cosmic_llin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cosmic_llin) wrote2008-07-01 05:01 pm
cosmic_llin) wrote2008-07-01 05:01 pm
REALLY fun day
So, yesterday was... terrific.
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sashavangenius and I both had the day off. I had a job interview in the morning at a bagel place, but Sash was cross because they're fakels and not proper bagels made the proper Jewish way (apparently you boil them rather than baking them), and so she said she wouldn't hate me for going to the interview if afterwards we could go to Carmelli's in Golders Green and get the real thing.
So we went on a jolly bagel hunt, and I have to say, they were fantastic. We sat on a bench in the sunshine and ate them, and then we were going to get on the tube home, but we thought, well, here we are in London, City of Awesome, with nothing in particular to do on a lovely day - and it seemed such a shame to just go home.
So we went to the Science Museum! So. Much. Fun. We had a go on everything - I got to see what I'd look like as a man, and when I get older, which was pretty cool. There were buttons to press and cranks to turn, and I learned quite a lot about how a fridge works. We played quizzes and games, and tried simulations of what the world would be like in the future. We had a go on the big echo tube, and a roller-coaster simulator!
The best, best, best thing, though, was the Listening Post. I'm not sure I've ever been so moved by an art installation. We stayed there for like an hour. It's incredible the way it makes you feel so big, and so small at the same time. It's sort of voyeuristic and funny and sad and creepy and shocking and life-affirming all at once.
After that we went to Leicester Square to see the Mamma Mia premiere - it was much too crowded to see Julie Walters arrive, but we people-watched for a while and that was wicked fun.
Then, we went to see Avenue Q! We got last-minute tickets on a whim, and I'm so glad we did! It was great. It's a show about being fresh out of college and not really having a clue what happens next, so yes, a bit relevant, eep...
We went to the stage door afterward hoping to catch Rebecca Lock, but she ran so fast we couldn't! We met Daniel Boys, though, and he was lovely. We had a bit of a chat to him and then turned to go, only to see behind us this silent, staring crowd of autograph hunters. It was actually really creepy. We hadn't heard them arrive or anything. They were all just stood there, a few dozen of them, slack-jawed, holding out their pens and programmes in mute supplication...
Now, I love stage-dooring, because I always think it's exciting to meet the cast and hear their thoughts on the show and stuff, but this kind of thing weirds me out. Sash and I see so many people who just stand there and gaze as they get their stuff signed, and never even say that they enjoyed the show, as if the actor's name on a bit of paper is what they really came for, not the chance to talk to them and tell them what their performance meant to them.
I don't know, maybe they weren't all like that, we left pretty quick. And I know some people just get tongue-tied and starstruck, which makes it harder. It was scary, though, turning and seeing them all there, so still and silent! It was like something out of a zombie movie.
After that we went home to our cosy little flat! I can't believe we've been in London a month and this is the first time we've been to the theatre, while we've been actually living here. It felt very odd not to be going back to the youth hostel, but sort of nice, too. So we got home, watched some Seinfeld, and went to bed. And that was our lovely day.
Oh... London!
sashavangenius and I both had the day off. I had a job interview in the morning at a bagel place, but Sash was cross because they're fakels and not proper bagels made the proper Jewish way (apparently you boil them rather than baking them), and so she said she wouldn't hate me for going to the interview if afterwards we could go to Carmelli's in Golders Green and get the real thing.So we went on a jolly bagel hunt, and I have to say, they were fantastic. We sat on a bench in the sunshine and ate them, and then we were going to get on the tube home, but we thought, well, here we are in London, City of Awesome, with nothing in particular to do on a lovely day - and it seemed such a shame to just go home.
So we went to the Science Museum! So. Much. Fun. We had a go on everything - I got to see what I'd look like as a man, and when I get older, which was pretty cool. There were buttons to press and cranks to turn, and I learned quite a lot about how a fridge works. We played quizzes and games, and tried simulations of what the world would be like in the future. We had a go on the big echo tube, and a roller-coaster simulator!
The best, best, best thing, though, was the Listening Post. I'm not sure I've ever been so moved by an art installation. We stayed there for like an hour. It's incredible the way it makes you feel so big, and so small at the same time. It's sort of voyeuristic and funny and sad and creepy and shocking and life-affirming all at once.
After that we went to Leicester Square to see the Mamma Mia premiere - it was much too crowded to see Julie Walters arrive, but we people-watched for a while and that was wicked fun.
Then, we went to see Avenue Q! We got last-minute tickets on a whim, and I'm so glad we did! It was great. It's a show about being fresh out of college and not really having a clue what happens next, so yes, a bit relevant, eep...
We went to the stage door afterward hoping to catch Rebecca Lock, but she ran so fast we couldn't! We met Daniel Boys, though, and he was lovely. We had a bit of a chat to him and then turned to go, only to see behind us this silent, staring crowd of autograph hunters. It was actually really creepy. We hadn't heard them arrive or anything. They were all just stood there, a few dozen of them, slack-jawed, holding out their pens and programmes in mute supplication...
Now, I love stage-dooring, because I always think it's exciting to meet the cast and hear their thoughts on the show and stuff, but this kind of thing weirds me out. Sash and I see so many people who just stand there and gaze as they get their stuff signed, and never even say that they enjoyed the show, as if the actor's name on a bit of paper is what they really came for, not the chance to talk to them and tell them what their performance meant to them.
I don't know, maybe they weren't all like that, we left pretty quick. And I know some people just get tongue-tied and starstruck, which makes it harder. It was scary, though, turning and seeing them all there, so still and silent! It was like something out of a zombie movie.
After that we went home to our cosy little flat! I can't believe we've been in London a month and this is the first time we've been to the theatre, while we've been actually living here. It felt very odd not to be going back to the youth hostel, but sort of nice, too. So we got home, watched some Seinfeld, and went to bed. And that was our lovely day.
Oh... London!
no subject
The Listening Post does sound both fascinating and disturbing. It's sort of voyeuristic and funny and sad and creepy and shocking and life-affirming all at once. - I think I get that; that describes pretty much how I've always felt about the internet, and why I almost never wander beyond my defined personal bit of it - no fandoms, no public chatrooms, no webcomix (eww anyway, for the most part), no YouTube surfing, no ~retches~ celebrity gossip sites, Definitely no soi-disant "social networking sites" apart from LJ itself...because yes, the world truly is that huge and it's the sort of hugeness that the human brain can't really take in, except in the most fleeting and blinkered and superficial way.
The closest I've ever come to Listening Post-ness is when I've clicked (a total of three times in the past few years) on the internal LJ link that lets one browse all public LJ posts worldwide. I found a few fascinating posts, and some fabulous photos, but mostly what I found was the "sad and creepy and shocking" portion. There are so many pointless people out there, every one of them shouting SEE ME HEAR ME READ ME VALIDATE ME NOW NOW NOW PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!, and so many scarily skewed mindsets and opinions, and most of all so many rude, selfish, shallow little oxygen thieves...urgle. Glad you and I accidentally stumbled into the same elite corner of Cyberia all those years ago! :-)
Now, I love stage-dooring, because I always think it's exciting to meet the cast and hear their thoughts on the show and stuff, but this kind of thing weirds me out.
...and is one of the reasons I've stayed under the radar since quitting The Biz, sigh :-( I like it that you always seem to pay your respects to your heroes and icons by simply paying your respects - e.g. Dame Judi, Tennant, etc.