beowulf

R and i went to london yesterday morning and spent much of the day with my cousin LM and her husband JM. we saw beowulf 3D at the IMAX theatre.

i really expected to not like it much at all, as i really like the epic poem, and spent a lot of time studying it in high school, undergrad, and grad school. the movie is almost never as good as the book--but at least this one wasn't really trying to be the book. i assume, anyway. i didn't love it, but it was entertaining. i did manage to doze off somewhere near the climx--oops. i guess that tells you how much i loved the new, very hollywood story line. the computer graphics were okay--it sort of felt like i was watching someone play a video game though--but i think i prefer that to watching actual people trying to create some of these scenes. makes it more 'legend' than real-life hero tale. okay enough on that.

was really good to see the cousins since i haven't seen them since March. we met early and had a coffee, and after the film went to a pub near Waterloo to have dinner. I really have to remind myself that service in the States is FAR better than anywhere in the UK. the food was way over-priced for what it was (bland and under-cooked), and the staff was useless and largely absent. but hey ho, we'll have plenty more experiences like this in London, i'm afraid. might as well just get used to it--at least they don't expect tips here.

we should have gone to our first option, the fishcotheque! i used to pass this every morning on my way to school. i've never been in, but it actually receives great reviews. i'd never guess that from looking at it though:

we just had lunch at wagamama's with an old colleague of R's. was good, but now i need to get back to arranging the room, applying for jobs, etc. which means i'll probably go play scrabble on facbook instead...

oh, and here was our view and 'entertainmant' on saturday, a brass band playing the same 5 xmas songs over and over and over from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. argh. notice the tuba aimed straight at our window--i swear this was on purpose, just to annoy me. we tried to work over the noise, building our wardrobe and working on our CVs (resumes in american), but had to just leave the flat after a while. they were still playing when we returned, the bastards!