London, weekend, television
Jun. 22nd, 2010 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarielAs previously mentioned, I had an early morning panel in London on Saturday, at the BSFA/SFF AGM and minicon. We also had theatre tickets on the Friday night, so we decided to bunk off on Friday and do the tourist thing in Our Nation's Capital. Our hotel was in Westminster, so we wandered along the river through Victoria Tower Gardens. My piccies are here. (All taken on the iPhone!)
London has too often been a barrier to me, a place I have to pass through to get somewhere else, so it's good to be able to stop and take the time to look. We dropped into the National Portrait Gallery, principally to laugh at the statue of Victoria and Albert in mediaeval Anglo-Saxon garb, that makes them look like Posh'n'Becks. (I wanted to link to an image of it, but sadly it's not on the NPG site, for copyright reasons. Quite hard to miss if you're in the museum, though.)
Friday evening, we went to see Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce at the Duke of York's Theatre. Wisely played as a period piece; thank God I didn't have to be a grown woman during the 1970s. The play has a nice conceit – three marital bedrooms on stage all at once, with four married couples hopping between them – and is funny enough, although not side-splitting. It would have been funnier if the pay-off (a collapsing chest of drawers) hadn't been ruined by some idiot's phone going off for the second time that night. