Travelling Solo During the Holidays Kinda Sucks

Since today is Christmas, here’s a depressing post about what it’s like travelling during the holidays.

I don’t usually get the holiday blues. In fact, my usual attitude towards Christmas is a mix of Scrooge and Linus; I don’t like all the hype that surrounds it. But this year it kind of got to me, for various reasons.

First of all, the holiday season is all about being happy and with family and all that nonsense. I’m solitary by nature and not really given to that kind of sentimentality. This year I think it pushed me over the edge.

I think the main reason was the fact that I was alone for the majority of the time. I’ve been travelling solo, which is great because you can do what you want, but it sometimes does get lonely. As a result, I’m not that close to people here, and my home friends are together and far away from me. And then there’s also my family, but they’re pretty far as well. And on top of all that, I just said goodbye to my friends in Scotland and am missing them a lot.

I’m stuck in a kind of limbo where I don’t want to leave my friends here, but I really want to see my friends back home. It makes it pretty hard to be alone because then I’m missing both groups, and with anyone because I’m missing someone.

And it’s starting to hit me that it’s going to be a while until I am home again, since I’m travelling in January. Which is sad, because that’s where I really want to be now.

Having said all that, I know that this is also a passing thing that will leave once the holidays are over. I’d be surprised if I don’t get my energy back and get back into the swing of things past New Years, it’s hard to be sad when you know that there’s a whole world out there to see.

So merry Christmas and happy holidays in your respective language/culture, but also pour one out for those poor souls that are alone and feel pressured to be happy when they aren’t. Because you’re never alone. <3

This is Iceland

I took a couple days after finals to go on my last solo trip. This time it was to Reykjavik, Iceland. What would have been a more cost-effective way to go about this would have been to do one of the free stopovers that Icelandair offers on the journey home. Unfortunately, my dad already got a non-refundable return ticket for my sister, and my parents weren’t about to let me ditch her and stop at Iceland by myself on the way back from our January adventures, so I had to fly solo and on my own time for this one. I didn’t mind, I’ve come to really enjoy travelling by myself.

Iceland is an amazing, beautiful country. It’s one of the top places that I’ve visited so far, and one of the few where I could actually see myself living there. I’m not quite sure why, a mixture of the people being so friendly and the culture being fascinating I guess. I’d love to go back and spend more time and money there, haha.

I flew out from Glasgow last Sunday, and arrived in Reykjavik around 6. Navigating my way from the BSI bus terminal to my hostel was interesting, but I managed. Transportation in Reykjavik is a little different as there isn’t a subway system, it’s just buses. So if you have the money and the need, renting a car is probably the most convenient way to go. (However you can make it just by walking, as I will describe shortly.) Since vehicles are the most common mode of transport, it often seems like you’re just walking along the side of a highway instead of in a city, which can be a little strange. Stuff is also really expensive in Iceland, similar to other Scandinavian countries. Thankfully most places take credit cards, and you can find dinner for around $20 if you know where to look.

On Monday I started my day by visiting Hallgrimskirkja, Reykjavik’s most impressive church. (Note: the sun doesn’t really rise in Reykjavik in December until around 11 am so 9 am looks pretty similar to 12 pm.) The inside didn’t impress me as much as the outside, but there is a pretty cool organ. You can pay to get up to the top of the tower, but I wasn’t interested in that. There’s a free way to get a pretty good view of Reykjavik from high up that I’ll describe later. After that I headed into the city center, and walked along Tjornin Lake/Reykjavik Pond (I saw it called both) for a bit. The lake (or pond) was frozen over, but there’s one corner near city hall that didn’t have ice, and that’s where all the geese and swans congregated for bread. Quite the sight. I walked past that to the University Library, which is a really cool building before you even go in. There’s a small moat-like thing around it, and the inside is nice with a pretty good view as well. Then I walked back to the Parliament building for the free CityWalk walking tour done by local history students. I can’t recommend this enough, it’s a great tour, Eric was a great guide and very friendly! Definitely do this if you’re in Reykjavik! After that I walked past the Yule town nearby. It’s tiny and cute, you can go ice skating for a small fee. In addition to this, there are a few Christmas creatures hidden around the city. They’re the Yule Lads, or Iceland’s 13 Santa Claus equivalents, one for each day of advent. There’s 5 hidden around the city, and spotting them wasn’t hard but a lot of fun. I then checked out the Reykjavik Art Museum, which is spread out between 3 buildings. It’s not that expansive of a collection, and the buildings are kind of far if you’re walking, but was a neat way to spend the afternoon (and admission isn’t too bad either). There’s also the photography collection in the city library next to the art museum that’s free!

The next day I started off by going to one of the public pools in the city, Sundhollin. This one is the oldest in Reykjavik, but also only has outdoors hot tubs with an indoor pool. Still a cool experience, and they’re building an outdoors pool so that will soon change. It was essentially me and a bunch of locals going for a dip before work, which was really interesting. There was also a small device to dry your bathing suit and a hair dryer! A really great way to start the day! (You can go to the Blue Lagoon, but this is a fraction of the cost and essentially the same, all of the pools are geothermally heated and everything. Only difference is that Blue Lagoon is natural while these are manmade.) Afterwards I went to the Saga Museum because Vikings. This was a neat museum, although I might have gotten more out of it if I already knew more about Icelandic history. Essentially they built statues and models to illustrate the more important and exciting parts of Iceland’s history, which looks really cool, but is kind of disjointed if you don’t already have a general sense of what Iceland’s history is. Afterwards you can dress up as a Viking, which I did (got a few strange looks too, but I don’t care). Another museum I checked out is the Einar Jonsson Museum. The museum itself costs money, but the sculpture garden is open 24/7 and looks really cool, so I walked around that for a bit. Finally I went on a long walk to Perlan, a restaurant a little outside the city. The food itself is expensive, but it has a 365 degree view around it, and on a clear day you can see mountains and all the buildings and it is absolutely gorgeous. I was stunned. Having finished that long walk, I took an even longer one to Ellidaardalur, a park even farther outside the city. It has gorgeous waterfalls and rivers, but it was really ice-y so I couldn’t walk around too much.

That night the Northern Lights were supposed to be pretty active, so I thought I’d try my luck at seeing them on my own. I walked down to the Grotto lighthouse, in the Seltjarnes area. I didn’t see anything that night, but I talked to others who did. I don’t know, try it if you get the chance! I also did one of the bus tours (with Sterna) the next night, had similar luck, but I don’t think there’s huge difference between the two. The nice thing about the tour was that I didn’t have to walk far, and they take you farther away from the city so the sky has less light pollution. Try a bus tour early on in your trip, since you get a free voucher for another one if you don’t see the Northern Lights.

Wednesday was my third and last full day, so I had already booked a glacier walk with Icelandic Mountain Guides. It was a great way to spend the day, the bus picks you up at your lodgings and takes you out to the glacier. The driver tells some tales along the way, to keep you awake and interested, and the guides at the glacier were incredibly friendly. I didn’t have hiking boots or waterproof pants with me, and I was fine, they didn’t charge me extra to borrow boots or anything. And you get some awesome pictures, the views are spectacular from the glacier. (Literally if you like the Scottish highlands you will love this.) Our guide said that it’s estimated that the glaciers in Iceland will have melted in 150 years at the rate that they’re going, so check your energy consumption and try to see one as soon as you can! There were even two stops on the way back at some waterfalls that had a magnificent view of the sunset.

Then the next day I had to get up and get back to BSI to catch my plane. And that was the end of my arctic adventure. The weather really put Glasgow in perspective, at least I wasn’t slipping on ice everywhere in Scotland. I loved it in Iceland, it’s a gorgeous place and the people are great. The literacy and education rates are ridiculous, and I didn’t see anyone on the streets during my entire time there. It’s also a very feminist and liberal country, with gender equality much better than many other places in the western world and a huge pride festival in August. I loved it. The different language is also fascinating to listen to, Icelandic sounds musical and lovely. And nearly everyone there speaks Icelandic, English, and Danish, which seems ridiculous to my American only-English-speaking brain. And the ability to hear Icelandic while still interacting with people in English is remarkable.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the food a little. The candy in Iceland is really different and cool! Icelandic people really like licorice and chocolate, so it’s pretty common to get a random candy bar that includes both. There’s also Skyr, the not-yogurt-but-no-one-cares snack in Iceland. It has ridiculous levels of protein and no fat or something like that. Tasted pretty similar to yogurt to me. The main delicacies of the country are fish and lamb. The fish of course is always freshly caught and delicious, especially the salmon. Then there’s the more traditional dish of fermented shark. I tried a little, it didn’t taste too bad, expect for the funny aftertaste. (For people worried about the environmental impact, as far as I know Iceland is pretty good about stuff like that, but it doesn’t hurt to do your research beforehand! Investigate the restaurant and the fishing practices before buying!) The lamb is also very special in Iceland because they roam around the farmland freely, eating any plants or herbs that happen to be around. This means that they’re essentially marinating their entire lives, and gives them a unique taste. The more traditional dishes include half a sheep head and ram’s testicles. I didn’t have the testicles, but the café in BSI is apparently the only place in Reykjavik where you can get the sheep’s head, so I had that and is was definitely an experience. Tasted pretty good, but the fact that you were cutting the meat off of an animal’s face was interesting. Also Scandinavia seems to have a fascination with hot dogs? Reykjavik has the famous hot dog stand near the harbor, but you can also get more fancy ones in most restaurants. I had both, and they were both delicious!

