You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me...inflamed me.

So it's been a while, but I have plenty to show for it.

On October 7th, I found myself in Chelsea, the really rich part of London. I was there to check out a vintage clothing fair, but I noticed on the map that it was near Tite Street, where Oscar Wilde once lived. So I stopped by to take a picture of the Blue Plaque:



It was a really quiet street in a really quiet neighborhood, and I had a hard time imagining Oscar living there. Which might partly explain why he spent a good deal of the 1890s living in hotels. I meant to stop by the hotel where he was arrested, which was also nearby, but I had a hard enough time finding Tite Street.

The next weekend, BC had planned a trip to Rye and Hastings, two historical port towns in Sussex. So I got to hang out with Jenny and Jeanne while we toured two castles, one in each town.

Bodiam Castle, near Rye:





Hastings Castle, stronghold of William the Conqueror:




Also there was a fire festival in Hastings Saturday night. I asked the tour guide, and apparently these are very common all over Britain this time of year. They're not really tied to any historical event or holiday, but she said they are probably rooted in pre-Christian autumn equinox/Halloween celebrations. Today they are celebrated by a procession of various bonfire societies, who dress up and carry torches through town, collecting money for charity. Afterwards, they all throw their torches on to a massive, three-story woodpile:



It looks like this:



(also, there are fireworks):



I got some video of some firedancers:



This past week, Heather came to visit from Italy. I had class a lot of the time, but we managed to visit Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross station together, as we had planned to since forever:





Which combined with the fact that Heather had reread Deathly Hallows on the plane, and the recent news about Dumbledore (which, frankly, should not have come as a huge shock to anyone who read Deathly Hallows carefully), meant that we spent basically her entire trip discussing Harry Potter. It was like 8th grade again, except now we have the full story, much of which makes us cry.

She left on Friday, and after I saw her off at the train station to go to the airport, I went straight to Bishopsgate Institute, where I had tickets to a very rare reading by none other than Alan Moore, the notoriously reclusive comic book writer, Magus of Northampton, and Greatest Living Englishman (among his other fake titles). He was there with Michael Moorcock and Iain Sinclair, who were all reading from a prose anthology about London. It was a fairly free-form event with free wine and the opportunity to speak with him personally before the event started. So naturally I got a picture with him:



Yes, he does look a little scary (you should see him when his hair is down), but he is in fact very pleasant and patient with quivering fangirls. I get the sense that he would go out and mingle with fans more (like most comic writers do), but that he doesn't want the distraction from his writing. Now that he's semi-retired, I suspect he'll be making more public appearances as time goes by.

Also, a few days before, my Facebook buddy Stephen Fry (who is currently in New England filming a documentary), asked me to pass on his "very best wishes" to Alan. Alan responded that he was very pleased to hear them, that he doesn't blame Stephen for the V for Vendetta film (which Stephen was in) and that he is a big fan of Stephen's, and that he and Melinda Gebbie (his wife) watch QI every week. I sent Stephen a message, but he hasn't logged into Facebook for at least a week, so who knows when he'll get it.

I managed to grab a seat in the front row, right in front of him! I recorded Alan's reading, which combined with his hypnotic voice, was absolutely wonderful.



Afterwards, everyone hung around for autographs, and I got,
The Ballad of Halo Jones (his 'feminist space opera'):



Watchmen:



From Hell (about Jack the Ripper):



The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (vols. 1 & 2):



By the end of the night, he must have been tired of seeing me, so I resisted the urge to hang around and just watch him, so instead I went back to my dorm and called my home comics shop to brag a bit (only for five minutes, Mom and Dad).

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm going to the National Gallery on Wednesday, so I'll have pictures from that soon.

(Today's subject quote is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Dumbledore is talking about the love of his life, I'm talking about Alan Moore.)

Never trust the storyteller. Only trust the story.

So, much of this past week was spent stalking Neil Gaiman (or at least, two days of it was) On Tuesday, he had his own event and signing at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus, which was absolutely phenomenal. He talked about how he got into writing comics, moving to America, getting recognized at his local movie theater and being told that he would never have to pay to see a movie there again (much to his embarrassment), and his recent meeting with the reclusive Steve Ditko (co-creator/artist of Spider-Man).



For me, he signed a poster of "A Study in Emerald" (his Lovecraftian Sherlock Holmes pastiche), the exquisite illustrated hardcover of Stardust, and a sticker that says "Mind the Gap"-- a warning used by the London Underground warning passengers about the gap between the train and the platform, which Neil Gaiman took for his novel Neverwhere, turning "the Gap" into a hideous monster one should 'mind'.





