This Week

Three of us-- Jackie, Sebi and I-- have been sick with generic cold symptoms (cough, runny nose, itchy eyes) this week. As a consequence, we haven't done all that much.

I had to attend my first "British Life and Culture" lecture Tuesday night; it was an amusing overview of some of the differences between Britian and the US (combined with a painfully long discussion of the history of monarchy that -- in my view-- glossed over some very important issues about the social origins of the Civil War). The fellow who gave it was plainly some sort of conservative academic and apparently a former lawyer but a decent enough speaker.

The following day we had our BLC field trip-- to the Museum of London. Jackie and I enjoyed our visit there last year and I was looking forward to going again. Unfortunately, the lower floors were closed for renovations (designed to upgrade the place in time for the 2012 Olympics). So, the students were exposed to displays about the history of London that took them up to the Great Fire of 1666 but couldn't see anything at all about London when it was quite literally the political, economic and intellectual capital of the world (mid-to-late 19th Century). Among other things, they missed out on the imposing gates of the notorious Newgate Prison, a detailed display about the building of the tube and a section of Charles Booth's famous poverty map. Sigh.

Before I headed over to the Museum, Jackie and I visited Old Bailey (the main criminal court for greater London) and sat in the public galleries to listen to a couple cases. It was fascinating, especially for Jackie who noticed some serious differences between the way criminal trials are run in the U.S. and the way they are run here. I liked the fact that all the lawyers and judges had to wear powdered 18th Century wigs and flowing black robes. We heard some extended testimony from , and a cross examination of, a forensic pathologist discussing the case of a young man who died after a street skirmish; the man had been very drunk at the time of the "scrap" and it was unclear whether his brain injuries were caused by the blows he sustained or by his repeated falls to the ground afterward. Interesting stuff.

Yesterday I took my film class to our first public film screening, a series of shorts by young black UK directors that was part of the Black Filmmakers Festival. The shorts themselves were OK -- one documentary piece about the unsolved murder of a 15 year old in south London was particularly powerful-- but it was great hearing each of the directors afterwards talk about the filmmaking process and their future plans. The point all of them made was that it is easy enough to make films now with a camcorder and laptop but that getting distribution (much less marketing) is still very difficult. This fits with what I know about the challenges facing young filmmakers in the U.S. as well. I wanted to ask if any of them made regular use of YouTube or GoogleVideo to reach an audience but the Q&A period ended before I could ask my question.

Today is my "free day" but since Jackie and I are both under the weather we may just stay home and take it easy. That's it for now.