So that’s Iceland, essentially real life Berk. I don’t know why, but I really jived with the place, definitely want to return again someday, hopefully for longer. I can see why people want to leave, there are tourists everywhere and it’s just an island in the middle of the Atlantic. But it has an amazing, fascinating culture, great people, and tons of things to do and see. I personally couldn’t get enough of it, and fully intend to return and experience more of it.

“How to Train Your Dragon” the Book Series

I really really love the movie “How to Train Your Dragon”, but I’m also insanely in love with the book series that the movie is based on as well. They are two completely different things, essentially, but they are both clever and cute in their own way. This is me giving a little bit of love to the book series.

Now there are several differences between the book and the movie, so once again, don’t expect them to be the same thing. Think of them as two distinct stories and it’ll all be ok.

The charm of the book series is the quirkiness of it. Here’s a story about a skinny kid named Hiccup who is a very un-Vikingish Viking and has to someday rule his tribe of the Hairy Hooligans. His best friend, Fishlegs, is another skinny kid with asthma and eczema. During the first book, both boys get their hunting dragons. Hiccup chooses Toothless, a very very small green common dragon with a lot of rudeness and sass. Fishlegs gets Horrorcow, and I don’t think I need to explain how un-terrifying of a dragon she is.

The two boys eventually meet Camicazi, a Bog-Burglar from a neighboring tribe who becomes friends with them. Camicazi is a great female character, and is more often than not the character getting the other two out of the trouble that they have inevitably gotten themselves into.

The entire story is chock full of warrior women, such as Hiccup’s mother who is off Questing while Hiccup’s dad looks after him. It’s wonderful.

Of course, shenanigans ensue. But the beauty of this story is the sheer mediocrity of the main characters. It is emphasized again and again that Hiccup really isn’t Hero material. And yet despite all of the odds against him, he manages to go on these adventures and outwit these dragons and pull it off. It shows what an ordinary kid can do. You don’t need to be a hero to save the world, you just have to be you.

There’s 12 books in the series, and the final one just recently came out! (I still need to get my hands on a copy.)

It’s a wonderful series, very entertaining and rewarding to read. You don’t even have to be a kid to enjoy it, I’m in college and I get a kick out of it! Since the next movie isn’t coming out until 2018, go read these to hold you over until then!

Oh and I heard that the books and the movies will eventually end up at the same place, so it is kind of cool to read two different methods of getting there.

Just go read about the dragons please, I love this quirky, amusing series too much to adequately express it here.

“Loamhedge” by Brian Jacques

It’s funny, I can remember when this book first came out as the most recent in the series.

Anyways, this book evokes a lot of “Mattimeo”, which is pretty nice actually, since that one is one of my favorites. It’s also one of the more familiar books since it’s one of the three to be made into an animated series. Examples of this are during the summer games at the beginning. Saro wins by jumping to the top of the pole, which is exactly what Sam does in “Mattimeo”. There’s also the same walltop race from “Taggerung”.

The main example of a throwback to “Mattimeo” is that the quest to find Loamhedge covers directly over the same path that Matthias took in that story. So landmarks are the same and all that. It also shows how they have changed over the years, with the Lord of Mossflower falling over. The Badger and the Bell remain though.

And of course, the Abbey is being attacked, same as “Mattimeo”. Same as most books really.

Now the reason why this journey to Loamhedge was undertaken was that Martha is a young hare who has been in a wheelchair her whole life. (Note the fact that this series deals with ableism quite well.) She has a dream that a mouse from Loamhedge, who also couldn’t walk but then was mysteriously healed, could help her. Therefore, an otter and a squirrel decide to go and find out what this cure is.

The resolution of this is actually very nice. I don’t want to give it away, but it works out very well. (Although we never do really find out the secret from Loamhedge…)

One nice touch is that the poem that sent them on their way to Loamhedge only mentioned two beasts, the otter and the squirrel. However, three Redwallers sneak off and join them. And it’s fine. Shows how the poems and such don’t have absolute control over the actions in the story, haha!

And a new tribe of shrews is mentioned here, the Guoraf shrews. I wonder if the Guosim turned into them, or if they’re entirely separate?

There’s so much more information that I wish I had about this series, sometimes I don’t think the stories really do it all justice.

50th Anniversary of Rubber Soul

We take a break from our regularly scheduled nonsense to bring you this important announcement: today marks 50 years since the Beatles' album "Rubber Soul" came out.

This is quite an important album, and is often ranked as one of the best (both ever and for the Beatles). It marks the first album where they really started to depart from just run-of-the-mill rock and roll and into more experimental stuff. It also includes only original songs, no covers, which was still unusual for groups in the 60s (even though the Beatles had already done that with "A Hard Day's Night").

The sitar is introduced on this album and is included for the first time ever in Western music into a pop song. The song is "Norwegian Wood", and of course George Harrison is playing it. This is a great indicator of where the Beatles would take their music next, as George got more interested in Eastern music and philosophy. Songs like "Nowhere Man" and "Girl" show how far John Lennon has come with song writing, and are great examples of how different the Beatles started to sound now. And there's also "In My Life", which is a song that's responsible for many tears. Paul McCartney is contributing songs like "You Won't See Me" and "I'm Looking Through You" (but overall I would say that John dominated this album). George even contributed "Think For Yourself", a rather harsh song but pretty catchy. And then there's the harsh-but-catchy song to dominate them all: "Run For Your Life". Really John? Ringo also gets to sing on "What Goes On", and he sounds good! People always assume that Ringo is the weak link of the group, but I'll literally fight them on that, Ringo is a good singer! This album also has pastiche songs, or songs where they would imitate other genres. Most notable is Paul's "Michelle", an imitation of a French chanson.

I could go on about this album for a very long time, but I won't, I'll just leave it with the fact that it's one of my favorites and has a lot of my favorite songs on it and go give it a listen in honor of its anniversary, please.

Fighting Terrorists in Belgium

So last weekend my roommate and I travelled to Brussels, Belgium and kicked the crap out of a few terrorists. Just kidding, we had a fairly uneventful weekend really. My parents were freaking out though.

I got in on Friday night and walked around a little, checked out the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, which is a neat looking cathedral. It was also raining a little, so I headed to my hostel pretty quick. 

The next day I walked through Le Botanique, which is really pretty, I would highly recommend it. You wouldn’t expect it to be so nice since it’s in the middle of a city, but I just walked around the garden and was pretty happy. Then I looked at the inside of the cathedral, which was also very nice. Nothing incredibly special, but a good-looking church. After that, I met up with my roommate in Brussels Park, which is a small but quaint park, and we walked down to Parc du Cinquentenaire. It’s a pretty long walk, and it was raining/snowing the whole way so we arrived cold and wet. We got lunch while we were there, didn’t go into any of the museums beyond the lobby of the car one though. Get the hot chocolate, they serve it as hot milk with chocolate on a stick, it’s great.

Afterwards, we walked back and saw the Galleries St. Hubert. We managed to find decently priced macaroons and speculoos, a Belgium biscuit, inside. Then we did the rounds of the peeing stature, Jeanneke Pis, Zinneke Pis, and Mannekin Pis. There are a ton of waffle places near Mannekin Pis, it’s great.

Then we decided to take the train into Brugges. This was a nice contrast, Brugges is known as “the Venice of the North” because of its narrow streets and canals. We got there while the Christmas concert was happening, so we were very happy and got fries and fried bananas. The stalls also had some really nice trinkets for sale. Other highlights are the City Theatre with its statue of Papageno out front, and the Minnewater Park.

The next day we wanted to go to the Musical Instrument Museum, but all the museums were closed due to the threats going on. So we wandered around Grand Place instead, and bought a ton of chocolate to bring back with us. Then we headed back to Scotland.

I really liked Belgium, it has very nice food which is always a plus. And people told me that since Brussels is a political city it isn’t that interesting, but I liked wandering around checking out all the comic strip themed public art. Pairing it with Brugges was a great idea because it gave a bit of contrast as well.

That’s my last trip for a while, as I need to get through finals now. Ugh.

Munich: Beer and Currywurst

Last weekend I went on a short trip to Munich! It was my first time going to Germany, and I was freaking out a little about the language barrier and all that. It ended up fine though, most people know at least a little English, so with my few phrases that I learned from a YouTube video before flying out I made it along just fine!

