From Oxford to New York

New Short Film

2006-12-29T14:00:00.000-05:00

Arkansas and Texas

2006-07-05T13:53:00.000-04:00

Last month, I stayed with my aunt Janice in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Jake's baseball game in Commerce, TX.

Aunt Janice and Delsie.

Cousin Will and Laurie's Boat.

Mood: Huge bottle of Tequila.

Currently listening to: The Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way

Crazy American Fact #18: Until recently, when it was officially declared as English, the United States did not have an official language. I always thought English and Spanish were both the official languages.

New Hampshire

2006-02-28T14:29:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Dan, Kevin and I went up to Durham, NH to the University of New Hampshire. We also visited Dan's house in the lovely town of Peterborough, NH and went to the coast at Portsmouth. Most of the places in New Hampshire are named after places in the UK. There's a Manchester, Portsmouth, Dover, Plymouth and Bristol.

The drive there took about 7 hours, going through Massachusetts, and the drive back was about 8, because we went through the mountains in Vermont. Overall, we travelled over 800 miles this weekend.

We did some filming with Dan's video camera and hopefully we'll make something out of that.

There was also over a foot of snow while we were in Durham.

Outside the hotel - Part 1.

Outside the hotel - Part 2.

Outside the Hotel - Part 3.

Our journey begins.

Dan in a diner where we stopped for lunch.

Gas station.

Dan's car. The state slogan for New Hampshire is 'Live Free or Die' which you can see on the license plate of his car.

Durham is lovely.

Dan in the snow.

Dan, Kevin and Liz (Julia's roommate).

Kevin points at something...

For some reason, this picture looks way better in black and white.

Sledding at UNH.

Hotel car park.

Back on the road.

Dan and I looking goofy in the car.

Dan's Peterborough home.

Kevin!

Mood: Kevin, asleep in the car.

Currently listening to: Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street

Crazy American Fact #17: February is 'Black History Month'.

Snow and Ice

2006-02-18T14:01:00.000-05:00

Snow outside the Campus Center.

It's 12 degrees fahrenheit outside, which is apparently -11 degrees Celcius. Brrrrrrr.

Dan and I have been having lunch with a girl called Sarah from our Academic Writing class and her group of friends. They're very cool people. One of the things I like most about this place is the way, even now, I still seem to meet new people all the time. The ballroom dancing has been a cool new experience. This week I went to a swing dance over at Cornell, the other University in the city of Ithaca, which was fun.

Next weekend Kevin, Dan and I are going to New Hampshire to visit Kevin's girlfriend at the University of New Hampshire. It's about a 6 and a half hour drive... but it's going to be fun. I can feel it. I'll take pictures.
Jarhead was also playing at the cinema here, so I went to see that again.

Zack and Kevin watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien. You can click on the photos now to see a full size version.

Zack pretends to push this van over a cliff...

Zack and I decided to climb the hill behind the towers again, and go into the woods... I know that's where they dwell, but I really wanted to go to the towns to get medicines...

East Tower!

Icicles on a BMW, with West Tower in the background. My room is in the very top left corner.

Close-up of the icicles!

West Tower!

I think this is Kevin...

Freshman parking lot. I think this is my favorite picture from all these.

Alexis' car before a night-time trip to Target.

Road 1.

Road 2.

Road 3.

Road 4.

I had the Memphis blues again...

Snow. The full-size version of this looks pretty good.

Outside Park.

Campus Center.

Mood: Eating melon in the Towers Dining Hall with Dan

Currently listening to: Pat Metheny - Speaking of Now

Crazy American Fact #16: Every state has a nickname. Some of them seem fairly sensible. Maine is 'The Pine Tree State', Arizona is 'The Grand Canyon State' and New York is 'The Empire State'. Others are a little bit weirder... Wisconsin is 'The Badger State', Missouri is 'The Show-Me State' and New Mexico is known as the 'Land of Enchantment'. Source.

Wendy's House

2006-02-05T17:31:00.000-05:00

This weekend, Zack, Charlie, Alexis, Julie and I went to stay with Wendy in Rochester. It was awesome. Thanks Wendy!

We visited the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, where George Eastman founded Kodak. Apparently the word Kodak was made up by George because it's easy to say in every language. Xerox was named in the same manner (and was also founded in Rochester).

Super-excited during my first trip to Wegman's. Wegman's is a chain of grocery stores that started in Rochester. They're mainly in the New York area, but there are a couple in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. I've been waiting to go because I wanted Wendy and Julie (the Rochesterians) to take us. They had Cadbury's Cream Eggs here which was a major treat.

Alexis and Wendy beside the Valentine's candy.

Charlie and Zack.

Charlie fell asleep during 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien'. No, I haven't forgiven him. You might notice which board game we were playing. Evidently, it's international.

Z to the A to the C to the K.

Wendy's cat, Fritty, looks out on the garden.

Zack, in a Peter-style moment of not wanting to have his picture taken.

'Frosted Mini-Wheats' are not gluten-free.

Alexis.

Charlie.

Zack checks out the ceiling in the Eastman house.

Julie was obsessed with these frogs...

Oxford Street, Rochester!

Artisan Works in Rochester - about the coolest place I've ever been. There are rooms at the back called the 'Frank Lloyd Wright Tribute Rooms' which I think my mother would love. It's rooms that he designed which they've built in this old train warehouse which is now a huge art gallery. It's absolutely fantastic.

Zack and Alexis outside Artisan Works.

Wendy and Julie take a nap while we wait in the cinema.

Playing 'The Game Of Life'.

Charles won.

Alexis.

Julie and Fritty.

Zack in Barnes and Noble.

It's just started snowing again. I love this place - and college in general. Kevin just stopped by to give me a free root beer he was given at the Emerson suites (it's the superbowl tonight so there's a big party). Bill and his friends are watching it next door - which is awesome. There's like an electricity around tonight, it's the most watched event all year. And it's snowing. And I have root beer. It doesn't get much better than this.

Wendy and Charlie are doing a radio show on 106 VIC starting Mondays at 2:00-4:00pm which is 7:00-9:00pm in the UK. Apparently the station is also available on Live365. I don't think they get to pick the music, but it should be fantastic anyway.

Mood: In Wendy's car with Alexis and Charlie

Currently listening to: Talking Heads - True Stories

Crazy American Fact #15: "It is often cited that Linda McCartney is related to the Eastman Kodak dynasty. This is a myth and McCartney had no connection whatsoever with the family. It is true however that her maiden name Eastman was an anglicised version of her family's original immigrant name, Epstein, coincidentally the same surname as the Beatles' manager Brian." - according to Wikipedia.

Traffic Lights

2006-02-02T00:30:00.000-05:00

Today is Thursday, February 2nd. It's been very sunny today, it rained yesterday and a few days before that it snowed. Ithaca is great. Last night, Kevin, Zack, Daniel and I drove downtown to The Lost Dog Cafe to see a jazz/funk band called Cerulean City. They were great, the Lost Dog has a really cool jazz-club atmosphere.

If you haven't seen already, Matilda recorded some songs with her friend Verity, and you can download them at Matilda's blog. They're fantastic.

This weekend, Wendy is taking Zack, Alexis, Charlie and I to stay at her house in Rochester. It should be awesome. Then, the weekend of the 24th of February, Kevin, Zack, Dan and I are driving 7 hours up to the University of New Hampshire to visit Kevin's girlfriend Julia and see a play she is part of.
Then there's spring break. WOOOOO! SPRING BREEAAK!!! Ahem. And then the summer! Hopefully I'll have my driving license by then, and a car... and all I'll need is the open road. Sweet.

