Shoot - I'm a Week Behind Again! GAH! Also: DUBLIN

Now it's time for a brief Dublin recap.  I went there the weekend of the 14th.

Train and Ferry Ride:
Both were very lovely.  The train ride was nice and calming and we were able to see the beautiful English countryside, populated with all the sheep anyone could ever want.  The ferry, Ulysses, is the largest car ferry in the world, or some such thing, and consequently is rather posh.  It was really swanky.  On the way back we rode the Jonathan Swift; not nearly as classy but they did play a movie.

Hostel:
First hostel experience done, and nothing too terrible to report.  Some people were rowdy.  But how can you expect them not to be when it's Dublin, they are in their early 20s, on holiday, and it's their birthday.  The beds were more comfortable than the ones we have in London, so Jacob's Inn has to be doing something right.

Free Walking Tour:
Exceptional.  Went a lot of places, learned a lot of things.  Brief summary is in outline format below.

1. Dublin Castle
Not very castle-y.  kinda boring looking.  nothing too special.  It does have a statue of Lady Justice, or as Paul, our guide, called it, Lady Injustice.  Things wrong with her (1) she has no blindfold, indicating that justice is not blind and she has bias; (2) the sword is fully exposed and not partially emerging from her robes indicating she's ready to deal out some punishment; (3) one of her scales is partially shrouded by her arm whilst the other is open to the air, allowing one to fill with more water than the other when it rains, tipping the scales; (4) she faces the seat of the English crown, effectively turning her back on the people of Ireland.  Even in symbolism there isn't a good relationship between the Irish and the English.

2. Queen Victoria's Screening Wall
Put up when the Queen came to visit so she didn't have to look at unsightly scenes.

3. Jonathan Swift's 40 steps
The Irish have an odd sense of humor.  And they apparently don't ever say what they mean, especially when referring to eating babies.

4. Temple Bar Area
The actual Temple Bar no longer exists.  This became a central hub of the city after the government decided not to demolish it.

5. Christ Church
Fun story. There was a cat, rat, caretaker, and organist.  The organist found that one of his organ pipes was clogged.  The caretaker went to inspect.  He found a dead cat, took it out, stuffed it, and kept it.  This didn't solve the problem, though, as something was still wrong with the pipe.  The caretaker went back and found a rat stuck further up the pipe.  He went through the same process with the rat and now both are on display in the basement of the church.

6. Spire - giant space needle
Paul called this one of the biggest f-ups in Dublin.  Here are some reasons why: (1) it was built for the Millennium...in 2003, as Paul says, "They were 997 years early"; (2) It cost 5,000,000 British pounds to build.  Approximately 8,056,187 American dollars.  How many schools can you buy with that much of the public's money?; (3) "Ireland has a bit of a Heroin problem.  So, what do they do?  They put a giant hypodermic needle in the middle of her capital city." (4) It's the largest free standing sculpture, but it has a plethora of phallic nicknames.

7. Trinity College
George Lucas copied the Long Room of their library for one of his movies.  The college sued him and lost.

8. National Museums - Story Time
Barrack came to visit Ireland.  He's a rock star.  Prince Phillip came when the Queen did.  He decided to compare a pint of Guinness to the waters of the Lithe.  The Irish don't like him as much.

9. St. Steven's Green
Paul told us about the famines in Ireland and about Ireland's long fight for independence.  It was very touching and very powerful.  They only gained independence from England in the 1920s, and not even the whole island was liberated.  They still feel those scars and still understand what it means to be free.  I think we've lost some of that pride in America.

Amy and I Adventure on Our Own:
The other sites of Dublin, some off the beaten track.

1. Trinity Library and the Book of Kells
Cool and informative, but small and expensive.  Definite tourist trap.  If you want old books go to the free Chester Beatty Library.

2. Archaeological Museum
Fun, but if you're not into that stuff you can definitely skip it.

3.  Oscar Wilde's House, Mansion House, Oldest house on record
These things we tried to find.  I say tried because once we got to the location shown on the map there was nothing at the site in reality.  There were buildings, but nothing proclaiming we had reached our destination.

4. Shopping Center
Contains the largest indoor clock in Europe.

5. Marsh's Library
Definite must see.  First public library in Ireland and still in use.  Their books haven't moved in 300 years.  There are still bullet holes from the British misfiring into the library.  They have rotating exhibits, too, all of them look very cool and informative.  Only 1.50.

6. St. Patrick's Cathedral
Cool architecture.  Didn't go in because it was a little expensive, though.

7. Chester Beatty Library
Another must see.  FREE and contains what was once the largest private collection of illuminated manuscripts in the world.  Everything was beautiful and extremely well laid out.  Much more informative than Trinity College's set up and much more vast.  They had segments of papyrus from the first century c.e. for crying out loud.  Fantastic.

Lessons Learned:
1. Don't buy anything but beer or cider in Dublin unless you want to over pay by an absurd amount.
2. The Irish like to swear.  It's not meant to be offensive.  That's just how they speak.