I got to Munich late on Friday, and then on Saturday had a full day of touristy things planned. First I went to the Frauenkirche, Munich’s most iconic church. I quite liked the outside, with the towers in front. The inside was mostly meh though. To contrast, there’s the Asamkirche, right down the road from the Marienplatz, or the center of town. It looks like it’s just part of the road, but when you enter there are intricate statues and marble everywhere! It’s a gorgeous church, and I like it much more than the Frauenkirche. After that I went back to the Marienplatz to see the glockenspiel go off around midday. I went up to the top of the bookstore across the street, which gave me a really nice view. The glockenspiel mimes two stories from Germany’s history, the first one is where this couple are getting married, and involves two knights jousting (the Bavarian one wins of course). The second is based on a story how way back in the day during the plague men would dance down the street to cheer up the locals. It’s reenacted every seven years or so (I think the next one is in 2019). That was crowded, but well worth it since the glockenspiel was pretty cool to watch!

After that I headed down the road to the Viktualienmarkt, the local food market. People said that it was pricey, but I shopped around a little and managed to find some cheap eats. I would definitely recommend grabbing some currywurst (basically a hot dog with sauce and fries), a bretzel (German pretzel), and a beer in the biergarten. Once I finished lunch, I walked down to see the Munich Residentz, the royal palace. It costs money to enter, so I didn’t, but the garden behind it is very nice and the building is pretty impressive. After that I went to the Alte Pinakothek, an art museum. When I went half of it was being renovated, which was a bit of a letdown, but the ticket was cheaper so that’s nice. It has mostly works by old European masters, which was interesting but not really my style so much. Still, it’s a nice museum.

Then I walked through the English garden. It’s a gorgeous place, and enormous! There’s also people surfing at this permanent wave formed by a bridge in Eingang, very neat to watch. Then I crossed the River Isar to see the Angle of Peace, a stunning statue. I had heard that there was another food market at Wienerplatz, but it was a bit of a disappointment because only one shop was open. Maybe I went on a slow day or something, but don’t expect anything like the Viktualienmarkt. I headed back to the hostel after that, stopping for some schnitzel (basically a chicken cutlet) and a doner kebap (a sandwich with Middle Eastern influences). Both were delicious, I was very happy!

I then had to leave the next morning, which was sad as I didn’t get the chance to see the Dauchau concentration camp just outside of town. But Munich was lovely, the streets are all quaint and gorgeous, and just being in Germany listening to people speak a language I didn’t understand was incredible! I am very glad that I went. 

(I Am)sterdam

Last weekend I went to Amsterdam! It was incredible! Despite the fact that I adore the UK and Scotland, I fell in love with that city. The way my travels worked out included taking an 8 am flight back to Scotland on Monday morning, so I had the Monday from hell and didn’t have time to write about it last weekend. (Seriously my Monday involved quietly getting out of the hostel at 4:30 am and then taking a train, plane, and a bus back to Glasgow in time for class where I had to act like my life was together enough to be dissecting a cadaver in anatomy. It was the longest Monday I think I’ve ever had.)

Anyways so I got to Amsterdam on Friday night, and it was an incredible first impression. I got a little lost in the Red Light District, but surprisingly enough no one bothered me at all. And it was interesting to see that side of the city as well. I eventually made it to De Oude Kerk, and then from there to the National Monument and Royal Palace. From there it was pretty easy to find my hostel. After checking in, I decided to check out the nightlife. Turns out that where I was staying (Amsterdam Hostel Orfeo) is right in the middle of a pretty bustling area since it’s next to the Liedseplein, a square with a bunch of shops in it. There’s a really cool jazz club, Jazz Café Alto, right down the road that I’d recommend.

Oh yes and the coffeeshops. That’s where you can buy marijuana really easily. You can get pre-rolled joints or by the gram. If you go for the pre-rolled, then there’s either ones with tobacco or a “pure weed” joint. Be careful, weed there is stronger than in the states. There’s also space cakes, pro tip, don’t eat the whole damn thing, those take a few hours to go through your system and you don’t want to overdo it. It’s a pretty cool atmosphere inside the coffeeshops though, maybe check one out just for that.

Another pro tip: bikers are everywhere, watch out while you’re walking! (Especially after visiting a coffeeshop.)

Then on Saturday I started off my going to the Max Euplein square, which also has some nifty shops. Afterwards I walked to Begijnhof, which is this tiny square that dates from the 18^th century and is a great place to get away from the bustle of the city. It’s also free to walk around in! Then I headed to the Bloemenmarkt, a floating flower market! There weren’t any flowers in bloom, since it’s November, but it was still a pretty sight. After that I walked to the Hotel Droog, this quirky interior design store. From what I understand, there are Droogs all over Amsterdam where you can look at the furniture, they’re pretty cool. Another market in the area is the Waterlooplein market. This one is mostly clothes, objects, and food, a great place to wander around. One other tourist destination is the Magere Brug, or the skinny bridge. I didn’t think it was that special, the canals and bridges look gorgeous all over the city. Finally there’s the Albert Cryup market, in the southern part of the city. Also clothes and food, this one seemed a bit more lively than the Waterlooplein market, but they’re both excellent really. And that’s just down the road from Vondelpark, a gorgeous and huge park that’s wonderful to walk around in.

Sunday then started off with the Anne Frank Huis. You have to pay for all of the museums in Amsterdam, so I decided to just go for one. (The Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum look excellent as well.) Get there early as the queue can get very long. Other than that, it’s a wonderful museum, really brings a different perspective to Anne Frank and her story. The Anne Frank Huis is just next door to the Jordaan district, which is filled with interesting little artsy shops and beautiful houses. I then spent the afternoon in Noord Amsterdam, since taking the ferry behind Centraal Station is free! There’s not much in Noord Amsterdam besides the Eye film museum, but still nice to see a more residential area. Also they say that you have to pay to get into the Eye museum, but if you walk in and go downstairs you don’t need to pay to see their 360 degree theater and video pods down there.

Then Monday was just get up and go, so that was my weekend in Amsterdam.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the food though. The Dutch cheese is amazing, seriously if you need a snack walk into a cheese shop and sample a few. I mean, if you’re spending a ton of time there then buy something, but it’s cool to just walk in and sample a few and then leave. The pancakes are also amazing! Buy a ton of their mini pancakes, poffertjes, since they are the best thing I ate all weekend. And raw herring is a bit of a specialty, so grab some of that in a market. Stroofwaffles are also a specialty, they’re two waffles with caramel between them and sometimes chocolate spread on top. There are also these stores called FEBO all over the city. It’s similar to a vending machine, and most of the options are basically fried gravy. It’s an interesting experience, if nothing else.

I would definitely 2195678463% recommend visiting Amsterdam, it was an amazing weekend for me and I fell in love with the canals, people, and food there. Ugh, I want to go back so badly, but on to the next adventure!

“Taggerung” by Brian Jacques

I think of this story as the counterpart to “Outcast of Redwall”. In that tale, a weasel (I think, a vermin species anyways) is brought up at Redwall and then proceeds to prove that he is still a jerk. In this tale, an otter is brought up in a clan of vermin and hen proves that he is still good and eventually returns to Redwall.

It gives more of an insight into different tribes in the Redwall universe, such as the otters and the Juska clans of villains. Which is pretty cool, since previously we had more insight into the Guosim shrews than the otters. The vermin no one really cares about.

Abbess Song is mentioned a lot, but really the only character from previous books is Lady Cregga, who is still kicking as the badger of Redwall. She’s awesome.

Really the only aspect of the plot that I had an issue with was that at the end a clan of vermin come to attack Redwall again. And then Russano and his gang of hares show up and basically conveniently drive them off. There isn’t even a battle. How quaint.

So that’s a little too convenient for my liking, but the rest of the story mostly involves small gangs of characters running around, not large armies, which is an interesting change.

One thing I did expect more of was Fwirl’s mother. Fwirl tells her story, and then Tagg meets her mother in the forest, but then that plot line isn’t brought into it any further. It would have been nice to have another family reunion or something like that.

And then there’s something about both this story and “Outcast of Redwall” that bothers me. Jacques never shows that the characters are capable of changing. Sure, someone like Cregga can go from being a bloodthirsty warrior to a creature of peace, but hey never go from bad to good or good to bad. Their basic nature is set from day 1. And if you are a stoat, then you’re a horrible little creature, but if you are a mouse, then you’re a hero. It doesn’t seem fair or accurate to life. (Of course, a better way to put it would be to say that if you’re good you’re a mouse and if you’re bad you’re a stoat, but once again, why can’t this be changed?)

But this is also a series of kids’ books, so I’m probably looking at it too intensely. Being too black-and-white is something that a lot of children’s series do.