This semester, the courses I'm taking are:

Introduction to Photography
Hollywood and American Film
Political Justice
Introduction to International Relations
Academic Writing II

I've also signed up to help out on two new TV shows - The Broadcast and Panorama (Wendy is the Assistant Producer for Panorama!) The Broadcast is a sort-of discussion show, where they discuss topics from the website (http://www.ubroadcast.org/)

I've switched to using Blogger's built-in way of adding photos, which means that they're smaller here, but you can click on them to see the full-size version.

Snow outside Park. The next few photos are lower quality because they're taken from video.

Dan and I in the snow.

Dan and his hot chocolate from the Campus Center.

Zack and I looking confused outside the mall. You can see my iced coffee in the corner...

Mood: In the TCAT (local bus)

Currently listening to: Pat Metheny - New Chautauqua

Crazy American Fact #14: The Founding Fathers allegedly argued for 6 years over what the national symbol for the United States should be. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey, because it was "domestic, useful, and tasty". The turkey is not the most fearsome of beasts, so the Eagle was suggested. To this, Ben Franklin said "the Eagle is a bird of bad moral character". In the end, the Bald Eagle was chosen as it is unique to North America.

Post From England

2006-01-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

OK, so it's been almost a month... Anyway, I've got a lot of photos I can put up now.

A quiet evening outside Oxford.

Well, over the last couple of weeks I've just been relaxing in my hometown, hanging out with the old gang. It's been really fun. I've started watching "Inspector Morse" recently, which is fantastic. It's weird that I've never really watched it before seeing as it's set in Oxford. There's going to be a spinoff series 'Lewis' and the pilot apparently airs on ITV1 on the 15th January.

I finished the Stockholm film that O-J and I made when we visited, and I'll put it online in a few days. The Minibus films are done too except, obviously, both of them don't have an ending... but I'll sort that out over the next couple of days.

My parents and I went down to London on Tuesday so that my father could have a few health tests that are required for Brits who are moving to the USA. I also had to get a slight problem with my laptop fixed. We were a little ahead of schedule, partly because our trip to Selfridges was rather unsuccessful - we didn't buy anything. So, I was trying to remember the name of the road where Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman based themselves before settling off on motorbikes from London to New York... the long way round. Bulter? Bodger? BULWER Street! Excellent! Checking the map, I saw that it was a short road near Shepherd's Bush, not too far out of our way - and my parents were kind enough to make a detour so we could go check it out. The building itself may seem somewhat uninteresting, but Long Way Round was a very inspirational programme, and it really meant a lot to me to see where they planned the whole thing. Now I can go from London to New York... err... the regular way... on a plane...

Anyway, here are some pictures from the bus ride from Ithaca to New York.

Back home, Peter and I met in town a couple of weeks ago...

Kieran's kitchen window... on a foggy morning.

James, Freddie and Kieran on New Year's Eve.

Ali and his cranberry juice.

Zeebee and her new digital camera (pictures she took with it).

Ali and Cat.

O-J and his little sister Nadine at their house.

Kidlington houses.

Summertown. Not very summery...

On the way to London.

The Capital.

One day...

The Long Way Round building!

A screenshot from 'Long Way Round', showing the office in Bulwer Street.

A stamp beside the door. The building is now owned by BAC International Studies... or something like that. Anyway, the receptionist seemed to have no idea that it had been the headquarters of Ewan and Charley's world trip.

Mood: Standing next to a house that Hector Berlioz once lived in.

Currently listening to: The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?

Crazy American Fact #13: The land area of England is apparently 93,000 sq. miles, making it about the size of the State of Michigan (96,810 sq. miles).

Short Film/New Songs

2005-12-13T15:04:00.000-05:00

Hey.

I've updated the Multimedia page with my short film and some new songs. Check em' out! Now I have a US Politics paper and a project for my Identity in Digital Environments class to do...

I hope you're all having a good last week/winter break/trip to Lapland! See you next week!

Winter

2005-12-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

Hey.

No way?! That's where they dwell?

It snowed! The temperature outside is currently -4 degrees celsius, but it's been as low as -7 the last few days. The snow is brilliant. There's like 2-3". And the fountains are frozen. Tonight Kevin and I went for a walk and actually realized the ice was think enough for us to stand on.

I've got finals this week, but none of them should be too stressful. I finished my Cinema Production 1 film. I'll try and put it online soon, I like it. Wendy watched it and said that it was really depressing - which is great - that's exactly what I wanted. It's just a montage thing about how people don't respect what they have... I guess. I'm really excited that I made a film that can actually change someone's mood and make them look at things a little differently. It's also really pretentious - but come on, it's a student film, of course it is. They all are.

We also did a Secret Santa thing and had a party in Wendy and Alexis' room on Friday where we all exchanged gifts. The condition was that (as we're all college students) the gifts had to be purchased at the Dollar Store (where everything is actually $1.08 - sales tax is not included in the US). I got Julie's present - which was this patriotic night light with the American flag on it. You can be a patriot for only $1.08! I can't believe how cynical I am now... but anyway, it's a brilliant night light. Julie was, by chance, my secret santa, and she got me a lovely snake shaped pen and also made a CD for me, which is wonderful. There's a load of songs I've never heard of before, and some of them are really well chosen. Julie is amazing!

Charles decided to disobey the Secret Santa thing and actually got everyone really cool presents that cost more than a dollar... he gave me the Motorcycle Diaries on DVD, which is about the coolest present he could have bought. Zack and I just finished watching 'Long Way Round' again and now have a crazy idea about doing some kind of big motorcycle trip across the USA. We just have to get motorbikes, learn how to ride them, and get our licenses. And learning how to ride a motorbike is gonna be a little difficult in 2-3" of snow... but we'll find a way, it might just take us a couple of years.

Betty and Alexis!

Kevin and Charlie!

Alexis, Kevin, Brittany and Betty by an ice sculpture downtown.

Alexis and Kevin molest a mannequin.

Downtown.

Ithaca van in the snow.

Trees.

Zack in the snow.

Blue light.

Shadows.

Zack looking creepy in the forest.

What did you say? Heed the warning bell, for they are coming?! Ok... I will...

Sunset.

Wendy took this photograph at the party we had the other day.

Me - sitting on a pile of logs... wasting time...

On Friday I'm flying back to the UK!!! I'm so excited! I can't wait to see you guys again! I can play you John Mayer's new album!

Mood: At my desk

Currently listening to: John Mayer Trio - Try!

Crazy American fact #12: Check out this cool map of the population density in the USA. And here's the Long Way Round website. Yeah, those are clearly two crazy facts about America...

Thanksgiving

2005-11-29T00:33:00.000-05:00

I just got back from Thanksgiving break. It was so fun, but I'm totally worn out now... I should really sleep. But I'll do this post first.

Coming into New York City to get the plane back to the UK.

First of all, the third floor ladies made an incredible gluten-free 'cake' for me made entirely out of Reese's related chocolate (and ginger snaps). It was fantastic.
On Saturday (the 19th of November! Woo! 19! Wow, it's so different from 18...) I took some of the cake with me back to England, but ate most of it on the plane... so good. The flight was actually a little rough, as the woman next to me was going through some hard times. I had some great music to listen to though... :-)

Here's the cake! Thanks to Wendy for the photo.

I went back to Oxford for a few days, and saw my family, Polly and O-J. We also went back to the school for a while with "James" Patrick McNally, and were invited into the Masters' Common Room! It was... pretty cool. Madame Staton is doing well. It was nice to see them again, but it seemed very different. It was like we were on the other side now, where we could no longer be controlled or disciplined by the teachers. We still have a lot of respect for them, and I consider several of them friends. Well, a few. The new library is pretty amazing too, it's way better than I expected.

Polly!

The road to my house.

James McNally, O-J and me by the weird isolated patch of grass where the old library was.

The new library!