One thing about Neil Gaiman is that, like me, He is a huge fan of Futurama, and it is his sincerest wish that one day he could appear on the show as his own head in a jar. Now that the show has been uncancelled, it's a definite possibility that it could happen, in a few years time. However, I got tired of waiting and drew this picture:



I gave him the original as he was signing, and he was so pleased with it, he hugged me!!

He was ostensibly there to promote Stardust, the film adaptation, because the premiere was on Wednesday, which I went to to hang out in front of the theater and watched famous people come in. Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good spot, so I only managed to get a few good photos and even fewer autographs, but one of them was Rupert Everett!! (who I have been hopelessly in love with since he played Algy in The Importance of Being Earnest):



Here's Michelle Pfeiffer:



Ricky Gervais:



Charlie Cox (the fresh-faced lead of Stardust):



Another person I saw was Peter Serafinowicz of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead, and he was actually was quite close to me at one point. Unfortunately he had moved on by the time I had worked out who he was and had reasoned that I desperately wanted his autograph. This feeling of lost opportunity was compounded on Thursday when his new sketch show premiered on BBC2, and was absolutely hysterical. I also saw Jonathan Ross (BBC's answer to Jay Leno) from a distance; he was there because his wife wrote the screenplay, and because he's friends with Neil (Ross is the one who instigated the meeting with Steve Ditko).

Anyway, Stardust came out in America about two months ago, so I've already seen it, and it's probably too late to tell anybody who reads this to go see it, but if you do get the chance to see it, or when it comes out on DVD, I highly highly recommend that you see it. It's a sort of fairy tale romantic comedy in the vein of The Princess Bride (which I still can't believe doesn't interest you, Kara; if it was animated you'd be all over it, I know it.)

And that's about it for this week. Now that classes have started up, I haven't had as much free time, but I'm going try to make it to some museum or other this week. Or possibly a play, since I'm expected to go to certain ones from my Creative Writing: Drama class.

(Also, You may have noticed that this post, unlike the past two, does not have a Beatles lyric for a subject. I decided since this post had nothing relating to the Beatles in it, and everything relating to Neil Gaiman, I'd just quote him, from Sandman #38)

I saw a film today, oh boy...

So, after finally getting all of my classes in order (a much more difficult task than back in the States), I've been able to enjoy being in London a bit more. This past Tuesday, after class, I dashed off to University College of London where they were hosting an author event, in which Neil Gaiman interviewed Susanna Clarke on stage in order to promote the paperback release of her short story collection, The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Having spent the summer reading (and adoring) her novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, I was thrilled when I heard that I'd have the chance to see both her and Neil Gaiman at the same time. My excitement was further compounded by the fact that my friend Jenny from BC is spending the year at UCL and she came along.



The event got off to a good start, when the fire alarm went off. It turned out not to be a fire, but some glitch over in the nanotechnology lab next door (Perhaps the nanobots were making a break for freedom and the "clumsy one" accidentally tripped the alarm. Now, none of the other nanobots are speaking to him) Anyway, this resulted in me and Jenny spending 45 minutes out in the chilly London evening air, standing three feet from Neil and Susanna trying to eavesdrop. Near the end of this, apparently someone had brought a tray of coffee for them and the hosts, and there was an extra one. Neil offered it to anyone within shouting distance, and that person ended up being me!

Eventually we got back inside and Susanna and Neil finished with the interview, reading, and Q & A, which was all very fun and enlightening. The only disappointing thing was that neither of them were doing a signing, Neil because it wasn't his event, and Susanna because she wasn't feeling well. However, Neil is having a signing this Tuesday in Piccadilly Circus in conjunction with the London premier of the film adapation of his novel Stardust, which more or less makes up for the fact that I lugged an 800-page hardcover novel 3000 miles for the purpose of getting it signed, but didn't. I'm getting him to sign the "Study in Emerald" poster I mentioned last post, as well as the hardcover illustrated Stardust.

On Thursday after class, I decided just to wander along the banks of the Thames (which campus is right on) and saw a few sights along the way. One thing that struck me was just how close everything is. I had just intended to see Cleopatra's Needle (a genuine Egyptian obelisk, flanked by two Sphinxes), which I did:




(The pock-marks in the base are from WWII bombing)


(The London Eye, which I have yet to ride)

But then I noticed that just around the bend was Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, so I figured I'd just stroll over there and look around:





(there were protesters calling for sanctions on Myanmar (which they still call Burma in their British imperialist fashion)




And it turns out that Westminster Abbey is just across the street, so I strolled around there.




By that point, both building were closed to tourists, so I'll have to go back later for that. Anyway, I continued my stroll down Whitehall (the government district) to Trafalgar Square. On the way there there was this memorial to the women who contributed to the war effort in WWII:



Also, I think I saw some kid get busted for dealing, but he was across the street so I couldn't be sure. It looked like it might have been entrapment, which should have been obvious if the "customer" proposed meeting in Whitehall. If it wasn't entrapment, then both of them were stupid for dealing in Whitehall. That's like dealing in front of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. You're just asking to be caught.