The Empowerment of Travel

I was pretty freaked out before travelling on my own. It was my first time taking a plane by myself, and my first time staying in a hostel. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I thought that I had done all of the preparation that I could. All that was left was to see what would happen.

And it ended up being fine! I did good! Not everything was perfect, obviously things go wrong when you travel, but I dealt with it well and it all turned out ok.

It was a huge confidence boost, because here I am, really and truly out on my own, and managing to deal with everything. And it was all so much easier than I expected. You think that without someone else, that little safety net of having a second opinion, that you would fall apart somewhere and get hopelessly derailed. But really, all of life is preparation for doing things like this. And if something goes wrong, there is always a reasonable solution that is logical. It isn’t that hard to figure out where you’re going on a foreign subway system, and strangers are usually helpful and can point you in the right direction.

Another aspect of it is the fact that I was backpacking for a weekend. You always think “oh I need to bring this with me, and that’s essential it has to come too” but when it comes down to it, you really don’t need any of those things. You can literally stuff the 5-6 most important things in a bag, and just get up and go anywhere. That realization is pretty powerful, because after that you don’t have an excuse to not be travelling wherever you want. It opens so many doors.

So those are realizations that I came to, but I can’t just tell you and you’ll understand them, you have to go out and experience it for yourself to really internalize it. So go, get up and out that door! It doesn’t have to be anywhere special, take the bus to the next town over and stay a night. It’s empowering and such a nice change from the everyday.

Haha, I think I’ve got the travel bug now. Here we go!

Posting Pictures on Facebook is Really Annoying

I’ve never exactly been the kind of person that posts excessively on Facebook. I really only ever post when I want to do the yearly update of my profile picture to keep up appearances, or when I’m in a show and have to do the obligatory “come see me!” post. Other than that the internet gets nothing from me.

But now that I’m abroad I feel obliged to post some pictures of my adventures, if only so that my mom gets off my back about whether I’m making the most of this trip or not. And I’m finding it really annoying. It’s not so much the posting of the pictures, that I don’t care about, it’s the choosing which pictures to post that’s starting to get to me. I’m finding myself going through photos that were all lovingly taken, and only selecting ones that I think will get likes. Or going through and not putting up any pictures with me in it, since I don’t want to seem too narcissistic. Or going through and thinking “is this important enough to put up on Facebook?” and then discarding all of the ones not of famous monuments.

I guess we’ve hit that point where everything is now under inspection from other people, even our own memories. Because honestly, if I’m not sticking it on Facebook, I’m not going to show the photos to anyone else. Which is sad, because that means that I’m only showing what I think that other people will like instead of what I like about my trip.

Not that it’s that much different from other aspects of life. I’m probably not going to tell that many people about aspects of my trip that I don’t think they’ll enjoy, but it’s still strange to see that manifest in yet another part of our lives. Because you always think that the parts of your life that you like would take priority over what other people like about your trip, and here’s the proof that it’s really the other way around.

Anyways, that’s my rant about the awkwardness of Facebook over with. I guess this just proves that I should be posting on Facebook less often and need to return to my original game plan. Just once I stick this last batch up so that Mom knows I made it to London…

London Calling

Apologies again for the late post, but this weekend I went to London! What a fun time.

It’s really cheap to get to London from Glasgow with Ryanair, my flight cost like 40 pounds I think (I bought it a while ago so I don’t fully remember). And once you land there’s a Stanstead express to get you from the airport to the city center. Kind of pricey, but probably the best way to go. Also a word about the London Underground, the stations are split into zones numbered 1-9. If you only want to take one ride on the subway, use the select destination option on the machine. If not, then get an off-peak day pass. Or get an oyster card, because it’s much cheaper to use an oyster card than anything else in London. It’s a pretty strange subway system, I didn’t fully understand it my first time and got the wrong ticket.

The first thing I did was head to Abbey Road to see the crosswalk and the studios. The studios themselves are pretty cool, not much to see other than the wall with graffiti all over it. The crosswalk is in the middle of an actual road, so be careful if you want a picture while crossing it. And whenever the cars honk at the tourists people cheer, it’s pretty funny. I would recommend not getting a picture because that isn’t even the crosswalk that they used (they had to move it) and then you aren’t a jerk. On a similar note, Paul’s old London home, 9 Cavendish Rd, is around the corner, but there’s nothing to mark it really. He still owns it though, so maybe you could creep on him or something?

Nearby there’s the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker St. Didn’t go inside, but the outside is pretty cool as well.

After that I headed to the British Museum. It’s a bit of a walk, but totally worth it for this museum. There’s a little bit of everything here, mostly artifacts from ancient civilizations and the like. I tried to do a “best of” run through and ended up seeing most of the rooms. Either do that or pick a few rooms to go over in detail, because there’s no way anyone can handle more than that.

The National Gallery isn’t too far away from there. It’s smaller and has a whole bunch of really cool art. Lots of medieval, Dutch, and French paintings in particular. And like all the other museums in London, the building itself is a work of art.

After that I walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Also a kind of long walk, there’s probably an easier way to get there but I’m cheap. I just looked at the outside, but still very pretty. Then I walked to the Tower of London. This is a pretty long walk, maybe wouldn’t recommend. But the London Monument is on the way, if you’re into that. There isn’t much to the London Monument. The Tower of London is pretty cool to look at, and the Tower Bridge is right next to it. There’s also a bunch of vendors around if you need a snack. I crossed the Tower Bridge, and got a very nice view of the Thames River. Then on the other side I basically walked back to where the Globe Theater is across from St. Paul’s. The Globe Theater is great, I wanted to see a show there but they were sold out, which was disappointing.

Then there’s the Tate Modern just around the corner. This is where all the strange modern art is kept, so be prepared for weird. It’s also open until 10 pm on Friday and Saturday, so that’s exciting if you’ve got a busy itinerary (like me).

After my second dose of art, I walked down by the riverside to the London Eye. It’s pretty cool to see it up close, most pictures are from far away. You can also get a great view of Big Ben from across the river here. I then crossed the Westminster Bridge to see Big Ben up close, and the London Eye from far away. Big Ben is also right on Parliament Square, so the Parliament building and Westminster Abbey are super close.

After all that walking I was exhausted so I just headed to the hostel and passed out. It was my first experience in a hostel, and I have to say I really didn’t mind it. It’s just the basics, but it involves a place to sleep, free wifi, and free breakfast so I’m happy.

The next morning I headed off around 8:30 to Buckingham Palace. It was nice to see London in the morning, much less cars around. And the monument in front of the Palace is just as nice as the building. Then the Wellington Arch is on the way to Hyde Park, which is pretty convenient. Hyde Park is huge, I just wandered around and looked at whatever seemed interesting at the time. Definitely walk along the river, there seems to be a hearty population of swans around. And at the end of it there’s the Italian gardens with a few fountains that are all really nice.

I went to the Natural History museum after that. Warning: while this museum is interesting for all ages, it’s crawling with small kids, so prepare yourself. Also get there early so there isn’t a long wait for the dinosaurs exhibit.

After all that, it was time for me to head back to the airport and Glasgow. On the way, I did stop at King’s cross to see Platform 9 ¾. There’s usually a long wait to get your picture taken there, so plan ahead if you know you want to do that. And there’s a store right next to it, for all your Harry Potter needs. I went to see the real one, but it’s not nearly as interesting as the fake one.

And back to Scotland! London was definitely a cheap and fun way to spend the weekend.

In comparison to Liverpool, it’s definitely a bigger city with much more to do in it, and more spread out. But Liverpool is less international, so it feels more like England I think. Getting to see both cities I think was definitely a good idea, you get to see both its capital and another city, which gives you a better idea of the country as a whole.

Liddypool: A Bit More Than a Beatles Pilgrimage

Apologies for the later than usual post, but I went down to Liverpool this weekend and knew that I was going to want to write a post about it when I got back. It was a wonderful time, and much more than I expected. I somehow managed to get my friend to go with me, and she’s more of a casual Beatles fan, so I was a little worried that I would scare her off but we seem to still be friends.

First of all, getting to Liverpool from Glasgow is incredibly easy. The train is great, even though it isn’t direct, but it’s still only a few hours of a ride. Beatles fans in the UK have it so easy. Liverpool in general is pretty easy to navigate, all through the city center are sign posts directing you to various landmarks so it’s hard to get very lost.

We arrived on Friday night, and the first thing we did was head to the Museum of Liverpool on the Pier Head since nearly all of the museums close at 5 pm. The Museum of Liverpool is a relatively recent museum, it didn’t open until 2012 I think. It’s really awesome, it takes you through the history of Liverpool, from ancient until modern times. There’s also a section on the city’s relationship with China, and how globalization has affected their culture. It is a port city, so many cultures come through and settle here. And of course, there’s information about the music and sports scene on the top floor. Many music groups other than the Beatles came from Liverpool, the Wombats, Nick Fury, Cilla Black, and others got their start in the Liverpool music scene.

