The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around

Today I likely made the only money I'll make while living in London...£40. I participated in a research study about how the brain works...memory, imagination and visual imaging. I spent about 60 minutes in an MRI machine, and another couple hours answering questions and learning what I was supposed to do.
I got the money, a sweet mug for my collection, and these pictures of my brain. If there are any abnormalities, they'll be sent to Uncle Ricky, since he's the only doctor I know and I had to give a name of someone.

After the scan, I went to the pub quiz down the street from my house. I failed the one America question...the capital of New York. Slightly embarrassing, but I blame the 2 glasses of wine, and the strong magnets my poor brain had been subject to earlier in the day. I actually knew it was Albany...I said "it's the city where I saw Shai Halud."...but couldn't remember the name...so I wrote Syracuse. Dangit! At least we still came in 2nd place..£10 drink voucher.

London Nights

Instead of writing a post, I've made a video about my Saturday night.

A "job"

The view from my room

I've found something to do! I'm going to be working with the East End Film Festival coordinating a program that features Americana films. It's still in the beginning stages, but the screening could range from one day of American movies(mostly odd-ball documentaries to start) during the actual festival in April, to a monthly screening of films, maybe somewhere in Shoreditch(the cool, hip area of London...think Silverlake or Williamsburg). But along with the actual movie, there will be music and drinks and food...hopefully all themed with the movie. Today, I had my first meeting with the Director of the festival, but as we get going, I will hopefully have a better idea of what I'll be doing. Overall, I definitely excited to be using my sweet Coordinating skills, but also getting to be involved in the creative process.

Other than East End Film Festival interviews and meetings, I've been doing a lot of hanging out and cooking stir-fry. It's sooo hard to get motivated to go out during the day and walk around by myself. Luckily, yesterday my flatmate Ady had the day off, so we walked around together...all over London. I'd been to most of the places we walked to, but I'd never walked to them, so it was good to see just how close everything really is. I took some pics....so here's a little tour of where I walked. First we walked through London Fields, it's a really nice park down the street from my house. Then we went through Spitalfields, where I saw this crazy etching on the side of a building. Someone chiseled into the wall, and made a picture.

Next we made our way to Oxford Circus for some window shopping(we actually caught the tube there, where we resumed the walk).
Decided we could use some culture, so it was off to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. We walked around the Gallery, saw lots of famous art and dodged school children.
Next we thought we take in a bit of government, so off to Whitehall and Downing Street we went. (of course you can't actually walk on Downing Street but we looked through the gates). We also found what looked like an old fort covered in vines. Ady investigated, but we couldn't figure out what it was. Finally, we ended up at Big Ben. It was a good day, and nice to be away from the computer for awhile.


I also went to a show last week. A friend from Australia was on tour with his band in London, and I went to their last show. It was fun...there is so much night-life in London and I really need to take advantage of it. (I also need to figure out how to post pictures on this blog without making it look like a total mess. I'll work on that for the next one)

Welcome to London

I can't believe I've been here for a week. The weather has been nice....I was even walking around in a T-shirt yesterday. I've managed to keep pretty busy. Went to the Tate Modern, saw an Australian friend's band play, walked around Brick Lane, and found a couple cool coffee shops in my neighborhood. Yesterday I had an interview with The East End Film Festival...even if I don't get the "job" (i guess it's called that even though I'm not getting paid), it was still nice to get the interview.

Yesterday, my flat-mates, some friends and I all sat around and watched a TV show called Question Time on the BBC. It's a political discussion show, and there was a lot of controversey about last night's episode because the leader of the British National Party was invited to be on the panel. The BNP is a racist and facist party that wants to "secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic". The show was pretty interesting, but it was basically people trying to prove how stupid the BNP is....and their leader Nick Griffin didn't help. At one point he was talking about the USA, and he called Native Americans, the "American Red Indian"....and that was just one stupid comment he made.

I've edited together a short video of my flat. I'm definitely going to have to practice with the FlipCam. It really takes concentration to keep the shots from being wobbly...much more so that a normal video camera. I also realized I have Windows MovieMaker on my computer, so I'll have to practice that as well...I tried to make this video 3 times but kept accidentally uploading clips with the same name as others and deleting the original. Finally I realized what I was doing...but by then I was kind of over it....but at least you get an idea of my place.

A video of my weekend

A video of my weekend at the Boicott BMX Jam. It was made with the crappy software that comes with FlipCam...so it's got cheesy effects...but whatever. The Jam was super fun, and made me want to find a good place to ride my bike in NYC. I hope someone in London will find a bike for me to use while I'm there (hint hint)

I can't upload this to Facebook cuz of the Mogwai song...so it's going here...good thing I've kind of stuck by the rule of only actual friends on Facebook..since I'm now sharing my blog with the world (although I guess just cuz I share doesn't mean anyone will actually look at it)

FlipCams and Bandanas

Recently, I've been thinking I'd like to get one of those little Flipcams. We used them on Running In Heels and I thought they were cool....tiny, little video cameras that will hold 30 minutes of decent quality video. Then, on Solitary, we used them as well.

I was talking to my co-coordinator, Jess, and mentioned I was thinking of buying one. She told me that when she worked on The Tyra Banks Show, she got a bunch of the basic Flipcams to give to guests, and still had a couple left. So...she gave one to me.

This is my first video. We had Headband Tuesday at work last week. Unfortunately, I'm not used to having a video camera around, so I didn't take near enough video...but you can get a taste of it. I used the cheesy editing program and music from the Flip program.

Hi LA. Did you miss me?

So much for updating my blog while I was in NYC. I think it's partially because not a whole lot happened...but also because my camera is dying a slow death, so I didn't take many pictures. Blogs just don't seem as interesting without pictures.

Right now I'm in sitting in my office on the set of Solitary, waiting on a PA to get back from a run. I need to give her my front door key, so she can open the office tomorrow. I can't believe it's only the 2nd week, we're still in prep, and I'm already working my first 13-hour day. Not a good sign...but at least I might miss some of the traffic. I took a picture of my office. It's pretty minimalist since my boss won't let me spend money on office stuff. I printed out some pictures to make it alittle nicer...I used the excuse of needing to test the color printer.

My roadtrip to LA was fairly uneventful. I drove 13 hours the first day to Flagstaff. Got a hotel, then went to drive around downtown to find some food. It was a Saturday night, so there were a lot of people out walking around, and I really wished I had someone with me so we could go out. But instead, I ended up at Taco Bell, then back at the hotel. The next day I drove 7 more hours to LA, and once again I wished I had someone with me when i accidentally exited for gas at the Lake Havasu exit. That's one place I've never been, and it would have been cool to have gone into town and taken a look around.

Since getting to LA, I've been working a lot, and watching a lot of TV. Sylvia, my lovely host, has every Premium channel on-demand. So, I finished watching the first season of True Blood, am getting caught up on Weeds, saw Jumper, Blood & Chocolate, The Happening, The Ex and various TV shows. I've also seen some friends, which is cool...it was nice to be reminded of how many friends I have in LA. I've been to a couple of BBQs, and most importantly had Bloody Marys at Cha Cha. Went to see The Felice Brothers at The Troubadour, and hung out with some 6-toed kittens. I'm trying really hard to keep my weekends full of fun, and not sit on the computer or in front of the TV. I get enough of that during the week. Hopefully June Gloom will go away soon, so I can take advantage of my close proximity to the beach.

I put some new batteries in my camera, so at least it will turn on now....my rechargable ones stopped charging. Maybe if I take more pics, I'll update more often.