Anyway, I made it down to Trafalgar Square, which was very impressive and swarming with tourists.



I wanted to get a picture of me sitting on a lion, but I was hesitant to entrust a stranger with my camera. Eventually I settled on a group of four Polish girls about my age who were saddled with shopping bags and were very clearly tourists themselves.


(That's the Canadian embassy behind me)

That was it for Thursday. On Friday, there was a dinner in Covent Garden for all the BC students in London, and Jenny and I met early to see Across the Universe, which was exactly what I expected it to be: a love letter to the Beatles in the form of a cliché story of the 1960s with psychedelic puppets and a woman who sounds like Janis Joplin singing a riveting cover of "Helter Skelter". On a side note, going to a movie on the day it opens is not something one should do lightly in London: the tickets were £12.50, which means $25. So I am very glad that I am not the film buff I used to be. But it was the Beatles, so I had to. The movie finished two hours before the dinner, so we wandered around Leicester Square a bit (the cinema district) and found this statue of Charlie Chaplin:



Then I took Jenny to Trafalgar Square, and on the way we found the Oscar Wilde statue, which I had first heard about when I saw a picture of its unveiling with Stephen Fry (Hugh "Dr. House" Laurie's old comedy partner, star of the Wilde biopic, and one of my most favorite people in the world) and Lucian Holland, Wilde's great-grandson (who is devastatingly attractive, but denied my friend request on Facebook).



Here's me with the statue:





The dinner was delicious and free. And typical of BC students, my fellows were astounded that I could stretch one glass of red wine over an entire three course meal, while the rest of them imbibed half a bottle or more each. Of course, it wasn't particularly good wine either, but that rarely matters with your typical college student, I suppose.

The evening wound down around 9 o'clock, and so Jenny and I parted for our respective dorms, and I made it back in time for the new episode of QI, a fantastic show in which Stephen Fry lords over a panel of British--and the occasional American--comedians as they exchange useless trivia. For example, Thomas Edison once electrocuted an elephant (to be fair, the elephant had killed three people) in order to make a propaganda film against Westinghouse's AC electricity, because he believed that his DC electricity was safer. Which just goes to show that you don't have to know how anything works in order to invent things that use it. The film itself is now YouTube fodder:



And tonight (Saturday) there was a Stephen Fry marathon in celebration of his 50th birthday, despite the fact that it was a month ago (I know this because Stephen Fry did accept my Facebook friend request, and I saw it listed under "Upcoming Birthdays" back in August). I watched him go to Slovakia to his Jewish grandfather's hometown to track down information about his relatives that died in the Holocaust; my favorite episode of Blackadder Goes Forth which included Hugh Laurie in drag and Tony Robinson's terrible Charlie Chaplin impersonation (in which the role of his mustache is played by a dead slug); him listing his guilty pleasures, which include ABBA, swearing, and hitting Hugh Laurie; him listing the things he hates, like the way Australians say everything like it's a question, New Age crap, and the fact that there's a show dedicated to people listing the things they hate; and a rerun of Friday's QI. Tomorrow there's going to be a birthday tribute special, and on Tuesday is the first part of his documentary on HIV/AIDS. He did a similar documentary on bipolar disorder (which he has) last year. He doesn't have AIDS, but he is gay, and he lost a lot of friends in the early days of the disease. If it's anything like the bipolar documentary, it's going to be a fantastically personal story that serves as a springboard to address the wider social implications of the disease, including how the public perception has changed and the current crisis in Africa.

Tomorrow, I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I'm living in the same area in which Charlie Chaplin grew up, and try to cobble together a list of pilgrimages. And then go to them. Hopefully my next update will be quicker this time.

Is there anybody who's going to listen to my story...

Greetings from London! This is going to be my blog recording all the exciting things I'm doing in this part of the world while I'm here for the next nine months. I'll skip recounting the fairly good flight over here, the horrors of going through immigration and customs on a September 11, my really nice cab driver, the annoyances of securing my flat, and the complete chore that was getting my Internet hooked up, and just talk about what I did yesterday, Friday, September 14, 2007.

Having finally gotten the Internet on Thursday, I was able to compile a short list of trips I could take in the course of a day. I bought a day pass for the Tube (£5.10, roughly $10.25. Ugh, need a monthly pass if I am to get to class everyday), and headed for Tottenham Road Station for some shopping! I had to explore what London has to offer in terms of comic book stores. I made a list of four which were in the same general area and basically just wandered around until I found them all.

