Michael West still dominates my life.

I'm just saying.

Here is his latest interview, describing his play Freefall from Edinburgh ... by far one of the best professors that I've ever had.

-E

This Week In Review

So, the week is almost at an end so I thought I’d do my best to fill the void with an update.

Sunday:
We made friends with random people in our hostel -- aka 3 guys from Sri Lanka, a guy from Namibia, and then a Parisian from Gambon who confessed his love for me after about 10 minutes. His name was Barton and he looked like Djimon Hounsou.

Monday:

The Huntarian Museum at the University of Glasgow was closed for the 3rd day in a row, so Jaime and I wandered around the city for the entire day. Found these really awesome bridges and ended up wandering through the equivalent of Scottish New Jersey on the North Side of the city. It was pretty epic. There is photo documentation. Then we saw A Single Man and I fell in love. It was wonderful.

Tuesday:

We took a cab to Glasgow airport at 0500, only to arrive at 5:30 and learn that we were in fact at the wrong airport (no one bothered to correct us). So we ended up taking a £100 cab ride to the correct airport an hour away and luckily got there just before the gate closed. Then after security they weighed our bags (which has never happened before) and we ended up having to pay £35 each for carry-ons that the flight crew didn’t even check. We finally got back to our flat in Dublin around 0900, just in time for Jaime to get to class. Thus ... the actual day began.

Went to lunch at Chorus, where we ran out of time so Sirus let us take our plates and silverware to class and then bring it back. It was pretty great. Kerry and I just walked in to Susanne’s class with these massive plates of omelets and chips ... people were jealous and we were full. In class I had to suffer the torment that was the movie Adam and Paul, and I’m pretty sure I am the only person that hated it with a burning passion. In a word: boring. I just wrote a review on it, so I might share my thoughts in a little bit, have no fear.

Then around 0930 Steven and Kristen finally got here (apparently the immigration guys looked me up in the computer to varify that they were staying with me and that I was a valid temporary citizen -- WEIRD) and we went to grab a pint over at Farrington’s. The music was great, but not gonna lie, we were dead. The day felt like a week.

Wednesday:

Fintan O’Toole came and spoke to us. It was pretty epic. I’ll be honest though, since he’s a theatre critic and all I definitely thought he was going to be talking to us about, you know, Irish theatre, but the entire thing ended up being about post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. It was incredibly interesting, actually, and I really want to read his new book now. After class Steven and I skyped into our first Orientation Meeting back at Pratt and were pretty amused. It was a fun time, seeing people and thinking about all the stress that awaits us back in the states. Joy.

Thursday:
Oh, today. Did I mention that the first draft of my full length play is due in less than 24 hours? Fun, right? Not. Lies. All lies. I’ve been teetering page 56 for the past week and can’t seem to stretch things out any further so far. It’s awesome. So, instead, I am watching Eraser with Kristen and Steven, drinking my third cappuccino of the day, and eagerly awaiting my take-away from Queen of Tarts.

Tonight is going to be a looooooong night.

-E

I've decided, Glasgow isn't real.

 

This place is seriously surreal in the fullest extent. I haven’t quite been able to pin-point how to describe it yet. It’s sort of like a suburb with a City Centre, in a way. Regardless, I’m pretty sure we have figured out our way around in under 24 hours.

All in all ... hostel rankings: 3 out of 3 ain’t bad. I haven’t had one of those terrible experiences that people warn you about, and I can’t say that I’m complaining. I’ve met a lot of Australians, a Russian, an Argentinian, some Finnish chicks, and right now we’re staying with 2 girls from Sweden and 2 guys from Eastern Europe. Beds aren’t bad, the places have been clean, and the people have been nice.

As far as actual Glasgow goes, I’m loving it. It’s absolutely nothing like Edinburgh because it is basically devoid of tourists. Just normal people living their lives.

The University of Glasgow is pretty epic. We accidentally almost crashed a wedding with bagpipes. It was epic.

The Museum and Gallery there is also pretty strange/surreal/fun/educational. It’s designed for kids, in a way, and basically a great time to explore. They have Dali’s Christ there, and I has forgotten just how much I love that painting, let alone all of his other work. A man took a picture of it with a flash and it took everything in me to not punch him in the throat. That’s just not kosher.

