Noah and the Whale: A Religious Experience

Last Friday I was lucky enough to be part of the magical experience that was Noah and the Whale at the Roundhouse Theatre in London. Originally sold out, my friend miraculously scored tickets and one of my top London goals- seeing my favorite band on its own turf-was achieved. The set was relatively as expected: most of the songs from The First Days of Spring and a lot from (my favorite, of course) Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. Personal favorites were Blue Skies and Rocks and Daggers but the 5 Years Time encore was pretty awesome as well.

Charlie Fink was pretty entertaining in his own quiet genius sort of way, but I guess he couldn't be too enthused considering his freshly released album is all about his heart being broken and such. At one point a bunch of people to the left of us yelled out "move the lamp" as one was obstructing the view of him from his right side, and he just deeply and quietly muttered "move the lamp?" I'm sure you had to be there but it was kind of adorable. Anyway, the show was beyond amazing and it really couldn't have lasted long enough even if it had been an all nighter. Afterwards we went to a bunch of pubs in Camden (no surprise there) and perpetuated the warm happiness the show had initiated. It might have been my best night here yet. No, really, it was that good. Well done, all parties involved.

From Buffy to Bakerloo

Last Thursday my theatre class saw 6 Degrees of Separation at the Royal Vic. Apparently it's supposed to be a pretty popular production at the moment, if not highly reviewed. Anywho....I didn't realize it until today in my Theatre class when we discussed the more finite details, but one of the main characters was played by Anthony Stewart Head, who was Giles in the beloved teen series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (gasp at the celebrity!). I was still pondering the wonders of this finding as I walked the platforms from Hammersmith and City to the Jubilee when who do I see but Giles himself?! Tall, greying-in a dashing way, and everything the fictional pedagogue should be in real life. I wanted to tell him all kinds of nice things but it was rush hour and I figured, well, no one wants to get stopped in the tube at the most hectic time possible, even if to be complimented. So I watched him go down the escalator to the Bakerloo line and pleasantly smirked the whole ride back. I've been doing that a lot here.

I'm just comin' here to come down- I could be this, I could move town

Midnight tonight marks exactly five weeks since I left US soil, and I find that very, very strange. It's funny (and cliche, but true) how so many things really have changed since that fateful day. I won't bore you with the details, dear reader, but I am pleased to tell you that these 5 weeks have been nothing short of magical.

But now let's cut to the chase; what I really want to do is tell you about a few things that have transpired since we last met. On Wednesday I saw a play called Disconnect with my theatre class. It was written by Anupama Chandrasekhar, a playwrite from South India, and centers on four telephone credit collectors who contact indebted Americans (while donning American personas) to attempt to reach payment arrangements. The play was actually really interesting because it centers around sub-cultural racism within Indian society in the face of globalization (which my professor describes as, essentially, Americanization). It's harsh and doesn't really hold back. The characters are so infatuated with "The American Dream" that they emulate the culture in any way possible through outdated pop culture referrences and overpriced status items like a D&G leather jacket and Blackberry Storm. In this unquenchable attempt to at least appear American they drive themselves into some of the very issues they are paid to keep Americans accountable for. In a word, it was intriguing. We discussed the play in class today and I was really interested...I think I might go back and read the script and I'm pretty sure it will be the topic of my first real assignment this semester!

What else? I went to the Victoria And Albert Museum on Thursday (bomb) and The Natural History Museum on Saturday. The latter was in a really cool building but I have to say, from what I saw (which, mind you, wasn't a WHOLE lot) it didn't have much on D.C.'s Natural History Museum.

Oh, and tonight I went out with my friends Emily and Joelle for a few pints with real working adults. We got into some pretty interesting discussions about global politics and the arbitrary nature of "nationalism." I have to say, conversations like that are always really fun for me when they happen but I can't really take part in them all the time. Maybe once every week or two I'd really like to engage in some hard core socially and politically minded intellectual stimulation....but mostly just Lost theories for the rest.

So that's about it. I'd like to think of this post as a few sub-posts. It clearly just shows that I need to update more often, but now it's like you have a week of highlights, right?

In other news:
-I get lost in Camden far too often on weekend nights
-Skins features some truly unbelievable music (and the show is awesome too)
-I have rediscovered my love for Broken Social Scene and am especially obsessed with Major Label Debut
-The Noah and the Whale show I was really pumped for is officially sold out. Anyone want to make a trip to Toulouse for plan b?
-Everyone says the Olympics were cool but I wouldn't know because our TV is busted. My landlord owes me some serious memories lost!
-La Salle is getting ready for Midterms. Ha, suckers.
I guess that's mostly it. I don't know....Screw Sidney Crosby? See, you could see right through the lack of enthusiasm, couldn't you?