Gut reactions:
Gosh! Comics: Sleek, modern. Great selection of new issues and trade paperbacks, and a good number of back issues. Kicked myself because they had the full run of Ectokid for only £5, and I know I've spent more than $10 on my issues, and I'm missing #3! Bought Action Philosophers #9 (the final issue!), because my shop back home managed to forget to order it. It cost £2 ($4), so not a whole lot more than I'm used to, but still, a good reminder to be much more selective here (especially since my subscription box back home is getting filled while I'm gone)

Orbital Comics: A bit dungeony, in a basement. Still, not a bad shop, about the same sort of selection as Gosh, but more back issues and some 50p ($1) bins. Friendly staff, incl. an American and a girl. Bought the latest MINX book "Confessions of a Blabbermouth" (£6/$12), because their manga store is having a signing on the 29th, which makes it fortunate that I brought "Regifters" and "My Faith in Frankie" from home for the Birmingham convention. Yay Mike Carey!

Forbidden Planet Megastore: The Legend. Okay, so it's much more than a comic shop (imagine a two story Newbury Comics, with Doctor Who merch in place of the CDs), but in terms of comics they had everything (except really indie stuff). But I really wouldn't go there for comics, I don't think, unless the other stores didn't have what I was looking for. Still, they're having Pia Guerra, Kevin Smith, and Terry Pratchett signings in October (making wish I had brought their stuff, but hey.) Bought the complete Spaced set for £30 (I can't bear to type the dollars), meaning I'll be eating cereal for a week. It's worth it though.

Comicana: Um, yeah. Mostly back issues (in the front of the store, no less), practically no trades. One of those annoying places which still bags the new comics before they go on the shelf. Musty. Its only excuse is that it's around the corner to Forbidden Planet, so it's good when taken as a complementary store. Bought nothing.

All in all, if I was going to get seriously into the habit of buying comics here (which, don't worry Mom, I'm not) I'd either go to Gosh or Orbital.

Also stopped by Blackwell's bookstore to buy my ticket for the Neil Gaiman/Susanna Clarke event on the 25th. I have my Clarke books with me, but no Gaiman, which is fine because I've been meaning to get a hardcover American Gods anyway, so no need to have him sign the tiny mass market paperback. However, at Forbidden Planet they had a poster with the complete text of "A Study in Emerald", his Sherlock Holmes pastiche for £10, so I'll probably go back and get that closer to the event.

Which leads me to my next stop on my ramble around London: 221b Baker Street.

Baker Street Station (click to see the full picture):


The fun begins with the various decorations in and around the Baker Street tube station. There was also a number of little cafes and even a hotel named after Sherlock Holmes! I wanted to stop in at one for a quick snack, but my wallet was still smarting from my "Spaced" splurge, so I decided against it and headed straight for the museum.



Funnily enough, the museum is not technically at 221b (which is actually a massive bank), but it's a few doors down, and all the mail is redirected to the museum curator.

You go into the gift shop first, which has all sorts of fun Sherlockian and Victorian merchandise (I bought a mug and a pin, and obviously a ticket to the museum proper). I wanted to get a deerstalker hat, but they cost £20, which is some kind of con. They were nice hats though.


Walk in here...


Chat with Dr. Watson (We agree that Peter Cushing's Hound of the Baskervilles is possibly the best adaptation of that story ever. Also, he detested Nigel Bruce's portrayal of him).


Holmes's chemistry set.


Holmes's bed (with, among other things, the Nonconformist minister's hat he wore in "A Scandal in Bohemia")


Holmes's Wall o' Criminals (like Mom's collection of "mysterious wife disappearance of the month" People magazines)


Holmes's letters, held in their place on the mantlepiece with a jackknife.


Holmes's arch-nemesis, "The Napoleon of Crime" Professor Moriarty (in wax).

I have dozens more photos, but those are the best.

In between the bank and the museum there was a Beatles store! where I bought a postcard and a set of Sgt. Pepper's pins. And it just so happens that only 1.5 miles from the Sherlock Holmes Museum is Abbey Road.

I was far from the only person there, and plenty of them were trying to stop traffic to get their own road-crossing photo. Locals must dread having to drive down the road.

Anyway, there's a nice little pedestrian island in the middle of the road about 100 yards away, where I stood, waiting for traffic to clear up as much as possible.



Here's the wall outside the studio (on the left side of the road):

(click to see the full picture)

Here's the studio itself:



Blue Plaques denote official British cultural landmarks, and despite (or perhaps because of) all the music history that's been made here (The Beatles, Pink Floyd), the only musician officially recognized in connection with the studio is its founder Edward Elgar.

They also have to keep the road signs posted really high so they don't get stolen:



Anyway, I have to wrap this up so it actually gets posted on Friday, so I'll end with this apt observation scrawled on the wall: