Everybody's Got the Right to Some Sunshine

Ok, now that I’ve put that song from Sondheim’s ‘Assasins’ in your head, I am reporting that it is a beautiful sunny fall day here!

Alas, the weekend was quite soggy for the first game of American football played outside the U.S. Giants and Dolphins fans got soaked at Wembley yesterday where a sold-out crowd (including my friend Liz) did the wave and watched as a streaker ran onto the field. Crazy! Speaking of sports, this Massachusetts-born girl is so happy about her Boston Red Sox! Woo hoo! Go World Series Champs!

Ok, I’ve really digressed ..Anyway, since it’s a sunny day, I’ve finally taken some photos in and around my flat. The shot above is out our living room window into the back garden.

I'm Just A Broadway Baby

Broadway Market that is. OMG, HOW have I not known about this area of London?! It’s just a 15-minute bus ride East of here. It is this adorable street that leads right down to Regent’s Canal at the bottom, and up to a pretty little park called London Fields at the top. Have posted a few pics online, as well as some very belated photos from last month’s Thames Festival, which included a tour of City Hall!

But back to Broadway Market, which has tons of great independent shops, including the Broadway Bookshop, and many great cafes. My good friend Nineta was in town this weekend (she’s livin’ the dream working in the culture section of the EU and London) and her former flatmates recommended we hit this area for brunch. Will definitely return to La Vie en Rose for their “French Brunch” special again! Only 7 pounds and the most mouth-watering pain au chocolate I’ve ever had. Our French theme continued as we then went to the V&A for their “Golden Age of Couture – Paris & London” exhibition. Anyone visiting between now and January 6 – we are soo going back to this. Dior, LaCroix, Fath, Galliano Balenciaga – films, videos, dresses, dresses and more dresses. The VA& really ‘makes it work!”

Amazing 'Grace'

Let the Oscar race begin and my nominee for Best Actor is John Cusack in ‘Grace is Gone.’ I caught the premier of this incredibly moving flick at the London Film Festival and believe me when I say it will take something phenomenal to knock it off the post of one of my top films of the year, not to mention best performances of the year. JC plays a father on a road trip with his two young daughters (amazing performances from two first-time actresses). Beautifully written and directed, you will need a box o’ Kleenex at the end. I agree with some early reviews that this is hands-down Cusack’s best performance.

He and the writer/director were on hand to introduce the film and then answer some Q&As after. Alas, I did not get to meet and greet him personally, but I was able to snap some photos while they were on stage. I do have to admit that John was not the friendliest of sorts as he exited the theatre. People at the ends of rows nearest to him were trying to shake his hand, snap a photo, say congrats, and Cusack seemed to have a bit of a ‘tude, unfortunately. One of my favorite celeb gossip sites, LaineyGossip, had this to say about Cusack in London. She might be a bit on the money here, much as I am loathe to admit.

What a Feeling

At the age of 40 I took part in my first “Flash mob” type event. This is when people get texts/emails telling them to show up at a certain place at a certain time and then do something (pillow fight, lay down, water fight, etc). This one was called ‘mobile clubbing’ or as I’ve dubbed it “Flash Dance.”

My friend Neena decided to do this event for her birthday party last Friday. It was beyond cool. The event was in the main Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern museum. We were instructed to bring our iPods, headphones, what have you, and stake out a space by 7 p.m. on the floor. Then at 7:01 we turned our own personal music on and started dancing up a storm. There were a few hundred people there of all ages, races, etc and it was so fun to see everyone boogie-ing to their own beat. Even better was when you found someone who was dancing totally in rhythm to the music you were playing. I went with a compilations of dance tunes from Dance Mix USA and Dance Party 2000 (b/c I’m old school and that’s how I roll..lol) and all of a sudden I’d look over and see someone and think “Oh my god, are they listening to Black Box’s Strike it Up too?”

What made it even more bizarre was the new installation in the Turbine Hall – The Crack in the Floor. It runs the entire length of the hall and gets quite wide at times so you had to be careful dancing around it. And of course some who didn’t know about wore expressions of “Oh my god, did we do that?” when they looked down and spotted it. The staff at Tate was great as they let us stay for nearly 2 hours.

