modernizing my life.

Today after church I had the opportunity to go to the Tate Modern Museum of Art! It was very.. modern. My thoughts about modern art are constantly changing. I like some, but others strike me as the silliest things that I have ever seen. Like Marley's book, Modern Art=I could do that + Yeah, But you Didn't. Then you see things like tons of used soap made into a string, hanging in a corner, and i think: I don't even want to do that as art.. even though i guess it looks kind of cool. I think my favorite was the two layers of bricks, 3 wide by many 15 long, chilling in a room. I mean, really? what is that? It looked like a deck waiting to be built, or a long step for no reason. Then there is a huge tower made out of old and new radios called "the Tower of Babel." That one is actually kind of cool, cause it plays with interesting concepts.


Basically, I went to the museum. I was glad I saw what I did, but I'm also glad it was free.

Walking back from the Tate, we went over the Millennium Bridge, which goes straight to Saint Pauls, and there is a huge projection with random words on the dome! I think my favorite words were: Toast, Butter, Sneezes, and Atheists. On the dome of a cathedral. It was quite entertaining!

Tonight I also went to Royal Albert Hall to hear a modernists War Requiem. It was really interesting, and slightly dissident. It had a large chorus, and a boy's choir, and lots of random instruments not usually found in an orchestra, like a large pipe organ. It was good overall, but modern yet again.


I think that is my new theme. Modernism. Am I supposed to be updating my life? Did I miss a memo? I mean, I do enjoy modernism, especially post modernism, but really?

To modernize, or not to modernize. That is the question.

At least for me right now it is.....

6 characters in search of an author.

I can't believe that I almost didn't go to see this show. It was SO AMAZING! It completely blew my mind, and was disturbing, and brilliant all at the same time!

Read on only if you really want to hear the explination of the plot. It does get kind of complicated... (which is why i LOVE it!)

The 6 Characters of the show come and interrupt a film crew that is making a documentary about assisted suicide for the mortally ill in Denmark. They want the producer of the film to tell their story for them so that they can be done, and stop reliving the story that they were written into. While they stage the Character's story, they address the issues of what it means to be a character and how actors have the ability to portray them and the liberties that they can take in their 'realistic' portrayal. After their story is finally portrayed, the Characters corner the Producer and question her validity as a person. Is she a person? Is she a character? How do you prove that you are real? All of these questions are addressed as the Producer tries to explain that of course she is a real person, and not a character. However, she then begins to realize that she doesn't have proof, and she is now ignored by the others from her working team. She even goes back stage as a camera follows her on her journey to realization that she is just a character acting on the west end. She even goes into the next theater and walks across the production that they are doing which happens to be LES MISERABLES! I was kind of excited! As she tries to end her life and get out of the character that she realizes that she has become, it becomes evident that the entire show up until that moment was also a film. The show starts over again, but the producer is forced to relive her past role against her will. During the "reliving of the film" the directors are commentating on how they focused on different aspects of the film of the play that we are watching, when those ruddy Characters burst into their world too! Then the stage is over run by producers who want to produce the show 6 Characters in Search of an Author, and the original Producer is still there trying to prove that she isn't just a character, but a real person. Then the Characters show up once more, and kill the producers so that they can stop the unrelenting cyclical life that they lead. Then it goes back in time to when the original Author of the play that I was watching was having a hard time finishing the play. He says how he just can't seem to end it, and as he walks off the stage, one of the 6 Characters walks over and writes down an ending in the book. Only then does the Producer realize that she now can end her story, and therefore end the play that we are watching.

AH! LOVE IT! So complicated, but SO INTERESTING!
Important questions asked:
How does one define him/herself?
How do you prove you exist?
What does it mean to exist?
What defines a character?
What is the relationship between a character and an author and the viewer and who decides what roles the other can or should play?
Is there fate, are we all destined to live a certain life written by a 'higher being'?

Those are just a couple of the fun questions to ponder after seeing this show.

It just makes me want to sit down and write at least a 20 page paper.

Yes. i AM that odd.. :)

GOTTA LOVE IT! Plus, The Emperor from Star Wars is in it!

HAIRSPRAY!

I really couldn't stop the beat tonight! I went to Hairspray, and I LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! They were funny, way talented, and they were GREAT dancers! I mean, it's one thing to see good dancing on screen, but to see it live just makes it THAT much more awesome!

Highlights:
Michael Ball (my hero in theater who was the original Marius in Les Miserables) as a woman
Welcome to the 60s
You're Timeless to Me: the two men couldn't stop laughing. I think they come up with new lines every night just to make the other one feel a little more awkward.
Penny: She was just always awkwardly bobbing around and had a great booming voice
Tracy: Had a beautiful voice. Literally. Something that is not usually associated with her part
All of them trying SO HARD to have an American accent, and most of them failing at it.. especially Link. he was so scottish. and he was trying to have a jersey accent, or at least make it sound like that..
Laughing at the jokes that only people from America think are funny.
The powerful singing, music... that would be such a fun show to be in!

