And There You Have It...

Frazz comic source here

Ramblings

For the last few days while I've had no Internet at home, I have constantly been thinking of things to blog about. Now, sitting in the cafe on campus with my computer and wireless signal, I can't think of anything interesting.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to keep typing, however.

- I think there's a good possibility that collectively, people in Canterbury are even crazier than the ones in London. However, they're also much more relaxed and cheerful about it all, so it balances out.

- I have never seen so many girls with over-processed hair in one place before - I thought I was going to stand out with my super-short 'do (it just doesn't feel 'shaved' to me, though that is technically the case) and I suppose I do... but only as an example of a cut from which other girls' hair would seriously benefit. Honestly, do you really WANT your hair to make you look intellectually deficient?

- In related news:

... this is the wig my parents were helping me buy, even though they didn't realize why. It's fun. I'm going to look for a couple of different hats to try with it. (One of my course mates really wanted to see it, so I got a picture.)

This is my 'first' wig - I got it for a black-and-white Alice in Wonderland costume and it's a lovely wig... the makeup, though, is going to need a little tweaking if I decide to wear it out.

I did not wear a wig to church on Sunday, and I guess it's a good thing - at least a few people knew me because the Relief Society President had shown them my picture on Facebook. Also, I was immediately drafted to play piano in Relief Society. It's always nice to realize that when they haven't had anyone, even someone who's not very good is a bonus! (I will keep practicing.)

- My housemate is a super-cute little Arabic girl called Sara (that's how they say it here: it's not what someone is 'named', it's what they're 'called') who talks a mile a minute. She's been mothering me since the minute I arrived, and felt terrible to be leaving me on my own while she went in to London for the weekend. Naturally, being the only one currently in the house this is the weekend I would lock myself out - even being in London Sara still managed to find an ex-tenant in town who still had a key to come over and let me in.

- I have a new ID card, a campus gym membership, a bus pass, the beginnings of a schedule, and the continuing hope that the student loans will come through to pay for it all... I'm off for a few more groceries and to do a final (pleasepleaseplease) revision on the paper for my OTHER programme. It would be nice to have all that done before classes start...

- Not having Internet at home is good for me, I suppose, as it means I get up and out of the house to get things done - and it's got to be beneficial that I'm not checking Facebook every 15 minutes (from a time-management perspective, if nothing else). Hopefully the shakes will stop soon.

Laterz!

I Paid My Two Bits

If you know me, you know that I love checking things off lists. Pretty much any list, really. Yesterday, I checked something off of a list that's been around for a while.

This is a picture of me from three days ago:

Three days ago I had 3/4 inch of apparently colorless root growth, a daily handful of hairs I'd dug out of the shower drain and bedroom carpet, up to an hour lost a day on washing/drying/doctoring/straightening my hair, and a mortifyingly large product budget. (And in spite of all that - or perhaps because of the last two - I still managed to get a cute picture!)

This is a picture of me from yesterday:

Yes, that's me. Yes, that's my hair on the floor. No, it's not Photoshopped. Yes, it's a pretty great T-shirt.

Some time ago I started making a list of '100 Things To Do Before I Die' (technically, I think I got up to 80, and they're on this blog somewhere - if I can ever find the right posts I'll link them) and one of those things is "shave my head". I didn't want to go for the full 'skinhead' look (at that point I'd feel obligated to get a tattoo, and that is NOT on the list), but I did want to:

- definitely deal with damaged hair
- find out what color it actually is, even if that color was 'dishwater gray'
- free up time from 'doing' my hair for, well, anything else
- wear lots of wigs
- save some money
- Just. Y'know. Start over.

So, I did it. I'd asked my hairdresser about two months ago if she'd do the cut, and after running through my reasons and explaining how long I've been wanting to do it (5, 6 years?), she agreed. I have video, and once I edit it down I'll find a place to post it. I'm moving to a new town to start a new school year at the end of the week + I still live in the UK + I'm studying theatre and people are used to theatre folk being a little 'quirky' + it's hugely difficult to get the shade of haircolor I like over here + plus the 'shedding hair EVERYWHERE' thing was getting intensely annoying = #4 clippers and Away We Go! I've gotten lots of great responses from friends on Facebook, and a few startled glances from people on the street - I emailed my family, and have yet to hear back from my parents. (I hope nobody's clutching at a heart attack somewhere, because of that email!)

