When you are writing an essay, it is essential to have large amounts of chocolate, cereal, tea, coffee and things to make you laugh on study breaks.
Thank you McSweeney's, for all your wonderful Lists, especially this one:

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/28MikeSacks.html

supersamplerScotland

I don't really have much to report or any exciting stories, but I did get some Scottish supersampler photos developed.
The top one is the view of the city from the castle on the top of the hill.
The middle is the view of the city from the botanical gardens
The bottom one is a church, from many angles.

woohoo.

Guy Fawkes Night

This is what you're missing in Edinburgh tonight:




Fireworks are a lot less exciting when you're standing in a field, in the drizzle.

long-distance partying

It's so nice to be included in art gallery shenanigans even when I am an ocean away from the party!
I got toted around Siobhan's apartment tonight on skype, so that I could take part in Ihor's going-away party. There was even a toast to me, how lovely!

I've just had a very relaxing reading week, with lots of movie-watching, gallery days, reading and sleeping. I didn't travel anywhere because I had three rehearsals this week, but last week's adventures around Scotland with the Stewart clan got a bit of my travel antsy-ness out of my system for a while...a least til December, I think.

Last night I went to a talk at the National Gallery: Tim Marlow in conversation with Tracey Emin
and yeah, it was amazing. She has had this crazy life and it all basically comes out in her artwork, which spans everything from sculpture to painting to textiles to video, performance and installation art. I suggest you check her out. The Gallery of Modern Art has a retrospective of her work up right now and I spent the whole day going through it on Monday. Anyways, her talk was really interesting and also pretty hilarious. She's a fantastic speaker and had lots to say about her work and her relationship to it. She also told us about her ridiculous dreams...such as, falling off a wooden roller coaster and being flung onto a giant penis, and holding on for dear life until she realized she could shimmy down the veins to save herself. (Sorry for the imagery there.)

When I arrived home after the talk, feeling all inspired and creative, I made a sweet sailor costume for Halloween.

Also, I put a ton of photos up on facebook. Go look at them, I'm too tired to put more up here.

Found Adventures

Maybe you know Found, a magazine that compiles random notes, scribbles, signs, letters etc. people find on the streets all over North America (and branching out internationally these days). Well, last night they did a show at the Forest, an eclectic and independent art space, supported by a vegan cafe. (Forest is kind of like Cagibi in Montreal, but better and more fun. Or like Ampersand, if we got way dirtier and embraced freeganism)

The Found team is made up of four amiable guys from the States and they put on a pretty entertaining show. Things got started with Brett, the world's youngest sword swallower, who got up on stage and proceeded to hammer a large nail into his nose, stick his tongue in a mousetrap, breathe fire, and swallow real swords of varying lengths and shapes. One sword was all twisty and horrible looking - the worst one to swallow, we were told. Davy and Peter, the brothers who started the project, literally found this kid in a bar in West Virginia not too long ago and invited him to join them as they toured the States and now Europe.

Davy came up on stage next, telling us about how Found magazine got started from his interest in all the strange paper scraps and random things he would find in the schoolyard next to the house he grew up in. He read some of his favourites...funny to do lists, love notes, notes passed between girls at school, a hilarious budget ($30/month=internet, $40/mth=electricty $300/mth=rent, $35/mth=food, $500/mth=alcohol, $600/mth=crack), strange receipts and funny signage.

Peter, the musician, has written songs inspired by the little scraps of people's lives that make up Found Magazine and he performed some of them for us. He's quite a good songwriter and the stories behind the found items are brought to life in his music.

The show finished with Davy's top 10 found items, many of which had me doubled over with laughter. Andy, the DJ, kept the party going with good music and I decided to stay and make some friends. It was a success, they were all really nice and I heard lots of stories about their European tour adventures, favourite finds and life in freakshows (from Brett the sword-swallower, who has lived one of the most interesting lives and is only nineteen.)

And those were my fun adventures at Forest.

oh god, there are drunk opera singers outside my window singing Josh Groban. Kill me now.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year's feast of turkey (from a package), cheese and tomato torte (from a package), tomato salad (fresh), sticky raisin pudding (from a package) and wine is brought to my desk from Marks & Spencer. Hooray for department stores.


