tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30450937052019197852024-03-13T21:58:30.977-06:00Yes, we are still here.The two youngest Cragun boys chronicle the mundane events of their lives. Partly a satire of a certain married brother's blog, partly an excuse not to send Christmas cards, unintentionally a way to annoy our mother with the use of technology, and entirely a reminder to everyone that "Yes, we are still here."Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-57905576329721996792011-10-22T12:24:00.000-06:002011-10-22T12:24:54.284-06:00I'm sure that even Shakespeare would have left at intermission.So I recently mentioned that I was going down to Cedar City as a chaperon for my friend and his class. First off, I lied. Not about the Cedar City bit, just about chaperons needing to be fingerprinted and have background clearance. It turns out that's only a policy in some districts (to be fair, I spent about 5 months working [not paid] in one of those districts, so...)<br />
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Second off. It was cold. Very, very cold. There were parts of the trip that I was straight up miserable. Why? Because no one was planning on it getting as cold as it did, especially not on the night that we went to go see <i>King Lear</i> OUTDOORS!<br />
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Yes, Southern Utah University has a "replica" of Shakespeare's Globe theater on it's campus (don't be fooled, the added chairs. Chairs!). Well the first night we were in Cedar City, after driving through a minor snowstorm to get there, we went to go see this Shakespeare a la Shakespeare. It was miserable.<br />
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No offense to the actors, but it wasn't very engaging as a show. It didn't help that it was 39 degrees out. And it definitely didn't help to not have a coat. The most any of the students had was a hoodie and a fleece blanket. It especially didn't help that the show was 3 hours long. We were so excited when intermission hit because we thought it was time to go, then we checked the program and screamed, but that just froze and hit the ground. Another hour and a half. But, I can't recall a time that I ever left a show at intermission, I just think it's a courtesy thing.<br />
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Oh. And we know that it was 39 degrees because all of the kids had their smartphones out and were checking constantly. We got to hear about it at intermission. SUU sold a good amount of hot chocolate that night (though I hear that was disappointing too).<br />
<br />
Though I complain about that night, the rest of the weekend was actually quite enjoyable. I did something that I don't remember doing ever in my life. I saw three plays in a day. It was incredible. I had many opportunities to see two shows a day <a href="http://yeswearestillhere.blogspot.com/2010/05/kew-gardens-and-amazing-show-that-i.html">while in London</a>, but three is a record.<br />
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The best part about these shows is that they were all spectacular. Each one was done by the Utah Shakespeare Festival (which a Tony award winning festival) and they were some of the best theater I've seen this side of the ocean. We saw <i>A Winter's Tale</i> at 9am, <i>Noises Off</i> at 2pm, and <i>Dial M for Murder</i> at 7:30pm.<br />
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Even more astounding is the fact that the festival does repertory casting, which means that they have one cast to fill all the shows. So we saw some of the actors three times that day. It was amazing to see the versatility that they had. I tried to imagine the fatigue that must have set in as well. I heard from one cast member that by the 2pm show, which is a slapstick comedy, that they were all so hopped up on caffeine that it was one of the craziest shows yet. Luckily for the actors, the way a rep cast works is that generally if you have a large part in one of the shows, your part in the other shows are significantly smaller. This helps to reduce the burden and avoid burnout (or so I'm guessing).<br />
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So there really were some positive things from Cedar City. I'm just glad that my frostbite from high school didn't flare up. I guess I wasn't in a speedo this time...Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-91428357525672155672011-10-22T12:23:00.000-06:002011-10-22T12:23:41.408-06:00I might offend some people here.And that includes some members of my family. But I really don't like the word "Yummy". I really don't. I don't like saying it, I don't like reading it, and I especially don't like the sudden increase in popularity that it has gotten (I'm so hipster).<br />
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Really though.<br />
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I've started trying to cook more, now that I'm a responsible adult or whatever. It seems like almost every recipe that I look up online is described as yummy. If not in the original post, then someone in the comments has almost surely made up for the deficit. I once saw a dish made primarily out of sausage and other meats described as yummy. I cried.<br />
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As a person who likes to over-think every situation, I tried to figure out <i>why</i> I was having this averse reaction to the word. I think it's because it sounds like someone talking to a two year old, which I am not. It just sounds kind of like immaturity in a word. Harsh? It also gets applied to many non-food situations, and that just goes too far for me.<br />
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Replacements? Delicious, Savory, Delectable, Tasty, Succulent, and so on.<br />
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Let us not neglect these other entries.<br />
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Anyhow. It's my burden to deal with. I just wondered if anyone else was a picky as I was. Kind of like how some people will squirm at the word "moist".Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-18590195379138569112011-10-20T12:00:00.000-06:002011-10-22T12:24:25.010-06:00Ask the Goat to explain it to you.Hilarious show. Seriously. For those who haven't picked this one up yet. May I recommend this last week's episode? It was incredible. I ROFL'd, I LOL'd, I LSHIWWFH'd. This last week's episode was definitely one of the most intricate and intriguing episodes of any show that I've seen in a long time. It was a nice breath of fresh air, especially since the week before wasn't quite up to snuff.<br />
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Anyhow,<a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/285095/community-remedial-chaos-theory#s-p1-so-i0"> here's a link</a>. I think you should watch it. Really. So hopefully I hook you on this. Feel the draw...Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-83997670660611190462011-10-18T21:49:00.001-06:002011-10-18T21:49:37.190-06:00Things that make me squeeeeeeI like weird stuff. We know this. I like random videos. We know this too. And now there's this. You're welcome. (note: if you are offended by a naked mannequin type of nakedness, feel free to not watch this.)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/28501846?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/28501846">going to the store.</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/dlew">dlew</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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<br />Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-77889098580726156902011-10-18T20:29:00.002-06:002011-10-18T20:29:59.023-06:00Nicknames I Have Been Given By StudentsMr. Cragun (original)<br />
Mr. C (obvious)<br />
Mr. Crayon (because misreading Cragun on a whiteboard leads to this)<br />
Mr. Quagmire (Apparently the kid liked Family Guy, though I'm not sure that I want this linked to me...)<br />
Mr. Khaki Pants (I have many pairs now that I'm a teacher. It was noticed)<br />
Mr. Tall (I get asked by students how tall I am almost as much as I get asked if I married... daily)<br />
Mr. Man (This came from an elementary school... surprised? I'm not.)<br />
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<br />
But the above all favorite:<br />
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The Kraken (or just "Kraken")<br />
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This is the one that was given to me basically from day one by my Timpview kids. There apparently was also an arm-motion that went along with it that looks similar to an octopus. I did not know about the arm thing until after my student teaching was done and I was helping with the state drama festival. Two of my students (who may or may not be on a list of favorites) turned to me out of the blue and said "DO THE KRAKEN ARMS!". I, never having seen the Kraken arms, simultaneously waved my arms above my head and asked "Is this a thing? Is this something that we do?"<br />
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It turns out they had been doing it all along.<br />
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*note: I might update this at some point. That is assuming that I somehow accrue more nicknames. Don't I have my fair share though?Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-20694303499880740552011-10-05T16:35:00.000-06:002011-10-05T16:35:35.274-06:00I'm an Adult? Really?This weekend I will most likely not be blogging. I will be a chaperon. All weekend. This sounds like a bad idea.<br />
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My good friend Richie (aka Mr. U, aka Romeo) who I was in a play with a long time ago and also graduated with, is a theater teacher locally (well, north about 1 1/2 hours). This weekend happens to be the Utah High School Shakespearean Festival. So Richie needed another male chaperon and I volunteered. "Why doesn't Mr. U just ask a parent?" you might ask. Well, first of all, I love to go to these kinds of conferences and Richie's a great friend, so I'm really excited to do this in the first place. But more so, due to changes that are taking place in the Utah education realms, chaperons need to be fingerprinted and have a background clearance by the FBI. Which I have and do.<br />
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Wait what? That basically means that the FBI has certified me as being more reliable than a majority of adults right? I don't know when this happened, but I guess I'm now a geezer...<br />
