Back to Pretending to be Canadian...

Gordon Brown Frustrated by 'Psycho' in Number 10

"While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies - including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington. 

Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem. 

The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words "wrong region" came up on his screen."

Seriously, guys, SERIOUSLY?!  

Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So... apparently, the whole custom of "wear green, or else you'll get pinched!"... not so much here in the UK. I purposefully set out my green hoodie that is covered in swirls that look rather like four-leaf clovers last night, knowing that - as I had to be up and out the door pretty early to get in to class - I would forget. Turns out, I was pretty much the only person wearing green in the class. (Fortunately, I asked whether it was a tradition in the UK or not before I just started pinching people. Though, the looks they gave me at "Wear green, or I pinch you!" were probably about the same level of "What are you, nuts?" as if I had just gone around pinching willy-nilly)

In other random funny vaguely Irish stories, Abigail and I were discussing a friend of hers from camp who, randomly, lived near Ciaran growing up. Her friend had told her that he slept a lot growing up, to which Abigail responded that he still sleeps a lot. To be fair, he works during the night and sleeps during the day. "Come to that," I said jokingly, "I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Ciaran is actually a vampire." This led to a long discussion of Irish vampires, the awkward branch of the vampire family tree that nobody really talks about. (In books and movies, after all, they're generally always either vaguely Germanic or "from-somewhere,-but-talk-with-a-British/American-accent-anyway,-because-we-hired-the-actor-for-looks,-not-for-vocal-training,-and-frankly-no-one-wants-to-hear-Brad-Pitt-massacre-an-Irish-accent") What's the best way to escape an Irish vampire, you might be interested to learn? Not a silver bullet, not a stake through the heart...

Garlic Potatoes.

:)

In other news, I *voluntarily* opened my windows yesterday, because it was an absolutely gorgeous day out and - surprisingly - not horrifically cold! (Even more "sign of the impending Apocalypse?" - Julia came down later and closed them, because it was getting "too cold"!) 

Sober Cannibals and Drunken Christians

I couldn't think of a good post title, since all of my posts lately have been filled with Miscellany, and I'm tired of titling them as such. So, the title of this post comes from my current fiction read - Moby Dick. Ishmael warns us that it is 'better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian' and, finding it amusing, I placed it on the whiteboard that sits behind my computer. (Also gracing the board is "Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." Inspiring, though I'm just now realizing that pairing 'sharing happiness' with 'sleeping with cannibals' might lead others to make odd assumptions about me... hmm...)

In other "desk" news, I've been keeping myself busy and sane (arguably) by fun little projects - I finally cracked out my oil paints, I made a new dress for my min-equin out of scraps, put up pictures and cards, and have generally made my desk much more "spring-y". Mione made me a birthday present of a collage of pictures of all of us with funny quotes all over it - the quality of the picture isn't great, but it makes me smile. :)

First and foremost of my news (for those who don't already know), congratulations to my brother Scott and his wife Brianne and their new son (my new nephew) William Anthony, born February the 27th - technically, it was already February the 28th here in the UK, so I informed Brianne that, as all peoples born on the 28th of February are scientifically proven to be 63% cooler than normal people, Will is obviously 63% cooler as well (though that's UK, which makes him 86.8455% cooler with the exchange rate factored in). Anywho, he's absolutely adorable and I can't wait to meet him. :)

In happy news of my own, my fridge is fixed!! (Yeah, it's not a baby, but when you've been living out of a fridge only about a quarter of the size of your already small fridge, this is a big day!) Once again, I have room for leftovers, I have room for milk AND juice, and I don't have to stick *everything* in the freezer. Of course, Murphy's Law and all that... 

My kitchen fan has stopped working. Well, perhaps best to say that it stopped working quite awhile ago, I just don't usually cook anything on the hob that makes a lot of smoke, so I hadn't noticed. That is, I didn't notice until John, Lars, Ciaran and I were making a hobbit's dinner to go along with the viewing party of Return of the King - whilst making bacon, the room began to fill with smoke. Oh, no problem, I'll just open the windows and turn on the fan. That should do it, right? Five minutes later, I could hardly see the kitchen while standing at my computer desk. I told someone (I couldn't say who - I couldn't hardly see them) to open the door, to vent some of the smoke into the hallway. Whoops. While the huge accumulation of smoke wasn't enough to set off the fire alarm in my room, the massive wall of smoke sucked out into the hallway set off the *hallway* smoke alarm. Hi, everyone. Sorry to wake you. Go back to bed, nothing's wrong. Just a little bacon grease. To be fair, while this was the, oh, fifth time the smoke alarm has gone off this year, this is the first time it wasn't set off by somebody getting drunk and running into the alarm headfirst. 

The weather here has been phenomenally odd, though I hear through the grapevine it's been odd back in Seattle as well. Talking to mom and dad on skype the other day, they laughingly told me that it snowed there that day (!), only for me to turn around and tell them that it had snowed here overnight as well! Two places where it *never* snows, and here we are in March with snow on the ground. That said, despite the snow and slush that one day, the weather is still chilly, but with that unmistakeable but indescribable hint of "spring" in the air. It may still snow every now and again, but the days are definitely getting longer, the air is crisper, and I have been able to go out in just a jumper every now and again. (Well, obviously not *just* a jumper - I mean without my big, heavy winter coat) (Also, jumper = sweater)

In happy news, we're *finally* done working on a grad film - I won't even begin to go into the ways all the people in charge managed to screw this up for themselves, suffice to say that I am really delighted to be done with it and moving on to better projects. On the silver lining side, I managed to get paid to buy a bunch of special effects make-up, which I get to keep once the film finishes shooting. Fake blood, prosthetic wounds, liquid latex, collodion... mmm... good times. Just in initial "playing-around-with", I managed to make a couple pairs of pointed elf ears, and I'm currently working on the mold for a werewolf snout... which leads me on to...

DR WHO! How did I never get around to watching this absolute *staple* of British television back in the States? It's silly, it's science fiction, and it's cheesy as hell - woot! Our group of MA girls has been "commissioned" by one of the professors over at the Bournemouth University to help him with his PhD project - he's taken one of the new Dr. Who scripts and is going to try shooting it in the style of the old 60's Dr Who's. (A few exterior establishing shots, all the rest filmed in one take in a studio) We're doing both costumes and sets, though I seem to have settled myself quite happily in costumes and special effects make-up. The episode we're doing features the Doctor and Rose arriving in Victorian England, to thwart an assassination attempt on Queen Vic by local monks and their werewolf pet. Good times. Our "director" has even contacted David Tennet and Billie Piper to see if they'll stop by and star in it - we're trying to bribe them with "Bournemouth is lovely in the summer", "it'll only take a week", and "Bonnie makes excellent cookies". I've offered to let David stay with me, even. :)

In sad news, I may be developing a cold. After hearing Abigail inform me that she loved Pride and Prejudice, so I told her to rent North and South - although we had a truly lovely evening of Richard Armitage and hoop skirts, she was snuffling in such a way that I *knew* she had a cold coming and, despite wiping everything down with sanitizing wipes after she left, I woke the next morning with a sore throat and snuffly nose. :( I'd say "not worth it", but it was Richard Armitage... 

In non-swooning-over-guys news, I have discovered ebay.co.uk as a surprisingly excellent resource for cheap, surprisingly Region 1 DVD's. Angels in America should be arriving tomorrow (£5, free shipping), and Top Secret! arrives sometime next week (£2.96 - INCLUDING shipping!) 

 "I know a little German. He's sitting over there."