11 April 2012: Directorial Debut

"The script is like an iceberg.  We only see 10 percent of it and we have to discover the other 90.  I try to build the iceberg from underneath." -Natalie Abrahami


Natalie Abrahami came to our class to speak with us.  She directed the dazzling performance of After Miss Julie we saw.  She was kind enough to share with us her directorial process.  She's a big believer in emotional recall.  Therefore, she has her actors improv not only what is inherently told in the script but also scenes that are alluded to.  In this way the actor becomes closer to the character.  If they play out a memory of the character and experience the same feelings that would have been there they can call upon that experience during the present moment and build from it.  She has her actors go further into their characters than many directors I have heard of.

She also has a time for script analysis in conjunction with the background improvisation.  She wants to clearly highlight the events that change everything.  These could be things as big as taking a razor in hand to slit your wrist or as little as saying "do you want toast with that?".  They are turns in the road and the director and the actor have to understand how they change everything.  It seems so simplistic, this idea, but is incredibly hard to accomplish.

Natalie is by no means a well ripened woman in terms of years.  She is young and beautiful.  In terms of experience, though, she may as well be a raisin.  Her biography and list of accomplishments are long.  If you want a full accounting you may Google her.  Take my word for it though, she is one woman anyone should be proud to work with.  Natalie is the type of director that I would love to work beside.  She is smart, crafty, and has a vision but she is not so stubborn she cannot change to accommodate her actors.  For so young a person she seemed wise beyond measure.  It was truly an honor to talk with her.

10 April 2012: Finding Your Inner Font

I know handwriting is thought to contain personality and insight into the individual but what about font preference?  Duncan, Amy, and I had a conversation about font types and what they convey.  Does font type relate to personality?  For example, I rather detest Times New Roman.  It's so liny and boxy.  I enjoy the small, smooth, curvy font that in Calibri.  It has a rounded fluidity that carries your eyes across the page.  The size is not so outrages and the lines not too exaggerated.  Does that mean I do not like rigidity or boxes and prefer to go with the flow of life?  Perhaps.

Once upon a time I used Bookman Old Style.  I thought it looked classy, which is what I was going for at the time.  It looked old and wise and that is what I was searching for.  For some reason I thought the font would impart some great wisdom to me and I'd be as smart and witty as Oscar Wilde.  I quickly learned it wasn't where my heart truly lied, though.  But does it still speak to the person I was hoping to be at the time?

I have a professor in Ripon who puts everything in Papyrus.  He's a little flighty and spacey but an old soul, full of knowledge.  The font fits him perfectly.

Do people who are complacent to use whatever is default lacking personality?  I do not believe so.  They just have had the joy or revelation of finding something that is completely you in a font type.  I charge you, then, to find yourself a font type, my dear fellows, if you have not found one already.  And if you're still a default-lover, more power to you.  Maybe you're the most versatile and adaptable of us all.

9 April 2012: A Day with no Looking

It's amazing what we see and what we choose not to see.  When Amy and I were in Florence we lived together and had all the same classes.  This meant that practically every day we rode the city bus to class together.  Our experiences and what we saw, however, were always different.  We rarely seemed to notice the same things.  Amy would mention how extravagant one woman's fur coat was.  I wouldn't remember seeing her, despite her sitting two seats away. Then I would make a comment about the park we passed and the interesting characters within and she wouldn't have noticed that particular part.  The same thing happens in London.  We don't even really think about what we are seeing.  Our brains just pick it up.  It's as if our consciousness is on holiday and our perception is running on overtime.  But it only picks up what it is predisposed to like or something that is so shocking it can't keep it out.  We have to train our minds if we really want to see.  This is what my professor, Natania, is trying to teach us.  In London, we are all learning anew how to see things.  We are trying to find and contemplate big questions.

The complication comes when our brains take a time out.  Sometimes they seem to completely shut down.  It's as if our brains can't handle the constant absorption and goes all Walden to compensate.  That happened to me on the way to Hampton Court.  I started toying with my iPod and we were there.  I didn't know where I had come from, the route we had taken, and I knew I wouldn't be able to find my way back unaided.   I had missed so much that was pertinent to my situation.  I had probably missed even more than that.

How do we train our brains not to shut down?  How do we get them to stay tuned in?  How much of the world and understanding have we already lost?  How much are we still going to lose?

General Announcement

I have a lot of catching up to do.  Please bear with me.

Forgive me if some are a bit introspective.

It's because of a class I'm taking in London.  We are trying to see the world anew and with that comes questions and contemplation.

A Thorn Among the Roses

The play The Master and Margarita I saw at the Barbican was interesting to say the least.  It is adapted from a novel written in the USSR in the 1930s.  I have no doubt that the novel is probably very good and has some major themes it struggles with.  The play, however, did not communicate that.  The whole production was characterized by the media they used.  Everything had a technical aspect to it.  There was no relationship, really, between the actors and the audience.  It was completely separate.  It almost felt like we were watching something not meant for us.  Almost like we weren't even supposed to be there.

The technical abilities the stage had were vast and impressive.  It would probably be extremely fun to play around with it.  However, that does not mean that you have to use every single ability in one performance.  It was too much.  After a while everything becomes lost: the audience, the production, the meaning.  You walk away not knowing what you had just seen or what you were supposed to have gained.

The production was interesting.  But definitely not my type of theatre.  It was more performance art than anything.  And most of the time that stuff just annoys me.

An Easter Egg Discovered

I found the escalator in Earls Court station.  Don't ask me where.  I probably won't be able to find it again.

More details on my interesting night to follow.

Happy almost Easter, everyone.