At home in London
Aug. 13th, 2001 03:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetWe've had a fairly quiet week, which is something of a novelty for us.
On Wednesday we went to see _blue/orange_, a play that had been highly
recommended to us. The actors all put in good performances--I was somewhat
annoyed by the mannerisms of one of them, but I think my impression may have
been affected by seeing him as the evil hairdresser in _Blow Dry_ on the
plane the day before. I had some trouble with the script, mostly because I
felt it didn't make any statement, just played around with the idea that
race and system politics have an impact on who gets mental health treatment
and what diagnoses are given out. This is an interesting topic to me, but I
felt as though the playwright had been so astonished by his discovery that
he thought just the information was enough to make a play, while I wanted
something more. As an example, one of the characters is a patient who is
black and the issue of culturally appropriate diagnoses is raised (vastly
higher percentages of black men than white men are diagnosed as
schizophrenic, for what may be subjective reasons--it's also quite possible,
according to recent research, that schizophrenia has a viral component and
black men are more susceptible to the virus, something that the play doesn't
address at all). Interesting, except that while culturally weighted
standards may be needed in evaluating, say, paranoia, this particular
patient is presenting a textbook case of full blown schizophrenia. Of
course, I'm probably not the audience the playwright was addressing, since
my attitudes about race are not English and I'm somewhat informed about
these issues already. I think Jason enjoyed the play more than I did, but
his focus on the actors' work probably tipped that balance.
I had a lovely lunch with Leah on Friday at a little Italian place around
the corner from the new British Library, where she's been spending her time
lately researching the passive in Thai for her masters' dissertation in
linguistics. After lunch she showed me around the Library a bit...they have
a very cool installation of an illustrated medieval manuscript that's been
scanned in. Looking at a computer screen, you can turn the pages, zoom in,
and listen to audio clips explaining what you're seeing or singing the
choral passages included in the missal.
After lunch I had a frustrating afternoon. I went shopping for bookcases
and three of the four places I went were closed and the fourth didn't have
any bookcases to speak of. Then I got home to find our phone dead. I tried
swapping various handsets around and then used my mobile to call customer
service. The nice woman was very apologetic as she explained that the next
available time on the technicians' schedule would be Tuesday morning. I was
freaking out, since four days without a phone is just inconceivable for me.
I called steve and had him call me back on my mobile (to complain because
they were without power--services were breaking down globally). While we
were consoling each other, the landline phone rang! It was a TeleWest
technician calling to say that they'd had a local problem that was now fixed
and service should be completely restored!
I made fried chicken for dinner, after which we walked over to Holloway to
try the Odeon cinema there. I had an amusing exchange with the guy at the
snack counter:
Him: May I help you?
Me: I'd like a small popcorn, please.
Him: Sweet or salty?
Me: Salty. Do you have butter?
Him: (incredulous) No!
Me: Cineworld at Wood Green has butter.
Him: So? This is an Odeon.
Me: So, tell your manager that customers are complaining that you don't have
butter, when Cineworld at Wood Green does.
Him: And I'd get fired. Would you like something to drink?
Me: Yes, a small...aw, geez, it's a Pepsi house. (turning to Jason) Guess
we don't ever need to come here again. (back to counter staff) A small 7Up,
please.
Him: Are you serious? You won't come back because of that?
Me: Why should I? You show the same movies, you're the same distance from
my house. They have butter and dietCoke and you don't. Why should I come
here?
Him: Friendly staff?
Me: OK, friendly staff. But you're not as good as butter on my popcorn.
Well, now we know. From there on out, the experience was fine. The movie
(Jason's choice) was _Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within_. It wasn't the
best movie I've seen this year, but it had some beautiful animation. The
plot and especially the characters owed a LOT to _Aliens_ (Ripley, Hicks,
Hudson, Vasquez and Sarge were all there), but the actors doing the voices
were generally good. And we saw possibly the greatest benefit of
animation...Steve Buscemi got to play a reasonably attractive character and
Alec Baldwin got to be hot again (his character actually looked like Ben Affleck).
On Saturday Jason came with me back to Camden Market to try again on the
bookcase front. We still didn't find anything, so I came home and ordered
two new bookcases online. I made steaks and we watched the original pilot
of Stargate SG-1.
On Sunday I went over to Barbara's in the afternoon to help her get started
on organizing her life and her flat a little better. We measured her walls
so that she'll know what bookcases she can buy and we assigned points to
various organizational tasks so that she can "win" by tidying up the place.
In the evening I had meant to make chicken marsala, but instead we ordered
pizza and watched more of Stargate SG-1's first season. So I'll probably
get to the chicken today. At the moment I'm excited to try the hot dogs
that I bought on Saturday. I had to choose between cans and bottles, so I
bought a bottle of hot dogs and we'll see how that goes. Astoundingly, they
come six to a bottle and the buns come six to a pack. Those wacky Brits!
Today I've been reserving museum tickets online for the Uffizi and the
Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery. In the midst of that someone
called from the theatre group we often attend, offering a good deal on a
show we wouldn't mind seeing, so I called back and booked tickets to that,
as well.