After that, we walked up to the Cavern district to see the Cavern Club. The Club portion is a replica of the original, which closed in the 70s I think (don’t quote me on that). The original site is just down the road from there. On Fridays, it has free entry until 8pm (1pm on weekends). Fans have signed every inch of the walls, and the layout and the atmosphere seem the same as the original. Amazingly enough, we were there on John Lennon’s 75^th birthday (October 9, 2015), which was really something special. When we were there a guy was playing Beatles covers with a guitar, but I bet there’s always Beatles music playing in the Cavern Club. It’s a great place, really a must for Beatles fans. (Or even if you’re not, it seems like they are tapped into the local music scene and have some great gigs there.) There’s also a statue of John Lennon leaning against the wall that’s a popular picture spot. There’s another statue of the Beatles in a nearby mall as well. Across the road is the Cavern Pub. We figured that we’d get dinner there, but there really isn’t that much to eat. It’s essentially a smaller extension of the Cavern Club, not an essential stop.

The place we were staying at was near Penny Lane, so after checking in and getting settled we walked down to the famous Lane. Besides the park and the Beatles mural, there’s not much there, but it’s still nice to say that you’ve been there.

The next day, we headed to the Metropolitan Cathedral first. It’s the one that looks like a Death Star. It’s really nice on the inside, there’s a complex light fixture hanging from the wall and stained glass all around. You can also pay to see the crypt (we didn’t).

After that we went back to the Albert Dock to see more museums. First was the Merseyside Maritime Museum. This place is huge! You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about Liverpool’s ships, especially the warfare aspect of it. The third floor is the International Slavery Museum, which starts off with Liverpool’s participation in the slave trade, as they shipped the slaves back and forth, and ends with more contemporary effects of slavery. This includes the effects on the culture, and information about places where slavery still exists, unfortunately.

Then there was the Beatles Story. The main attraction for any Beatles fan! The Beatles Story is essentially a walk-through of the history of the Beatles, from their beginnings in Liverpool to Hamburg to the Cavern Club to the US to Sgt. Pepper to a Yellow Submarine to Abbey Road and beyond! While they have a lot of really cool artifacts, I expected it to have a little more about the Beatles I guess. While the Beatles are the driving force behind the museum and their presence is very much felt, you are mostly looking at the world around them instead of directly at them. At the beginning and end it has stuff about them personally, but other than that it’s mostly the objects around them and the places that they have been. Maybe I’m expecting a little too much, but while I saw some cool things I didn’t feel any closer to them. Still a great experience, would highly recommend for any Beatles fan.

Oh and that’s just the section on the Albert Dock. There’s a second section on the Pier Head that has an exhibit on the British Invasion, so other artists are shown here, and an exhibit with a bunch of rare photos of our favorite mop top group. And a 4D show, but honestly I would skip that. I mean, it’s free with your ticket and takes about 15 minutes, but I literally could not tell you the point of it or why it was there at all.

We wrapped up the day with the stunning Liverpool Cathedral. It’s absolutely gorgeous, the stained glass is so intricate and all over the walls, and the architecture is beautiful as well. Of the two main cathedrals in Liverpool, I think I liked this one the best.

For our last day, we started off with walking to Strawberry Field. It’s essentially a gate covered in graffiti. I liked it, having the fans’ thoughts as part of it I think really makes it something unique. A cute stop.

After that we walked to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes. We didn’t pay for the tour, of course, so we just got pictures of the outside. I would have gone to George Harrison and Richard Starkey’s homes as well, but they are farther away from each other and aren’t owned by the National Trust so it would be less interesting to see. What was pretty cool was how both Paul and John’s old homes are in actual neighborhoods with actual people trying to live their lives nearby. I can’t make up my mind whether I would love or hate to live near a Beatle’s old home.

It ended up being pretty good that we lived outside of the city, I don’t think I would have gone to see places like Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, or John and Paul’s homes otherwise. It was also nice to see the outskirts and what it looked like away from the city center.

When we went back into town we decided to check out a couple of Beatles shops first. There are three main ones: the fab4store attached to the Beatles Story, A Hard Day’s Night Shop near the Hard Day’s Night Hotel, and the Beatles Store down the road from the Cavern Club. All are going to be overpriced, so keep your expectations low. I think I liked the Beatles Shop the best, it has the nicest atmosphere and the cheapest t-shirts inside.

Finally we went to the Walker Art Museum. Brace yourself, there’s a lot in here. The ground floor has pottery and sculpture, while the first floor has art through the ages. There’s a lot of really cool stuff in here, definitely one of the better art museums that I’ve been through.

And that was my weekend in Liverpool! I’d do it again in a heartbeat, it was amazing. There really is so much stuff in Liverpool besides the Beatles; they have a booming culture scene that refuses to be overshadowed by the past. In general, it was a wonderful time, I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area to go see the wondrous place of Liddypool!

“Dragon” and the Power of Silence

So I don’t normally do this, but I saw this play tonight called “Dragon” at the Citizen’s Theatre in Glasgow and it was so amazing that I’m doing a review of it this week.

The performance starts with a death (classic). The rest of the story centers around Tommy, who is coping with his mother’s death when a giant dragon head appears outside his window. The kicker? There aren’t any lines. No one says a word until the very end.

There are so many different aspects of this production that I could comment on, so I’ll just examine a few.

There isn’t really a set per se, the pieces that make up Tommy’s world are moved around by the actors. Objects that get thrown are also moved by the actors, as well as the people when they get thrown around. On a similar note, all of the set and props pieces are incredibly detailed and intricately done. The kitchen table in the family’s kitchen has a ton of junk all over it. The fridge door has a light and several objects that are never even taken out of the fridge. Speaking as a props person, this was just beautiful.

The music is absolutely amazing. It fills up the emptiness from the lack of dialogue wonderfully well, and really puts you there with them. The recurring supernatural noises and small motifs immerse you in it so well. Add the fact that all the actors’ movements are lovingly choreographed to match it perfectly, and I’m drooling. All of the sound effects are in with it, and you just know that they rehearsed the heck out of that to get it perfect.

Then there’s the really important part. The enormous freaking dragon. Probably the main reason why I went to see this show, and you are not disappointed because it is one heck of a dragon. There are several dragon puppets, ranging from a head with a train to a full sized one with wings! They’re all different colors and seem to materialize out of the set (in some cases it literally does). Similar to the props notes above, the dragon is an amazing mechanical feat. It moves, breaths fire, and is remarkably dynamic. It is being clearly manipulated by the actors, so there isn’t any illusion here, but the puppets are remarkable enough that you probably aren’t going to care about that.

As far as the dragon as a symbol goes, I think that there’s a certain amount of ambiguity around here. If I was going to be pretentious, I would say that it’s the void Tommy’s mother left in physical form. But I’m not, so disregard that. The writer in the program even said that it’s just a dragon, and I think that’s my favorite interpretation.

I've tried to not discuss the plot so much (I mean you could also google the different stages of grief if you want a really basic summary) since it's not incredibly complicated or anything. But I think it's worth saying that everything works together so well to convey it that you don't miss the words at all. It really is a production of beauty.

Personal sidenote: Tommy is definitely asexual, I don’t even care that a girl flirts with him a little in the show, he’s got a dragon and is ace as hell and I love it. <3

This is such a well-done production, all of the different parts work together perfectly. It’s advertised in some places as a children’s show, but it really is great for all ages. The cast is amazing, the music is incredible, the set is intricate, and there’s a freaking dragon! What more could you want in a show?

Mindfulness in Music (or anything really)

So I’ve been having a bit of a stressful time recently, mostly brought on by trying to sort out my timetable at a new university and people not having their act together. It’s fine. Anyways, to cope with this I decided to just go practice my saxophone for a while. I had taken a week off for orientation, and then another because I couldn’t figure out the practice room situation, so it was actually a pretty long break for me.

But the thing is, once I got back into that room, I really listened to myself play. Usually I’m in a rush and just trying to get it over with or I’m just doing it out of habit or necessity. But this time I didn’t have anything in particular really to practice and was just there to kill some time, so I really just listened and fully absorbed what I was doing. And I actually liked it!

For once I was able to sit there and think “wow I actually sound decent”. It’s usually all about how to make the music sound better somehow, and very rarely about how good it currently sounds. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to continually strive for better things on your instrument, but every once in a while it’s also good to just appreciate the good aspects of your playing.

It made me realize how infrequently I do that to so many aspects of my life. I’m always focusing on improving, doing more, doing better. I never stop and think that I’m doing well, it’s always about the next thing. 

And I definitely think that taking a break from practicing for a short period of time helped with that. Because I was able to take a step back and just see what I could do after not playing for a while instead of assessing if I was better than the last time. Of course there’s a balance between not practicing for so long that you forget everything and just taking a quick break, and that’s up to the individual really.