Today's been great - no shampoo in the shower, just the body wash and loofah. It was practically dry by the time I got up the stairs to my room. I was even caught in a short rainstorm that soaked me, but when I got to the Tube station I just rubbed my head with a paper towel and it was dry by the next stop. I've never been out in a storm and NOT panicked about my hair before! Every time I look in the mirror I get a little jolt of surprise, again - and then I laugh. Do you have any idea how awesome it is to laugh and grin every time you look in the mirror?!? It's amazing. I can't stop running my hands over my head - it's all bristly. (How can guys ever get used to it? It's just so cool!)

I also think I lucked out - I was pretty sure it was going to look terrible, but that was worth it for the chance to start over. Instead I find out that while I do have quite a bit of gray (I think it's going the white-gray, wooo!) I also have a lot more color than I had thought - and it really is still red. SUCH a relief! My head seems to be a fairly nice shape (which is important when there's no hair), and the first thing my hairdresser said when she finished was (and she was also a little surprised) "It suits you." (It's even more fun if you can imagine the surprise coming with a Scottish accent, which she has.) It's strange to feel the breeze so close to your scalp!

I'm determined not to color it at least until December, and I have packed up my hairdryer and straightener and all the various chemicals previously employed to wrangle my hair into submission. (Funny story: earlier today I went on a tour at the Globe Theatre and the guide started listing off modern conveniences we just couldn't live without: "...phone, camera, hairdryer..." There was a guy across the group from me who had the same haircut I do, and on 'hairdryer' we caught each other's eyes and both smirked and shook our heads.)

Shocking, I know - I am, in fact, eating sushi. 

At the Globe Theatre - not only did I have the lowest-maintenance
'do' in the place, I was also the only one to recognize the tour guide's
quote as the opening lines from Hamlet. Oh, yeah. Big deal, right here.

There will be more pictures to come, as the wigs I have are black, black with red streaks, brown (flippy), white, and blue. Should be fun!

Watch out for falling turtles (even the ones you plan for)!

Cyd

For the Teachers

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Thumbs Up

I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.

                - Roger Ebert






Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310-7#ixzz1XUirDSSf

Pride & Prejudice LITE

I'm picking through my stuff, trying to decide what to keep, what to give away, and what to mail home (if I haven't used it/worn it/watched it/read it in a year, it can go, right?) and apparently that is a really good excuse to watch some of my DVD's I haven't seen yet (y'know, to figure out if I'll want to watch any of them again in the next year).

And I just have to say: the 1940 'Pride and Prejudice' starring Laurence Olivier (alum!) and Greer Garson is a TREAT. It is the soapiest, sit-com-iest, fluffiest, most Gone-With-the-Wind-iest version of JA's story that I've ever seen, and it is hilarious. I have heard it rumored that the costumes actually were left over from GWtW, which makes me laugh - I suppose that those particular fashions did happen in Britain at some point, but it messes with my head to find all the clothes out-of-period when none of the rest of the story is. And how can you claim to be 'poor' when every female member of your family has got enough fabric in each of her puffed sleeves for a parachute? (Anne Shirley would be SO jealous.) Greer Garson is delightful, of course, though she veers into the melodramatic on occasion (a hazard of the movie era), and Laurence Olivier is a hoot - he's actually pretty cute as Darcy, though it's truly remarkable that the actual English lead actor sounds so very stiffly wannabe-English. Greer's got a better accent than he does! It's also interesting to watch his training and skill with 'naturalistic' acting compete with the wooden directing - the conflict is not so much about Darcy longing for Elizabeth, it's about Olivier wishing someone would just allow him to really ACT.

The adaptation is fascinating - I won't spoil all the 'twists' and character shifts for you here, but they are truly mind-boggling (as in: 'Who in the world thought THAT was a good idea?!? Didn't ANY of the writers READ THE BOOK?!?').

There's a full-on kiss in this scene as well, and it is SO. AWKWARD.
Austen knew what she was doing, people.

I want to share the 'blurb' from the back of the DVD cover with you:

"Like the arrows she launches at an archery target during an elegant lawn party, Elizabeth Bennet's wit is pointed and unerring. 'If you want to be really refined, you have to be dead,' she says, skewering the imperious airs of her hosts. Jane Austen's timeless 1813 novel of unlikely romance is richly adapted in the lavish Academy Award* winner. Greer Garson portrays spirited Elizabeth, one of five Bennet sisters hoping for matrimony. Laurence Olivier plays Darcy, whose arrival at a nearby estate sets maiden hearts aflutter. But first impressions mean so very much. Elizabeth and Darcy find reasons to view each other with disdain, setting in motion a velvet struggle of Pride and Prejudice, perception and reality, forgiveness and love. You'll be irresistibly caught up in it."

