London HOOOOOOO!!!!

Greetings from the Greatest City in the Universe, which is also known as London. I'm settled in my apartment, excuse me, flat. It's huge, with about ten bedrooms on it. I'm rooming with two other girls, one of whom I've had about 50 classes with at Temple, but never really talked with until now. Cool on how things work out.

This is my second day here in jolly old England. After I arrived at Heathrow (which was smooth: barely line at Customs and my suitcase was the first one on the conveyor belt), took the Tube to Gloucester Road. Everything here is brightly colored, mostly with primaries. And it was rainy and cloudy, perfect English weather. Then, I just wandered around on the street until I found a hostel.

In this part of London, streets aren't clearly labeled. And they give different streets the same name: Queen's Gate, Queen's Gate Palace, Queen's Gate Terrace, Queens Gate Mews, Queens Gate Gardens, all within blocks of each other. Other than that, getting around is easy.

Breakdown of the rest of DAY 1: Walked through Kensington Gardens, petted a large swan near the Round Pond (swan wasn't too happy), took short nap, called Liz (former friend's ex-girlfriend, if you were dying to know), and we ate dinner at a Mexican place in Piccadilly Circus (Times Square, except London-y), and hung out for awhile.

DAY 2: Not as exciting. Many walks around here trying to find out where I check in, where my apartment was. But everything's okay now.

More Publication Design: Hedwig and Typography

Here's another project.

The rules were that I had to create a celebrity feature layout using nothing but type.

I wanted to use a fictional character, so I chose Hedwig from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Structured Procrastination

If you haven't read this article, I advise you to take a look:

http://www.structuredprocrastination.com

Because I have a 16 page case brief to read and I have to write a summary on those 16 pages, and I have to study for test.

I haven't done anything mentioned above. But look at all the stuff I did do, that I have been putting off:
1. Updated this blog.
2. Finished my Linked In profile.
3. Ran 2 miles.
4. Emailed one of my favorite bloggers, Mick Wall. (Now, if only I could email Bruce Dickinson. Oh well, next paper.)

Damn, I feel good.

To England!!!

I'm thinking about studying British Mass Communication this summer. In London. I haven't applied to Temple's program yet, but man, am I getting some plans.

Steve Fossett, the balloon guy who may or may not (most likely not, but that would be fresh) related to me, swam across the English Channel at one point in his life. Which got me thinking at work today, "Hey, I'm going to London. I should swim across the English Channel, too!"

Okay, so I haven't swam competitively, or...er...at all, since I was 18. Actually, no, I have swam some laps here and there in between shifts. But since I started working at Electronic Ink, I don't lifeguard much anymore. So, in terms of thinking about swimming the English Channel, no, I haven't swam at all since I was 18.

But I'm not leaving for London until July. I could train.

I mean, how cold can 58 degrees Fahrenheit possibly be? And a body of water between England and France couldn't be that dirty. People do it all the time (like Most Likely Not Cousin Steve). And long could it possibly take to swim 37,000 meters?

Hmm...maybe I should just settle for jogging around Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. And fencing at the London Thames Fencing Club.

Even though I enjoy checking Facebook every half hour when I'm supposed to be writing, I don't think I'm quite there, yet.

Yet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7253493.stm

Publication Design!

It's a class that I'm enjoying a lot this semester. Heck, who knows? I might become a layout designer instead of journalist.

Anyway, check out my first project. I had to design a magazine department (or a feature that appears regularly in the magazine). The rules were I had include the following:
1. The name of the department, "Voices"
2. An image of a celebrity. The prof chose several, and I chose one.'
3. "In honor of Black History Month, celebrities pay tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr."
4. A small block of text with the celebrity saying something about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Atonement

Atonement won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, which leaves me wondering what I'm missing and/or not understanding.

I saw the movie this past weekend. Throughout the movie's two hour duration, I found myself shifting uncomfortably and trying to read my watch in a darkened theater. When I walked out of the theater, I just thought to myself, "What the hell just happened?"

For one thing, I didn't know whose story it was. The first half focused entirely on Briony (Saoirse Ronan) and her writing. As for the love story,I understood that Cecila (Keira Knightly) and Robbie (James McAvoy) shared affections toward one another, but I didn't think they loved each other. Sure he writes a letter and they make love in the library for three minutes, but so what? There wasn't enough time spent on their relationship, so everything that proceeded Briony's lie, I didn't care about.

Speaking of Briony's lie, what was her motivation for it? The movie didn't portray her as evil and jealous until after she told the lie (accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit). Did she love Robbie? Did she believe she was right? Did she just feel like it? I don't know.

And then, there was all these flashbacks and scenes that didn't make any sense (like the school girl massacre scene. Unless that was just saying how awful war is).

Yeah, the cinematography was gorgeous. But just looking good does not make a good movie.

Say what you want, but a good story does not leave the audience scratching their heads at the end. Anyone who reads this like the movie and get it? What am I missing?