Also I experienced this in connection to music, but I bet that it could apply to any number of things in life. Try taking a break from something and then return to it when you want to (not when you need to).

Naturally, this all connects to mindfulness and how beneficial that is. Keeping yourself in the moment without constantly thinking about the future and how much you have to improve before then is much less stressful. I find myself constantly out of touch with the present, thinking about lunch or what I have to do tomorrow, when I need to be present and in the moment. Because the moment’s going to pass without you having appreciated it, and then there goes your entire life. Staying in the moment and enjoying the music of the present is something that’s always difficult, but essential for a life well lived.

Adventure to Edinburgh!

So yesterday I went on a day trip to Edinburgh. It was really cool, and really gorgeous! So here's what I did, and some advice for people thinking of doing the same.

First of all, if you get the right tickets, Megabus has tickets for the bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh for 1 pound, which is ridiculously amazing. And that's also why I didn't get back until like 10pm, but more on that later.

Anyways, what's nice about the Edinburgh Bus Station is that it's pretty close to everything in the city. A short walk gets you to the Princes St gardens, which is central for most things. The National Galleries are right next to it, and entry to their permanent collection is free! (Pro tip: you are required to wear backpacks on your front or at your side, so prepare to rock the front-backpack look.)

Then a little way on is the Edinburgh castle. Tickets are hella expensive, so I'd recommend playing the how-far-can-I-get-without-paying game. You just aren't allowed under the portcullis, so you can get pretty far. Plenty of opportunities for cool shots.

After that, the National Museum of Scotland isn't too far off. Entry is also free, and they have a ton of stuff inside. There's two sections: the international and the Scottish. Check out both, because they're both awesome. Be sure to check out the roof as well, you get a great view of the city.

The National Museum is also in a really nice area, with tons of little shops and St. Giles Cathedral since it's near the old part of town. I went into The Elephant House, its claim to fame being where J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books. It was nice, and surprisingly not that crowded. Greyfriar's Bobby is also just down the street, which is a little statue of a dog that guarded his owner's grave for 15 years. Pretty cute.

I then walked back to the Princes St gardens to look at the Scott memorial. You can walk up to the top if you pay, and I did, but I don't think I'd recommend that to others. You get just as nice of a view from the top of the museum, or the next place that I went to.

The final spot that I checked out was Calton Hill. I happened to just stumble across it, but I think it should be on every guide ever because it was pretty incredible. It's a hill with some monuments on it, and it gives you amazing views of the city and the hills around it as well. I managed to get there for sunset, and it was gorgeous! (Pro tip: the parks will close eventually but the hill doesn't, so hang out there if you have nowhere to go and just want to sit.)

Another piece of advice is that if you're like me and finish up the museums early and then have nothing to do for a few hours is to just wander around until you find something that looks cool. That's how I found Calton Hill, and the cemetery nearby which is where Hume is buried.

So yup, Edinburgh's gorgeous and a really fun place for a day trip!

Beatles Promo Videos To Be Released

WE TAKE A BREAK FROM OUR USUAL SCHEDULE TO BRING YOU THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Ok so there have been some speculations since last Saturday when the Beatles twitter account posted an unusual video featuring a countdown. The George Harrison account then retweeted it, saying that a big announcement was coming.

Turns out that the big announcement is none other than a compilation of all the Beatles promo videos restored! Exciting news!

It's a little known fact that while the Beatles did not invent the music video, they certainly popularized it. Once they found that they were so popular that they couldn't possibly perform everywhere live to promote their new songs, they started creating videos to send around and drum up publicity for them. Their video for "Strawberry Fields" was groundbreaking in that it used reverse footage and all sorts of other fancy camera techniques that weren't widely used yet.

Other fun things that will be included in the deluxe version is a take of "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" from the album "Beatles For Sale" where the Beatles are literally sitting around eating fish and chips. (Brian Epstein, when he saw this, refused to release it to the public. But you can easily find it on YouTube these days.) Another couple of gems are the alternate versions of "Hello Goodbye" from the "Magical Mystery Tour" album that include awkward dancing and George stripteasing. (Note: there's one video with a lot of awkward dancing and a short striptease, and one with less awkward dancing and more striptease.)

What a time to be alive! My favorite band from 50 years ago is finally getting their act together!

More information (and pre-orders) can be found here.

An American in Glasgow-Initial Adventures

So I made it to the University of Glasgow in Scotland! My mom and I flew in through Dublin and spent the day there, then went to Glasgow. Dublin was awesome, we took a tour of Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a really old copy of the gospels, nearly all Celtic designs originated from it.

Then we also visited the Guinness Storehouse. I'm not a huge fan of beer, so I just found it amazing that people were this interested in it. But the top of the building had a nice view of the city and made some good pictures.

Once we made it to Glasgow we got a little lost on the way to my flat. I'm in university accommodations, but they use a whole bunch of different buildings so I just had an intersection. But we found it in the end. I have a roommate and share a kitchen and a bathroom with a few other rooms. It's only international students now, but once everyone gets here I can imagine that we'd have to fight for the showers.

The main building on campus is beautiful! The cloisters are a popular picture place, and for pretending that you're Harry Potter at Hogwarts. One girl on my campus tour said that they wanted to use the university for Hogwarts in the films, but they would have to be working during finals so it didn't get used.

On a related note, apparently Ashton Lane, a cute side street, inspired Diagon Alley for J.K. Rowling. It's adorable, it has a few pubs and even a movie theater on it!

One other adorable part of the city is the subway system. It's just a circle around the city, and you pick which direction you want to go in. The cars are also pretty small and very nice. I didn't imagine this city to be so cute!

So far I’ve mostly been using my time to explore the city. This week was international orientation, but I’ve been finding that the university is pretty hands off. Which is fine because I enjoy being on my own, but I’m also finding that I’m having the same thoughts that I had during freshman orientation at college in the states. Which is mostly freaking out that I’ll have no friends because it’s been a few days and I haven’t met my soul mate yet. Just need to keep telling myself that I have to take it easy and everything will be ok. It always is in the end.

Updates on Things

So just so we're all clear, I'm heading off to Scotland today for my semester abroad! (In fact I think my plane is arriving when this post is scheduled to go up, so that's exciting!)

As a result, posts are going back to once a week after this. I'm probably going to post things about being abroad and all that. If nothing happens though, I do have an incredible backlog of book reviews from this summer that I didn't get to post yet so those may show up. (I ended up reading a lot, it was great!)

I'll see you all on the other side of the pond! (If I fight the Loch Ness Monster I'll be sure to let you all know.)

“Lord Brocktree” by Brian Jacques

This story is the earliest one in the series, if you look at it chronologically. It starts with Russano, the badger baby from “The Long Patrol”, telling the story of Lord Brocktree to the hares and his family at Salamandastron. (Sidenote: this is the first that I’ve seen of the Badger Lord living with his family at Salamandastron, wonder if that pops up again in other stories…)

Lord Brocktree’s story takes place before Redwall was built, so in most ways, Salamandastron replaces it. There’s some connections to “Mossflower” again as Lord Brocktree is Boar the Fighter’s father and the wildcat attacking Salamandastron is the brother of the wildcat who will later become a tyrant in Mossflower wood.

It’s a bit different than the rest of the stories, since it deals primarily with badgers and hares instead of mice and rats. I actually enjoyed the change, it made it pretty interesting.

Dotti is a young haremaid who is another wonderful example of the strong female characters in this series. She is sassy and funny, and insists on calling herself a “fatal beauty” while being rubbish at cooking and cleaning and all those other things that young haremaids are supposed to do. I found her hilarious, I think she’s my new idol.

One aspect that could have been made clearer is that Lord Brocktree really changed the way that Salamandastron worked as a whole. He started the Long Patrol of hares going out into the countryside and reporting to him. But this is kind of glossed over and not made completely clear, other than Russano stating at the beginning what an effect he had on Salamandastron. It doesn’t affect the story, but it’s something to note.

Overall though, this was a great book, one of the better ones in the series I think. It changes up the tropes a little, but continues to give a good tale full of adventure.

“The Legend of Luke” by Brian Jacques

I really enjoyed this one! There’s two different stories being told here, one is the story of Martin the Warrior travelling north to find his birthplace, and the other is the story of his father, Luke the Warrior, defeating a sea rat. There’s loads of references to “Mossflower” which is an earlier book in the series as well.

Probably what I enjoyed best about this book is that it centers around these characters that we already know. It features Martin, Gonff the mousethief, and Dinny the mole going off on another quest together, which is very cute really. And there are other familiar faces present, like Columbine, Bella the badger, Abbess Germaine, and Ferdy and Coggs.

