Feb 27: Writing and Trip Planning

Hello again. Today was a somewhat productive day - I did laundry and wrote a little bit of an essay, hopefully I will be able to finish it up by tomorrow. I won't be able to work on it Friday because Katie and I are going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour! I'm thrilled. I've only heard good things and I can't wait to go!

The rest of the night was spent trying to make travel plans for future trips, which is proving more difficult than our Italian journey earlier this month. Hopefully everything will work out for the best.

That's all for today - sorry to keep it short, but I'm pretty tired. Tomorrow is a full day of class and I will need my rest for it.

Til then - Cheers!

Feb 26: Another Working Tuesday and Bourre (Boo-Ray)

BEEF!

Today wasn't super exciting, but was still a good day. I woke up and went to class, then spent all afternoon reading/taking notes on readings I hope to incorporate in an essay I will start writing tomorrow for my Banking & Finance in Economic Development course. I don't feel as confident with this topic as I have with others here, but hopefully after tomorrow I will feel differently.

I spent the rest of the night making dinner with Katie (Beef Szechuan Chilli stir-fry!) and watching 24. We are on Season 2 now, and I have to say its a pretty fun show. We have also started planning our next trips tentatively - it looks like the first one may include Istanbul, Vienna, and Budapest and a second one will include Prague, Munich (at the same time as Springfest!), and Amsterdam. Nothing has been purchased yet though so stay tuned.

In other news, here is a review of an awesome card game I've been playing (on my iPhone...yes I'm in video-game withdrawal) recently called Bourre (pronounced Boo-Ray). If you don't want to read it, skip to the end:
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I got dealt the hand at the bottom. Trump suit is Spades

BOURRE (BOO-RAY) ALL DAY

Looking for a new card game to play? Looking no further than the Bourre App from Bernard Pollard (yes, that Bernard Pollard....look at this!).

Low Diamonds and Hearts do me no good, swap'em.

Why would a professional athlete make a seemingly obscure card game app, you ask? Well, because Bourre, a hyper-gambling version of spades, is quite popular amongst many professional athletes, and is a game that has caused not one, but two, recent notable teammate altercations in the NBA. I can't wait to play it with my friends this summer.

I'm about to play the Ace of Spades and win this trick!

The full rules of the game can be found here, but I'll sum up the basics. Like Spades, Bourre is a trick-taking card game in which the goal is to take the most tricks each round. Each round consists of each player anteing, receiving 5 cards, choosing to keep, swap, or fold, anteing again (if playing) and then placing their best card available clockwise into the middle, forming a trick. Whoever has the best card in the trick - determined first by the trump suit (which is the suit of 5th card of the dealer), and then (if no trump suit present) by the suit of the lead card. If you take the most tricks, you win the pot. A few more rules: You have to follow the lead suit if you are able, even if you have a trump card. If you can't follow the lead suit, then you must play a trump card. These are the only two suits of value each round - all other cards are worthless.

The biggest catch - and this where I can begin to understand why it is a draw for many athletes and can definitely start fights - is that if you fail to win at least 1 trick you are "booed" and have to match the pot for the next hand. Pots get big. Fast. If you want to play this with friends, think about setting a limit. My advice - fold unless you really have something good. In real life, it might be more interesting to goad your friends into playing with weak hands though. Your money, your call. However, this doesn't matter on an iPhone app (where the money isn't real), so definitely get it. It's mega addictive and the app teaches you how to play (and makes sure you're always following the rules, which is helpful). I hope you enjoyed my review!
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Tomorrow I have a lot of work to do, so I will be getting to bed shortly. Hopefully it will be a productive day!

Til then - Cheers!

Feb 25: Happy Birthday Mom!

Today was a typical Monday - class, grocery shopping, homework, and some relaxation. It was also my Mom's birthday! So I just wanted to say....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU!

I don't have too much else to report, as I was mostly preparing readings for yet another essay to write this week (coming up on number 4 out of 8 total...but none are final drafts yet). I'm finding it quite difficult to be constantly motivated for school here in London as I was at BC. I've found that spreading out my essay work (4 due on March 22 and another 4 due on April 19) to the point where I'm doing just a little bit each day has been useful and I've been on schedule for the most part, but motivation is sometimes hard to come by. Hopefully everything will work out for the best.

