Museums I've Seen

Exhibits I've seen in London in no particular order.

"Kuniyoshi"	Royal Academy of Arts
"Material Gestures" & "Poetry and Dream"	Tate Modern
"Passports: Great Early Buys from the British Council Collection" & "The Bloomberg Commission: Goshka Macuga: The Nature of the Beast (Picassso's Guernica)"	Whitechapel Gallery
"Isa Genzken: Open Sesame!" & "The Whitechapel Boys" & "Archive Adventures"	Whitechapel Gallery
"Living and Dying" and the Africa Collection	British Museum
"Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!": An Exhibit on Margaret Thatcher	The Cartoon Museum
Britain Rooms and Contemporary Rooms (i.e. Rothko/Turner Match-up)	Tate Britain
"Gerhard Richter Portraits"	National Portrait Gallery
"Picasso: Challenging the Past"	National Gallery
Kettles Yard	House and Museum (Cambridge, UK)
Backstage Tour	Royal National Theatre
General Exhibit	Dulwich Picture Gallery
(loads)	National Portrait Gallery
(loads)	National Gallery
"African Worlds"	Horniman Museum
"Atlantic Worlds" + "Nelson's Navy"	National Maritime Museum
"British Galleries: 1760-1900" + Albert Memorial	Victoria and Albert Museum
"Altermodern"	Tate Britain
"Unveiled"	Saatchi Gallery
Royal Observatory	National Maritime Museum
"Sculpture" & "Fashion" & "Jewelry Exhibit" & "Cast Courts" & "Ironwork"	Victoria and Albert Museum
"Korea" & "Southeast Asian and Himalayan Art" & "China" & "Japan"	Victoria and Albert Museum
"The Tomb-chapel of Nebamun: Ancient Egyptian Life and Death" (Room 61) & "Assyrian Sculptures and Gates" (and tablets -- Rooms 6-9 and 10a-10c)	British Museum
"Greece: Parthenon" (or otherwise known as "The Elgin Marbles" Rooms 18, 18a, 18b)	British Museum
"Taking Liberties"	British Library
"Shah 'Abbas: The Remaking of Iran"	British Museum
"Enlightenment" (Room 1)	British Museum
"First World War Galleries" & "Experience: A Trench" & "Second World War Galleries" & "Experience: The Blitz" & "Conflicts since 1945"	Imperial War Museum
"Bird Room" (Right next to famous early-found fossils) & "Human Body"	Natural History Museum
"Genetically Engineered Food"	Science Museum
"Sir John Soane's House"	Sir John Soane's House Museum
"Freud's House"	Freud's House Museum
"War and Medicine"	Wellcome Collection

Photos of London

Here for you to enjoy!

My Neighborhood

Sights and Sounds of "my London" (part I)
Sights and Sounds of "my London" (part II)
Sights and Sounds of "my London" (part III)

Stratford-upon-Avon (part I)
Stratford-upon-Avon (part II)

Pancake Day (complete with a Pancake Race at the Houses of Parliament)
St. Patrick's Festival (in Trafalgar Square)
The Folks and Mag's Visit to London

Kew Gardens (part I)
Kew Gardens (part II)

A Country Walk
Cambridge

Winchester (part I)
Winchester (part II)

Recently

Have I mentioned that I have a jam group now?

Only For Now...

Wow have I been busy! This past weekend was non-stop going out for me. On Friday, I got half price tickets to Avenue Q, got lunch in Camdentown (where I was hustled for weed...awkward), found a circus store (goodbye bank account, hello fire poi), and went to high tea at the British Museum. We were evacuated out of the building an hour into our tea. Still don't know what happened but it was quite exciting. Ben ended up getting the ticket to the seat next to mine (despite a 6 hour difference in buying times) and together in the back row we had a ball watching the show. They did not make too many changes to the show (the George Bush line is still in) but the ones they did make were startling. In "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist", Polocks change to the French. Gary goes from a superintendent to a handyman -- bit of a downgrade don't you think?

Saturday was an awesome day indeed. Went to Portobello Market where I got german sausage, mexican churros, and some world music cds (some better than others:) ). Next we (dana and I of course) went to the Tate Britain. I saw the Altramodern exhibit. So awesome... especially the amounts of bean bag chairs from which to view art! Next we had our first Irish Coffee at O'Neills...I mean Bailey's Latte. My legs hurt a lot after all that walking.

The next day was spent at Brick Lane. Went to the famous Beigal Shop on Brick Lane (open 24 hours a day they're that good). I experienced my first famous people sighting -- Gilbert and George. The shorter one (I've never seen them apart for all I know they answer to either name) was wearing a ridiculous fur hat. I have a picture of part of the back of one of them. I will treasure it always. I wanted to do a tribute so see above for a work of theirs.