On Tuesday I took the train over to Cambridge and met Peter at the station. Peter! Woo! Man, I missed you! Peter is lucky enough to have a grand piano in his room... Later, James and I saw the new Harry Potter. "Bloody hell, Harry!" is all I have to say. And that it was great.

James and Peter by the beautiful Cambridgian McDonalds.

James by the fields at King's college... I think.

Me, Guy and James by some telephone boxes.

Ali! With long hair!

Sam!

An English country garden.

I met Freddie on Wednesday for lunch. That's Durham Cathedral in the background.

That's not Durham Cathedral... just a nice church we saw.

Another landscape.

Edinburgh! Kieran, Zeebee and Cathy met me at the station and we went to 'Chocolate Soup', where I proceeded to have a cup of coffee. I stayed with Kieran on Wednesday night at his apartment near Cowgate. Stewart, Jenn and Ainsley were cool, tell them I said hi. I realized how much I missed my best buddy Kieran. Then on Thursday night I stayed at Zeebee's place, which was much more like the accommodation at Ithaca College. I had such a good time Zeebee, it was really fantastic to see you.

Taking trains around the country seemed really simple after making the flight from JFK to Heathrow. I can't wait to come back to Oxford at Christmastime, but I'm going to miss the Ithaca gang.

Kieran! Also with long hair!

Zeebee and me.

Kieran and Zeebee by the new offices of the Scottish MPs, is that right?

Prince's Street and Waverly Station.

Matthew, Andrew (a couple of Zeebee's friends), Cat and me.

Fireworks. We went down to Prince's St. for the turning on of the Christmas lights.

Kieran and Cat.

Me, Kieran, and Cathy.

Zeebee checks out the beautiful Christmas section of Jenner's.

I'm filming a short film this week, which is meant to be based on 'personal experience'. It's only going to be 3 or 4 minutes long, but it's going to be about America, and little things I've noticed which are special about the USA. Alexis and I are going to drive around tomorrow filming. Thanks Alexis, it should be fun.

There's only two more weeks of classes here before finals, but do Oxford and Cambridge break up next week?

Mood: 'Don't Walk' sign in NYC!

Currently listening to: A compilation CD that some crazy kid gave me for my birthday.

Crazy American fact #11: Come on, it's 2am. I can't think of a "crazy fact" for you this week, sorry. I'll make sure I have two for next time.

Family and Friends

2005-11-15T00:07:00.000-05:00

Autumn!

Last week, my parents and my sister came up to Ithaca to visit. It was great. Matilda had her audition for the Musical Theatre Program, and hopefully it went well. We all went out to eat several times as well as to the mall and downtown. Matilda stayed in my dorm for a few days, while my parents were at the Holiday Inn downtown. She had a good time, I hope, and taught the Ithaca gang some more obscure British slang...

I also saw the Trombone Troupe the week before last. It's an ensemble at Ithaca College made up entirely of trombones. Awesome. One of the professors is actually good friends with my trombone teacher from the RCM.

The Trombone Troupe plays in Ford Hall.

Old van in the trees.

Powerlines.

Alexis and Charlie with a statue downtown.

Alexis' blingin' car.

Coca-Cola in the Autumn.

Me dad with me sis.

Ma and Pa park the rental car.

Walking between the leaves.

Matilda.

America the beautiful.

Matilda chills after her audition.

Matilda, Charlie and I also went to the Cortaca Jug football (American) game on Saturday. The game is always against Cortland (Cortland vs. Ithaca = Cortaca, get it? It took me ages to realise that). It's the big rivalry that everyone supports and uses as an excuse to get plastered.

Cheerleaders at the Cortaca Jug.

The crowd. Going wild.

Leaves on the track.

Charles and Matilda at the Cortaca Jug. I altered the colors in this photo. I like it.

Matilda took this cool photograph. It's one of my favourites.

The north country...

Zack and I. We have a great time.

Kevin is a really funny guy.

Matilda in front of the lake. Betty took this photo.

The hustle and bustle of small town life.

Wendy! ...oh, and Charlie too.

Alexis!

Zack!

Alexis and Charlie. Charlie looks miserable... but it's a cool photo nonetheless. I like the way the colours worked out. Alexis also dyed her hair red this weekend.

Matilda deduced that Zack looks like a bush baby... and made this poster for him.

Finishing an evening with 'Arrested Development'.

Next week I'm coming back to England! I fly out on Friday evening and arrive at Heathrow at 7:40am on Saturday the 19th (my birthday) . I'll confirm this later, but I think I'll be in Oxford for the first couple of days, then come up to Cambridge on Tuesday. I think I'll go up to Edinburgh for Wednesday and Thursday... and back to Oxford on Friday to get ready for the flight back. I can't wait to see you guys again.

Wendy, me, Alexis and Betty.

Mood: In the back of Alexis' car!

Currently listening to: Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA

Crazy American fact #10: The album 'Born in the USA' is the 2nd biggest selling album of all time, surpassed only by Meatloaf's 'Bat out of Hell'. Max Weinberg (Conan O'Brien's musical director) plays drums on both these albums.

Halloween

2005-11-01T01:20:00.000-05:00

Hey.

View from Brian's window. He lives on the tenth floor of the East Tower.

On Friday, I saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show with Zack as Brad! It was fantastic. I've never really been a huge fan of Rocky Horror... until now! They did a great job, and Zack was fantastic.

Halloween! On Saturday there was a big Halloween party-thing in the Campus Centre with pumpkin carving, wax hand-making, a haunted house and candy. I had a pretty good time.

We also recorded the third episode of "Sunrise Boulevard" last week. I'm just a production assistant, but the guy who hosts the show, and writes it, gave me a part as a British reporter. It was so much fun. I worked on the audio for the first half of the show, then did the reporter bit, and after that Mike put me on camera 2. There's only going to be one more episode because the two guys in charge are both seniors (fourth-years) and they're going to be really busy next semester. Zack and I are working on proposing our own show though... it could be cool.

Halloween decorations in the Terrace Dining Hall. And Kevin's hand. Kevin is a great guy. He's close friends with Alexis, and we're going to be partners in the computing class for a while.

Fall trees. Rock, rock on.

Zack as Brad in Rocky Horror. He was the man - as usual.

Jon as Dr Scott and Zack (in my dressing gown he borrowed).

Blue Skies.

Charlie and I took a walk around some of the residential areas near the college.

Ithaca is so freakin' beautiful in the fall.

Surburban Ithaca.

Yeah, that's right - that is where they dwell.

Charlie went as... well, something to do with the Soviet Union. But he wears that hat all year round.

Wendy gets angry with Emily.

Brian works on his pumpkin.

Brian.

Leaves for sorrow, leaves for joy...

Sign. Woo.

Brian, Betsy, Priyam, Whitney and I went up to Syracuse on Sunday evening for a marching band competition that Brian's high school was playing in. His girlfriend is a couple of years younger and she was playing. We also got to meet a bunch of his old friends. It was a good time, and Brian's high school came first in their section!

One of the bands played an arrangement of a Pat Metheny song, which I was pretty thrilled about. America continues to impress me.

The open road.

One of the bands warming up at the Syracuse Carrier Dome, where the contest took place. Syracuse is famous in the sports world for its Lacrosse team, which I think is no.1 in the US at the moment. Their basketball team is also pretty good.

Medina (Brian's old high school) gets ready to play.

Marching bands are so much cooler than I expected. They don't just march, they do crazy formations and have very precise patterns. It's awesome, and very entertaining. The movie 'Drumline' is also very popular here. I remember seeing it on Sky movies one time and the info given for it was "Does for marching band music what 8 Mile did for rap".

They only used the one side of the stadium because the marching bands face the audience. It's also a bloody huge stadium.

BK (Brian Kaiser) gets into his element.