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To be fair, the last time that I chaperoned a trip they built a fort on the bus...Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-10238808706412144592011-10-04T16:13:00.000-06:002011-10-04T16:13:13.927-06:00The Hypocrisy that Envelops My Goals and Such (an epic of technological proportions)So this last weekend was general conference. Also I have been blogging more. It turns out that this is not a coincidence. You see, I made a goal this last weekend (actually it was one of the very first goals that I made) that I would start using my social media knowledge to share the gospel and such. You see there were a number of talks that mentioned the need for people to clarify points of church doctrine and to raise their voice (I can think off hand of Elder Bednar, Elder Holland, and Elder Ballard). There was specific mention made of those things such as Mormon.org profiles (<a href="http://mormon.org/me/168Q/">Here's mine</a>) and blogs (you're reading mine).<br />
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So I felt that one of the first steps was to use what I already had. More specifically I think this means posting more regularly on this blog and being more willing to post spiritual things. I know that I have <a href="http://yeswearestillhere.blogspot.com/2010/11/religion.html">tried this before</a>, but is it really a goal if you don't have to restart three or four times?<br />
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Also, there is the matter of Twitter. For those of you who are not Twitter-savvy, it is very much like a continuous feed of facebook status updates. "So why not just use facebook?" you might ask. Well, generally I do, but there are some subtle differences between the two (though die-hards will claim they are vastly different... not for me). The major difference is the use of hashtags. Essentially what happens on twitter is that at any point in a post (which only allows you 140 characters) you can use this symbol (#) and any word you type after that becomes a searchable term. Meaning that it makes the word a link, and if anyone clicks the link they will see all other posts from everyone on twitter that has used that same hashtag. Confused?<br />
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Well what ends up happening is that there are trends. If so many people use the same hashtag, it becomes popular and will start to gain a life of its own. Generally these are fairly stupid, like #Thingsyoushouldknowaboutme or #JustinBieber, but once a hashtag starts trending it takes on a life of its own. But then there's even another step. If a certain group of people all use the same hashtag over and over, and are continually searching for other people's posts using that tag, then you begin to be familiar with those other people and suddenly you have an online community.<br />
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Enter LDS tweeters. During general conference, there is a neat little thing that happens where many members of the church start "live-tweeting" conference. This means that they will post quotes, doctrines, reactions, rumors, and so forth on their twitter as conference progresses. This has been happening for a number of years now, and I have been participating for the past 3 or 4 sessions.<br />
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The reason why this is so interesting is because you start to see the same people showing up. We all started using the "#ldsconf" tag and we could all see each other. And then we started to get to know each other. And now there is a community that has formed, appropriately called the "#twitterstake". The beauty of this is that it is creating a wonderful group of connections from across the globe, but more than that, it exists to put religious things on the website. This means that if any random twitter user noticed the #ldsconf hashtag and got a little curious, they would suddenly be flooded with quotes and doctrines from General Authorities. And every so often, questions are asked, via twitter, and responded to in a like manner.<br />
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That was a long bit, but we're not done yet.<br />
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You see, then entered Elder Ian S. Ardern. He spoke during the<a href="http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/10?lang=eng&vid=1194937424001&cid=6"> Saturday afternoon session</a> and came down pretty hard on those who waste a lot of time forming only cyber aquaintences and wasting all of their time on the computer. This caused quite the stir among the #twitterstake (who was tweeting everything he said about not tweeting). But there was a nice conclusion that was reached. As with most conference talks, the general authorities tend to preach balance in all things. I feel that reviewing Elder Ardern's talk, that is what he is advocating. He is not saying that we should entirely remove ourselves from the internet, but we need to use all things in moderation and not let ourselves become addicted to the online world.<br />
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So my second goal is to spend less time on my computer.<br />
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I know that my two goals may seem a little contradictory, but they really do work together in my head. I need to make sure that the time that I am spending on my computer is productive (like blogging?) and to make a concerted effort to cut out the frivolous time. Hence the hypocrisy.<br />
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The irony is the amount of time that I spent writing this epic, and the amount of time you spent reading it.... sorry Elder Ardern...Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-83164507642709011992011-10-03T16:11:00.001-06:002011-10-03T16:11:09.631-06:00The "Where Have You Been For 10 Months" PostSince this is a blog that was also created to keep family informed on the whereabouts of the two (now one) youngest Cragun boys, I feel that I should give some highlights from the past ten months.<br />
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I love lists.<br />
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<ul>
<li>I think the biggest thing that has happened is that I have gained a new sister and lost a roommate. This all happened in one swift move. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/5331887231/in/set-72157625749022250/">Amoray</a> fits into the family a little too well, but I guess that's why Nathan fell for her. But this also means that Nathan is no longer my roommate. For which he is eternally grateful...</li>
<li>I graduated. Really. I am now licensed to teach theater and psychology grades 6-12. I know that sounds fancy, but poverty really never is...</li>
<li>I student taught. It was fabulous. I taught at Timpview High School (go T-Birds!) and I loved it. I wouldn't necessarily say that every second was amazing, but most every experience that I had was beneficial in some way. Not to mention the kids were awesome. I really did get a taste of what teaching is all about and I loved it.</li>
<li>That being said, I may not teach. Really though. After much thought and deliberation I am finding my life heading more and more to a psychological field such as therapy (as in giving not receiving). Details are still being worked out for all of this.</li>
<li>That being said, I am currently teaching. Kind of. I'm currently working as a sub. It's interesting. It has been great to meet all sorts of different teachers, work in various schools, see the different dynamics and the different subjects, and to just be working with the kids again. But something's missing. I have related it to a few friends as the difference between lust and love. I get a little bit of teaching but then I'm gone. There's no real connection. I try to get to know the kids and have a good influence and all that jazz, but they won't ever see me again. There has been more than one day where I have started planning the next day's lesson only to have to remind myself that I am not their teacher. It's kind of sad.</li>
</ul>
<div>
So that has been a short summary of life. I'm sure that I forgot things, but that's what follow-up posts are for, right?</div>
Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-37909209655254446452011-10-02T18:44:00.004-06:002011-10-02T18:44:43.322-06:00The Post-conference Glow and other thoughtsTwo posts, two days. Make sure your food storage is in order. The end is near.<br />
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I love conference (see all previous mentions of conference). As always, there were a number of amazing talks this year. I am kind of curious as to why I always feel like there is such an amazing number of amazing talks and amazingly I think the answer is that the quality doesn't change. Conference is always amazing because it's what we need at that time.<br />
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Recently, during hometeaching, my roommate made a really interesting observation and pointed out that what the prophets say in conference can be seen as scripture. This I knew. But then he started talking about the idea of 6 months and why we have conference semi-annually. It kind of hit me in a really interesting way. Conference is the scripture that we need for the next six months. If there is something that takes more than six months or is a continuing problem, there is a very good chance that we will hear about it in the next conference. And then we will have another six months where we will know that it is the will of the Lord and that it's something that we should be looking at or working on.<br />
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So, like I said, it's not necessarily that this conference was better than last conference or that the speakers were more prepared, but the endless quality that comes from conference is because it is so pertinent to what the church needs.<br />
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So thinking back on this conference I think that my favorite moment was Saturday night. I love priesthood session. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's that there seems to be more directness, maybe it's the specificity of the topics and how they relate to me, but something about the priesthood session just always seems to make it a favorite. This one was no exception.<br />
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To be fair, there were a number of factors that led up to me really liking this one. I went to conference in SLC. I went with my awesome roommates. Elder Holland was the first speaker. All favorite things. I have a particular love for the talks of Elder Holland and President Eyring. I think it has to do with their willingness to approach subjects from the emotional/passionate side. I feel that's how I approach many things as well.<br />