A.MA.ZING. And so, so ridiculous.

- Yes, archery. And Elizabeth, 'poor' Elizabeth is an expert shot. Who needs to be an 'excellent walker,' anyway, when you can manhandle a bow and arrow instead?
- Worst fake quote ever. She says it in the movie, but JA's Elizabeth never would. Ever.
- "richly adapted'. That's one way to put it.
- "lavish" - see: recycled costumes. Oh, again, you're talking about the script. Right.
- Darcy's arrival sets maiden hearts aflutter.... HAHAHAHAHA.
- What is a 'velvet struggle', anyway? Is that a euphemism?
- WHO WRITES LIKE THIS?!? DIDN'T ANYONE READ THE BOOK?!?

Oh, and WAIT until you see what happens with Lady Catherine. It's like Pride and Prejudice did a crossover with Stargate, or something.

"Why am I wearing a necklace, again? Oh well, since they won't let me act
I'll  just LEAN... I hope I don't fall onto Greer's fake flower, though. That thing's
a slapstick ink-in-the-eye joke just waiting to happen - DO NOT ENGAGE."

The DVD is going to be shipped home, but man, is it ever a keeper!




*The Academy Awards were for Best B&W Interior Decoration (WHY is that not still a category?!?) and Best Short Subject/Two Reel, or in other words, best short film that accompanied the feature. It had nothing to do with the actual movie! Awesome.

(After) Sunday Snippet

Yesterday was fun - in Fast & Testimony meeting one of the dear older sisters stood up and bore her testimony of texting. She was so earnest... and it was still funny. (I liked her story better than the one the sister told about her friend having been murdered 15 years before - yes, we're 'that' ward.) For the most part though the testimonies were simple and sincere - the Church is true, Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, the Savior died for us, answers are found in the scriptures; it was quite lovely, really.

I'd been thinking about some of the changes I'm working on in my life (both personal and situational) and it occurred to me that change can be about making a goal and then working towards it as if it were already established fact. There's one in particular that seems to be working that way, and I haven't wavered from it since I made the decision - I wonder if/hope that I can treat more decisions and adaptations that way. Going to do it - it's already done - do the work. It's a little backwards, perhaps, but may just keep me from procrastinating like I do!

Primary is just falling to pieces all around us. The First Counselor was gone again, having to work again, and the Second Counselor apparently moved out of the ward and didn't show up (although the Bishop had said she'd be coming for the next three weeks). One of the teachers (who's children were scheduled to give the talk and the scripture in Sharing Time) were absent, so we were left with one teacher, the Sister missionary who keeps the Primary scraping along by the skin of her teeth, and me. Sister Fugal took the two littlest girls in to the Nursery (since we also don't have a Nursery leader) and the teacher and I dealt with the remaining 8 kids. Poor, poor ward - the Bishop's being released, a member of the bishopric just moved out, and within a month they won't have enough active Priesthood holders to function as a ward. Here's hoping (and praying!) for an influx of members into the boundaries in the next two months! (And may 2 or 3 of them play the piano, as next week is my last week, too!)

* * * * *

I actually ran out a few minutes early to catch a bus home, then got back on the train to the British Library to attend a panel discussion called 'Worlds of Wonder'. The Library currently has a big exhibit on science-fiction, and they brought in three SF writers and a TED Fellow to talk. It was fascinating. Neil Gaiman (the guy behind 'Coraline'; the book, graphic novel, and movie - also, do yourself a favor and read his "The Graveyard Book'), Peter F. Hamilton, and Kari Sperring were the authors, and Rachel Armstrong sat in for science (TED = Technology/Entertainment/Design - Rachel is building technological constructs that behave as though they're alive... now that's sci-fi!). They talked about writing, the role of science, art, living science fiction, a poop machine (it re-creates the human digestive process for you - yay?), and not knowing where we're going. Those were some very smart, and pretty funny, people.