Tomorrow, I have more class and then need to read and take notes on the readings I've gathered today, in order to prep for a bulk of writing on Wednesday (my day off). Hopefully I can stay on task!

Til then - Cheers!

Feb. 23-24: Brighton and Lewes

This weekend, I went to the city of Brighton and town of Lewes with other BC students studying in London (including Katie and friends Dave and Danielle). It was a lot of fun. Here it is in pictures and captions:

We stayed at the Jury's Inn overnight in Brighton. It was a pretty comfortable and nice place, all on BC! (but really on all the students cause, ya know, tuition)

The pier at Brighton is definitely my favorite part. I wish it was a little warmer when I was there though. Perhaps I will return later this spring?

Brighton has some of the best fish and chips, since they are next to the Ocean.

We took a tour of the Royal Pavillion, which unfortunately didn't allow pictures. It was a preposterously garish place. I liked it, but definitely came away thinking King George IV was insane and monarchies are definitely weird.

The next day, we went to the town of Lewes on our way back from a fun day (and probably even more fun night - Brighton has a fun nightlife for college students) in Brighton. This is a steep road I enjoyed.

Thomas Paine lived here. I think he had enough "Common Sense" to move out of the small, somewhat boring, town of Lewes.

Thomas Paine used to hold court at The White Hart Inn, debating and discussing national and international social and political topics of the day. I found it somewhat strange that England is so proud of someone who directly helped incite and advocate for American independence. Nobody is politer than the Brits.

Also, nobody is crazier than the Brits under monarchy. Just read this stone's description of protestant Martyrs that died at the hands of the Catholic Queen, (Bloody) Mary Tudor. One guy she even stuffed in a barrel, lit it on fire, and threw down the street! (Death by Donkey Kong?)

We enjoyed a nice lunch here at Bill's, a place of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I got lemonade with ice-cream in it, and yes its as good as it sounds.

The entrance to Lewes Castle. This place was pretty cool.

You're thinking it too, right?

The remains of Lewes Castle. It was pretty fun to climb around on.

Walking around the walls of Lewes Castle was fun, even if it was cold and windy.

The view from the top of castle keep. The ruins below are the gate and barbican entrance.

A view like this is useful in Medieval times, as you can see enemies approaching from far, far away.

 I had a great time in Lewes and Brighton with my fellow BC students. I'm glad BC has trips like this for us to take advantage of. Our coordinator Helen, who is a London resident, has been phenomenal to work with and all of our activities have been so great.  

Tonight, I hope to watch the Oscars (if I can stay up), catch up on work, and get to bed right after they are over, as I am already pretty tired from a fun filled weekend. Tomorrow is just one class, but it will be back to the grind of school once again.


Til then - Cheers!

Feb. 22: Preparing for Brighton!

Today was slow, but exciting, as I will be headed to the city of Brighton (located on the south coast of Britain) with some BC students. Katie will be coming along too (of course) and I will be rooming with my friend Dave during our overnight stay there. I'm pretty excited, here is the itinerary:

Saturday 23rd February

9:30am - coach pick up at bus stop on Bishopsgate, outside Liverpool Street station

12:00pm - arrive at Jury's Inn Hotel, Brighton. Free time for lunch

1:30pm - Group treasure hunt of Brighton led by local guides - prize to be won!

4:00pm - Entrance into Brighton pavilion royal palace

5:00pm - free evening. option to join guide on ghost walk of Brighton @ 7:00pm

Sunday 24th February

breakfast at hotel

10:30am - depart hotel for historical town of Lewes

11:00am - walking tour of Lewes with guide

12:30pm - free time for lunch

2:30pm - entrance to Lewes castle

3:30pm - depart Lewes on journey back to London

5:30pm - drop off at Liverpool Street

Looks to be a fun weekend. I will be sure to take a lot of pictures to share when I get back.

Til then - Cheers!

Feb 21: Thursday and An Un-Informed Movie-Goer's Oscar Predictions

Today was Thursday. Many of my classes seemed to drag on today for unexplained reasons. Maybe its because I knew I had an extra assigned hour of class (which happened to be an extra dose of my most boring tutorial session) coming at the end of the day, giving me a total of 7 hours, one which I showed up to and was cancelled, but hung out for an hour since I had class right after. As you can imagine, I'm glad to be past that part of the day.