Betsy, me, Priyam and Whitney. Medina rocks!

Syracuse University Band creates the shape of New York State while playing 'New York, New York'. I <3 NY!

The awards are given out.

Brian, Alexis, Emily, Wendy and myself by some halloween decorations in the campus centre. Just a nice photo to end with.

Mood: The little American flag I have in my room!

Currently listening to: John Mayer - Room for Squares... still.

Crazy American fact #9: So... The Prez's best mate Harriet Miers was like totally nominated for the Supreme Court but the democrats were like "Whatever!" and then even Bush's ultra-conservative base was like "Shut up! She ain't got no experience in the judicial branch!" so he was like "Dude?!" and they were like "Whoa!". Then Harriet was, y'know, like "I ain't having none of this shit biatches!" and she withdrew her nomination. Then Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby was like indicted for totally leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent just cause her boyfriend was like "There ain't no WMDs in Africa!" and so the the Prez was like "You guys suck. Bigtime. I'm nominating Samuel A. Alito Jr. for the Supreme Court! Have some of that!"

Yesterday and Today.

2005-10-24T01:01:00.000-04:00

I haven't got any photos this week, sorry guys.

Zack and I went for a late night walk and we realised that it was very lightly snowing! October 22nd! After that we saw six deer running around on one of the training fields. The only light was on the other side of them, so they were lit from behind, and had this beautiful kind of halo effect. It was a really fantastic moment.

I had a pretty cool week. We went to a series of short plays written by students and to a concert given by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble. I also went to the mall with Alexis, Wendy, Zack and Brian... which is always really fun.

Wendy asked me to do fill out this list, with facts about myself. Enjoy!

10 YEARS AGO:
1. I was 8 and was being taught at Our Lady’s Primary School in Oxford.
2. My best friend was Gregory Boyle.
3. We lived in Crescent Road, Cowley.
4. I liked this girl Katie Simms. She rocked, but was very quiet. We sat opposite each other.
5. I remember I got thrown out of class with Mrs White once because I drew on Torban’s face. He was a good friend too. I also believe he drew on my face, and it was in the context of some sort of battle we were having in the class… Anyway, when I was outside I was crying, and I remember these three girls who were a few years older came over to comfort me… Good times.

5 YEARS AGO:
1. I was 13 and was in the L4th form at MCS.
2. My best friend was Andrew Rosell, who introduced me to my first girlfriend, Nicole. Andrew and I drifted apart, and I eventually lost touch with him completely. He moved house I think, and left school. His old email doesn’t seem to work either.
3. I took German with Mr Laird (my favourite teacher) for the first time.
4. The 3rd form (aged 12) had really sucked for me but things improved dramatically in the L4th.
5. I met Kieran Taylor the next year. It looked like the start of a beautiful friendship.

1 YEAR AGO:
1. I was in the Upper 6th at MCS. I had met the OHS girls (Polly, Zeebee, Cat, Olivia, PJ, Sophie, Lizzie, Jess, Jo and Maddie) the previous winter and they totally changed my life. I can’t even imagine what those two years would have been like if I hadn’t met you guys.
2. Every so often I would get out Sumbawa from the MCS music school’s CD collection, and put it on. It was Peter, Rupert and my GCSE song for the music class. Peter then, very thoughtfully, bought the album for me for my birthday.
3. I was playing every Saturday at the Royal College of Music, Junior Department. Simon Lodge became a good friend.
4. Jess’ first party was one of the greatest evenings of my life. It was surpassed by the going-away surprise party you guys arranged for me. That was awesome.
5. My favourite class was German, even though I always seemed to do badly…

YESTERDAY:
1. I went down to Park and edited a montage film thing. It was fun.
2. I met Wendy after she finished work and we talked in her room for an hour or so.
3. Zack and I were going to watch the 10th Anniversary special DVD of ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ but it was really late, and there were already people in the West Tower TV lounge.
4. I watched three episodes of ‘Arrested Development’. It’s brilliant.
5. I read about the Presidency in ‘The Challenge of Democracy’.

5 SNACKS I ENJOY:
1. Reese’s White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
2. Swedish Fish
3. Skittles
4. Wendy’s meringue things.
5. Charles’ own recipe “Rice Krispie mix-up!” (Rice Krispies and marshmallows – microwaved together)

5 SONGS I KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO:
1. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright – Bob Dylan
2. Help! – The Beatles
3. Line ‘em Up – James Taylor
4. No Such Thing – John Mayer
5. Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) – Sophie Ellis-Bextor

WHAT I WOULD DO WITH 100 MILLION DOLLARS:
1. Pay off my lovely new student loans.
2. Buy a car, just a small one, nothing too flashy.
3. Give a few $100,000 to my parents… I feel I owe them for the whole ‘parenting’ thing.
4. Probably just leave it in a bank for a while… I’m content where I am right now.
5. Eventually fund an independent film with the help of Charlie, Dan and Alexis (the other C&P majors I’m friends with).

5 PLACES I WOULD RUN AWAY TO:
1. Oxford
2. Edinburgh
3. Germany
4. Colorado/ the American desert.
5. Lancashire, where Granny lives.

5 THINGS I WOULD NEVER WEAR (unless in jest):
1. Fishnets (same answer as Wendy, but it still seems appropriate).
2. The T-Shirt with Che on it. I just don’t know enough about him to decide whether or not to support his ideals.
3. Things that scream “Leather-Daddy”.
4. A Bush/Cheney ’04 shirt.
5. Real fur

5 FAVORITE TV SHOWS:
1. Late Night with Conan O’Brien!
2. Long Way Round
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation
4. Stargate: SG1
5. Arrested Development

5 BAD HABITS:
1. Wasting time when I should be working.
2. Saying awkward things which are totally inappropriate. They sort of destroy ‘the mood’.
3. Trying to debate petty things, like the use of language.
4. Swearing… occasionally.
5. Not wearing my glasses enough.

5 BIGGEST JOYS:
1. My family.
2. My friends (new and old).
3. The dogs (past and present).
4. Ithaca College!
5. Your mom! (That one’s for Wendy/Zack/Alexis/Charlie/Brian/Whoever).

5 FAVORITE TOYS
1. My Powerbook! It rocks!
2. The Bolex camera.
3. My pocket watch.
4. PSP
5. My mobile phone (or cellphone as they say over here).

5 FICTIONAL CHARACTERS I WOULD DATE:
1. Sophie Ellis-Bextor. She’s not fictional, but whatever.
2. Page Connors (Jennifer Love-Hewitt) in ‘Heartbreakers’.
3. Ivy Walker in ‘The Village’.
4. Jane Burnham (Thora Birch) in ‘American Beauty’.
5. Charlotte (Scarlett Johnassen) in ‘Lost in Translation’.

I TAG*:
1. Zeebee
2. O-J
3. Ali
4. Cat
5. Matilda

*(British translation - “I request the pleasure of your participation in this activity:”)

Mood: Trees

Currently listening to: John Mayer - Room for Squares

Crazy American fact #8: "United States of America" is an anagram for "Attaineth its cause, freedom".

Syracuse and Back

2005-10-18T21:18:00.000-04:00

The hills around Syracuse.

Zack kindly let me stay with his family in Syracuse (map) during Fall break (like half term, just a week that we get off) and we had a great time. I got to meet some of his friends from high school, and they were all nice people. It's interesting how people create friendships... Zack's high school friends are the sort of people I'm sure I would have been friends with if I'd gone to Corcoran High School. Zack's mother's car had a bumper sticker that said "You just can't hide that Cougar pride!" The Cougars are the football (American) team from Corcoran.

We stayed at LeMoyne College for one night with a friend of Zack's called Jordan. That was awesome, and LeMoyne seemed like a cool place. We also saw some of Syracuse University, so I now have three other American colleges to compare Ithaca with.