Ok. So basically I loved EVERYTHING!



All i have to say is: NOW I'VE TASTED CHOCOLATE, and I'M NEVER GOING BACK!

stressed.

I'm trying to find a place to live (when I don't really know the area or where to live) for winter, a job to have, what major I should be in, PLUS all of my school papers and tests and going all the places I need to go for my classes in London.

So yeah. You could say that I'm a little stressed. And that, my friends, does not happen often. Almost never actually. bah!

mousetrap.

why it is the longest running show, i will never know.


maybe it's because they tell you not to tell anyone the ending after the show ends, and everyone keeps the secret?

yeah. cause i bet everyone in the world is a saint..

oh wait....


anyways, i also missed going to a premiere tonight "body of lies" with leonardo dicaprio. i saw them setting up in Leicester square, but i wasn't really in the mood to go back. then again, i am honestly not upset about it at all. i dunno, i mean, they are just people like you and me, but they are unlucky enough to have every mistake they have ever made broadcast to the world.

i applaud them for their talent (for those who have it) and for others, yay for you! you're beautiful and you have a good agent!


Views of Leicester Square, and me with Charley Chaplin! ("without the hat, i'm Hitler"-The Office)

we got the black lung, went around wales, and learned a little about the church.

On Monday and Tuesday we got to go to Wales! Our first stop was at The Big Pit. A coal mine that was shut down in 1980 but still looks as it did back in the day. At first I was a little nervous about going 350 feet down into the earth, especially with all of the horror stories and the problems that I know have happened down in mines (thank you hollywood), but I knew that if I didn't go that I would have been mad with myself. So, after we got our hardhats, and our belts with the heavy batteries and the air tanks in case we were to, you know, die.. we crammed into an elevator and dropped 7 feet per second down into the darkness.

I honestly can say that I loved the tour. Lots of respect for the workers in the towns and the people who went through the physical and mentally frightening work to help our society progress. The ceilings got so short in some places that you had double over so that you wouldn't bang your head. There would have been tons of rats, complete darkness (the whole, literally can't see your hand in front of your face thing most definitely applies here), and dust, and did I mention "The Widow Maker"- or the huge, man pushed, chainsaw that would cut into the walls of coal so that the guys with the pic-axes could come in...not a job that I envy in the least. The one thing new that I did learn was that most of these people had a lot of pride in what they did, and had a great friendships and loyalty with those they worked with.
Next, we were off to the historical national museum/land preservation in wales. It was awesome and had lots of old buildings that were from the old Celtic huts, a castle, houses dating from 1900s-the future, a pottery, shops, a tannery, bakery... basically every type of building that has been present ever in wales! it was a beautiful place with meadows and pastures with sheep and cows. Now that is the life! living as an animal in a wild life preserve. Free food and happiness for everyone!


Then we spent the night in Cardiff, and in the morning we were off on our church history trip! We started by going to Tintern Abbey, a place that inspired a lot of poetry and art (some by wordsworth). It was a great misty morning that settled on the fall trees and the remains of the abbey. Very picturesque.

Then, we picked up Peter Fagg (our church tour guide) in Ledbury, and went to the Benbow farm (where lots of saints were baptized and lots of stuff happened), we walked up a look out spot where lots of prophets have been, and to the first meeting house that the saints had. I think my favorite story is of all of the preachers of different churches that sent men to disrupt meetings, and these men who came listened and were converted, thus converting the preachers they reported to, and entire congregations. Also, the story of the United Brethren who were just waiting for a church to come by that they believed in. Yay Mormons!

Basically, we had a great trip. Learned a lot. Saw a lot. Loved it!

prime meridian halloween

We went to Greenwich yesterday! It was a great little area about 4 miles from Tower Hill. We took a boat from Westminster/Big Ben and, other than the fact that it was really cold, it was a beaufitul sunny crisp day. I got to be in two places at once... and we saw the maritime museum and an exhibit dedicated to Shackleton! (yeah. 7th grade. I knew ALL about him!).

For Halloween last night most of us dressed up in random things. We had the crayons, peter pan, decades, kiss, bond girls, and Michele and I dressed up as Harry Potter characters. We then went to Snog-a frozen yoghurt place- that was delicious! Plus, we got some free stickers and cards that said things like "I've just had my first snog." It was brilliant... All in all, a pretty good halloween. :)



Luna and Fred/George and the crayons!