Our party then moved from the Tate to the tunnels under London Bridge where there is this amazing club, Shunt. When anyone comes to visit, we are so going back there! Tons of cavernous spaces, like something out of a film set, plus great music and cheap drinks.

In other culture news, I’m raving about the film “Once.” I think I’m a bit late to the party on this one as it was in the States last spring/summer after winning the audience award at Sundance. But for those who haven’t seen it, add it to your Netflix queue asap! The London Film Festival also pens this week and have snagged tix to a few screenings (but alas, did not get into the Q&A with Laura Linney, grr..arrgh). I am also hoping to see my thesis case study Christian Slater in the stage version of Swimming with Sharks. It’s been listed on the half-price TKTS board (which is a bonus when one is still unemployed)!

Speaking of...the job search goes slowly. I’m now pounding the pavement for any kind of editing/comms/web temporary job for the next two months before I head home for Christmas. Any and all suggestions welcome! I then head back to States for the first time in a year and a half and I can’t wait. I'll be in the DC area Dec 17-29, so hope to see many of you. In January I will then re-assess my visa/work situation and go from there.

Hope all are well!

My Boy Bill

I'm back and blogging after a month off due to post-thesis relaxation and then moving into new flat and getting Internet access set up. Kicking off the latest post with some big news!

There are good days and then there are days that rankup there as some of the best days of your life. Yesterday was one of those days. I met and spoke briefly with BILL CLINTON! Alas, was not able to get any photos as security measures prevented us from bringing cameras or mobiles (but my friend Candacewill back this story up!..lol)

He came to London to do a book signing for his latest work, Giving – How Each of Us Can Change the World,and my friend Candace and I went. We got to Waterstone’s at Piccadilly Circus around 7:30 for his 11:30 signing and were about 30th or so in line (or rather in the queue). In yet another example of how small the world is, the two people behind us in the queue were American students to whom we had lots of connections! I was standing right in front of an ATM and so of course I had to field lots of questions from cash-withdrawers about what was going on. I joked with one nice older man who talked about having gone all the way to NYC to meet Margaret Thatcher and said that I’d had to come all the way from DC to meet Clinton.

When I said that, the girl behind me said “Oh my God, are you from DC, so am I!” Turns out she graduated from American University two years ago and then worked at EBRI and is now pursuing a Masters at UCL. She knew lots of my old haunts/favorite places such as Two Amys pizza, Amphora Diner, Potomac Yards Target, Channel 4 news, etc. Not only that, through her work she knew some people I worked with at AARP! Then the world got even smaller as the friend with her was from Philadelphia area, which is Candace’s hometown. Bizarre!

Talking with them made the three hours fly by and then we were let into the store where Waterstone’s had it very well organized and even handed out biscuits and sweets to us! Our last hour was spent surrendering our bags, coats, getting wristbanded, etc. and then waiting for Bill by the Biographies section (where I wore my marketing hatand looked for all the books by my friend Neil andmoved them to more prominent positions on theshelves).

Around 11:20 all the lift doors opened up and a slew of (hot!) Secret Service agents came out! Woo hoo! Bill is in the Building!) He first faced a slew of press paparazzi and then us regular people. Tere are no words for how amazing it was. He shook hands and chatted with each person going through the line, so when it was my turn, here’s how it played out:

GP: “Good morning Mr. President, it’s such an honour (or maybe I said pleasure) to meet you. I marched in your inaugural parades”

BC: (big genuine smile): “Why thank you, thank you so much. Who did you march with?”

GP: “With the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt”

BC: (moves in closer me, very serious, thoughtful expression on face, then PUTS HIS HAND OUT AND GRIPS MY SHOULDER!) “Thank you for that. Bless you.”

GP: “Thanks, hope there’s one for Hilary” (or “GoHilary” or something like that)

BC: (chuckles) “Thank you! Take care.”

I then basically floated out of the room and then did a little Laura Linney happy dance like she did in“Love Actually” when her cute coworker kissed her. Definitely one of the Best Days Ever!

And in a funny footnote, we had a Clinton-related question in our pub quiz last night. “Who was Clinton’s vice president during his tenure?” Umm, I wonder who that couldbe?...lol