Episode 575: The 39 Steps

Just got back from Troy's birthday dinner at Pizza East. That place is pretty cool, really industrial feel to it. I'm beginning to realise just how much money London makes me spend. Today, I had lunch at itsu, which was healthy, but also pricey. Also dropped into an Oxfam charity shop, where I nearly bought seven plays published by Oberon Books, but walked off with four instead. Had been hoping to find some poetry that I'd want to buy, but no, it didn't happen. I did see a copy of Zoë Brigley's The Secret from Bloodaxe, but even when shopping at charity shops, I don't buy books if they're too badly damaged. Was pretty much just killing time before going to see The 39 Steps anyway. Had picked this production completely on a whim, purely because I could get a stall ticket for £12. One of my best impulse decisions ever! I loved the humour, which at times derived from breaking of the fourth wall, which is something I really like seeing in theatre. The way the cast juggled the swift role changes was also impressive. Can't describe it properly here because it's got to be seen to be appreciated. I'm pretty pleased that I managed to catch the Hitchcock references in the dialogue as well. (Hitchcock directed the first film adaptation of John Buchan's novel of the same name. Patrick Barlow's theatrical adaptation of the Hitchcock film retains the plot, but gives it a much more comic treatment.) So yeah, it's definitely something worth checking out if you're in London! I've been keeping up with my writing as well, which I think is pretty impressive. Am definitely on track to finishing 5000 words before the weekend. It's not fantastic, but at least it'll be done.

Episode 574: Shall I Buy The Complete New Yorker?

Did a walking tour in London, although my feet lately have been killing me. It's like some huge delayed reaction to all the walking I did while on tour, but otherwise, makes no sense. All I did was walk to church from the bus stop on Sunday, and then to Cannon Park Shopping Centre after service to buy groceries! Oh well. The walking tour was okay, but not really particularly exciting, even though it was about Jack the Ripper. The guide, who's a student at UCL, was really using 'uh' too much. It's like when people pray and use 'God/Lord' as punctuation, just drives me crazy. Was originally going to see a musical before deciding to accompany Troy on the walking tour, but I am going to see The 39 Steps tomorrow afternoon. May go to Harrod's with him and Briony before that, if I can wake up early enough. (They're meeting at 9.30 am, which is an hour that pretty much hasn't existed for me since I came back from my holiday.) I've also made phenomenal progress (for me) on my second non-fiction piece. I'm not sure if I know enough random facts about Singapore to hit 2000 words, but I'll worry about that in a couple of days. Right now, I'm just really tempted to order The Complete New Yorker (technically only until February 2005, but that's still 80 years' worth of issues) on DVD for US$17.95...

Episode 573: Our Mediated Gaze

Have managed to finish my first non-fiction piece before leaving for London! It weighs in at 2168 words, cutting it real close. Like most of my longer pieces of work, I think it gets weaker towards the end. I'm definitely one of those writers which need a good editor. I think I was getting too hung up on laying out facts and figures, so the tone of the piece flags in parts. Oh well. It's time to move on! Hopefully, this piece about Singapore will take a lot less effort to write, seeing as I'm supposedly telling the reader about something that I'm the expert on. I've already got an idea for the opening, so I'll try to get that down tonight before going to bed. Still have no plans for what I'm going to do in London other than Troy's birthday dinner, but I'll bring my laptop along so that I can do a bit of work at some point. (Really need to get started on French stuff!) First though, I'm going to finish watching yet another religious-themed film. This time, it's The Reaping, which I remember wanting to see when it came out, but I'm thinking it's a good idea that I didn't. Yeah, the story's a bit of a letdown again. Maybe I'm just demanding too much? Hollywood films just don't seem to able to provide the kind of sustained development that I'm used to in novels.

Episode 572: Daleks Versus Work?

I'm now around 1200 words for the piece on the media and natural disasters, and it feels like it's going to run over the 2000-word limit. Definitely can finish it by tomorrow night if I'm really focused, but even if I don't I'll get it done over my brief London getaway. Am watching the latest Doctor Who episode, featuring the return of the Daleks. I'm a bit upset that there isn't a green Dalek in the newly reconstructed race. I always think a colour palette lacks balance if it doesn't have green in it. (I might be biased on this because it happens to be my favourite colour.) Procrastinated earlier in the evening by watching Gabriel, starring Andy Whitfield who currently appears in Spartacus: Blood And Sand on Starz. (I haven't actually watched that series yet. Just one more on the long list that my external hard drives store.) Aside from science fiction, I'm also a bit of a sucker for anything that borrows elements from the Judaeo-Christian tradition (although I abhor Dan Brown), and well, a film about good and evil battling for control of purgatory seems like a fairly novel concept. From what I've read online though, the film has pretty much been universally panned. It's a shame, I guess, since if bigger names had been attached to it, you know it would have generated at least some publicity. As it is, this Australian film has been relegated to direct-to-DVD in the USA. It's an okay film, but like most stuff that I watch these days, I feel like the story could have been more developed. That's probably more a function of film length, which with the short attention spans social media promotes today, makes even two hours seem self-indulgent.

Episode 571: Go It Is...

Have booked my brief sojourn in London. Will be there from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon. Would like to see Stomp on Monday night, so might just end up going by myself. Will probably spend Tuesday hanging out with the Contiki bunch, and then I'm off on Wednesday. Sounds like a really short trip, but it was really all about catching them for one last hurrah and Troy's birthday, since they were all stuck in London anyway. Will be crashing on Petrina's floor because Wilson hasn't replied to my Facebook message, and she's near enough to Russell Square anyway. Have yet to produce sufficient words to justify this semi-impulsive trip, but I've had a mental breakthrough regarding how to organise the ideas I have about the piece, so it looks like I'll be able to finish writing it over the weekend. Will try to get it past 1000 words before turning in for the night. Randomly, I'm still living off junk food and Coke, although I will make a proper meal tomorrow, having bought some frozen fries yesterday. I love living opposite a grocer's, even though it's really tiny and the selection is correspondingly limited. One day, I'll walk in there like a little kid and buy some candy from the pick 'n' mix.

Episode 570: Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Seeing as some of the Contiki people are stuck in London because of the volcanic eruption in Iceland that has caused air traffic to grind to a halt, I'm seriously contemplating hopping down to London for a couple of days to join them. Now it's just a matter of finding accommodation! The easy solution is really just to book a room at the Tavistock or County hotels, both in the vicinity of where my friends are staying and operated by the same hotel group anyway, just cheaper. (The Tavistock has en-suite rooms that tempt me more, as I figure if I'm going to splash out by staying in a hotel, why would I pick one that has shared bathrooms like the County?) Petrina has offered to let me crash at her place, which is pretty near to where I need to be, and I'm also asking Wilson if I can stay at his. I'll probably end up just picking whoever's nearer to Russell Square itself. To justify this trip though, I'm going to have to step up my productivity. I did some really good research today (i.e. I used Google) for the piece on the media and natural disasters, so I've pretty much got all the material I need to write that part of the portfolio. Am writing now in fact, and realising that the snappiness of the first two paragraphs really isn't sustainable throughout, not if I want to actually make a serious point along the way. Bummer...

Episode 569: An Uncharacteristically Early Start To The Day

Oddly enough, I woke up this morning around 9 am, and despite refusing to get out of bed, never managed to quite fall back asleep again. So I got up. What a difference starting the day early makes! It's like all these hours I've never discovered before, suddenly there at my disposal. So I did useless things like catch up on V and the season finale of Melrose Place, which was kind of abrupt, especially if the series doesn't get renewed. No closure! To be honest though, at this point I don't really care about anyone on the show other than Ella, whose scheming ways would surely be a match for Blair's. It's too bad it's just not the done thing to add new people to ensemble casts, otherwise Katie Cassidy could just ditch Melrose Place and be added to Gossip Girl to mix things up there. I've promised myself to start some form of work tomorrow, so the question is whether it'll be working on the French mini-essay about Enfance, which I'm quite excited to write because I've never done literary criticism in French, or soldiering on with my piece about the media and natural disasters. I don't feel as strongly for the piece as I did when I first penned the opening paragraphs, but it should be easy enough to slip back into the tone of the piece, if I can just decide what the next paragraph should be talking about. I have things to say, certainly, but the order in which they should appear in the piece is something I have yet to establish.

