Feb 10

I went to the Camdon market today. Little did I know that there was a huge fire in that area last night. About half of it was closed down. But there were still a lot of people out. It is a weird happening. Every Sunday all the punk and goth kids come out and hang around and buy fishnets, t-shirts with Che Guevara, rolling papers and platform shoes and all the hot topic type things. It is very interesting.

I met up with CR around 4 in Picadilly Circus. Picadilly is just a few minutes walk to China Town, so we went over there for the Chinese New Year. They were having this huge celebration in front of the national gallery with a stage and thousands upon thousands of people. We walked around and went into a market or two. I got a few food items and a cheap bag. We ate at this Chinese restaurant, and it was really good.

Feb 11

I walked around the neighborhood today. I went to the park and marsh in Hackney. It was a good area to walk in and get fresh air (sort of), but its just like every ones back yard in Ninnekah, except more polluted. The marsh is this lifeless grease filled river. There is a part off to the side that they call a nature reserve or something like that. Its basically just a couple blocks of overgrown brush and some wheat. There is a concrete walk way type thing that is about as wide as a two way street through it. Its really not the least bit like nature. If there is one thing rural Oklahoma beats London at its desolate land.

Feb 12

I went to the Victoria and Albert museum today. It was really amazing. It was much bigger than I thought, and it had just tons of interesting things. I went through about half of the first floor in about three hours. When you first walk in there is a big piece by Chihuly. I went through lots of old middle eastern and asian things. There were lots of Buddhist and Hindu statues. Lots of jade pieces, tapestries, pottery, etc. I also saw a big room of these gigantic cartoons by Raphael. They were really fantastic. They were all Christian scenes I think they were for the Queen, she asked him to do these. I saw a fashion design room. It had lots of famous designers clothes from a very long time ago (Victorian dresses) to today's fashion. I also saw a photography room. It was really pretty good. It was very random though, some of the first photos ever taken - daguerreotypes - to ones by artist today - portraits, and artsy, and staged, everything. I also saw some old Christ inspired work. Lots of pieces of churches - alter pieces, decorated columns, doors, archways, tombs, crosses, crucifixions, statues, etc. I liked this area the best probably. It was just very interesting, all of it.

I am constantly being astonished by the quality and quantity of items the museums in London hold. I cannot believe that every place that I have been is so interesting and is not the least bit boring or tedious to me. The sheer volume of artistic excellence this city holds is surreal.

Feb 13

We had our first meeting with Sam with British land about the summer festival. It will be about 5 weeks long during the lunch time - about 2 hours a day. We will mostly have local acts. For sure we will have Latin music, salsa, tango, steel drums, etc.

Feb 14

Jacob and Mark were cleaning out one of the storage rooms and there is just so much stuff you wouldn't believe. Its full of lost and found items and props that were left through the years. Over 100,000 people come through the Diorama each year, so we've grown an interesting pile of stuff. Jacob found this doll of Bush that farts. He also found a red light up crystal ball. I took it because I thought I might do some future telling on the weekends.

Lawry invited the Diorama people to dinner tonight which was very nice. Nisa, CR, Phil, myself, Jacob and his boyfriend Jamie all came. It was a delicious meal with soup, salad, chicken, vegetables, potatoes, fruit and pecan pie. It is very interesting listening to everyone talk about politics and film and radio and music and just normal conversation, but its just a different culture so its…different. We were there for about four hours just talking. Apparently they have lots of talk radio and everyone has their station that they like. Its kind of like Sirius radio in the way that they are in London and there are so many stations, and such a range. Jamie was telling me about an arts talk station where they talk about the new plays and music and poetry and books, and they read excerpts and discuss and critique and its sounds like something I might like.

Jamie was also talking about his curious living arrangements. There is this company who goes around to various vacant buildings and rents the rooms out until the owners figure out what they are going to do with them. The deal is its very cheap - 50 pounds a week - but they could give you a two week notice at any time and say the building is being knocked down, or the owners want everyone out and you just get kicked to the curb. Because this same company use several different locations it is possible that they will move you at any time as well. Currently he is living in an old school room. Its got a sink and a big chalk board, but good windows. They also rent out places like offices, and pubs, and libraries and churches, old factories, anything really, because people are desperate for a place to live.

Feb 15

CR and I went to the movie night thing. We watched the ladies in lavender. It's a British film. It was decent, but so far I've watched about four or five British films and they all seem kind of boring to me. The ones I've seen are sort of that (American) 40s and 50s pacing with long scenes and long pauses. Maybe its coincidence.

Feb 16

Today I went to the national gallery again. I went into the last wing that I haven't been in before. It was all really good. It was a lot of stuff from old Christian churches. There were also a few by Jan Van Eyck, including The Arnolfini Portait and Portrait of a man in a turban. I watched a documentary about the Arnolfini Portrait in school. It was really interesting. It dissected all the aspects in the painting and showed how detailed everything was and also the symbolism in each part. The mirror and chandelier are really impressive if you look close enough. They say that those two things give heavy evidence of use of the camera obscura, because they are really to scale, and sortof impossible to paint freehand. I was in the museum for about four hours I think. I revisited the works by Monet, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Hogarth and a few more of my favorites. It's a good place, and I am glad to say that Ive been in all the rooms and looked at every painting.

I had a little time left so I went into the national portrait gallery attached to the national gallery. I wanted to check it out because I had just been in one little part. I went up to the top and went into about four rooms before they kicked me out because it was closing. But it was all good stuff that I saw.

Feb 17

I went back to the national portrait gallery again today. I went up to the top story and they have it set up really well because you go all the way to the top and go along the rooms in order and its chronologically organized. So you start with all this medieval stuff and then like around the 60s to 90s on the second floor and end with today on the ground level. It was really good I thought, it was a lot of famous people. They had tons of kings and queens. They also have one of Shakespeare that said was most likely the only portrait of Shakespeare done while he was alive.They also have that famous one of George Washington. Then they've got several by Andy Warhol, four of the queen, and one of Elizabeth Taylor and one of Andy Warhol. It's a good museum. They've got a special exhibition that is vogue portraits from 1913 to 2008. I really want to go to it, but they were sold out for the day. I will have to go early and get a ticket sometime on a week day.

When I went outside there was some riot thing going on, something about Albania. There were people honking and flags and yelling everywhere. It was weird. And I did not know what was going on at all. A guy at work said Albania just won its independence or something though, so that's probably it.

So far I'm having a lot of fun here. And I am glad I am not taking classes.