The Cinema and Photography major only requires 60 credit hours out of the 120 needed to graduate. This means I have 60 credit hours for elective courses... so... I want to try and switch to a double-major(!) in both C&P and Politics! I'm not sure I can timetable it though... we'll see.

Zack's house.

The streets around Syracuse University.

Downtown 'Cuse.

Danielle and Zack by a fountain.

Danielle and Zack in the Carousel Center Mall. When the expansion project has finished, it will be the largest mall in America, beating Minnesota's Mall of America by over 500,000 square feet.

Zack on the actual Carousel at the mall.

Danielle. On the carousel.

Zack pretends this lovely car belongs to him...

Zack is alarmed to see that I changed his desktop background to a picture of the controversial Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers.

Zack's road.

More of Syracuse.

Winter is approaching.

Zack and I take a walk near his home.

Leaves.

Just a nice house.

The campus center back at Ithaca College.

On Monday, after we got back to Ithaca and classes resumed, the Cinema Production class had a session where we used our first colour film instead of one of the lectures. We just had to fulfil a list of shot requirements in order to try the film stock out. So... I took some pictures.

Some of the guys. You can see East Tower in the background.

Brrrrr...

Charles and Liz.

Cool bird.

Beautiful upstate NY.

Mood: A can of A&W Root Beer!

Currently listening to: The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity?

Crazy American fact #7: The most popular TV show in America right now is CSI.

Ithaca is Gorges

2005-10-10T23:45:00.000-04:00

Hey.

Ithaca College from one of the football (American football) fields.

Last weekend, my cousin Cybil came to visit. We became relatives when my uncle Alex got married last year. His wife is Cybil's aunt. She's going to graduate from high school at the end of this year so has been looking around universities in New York State. We had a great weekend, as it was the annual Ithaca Applefest this weekend! There are hundreds of stalls in the Commons (pedestrianized part of downtown) where apple-related merchandise is available. Unfortunately, it totally poured with rain all weekend, so people still went - they just got soaked. I also forgot to take my camera on both Friday and Saturday... so here are a bunch of pictures from the week with absolutely no apples involved.

Americans are very proud to be American. I think that's great, I'm very proud to be here. Anyway, this means that everything in America has a slogan. Towns, cities, and states all have little taglines that they put on license plates. 'Ithaca is Gorges' is the slogan for Ithaca. (It's a play on words... gorgeous...) At the T-Shirt shop there are loads of spoofs like 'Ithaca is gangsta' and 'Ithaca is not George's'. New York State's slogan is 'The Empire State', but my personal favourite is New Hampshire's 'Live Free or Die'.

I had a midterm exam today, and I have two more tomorrow. Work is going well. From Wednesday of this week is Fall Break (like Spring Break - woooo!) when most people go home... That's not an economically sensible option for me, so Zack has kindly invited me to stay with him up in Syracuse. I can't wait - it should be really fantastic.

A cool diner.

Another cool diner.

"What? Both your wate and your fate? From one marvellous machine?!" At the Ithaca bus station.

Street with trees.

The Commons. They're awesome. I freakin' love Ithaca.

This is the road that connects downtown to IC. The description sounds dull - but look how beautiful it is.

Halloween's a-comin'! Wendy checks out the blow-up pumpkins in the Terrace Dining Hall.

Wendy!

Alexis!

The mist outside Target (a chain like Wal*Mart).

Alexis tries on hats in Target!

So the weather has gone from "amazingly beautiful" to "bloody freezing" over the course of a few days. It's really foggy, but the fall leaf colours are amazing. Hopefully when my parents visit in November the trees will still look as brightly coloured as they are now. My dad has to see them.

Left to right: Charlie, Zack, Cybil, Alexis and Wendy. Don't be fooled, Zack was holding that piece of food there for about half an hour while I was getting ready to take the picture.

As the great Hilary Duff once said: "Let the rain fall down."

Just a few pretty trees.

Autumn in New York.

Finally! English weather!

Zack shows Cybil the Horner Theatre.

Inside the chapel. Funky.

I got my 'dream' film back - it came out quite nicely. There's one shot in the middle which is way overexposed, but the rest of it came out just right and when we watched it in class, people thought it was funny. I was worried that no one would get it, but everybody did. The Cinema Production class has finally overtaken US Politics as my favourite, partially because the 15 or so of us are getting to know each other really well.

Zack, Cybil and myself outside by the pond. In the rain.

We went to see 'Burn This', a play put on by the Theatre department. I could only sneak in one photo before the nice lady told me to put it away. I also went to a choral concert on Sunday (The Fall Choral Collage) - which reaffirmed my belief in classical music. It was very moving. Especially "Wie lieblich sind deinen Wohnungen" (How Lovely are Thy Dwellings) by Brahms, which I'm pretty sure I've taken part in a performance of before...

The pond!

Brian, me, Priyam and the always awesome Zack. Brian is a little too close for comfort in this picture...

Cybil and I outside the Park school.

Mood: I love Ithaca!

Currently listening to: John Mayer - Heavier Things (Matilda better be impressed)

Crazy American fact #6: The Beatles were not American... so America sucks. But Bob Dylan was... so America rules. Discuss.

Walking Down Fifth Avenue

2005-10-05T01:25:00.000-04:00

Last Weekend, Zack and I went to New York City. We took a five hour bus ride on Friday evening and stayed with Zack's friend Justin at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhatten. On Sunday evening we returned to Ithaca.

Zack and I in Central Park.

Zack wants to do Theatre Management so we got rush tickets (sold on the same day as the performance, so it's cheaper) to see both 'Chicago' and 'In My Life', a new show unrelated to the Beatles song. A splendid time was guaranteed for all.
On Saturday we saw my cousin Cybil, who is coming up to Ithaca to visit next weekend, and my uncle Alex and aunt Shaila. It was an awesome weekend.

The subway.

Zack, James (a friend of Justin who also attends SVA) and Justin.

The view from Justin's window, looking out on 23rd St.

The restaurant from 'Seinfeld'.

Zack and I in Starbucks.

I believe God said this on the lesser known 15th day...

Just chillin' on the bench.

Someone was filming something in a small park we went past.

Strawberry Fields, the memorial for John Lennon in Central Park.

Obscure and expensive Beatles collectables in a music shop display case.

Times Square... from the McDonalds where we had lunch on Saturday.

Cool sign.

I also managed to get loads of Conan O'Brien merchandise including a mousemat, magnets for my bedroom door, two T-shirts, and even a Conan thermos (perfect for US Politics at 10).

It was great to get back to Ithaca though. The School of Visual Arts is nice, but it really wasn't my style. Being there, and seeing how things work for people at another university made me realize how perfect Ithaca is for me. I missed the people too, Wendy, Julie, Brian, Daniel, Betsy, and even Charles.

Mood: On Broadway

Currently listening to: Pat Metheny Group - Travels

Crazy American fact #5: New York is the largest city in the USA, with a population of 8,008,278. The next largest is Los Angeles, with only 3,694,820. Yeah, I know that's still huge, but it's a lot less than New York.

From Every Mountainside

2005-09-24T00:41:00.000-04:00

East Tower. Not as cool as West Tower.

So... Zack and I went to the Mall on Wednesday. I got some pretty good speakers for a mere $10.48 (= 5 pounds and 90p). That's alarmingly cheap. I'm also alarmed that this keyboard doesn't have a pound sign... Anyway, we had a good time. I also managed to see another chipmunk close to the mall.

The chipmunk!

Big flag in the mall.

The mall.

Me by the 'Target' sign. Photography by Zack.

The land of milk and honey. And mega-packs of Reese's Pieces.

Zack selects a drink.

