London is turning me into a history nerd and I like it.

Each day I read or hear or see something else that I want to learn more about, so I've been trying to keep up a list. Right now, it's more about medieval time period, particularly the Vikings, the Anglo-Saxon rule, and Edward the Confessor (last of the House of Wessex to rule). Learning and seeing the remains of buildings from this time period has made me want to actually write a screenplay based on this time period. I find Edward the Confessor fascinating as a character (although I'm still reading about others), and if I can stick with writing it, it'll be more fiction-based.

Anyone who knows me at least a little bit is well aware that I am a fan of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings. I mean, it's basically the second thing that tumbles out of my mouth after introducing myself. Sometimes it's in the same sentence like, "Hi my name is Hannah and I like Lord of the Rings".  In college, when my class was put into the 'circle of introduction' (which I despise), the "favorite book or movie" question was always answered (shyly I might add) with "Return of the King." Sometimes I overhear discussions of such at bookstores or in movie theaters or at Target, and boom! I've jumped into their conversation faster than the proverbial Gollum snatching back his precious.
"Hey, did someone just say Hobbiton because groovy. I'm a fan of hobbitz, yaaa'lll." Except really.  It happens just like that, and in these situations customary greetings filled to the ends with the exchanging of names and favorite colors is not discussed. It would be anticlimactic and therefore illogical.

The aforementioned situation however never just occurs with Lord of the Rings. I hear Harry Potter and bam! Muggle please. I've done already apparated all up in that convo. Video games: Circle circle square start, you've done caught my gaming heart.

This is how I met the guys and gals in Barnes and Noble who introduced me to D&D. I was browsing the gaming aisle and there they were having a discussion about an expansion pack and that was that.

But this is focused on Lord of the Rings, and more particularly how it opened up the door for me to the world of fantasy.  Everyone has those moments throughout life that help define who they are as a person; moments that have taken you from one path and put you on another.  Often times these moments are life changing and awe inspiring even if, at the time of their occurrence only last a mere couple of seconds.  Sometimes, we don't recognize these moments until much later when a moment of reflection brings it to light.

You know the moments I'm talking about.  One of mine just happens to include Lord of the Rings.

Since I have been writing, I have thought/am thinking about from whence this passion comes.  What inspired me, what lit the spark?

And the answer, quite simply, is a birthday present I received my 13th year.  One of my good friends at the time, who also happens to share my name, gave me the Fellowship of the Ring VHS as a gift and was like, "Here. This movie's so good, you have to watch it."

Okay.

This wasn't my first encounter with the title, though.  I say "the title" because I remember quite vividly sitting in the living room of my neighbor friends' house and seeing a picture from the movie in the newspaper that accompanied its review in said paper, and I remember seeing the title then, but not having any idea what the story was actually about.  If I also remember correctly, FotR was released shortly after the Sorcerer's Stone that year in 2001.  ( I hadn't read HP yet, and wouldn't for many years, but that is a different story for another time).  Anyway, I feel like my friends were talking about Harry Potter (we were all around 11, I know I was) and the paper was just there, and my friends' mom saw me looking at it and remarked along the lines of "Oh, I want to see that.  It's based on books I read when I was younger."  This was two years before I actually got the VHS.

So now I'm 13 and in possession of a VHS FotR (which I still have by the way, though the case is quite worn).  It sat in our entertainment center for probably a good month or two before we actually watched it. I remember like it was yesterday commenting to my mom and dad about how we should watch it because my friend said it was good, and if for no other reason than to watch something I got as a gift.  I remember my dad saying about how he heard it was good, too.

So SPOILER ALERT: We finally watched it, well actually I saw it for the first time with just my mom.  My sister may have watched it then, too. I don't remember. This probably occurred sometime very early summer between 7th and 8th grade, or right near the end of 7th grade.

You must now take into account that my parents were very restrictive about what we could watch when we were younger.  This same year (2003) I had a battle with my parents to let me go see a PG-13 movie with my friends at night, a right to which I believed myself now entitled since I was, in fact, 13.  (The movie was Big Fish btw).  I did go, and this was during the fall term of 8th grade. I remember seeing it with a  big group which included my friend who gave me the VHS and her bf at the time. Random, irrelevant details I somehow remember. (Fun fact though: I played Mortal Kombat among other classics like Sonic on sega genesis with my friends at their house before I was 10 and my parents never knew.  Haha. ) Anyway. All of that is stories for a different time.

It is important to understand that seeing FotR for the first time was unlike anything I had ever seen or read before. In fact, I don't remember much about what I read BEFORE. Yes, I did read, but it was, you know, Nancy Drew, Ramona and Beezus, little books that I don't remember unless I looked through the books packed away downstairs.

