Jul 28, 2004 9:59:45 PM

Okay, the options for theater in London on a Sunday is pretty limited. The grossest of the tourist oriented shows are on ("Stomp," "The Lion King," "When Harry met Sally," "Tonight's the Night" - "The Rod Stewart Musical!"); the best are not. However, there are several fringe shows that stand out in such thin company, such as "White Wedding" ("Set in London's club scene of the 1980s, two entrepreneurs both vie for the limelight!" - 4 PM) and "Soldiers/Soldaten" ("Looks at the contested history of Churchill's role in the saturation bombing of Hamburg during the latter stages of the Second World War," - 3:30 PM). However, I thought the most promising was "The Backpassages Of Spitalfields" (6:30, Sundays only) which looks like it basically tweaks the whole idea of the tourist walk, sort of like the overground tour of Seattle given long ago by Jason Rackerby of the Seattle Cacophony Society (alas no longer referenced on Anita's Book of Days).
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Jul 28, 2004 9:59:45 PM [Link]

Jul 26, 2004 11:23:16 AM

I'm having a hard time deciding what shows to see while we're in London. Fortunately, the New York Times has a list of shows that are up, but there are so many I can't figure out where to start. The review of Iphigenia at Aulis was pretty compelling, however, so I think it's a must. Neil Gaiman recommended "Jerry Springer the Opera" on his blog, and it looked pretty funny, so we're considering that although the ticket prices are quite steep. I also saw in a pop-up list of photos on the New York Times website a mention of a show called "Guantanamo - 'Honor Bound to Defend Freedom'," which sounded like just the kind of very political show I'm not having the opportunity to see here in the states, so I think I'm going to want to see that, too.

I've noticed the London TKTS office posts their offerings online ... that's sure to help! However, I'm not sure if I can get half price tickets to The Bolshoi or not, though ... they're doing a performance of "The Pharaoh's Daughter" and "Spartacus," two ballets I'd really be interested in seeing.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Jul 26, 2004 11:23:16 AM [Link]

Jul 22, 2004 10:48:47 PM

Friday June 25 (notes copied from my diary) - Today was a day of much learning. While out on our kayak tour, I discoverd, that the kelp with little fingery pockets is called "fucus." I learned the grass I saw in the tide pools yeseterday is called sea grass, and it and ell grass are two of only three flowering aquatic plants (maybe marine plants is correct). I learned that eagles make kind of a chittering noise to each other, and that the birds with the whistling trill I hear singing every time I come to the Pacific coast is called a winter wren. I'll have to look and see if the bird I hear singing from our room is a wren; it sings a little differently (no high trill on the end).

Yesterday was also a day of much learning. First, I learned the name of several different critters that had previously eluded me: the black slug, Arion Ater, "a cruelly destructive pest if ever was one;" salal, the evergreen plant with the strange white waxen florets; and sedum spathuliforum (broad leafed stone crop), the plant I saw growing in the park on Orcas Island.

I also discovered somewhat pedestrian but nonetheless interesting things. For example, Bamfield is divided into two sides, the west side being only accessible by boat. I also learned a lot of things about driving distrances. From Victoria to Port Renfrew (home of Botanical Beach and yesterday's tidepools) is 1 1/2 hours, not thirty minutes; and while Victoria to Bamfield via Lake Cowichan might be 3 1/2 hours, the route up the west coast of Vancouver Island via Port Alberni is more like five hours - or six.

I also learned some other things that I'm not sure we could have discovered unless we had actually done the trip. First, travelling from the US to Canada with a kitchen scale in a box doesn't sit well with the border guards. Second, at 7 PM the road to Port Alberni that goes through Cathedral Grove - which is the only road to Port Alberni - may close for periods of up to two hours (this summer at least). Fortunately it only closed for ten minutes when we were there. Finally, thanks to a rock whose aquaintance I cannot help but feel it was our destiny to make, we learned that it's possible tohave a tire or two shipped (literally) to even the most remote hamlet on the Vancouver Coast. Thanks to the schedule of the Lady Rose, it will even be here in time for us to make it back on Sunday (the boat goes to Ucluelet one day and Bamfield the other - another bith of newly aquired knowledge).

It seems like there's a lot of other stuff I could write about. Worthy Opponent and I have spent the last two hours on Brady's beach, looking at starfish clinging to rocks and anemones hiding in tidepools, eating the sandwiches (cheese, smoked tuna) our hostess at the West Coast Magic Bed and Breakfast packed for us, debating whether the tide was goign in or out and how high the high tide line is. It's 8:45 and we probably have another 45 minutes of sunlight. I love this time of year.

Is that a bear?
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Jul 22, 2004 10:48:47 PM [Link]

Jul 12, 2004 3:29:24 PM

There was a good article in the New York Times about carb consciousness and the American diet. The author's argument was carbs, schmarbs, Americans eat like pigs and shouldn't be surprised that they look like them. Actually, he wasn't quite that rude, but his point was valid. I've attached the text below.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Jul 12, 2004 3:29:24 PM [Link]

Jul 2, 2004 5:38:34 PM

I finally got through the last of three Real videos on the LA Times' story about the recent recreation of Ed Rickett's and John Steinbeck's journey to the Sea of Cortez. I'm going to stick the story up here - the text - so I can read it at my leisure later.

URLs for audio/video: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/cortez/la-cortez061604one-rm,1,1460420.realvideo?coll=la-home-headlines
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/cortez/la-cortez061604two-rm,1,997091.realvideo?coll=la-home-headlines
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/cortez/la-cortez061604three-rm,1,3924405.realvideo?coll=la-home-headlines
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Posted by webcowgirl @ Jul 2, 2004 5:38:34 PM [Link]