Episode 568: Reality Strikes Back

'Until now, your biggest concern is whose hair is shinier.' So went Chuck's assessment of Nate and Serena's relationship on Gossip Girl. Is it too much to credit the show with a moment of self-awareness here? (At least Serena had the spine to kick Carter out of the car.) Anyway, having seen the latest episode, I think Gossip Girl needs to get its humour back. The snarky levity of the earlier seasons is missing, and all the intrigues are weighing things down. The relationship between Blair and Dorota was probably the only redeeming thing of the episode really. Season 4 had better start with a clean slate! (By the way, the plugging of The Vampire Diaries in this episode? Not cool, network executives, not cool at all. As for Jenny, what a bitch.) Anyway, I slept till about 2 pm today, but that's only because I went to bed around 4 am, having done my unpacking and started on laundry. Am not going to start on work again until Thursday, although technically, I've already got the opening paragraphs on at least one piece done. Know what I miss most about my Contiki trip? Warm hotel rooms.

Episode 567: Home Sweet Home

We began saying goodbye even before we'd left the hotel, as some people stayed behind to continue travelling elsewhere from Amsterdam. Then there were the people who left us at the airport. So really, the coach ride back to London was one protracted farewell. I managed to spend most of it either dozing or reading the book I picked up at the Heineken museum. Was genuinely surprised to learn that Singapore and Tiger beer are part of the Heineken story! I also managed to spend all my remaining euros by buying a meal deal on the ferry. Was actually short by a couple of cents, but the cashier was a good man and just let it slide. Am now reading a book I bought on the ferry, Sarah Turnbull's Almost French, while waiting for the coach. Could have got on the 6.30 pm one if I'd paid £5, but as my ticket only cost me £2.70 in the first place, it seemed rather pointless to waste the money on three hours I didn't need to be in Coventry anyway. I mean, £5 is practically a paperback off Amazon UK! Randomly, I ran into a couple of Singaporeans (Jason and a bunch of juniors) who'd been travelling as well, so they're on that coach back to Coventry right now. It'll be good to be back, I think, to get back to a routine that doesn't involve long drives every alternate day. I think this is the longest holiday I've ever taken, bar that trip to New Zealand when I was a kid of which I only have the vaguest memories anyway. It's been a good one, although towards the end, a bit of politicking was creeping in that was so high school and completely silly, given that the majority of people on the trip are on average more than five years out of it. I was fortunate enough to find a group of people I could hang out with though, and most of them live in Australia so visiting isn't entirely out of the question.

Episode 566: Today, I Found Out I Like Heineken

Stayed up last night to finish my poem about the red-light district and watch the new episode of Doctor Who, which was fantastic! If this is the kind of writing we're going to get throughout the fifth series, it wouldn't even matter if the cast were all ugly as sin (which they're not). Visited the building in which Anne Frank hid, which I found interesting but not quite as moving as Mauthausen. There was a truly random shop down the road, selling all sorts of wacky stuff, like absinthe dental floss and instant Irish accent mouthspray. Crazy, crazy place. Next up was the Heineken museum! I've discovered I find the taste quite pleasant, so I've got an alternative to cocktails the next time I'm on a night out. My dad has generously written off all the cash I borrowed during this trip, so I just need to settle credit card bills, which should hopefully be covered by what MOE pays me while I'm on attachment in August. I had a giant cone of chips while waiting for the coach, which was actually a major mistake. Almost ruined my dinner, where I was served one of the best fish courses I've ever had. The night ended with a farewell cruise through the canals of Amsterdam, where the goal was basically for people to get as hammered as possible within about an hour. (It was an open bar.) Having already had three Heinekens in the afternoon, I was pretty much done for the day, so I just spent the hour or so sipping a glass of rosé.