The TCAT (Tompkins County Area Transit)

Next weekend Zack and I are going to New York City. We're going to stay with a friend of his from school, Justin, who's now at the School of Visual Arts in Manhatten. Hopefully we'll see a broadway show on Saturday night. New York City is so full of activity that everywhere you go there'll be something interesting and exciting. It should be an awesome weekend. I'll take my camera.

I watched a film about a local chain of supermarkets that use battery farms to supply their eggs. My US Politics teacher recommended it, and it's free to watch online. It was rather upsetting. Talking about it with another guy in the politics class afterwards made me realise that very few Americans are aware of where their food comes from. The 'free-range' movement that spread through the UK a while ago has yet to hit the USA.
The next day, a girl came into our politics class (I really love it) asking people to sign a petition to get fair-trade coffee in all the dining halls. I was very surprised at how few of the classmates even knew what fair-trade coffee was. People here aren't stupid, it's just that this kind of issue is rarely addressed here, much more rarely than back home. The UK seems to be one step ahead in terms of how society should work. Don't get me wrong, I love it here. I'm having the time of life, and the good things about America definitely outweigh the bad.

Later this semester, Ithaca College is putting on the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Zack auditioned, and was cast as Brad, so tonight Zack, Betsy, John and I watched it with all the members of the new cast. Then we went down to the Campus Center for an event entitled 'Urban Cowboy'. It was a special evening organised by the college with line dancing, Texas Hold 'em, free root beer, and one of those mechanical bulls. We only stayed for a while, but it was cool.

Line dancing.

Eric looking cool. We met in my cinema production class. He's in the Air Force in order to pay for college, and could be sent to Iraq at any time. Far more people have relatives in Iraq than I imagined as an outsider. America, from the inside, is very much a country at war.

Casey, on the mechanical bull.

Then we walked down to a crazy and incredibly sketchy (an American slang word: the Urban Dictionary's definition of sketchy) party in a house owned by some of the seniors involved in Rocky Horror. It was basically just them sitting around a campfire getting wasted/stoned. They were nice people, but it was weird that Betsy, Zack, John and I were the only freshmen. We stayed there for an hour or so before coming back.

The fire at the party. Well, it was more of a gathering than an actual party.

Otherwise, everything is going well. I feel completely settled in here now. Wendy, Brian, and Julie all went back to their homes this weekend. I have to film my 'dream' film... Wish me luck. It should be really fun. Anyway, here are some other photos from during the week.

Wendy at the computer.

Zack and Julie! Note Wendy's poster in the background...

Julie and Zack!

Just a guy I thought looked cool in the Terrace Dining Hall.

The simple and easy addition of a flag can really brighten up anyone's vehicle.

A cool drumming workshop was rehearsing outside the music building.

Sunset over the fountains.

The Bolex camera I'm using this weekend.

John, Betsy and Zack sit beside a sign.

The view out of my window is becoming more autumnal.

Here's the website Cagdas and I made for IT... it's pretty damn amazing. (We got full marks by the way).
Cagdas and Hal's Website! Yeah!

Mood: At the American flag store, buying more flags.

Currently listening to: Pat Metheny Group - The Way Up

Crazy American fact #4: There are over 2,700 Starbucks in America, with an average of 3 more opening every day.

Midnight in NYS

2005-09-12T02:45:00.000-04:00

Hey.

I've had an a nice week. I'm still meeting new people, but I've had to start working pretty hard. I watched 'A Hard Day's Night' tonight with Zack, Wendy and Julie. It's a really fun movie, and reminded me of all the great things in England. By the way, Wendy was pretty impressed with my Ringo impression, for those of you who remember it.
Seeing as Darkwing asked - Brian and all the other people I mention are, unless otherwise specified, other students at Ithaca College, Home of the 'Bombers' (the American football team).

On Thursday, author Tim O'Brien gave a speech on campus about his book 'The Things They Carried'. The book concerns his experiences as an American soldier in the Vietnam war, and he gave a good speech about 'the truth'. His main point was that, even though the book was billed as a true account of his time in Vietnam, he made a lot of it up. He quoted Picasso: "We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth." He wanted to get certain messages across, and so edited what really happened in order to make it more dramatic.

Then on Friday evening, Alex Slobodyanik gave a piano concert in the music school's auditorium. He was good too.
That's a great review. "He was good too." Well, it's getting late. He was a classical pianist, and he played really well, but I'm sorry to say that the pieces he played didn't move me at all. Nothing against him, or classical music in general, I'm very familiar with it and I am moved by a lot of "classical" music, but he played a few Chopin numbers and a Prokofiev piece that I hoped beforehand would be great. It was great... but it didn't do anything for me.

Mr Smith (MCS music teacher) once said that he didn't understand how people could listen to music that didn't move them. I love the piano, but after this concert, all people were talking about was how good the pianist was. No one said "I cried during that last one". I think I'm trying to say that maybe people approach classical music in the wrong way, I guess. I'll think about that.

I also made a really cheesy website with Cagdas (the guy Matilda knows) for our computing class. It had to meet certain requirements, to show we could do basic HTML, but after that we spent a while sprucing it up. I'll try and put it on the web as soon as I can. Anyway, the weather has been nice, but it got really cold the other night, and I think that's a taste of things to come...

I love these fountains.

The music building.

A hawk! I also saw a possum and a raccoon. And a Labrador... He was cool too.

I went to Wal*mart twice this week. The first time with Daniel in his automobile, and then I walked there with Zack a few days later. It's a crazy place. Many people hate it because it drives out small businesses. It offers things at such low, low prices that 'mom and pop' stores can't compete. As a consumer, however, I think it's ultra-convenient and fantastic to be able to get a huge bottle of root beer for a mere 58 cents.

"Always low prices. Always."

Snapple.

Fruit Loops and fake garden thingys? Under one roof?

Yeah, these are also available at Wal*mart.

Unfortunate sign placement.

Good luck to the guys starting at University this week, and Happy Birthday to Cat and Zeebee! How does it feel? You can finally vote! Oh yeah, and you can drink now as well... yeah. How nice for you... mumble... have to be 21... mumble.

Have a great birthday, I wish I could be there.

Zack in place of Brian - see previous post.

Just a house that I liked.

Mood: Hiding behind a smokescreen of bourgeois cliches

Currently listening to: The Beatles - Anthology 2

Crazy American fact #3: Despite holding more elections than any other country in the world (for President, govenors, mayors, senators, etc.), the United States also has the lowest voter turnout in the world.

On the Railroad Tracks

2005-09-05T13:01:00.000-04:00

Well, it's Labor Day here in the USA, which is when the yanks celebrate...
well... nobody actually seems to know what this day is about, but James and I discovered that it's equivalent to May Day in the UK.

The college owns a public television station, called ICTV 16. Yesterday, I signed up to work on the ICTV show 'Sunrise Boulevard'. It's quite a funny show about two talk show hosts that were banned from the networks and it has a lot of good sketches. I hope I can help out with the cameras or something. When I applied here, I used to watch that show over the streaming video and to actually be helping out with it feels like I've fulfilled some kind of goal. To me, that show represents the things that I thought Ithaca would have, or what it would be like, and now I'm here... and it's exactly as I hoped.

Brian on the tracks.

Yesterday, Brian and I took the bus into town. I got some new guitar strings and he got... well, he only brought 1 dollar with him... so he didn't get very much. We walked across Ithaca to Cayuga lake and chilled there for a while, then decided to walk back along the railroad tracks. Can you get more American?! ...well, yes, probably. I realised that the only reason people can do this is because the trains here are so rubbish/infrequent. Ithaca doesn't even have a railway station, and it took us about half an hour to walk back and not a single train went past.

Cayuga Lake.

Cornell University... and a motorbike.

A freakin' huge flag. That's Brian at the bottom.