When Frodo is reading a book and pops up upon hearing Gandalf coming down the way, that's the moment right there. That moment. The green fields, an old man who I mistakenly thought as Frodo's dad the first time I watched it until I understood what was going on, these tiny creatures who never wore shoes. The mountains and the people who lived in them, elves ( and not north pole elves), trolls, balrogs, a ring that could destroy everything.  Like, I had no idea that kind of world, that kind of story could exist.  A wizard like Gandalf. And Frodo. I loved Frodo.  I watched it over and over. I rewinded back and back through the Hobbiton sequence in the beginning, so fascinated I was with place. I watched it until my parents told me I couldn't watch it because I had seen it already a million times, and that made me cry.

I read the books so fast, and became so proud of myself because they were the first real, big books I had read. To a kid those books are huge, but I devoured them. I rented the Two Towers and watched that, and to my ever so joyous surprise, the third one was still yet to be released.  When it came out in December of that year, my dad dressed up, I dressed nicely, and he took me out to dinner and then to see the movie.  It was the only one of the three I saw in theaters, but it was glorious.  I saw it in theaters three times.

I joined a forum, lotrplaza.com to be precise, and for the four steady years of high school, I rp-ed a character. With others I wrote posts and stories centered in Tolkien's universe.  This wasn't all I did.  I played softball all four years as well.  I was in marching band. I went to more and more movies with friends. And I read more stories.  I read Eragon. I got into Beowulf and mythology.

It was while I was in high school when I realized I wanted to write a fantasy novel.  Heck, I wanted to write an epic poem. I still have the journal with all my notes and ideas (though not nearly as detailed as I wish they could be now). I wrote poems.

With Return of the King, I realized I loved soundtracks. My parents got me them for Christmas in 2003.  I listened to them all the time and it quickly expanded to include other movie scores, and soundtracks quickly became one of my favorite genres of music.  I remember waiting for the bus to come pick us up and carry us to a game (the softball team) and one of the girls was playing High school musical songs, and I said something about listening to a lot of soundtracks, and her response was (I remember it so clearly) "How can you listen to music that doesn't have any singing? I can't stand it."

Okay, let me just reiterate that this girl was listening to Zac effron sing.

Return of the King is one of the things I thought about when I decided I wanted to learn how to make stories into movies. The charge of the Rohirrim onto the fields of Pelennor....beautiful and powerful.

Lord of the Rings is of what the foundation of my nerdiness is made. Tolkien's work is what inspired me to write; it's what opened the door for a 13 yr old who had no idea could exist; that such a work could be created.

What would I be like if I had never gotten that movie when I did? If I never watched it?  If I had seen it only last year? Would I have read Eragon in high school?  would I have realized in high school that I wanted to write a fantasy book more than anything else? Would I have gotten into JMU? Seriously, the last sentence of my entrance essay was a clever reference to Tolkien and I'm convinced that and my writing got me in because my grades were nothing special.

Alas. That's more or less why I'm kind of a nerd and why I like Lord of the Rings. I could write more. I can always write mroe. But I am tired. Goodnight.

This past Monday, I embarked on a nail-biting adventure to Brighton with my dear friend Sara! Brighton is a lovely town right on the English Channel in Southern England, and Sara had already been planning to go for a couple of days ahead. I only decided the night before.....

We decided to get up kinda early to get to the Victoria train station in time to get tickets; by train it takes about an hour or so to get there. So, with all these early intentions of getting started, of course we get to the train station around 11 and get in to buy our tickets. We were expecting to pay about 10 pounds for an open-return because that's how much they were online...except we found out it was 22 pounds per person for an open-return; it's only 10 pounds if you book ahead of time online.

Jk! Too much cash monies, haha.

So we asked where the coach station was because taking the coach is always cheaper; it just takes double the time to get anywhere. While all this was going on, we saw a quite fit guy a little ahead of us line; his eyes were the prettiest of all. But we couldn't figure out if he was gay or not because it was obvious he was traveling with this other guy. So Sara kept eyeing him trying to get his attention. Nothing worked though, so naturally Sara decided she would pretend to propose to me in the middle of Victoria train station just to see if he and his friend would notice. They didn't obviously, haha.

After taking pictures of Sara with guys from the Misfits as they flashed onto one of the advertisement boards, we made it to the coach station, bought our tickets, and made it on the bus with barely five minutes to spare before it left.

