November trip - Edinburgh / Inverness (Scotland)

It's been ages since I've last written an entry. The past few months have been really busy, working at the theatre, designing my website, putting my showreel together and also going on a couple of trips :) In November, I went to Scotland with Wilson, my former flatmate. Our first stop was Edinburgh - a beautiful city but unfortunately, it rained almost every day we were there! Still, it was nice to get away for my first real holiday in almost a year (day trips not included). From Edinburgh, we went to Inverness, in north Scotland. Inverness is known as 'The Gateway to the Highlands of Scotland' and it was just amazing! The scenery was just spectacular and instead of the rain, we got blue, sunny skies! One of the places we went to was Loch Ness, home of the famous Loch Ness monster, but tried as I did, I couldn't find any sign of Nessie :(

Chester

I spent Saturday in the city of Chester, in the north-west part of England. Chester is a nice quiet place with some very picturesque scenery, especially along the River Dee which cuts across the city. The city centre is not very big, and unless you’re doing some shopping, most of the city centre can be covered in an afternoon. There’s a city wall which was built in Roman times, an impressive cathedral, a museum... and even a Roman amphitheatre which is currently being excavated by archaeologists. Apparently, it was discovered by accident when the city started building a highway which was to cut across that particular site! Needless to say, the proposed highway has now been diverted. And of course, Chester also offers a nice, peaceful riverside walk along the River Dee, almost perfect for a quiet Saturday afternoon.

My Digital Art - Part 4

I went for a talk yesterday by a company called Double Negative. They did the special effects for such movies as Pitch Black and Batman Begins. During the talk, they showed showreels from job applicants and gave some advice on what's good, what's bad, etc. Some of the showreels they screened were absolutely amazing! They looked as if they were done by Industrial Light & Magic or Pixar, not some fresh graduates – which on the one hand is quite discouraging, but on the other hand very helpful. At least now I know the standard I need to bring my own showreel up to, which means I will have to spend even more time on it. Sigh.

Grassington and Kettlewell

A week ago on Sunday, my friends and I took the bus to Grassington, a village to the north-west of Bradford. Grassington is a small village and although nice, there's not much to see other than a few pubs and shops. Maybe if we had more time to walk further, we could have seen more, but we wanted to see the Dales so we hopped on a Dales Rover bus (£5!) which took us to the nearby village of Kettlewell. The scenery along the way was green rolling hills, something I'm still not tired of. The weather wasn’t too great though - cloudy most of the time with light rain every now and then. The two photos above were taken during those brief periods when the sun was shining. But then again, it's the company that counts, right?

Haworth

Immediately after Saltaire, I went once again to Haworth. I’ve been here before when I came for the 1940’s Weekend in May but I really like this place. Somehow, I find most English villages very appealing. It's probably because I've lived in big cities almost my entire life. Haworth is much quieter this time of year, with just a few tourists walking about. I walked around Main Street for a while before heading off to the side lanes and roads. There are hills around Haworth that are not very high but still offer beautiful picturesque sights of the moors. Once again, I snapped happily away with my camera. (Aren't digital cameras great?)

Many photographs later, I made my way back to Main Street with the intention of visiting the same spots I visited the last time I was here. I passed by a book store at the top of Main Street and decided to have a look. As I paid for one of James Patterson’s books, I started a very pleasant conversation with an elderly lady behind the counter about life in Haworth. Her name is Margaret and she is 71 years old. Joe, her 12 year old grandson who was helping her joined our conversation, giving his take on life in the village. I found out this bookstore used to be a post office and the counter where I was paying for my book is the exact spot the Bronte sisters posted their manuscripts to be published in the mid-1800s.

But life in Haworth is slowly changing. Neighbouring supermarkets are making business difficult for shops in the village. There's a sweets shop a few doors away from the bookstore that has been there since Margaret was a child, but according to Joe, he and his friends would rather go to Spar for their sweets as it's cheaper. When I asked him where Spar was, I was told it was in front of the train station. On the way home after saying our goodbyes, I passed by the train station and sure enough, I saw a modern convenience store called Spar opposite. Well, I guess all good things…

Saltaire

I spent Saturday morning in Saltaire, a village on the outskirts of Bradford that is now listed as a world heritage site. It was founded in 1853 by Titus Salt, a rich industrialist in the wool industry who built the entire village for his workers at the mill, providing them with housing, a library, and even a church building.

At this time of the year, the Saltaire Festival is on (from the 6th to 16th September 2007) and the streets are alive with activities including a street market (with very interesting and varied food from different countries), stage shows and also street performances. Among the places I visited were the Salts Mill, the David Hockney Art Gallery, and the Saltaire United Reformed Church building, apparently one of the finest Italianate buildings in this country. I didn’t have time to visit the River Aire or the canal, which is a pity as I really wanted to.

Slava's Snowshow

University life is now over. All my projects have been handed in and my exams are done. Now, it's just a matter of waiting to see if I graduate in December. I'll also be using my time to produce a showreel, but first, a bit of rest and relaxation. Last Wednesday evening was spent at the Alhambra theatre watching Slava’s Snowshow, a unique 'clown' act that was surprisingly very, very good. There were not many laugh-out-loud moments, in fact, one act about a clown who was going on a journey and had to leave his coat behind was quite poignant. But the entire performance is, without a doubt, an artistic theatrical showpiece with the stage transformed into an ocean for one act and a snow-covered mountain for another. One part of the show had a huge piece of cobweb fall down unto the stage from the ceiling and dragged unto the audience! It was fake cobweb, but I was still finding it on my clothing two days after the performance! The finale included a blizzard that blew fake snow unto the audience. All in all, it was a very interesting and entertaining evening. More information on the show can be found at http://www.slavasnowshow.co.uk.