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I loved Elder Holland's talk. It was phenomenal and he made the conference center buzz with the power of his message. It was the kind of talk that I honestly don't know who the two speakers after Elder Holland were because I was so focused on writing all of my thoughts down that I missed their messages. For those who haven't seen his talk, I highly recommend going and streaming the video. It needs to be watched. Not just read.<br />
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Overall, I think that some of the main topics this session were: Missionary/Priesthood responsibility, repentance, and reading the scriptures. I love that there are so many messages there. I love that there is this renewed desire in me to change and improve and to make goals. I love that everyone else probably got entirely different things out of conference than I did.<br />
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I especially love that we get to do this again in six months.Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-11845734178652480722011-10-01T13:44:00.002-06:002011-10-01T14:01:26.783-06:00The Semi-annual "Thought on Conference" Post... and yes, we are still here. Or at least I am anyhow. Nathan has been married off (read: dead). And since the start of this blog was in direct retaliation to<a href="http://non-nonsensicole.blogspot.com/"> another brother's</a> choice to get married, I felt it was only appropriate to renew my blogging efforts. Because I'm still here.<div><br /></div><div>Also, I'm kind of bored.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, explanations and catch-ups aside, today was the start of General Conference, which I love whole-heartedly (all of conference, not just the start). We're only one session down and I already have a slew of talks labeled "Read again", which is my little tag to myself to signify that there was too much to get for just one listen.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I think one of the best moments of this morning for me was the announcement of the church's new program, similar to the Perpetual Education Fund, that helps members to be able to have financial help to attend the temple. *Quick side-note for anyone not familiar with LDS temples, there is no financial cost to enter a temple, however, in some parts of the world families need to save up for years to be able to afford the transit to and from the temple*</div><div><br /></div><div>The reason this was so powerful for me is because as it was being announced, it was clear to me that it was an inspired program. I felt the spirit as I tried to imagine the individuals who would benefit from this program, but more so, what those benefits would be. I feel like for the majority of those who will use this program, they will be making the trip to have their family sealed for time and all eternity.</div><div><br /></div><div>I love watching this church and the way that it works, and the way that they will respond to the needs of the members in whatever way necessary (this is one of the reasons that I find LDS Family Services so intriguing). It helped me to understand that Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of His children (this was a message throughout the morning session) and that this love is expressed and translated directly through the leadership of the church.</div><div><br /></div><div>I love conference.</div><div><br /></div><div>See you in a year. Or tomorrow. I haven't decided yet...</div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-88325413541604673212011-01-05T22:23:00.004-07:002011-01-05T22:41:57.985-07:00It's that time of year again!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTrR9NfXI/AAAAAAAAAeM/jwfQjfdAQXA/s1600/IMG_5952.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTrR9NfXI/AAAAAAAAAeM/jwfQjfdAQXA/s400/IMG_5952.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558941318078365042" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">WARD PHOTO SHOOT TIME!!!</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTrLp0biI/AAAAAAAAAeE/eh8JYAEWKJ0/s1600/IMG_6080.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTrLp0biI/AAAAAAAAAeE/eh8JYAEWKJ0/s400/IMG_6080.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558941316386418210" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Oh my goodness!</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTqxlvzFI/AAAAAAAAAd8/4LFgGfk29Es/s1600/IMG_6137.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTqxlvzFI/AAAAAAAAAd8/4LFgGfk29Es/s400/IMG_6137.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558941309390015570" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Things got a little crazy.</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTqkwHKWI/AAAAAAAAAd0/0PiGUjJbcDs/s1600/IMG_6088.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTqkwHKWI/AAAAAAAAAd0/0PiGUjJbcDs/s400/IMG_6088.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558941305943828834" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Then things got a lot crazy.</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTqdKHVzI/AAAAAAAAAds/4dn7NVeQdQU/s1600/IMG_6030.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVTqdKHVzI/AAAAAAAAAds/4dn7NVeQdQU/s400/IMG_6030.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558941303905408818" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Then things got a little violent.</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVURIM8K6I/AAAAAAAAAeU/n-eD-M210IQ/s1600/IMG_5975.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TSVURIM8K6I/AAAAAAAAAeU/n-eD-M210IQ/s400/IMG_5975.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558941968295013282" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Then things got a lot violent.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Those family members who were at the Eddington Christmas party might notice that the white elephant gift that I received has already been put to good use. I'm doing another set of shoots tomorrow night. They will probably be less crazy, but no one really knows. View the whole shoot at my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/sets/72157625749022250/">Flickr site</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Also, bonus points if you can correctly identify the <b>two</b> pictures of Nathan in this post.</div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-4907713185708003802010-12-26T23:59:00.002-07:002010-12-27T00:10:00.519-07:00Good Models Make Getting Good Photos Easier<div style="text-align: center;">Example #1:</div><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TRg6CrjBcnI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/5LYl1-vraKw/s400/IMG_5523.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555253958085276274" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Example #2</div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TRg6CzGdkuI/AAAAAAAAAdY/numSCdsnZHc/s400/IMG_5558.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555253960112968418" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Example #3</div><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TRg6DIylOUI/AAAAAAAAAdg/0YVsa0wXqMU/s400/IMG_5553.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555253965935163714" /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Christmas was a lot of fun this year. I ended up getting some new lighting equipment and just <b>had</b> to try it out. So we had a little mini-shoot. We have also completed 2 puzzles, eaten tons of Christmas cookies, had a Nerf war, watched three movies, learned new games, played old games, and stuffed ourselves full of lots of food. Tomorrow involves Snow-shoeing and an extended family get together. Neat.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Merry Christmas.</div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-76310258592187573592010-11-16T23:13:00.002-07:002010-11-16T23:57:27.724-07:00ReligionI started typing a post, then lost it (always save your work) and I don't have the time that I'd like to have to really dedicate to this post, but here's the breakdown. Lots of things have been happening in my life and I'd like to keep you updated, but one of the most important things has been my goal to read more talks and books by the apostles of the church.<div><br /></div><div>I really felt like I wanted to share some of those things with you.</div><div><br /></div><div>First of all, I made a mormon.org profile, but it looks like it's still processing. I really think that these are wonderful and I hope that they are helping. You should make one too!</div><div><br /></div><div>But more serious now. I have seen some really powerful moments come in the past little bit. There have been moments where I have been called upon to stretch myself personally, in my calling, and also in helping others. I have really felt the power of the messages and talks that I have been studying as the perfect talk for that point in time will somehow be the one that I happen to read.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted to share some of my favorite talks with you and some of the quotes from those talks. First of all, I have been reading from "Trusting Jesus" a book of talks given and compiled by Elder Holland. I highly highly recommend this book. Especially <a href="http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=2912">this talk</a> and <a href="http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=5b292150a447b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD">this talk</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I love the way that Elder Holland can help me to put into perspective the events surrounding the life of Jesus Christ, especially the Atonement. I also love the way that I am able to tell that he is speaking from the heart.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of my favorite quotes from the second link above is as follows. Speaking of the Savior: </div><div><blockquote>In the moonlit silence of that Near Eastern night, every acute pain, every heartfelt grief, every crushing wrong and human hurt experienced by every man, woman, and child in the human family was to be heaped upon his weary shoulders. But in such a moment, when someone might have said it to him, he rather says to us, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27.)<br /><br />“Ye shall be sorrowful,” he said—sad, lonely, frightened, and sometimes even persecuted, “but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. … Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:20, 33; italics added.)<br /><br />How can he speak that way? Of good cheer and joy? On a night like this? With the pain he knew was just ahead? But those are the blessings he always brought, and that is how he always spoke—to the very end.