Londowners Grove

Technologeeze

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:44:42 -0400

It’s been an increasingly frustrating 36 hours. Here I am on a Sunday afternoon, tying to keep my cool in the face of a waterlogged laptop and a repeatedly-rejected ATM card. It is only thanks to the more reliable (incidentally organic) Blake Solomon that this blog post is possible.

Reading William Faulkner’s “The Light in August” is helping me, but not enough. I’ll probably start to drink soon, even though I have to be at work (ie: intersnship) at 9:30 am tomorrow. I just got an email with an assignment from IE, our first of several reports on the status of our internships. I should just do that and paste the report in here, but of course I’m not in the mood. Instead I’ll have you know that the first week at MSN has been most agreeable.

I haven’t gotten the chance to work on any assignments regarding movies, but I spent the better part of the week censoring penises, coming up with witty quips about deformed animals, and passing judgement on the best front men in rock and roll. Not exactly the most hard hitting journalistic offerings to be sure, but then again, I’ve never been much for seriousness anyway (RIP: Tim Russert!).

My favorite part of the whole experience though has been the staff. I’ve already started to feel close enough to some of them to reveal some of the more intimate details of my life and mindset (against my better judgement, of course). Or maybe that was just the result of some of the drinks they bought me at pub gatherings on Wednesday and Friday after work. This whole week has seen people buying me stuff, including last night when Marylyn came to my rescue and paid not only for my passage on the Tube (aka Underground aka Subway) but a pint at the lively “World’s End” pub in Camden. Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom were sadly nowhere to be found, but I did get in a cool stand off with some guys in the street after they kicked a soccer ball into Mar’s face. Another reason for us Americans to hate the sport- it leads to the suffering and humiliation of pretty girls.

I just remembered; another sweet part of the weekend, Mar and I booked a trip to Greece for July. Not sure yet who if anyone else will be joining us, or if it will be entirely cool with work, but I’m definitely excited nontheless. Also on Saturday we spent a gorgeous afternoon wandering around the outdoor market on Portabello Road, replete with stands of fresh produce, my father’s favorite; knick-knacks, and other stuff that seemed suspiciously like it might have not come from the most legal of sources. Twas great fun navigating this psuedo black-market world. I snagged a pair of knock-off Ray-Ban’s (Fray-Band’s?) and a special belt buckle. And I know i’ll be back to pick up a genuine gas mask for $30, which yes, I will wear casually around the house.

How quickly I forget the monumentally positive in the face of the comparitively diminuatively distressing! Writing this post has made me feel better too. Hopefully the technology that keeps me in the lifestyle of a hedonistic young traveler will be fixed soon, otherwise I’ll have to do one of those old school things to keep everyone informed about me…what are they called…not lighters…hmmm….lead…lett- Carrier pidgeons, that’s it!! There’s plenty of eligible candidates around the city, after all.

Until then, Jah bless my friends and family, and any other unfortunate souls who happen upon the blog and have managed to get this far. Take care of the US for me.

Goals for the week:

1. Chill out

2. Slowly ease my way into dressing as casually as the rest of my co workers at MSN

3. Figure out how to request time off from work for Greece without sounding presumptious aka American

4. Take more pictures for this blog

5. ….Maybe of the Kew Gardens

6. Finish Faulkner and start something else…suggestions?

S-s-s-s-SEINE (from the top of the Eiffel Tower)

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:06:04 -0400

S-s-s-s-SEINE (from the top of the Eiffel Tower)

The Fast and The Furious 4: Parisian Afternoon

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:01:39 -0400

The Fast and The Furious 4: Parisian Afternoon

I wonder who shops here?

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:34:33 -0400

I wonder who shops here?

Underneath the Eiffel Tower….Yes, we went up, sheesh

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:31:42 -0400

Underneath the Eiffel Tower….Yes, we went up, sheesh

The Louvre

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:26:40 -0400

The Louvre

Hungry….for History!

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:26:02 -0400

Hungry….for History!