The rest of the night I did some more work, made some chicken with Katie, watched some more 24 (nearly done Season 1 and loving it) and just hung out.

As I've said before, on slow days, I will be trying to liven up the blog a little bit. Below are my Oscar Predictions, which turned into quite the enjoyable riff to write. Enjoy it if you wish. If not, skip to the end and continue reading about the minutiae of my day.
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Your Un-Informed Movie-Goer's Guide to the Oscars

This Sunday the Oscars are coming up. People care about the Oscars. Some care deeply. I am not one of those people. I do enjoy awards shows, however, and the Oscars is the SuperBowl "The Big Game" of awards shows. I tend to watch most award shows for the sole purpose of being entertained by other people who live for this sort of stuff - whether they are the performers/presenters, participants, audience, twitter users, or the people I am watching with. I don't really get riled up if something that "deserved to win" doesn't win. I do, however, enjoy watching people who care deeply about how exactly Hollywood decides annually to pat itself on the back freakout over this stuff. I understand why people get worked up - they want their favorite movies to win and have some sort of arbitrary social gold-star for their very important opinion on what's "good" and, when that doesn't happen, it can be somewhat (or I guess, really) upsetting. For me, I just want to feel like I got my money's worth with a movie and maybe like it enough to watch it again sometime. With that ringing endorsement of the Academy Awards, here are my predictions for the major Oscar categories. Enjoy my arbitrary criteria based on limited information! :

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Nominees: Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Wreck-It-Ralph

Frankenweenie? ParaNorman? Take your lame portmanteaus somewhere else. This is a two-horse race between Brave and Wreck-It-Ralph, and it isn't even that close. I saw both, like the child I am, and definitely enjoyed both. Brave was a cute, fun, Disney tomboy Princess adventure (seriously, how manly am I right now?) that had a good message and humorous, easy to follow storyline with a few suprising twists. But, it didn't wreck it. I'm proud to say that I saw Wreck-it-Ralph with both of my younger siblings, Jimmy (8) and Bridget (17) and found myself tearing up a few times because of how enjoyably engaging it was. Simply a great movie. I can't wait to watch it with Jimmy (who loved it maybe more than I did) all summer. Seriously, see it as soon as you can, preferably with someone young who you care about. You won't be disappointed.

Winner: WRECK-IT-RALPH

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Nominees: Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

That's quite a list of talent and Hollywood history. A few of those guys can (and have) win as lead actors. I have no idea what The Master is about, but I'll bet Philip Seymour Hoffman was good in it because he's Philip Seymour Hoffman. I'm still waiting on a Tommy Lee Jones Oscar for Men in Black. I really enjoyed Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook - he nailed any Eagles fan over 50, and was just generally enjoyable. Alan Arkin in Argo was an interesting combination hysterical, yet admirable as a cranky producer pulled into a just-crazy-enough-to-work scheme to save some fellow Americans. I'm sure everyone here did a really nice job with their roles. But, Christoph Waltz exists.

Winner: CHRISTOPH WALTZ (DJANGO UNCHAINED)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Nominees: Amy Adams (The Master), Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)

This is probably where my opinion counts least. I only saw Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook, and she did a good job, but wasn't anything special. Anne Hathaway annoys me - partially because anytime I watch an Anne Hathaway movie, usually at the request of my lovely girlfriend Katie, I am left with a chunk of my youth missing which unfortunately is  time that I will never, ever get back. However, people either irrationally love Anne Hathaway or rationally irrationally hate her, making her a lock to win this one no matter how good anyone else is, if only to make Twitter can explode about the Oscars even further.

Winner: ANNE HATHAWAY (LES MISERABLES)

DIRECTING

Nominees: Michael Haneke (Amour), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Big names here (Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg) both fell victim to making movies that everyone was supposed to like end up somewhat underwhelming (Life of Pi, Lincoln). I can make a claim like that because I didn't see either film and just am talking based on gut and friends' opinions I definitely saw both of those films. Even if Lee's or Spielberg's films were as-good-as-advertised, David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook was probably the most unexpectedly interesting film I have seen in quite sometime. What on the surface looks like a typical romantic-comedy soon delves into the human psyche and explores various mental illnesses or personality quirks or crazed passions in a warm, funny, humanistic way that is unfortunately rarely associated with those who exhibit them. That's a good for an Oscar in my book.

Winner: DAVID O. RUSSELL (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Nominees: Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Denzel Washington (Flight)

The only one I saw out of these five studs was Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook. Great performance, entertaining, and an absolutely a re-watchable-on-TV-this-summer movie, but it never struck me as an "Oscar Worthy" performance (whatever that means). Denzel is easily my favorite actor out of the bunch and had I seen Flight, maybe I would have given it to him. However, anybody can be a pilot. Or a derranged Eagle's fan (look no further). Or a poor French dude. Or whatever Joaquin Phoenix was. There are few people I would pick to be Abraham Lincoln, but none would be a better choice than the one and only Daniel Day-Lewis.

Winner:  DANIEL DAY-LEWIS (LINCOLN)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Nominees: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

This is between Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence for me, as I didn't see any of the other movies. Coolest name award easily goes to Quvenzhane Wallis, whose parents deserve kudos for setting their child apart with a killer first name from her other-wise common last name. Well done. If I hadn't seen any of these, that might be enough to win. But I saw Jennifer Lawrence. And she killed it in Silver Linings Playbook. Chastain did a great job, but her movie and role was already fairly interesting to begin with. Lawrence MADE Siliver Linings Playbook. Lawrence in a landslide.

Winner: JENNIFER LAWRENCE (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK)

BEST PICTURE

Nominees: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty

There are nine nominees for best picture this year. That seems like a lot, doesn't it? Could it be a marketing ploy, a way to be able to call your somewhat-decent film an "Oscar Nominee"? Nahhh... I digress. For me, this is between Argo, Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty. Sorry, Les Mis and all other musicals-turned-movies, but you've been done before...I need something creatively new to be my "best picture". I regret not seeing Lincoln, but probably not as much as Spielberg regrets not putting the assassination in the film. I don't know much about movies, but that seems kind of important to me.

Sorry, back to the contenders. Silver Linings Playbook was really good, but it was essentially a beautiful, dark, twisted, super-interesting rom-com. Rom-coms can't win unless they also double as something other than a rom-com. I hate this because I loved this movie. Alas, my hands are tied by this unfortunate rule for best picture. Look it up, its really not a rule. I didn't like Zero Dark Thirty as much as I think I was supposed to. I think it's because I knew what happened. It felt like a poor man's Homeland crossed with the "lets-watch-extremely-recent-history-and-think-about-it-deeply-NOW!" demands of the The Newsroom (both which I enjoy, by the way). Argo, on the other hand, was an awesome film with all the right ingredients - compelling start to finish, serious, action-packed, good use of humor and suspense, bearded Ben Afleck. The only thing it didn't have? DJANGO.

Winner: DJANGO UNCHAINED

Django Unchained was simply the most memorable, enjoyable, humorous, controversial, intriguing, and (often times) uncomfortable movie I have seen this year and maybe ever. It's an experience, to say the least. An instant classic from Quentin Tarantino. If you haven't seen it yet, go see it. I definitely plan on seeing it again in the near future.

P.S. Maybe I care about the Oscars more than I'd like to admit - even though they are silly.

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Tomorrow, I will be doing class work and preparing for a weekend overnight in Brighton with fellow BC students! I'm glad the school week is nearly over.

Til then - Cheers!

Feb. 20: Working Wednesday

Today was a pretty slow day. I got my laundry done, which was nice. I even made excellent progress on my essay, which was good, but it also took up most of my day. Katie and I made a few steaks and vegetables for dinner and watched some of our favorite TV shows. We have recently been going through 24, which I have never seen before and really have been enjoying.

Now I'm just relaxing, getting ready for my bunch of classes tomorrow. I can't believe how quickly this week flew by. I meant to write a commentary on something or a random interesting thought, but I think I've done enough writing today (nearly 3,000 words!) and am quite tired, so I will be going to bed soon. Time to get some rest for tomorrow!

Til then - Cheers!