A few days ago we went for a walk in the woods behind the University. I wanted to go to the towns to get some medicine but this old guy kept telling me not to. "That is where they dwell...", etc.

Actually, people are really having trouble here because of gas prices going up. Some of the signs have never had to go above three dollars, so they've had to write it on with chalk.

Mood: Chillin' out for the Labour Party

Currently listening to: Pat Metheny - Letter from Home

Crazy American fact #2: America was discovered in 1495, fifteen years after Magdalen College School was founded.

Home of the Brave

2005-09-01T22:30:00.000-04:00

Hey.

Today is Thursday. It's been raining for the last few days partly due to the remains of hurricane Katrina coming up north.

On monday, I had Cinema Production 1 which is a great class. We've started using H16 Bolex cameras (see fig. 1) and our first project will be using black and white 16mm film. The first project, which we'll complete over the next month or so, is to be entitled 'Dream'. Yeah, it's totally clichéd, but it's just an exercise, and it means there are fewer limitations on what we can do. Also, if it's technically bad it becomes dreamy/arty rather than just... crap. Anyway, it'll be a while before we really get into that. The teachers are great, and every class I'm in seems to be really rewarding.

Figure. 1 The Swiss-made Bolex.

I had my Computing class today, in which I discovered that the guy sitting next to me went to St Clare's international College, Oxford (where Matilda is now) and he knows her very well. The chances of us even being in the same class are crazily slim, but now we're partners on a couple of projects for a few weeks.

I'm also really surprised with the US Politics class. I only took it because pretty much all the other classes were full, but it's brilliant. The professor is fantastic, and the way politics works here is so different from the British system. Anyway, time for some pictures.

Poker in the dark. (Bad picture, but I wanted to include it anyway. Before you ask, the chessboard is attached to the table.)

The View from on top of Textor Hall, with Cayuga Lake in the distance.

Fountains at Night.

Towers at Twilight.

Cool Pepsi truck.

Campus Centre (Student Union) in the rain.

England's an amazing place though, and I think there are a few things (just a few) that England does better than America. Like the NHS. Or Rolos. Here, they have these disgusting rip-off Rolos made by a different company. And what's with Smarties?

By the way, I have alreadly met both a Cody and a Tyler. But no Kaci yet... a Casey though. Does that count?

There's only one fraternity at Ithaca College (Pi Lambda Chi), and I don't think I'll join... but we'll see. Cornell University (the other University in the township of Ithaca) has loads of frats though, and that's where all the crazy wild parties are! Woooo! Spring Break!!! Yeah! Oooow!

Mood: Relaxed, like a jazz musician.

Currently listening to: Norman Brown - After the Storm

Crazy American fact #1: The three drink sizes at Starbucks here are not 'Tall, Grande, and Venti' but are the simpler 'Small, Medium and Large'.

Land of the Free

2005-08-25T20:56:00.000-04:00

Hey.

I'm in my dorm room now. West Tower 407. It's pretty cool.

East Tower and West Tower.

My dad and I arrived here almost two weeks ago now. We drove up from Newark, NJ and stayed in the Holiday Inn in Ithaca for a few days before I moved in here. Later, we went up to Syracuse to get my new laptop.

When I finally moved in, I had loads of orientation sessions so that I could get to know people and the campus. It's been really cool, and I've met a bunch of nice people. The first orientation session was like a big game of 'Jeopardy' in which all of the questions referred to Ithaca College. The next day there was a Luau and picnic, a meeting about campus employment (I work in one of the dining halls as part of my financial aid), and I organised my schedule with my new academic advisor. Then I slept. zzz.

One of the dining halls.

My room.

The view from my window.

Brian, about to play table tennis.

The next day was basically the same, but with slightly different activities, all intended for us to make friends with people. Not a bad thing, I think they work really well.

Zack, Brian, Betsy and I went into downtown Ithaca on Tuesday using the efficient Tompkins County Transport service. We wandered around and checked out the jazz scene. There's also an ice cream parlour, a brilliant guitar shop and three HSBC branches, so I'm pretty much sorted.

Zack, Betsy, and Brian.

Yesterday was the first day of classes and I started off with US Politics. In America, you take a 'major', which is about two thirds of your classes - and take other 'electives' that interest you. These change every semester. Right now I'm taking US politics, Computing and IT, and a seminar about Identity... sounds cool.
My second class was Cinema Production 1, which looks awesome, but it's getting late and I have a load of 'The Challenge of Democracy' to read so I'll tell you about that later.

The campus itself is fantastic, and completely self-contained. There are shops, cafes, and all sorts of crazy stuff. There's even a newsagent that stays open till 1am on the ground floor of West Tower.

I miss you guys a lot.

The Ithaca College Fountains.

Sunset behind the Park School of Communications.

Mood: Challenged by Democracy

Currently listening to: Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

Good Friends

2005-08-13T12:10:00.000-04:00

Thank you guys for everything you did for me yesterday. It was, I'm sure, the most incredible day of my entire life. I didn't realise that you guys liked me so much. I'm really gonna miss you.

Thank you so much for the watch and the motorbike clock and the card and the balloons and the messages (which I won't watch till I'm actually in America) and the book and the hugs... and the party... and everything. You really changed my life yesterday, and I can't wait until I come back in the holidays and see you guys again.

For those of you that weren't there, I'll describe the evening to you. It was 20 past 6 or so, and I was walking up Walton Street to the Phoenix Picturehouse to meet O-J and whoever else might be coming. For some reason, I was in a really awful mood. I felt like everything was going badly. I guess it was sinking in, the idea that this might be the last time I saw my friends for a long time. That, and I was confused about a lot of things. There were things I wanted to say to people and I didn't even know if they were coming that evening. I was slightly early so I went down to the CO-OP to get some cash, before receiving a call from O-J telling me that he was just up the road. We met up and I followed him into the Phoenix, casually asking if anyone else was coming. O-J regretfully replied that no-one else could make it, and it made sense to me. He had previously said that people couldn't stay the night at his house anymore, so it was no surprise that no-one could come I guess... Anyway, O-J said that we had time to go up for a drink first, even though there was a 'private party' going on. The benefits of being an employee of the Phoenix, I assumed.

For a moment, just a moment, I thought this was just something that happened to everyone at this crazy 'private party'. Then I started to recognise people. There's Ali! And that's Polly! Etc. It still took me a minute to understand what had just happened. I've never had a surprise party before - that was pretty amazing, thanks guys. Almost everybody was there, even Sam and Olivia made it after their trips.

We stayed there for a while, listening to the Beatles, then went over to Fraud's where we had a great meal and a brilliant time. After that, some people went straight to Thirst, while the rest went to two types of G & D's, and I was kindly treated to a cup of 'coffee ice cream feat. Gummi bears'. Delicious. We all reconvened at Kiss, by which time I only had one of the three balloons left (one was 'viciously attacked' by a passer-by, the other just felt like it was time to leave the roost and instead spend its days beside the ceiling in Kiss).

Then, this afternoon, Olivia brought over an amazing pocket watch, which is incredibly thoughtful and kind of you guys.

Thanks. I'll never forget what you guys did for me.

The rest of the photos are from the guys' meal on Wednesday

Mood: I think I've... got something in my eye...

Currently listening to: Anthology 3 - The Beatles

Music Time

2005-08-05T15:36:00.000-04:00

I've finished recording some songs I have been working on recently with a four-track tape recorder. I converted them to mp3 format for your enjoyment and they are available from the new Multimedia Page of this site! Check 'em out if you ain't busy... maybe put them on your iPod... But they're pretty bad quality - there's a lot of 'tape hiss' in the background as well as occasional puppy noises.

The server on which they are hosted also seems to be ok now. They shouldn't take too long to download.

