My Room Has A View

‘Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.’ –Charles Dickens

          In honour of Dickens’ 200^th birthday I thought I would pick a quote of his to start off this post. He was a wonderful writer (although sometimes a little editing might not have killed him) and I am hard pressed to think of another writer who could make me finish a book as long as Great Expectations in only two days.

          Dickens loved to do live readings (in fact it is most likely what killed him- his heart and blood pressure would rise so much that his doctor ordered him to stop. But he loved it too much so he didn’t…) and he travelled constantly to do them. And this past week I got to do some travelling of my own. My parents came to visit so we took a nice drive up to the beautiful (and very cold) highlands. (See first picture). We also went to Loch Ness and saw Nessie! Well we saw the mysterious bubbles (shown in the second picture) but clearly it is her.

          Honestly it was quite a relief considering how weird campus has been since Christmas. During finals everyone was on campus but no one left their rooms. Town was deserted but everywhere there was a low buzz… like bees in the hive. Then the day finals ended town completely emptied. I’m fairly certain 20 out of 300 kids were in the dining hall the first week of inter- semester break and town became eerie.

          So my highlands adventure was greatly appreciate. We visited Culloden battlefield and Urquhart Castle, both of which I enjoyed immensely despite being the teensiest bit rushed by the non- history major members of my traveling party. We discovered the amazing British television channel that is Dave… and just hung out. It was a real vacation where we just got away from everything for a few days and it was wonderful. A friend of mine who moved back to the states last semester told me that she always thought saying goodbye for the second time would be harder and in a way she was right. That morning was rough. But I also realised that I was going to leave home eventually and the best balm for that wound is to know that you are somewhere worth the twinge of pain every now and then when you wish you could be home, just for a little while.

          Plus it helps knowing I made it through one term successfully… and this term looks like it could be even better- even if it might be harder. I am taking both Ancient History and Comparative Literature for the first time which ought to be quite interesting. But if that doesn’t turn out to be true I am finally taking my late modern History class… which is what I hope to eventually teach. And basically spend the rest of my life reading/ studying/ writing about.

          In between finals and the trip to the Highlands I had a week free (aside from one great day out to the Edinburgh zoo to visit the adorable new pandas there) which means there are plenty of reviews…

TV

Downton Abbey- Another show I have been slow in starting, but once I started I finished in less than a week. With amazing performances and more plotlines and characters to care about that your brain can often handle it always entertains. Plus it’s a British historical drama… so really it was always destined to be amazing. It is the only show that honestly made me care about a missing snuffbox. Downton fans will understand. Plus Maggie Smith is hilarious as the Dowager Countess.

Sherlock- Series 2 ended during my finals and it went out with a bang… or a thud for those of you who watched. Again I cannot recommend this amazing series enough- both Cumberbatch and Freeman are wonderful. Also, I was right from the beginning- Molly Hooper is my hero.

Being Human- The US series is back. I tried to watch the original UK show about a werewolf, a ghost, and a vampire living together and trying to be normal but the complete and utter depressing nature of the show led me to abandon it. Until SyFy (I miss SciFi… SyFy is weird) made this much more humorous take on the storyline. Basically it gets me through the non- True Blood months.

Glee- Why do I still watch this show?! Oh right… because I like to have something on in the background when I clean my room.

How I Met Your Mother- Last night’s episode ‘The Burning Beekeeper’ was a throwback to the old HIMYM days… in the tradition of the almighty ‘Pineapple Incident’ it was told out of order and involved several incredibly far- fetched scenarios. It also made me laugh a great deal without knocking me over the head with a moral as has become more common on the show these days although if you were paying attention it all came down to Lily panicking about being a mother… but more than anything it reminded me how good HIMYM can be when it embraces its most unorthodox and endearing qualities.

Books:

To be honest I did not get much reading done. Finals fried my brain for a bit meaning I tended more towards television in my free time… but I am halfway through

‘How To Be Good’ by Nick Horby- Horby is a quintessential British author of the past two decades because of his amazing wit and wholly readable style. His characters and situations combine the unorthodox with believability to perfection. This particular work, about a woman who is very unhappy in her marriage and yet can’t get out of it showcases how life takes some fairly incredible turns. I haven’t even gotten to the end yet and I feel comfortable enough recommending it… but I also loved ‘About a Boy’ so I suppose I’m biased.

Movies

The Artist- I treated myself to a film this weekend because I wanted to see a silent movie released on the big screen in my lifetime. Plus I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And I totally agree with the fuss! This movie showcases all of the pure emotions that come with telling a story while stripping film down of all its modern distractions of noise, colour, and showy effects. It is a film about people on camera and what that combination can make… and it creates magic. Plus the dog is adorable. (Also kudos for placing the dog in the credits- I furious at the end of War Horse for many reasons- crying seven times for one- but also because they failed to list even one horse that appeared on the screen despite the main character actually being a horse…)

So that is all I have for you this time. I hope you are enjoying 2012 so far. Now go read some Dickens!