On Wednesday we went to see _blue/orange_, a play that had been highly
recommended to us. The actors all put in good performances--I was somewhat
annoyed by the mannerisms of one of them, but I think my impression may have
been affected by seeing him as the evil hairdresser in _Blow Dry_ on the
plane the day before. I had some trouble with the script, mostly because I
felt it didn't make any statement, just played around with the idea that
race and system politics have an impact on who gets mental health treatment
and what diagnoses are given out. This is an interesting topic to me, but I
felt as though the playwright had been so astonished by his discovery that
he thought just the information was enough to make a play, while I wanted
something more. As an example, one of the characters is a patient who is
black and the issue of culturally appropriate diagnoses is raised (vastly
higher percentages of black men than white men are diagnosed as
schizophrenic, for what may be subjective reasons--it's also quite possible,
according to recent research, that schizophrenia has a viral component and
black men are more susceptible to the virus, something that the play doesn't
address at all). Interesting, except that while culturally weighted
standards may be needed in evaluating, say, paranoia, this particular
patient is presenting a textbook case of full blown schizophrenia. Of
course, I'm probably not the audience the playwright was addressing, since
my attitudes about race are not English and I'm somewhat informed about
these issues already. I think Jason enjoyed the play more than I did, but
his focus on the actors' work probably tipped that balance.
I had a lovely lunch with Leah on Friday at a little Italian place around
the corner from the new British Library, where she's been spending her time
lately researching the passive in Thai for her masters' dissertation in
linguistics. After lunch she showed me around the Library a bit...they have
a very cool installation of an illustrated medieval manuscript that's been
scanned in. Looking at a computer screen, you can turn the pages, zoom in,
and listen to audio clips explaining what you're seeing or singing the
choral passages included in the missal.
After lunch I had a frustrating afternoon. I went shopping for bookcases
and three of the four places I went were closed and the fourth didn't have
any bookcases to speak of. Then I got home to find our phone dead. I tried
swapping various handsets around and then used my mobile to call customer
service. The nice woman was very apologetic as she explained that the next
available time on the technicians' schedule would be Tuesday morning. I was
freaking out, since four days without a phone is just inconceivable for me.
I called steve and had him call me back on my mobile (to complain because
they were without power--services were breaking down globally). While we
were consoling each other, the landline phone rang! It was a TeleWest
technician calling to say that they'd had a local problem that was now fixed
and service should be completely restored!
I made fried chicken for dinner, after which we walked over to Holloway to
try the Odeon cinema there. I had an amusing exchange with the guy at the
snack counter:
Him: May I help you?
Me: I'd like a small popcorn, please.
Him: Sweet or salty?
Me: Salty. Do you have butter?
Him: (incredulous) No!
Me: Cineworld at Wood Green has butter.
Him: So? This is an Odeon.
Me: So, tell your manager that customers are complaining that you don't have
butter, when Cineworld at Wood Green does.
Him: And I'd get fired. Would you like something to drink?
Me: Yes, a small...aw, geez, it's a Pepsi house. (turning to Jason) Guess
we don't ever need to come here again. (back to counter staff) A small 7Up,
please.
Him: Are you serious? You won't come back because of that?
Me: Why should I? You show the same movies, you're the same distance from
my house. They have butter and dietCoke and you don't. Why should I come
here?
Him: Friendly staff?
Me: OK, friendly staff. But you're not as good as butter on my popcorn.
Well, now we know. From there on out, the experience was fine. The movie
(Jason's choice) was _Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within_. It wasn't the
best movie I've seen this year, but it had some beautiful animation. The
plot and especially the characters owed a LOT to _Aliens_ (Ripley, Hicks,
Hudson, Vasquez and Sarge were all there), but the actors doing the voices
were generally good. And we saw possibly the greatest benefit of
animation...Steve Buscemi got to play a reasonably attractive character and
Alec Baldwin got to be hot again (his character actually looked like Ben Affleck).
On Saturday Jason came with me back to Camden Market to try again on the
bookcase front. We still didn't find anything, so I came home and ordered
two new bookcases online. I made steaks and we watched the original pilot
of Stargate SG-1.
On Sunday I went over to Barbara's in the afternoon to help her get started
on organizing her life and her flat a little better. We measured her walls
so that she'll know what bookcases she can buy and we assigned points to
various organizational tasks so that she can "win" by tidying up the place.
In the evening I had meant to make chicken marsala, but instead we ordered
pizza and watched more of Stargate SG-1's first season. So I'll probably
get to the chicken today. At the moment I'm excited to try the hot dogs
that I bought on Saturday. I had to choose between cans and bottles, so I
bought a bottle of hot dogs and we'll see how that goes. Astoundingly, they
come six to a bottle and the buns come six to a pack. Those wacky Brits!
Today I've been reserving museum tickets online for the Uffizi and the
Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery. In the midst of that someone
called from the theatre group we often attend, offering a good deal on a
show we wouldn't mind seeing, so I called back and booked tickets to that,
as well.