This week is crazy because it might as well be finals week. On top of that, I have this one teacher who thinks that he is not constrained to any sort of time frame. I used to think 5 minutes more of class was bad. Now I wish for those good old days. This teacher normally lets us out of class 30 to 45 minutes late every class. That means I have almost 3 hours of class with him. It is painful! People cannot concentrate that long. It is interesting but does he know that the whole class is pissed at him for his lack of time management skills? I really hate this practice because of the social norm of NOT BEING ABLE TO WALK OUT OF A CLASSROOM. So I'm stuck as this prisoner thinking -- wow laundry, the show I have tonight, dinner, homework for this teacher's very class...which one will I have to skip so I can go to bed at a reasonable time. Sigh.

I saw 12th night last night. Great except for Viola. Maybe she was sick because her body was so ridged and unnatural?

The night before I saw a show that everyone should see: This Isn't Romance. It's about 2 siblings from Korea separated when only one is adopted to a family from London. The show takes place in Korea 25 years after the adoption. WOW.

Hope winter is good in the States. It just won't stop raining here. On the bright side, a bunch of horses just walked past my window.

London Shows

Shows I've seen in London from last seen to first seen.

Kronos Quartet/ Wu Man/ Tan Dun: Ghost Opera	Barbican
The Frontline	Globe Theatre
Waiting for Godot	Theatre Royal Haymarket
Barack Obama: 100 Days with Ziauddin Sardar, Lionel Shriver, Amina Adewusi and Shirley Thompson**	Southbank Centre
Time and the Conways	National Theatre, Lylleton
Romeo and Juliet	Globe Theatre
Dancing at Lughnesa	Old Vic Theatre
Death and King's Horseman	National Theatre, Olivier
NoFit State Circus present Tabu	Roundhouse
Stovepipe	Basement of West 12 Shopping Centre, Sheperd's Bush (site-specific theatre)
Nocturnal	Gate Theatre
Madame de Sade	Don Mar, Wyndham Theatre
3 Days of Rain	Apollo Theatre
The Pitmen Painters	National Theatre, Lylleton
Orchestra Baobab + Kasse Mady Diabate*	Barbican
A Little Night Music	Garrick Theatre
Spring Awakening	Novello Theatre
The 39 Steps	Criterion Theatre
Watchmen+	BFI IMAX
Q & A with Kathryn Hunter and Walter Meierjohann	Young Vic Theatre
Kafka's Monkey	Young Vic Theatre
Waltz with Bashir+	Prince Charles Cinema
Lion King	Lyceum Theatre
Woman in Mind	Vaudeville Theatre
The Tempest	Courtyard Theatre (Stratford-upon-Avon, UK)
Greenwash	Orange Tree Theatre
Duet for One	Almeida Theatre
STOMP*	Ambassadors Theatre
Los Van Van + DJs Dr Jim and Javier La Rose*	Roundhouse
Twelfth Night	Don Mar, Wyndham Theatre
This Isn't Romance	Soho Theatre
Avenue Q	Noël Coward Theatre
Every Good Boy Deserves Favor	National Theatre, Olivier
Wrecks	Bush Theatre
Truncated	Blue Elephant Theatre
War Horse	National Theatre, Olivier
Unbroken	Gate Theatre
Platform Performance: Tom Stoppard	National Theatre, Olivier
England People Very Nice	National Theatre, Olivier

*Indicates a music show.
+Indicates a film.
**Indicates a lecture.

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!

Today is tuesday/Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday. In Britain today is pancake day!!!! So naturally I went down to the House of Parliament and saw some of the Lords and Ladies and press corp have a pancake race. A pancake race is actually the most amazing event ever. Everyone has a frying pan and a cooked pancake. Each player must flip the pancake 3 times to a height of at least 3 feet while racing around a track. If you drop a pancake you start over. You play with relays. The first team to finish gets to go home with all the glory!!!!!!!

Like I said the most amazing thing ever. What could top that race? Well their outfits. Most of them were in suits with dress shoes running over drizzle-covered cobblestones with chef hats.

Also I used my fiddle for good. I came home and found a group of guys playing in the lobby. Next thing I know I find myself asking if I could play with them -- "my violin is upstairs...". I was tired and nervous, etc, etc but I still got it. And preceded to play for the next hour. Fun! And made all these neat friends because of it. I'm a newb when it comes to jamming but I guess it's all about sticking your neck out there and going for it.

Goodbye sleep and free time!

Basics

So apparently exactly what I'm doing in London is still a mystery to this blog. Just keeping you on the edge of your seats, I am. (That sentence makes much more sense in a cockney accent.) I am studying with Oberlin professors in Bloomsbury, London. My school is actually on the same street and a block down from the British Museum. It is also around the corner from the Cartoon Museum, which has Chairman Mao residing there.

I am taking 3 class: Colonialism and British Identity (everyone takes this -- taught by Anu Needham and Steve Volk) Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge (Volk) Theatre of London (Donna Vinter, a teacher at the center)