My personal favourites are tracks 1,3,7 and 10.

Thanks guys.

Mood: Calm, but I have a slight headache, FYI.

Currently listening to: John Wesley Harding - Bob Dylan

A Week in the Life

2005-08-03T19:02:00.000-04:00

Hi gang.

I've had a lot of interesting things happen this week.

My mother has had to go into hospital for a while due to some quite serious back problems. She'll be out soon, but the docs aren't entirely sure what's wrong. Matilda has gone to Spain for a language course with a couple of pals. My dad took last week off work to look after my mother, but he's back working now so I'm home alone with the puppies.

It was Kieran's 'chav' party last week, which was very cool.

For some reason this photo reminds me of those British indie movies where the main characters actions include:
Taking ecstasy
Narrating throughout the film like a diary
Wearing suitably chavvy outfits
Taking ecstasy
Possibly having sex with strangers
Taking ecstasy

*Thumping bass* du da du da du da du da...

Zeebee (narrating with a cockney accent): 1:32am, the club. The party was just getting started. Man, my head was spinnin'! I headed out wif Pollers and DJ Caternator before we popped a few what Johnny gave us. The beat was runnin' through my bloodstream like... er... blood.
Pollers: Yeeeeahhh. That shiat is THE shiat *collapses*
DJ Caternator: Well, that was random. I certainly hope someone reading this has seen one of those films.

I was also thinking about things which are futuristic but we have today. I mean, things that would have looked futuristic in the past. For example the Space Shuttle or Fruit Roll-Ups. And the doors on underground trains are incredibly similar to the doors from the original 'Star Trek'. It suddenly hit me how much technology has changed in 100 years. And then I realised what the adjective would be to describe these crazy things: 'retro-futuristic'. That can be the word of the day. Try to use it at home, or maybe around the workplace. See, I have had an interesting week. Plenty of things to think about.

I've also recently discovered Bob Dylan. He's renowned for his songwriting and the fact that he 'can't really sing'. Actually it's a singing style that's really raw and emotional. He might not have the best voice in the world, but he means what he says and it's intense... hauntingly powerful one might say. I really like Bringing it All Back Home. This was the first album on which he played an electric guitar, rather than an acoustic guitar, and it marked his transition from' folk singer' to 'rock artist'. He's made 47 albums so far and a lot of them are live. Here's an mp3 of Bob Dylan performing 'Slow Train' live with the Grateful Dead in 1987. It's amazing to me how much his style changed over the years. I also think it's interesting that I'm about 40 years behind O-J with my taste in music... Age is a state of mind O-J.

Mood: Curiously relaxed

Currently listening to: Before the Flood - Bob Dylan/The Band

Paris

2005-07-25T14:22:00.000-04:00

Our Eurostar tickets.

Waterloo Station

Goofy! Although there was another 'Goofy' at the other side of the park at the same time...

The Walt Disney Studios Tower.

Some of the things we managed to steal from Disneyland.

Kieran and the Arc de Triomphe.

We took a helicopter trip over the Eiffel tower. ;-)

Les Gendarmes and Kieran.

The Assemblee Nationale! Ali and Peter should understand why we were so proud to finally see it.

Notre Dame.

Mood: Content, but tired

Currently listening to: Light Years (The very best of Electric Light Orchestra) - Electric Light Orchestra

Puppy Dogs

2005-07-13T15:29:00.000-04:00

The Daughter

Mother and Son

Proud Papa

I went to Bath with my aunt Janice, my cousin Mary, and Matilda on Monday. We saw the roman baths, but the modern baths for actual real-life people were closed, so sadly I didn't do anything like as much exfoliating as I had expected to. There was an activity sheet available, mainly aimed at young children... but Matilda (16) decided to take on the challenge. She had to search the baths for stamps with roman symbols on them. One thing led to another and...

Anyway, it was actually really nice to see my relatives from Arkansas (Home of the Hogs) and I can tick Bath off my list of places to see before I die.

Mood: Tired, but I have just "spent five glorious minutes feeling warm water course slowly down the length of my body."

Currently listening to: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Something happier

2005-07-11T06:41:00.000-04:00

I have new puppies, but I have to go to Bath now with my Aunt and cousin so photos of the pups are gonna have to wait. Their names are 'Dumpling' and 'Noodle'! Sorry I haven't updated this much, but I've been really busy.

(This is not a real puppy)

In other news, Bodicote was recently voted the best place to live in the constituency of Tony Baldry! In your FACE Banbury, Bicester and other villages!!

Mood: Curious to see what hidden treasures Bath has to offer

Currently listening to: Bringing it All back Home - Bob Dylan

London

2005-07-07T11:40:00.000-04:00

You will have seen what happened in London this morning. It's still very strange to see headlines like 'London hit by multiple explosions'. Even after all the terrorism in America, England still seemed to be a very safe place, a whole different league from the US. I didn't really know what I could write about this. It makes the whole blog thing seem rather mundane and pointless.
Only 33 people have died, a lot fewer than say the 2,986 that were killed on September 11th, but it's still a tragedy.

The way people have responded to it has, however, made me very proud to be British. Tony Blair's statement from Gleneagles was genuinely moving. I would recommend watching the video if you can. I think the difference between Tony Blair and George W. Bush is that Tony doesn't just have good policies and budget plans, but he's a very good leader. I felt really glad that he was there today to help Britain through a difficult time. It was one of the first times I've thought about what a great country England is, and how decent english people are. I'll be sad to leave.

Legoland

2005-07-05T18:23:00.000-04:00

Today James and I went to Legoland, and it was one of the funnest trips I've had in ages. Miniland was the coolest part, and I think the park has improved a lot since I was last there, almost 10 years ago. Miniland is the central part of Legoland, where famous landmarks and regions of the world are recreated with Lego bricks. Here are some of my personal highlights fom the trip:

1. The most evil Lego clown I have ever seen.

2. A homosexual Lego man moving out of the house he lived in with his partner. Many tears have been shed. Well, this is my interpretation... I guess they could just have been friends... yeah, "friends"...

3. Product Placement.

Including this lame sticker James spotted on the side of a van... I mean come on, it's not even made out of Lego!

The best part of the trip, however, was probably the car journey to Legoland. Even though we missed our exit on the motorway, and it absolutely poured with rain, it was great to spend time with my mate James. He's a very good driver too.

Mood: Chuffed

Currently listening to: United - Phoenix

First Post

2005-07-05T02:38:00.000-04:00

Right, it's time to get this show on the road. I think it's time for me to join James, Ali, Cat, Zeebee and everybody else in the blogosphere... it could be mildly entertaining. I realise the incredible similarity between my blog and Strong Sad's, but maybe that's not so bad. Really, I hope it's another way that I can stay in touch with you guys when I'm in America.

James and I are off to Legoland Windsor tomorrow which should be fun, even if the target audience is a younger agegroup. I don't play with Lego anymore, but it does have a certain charm. It's a very cleverly designed toy, incorporating both creativity and the ability to follow instructions. Whatever, it's sometimes good to reminisce and recall your childhood and Lego was a big part of mine.

While I was trying to find a name for this website I discovered the incredible wealth of failed blogs people have made. Most of them stop after one or two posts. It's a little bit depressing, these people who think they have something to say to the world, but when they get the chance - they can't think of anything... or there's nobody to read them. The most interesting one I found was this from the vice-chancellor of Oxford University. He's made it pretty much to the top, yet he still seems unhappy... I don't know. "Boy, it's getting dark and lonely in this office."
Here are some others. Lots of sites say they'll be updated but never have been.

Well, I hope that this blog is not going to fail. It's just for you guys (the mcs and ohs crew) and anybody else that wants to join in. Enjoy.

Mood: Chilled

Currently listening to: All things must pass - George Harrison