We walked all up and through the Glasgow School of the Arts and, being an affiliate of ours, felt very much like Pratt. It was sort of off the beaten path and not terribly aesthetically pleasing. A typical starving artist’s school.

The necropolis is really amazing, interwebs, and I’ll post some pictures of it, soon. To put it into a perspective of wonder: it’s right behind St. Mungo’s Royal Infirmiry. HP inspiration, anyone? I think so.

I’m also going to be posting a bunch of pictures in general ... eventually ... whenever I get the time. So keep your eyes peeled.

-E

Oh, PS ... I also am pretty sure that I sprained my foot/ankle in Edinburgh.

Leave it to me.

Fun times.

River City.

A Single Man

“A few times in my life I've had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think, and things seem so sharp and the world seems so fresh. I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be.”

I honestly can’t think of one thing that I didn’t enjoy about A Single Man.

This was, hands down, one of the best films I have seen in such a long time. I literally just left the Glasgow Film Theatre and can’t get it out of my head. I feel the need to state the obvious: it was beautiful. No, not beautiful. Gorgeous.Tom Ford really hit one out of the ballpark with his directorial debut, and all I’ve got to say is that I want him to put down the sewing machine for a while and stay behind a camera.

Ford really applied the theory of, “the only thing hotter than sex is not having sex,” because this was by far so sexually filled, and yet so stoic that the tension was simply perfect. The same went with the dialog. Literally, not one single line or image was expendable. Everything meant something, everything was necessary, and everything was the epitome of aesthetically pleasing. The ending was also a great combination of happy/sad, positive/negative. Such a myriad of emotions. It tells you everything and nothing. So many layers and just a really wonderful film.

-E

Harry Potter was born here!

So, dear interwebs, I have finally arrived as a writer.

I am sitting in The Elephant House on George IV Bridge, writing in the very place where JK Rowling wrote so many years ago.

It’s amazeballz, and they make a delicious cappuccino. Just an FYI if you’re ever in Edinburgh. It’s pretty delish.

-E

I'm Married!!!

His name is Ewan and just signed a 6 year contract with the British Navy. He’s really brilliant, and a bar tender/scotch connoisseur. We drank Lagavuelin and Laphroig all night. I can’t wait for everyone to meet him! He’s going to commute back and forth between Dublin and Edinburgh, and then we’ll take it from there when I go back to New York, if I even do.

I know it’s all a shock, but I’m really really happy! He’s coming along with me and Jaime to Glasgow this weekend and we’re just having lots of fun.

APRIL FOOLS ...

I know ... via the internet, it’s pretty lame, but I figured it was still worth a shot. Now, on to the real updates...

Oh Edinburgh ... you and your snow. Yes interwebs, you’ve read me correctly. Jaime and I landed in the lowlands of Scotland yesterday and were greeted with constant snowfall for the entire day. Logically, 3 days after Ireland declares their summer, we start to freeze.

Edinburgh Castle is basically one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, in snow and (eventually) sun. Between the history of the buildings and the War Museum, I could have been lost in there for hours. ALSO, the crown jewels didn’t hurt, either.

The Queen’s Palace is pretty swanky, too... Lots of fabrics, lots of draperies, lots of paintings, LOTS of class. I kinda sorta want to move in there now. The freaking backyard bumps up against mountains. MOUNTAINS. COVERED IN SNOW.

As far as the hostel goes, it’s really not bad (knock on wood). It’s a major first for me, and it basically just feels like summer camp. But time will be the judge ... hostel two of three starts tomorrow and it’s a mixed 12 bed share. Joy.

I did, however, actually meet a guy named Ewan. And we did, in fact, drink Lagavuelin and Laphroig together. But I was also in a Scotch Distillery and he was also a bar tender. He is actually joining the Navy though, so that wasn’t a fool.

Jaime and I also made friends with some guy who’s name I can’t pronounce from Moscow ... he’s a fashion student in London here on holiday. It was pretty great. We’re facebook friends. And then there was Marco from Argentina who is working in economics in Madrid. He couldn’t understand my question “Where in Argentina are you from?” and I’m pretty sure he thought I was an idiot because he just kept explaining the geography of South America on a whole. I might be blonde, but I’m not dumb.

Until later, probably Glasgow...

-E