Schwaller is King

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:23:57 -0400

Schwaller is King

I have at least one Intern-ets

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:20:00 -0400

Apologies! Apologies dear readers! I know you all have been very patient in waiting for the arrival of this post, and although much delayed, at last I have brought it to you (with admitted unceremoniousness, much like everything I undertake). You may all breathe sighs of relief and contentment now- the rumors of my injury, death and otherwise incapacitated state have been greatly exaggerated. I am, as evidenced by this pontifical introduction, quite alive, and furthermore, I am quite well.

Yesterday was perhaps the most satisfying day I have experienced in London to date, this despite a painfully early awakening by the alarm bells of various flatmates’ pay-as-you-go Motorola cell phones scattered around my bedroom, followed immediately by an doubetdly well-intentioned, dreadfully lengthy, boring tour of Westminster/Parliament.

Indeed, there were several reasons to enjoy Wednesday, June the 4th, 2008, and at the risk of sounding like a gloat, I will proceed to spell them out: First and foremost was the weather. When several of my flatmates and I took the stairs up from our basement bedrooms to the street outside and began our slow procession to the Earl’s Court Tube stop at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am, the sky looked as somber and the air felt as unreceptively chilly as it has since our arrival.

Upon release from the dark, stone hallways of Westminster, stepping through the tall, ornamental gate, we were greeted with the shocking astrological development of a yellow sun against a spotless blue sky, rays wrapping around us and all within sight like a celestial hug, or, for those who aren’t big on PDA, a cosmic high five. It didn’t even matter that we had to rush through lunch to make an afternoon tour of the BBC, our morale had been boosted with such a high dose of the most natural of growth supplements.

And, as if the whole of London had gone mad with sun drunkeness, our tour of the BBC proved to be thoroughly interesting and surprisingly interactive. While our male-female tour guide team proved to be more than a bit on the snide side, grossly chastising anyone who whispered for more than a few seconds while they were speaking, they were highly knowledgable; and more importantly, quite willing to relate gossip on the habits of egotastical celebrities like Prince, J-Lo and Mariah Carey and others who had made apperances on British television in years past.

Fun fact: J-Lo is the only other person besides the Queen of England who has ever been permitted to ride in a car around the inside courtyard of the BBC building (this only after she refused to walk the 20 meters from the outer road to her dressing room).

I didn’t bring my camera and we weren’t allowed to photograph much anyway, but my favorite room was Studio 6- a room of warehouse like proportions with innumerable cameras and stage lights clinging to the ceiling like a colony of bats. Checkerboard gray and black panels lined the walls for soundproofing purposes, and as a consequence all who entered felt compelled to whsiper, lest their voice dispel the pure stillness of the place. The conspicuously smooth floor turned out to have the most to say through our guide- as it is repainted every single time a production is made in the studio, and then returned to it’s neutral colors through the use of a zamboni-like machine. The BBC evidentally rents out 6 and other studios for anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 pounds (60 to 100,000 dollars) for 12 hour sessions. This is how the publicly funded station earns supplemental income to pay for new facilities (there is a tax on every television set sold in the country as well, a licensing fee, as it is called, but this is by law only collected to pay for BBC programming, not infrastructure stuff).

On a less technical note, a few students and I found ourselves in the limelight, pulled out in front of the group and literally on camera (closed circuit, of course) to participate in some demonstrative games. Three lovely ladies from upstairs had their short-term memory skills put to the test in a specialized version of the “The Weakest Link,” final score: Jen-5, Christy and Caroline-2 each. I played the part of news anchor, or “presenter” as they are referred to over here, reading some statements to the crowd in between some random news clips. Jen recieved a collectible BBC mug for her victory, the losers and I recieved pens for our apparently less than stellar performances.

While lounging around back in our flat in the evening, I received a call from the exceptional Jamie, one of the advisors from International Enrichment (the program that is responsible for this whole trip). She was just about to leave the office after working overtime, but wanted to let me know that I will begin an internship in the entertainment division of uk.msn.com at 10 am on Monday. Furthermore, she informed me that my friend, upstairs neighbor and former Missourian colleague, the improv extraordinaire Lauren Zima, will also be interning in the same department. In the immortal words of Borat Sagdiyev: “Great Success!” especially coming on the heels of a rough and tumble, totally formal interview process we went through on Tuesday morning.