Then I dashed down to the Globe Theatre to get in line for 'Dr. Faustus' - I had a groundling ticket and I have learned that you have to be in line early, otherwise you can't get close enough to the stage to lean on it (and trust me, when you're standing for a two-and-a-half to three-hour play, you want something to lean on). A big part of my reason for wanting to see this show (in all fangirly honesty) was that Arthur Darvill was playing Mephistopheles (the main Hench-Devil) and I really like him as Rory on the current (and just past) season of Doctor Who. Turns out he's better on the small screen than on stage, though I did like seeing him in person. (At one point his feet were about 8 inches away from my face. Leaning on the stage, remember.) I started talking with the woman standing next to me and found out that not only did she know what a dramaturg was, she was a director/writer/choreographer/performer from Vancouver who has actually WORKED with dramaturgs. Apparently, I should have gone to grad school in Canada. As a special bonus, at one point the lead 'clown' in the play was leaving and he exited by means of a ramp off the front of the stage (I was just at the corner of the ramp). As he made the turn to the ramp he 'urinated' out onto the audience (actually a little squeeze bottle attached inside his costume - I spotted it just before I ducked). It was pretty funny, actually, and certainly played up to the Globe's policy of actors interacting with audience members!

* * * * *

It's not  often that you get a texting testimony, description of a poop machine from Neil Gaiman, and peed on at the Globe all in the same day!

Why We Do It

This morning (Saturday) I got up early and went down to Leicester Square to try to get a ticket for one of the two performances today of 'Much Ado About Nothing'. (I can't believe I didn't write about this show before. It was amazing.) It's the last day, and while most big London theatres hold 'day of' seats in reserve that they will sell to the first few people in line on any given day, this one has been holding a daily lottery instead. (It stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate, and they are Kind Of A Big Deal.)

(How is it that I can get up and go and arrive early, even, to stand in line for something that is determined only by showing up instead of the time you get there? I am consistently punctual for rehearsals, performances, and any other theatre-related events, but I can hardly drag myself out to class, let alone arrive early. So weird.)

So I waited in line with 200 or so of my new closest friends (I would guess it was probably the biggest 'day of' turnout they've had, as even the staff was commenting on the numbers) and I started chatting with the girl in line in front of me, as you do. She's an actress from Scotland, living and working in London, having attended the same drama school as David Tennant. (Aside: a Scottish Benedick = major *swoooon*!) She wasn't there to see him though - she's friends with the actress playing Hero and couldn't afford the ticket price for the regular seats (roughly $90). The day seats are only £10 ($16), but you have to get the lucky draw. We talked about what we were studying/working on, she told me about the trials of trying break into the theatre world, I explained to her a little about what dramaturgs do, and we talked about how people just don't go to the theatre anymore - ironic, if you consider we were standing with an early-morning mob to get theatre tickets, less ironic if you follow her same point that the show would never have been so successful if it hadn't starred two already big-deal 'names'.

And I came back to that question - why go to the theatre? You can watch movies on your iPhone, computer, and big-screen TV at home: why, in this lazy, electronics-driven, isolated world do we go to a theatre? (Unfair characterization? Maybe.) The answer was right there in line.

A member of the box-office staff came out to start the drawings - she chatted up the crowd, told a few jokes, and in a way validated us for coming to try for something there was no way we'd all accomplish. I had opted to try for the matinee show, thinking my chances would be better. As she drew and called numbers for  the matinee, the first 'winner' yelped with glee, setting a precedent encouraged by the moderator. She got us laughing and cheering for our own, and eventually others', success. By the end of the matinee drawing we were all happier for the lucky few than upset about our own loss - and the evening show crowd got even bigger responses as their numbers started being drawn.

I didn't get a ticket, but my new friend - all nerves and certainty she wouldn't be able to see the show - was the first number picked for the evening performance, and I cheered right along with her when her number was drawn. THAT'S why we go to the theatre - it's to have a communal experience; shared joy, excitement, terror, laughter. It's a truism in the theatre that the best audiences make for the best performances, and the best performances delight and lift the audiences, and this phenomenon is something you'll see only in shadow anywhere else. There is an energy in a live performance that feeds the audience which is magnified and returned to the actors and so on, and you just can't get that from a movie - no matter how engaged the audience is. (The initial midnight showing of a Harry Potter movie is next on the list of audience experience events, but still only a distant second.)

We need to engage with other people, and the theatre is one way to do it. Sometimes you talk with your neighbor, sometimes you don't - I know when I laugh out loud in a live performance that the actors hear me responding and are buoyed up, and that other audience members will laugh next time because they can. My presence and involvement gives them permission to engage, and theirs does the same for me. We come together with other people in order to engage, even when we're alone, and the theatre is the place.