It also gives more history to the characters, like the fact that Luke the Warrior was born in St. Ninian’s (and there’s more to the story of St. Ninian’s as well haha) but then driven out by a wildcat (who is later defeated by Martin in “Mossflower” conveniently enough). And then Redwall Abbey is built and Gonff and Columbine settle down in St. Ninian’s.

Then towards the end it mentions the tapestry, and reveals that the figure of the warrior mouse is really Martin’s grandfather, also named Martin. I wonder if we ever learn about his adventures?

Another connection is through the otter family. It turns out that Skipper has two nephews with their own tribe, and Skipper’s brother is Mask, an otter who is featured in “Mossflower” as well. Not a major point, but still pretty cool.

While we’re on the subject of the otters, the arc for Folgrim was pretty nice. He’s an otter who went mad from fighting, but with the help of Martin and co, they manage to fix him up again. It’s another aspect of these stories that indicates how much better peace is than war.

So the story centering around Martin is good, but I didn’t love the character of Trimp. It seemed like she was just there to take care of a little squirrel baby that they found and didn’t really have anything to contribute to the rest of the adventure. I didn’t mind her though, just wondered from time to time why she was there.

Oh and this is one of the few quests where they explain how the adventurers get back to Redwall, which is often skipped in other books. I laughed a little when I realized that Jacques decided to put that in.

The story of Luke is also very good, it aligns with what we know about Martin’s past from “Martin the Warrior” and “Mossflower”. And it involves a ferocious female squirrel warrior, which is always great.

This is a great adventure tale that brings back familiar characters that we know and love. A wonderful read all around.

“Marlfox” by Brian Jacques

This is more like it! This story centers around the conflict between a clan of Marlfoxes with the surrounding countryside and inevitably, Redwall Abbey. It starts after the events of “The Long Patrol” with a few characters popping up again. Lady Cregga, though blind, is still around and feisty as ever. However, the Abbey is now without an Abbot or Abbess, and the creatures are just continuing as is until they determine someone fit for the position.

While I’m on the subject, the blind Lady Cregga shows how well Jacques incorporates characters with disabilities into his stories. Cregga has been blind for ages, but she can still kick vermin butt and lets everyone know who’s in charge around here. Same goes for gender, more often than not, the female characters are the leaders and warriors, on both the good and evil sides. It’s really wonderful.

This book features several rhymes, but one central riddle to guide a few of the characters on a quest to save the tapestry of Martin the Warrior. It’s not a very complicated riddle, but it’s pretty essential to the series to have a riddle, so there’s that.

This quest also serves as a nice tie-in to previous stories, specifically “Salamandastron” is referenced. Supposedly the island that the Marlfoxes are living on used to be inhabited by a White Ghost, who is actually an ancient Badger Lord. Pretty neat stuff. Another reference is in the Travelling Noonvale Players who stop by the Abbey. Noonvale is Rose’s home from “Martin the Warrior” and the hare, Florian, says that he is a descendant of Ballaw, another character from “Martin the Warrior” who was in a travelling performance troupe. I was hoping to get more information about the current situation in Noonvale, but no luck there.

I’m still laughing about the ending, there’s an endnote saying that the whole story is a play edited by Florian to perform, which is why the three parts (usually called Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3) are now Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3! I didn’t even notice, what a nice touch on it!

“The Long Patrol” by Brian Jacques

I decided that I should return to the Redwall series this summer and read some of the books that I haven’t yet. I own them all up to “The Long Patrol”, so this is where I’m starting.

This book is a little different from the typical Redwall books up until now. Usually the Redwall mice find a riddle and go on a quest and defeat some vermin and return to Redwall. Here the group far from home is the Badger Lady Cregga Rose Eyes, who is hunting down the vermin Rapscallions with their leader Damug. Of course, the vermin decide that they want to defeat Redwall, and the hares and badger all get involved in an epic battle between them.

The main plot isn’t that exciting, there’s only one battle and most of the story is the characters travelling around. There is an interesting part where Tammo and Midge disguise themselves as Seers and infiltrate the Rapscallion camp to lead their leader to the site of the battle that they picked out. I thought it was a little strange for him to go to the site after the two of them fled the camp, but I never really understood rats to begin with.

The main riddle is also pretty short, but it ties into the ending of the story nicely. Overall, it’s pretty much a simplistic version of the typical Redwall story.

There is potential in the sideplot that takes place physically at Redwall. The south wall is sinking because it’s located on top of the north wall of Kotir, a wildcat fortress that dates from the time before Redwall was built. It’s also a nod to the plot of “Mossflower” which is always fun to spot. But other than the characters getting trapped underground in Kotir and finding treasure (that’s just treasure instead of long lost relics) nothing’s really done with this.

Oh and a bunch of characters from “Pearls of Lutra” (which is one of my favorite Redwall stories) are present here as well! Tansy is the Abbess, Craklyn is the Recorder, and Arwen is the Champion of Redwall. There’s never a ton of overlap between these books, so it’s nice to see old characters that you’ve already fallen in love with reappear.

Overall, I wouldn’t say that this is as good as the typical Redwall story. Usually there’s more riddle-y stuff and action involved. However, the ending was very good, and encourages the reader to continue if nothing else. Onward to “Marlfox”!

“Ed Sheeran: A Visual Journey” by Ed Sheeran + Phillip Butah

I’ve been a huge fan of Ed Sheeran’s work for years, since before “+” came out. What’s always impressed me is how true he’s stayed to himself, he’s not perfect, but he’s always been open about that and it shows.

So when I saw that he wrote a book with the help of a childhood friend of his, I figured that I’d check it out.

It’s a nice read, gives a good overview of all of his influences and experiences from when he started making music at 13 to making “+” and “x” more recently. I find that it’s nice to hear right from the artist what they’re thoughts are, gives you the feel of their voice (Ed’s involves some swears, haha). You also get to see what his influences are and the process of him developing his own sound. It also includes how he started using the loop pedal, which is pretty cool and unique for an artist like him.

There’s not much about his personal life, he keeps it focused on the music primarily. I appreciated that, it shows that he wants to maintain some privacy, and if you aren’t interested in his music then why on earth would you want to read the book anyways?

Of course, there’s also numerous drawings of Ed done by Phillip Butah, his childhood artist friend. He’s also done the art for many of Ed’s album covers, so recognizing his handiwork was pretty cool. He has a gorgeous style, very raw. Seeing the drawings of Ed was nice, and gives a different perspective on him than just the paparazzi photos that you could find on Google.

It’s very much a joint effort between the two of them, Phillip includes a section on his life and work at the end of the book, which is also a nice read by itself. And I think it’s really cute that the two of them grew up together and are now writing about their art and work. Good job guys.

So yeah, it’s not the most intense novel, but it’ll probably be more rewarding and interesting than “The Wiggles Sing About Vegetables” or whatever.

“The Left Hand of Darkness” by Ursula K. Le Guin

I don’t often read science fiction, but I was intrigued by this book. Really all that I knew about it was that it’s about an alien species that’s androgynous. And that’s really all that it’s about, a human on a planet with all these androgynous aliens trying to understand their life.

Basically these aliens are asexual until they reach the point in their cycle where they enter kemmer, then they could either develop the organs of a man or a woman. At this point, they could swear kemmer to other beings and reproduce. It’s an interesting concept, although there is no mention of homosexuals (but the narrator does say that multiple people could swear kemmer, haha).

The most intriguing part of the novel is how this sexuality affects their outlook on the world. There’s a lot more about unity than duality, and there are no gender-based stereotypes, for starters. And since it’s all through the eyes of an Envoy, a person like us, the reader explores the world as he does.

Besides that, the plot centers around the Envoy trying to convince the planet to join in this alliance of other humanoids in the universe. But it’s mostly the driving force instead of the focus. Not much happens on that front other than the Envoy talking to people briefly about it.

Not that you would realize that in the first couple of pages, Le Guin throws you right into the politics of the planet, and I’m not sure I completely understood it all. It serves to both completely immerse and confuse you, like many things. (My advice is if you don’t understand something, just keep going. Odds are it isn’t terribly important.) This is probably one of those books where you pick up more about the characters on the second reading, the first is just to wrap your head around it.

I know that this is definitely a book that I’ll be coming back to, but for first timers, if you’re primarily interested in what the human race would look like without genders, be sure to check this out.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Uhhh, I didn’t love this book.

The author’s main point here seems to be that life is cyclical, that there are repeating instances that have occurred and will occur again. And the way he shows this is by documenting the story of a family, the Buendias, over one hundred years.

Seems like an interesting premise. But it’s the little things about this book that really bother me.

All of the characters have the same names. You think I’m kidding, the boys cycle between Jose Arcadio and Aureliano. There is a little more variety with the girls, but it’s mostly Amaranta and Remedios. There is a family tree at the beginning of the novel, but honestly unless you read it in one sitting (which I don’t recommend) you’re going to get mixed up about who is the child of who and all that. Which adds to the cyclical nature of the story, so you cannot say that the author didn’t know what he was doing.