</blockquote>I love that. I really do. I have written next to the title of the chapter "beautiful" because to me the whole talk is an achievement of the spirit.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also had a rather powerful experience tonight. I have been trying to be a support for a friend going through some rather serious issues. This has involved many long or late-night phone calls. There are times when I just honestly don't know what to say. When that happens, in my mind, I am failing the other person and my first reaction is usually avoidance. I'm not proud of it, but that's what I do. I couldn't bring myself to return the call because I didn't know what I would do or say. I didn't think that I could help and I didn't think that I could handle the situation, I needed a break. Then my book fell open to the first talk that I've linked to. Specifically it fell open to this:</div><div><blockquote>I make an appeal for us to reach beyond our own contentment, to move out of our own comfort and companion zones, to reach those who may not always be so easy to reach.</blockquote>I realized that I <i>wasn't</i> strong enough, but that was okay because I was being asked to go beyond what I thought was possible, and that by doing so I would be supported. I know that the quote doesn't say this exactly, but that's what I <i>understood</i>. I made the call, and things turned out well. It was a special moment of understanding for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also particularly like this quote from the same talk:</div><div><blockquote>I would ask you now to help with this healing, healing for others, healing for those you love and, yes, perhaps especially for those you don't. The people around us need a lot of help, and I think the Lord expects us to join in that effort.</blockquote>Also this one:</div><div><blockquote>On the example of the Savior himself and his call to his apostles, and with the need for peace and comfort ringing in our ears, I ask you to be a healer, be a helper, be someone who joins in the work of Christ in lifting burdens, in making the load lighter, in making things better. Isn't that the phrase we used to use as children when we had a bump or a bruise? Didn't we say to Mom or Dad, "Make it better." Well, lots of people on your right hand and on your left are carrying bumps and bruises that they hope will be healed and made whole. Someone sitting within reasonable proximity to you tonight is carrying a spiritual or physical or emotional burden of some sort or some other affliction drawn from life's catalog of a thousand kinds of sorrow. In the spirit of Christ's first invitation to Philip and Andrew and then to Peter and the whole of his twelve apostles, jump into this work. Help people. Heal old wounds and try to make things better.</blockquote>After the experience that I talked about above, I decided that I was going to go and look up some of the Mormon Messages on YouTube. I found one that I have loved for a long time and I hope that you will take time to watch it now.</div><div><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wz41YxNiHEg?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wz41YxNiHEg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Anyhow. Thanks for listening. I really do want to try to be better about sharing my thoughts with people online. I feel that it is almost my responsibility as one who is familiar with the workings of the internet to provide answers and support anywhere that I can find questions. For me that includes not being afraid to post things on blogs, facebook, twitter, and all of those other sites that I am visible to all of my friends. I would encourage you to join me in doing so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled mildly humorous programming/ lack of updates.</div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-36558773896244844952010-08-18T15:26:00.003-06:002010-08-18T16:05:13.764-06:00A post! What? (mostly about photos)Still here. Not dead.<br /><br />I got back from London. I took classes. It was rough. I was kind of burnt out. However, one major accomplishment in my life: I have finished processing and uploading all of my London pictures!<br /><br />Feel free to view them at one of these two very very similar links:<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/</a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/collections/72157624043684295/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/collections/72157624043684295/</a><div><br /></div><div>Tied to this accomplishment, I have another personal goal that I met. My flickr account (the two links above) passed the 40,000 view mark. I don't know why I had set that as my personal goal, but I did, and I did it! So now we're on the way to 50,000. Although with all of these London pictures up I think I'm going to reach that goal a lot faster.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also in the way of pictures, I am in the process of putting the<a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fyeswearestillhere.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Fhouse-projects.html&h=69777"> picture wall </a>back up. For those who didn't hear, we had to take it down one time for cleaning checks to make sure that we weren't hiding any sort of wall damage. But I have talked to the manager and he told me that if I put it back up then I wouldn't have to pull it down again. Unfortunately he is leaving and we are getting a new manager and I sure hope that they keep that policy or I will have a royal hissy fit! (I know how too, I went to London.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Other photo news. I have made quite a large purchase (for me anyway). I have been doing quite a few photo shoots this summer, and I have made a little money off of them. I made myself a promise that any money I make off my photography will go right back into photography. So I bought a lens! It's used, it's not the top of the line, but darn it it's mine and I love it. <a href="http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/ef_lens_lineup/ef_70_200mm_f_4l_usm">It's this guy</a>. For those who don't speak camera, it's essentially the workhorse lens when it comes to portraits. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, I think that's about it for now. (read: I'm bored with this particular post and you probably are too)</div><div><br /></div><div>Cool.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Yeah.</div><div><br /></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-47484751525958125822010-06-21T22:03:00.002-06:002010-06-21T22:44:39.588-06:00The Photo Booth<div style="text-align: left; padding: 3px;"><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="281" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=86b94fe723&photo_id=4722995584&flickr_show_info_box=true"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=86b94fe723&photo_id=4722995584&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="281" width="500"></embed></object><br /><span style=" margin-top: 0px;font-size:0.8em;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/4722995584/">The Photo Booth</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/38080948@N07/">Christian Cragun</a>.</span></div><p class="flickr-yourcomment">I made this, you should watch it.<br /><br />(by "I", I mean that my roommate <a href="http://yeswearestillhere.blogspot.com/2008/12/scott-oh-scott.html">Scott</a> and my brother did most of the work, but I took all the pictures and came up with the idea...)</p>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-1070424140349903162010-06-18T12:41:00.003-06:002010-06-18T14:08:13.324-06:00Home is where the dresser is - or - I'm done with living out of a suitcase.<div style="text-align: left;">This post won't be too long.</div><div><br /></div><div>First of all. I'm home. It's a wonderful feeling. Don't get me wrong, I loved London, but like the title says, I am done with living out of a suitcase. It's good to have some stability.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Interestingly enough, I found that I started to miss the oddest stuff. For example, having a calling in a ward. The Hyde Park ward which I was attending decided to not give the students callings, which made some sense when we saw just how many visitors they had on a weekly basis.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also I missed root beer. It does not exist overseas.</div><div><br /></div><div>I also missed having a working camera. Yes, sad story. My Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 lens busted. It isn't shattered, but the zoom ring disconnected from the internal mechanisms. So, that sucks, and I'll have to take it to a local repair shop and get an estimate. Hooray! Luckily it didn't break until I was almost home, but unfortunately I don't have many pictures of Scotland because of it...</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Speaking of pictures. The final count for pictures taken for the whole trip (including about 100 for California before actually flying out) is:</div><div><br /></div><div>2396 pictures.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>So I've been a busy little bee and have been working my hardest to get those processed (ready to view) and up online. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/">You can find them on my flickr account</a>. I'm going to work at getting it more organized, but at the moment I figure I'll just get them up and deal with organization later. I particularly recommend the pictures of the London Temple, which you might have already seen in an earlier post. But still, I love them. Also, if you have a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">flickr account</a> (they're free) please feel free to add comments and add favorites. This helps me narrow things down and also gets me a little bit more traffic from other photographers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, I'll probably post more pictures here and there, maybe tell some more stories about London, put up a show list, etc.</div><div><br /></div><div>But for now I'll just leave you with this, my favorite purchase from the trip:</div><div><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/TBvRQyBR33I/AAAAAAAAAcw/bCUpy5XnbFk/s400/IMG_9316+-+Copy.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 189px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484207057488961394" /></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-89167410985622420612010-05-18T18:03:00.002-06:002010-05-18T18:05:30.622-06:00Travel WeekendWe leave for Ireland in about five hours. Bringing: my camera. Not Bringing: My laptop.<br />So hopefully I'll take massive amounts of pictures, but updates will be rather scarce for a bit.<br /><br />See you on Sunday!Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-26852637521664465122010-05-16T16:59:00.002-06:002010-05-16T17:16:00.541-06:00A couple of pictures<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S_B54y6fykI/AAAAAAAAAck/HYEAvbP3tAQ/s1600/IMG_8014.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S_B54y6fykI/AAAAAAAAAck/HYEAvbP3tAQ/s400/IMG_8014.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472007563901913666" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S_B5zmrxoiI/AAAAAAAAAcc/tc8VJEK4B8M/s1600/IMG_8007.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S_B5zmrxoiI/AAAAAAAAAcc/tc8VJEK4B8M/s400/IMG_8007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472007474719597090" border="0" /></a>So these are slightly out of focus, but that's what I get for seeing picture opportunities when I don't have my tripod with me (yes I actually packed it over here...). These are taken just outside of the Globe theatre after we got out of <span style="font-style: italic;">A Midsummer Night's Dream</span> (which I thought was pretty awful).<br /><br />Since I didn't have my tripod with me I tried to rest my camera on the railing of the wall next to the Thames. I think that someday I'll have to take my tripod (and a buddy) and go night shooting. I love night photography a lot, but I'm finding that it's actually quite difficult.<br /><br />As for the performance (it was Thursday night), I honestly did not enjoy myself. The biggest issue was that our seats were absolutely horrible. The Globe has two large pillars on stage, usually not a problem for the majority of the seats, except for ours. It didn't help that the production, instead of playing the show more in the round (to all sides) to accommodate the space, they chose to have the majority of the action take place right in between the two pillars. I didn't really see about 70-80% of the production.<br /><br />But on top of that, I really didn't like it. I feel like the comedy was being forced and therefore not funny. I feel as though, like children, they found a joke that worked once and told it over and over and over, to everyone that walked into the room. Quite annoying.<br /><br />They also tried setting the show in the 1920's with flappers and a cabaret type dancer. But they didn't really let it influence anything they did, which is the wrong way to go about it. More or less it just looked like they were in different costumes.<br /><br />Who knows, maybe I was just bitter towards the show because I couldn't actually see it, but I didn't enjoy myself as much as I could have.Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-72419205998610992412010-05-16T15:50:00.002-06:002010-05-16T15:53:41.734-06:00I think you should watch this.I love creative stuff like this.<br /><br /><object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nCgQDjiotG0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nCgQDjiotG0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></embed></object><br /><br />Also I'm still alive. I have a bunch of stuff that I can post about, but rather than doing a huge post I think I'll break it up into a bunch of little posts so that you can read them at you leisure (rather than trying to work through a novel of a blog).<br /><br />Sorry that I'm falling behind. It's been a little busy.Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-69133869662631321652010-05-12T17:26:00.004-06:002010-05-12T18:20:50.974-06:00Food Update --or-- how I'm making my sister happy by spending gratuitous amounts on delicious thingsFor those of you who don't know <a href="http://toicecreamwithlove.blogspot.com/">my sister</a>, repent ye. She is pretty amazing and one of the best chef/cooks on the planet. She is a foodist. She believes in it and practices it. So I kind of promised her that I would keep a food log of sorts. Here it is. At least some of them. The more interesting ones at least. But don't be fooled, this isn't just for her. Any food fanatic can join in the reading fun!<br /><br />Today: Lebanese place by the Orange Tree theatre. Sooo good. I had the large mix doner. It was lamb meat and chicken meat put in a pita with "salad" (onions and lettuce) with a garlic sauce on it. I have no clue how this is supposed to be different from a gyro other than the fact that I couldn't pick it up. However, that might have been because the thing was <span style="font-weight: bold;">huge</span>. Size of my head at least. It could have easily fed a family of four. The lamb was better than the chicken.<br /><br />Yesterday: Indian food at Memories of India. This place was a bad choice. We were looking for an Indian place because we had heard that London has amazing Indian food (there is actually a large population of immigrants here). Looking at the prices on the window (everywhere has a menu posted outside) the prices didn't look bad at all. We figured out that the place was authentic when we realized it was near impossible to understand our waiter (not trying to be racist, just honest). The main problem with the restaurant is that they charged for everything. The price for the curry wasn't bad but then they charged for the rice as well. What kind of Indian place charges for rice? Anyhow I got the Lamb curry and we all shared some Sag Aloo and Nan bread. It was okay, but not impressive by any means. Oh well. Live and learn. I'm sure we'll have Indian again and we'll see if we can't get a better place.<br /><br />Monday: Chinese at a small cafe type place (I forgot the name already, it was either Lan or Jen or something). I had the crispy pork and rice. It was pretty good and not that expensive. Jason and Allan both had duck and weren't too impressed. The best part about this place was the dumplings. We got an order of fried dumplings to split and I wish that I had just ordered that alone. They are made (cut and stuffed) when you order them, so they're about as fresh as they come. We may go back and just feast on dumplings. After that as we headed to the show for the evening we passed a little ice cream shop called Pandora. It was crazy. First off it wasn't ice cream it was gelatto (I can hear Nathan screaming in the background). Second, it had the craziest window display. I should have taken a picture. Apparently their specialty is Gelatto in a crepe with whatever crazy thing they want to put in it. There was a ham and cheese one. Anyhow, I was feeling a little ritzy and decided to get a cone with a scoop (pretty cheap too). There were some weird flavors (like green tea) but I decided that I would play it safe and get the cookie flavor. Turns out it was not at all what I was expecting. You see I was expecting something similar to chocolate chip cookie dough, what I got was fortune cookie flavored gelatto in a waffle cone. It was weird, but good.<br /><br />So those are the food exploits that I can remember for now. I'll keep posting every so often. Because food is good.<br />Oh, and occasionally we try to cook in our flat. But usually it's not that exciting. This is a picture of a day when we tried making Tikka Masala from a jar with chicken and spaghetti, it was... food.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-s9Zj_FAOI/AAAAAAAAAcA/kiNzFLWAqsg/s1600/IMG_7297.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-s9Zj_FAOI/AAAAAAAAAcA/kiNzFLWAqsg/s400/IMG_7297.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470533681737433314" border="0" /></a><br />Also this is the very special cookbook that we found in our kitchen on the first day. Possibly one of the main reasons we don't cook all that often...<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-s9lPFAy2I/AAAAAAAAAcI/vMom0-MMeTg/s1600/blog048.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-s9lPFAy2I/AAAAAAAAAcI/vMom0-MMeTg/s400/blog048.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470533882283608930" border="0" /></a>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-87759114428980124532010-05-12T06:23:00.025-06:002010-05-12T09:05:52.922-06:00The London Temple -- or -- Christian is bad at choosing. A tragicomedy in two acts.Sorry that I've fallen behind a little bit. I promise one of these days I'll try to catch up on everything that's been happening. I still really want to tell you about <span style="font-style: italic;">Women Beware Women, </span>one of the most incredible shows <span style="font-style: italic;"></span>that I have seen in my lifetime (and one of the actors was the guy who played Dudley Dursley from the <span style="font-style: italic;">Harry Potter</span> movies in it, if that is exciting to you...).<br /><br />But for now, other stories. Well this is actually more of just a picture post. Yesterday (Tuesday) we took a group trip to the London temple, so of course I brought my camera along. It was an absolutely beautiful day (a little cold but whatever). For those who haven't been to the London Temple, the temple is beautiful, but almost pales in comparison to the extensive grounds (is that blasphemy?). It feels almost like the temple is on the grounds of a forest. There are acres upon acres (I'm awful at measuring distance)(32 acres according to wikipedia) of little groves of trees that have benches hidden among them so that you can sit and contemplate life. It was absolutely gorgeous. Have I said that already?<br /><br />So the problem is that I take lots of pictures and a lot of them look a lot alike. I'm horrible at decisions and revisions and so I love them all. That's where you (the magic readership) come in. I'm going to put little numbers above each of the pictures and you should comment and tell me which are your favorites (there is no minimum or maximum). Got it? Go!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >1.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qrOGf2DDI/AAAAAAAAAb0/OqRtbi9yAdw/s1600/blog028.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qrOGf2DDI/AAAAAAAAAb0/OqRtbi9yAdw/s400/blog028.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470372956145585202" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >2.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qrCYVvVtI/AAAAAAAAAbs/IGqusnRasOI/s1600/blog029.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qrCYVvVtI/AAAAAAAAAbs/IGqusnRasOI/s400/blog029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470372754776610514" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >3.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qq6OqOqqI/AAAAAAAAAbk/Hn-1fTqPDMw/s1600/blog030.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qq6OqOqqI/AAAAAAAAAbk/Hn-1fTqPDMw/s400/blog030.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470372614739241634" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;">4.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qq0n9PQtI/AAAAAAAAAbc/IcnZP03VowE/s1600/blog031.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qq0n9PQtI/AAAAAAAAAbc/IcnZP03VowE/s400/blog031.