that we saw Paheli at last week so I could FINALLY see Batman Begins today. Let me tell you... it was worth the wait. I was so skeptical about this movie since I'm such a huge fan of the original Tim Burton Batman with Michael Keaton, but this went way beyond my most optimistic expectations. I won't ruin anything here for those who haven't seen it yet, but if you're one of the bajillion people who "loved" Spiderman, do yourself a favor and go see a REAL comic book movie.

On our way out of the "cinema" as they call it, we noticed a mob of people gathering outside, and a bunch of professional movie lights and cameras sitting around. I asked one of the staff members what was going on, and he said that they were getting ready for the UK premiere of Fantastic Four this afternoon. We didn't stick around to see if any of the cast were showing up or anything because it was raining, but it was still cool to know that something like that was happening at the theater we've gone to twice now. It's London, baby!

Stefy and I were kinda pooped after the long walk back from Leicster Square, so we just stopped by a local Pizza Hut for some grub. Man, it really hit the spot. After dinner we went over to Stefy's dorm to relax for a while. I finally got around to calling Ken and Margaret tonight, and made plans to go see them with Stef on Thursday. Their son-in-law Paul gave me detailed instructions on what trains to take to get to Bognor Regis, so now all we have to do is cross our fingers that there aren't any terrorist attacks on Thursday.

I left for Campbell Hall at around 9:30 tonight, and spent the rest of the night finishing up my scenester paper and doing readings for tomorrow's class. We have the actual director of tomorrow's films coming in to talk to our class, so that should be pretty exciting. I just hope we don't look like idiots in front of this guy.

me and my doll
17/July/2005 09:20 AM

Sorry it's been a couple days since I updated. Stefy and I have been busy this weekend.

We hung out for a while on Thursday night after our classes got out, but I pretty much spent the night at my dorm doing readings for my ENG 431A class since she was seeing a play with her English group. It was pretty exciting, let me tell you. It was nice though because I got a phone call from work, and they put me on speakerphone to talk with everyone. I thought it was cute that they were the first ones to call. My phone rang again all of about five minutes after hanging up with the Trust Fund crew, and it was my mom this time. We chatted for a little bit, so I was glad that I got a chance to catch up with her and Dan for a little bit before going to bed tonight.

I was up by about 8:30 on Friday morning, and Stefy came to meet me at Campbell by 10 or so. We went for a LONG morning walk up Tottenham Court Road all the way up to Caring Cross Road so we could buy some tickets to see Chicago at one of the discount booths near Leicster Square. It turned out that we didn't get quite as big of a bargain as we were hoping for, but for £30 each we got some really good seats for the 5 p.m. show tonight. Once we had that squared away, Stef and I were all set to hop over to a nearby movie theater to finally see Batman Begins, but it turned out that we were mis-reading the show times, and couldn't fit it in before having to go back to our dorms and get ready before seeing Chicago tonight. I was a little bummed at first, but we just took our time walking back up Tottenham Court Road instead, and did a little shopping along the way.

Anyway, Chicago was pretty fantastic tonight. Neither one of us had ever seen the stage production before, so it was cool to see how different some things were from the movie. Brooke Shields is playing Roxie Hart right now too, so it was cool to see her in the show. I'd say that Stef and I were both pleasantly surprised by how good she did. I mean, it is kinda unfair to compare performances to the movie, but for my money she was a pretty good singer. The highlight of the show by far though was the actor they had playing Billy Flynn -- they had a brother in the role that Richard Gere played in the movie, and the guy was fantastic. He absolutely stole the show, and I can safely say that all of his songs were my favorite.

After the play Stefy and I went for dinner at this local chain restaurant, Garfunkel's. We were both pretty hungry by then, so it was good to finally get some food in our tummies. On our way back to Tottemham Court Road after dinner we finally were able to connect with Stef's cousin Olivia on the phone. She's been here in London for at least a couple of months now doing an internship through her school, so it was nice to finally map out a time to meet up with her. We managed to track her down near a Starbucks of all places, and then the three of us walked back to Stefy's dorm so she could give Olivia a new purse that she'd picked out with her grandma (poor Olivia had one stolen at a restaurant a few weeks ago). So, we hung out at International Hall for a little while, but eventually had to walk the other Miss Spiro back up to Tottenham Court to send her on her way for the night. That was pretty much it for Friday.

Poor Stefy and I were pretty tired and achy after such a long day, but Saturday made Friday look like a cake walk. We got up at the crack of dawn so we could venture out to Piccadilly Circus and wait in line for Guys and Dolls tickets today. We left my dorm at 6:00 a.m. this morning, and got out there a little before 7 -- can you believe it?! What's even crazier is that there was already a mob of people waiting there. Most of them even had Harry Potter books with them, so they must've gone to the midnight release parties and then come straight to the theater to wait in line. Those people are just nuts. Well, the box office didn't even open until 10, so Stef and I just sat there and passed the time by playing about a hundred rounds of 20 questions. I know it sounds nuts that we were there waiting for so long, but it actually went by pretty fast. Plus, this was pretty much our only chance to see this show while we're in London, because it's just about the hottest thing in town right now. All of the tickets are sold out, and none of the discount booths are selling them either, so our only option was to get the half off tickets on the day of the show we wanted to see directly from the box office. So anyway, once the box office finally opened at 10, we found out that we could get front row seats for £30 each at the 2:30 matinee, or standing room only at the 7:30 show for £15. While it would've been great to get in the first row for that earlier show, we knew that wouldn't give us enough time to run back to the dorm and get changed and be back in time for the show. So, since we wanted to see the later show anyway, it actually worked out pretty perfect -- plus we spent half as much, so you can't beat that.

Anyway, we both thought Guys and Dolls was wonderful. The entire cast was pitch perfect, but Jane Krakowski and Ewan McGregor were especially great. It's funny too because I'm not exactly a big nut for musicals, but I thought this show was fantastic. The other great part was that there were some empty seats smack dab in the middle of the lower section open, so we were able to sit for half of the show. I guess luck was with my lady tonight.

Okay, so this has been another obscenely long post, so I'll cut it off here. It's just been a wonderful weekend with my doll so far. We're going to the Tate Modern Museum today to walk around for a while, and there's also a film exhibit that I need to see for class, so that works out pretty well.

Enjoy your Sunday!