Well, if it wasn’t before, this post has now surpassed any justifiably reasonable length, and so I will refrain from writing about trips to Paris over the weekend and to Warwick Castle and Stratford Upon-Avon last Wednesday…sufficed to say, my friends and I confined the majority our activities in these places to the touristy stuff. You can get a pretty good idea of what I mean from the pictures above. Now I’m off to get grocieries with Marylyn, who is growing more and more impatient the longer I fail to wrap this up. Oh, precious irony, I salute thee. Until the next, hopefully shorter and more timely post, I’ll leave you with some of my goals for the coming days:

1. Purchase yummy but cheap, long-lasting foods for meals in the house.

2. Read up on films and develop extensive familiarity with http://uk.msn.com

3. Be more concise in speech and writing (possibly in thought too, although that’s something I’ll have to think long and hard about)

4. Enjoy my last weekend of internshiplessness

5. Try to prevent Alan from passing out for hours upon hours in the middle of the day again

Our reaction to the World Heritage Site (Stonehenge)

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:32:43 -0400

Our reaction to the World Heritage Site (Stonehenge)

Some of Flat 1 picking up new threadz (Bath)

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:31:50 -0400

Some of Flat 1 picking up new threadz (Bath)

If I weren’t a vegetarian…I probably still...

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:30:38 -0400

If I weren’t a vegetarian…I probably still wouldn’t eat this (Bath)

Meanass Street Magician (Bath)

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:29:45 -0400

Meanass Street Magician (Bath)

Christy taking a dip (Bath)

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:28:39 -0400

Christy taking a dip (Bath)

Guacamole Water (Bath)

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:27:04 -0400

Guacamole Water (Bath)

Folk Singer on Bench and Tourists in front of Chapel (Bath)

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:24:25 -0400

Folk Singer on Bench and Tourists in front of Chapel (Bath)

Respect, Responsibility, Discovery, Excellence, and Getting...

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:23:05 -0400

Respect, Responsibility, Discovery, Excellence, and Getting Fucked up? The MU Columns? (Bath)

Manchester United vs. Chelsea @ Imperial College

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:21:44 -0400

Manchester United vs. Chelsea @ Imperial College

Un-Henged

Sun, 25 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Well, I haven’t updated in about a week because I’ve forgotten to take my camera around with me until today, and I feel like text only updates are somewhat of a pain in the ass to read. Any recap that I attempt at this point will be incomplete and insufficient. Still, here goes, in approximately reverse chronological order:

Today my flatmates Kevin, Blake and a bunch of girls from the flats upstairs took an STA tour bus to Bath and Stonehenge. As I’ve been warned by various people who have been there, Stonehenge was somewhat underwhelming. But it was nice to bask in the ancient mysticism and modern tranquility of the English countryside.

On the other hand, Bath was altogether a different story: Much, much more enjoyable than I expected. The pictures should have given you some idea of the kind of historically significant quaintess we found there. This is, of course, an English village of wealthy retirees and the site of derelict Roman bathouses. The whole town is an interesting fusion of crumbling ruins and modern technological wizardry- stuff like broken down pillars, plasma screens and health spas.

A few kids touched the supposedly toxic, pea green groundwater that has been bubbling in the main bath for centuries (against the advice of the guides) but as of yet, they haven’t suffered any abnormal effects. Blake got saddled with a bunch of the free audio-tour devices once everyone discovered how impractical and lame they actually were.

The busride itself to and from these locations took a total of about 2 hours, which were occupied by blissful sleep for the majority of the occupants. The only one who was consistently awake was our friend Hallie from upstairs, who spent the trip reading the popular vampire romance novel Twilight, now being made into a film that MTV cannot hype enough. We arrived home to find out our typically energetic flatmate Alan Tejada had spent the entire day sleeping, after staying up all night watch season finales of American TV shows on his laptop.