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470372518450643666" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">5.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqsO-2KOI/AAAAAAAAAbU/9YzDFLtrPnQ/s1600/blog032.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqsO-2KOI/AAAAAAAAAbU/9YzDFLtrPnQ/s400/blog032.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470372374307547362" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">6.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqgckwnOI/AAAAAAAAAbM/RLwz99yowbM/s1600/blog033.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqgckwnOI/AAAAAAAAAbM/RLwz99yowbM/s400/blog033.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470372171797798114" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">7.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqThChNlI/AAAAAAAAAbE/Q8ER9bjE93Y/s1600/blog034.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqThChNlI/AAAAAAAAAbE/Q8ER9bjE93Y/s400/blog034.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470371949658060370" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">8.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqMjqxiOI/AAAAAAAAAa8/VPoCNfBS7W4/s1600/blog035.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqMjqxiOI/AAAAAAAAAa8/VPoCNfBS7W4/s400/blog035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470371830104688866" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">9.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqFMfWXHI/AAAAAAAAAa0/5K0-H7ZR9iQ/s1600/blog036.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qqFMfWXHI/AAAAAAAAAa0/5K0-H7ZR9iQ/s400/blog036.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470371703623670898" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">10.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qp49mrf_I/AAAAAAAAAas/hsF31b_Hr_E/s1600/blog037.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qp49mrf_I/AAAAAAAAAas/hsF31b_Hr_E/s400/blog037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470371493469454322" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >11.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpyeC0tBI/AAAAAAAAAak/VGpR7EJSfw8/s1600/blog038.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpyeC0tBI/AAAAAAAAAak/VGpR7EJSfw8/s400/blog038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470371381918348306" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">12.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpskNFquI/AAAAAAAAAac/3yjf4VYZGFk/s1600/blog039.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpskNFquI/AAAAAAAAAac/3yjf4VYZGFk/s400/blog039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470371280492800738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >13.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qphjbE5kI/AAAAAAAAAaU/pJV2vqEafPI/s1600/blog040.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qphjbE5kI/AAAAAAAAAaU/pJV2vqEafPI/s400/blog040.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470371091304474178" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >14.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpVm8Nw-I/AAAAAAAAAaM/-Zz-xED0nZo/s1600/blog041.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpVm8Nw-I/AAAAAAAAAaM/-Zz-xED0nZo/s400/blog041.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470370886090343394" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >15.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpF3j7QgI/AAAAAAAAAaE/Svm_I13prXU/s1600/blog042.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qpF3j7QgI/AAAAAAAAAaE/Svm_I13prXU/s400/blog042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470370615673963010" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >16.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qnccdi51I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/aYl5NkHOvS8/s1600/blog043.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qnccdi51I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/aYl5NkHOvS8/s400/blog043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470368804513179474" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >17.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qm6-p5YtI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/8slbLGLR0vo/s1600/blog044.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qm6-p5YtI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/8slbLGLR0vo/s400/blog044.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470368229576237778" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >18.</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qmf1LzE2I/AAAAAAAAAZs/thpHmbPg8yg/s1600/blog045.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qmf1LzE2I/AAAAAAAAAZs/thpHmbPg8yg/s400/blog045.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470367763177608034" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">19.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qmX7akbnI/AAAAAAAAAZk/hGDjDuS9LLc/s1600/blog046.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qmX7akbnI/AAAAAAAAAZk/hGDjDuS9LLc/s400/blog046.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470367627411222130" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">20.</span></span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qd3S4z9wI/AAAAAAAAAZY/tIrNMw2pweQ/s1600/blog047.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-qd3S4z9wI/AAAAAAAAAZY/tIrNMw2pweQ/s400/blog047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470358270683379458" border="0" /></a><br />So that's it. Well, that's 20 out of the hundreds I took. But my favorite part about all of these pictures is that they're all essentially straight out of the camera. I only made minor adjustments to brightness, contrast, and saturation in some areas. So yay!Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-30940787569761725412010-05-08T17:17:00.008-06:002010-05-08T18:31:57.661-06:00Fish and Chips and a show that I wouldn't recommend...<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YBo1-SIdI/AAAAAAAAAZM/EQMIh1SABWU/s1600/blog027.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YBo1-SIdI/AAAAAAAAAZM/EQMIh1SABWU/s400/blog027.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469060598682755538" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Jason sleeping in a submarine bunk...</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YBi4beEII/AAAAAAAAAZE/5p1mMbp6O6Q/s1600/blog026.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YBi4beEII/AAAAAAAAAZE/5p1mMbp6O6Q/s400/blog026.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469060496262828162" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Artsy?</span></div>Today was rather boring. I did laundry. Yaaaaay... Exciting right? Well about 3:30 we went to go find some stuff to do. We made a plan. We were going to go to the Imperial War Museum, get some fish and chips, and then go see <span style="font-style: italic;">The Habit of Art</span> at the Royal National Theatre.<br /><br />It kind of worked.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YA05FhFeI/AAAAAAAAAY0/fcsevznZPaU/s1600/blog024.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YA05FhFeI/AAAAAAAAAY0/fcsevznZPaU/s400/blog024.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469059706165204450" border="0" /></a>Big Cannons! Run!<br /><span style="font-size:78%;">The Imperial War Museum<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YBdRPM5SI/AAAAAAAAAY8/QyPEEKxsiJs/s1600/blog025.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YBdRPM5SI/AAAAAAAAAY8/QyPEEKxsiJs/s400/blog025.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469060399843042594" border="0" /></a>We went to the Imperial War Museum and it was actually kind of interesting. I know my parents are probably recalling the days when I had to be forced to even go inside the museums on family trips, but I find that I am acting like an old person and enjoy reading the histories that are presented. I like to imagine what it would have been like to experience this or that. (This is kind of off topic, but I gained a huge respect and understanding for the Black Plague when I did a show that was set in that time period and had to imagine what it would have been like to see a third of your friends and family die and not know where the plague came from or how to get rid of it).<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YAdr4_EII/AAAAAAAAAYs/3ieRSsYRVbo/s1600/blog023.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-YAdr4_EII/AAAAAAAAAYs/3ieRSsYRVbo/s400/blog023.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469059307485991042" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Jason Being a Missile</span><br /></div></div><br /></div>I really enjoyed the museum. We spent most of our time learning about submarines and MI6 (think James Bond). There were a bunch of exhibits that we just didn't have time to see. So we're going back at some point. One thing that I loved about the museum is that on the sign next to the tank, missile, airplane, etc. they would have a short description of when and where it was used and then it would have a picture from the war of the weapon. There were some amazing pictures. There were some images from WWI and WWII that were just stunning, especially so if you consider the type of equipment limitations that they had to deal with. It makes war photographers of today look like pansies.<br /><br />After the museum closed we decided that we had just enough time to go get fish and chips. You have to understand that, for me, having my first English fish and chips seemed like a sort of right of passage, or initiation. We needed to do it right. After some research we found a place that was close to the theater and the museum, was cheap, and most importantly, got great reviews.<br /><br />It is called "Master's Super Fish". Sold.<br /><br />It was great. I got the cod and chips. Unfortunately we had little time and had to get the food take away, but it actually made it more fun because she wrapped it in the paper (one of those customs that seemed to add authenticity and legitimacy to my experience) and we ate on the walk over to the theatre.<br /><br />When we got there we found out that the show we were going to see and had heard was amazing was at standing room only for the night. I was not a fan of standing for the whole show, I had already done that at the globe for Macbeth (which I still need to write about...). So we decided that we would see one of the other shows at the National. To be fair, most of the shows that are playing there currently sound great, so we were fine with switching shows since we were going to see the other ones anyways.<br /><br />We ended up getting tickets to see <span style="font-style: italic;">Love the Sinner</span>. The idea of the story was actually not too bad. But (in my opinion) it was pretty poorly executed.