It took about two hours and some change to arrive in Brighton. We hit up the pier straight away and spent most of the day there feeding killer seagulls the leftovers from my fish and chips, outsmarting chavs in the arcade, and riding some rides. Actually, I didn't ride anything, but Sara rode the Super Booster and I took a video. She screamed everytime it went around.

We also went out on the beach for a little while. The shore isn't made of sand, but of rocks and pebbles. A couple of times we were almost soaked in the feet from the tide because we weren't paying attention. It doesn't sound like it, but it was hilarious. Later, we had dinner at the Black Lion pub, and hopped on the bus back home, but not before trying to predict when the waves would crash over the groyne by the pier.

~~~~~~~~~~

On Tuesday night, I got the opportunity to attend my first red-carpet film premier! It was for the movie Anonymous, which explores the theory that Shakespeare did not actually write any of the works on which his name is penned. At the premier, I got all the main characters autographs except for Rhys Ifans, and I even was able to have my picture taken with David Thewlis!

The premier itself wasn't large scale, and I am not one who regularly follows celebrities, but it was so surreal standing beside the red-carpet and taking pictures of actors standing less than a foot in front of me, who, until that moment, I've only ever seen on the telly. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and hopefully I'll attend one or two more premieres before leaving!

Yesterday I went on a hike with a 'Get Out of London' hiking group to the countryside of Kent. We hopped on a train at Victoria station for a half hour to the village of Otford and hiked nine miles to Eynsford, with a stop in Shoreham. It was nothing short of beautiful and amazing and was exactly the kind of hike I wanted to take while I was here. We hiked by cow pastures, up stony hills, through the woods, walked beside lavender fields, and passed through large hilltop gardens, which were high enough to see across the countryside for miles.

Two people in our group who were regular hikers knew a lot about different kinds of plants, berries and mushrooms, and at one point we passed between two large hedges of blackberries lining a small road, so we all stopped and picked some. I also ended up with the greatest walking stick of all time, and at the end of the hike I left it propped up against a wooden fence on the outskirts of Eynsford.

All the villages were typical English villages; exactly like how I imagined them. Standing on the crest of the last hill of our hike, we could see the entire town of Eynsford surrounded by trees and green pastures. There was one church steeple that stood out the highest, and a red brick train bridge at the forefront. Shoreham was probably the most quaint with only three local pubs and one main street. (I have pictures of all these places.) People in these places are more friendly and open to conversation; in fact when we were taking a break at the King's Arms pub in Shoreham, one lady who had been out gardening came and talked to us about what we thought of Shoreham.

All the people in the group seemed really friendly, and Nick - the group organiser - was a great leader. He takes all the hikes himself before taking a group so he knows exactly what he is doing and where he's going. There was also a mum and her little kid, who had to be about 5 or 6 or so, and this kid had unbelievable energy. He talked to anyone he was with, and besides toting around a bag full of toys, he kept running back and forth in the group the entire hike, and still had more energy than everyone else at the end. I don't know how kids do it :p

While on the train to Otford in the morning, I sat by a lady (who was on the hike as well) and she talked to me about her views on British media, and how she believes news coverage is surpassing the necessary boundaries on content, especially with the developing news story on Gaddafi's death. She said that news channels (channel 4 specifically, I think) were broadcasting the actual video footage of Gaddafi's death over and over again, and she felt violated with the violence. I found it very interesting to listen to a first-hand account of a regular watcher of the news here since we are learning about media in school.

This morning I worked on the production team at Hillsong Church for the first time. On average, there are about 20 people on the production team at each service, and the church service is held in a broadway theater. The system itself is intense, and was my first experience at actual 'studio production' that I've had (I'm taking a class in the spring at JMU for studio production, too). They have two studio cameras, a lighting system, sound system, a broadcasting operations unit, CCU operation, and switchboard for the live stream that's projected on the screen at the front of the church. The broadcasting operation projects live-feed over the internet, and I know for a fact Amsterdam churches were online live for this morning's service. A guy named Abraham was my 'guide' for the morning, and since he was on CCU, that's where I spent most of the service. CCU is the Camera Control Unit; it operates (separately) the color balance, the camera iris, and shutter speed, while the cameramen themselves control the zoom level, focus and tracking. All of these things can be doing directly through the camera, but because of the size of the production, it is divided between cameramen and CCU operators for higher efficiency. Needless to say, I learned a lot in an hour and a half. In November, I'm specifically signed up for three services - 6 November, and two on the 13th - as Broadcast operations trainee and CCU operations trainee. I'm excited!!

Abraham also works at the BBC and I asked if I could come sometime and sit in one some of the operations happening there, and he told me sure!

London is ye olde awesome!