But you never have the time to get to know any of these characters. There are chapters where people are born and die and you never get to know any of them, or really effectively care about them. Sure, there are some chapters that focus on one character more than the other, but that just results in characters popping out of the woodwork later on and vying for your attention. Again, the author calls himself out of this, saying in later chapters that time passes more quickly than it used to, as kids appear out of nowhere.

That’s what really bothered me, the fact that as a reader we were never given a good reason to care about these characters or the time to get to know them. The structure seems more like a history book showing a dynasty than anything else.

The glimpses of characters that we do see didn’t leave me very happy either. As I mentioned, it’s the history of the family, so most of the stories that we hear about them have to do with who’s having sex and kids with who. And of course, every male gets with at least someone at some point while Amaranta dies a virgin. Nice. Ugh.

Overall it is a very male centered view of the house, despite the fact that Ursula manages to live almost throughout the entire book and runs the whole place. In spite of this, it’s the men who are always portrayed as the smart, strong continuers of the family line. Which irritated me, even though it’s probably the author being true to the culture. Still bothers me.

You cannot deny that the writing is nice, even though the subjects of it are irritating. The way that Marquez just casually drops in supernatural effects on the town is pretty nice. And gives the feel that everything is an ancient tale being passed down and slightly modified. But then there’s also random instances of it (such as when the men kill a devil-like creature in town) that just seem like they were inserted for the heck of it without having any real purpose.

I might have enjoyed this more if I read something else by Marquez first (although I don’t know what book that would be), but as it is, I was not a huge fan of this work, despite the fact that millions everywhere have heralded it as amazing and all.

“The Beatles Lyrics” edited by Hunter Davies

I’m a huge Beatles fan, so I really liked the idea of this book. What it basically consists of is a collection of Beatles lyrics written by the Beatles themselves. And also a discussion of their lyrics in general and how they progress. I had already read “A Hard Day’s Write” (which I highly recommend) that talks about the inspiration for every song that the Beatles ever wrote, and the two books go nicely together.

Seeing the words written out in their own hand is pretty interesting, you can see what their handwriting’s like, what parts are John and which are Paul’s, and can tell that Ringo was not the best speller.

What could have made the book a little better was focusing on the lyrics entirely, and not getting sidetracked by the history of the Beatles (although to some extent that does play into it, which I understand) or what the editor of the book was doing at the time (which was sometimes a little annoying, even though the author was the biographer of the Beatles towards the end of their career).

I would highly recommend this for any Beatles fan, it’s illuminating and keeps the focus on the music, which is the most important aspect of them, in the end.

“Postmodernism” by Kevin Hart

I picked this book up more or less on a whim. I’ve read a lot of “postmodern” literature, or literature that pushes the boundaries of literature (think If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino or House of Leaves) but I couldn’t really tell you what postmodernism is. This book cleared up some of it, and also left some confusion (which it’s bound to do, it’s postmodernism after all).

Hart tries to give a brief overview of postmodernism and who the major people in postmodernism are. He opens with the reader taking a tour of postmodernism from this French guy. No sooner does the reader leave the tour when he’s set on by another tour guide saying that everything he learned was wrong and offers to give another tour. And so on and so forth. This is a pretty cute way of showing how even the people in the middle of postmodernism argue amongst themselves and cannot agree on a chronology or set of ideas. It’s pretty amusing, and a good way to draw you in. It could have been more formal and flow better with the work as a whole, but I think this worked fine.

As for the more difficult stuff, Hart does a decent job giving the main points of most major scholars. There are times where more clarification and elaboration would have been nice, but the undeniable fact is that you will probably have to read their own works in order to completely understand what is going on. Having said that, I think that Hart did the best with what he had to work with.

In case you’re interested, here’s the basics of postmodernism. According to Hart, it revolves around three central concepts. First there’s anti-essentialism, or the idea that we are all a product of our situation. If you stripped away everything around us, everything inessential, there would be nothing left. Then there’s anti-realism. Realism is the idea that words can accurately depict the world around us. Philosophers eventually realized that there’s no way that this can be true, since there are so many different languages in the world. There’s also a side argument that ties in here about everything in the world is made up of an image of the thing (what we see) and the being-in-itself (to use a Kantian term) of the object (this portion we can never truly know). As a result, language can never fully express the being-in-itself since we can never know it. And finally there’s anti-foundationalism, or the idea that there is nothing at the basis of the world. Think about it similarly to this story about an old lady who thought that the whole world was the back of a turtle. When asked what was beneath the turtle, she said that there was another turtle below that one and “it’s turtles all the way down!” Anti-foundationalism is the belief that there are no turtles, that the universe has nothing at its basis. With these three concepts, postmodernists then apply them to various fields and argue about all sorts of different things.

It’s hard to say whether this book is for beginners or scholars of postmodernism. For beginners it’s probably a good introduction, but scholars will probably get more out of it from previous exposure to the ideas and people in it. It is a short book though, so give it a shot if you’re interested!

“Tabloid Shakespeare” by Nick Page

There’s not many things that I like more than taking Shakespeare’s plays and making fun of them in clever ways. This book does just that. All of Shakespeare’s plays and some poems are turned into tabloid articles in this book!

The end result: it’s hilarious! Page definitely has a good sense of humor. Even the advertisements are related to Shakespeare and it’s very funny. There are also published apologies from the rag for publishing lies after characters spread around rumors about one another.

The best one is definitely “Romeo and Juliet” since the story is basically from a tabloid anyways.

There are also some comments from the original Bard himself, but I won’t give it away since it’s pretty clever and amusing.

This was definitely written by a Shakespeare fan, and brings a new twist to his stories.

“Watchmen” by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Here’s another ground breaking comic book, the authors use the format to show the story and stuff behind the story. Literally nothing is an accident here. Fun fact: Chapter V “Fearful Symmetry” is symmetrical (check p.14-15). There’s a lot here, so I’m going to be bouncing around and looking at different aspects of the story that I found interesting.

It’s written in a way where we’re bouncing from one perspective to another, through time and flashbacks, even through Rorschach’s journal and random snippets of books and newspapers at the end of the chapters. Which can be disorienting, but I didn’t have too much of a problem with it since it’s pretty clear who’s talking when. It’s just putting it together that can be difficult.

A special case is a comic book that a kid’s reading. It’s presented in parallel to the novel and about a guy shipwrecked that then rides back to his town on the backs of his dead shipmates and goes wacko. It’s cleverly used to reflect the story.

Other stories of minor characters are also present and tie in, like the psychologist or the couple by the newspaper stand. Also, the recurring Hiroshima lovers that foreshadow the ending.

What’s really fascinating about this way of narrating is that this is how Dr. Manhattan perceives time. Not from all of these different perspectives, but the bouncing from past to future to present sure. The way the other characters see time is also screwed, they’re all old, more parodies of superheroes than anything else. And they aren’t super, just good at kicking butt. Most of them are living in the past.

To take a closer look at the characters, Dr. Manhattan is basically a god among men. He’s altering atoms, seeing time all together, teleporting, he essentially is god. He wants to help man, but grows tired of it eventually since we are so clearly lost.

Rorschach wears a mask that is a Rorschach blot, always changing. Showing how he thinks that life is random and the only meaning is what we impose on it. He believes in fighting for what’s right, but still thinks that it’s all pointless in the end.

The Comedian is an amoral adventurer who sees the truth about the world and doesn’t really care. He knows that it sucks but has 0 desire to make it better and just keeps on keeping on.

Names are also central to this story. Superheroes have their real name, their super name, their nicknames, it’s impossible to keep it all straight! They’re all living with different identities and personalities, testing their limits. One goes mad, others die, how can these humans keep it up?

Of course, the title comes from the phrase: “Who watches the watchmen?”

Watchmen are never named as a crime fighting group, but this quote and concept are central. The story starts with people wanting the masked adventurers to step down, deciding that they want only the police to take care of it. Since they don’t trust the superheroes anymore (the “watchmen” in this case) they want a body that they trust (the police) to take care of crime fighting.

Later on, Ozymandias’ plan goes unchecked, until the Nite Owl and Rorschach find out. But even then, it’s decided that it has to be kept under wraps in order to preserve the peace. How do we know that peacekeepers are following the same rules they hold everyone to?

At the end, we find out that Ozymandias wanted to unite the world, comparing himself to Alexander the Great. But Dr. Manhattan reminds him that nothing lasts forever, in the end, it will just go back to how it’s always been.

The arms race is also very present here, there’s a statement about the atomic clock being close to midnight at some point, and indeed every chapter has a clock that ticks down from 11 to 12. Spoiler alert: 12 is the end.

Then the story ends ambiguously, Ozymindias’ plan could go swimmingly, or Rorschach’s journal could go public.