<br /><br />The story is about a man who is struggling with his sexual identity and also examines religion's role in matters of homosexuality. The main character is a volunteer for a conference at which the international leaders of his church are gathering to discuss their bylaws, specifically the one dealing with homosexual bishops, unions, blessings, etc.<br /><br />At this same conference, the main character has a homosexual affair. He then returns home and has to figure out who he is, what he stands for, how to deal with/hide from his wife who is struggling to get pregnant. Things get really twisted when the man who he had the affair with shows up from Africa to his house in England and essentially blackmails/begs him for help in gaining asylum in England.<br /><br />I think that there were some interesting moments in the show. Watching the main character struggling with his decision and his double life was difficult in the good way (the kind that seems to teach us something and leads to a catharsis). It was interesting to watch him become hyper-religious to try and force an identity upon himself, and how he was so unwilling to accept any of his actions and yet his inability to forgive himself for anything. Just very interesting all around.<br /><br />The issue was that I felt a lot of the acting was off, there were scenes missing, and the lines were just terrible. Jason made the argument that they were going for a natural feel to the conversation and that they were just talking around the issue and not naming it. I agree with him on that fact, but I felt like it was pushed to an extreme to where it was so "real" that it was actually surreal. I feel like if I had read the script next to an absurdist script there wouldn't have actually been that much of a difference. And yet it wasn't being played in an absurdist way, it was being played as realism which created this awful disconnect for me.<br /><br />... Anyway...<br /><br />The set was pretty amazing and the music and sound design were very well done. But overall I did not like it. Sorry. But it happens.<br /><br />We still plan on seeing <span style="font-style: italic;">The Habit of Art</span> and have heard that it is absolutely wonderful.<br /><br />Tomorrow is church. That should give me a chance to get caught up on sleep and picture editing. Yay!<br /><br /><br />Sleep.Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-27676840001456452922010-05-07T19:36:00.015-06:002010-05-07T20:02:52.038-06:00Kew Gardens and an amazing show that I might not actually have time to write about right now but it was amazing so just imagine how excited I must be!Today we went to Kew Gardens which is a gorgeous attraction. It's made up of 300 acres of gardens with a few special greenhouses and such. It is a photographer's dream. Landscape, architecture, floral, subjects everywhere. So, I'll let the pictures do the talking. We went and saw an amazing show tonight called <span style="font-style: italic;">Women Beware Women</span> and I'm too sleepy to do it justice, but it is the best thing that I have seen in London, I may even venture to say in my entire life. I'll post on it later. Okay, now for pictures.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBmLSw97I/AAAAAAAAAYg/LGeA3GufvL8/s1600/blog011.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBmLSw97I/AAAAAAAAAYg/LGeA3GufvL8/s400/blog011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468708709145311154" border="0" /></a><br />There were about eight of these statues representing major political powers or leaders (i.e. Wales, Scotland, King Frederick). They were all different animals including a Unicorn! I couldn't help thinking about the crazy statue dogs from <span style="font-style: italic;">Ghostbusters</span> though...<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBhean7KI/AAAAAAAAAYY/c34yMEnDDvg/s1600/blog012.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBhean7KI/AAAAAAAAAYY/c34yMEnDDvg/s400/blog012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468708628379200674" border="0" /></a><br />This is the three tiered spiral staircase inside the tropical greenhouse. Jason said it felt like being back in Ecuador. My camera felt the effects. The second I stepped into the house my filter fogged up, so I took it off and my lens fogged up. So, I would have to wipe it off take a picture, wipe it off, take a picture, and so on. Annoying.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBcbwG1bI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/2GrJD89PaIc/s1600/blog013.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBcbwG1bI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/2GrJD89PaIc/s400/blog013.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468708541764654514" border="0" /></a>They also had a marine display. Seahorses are amazing. They swim without any apparent motion at all, so it seems like they are just hovering and scooting around. I thought this turned out fairly well considering it was shot through an aquarium.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBVXhgLFI/AAAAAAAAAYI/LWFR0ayqVlo/s1600/blog014.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBVXhgLFI/AAAAAAAAAYI/LWFR0ayqVlo/s400/blog014.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468708420370574418" border="0" /></a><br />This is a Roman type pavilion. I liked the picture. In case you didn't know, London was once ruled by Rome. I think that is why they are having the Olympics here in 2012. Also to end the world.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBO4XqyiI/AAAAAAAAAYA/GU50J4Sf3V0/s1600/blog015.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBO4XqyiI/AAAAAAAAAYA/GU50J4Sf3V0/s400/blog015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468708308928612898" border="0" /></a><br />These are some of the Southwestern desert plants. I love these type of plants, probably because of the Tour de Southwest that I did with Brian and Brent back in 2006. For those who haven't been to Joshua Tree National Park, I highly recommend it.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBJOJn6jI/AAAAAAAAAX4/8aSHT0IA4EA/s1600/blog016.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBJOJn6jI/AAAAAAAAAX4/8aSHT0IA4EA/s400/blog016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468708211696069170" border="0" /></a><br />Allan found this neat little patch of flowers. We called it a grove. That may be incorrect.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBCD1Q13I/AAAAAAAAAXw/CXiDnnpzdQ8/s1600/blog017.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TBCD1Q13I/AAAAAAAAAXw/CXiDnnpzdQ8/s400/blog017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468708088667232114" border="0" /></a><br />Jason and Allan enjoy being dinosaurs, especially when they're in the Evolution House.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TA8e45lWI/AAAAAAAAAXo/iFVE3k3ZX00/s1600/blog018.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TA8e45lWI/AAAAAAAAAXo/iFVE3k3ZX00/s400/blog018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468707992851027298" border="0" /></a><br />This is the outside of the Temperate House. Gorgeous inside and out. The clouds also helped me out a little.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TA3xG7mWI/AAAAAAAAAXg/7aN5ncZpDww/s1600/blog019.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TA3xG7mWI/AAAAAAAAAXg/7aN5ncZpDww/s400/blog019.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468707911842371938" border="0" /></a><br />There was quite a bit of Japanese influence. This Zen garden and ornate gate (rhyme!) were also Japanese. I was unable to catch any Pokemon. I was sad.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TAzPneffI/AAAAAAAAAXY/SfMjaWGwv2M/s1600/blog020.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TAzPneffI/AAAAAAAAAXY/SfMjaWGwv2M/s400/blog020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468707834132594162" border="0" /></a><br />This I think actually used to be some sort of palace. I'm not really sure because we didn't actually go in because it cost more money and it didn't sound too interesting. But the gardens around the building were amazing.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TArgUgzBI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/B5qJ3SNL-Vk/s1600/blog021.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TArgUgzBI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/B5qJ3SNL-Vk/s400/blog021.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468707701177502738" border="0" /></a><br />I love the crazy hedges.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TAmfkbhgI/AAAAAAAAAXI/czHdJq1N5x8/s1600/blog022.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-TAmfkbhgI/AAAAAAAAAXI/czHdJq1N5x8/s400/blog022.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468707615076484610" border="0" /></a><br />This is taken from inside a metal gazebo that overlooks the garden. This was a gorgeous place.<br /><br /><br />Anyhow, I'll try to keep posting daily. Keep checking back.<br /></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-57107329742598090242010-05-06T18:08:00.010-06:002010-05-06T18:27:21.693-06:00Two Posts? One Day? The Promised Pictures...I know that I've promised lots of pictures. Always feel free to head over to my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38080948@N07/">flickr account</a>. I usually upload most of my pictures there as a form of storage. I've been pretty good about keeping it organized, but sometimes it's just a mess. FYI.<br /><br />But here are some pictures to help you get a sense of what I do here (other than the theatre part since pictures aren't allowed during performances and most don't even let you take pictures inside at all).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbubiYOAI/AAAAAAAAAWs/kf1wJQ0gPmo/s1600/blog005.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbubiYOAI/AAAAAAAAAWs/kf1wJQ0gPmo/s400/blog005.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468315225781975042" border="0" /></a>This is bangers and mash. I ate this and it was yummy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NcCnlx5II/AAAAAAAAAW8/f1iLs8s-Ruw/s1600/blog003.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NcCnlx5II/AAAAAAAAAW8/f1iLs8s-Ruw/s400/blog003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468315572614849666" border="0" /></a>This is Jason dressed as a medieval peasant at the Museum of London.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-Nb154vcoI/AAAAAAAAAW0/tibwVS7AWWk/s1600/blog004.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-Nb154vcoI/AAAAAAAAAW0/tibwVS7AWWk/s400/blog004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468315354187920002" border="0" /></a>This Jason dressed as a fireman from 1666. Put out that Grrrreat Fire! Put it out!