Maybe he was just restless from our trip, both literal and figurative, to the Tate Museum of Modern Art yesterday. The place is full of surrealistic stuff by the likes of Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock and Joan Miro. To top it off, we finished the night watching the film Vanilla Sky for the first time on our flat computer. That combination should be enough to keep anyone’s thoughts running for some time, but for some reason I hit the pillow like one of those giant rocks at the ‘Henge.

The week had been alternatingly exciting and painstaking. Alan’s 21st birthday was Friday night, and the histrionicaly drunken celebrations were preceeded by another group visit to the London Print Studio, a small, iMac friendly establishment in the ghettoist area of South Kensignton I’ve been to yet. The exhibit we were attracted to was called “AgitPop,” and featured a bunch of promotional posters for various social movements that would be totally trendy additions to any college dorm. Fortunately, the visit gained slightly more meaning beyond this, as the enthusiastic, middle-aged, gap-toothed, shifty-eyed owner showed us around and explained just how important this area London was to all the social upheaval of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The greatest thing that I learned was that Alan Ginsberg laid down a “rap” on the Clash song “Ghetto Defendant” in a recording studio just a few blocks away.

Monday through Thursday was pretty much occupied by class and chilling out in the flat, with occasional trips to get take out food and/or groceries. Fortunately, there’s a ton of great restaurants that cater specifically to this niche right down our street, including the realtively cheap China Star (4.50 pounds for a vegetarian meal of Bean Curd, Spicy-Chili Bean Sauce, Steamed Rice and a Fanta).

Tuesday night, the boys from the flat hit up the Zoo Club in Picadelly Circus. It was pretty intense; After getting shuttled to the front of the “queue” (English for line) after being identified by the bouncers as naive Americans, I got kicked out a few seconds later for trying to pull my customary move of sneaking past the doorguy without paying. To be clear, I only tried this because I didn’t have enough cash to cover the five pound charge for entry, and they weren’t accepting credit. Fortunately, I was able to pull some cash out of an ATM and rejoin my friends. Alan paid for several rounds of Tequila, Blake got thoroughly wasted, and I tried to dance on some British girl who I thought was giving me the eye. Two of these three events I would consider successes, I trust you to figure out which was the failure. We tried to catch a bus back to our flat but after a few moments of intoxicated, impatient waiting, Alan insisted on paying for a cab back.

And on a side note: as this blog has been shaping up, you can probably figure out that Mr. Tejada is not hurting for the funds, at least not yet. Apparently, his parents are quite well off, both financially and politically, and his godfather is a Peruvian government official of some hefty prominence.

Finally, on Wednesday went to the campus of our host University, Imperial College to catch the sporting event of the summer, the 2008 European Champions Cup League Final in Moscow. For those ignorant Americans who don’t follow Football (Soccer-And yeah, that includes me too, I’m a hypocrit, I know), this was an English civil war between traditional working-calss underdogs Machester United and the wealthy, superpowered Chelsea.

That makes it sound as though the game was weighted against Manny-U from the start, but from what I heard, the odds of either winning were pretty damn equal. In fact, that’s how the game played out, going from a 1-1 tie to a 30 minute overtime (or, as I was corrected by an English bloke at the bar; extra time) to penalty kicks- with Manny U finally emerging victorious. We have a couple of pretty avid Chelsea fans in our group, including my flatmate Stewart Norman, and we are staying in one of the nicer areas in the city, so it was a dissapointment to see “our team” lose. But whatever, the event was fun in and of itself and it was a good excuse to get wasted, throw British candy bars on the ground, and kick some random person’s football into the street.

1. Still have yet to TALK to a british person one on one, minus commercial transactions

2. Need to do laundry and/or buy more clothes

3. I would like to charge my ipod soon

4. Want to memorize the poster of Greek monsters in our flat before we leave

5. Check out a British concert ASAP

6. Stop my friend Christy from kicking pidgeons

Koko Kilts? (spotted on the shelf at the local Sainsbury’s...

Sun, 18 May 2008 11:59:00 -0400

Koko Kilts? (spotted on the shelf at the local Sainsbury’s grocery)