I hugged my new friend when she came back out of the theatre with her ticket, and she, a virtual stranger, didn't mind at all. She'll have a wonderful time at the show tonight - I can tell you right now that the audience is going to be incredible.

 

Nothing To See Here. Just Pop-Culture Icons, That's All...

I think I'll be having the theme music from 'Doctor Who' running through my head for a very long time. It's a brilliant show, seriously - and I mean that in the sense of 'awesome' as well as 'very, very smart'. It doesn't pander to the audience, it explains things that need to be explained cleverly and concisely, it's completely fun and totally INSANE. Good times. I started watching the re-broadcast of Season 5 (not completely accurate, since it's been running since 1963, but was 'rebooted' in 2005) with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and I was hooked. The second half of Season 6 has just started (and the first half was a doozy). I keep hearing about how David Tennant (Seasons 2-4, Tenth Doctor) was 'the best', and 'THE Doctor' and what have you, so I decided to check it out - I'm glad I did, because there are inside jokes and self-referential moments all over the place and it's (have I mentioned this?) SO. MUCH. FUN.

Christopher Eccleston starred as the Ninth Doctor in 'Season 1', the re-boot (FYI, he's an alum of my drama school in London!*) and when he pulled out he was replaced by David Tennant. Eccleston was charming and zany, and a wonderful introduction to the world of Doctor Who. Tennant, as I have mentioned before, is a fantastically brilliant actor and compulsively watchable (which is saying something - have you ever really LOOKED at the guy? He's emo-skinny, with bulgy eyes and not really enough chin, - plus he usually looks like his head is about to explode - and yet he is mesmerizingly attractive ((in the 'charismatic' sense, which spills over into the 'total hottie' sense)).) and he has been paired up with some fantastic women. My impression is that Billie Piper (just lovely with Eccleston and riveting with Tennant) is not actually that great an actress - but man, does she COMMIT. She completely believes in the world that she's creating, and that brings the audience right in with her!

The blue Police box is the TARDIS, the
time-traveling spaceship. You can Google
what the letters stand for.

The writing is creative and crazy and still logical (usually), care is taken to remember what has gone before (most of the time), and it's a real treat to see actors and actresses from other shows and movies that have done a stint on Doctor Who (definitely a quintessential British institution). I'm on to Season 3, and just had a terrific trip to visit Shakespeare in 1599. (And much of the time I was boggling over the fact that they filmed it in the current Globe Theatre, built to replicate the original Globe, with Shakespeare onstage in the 'past' and David Tennant onstage in a space where he had performed with the RSC in the - relative - present playing the part of someone who traveled into the 'past'... Layers of time-traveling, all IN MY HEAD. I think I've been watching too much Doctor Who.)

Not representative of Matt Smith
as the Doctor, but a good picture.
Hmmmm.

Anyway, good times. Watch it. (And I can't say that I like David Tennant better - Matt Smith was my first Doctor, I developed a little crush on Christopher Eccleston, and I adore all three for their respective portrayals of The Doctor. All different, all fantastic!)

* * * * *

In other news, I was going to talk about taking pictures, trying to do schoolwork in spite of Doctor Who, and Breast Cancer awareness, but I think I'll save those for other posts. I'll just finish up by letting (all two of) you (who read this) know that I'm cutting off all my hair a week from Monday - not quite shaving my head, but something in the 'long buzz' category. I had wanted it to be a big surprise, but then I felt badly about that, and then I thought I might try to use the occasion to raise some money for cancer research (I'll still try, if I can get organized) (also, I don't have cancer or anything, some friends suggested I 'use the moment', as it were), and it's not like my parents or siblings (other than my sister) read this anyway. So - heads up! Pictures soon! Watch out for falling turtles!




ETA: I take it back. David Tennant may be a little bit skinny and geeky, but he is actually quite attractive on his own merit (especially when he does NOT look like his head is about to explode). Fantastic 'normal person' smile. I've spent a little too much time Googling pictures and watching YouTube videos in order to come to this new conclusion, and will now be turning in my stalker card. Thank you.



*Along with Judi Dench, Lawrence Olivier, Carrie Fisher, Jennifer Ehle, the Redgraves, and Ben Browder (Farscape!) among many, many others...