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbeH1_QsI/AAAAAAAAAWc/1e3ivrCneTI/s1600/blog007.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbeH1_QsI/AAAAAAAAAWc/1e3ivrCneTI/s400/blog007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468314945617609410" border="0" /></a>This is Rodger (our teacher) and his harem of women at the Banqueting House.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-Nbkd-ftNI/AAAAAAAAAWk/eFbuPFj-ibM/s1600/blog006.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-Nbkd-ftNI/AAAAAAAAAWk/eFbuPFj-ibM/s400/blog006.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468315054638085330" border="0" /></a>This is Richie (one of the other six males on the trip) listening to the magic ear stereo that told us all about the Banqueting House. He's fascinated by the magic. And the artwork on the ceiling.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbThOGkhI/AAAAAAAAAWU/Pjh6ZWPWm2w/s1600/blog008.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbThOGkhI/AAAAAAAAAWU/Pjh6ZWPWm2w/s400/blog008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468314763451077138" border="0" /></a>Jason is sitting on the throne ordering Allan to behead Melissa. It actually happened. Weird.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbAIWNTxI/AAAAAAAAAWM/ETBiwjGTOQo/s1600/blog009.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NbAIWNTxI/AAAAAAAAAWM/ETBiwjGTOQo/s400/blog009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468314430356672274" border="0" /></a>This is a pretty house on a pretty day. I have lots of these...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-Na551X-AI/AAAAAAAAAWE/bLkeMXyeotU/s1600/blog010.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-Na551X-AI/AAAAAAAAAWE/bLkeMXyeotU/s400/blog010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468314323381647362" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">This is me. I take pictures. I have a new shirt on.<br /></div>Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3045093705201919785.post-32028523022491937522010-05-06T16:59:00.004-06:002010-05-06T17:51:17.906-06:00Twelfth Night and PrimarkToday was kind of a lazy day as well (I know I'm slacking, but what can I say?). We didn't have class or anything scheduled for this morning and so Jason and I decided that we would go to a shop we had heard about called Primark. For those who have never been to Primark, it is amazing. It is essentially a large department store with secondhand store prices. So there were t-shirts for a pound, button ups for 3 pounds, shoes for 2-5, I could have bought a full suit for under 20 pounds throw in some real leather shoes and we're up to 35 pounds. It was wonderful. The only issue is that I have a limited amount of room and weight left in my check bag for when I return home. I'm already starting to think about which of the clothes I brought from home I will leave here to free up some space. But due to this limited capacity I actually didn't buy that many things. I did get a couple shirts to make me look more European (although that's not always good since we have a hard time determining whether a guy is European or gay...).<br /><br />After Primark Jason and I realized that we needed to get to the Tricycle theater and fast. We had a matinee that started at 2:00 and from what the teacher was saying we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get there. We ran into two problems: the directions that the teacher had printed off for us started from our flat, which we were not at, and our helpful roommate Allan had told us which bus we needed to take from Primark... but we had forgotten what number he said. So, it was an adventure. Actually it mostly involved us reading a map. But since we have been mostly using the tube system, we really didn't know how to read the bus maps.<br /><br />Long story short, we made it. Actually we made it before most of the class did, including the two teachers.<br /><br />The Tricycle is a pretty neat theatre. Here is its entrance:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NNTwjFbgI/AAAAAAAAAVw/-iqJtQidhq4/s1600/blog001.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NNTwjFbgI/AAAAAAAAAVw/-iqJtQidhq4/s320/blog001.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468299374402825730" border="0" /></a><br />They had made a mobile out of three bicycle wheels (granted I guess that would be a tricycle then). And they had a magical corridor of mirrors.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NNjbMT8aI/AAAAAAAAAV4/dcubUF17alk/s1600/blog002.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_k2hoSmXtnOg/S-NNjbMT8aI/AAAAAAAAAV4/dcubUF17alk/s320/blog002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5468299643548070306" border="0" /></a><br />Here's Jason pointing into the worlds of eternity.<br /><br />Then there was <span style="font-style: italic;">Twelfth Night</span>. This was quite the interesting interpretation of the classic Shakespearean play. It was set in a recording studio, or something. There was no set, and actually no real setting for the play at all. It looked like you had stumbled into a rock concert with seats for the audience. Once the play got going it all made sense.<br /><br />The show was developed by a group called "Filter" that focuses on the merging of musicians, actors, directors, and all sorts of theatre makers. The idea behind their shows is that they find the highs and the lows in the emotion of the script and then they use music to help tell that story. So, for example, when the Duke Orsino is being a whiny love-sick puppy, it was like a poetry reading in a coffee house with heavy bass and a brush on the snare with Orsino quoting his lines like a beatnik. When Malvolio, the "bad guy" of the show is contemplating how awesome it would be to be a count, it is to the tune of a hard rock song (which he played the air guitar on). And so on.<br /><br />I loved it. I feel that it worked almost every scene that it was included in. Overall the show was just fun. It was ridiculous and self referential (like Viola speaking to an FM radio which answered her back instead of a messenger). But I think overall my favorite part was the interplay between the two drunk revelers Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew.<br /><br />The show was set in modern times, everyone was wearing the type of clothing you would expect them to be in on the street. That is, except for Sir Toby. His first entrance, he stumbles in drunk at the back of the stage in full Elizabethan clothing, doublet, tights, frilly starched collar, and starts quoting the "to be or not to be" quote from <span style="font-style: italic;">Hamlet</span>. He then polishes off a beer and wanders off the other side of the stage. The rest of the cast then resumed the play where they had left off.<br /><br />The best scene, however, had absolutely nothing to do with progressing the plot. Sir Toby wakes up from being passed out on the floor, and in his drunken revelry starts whisper/drunk singing a song about love, then Sir Andrew (also drunk) comes and joins him in his singing. Sir Andrew is wearing this amazing hat with strips of velcro all over it and three squishy balls stuck to the velcro. As the scene goes on, chaos reigns. Sir Toby gets the band to start playing along with him and sings at the top of his lungs, Sir Andrew discovers the balls stuck to his head and has the audience try to throw them at him to get them to stick, then they pulled an audience member up and had <span style="font-style: italic;">him</span> wear a velcro hat, <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> they started pulling audience members up to start dancing with them, <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> my professor (of his own volition) got on stage and started dancing (and when returning to his seat climbed the scaffolding the seats were on and accidentally broke a light), <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">and then</span></span> Sir Andrew ran to the back of the audience to the door and shouted "Pizza!" at which point he started passing two pizza boxes through the audience (I didn't get any).<br /><br />The scene was nuts, but so fun.<br /><br />I really loved this show. It was all around a good time. Not the best acting in the world, maybe not even the best interpretation, but it was a side of the show that I had not considered before and it was extremely fun, and yet at moments very poignant as well.<br /><br />One character that is always rather troubling is Malvolio. He is the bad guy, but in reading the script, and in most productions you watch, he gets way more than he deserves. This show handled it in a very interesting way. They made him evil. Very evil. He started strangling the clown.<br /><br />Then there is the famous scene where Sir Toby tricks Malvolio into thinking that to woo a lady he must dress himself in a ridiculous fashion (Toby fakes a letter from the lady saying that she prefers a man in yellow stockings who is cross gartered). This production was grotesquely hilarious. Malvolio (played by a man with a bit of a gut) stripped down to thigh high yellow socks and yellow booty shorts... and that's it. He then danced around the stage to his hard rock song until he was discovered by his lady (shocked to say the least) and the play continued.<br /><br />Now if we just left it there, it wouldn't have been too much and it would have been deserved (he <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> a mean guy). But there is one more scene.<br /><br />Because of his antics, the lady puts Malvolio under the care of Sir Toby, who hates him. Sir Toby and the clown, Touchstone, then put Malvolio in a lightless prison with duct tape around his wrists providing him with little food and torturing him with constant noise and talking. It is a brutal scene, and this production left the brutality in it. They didn't try to soften it at all.<br /><br />So I find it interesting that I could have so much fun during one raucous scene and feel like a jerk for siding with the guy who ended up torturing a man in another scene. Good show.<br /><br />I know this post is rather long, but the one other thing that we did today was get some great middle-eastern food. The Tricycle theater is located, oddly enough, in the middle of the middle-eastern immigrant community. I'm not sure what you would call it, "Little Lebanon"? Anyhow, it was quite good and really cheap.<br /><br />Tonight we chose not to see another show. We were all tired and just needed some rest. Tomorrow we are going to Kew Gardens, so expect lots of pictures... to be on my camera at least. After that we will probably go see a show. I'm shooting for 6/6 this week.<br /><br />Hooray!Christianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04826476775205522518noreply@blogger.com0