hannaH's easy step-by-step guide on how to easily maneuver the tube at rush hour.

1.) Don't even get on. Don't even think about getting on. Just.....don't.

Today began the first day of our fall break.

A lot of our group is taking trips to other parts of Europe, but I'm staying in London! Soooo I thought I'd kick it off with something nice and interesting! I bought a ticket to tour the BBC television studios. Besides the fact I was the only one in our tour group under at least 45 and over 12 (there was one kid), it was a lot fun! We saw inside two studios; one was being taken down (the TV Burp or something), and we (as a group) were able to experience a 'gameshow' and news as if it were live. Me and some other guy volunteered to sit in the production room where he did the voice over and sound effects, and I got to change the different cameras and play the video clips. Two of the older men were the newscasters, and they were hilarious. They (as was a majority of our group) were part of a theater group from Connecticut. All and all, it was good fun.

After I got back to our flat, I decided to go to the London's Warner Bros building, which I just found out a few days ago is just down the street from our apartment. Haha, we recognised it because inside the door are the four huge house crests from Harry Potter, along with some props from Clash of the Titans. Unfortunately, they don't give tours there, but they gave me some digits of other studios.

Then I just wandered around to Covent Gardens area, popping into some shops to have the browse. I ended up buying some english sweets, and a cheap pair of pink, round sunglasses because they looked so suave, haha.

It was around this time that I decided I was going to go see Harry Potter/Deathly Hallows pt 2 just 'cause I could and it seemed appropriate being in London and all. I ended up getting a free poster out of it. Anyway, even though I've seen it about four times now (can't honestly remember), it's still just as amazing as the first time. It's a great adaptation of the book.

I always get the question though from people who haven't read the books or seen the movies why people enjoy them so much, or why we saw it more than once in the cinema. And I always have to respond that the answer is so much deeper than just some British kids doing magic. The values J.K. Rowling places on friendship are incredible, and the one theme the whole Harry Potter series is based on, the them that drives the whole story, the perseveres until the end and conquers evil, death, and darkness, is love. Learning to believe in yourself and your abilities and believing in what you think is right even when everyone else turns their back and calls you wrong, that's what Harry Potter is. So there you have it folks! A simple reason :D

Annnnnd I guess the real-life moment I had today was in the cinema bathroom. I was trying to dry my hands, and I literally stood in front of the dryer trying to operate it for at least three minutes. And no matter what I did I couldn't get it to turn on, so I left because there was a woman behind me. But of course, what do you think happened?!?! She got the dryer to work!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now ladies and gentleman....a new post!

I'm going to try to make this a compilation of all the shows and movies I've seen so far in London. My last blog entry is still missing some stuff that I wanted in it as well, so I'll try to get that up soon, too.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) was the first film I saw with my film class. We saw it as a special screening at the Cinema museum. It follows a serial killer who seeks revenge on his late mother's behalf in order to gain the inheritance from the other family heirs, which was denied to her because of her marriage to 'unfit' suitor.

The second movie I saw was as an outing with my film adaptation class titled Kes. It is directed by Ken Loach and written (adapted from a book) by Barry Hines. It follows the story of a young boy growing up in the English working middle class who catches a falcon and trains it. I enjoyed it because of the insight it provided into working-class British life during the 1960s, and because the film itself is wholly British; untouched by Hollywood. The only difficulties I had with it was understanding the dialogue because the Yorkshire accents were so thick. I completely missed what was said between Billy (the boy) and his brother Jud in the first scene.

The In-Betweeners movie (seen last week, 11 October) is based off a British comedy television show. It had a high level of crude sexual content, however, it was only given a 15+ rating in the UK, which brings me to an interesting point on one of the major differences between British and American television content. Sex and nudity is used in the same, excess way violence is used in American TV and cinema...I'm actually planning on writing a paper for my Media and Society class on the differences between American and British film, so I'll post it up when it's finished.

Other movies that I watched for my film adaptation class are:

-Kingdom of Heaven

-The newly released Jane Eyre

-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

- Romeo and Juliet (1996, Baz Luhrmann)

- The Homecoming (a boring, yet intense philosophical commentary on basic human nature; survival of the fittest)

- The Fallen Idol (even more boring; very straight adaptation from the play. It dragged on way too long.)

-The Dead (adapted from James Joyce's novella)

BFI London Film Festival

-Coriolanus - directed and starring Ralph Fiennes

Theatre productions I've seen thus far are:

-Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe

-Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre in Stratford on Avon

-Betty Blue Eyes (it's about a pig) at Novello Theatre

-The Tempest with Ralph Fiennes at Theatre Royal Haymarket

Operas:

La traviata at the Royal Opera House in Covent Gardens