It's so unbelievably hot! - she says in her poshest British accent.
Well, here I am, a lone gal in a huge city. I'm sure Laura is sick to death of me, but truthfully, it was really nice having someone to meet up with after my course was over every day at 4:30!
Ah yes, the course. How do you say.... magnifique? It wasn't anything that overwhelmed me, and yet, I feel like an entirely new avenue of thinking about design has opened up for me. Gary Thorne, our teacher for the week, is a seasoned professional and a wonderful teacher. He didn't get caught up with trying to get too much material into the session, and possibly affecting the quality. The progression of the course was obviously well thought out, and things one might have originally thought were a little out of context eventually became clearly important to the grand scheme of our design process.
We worked mostly on characters from two plays: the first was Lady Bracknell from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the second multiple characters from a short play called The Man Who Wouldn't Go To Heaven. Gary's process was to think of a charcter as like a certain animal, in the case of Lady B. she was much like a chicken or a rooster. We began to gather research from images of these hilarious fancy chickens, as inspiration. We did some historical dress research as well... he even had a new method for this kind of research. Fantastic. Basically throughout the course we did some 3D model making, sketching, research methods, and a crash course in storyboarding.
Haven't done much in the way of sight-seeing yet, but I always figured I'd be saving that to this weekend, now that the course is over. Laura and I have met up everyday after school as I mentioned, grabbing an overpriced bit to eat, then doing something afterwards. Monday night we caught a flick, also very ££. Tuesday we took in a play, Fool For Love, a short dramedy, starring Juliette Lewis and Martin Henderson (from The Ring and Bride and Prejudice aka the most beautiful man I've ever sat 4 rows away from). Enjoyed that a lot. Wednesday and Thursday we went to some rock shows at some Horseshoe sized venues, which was fantastic. I liked feeling a little less touristy. Actually, I fool people here sometimes, I have had people asking me directions when I am alone (somehow Laura and I look a little more lost when together I think). The bands were Fields, My Latest Novel, Palace Fires, and all the way from Tarana, Canader, The Meligrove Band. We thought about going up to them and being like "we came from Canada to follow you" but thought they wouldn't think we were as funny as we thought we were.
Today was the last day of my short course, and the day Laura left for Greg and Lorna's up North. Thus, Lindsay was left with little to do and £££ to burn. The shopping... oh the shopping. I have to keep stopping myself, as it gets very pricey and the tendency when one is on vacation is to disregard conversion rates. I wish we had shops like Monsoon and Evans in Canada. Actually, I just wish that every store in Canada had the flexibility of sizes that they have here. Tomorrow: there shall we sneakers, oh yes.
I'm not staying up late tonight, as tomorrow I have lots to hit. I'd like to get into the British Museum right when it opens, and get over to the two Tate Museums on the South Bank. Sunday I think I'll go to Portobello Road, Camden, and maybe the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. Monday I'd like to devote my remaining hours to the Victoria and Albert (heavy on costume) then race up to Finsbury Park, grab my bags and head down to Paddington, where I'll train it down to Plymouth and be met by Mummy. The surreal thing about knowing that my time here is wrapping up, is knowing that I still have a week with my Mum! It will be vastly slower paced... but I look forward to that. Lots of walking on Dartmoor, seaside villages and evenings in the pub. Maybe find some fitnesses to snog. I'd look to pull, but with staying at my Mum's... hmm.
Till later....
Ah yes, the course. How do you say.... magnifique? It wasn't anything that overwhelmed me, and yet, I feel like an entirely new avenue of thinking about design has opened up for me. Gary Thorne, our teacher for the week, is a seasoned professional and a wonderful teacher. He didn't get caught up with trying to get too much material into the session, and possibly affecting the quality. The progression of the course was obviously well thought out, and things one might have originally thought were a little out of context eventually became clearly important to the grand scheme of our design process.
We worked mostly on characters from two plays: the first was Lady Bracknell from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the second multiple characters from a short play called The Man Who Wouldn't Go To Heaven. Gary's process was to think of a charcter as like a certain animal, in the case of Lady B. she was much like a chicken or a rooster. We began to gather research from images of these hilarious fancy chickens, as inspiration. We did some historical dress research as well... he even had a new method for this kind of research. Fantastic. Basically throughout the course we did some 3D model making, sketching, research methods, and a crash course in storyboarding.
Haven't done much in the way of sight-seeing yet, but I always figured I'd be saving that to this weekend, now that the course is over. Laura and I have met up everyday after school as I mentioned, grabbing an overpriced bit to eat, then doing something afterwards. Monday night we caught a flick, also very ££. Tuesday we took in a play, Fool For Love, a short dramedy, starring Juliette Lewis and Martin Henderson (from The Ring and Bride and Prejudice aka the most beautiful man I've ever sat 4 rows away from). Enjoyed that a lot. Wednesday and Thursday we went to some rock shows at some Horseshoe sized venues, which was fantastic. I liked feeling a little less touristy. Actually, I fool people here sometimes, I have had people asking me directions when I am alone (somehow Laura and I look a little more lost when together I think). The bands were Fields, My Latest Novel, Palace Fires, and all the way from Tarana, Canader, The Meligrove Band. We thought about going up to them and being like "we came from Canada to follow you" but thought they wouldn't think we were as funny as we thought we were.
Today was the last day of my short course, and the day Laura left for Greg and Lorna's up North. Thus, Lindsay was left with little to do and £££ to burn. The shopping... oh the shopping. I have to keep stopping myself, as it gets very pricey and the tendency when one is on vacation is to disregard conversion rates. I wish we had shops like Monsoon and Evans in Canada. Actually, I just wish that every store in Canada had the flexibility of sizes that they have here. Tomorrow: there shall we sneakers, oh yes.
I'm not staying up late tonight, as tomorrow I have lots to hit. I'd like to get into the British Museum right when it opens, and get over to the two Tate Museums on the South Bank. Sunday I think I'll go to Portobello Road, Camden, and maybe the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden. Monday I'd like to devote my remaining hours to the Victoria and Albert (heavy on costume) then race up to Finsbury Park, grab my bags and head down to Paddington, where I'll train it down to Plymouth and be met by Mummy. The surreal thing about knowing that my time here is wrapping up, is knowing that I still have a week with my Mum! It will be vastly slower paced... but I look forward to that. Lots of walking on Dartmoor, seaside villages and evenings in the pub. Maybe find some fitnesses to snog. I'd look to pull, but with staying at my Mum's... hmm.
Till later....