I did get a bit nostalgic about Thanksgivings past, such as last year's feast in Montreal with some of my favourite boys...


In one week I will be eating my face off when the Stewart clan arrives in the motherland. I'm excited.

talk Settlers to me...

overheard in the lineup for the theatre tonight:

geeky girl #1: I think ore and wheat are the best. That's what I need to start collecting.
geeky boy #1: Yeah, that's what Peter and Scott do. They always win.
gg#1: I gotta try that tactic!
gb#1: I've tried it...but I still lost against them.
gg#1: We can try it when we get home.
(geek boy kisses geek girl on the nose.)


and now...
A sunday stroll in the waters of Leith:

'what are you DRINKING?!'

I sorely miss dancing in Montreal.
I went out with the Floor 2 Bitties last night to a club. It had a light up dance floor, like in Saturday Night Fever.
However, the music was total shit. But EVERYONE loved it! All Britpop (Spice Girls, Sclub7, Five, and basically any other britpop band you can think of) aaaall the time. And everyone sings along.

Also, another funny thing...
I went up to the bar and ordered a bottle of Stella. The bar tender told me a pint was the same price, so I got a pint instead. When I brought it back to where we were sitting, the girls were oddly shocked that I was drinking beer. Then I looked around...everyone in the club had vodka coolers in their hands. Even the five older guys sitting at the table beside us. Orange vodka coolers, all around.
I was the only one with a glass of beer. No joke.

Coffee vs. Ballet

Today I bought myself a coffee maker for 9 pounds.

Then I bought a ticket to the Scottish ballet for 7 pounds.

The coffee I made before the show was quite good, but the ballet was incredible.
There were 3 acts: the first was a piece set to 5 different Radiohead songs, the second was supposedly inspired by film and the way characters move in and out of frame (for some reason, I was thinking of Blade Runner during this one), and the third act was set in the 1930s with lots of period love songs and pretty costumes.
Radiohead was my favourite...they started, surprisingly, with 'Fitter, Happier' and then moved on to 'Creep', which was completely entrancing. 'Idioteque' was also very impressive, with 12 dancers onstage, just y'know, doing amazing contemporary ballet stuff.

My first foray into a theatre in Scotland was also a bit of a cultural experience, because:

• At intermission, they serve ice cream in the theatre. (I'm told this happens in theatres all over the U.K.)

• Between each act, at intermission, a "Safety Curtain" is dropped down in front of the red velvet curtain. This seemed extremely odd to me, but after some googling, I have discovered the reason behind the curtain. In 1911, a disastrous fire occurred onstage while an illusionist named Lafayette was taking a bow. A stage lamp fell, igniting a drape and killing 8 people, including the illusionist. So yes, safety first at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.

Here, have some photos...

this is my street:
Near where I live:



The first good cup of coffee I had in Edinburgh, last saturday:

my new city

When the bus driver drove me into Edinburgh on Monday, he told me this:
"There are three things Edinburgh has lots of; that's churches, pubs and golf courses."
And I thought, "oh, am I ever in for a treat."

I asked him about bicycling in the city, since there were a few bike symbols painted on the roads. He laughed at me, saying that biking here is pretty much a death wish. That killed my dreams of finding a beautiful Scottish bike. Walking around, I realize he is sort of right...I can barely even figure out what way the traffic is coming when I'm walking and I also don't know how keen I am on biking up hills of cobblestones.

I live in this hostel, which houses alongside backpackers and numerous stag/"hen" parties, 40 students from the University of Edinburgh. It's a pretty sweet deal, as I have a corner room with my own bathroom and a cleaning service once a week. What?!

The Scots are a very friendly bunch. They have little hesitations towards making new friends, so I've met lots of interesting people. On Wednesday I managed to get a ticket for the sold-out Bon Iver concert and while I was standing up at the front of the concert hall, I was tapped on the shoulder by a couple who were doing a review for some british entertainment website. They asked if I would be interested in taking photos for them to post with the review, since I had my camera with me. The results are here. Pretty cool, right?

Today I think I am finally over my jet-lag. It's a sunny day, so I'm going exploring.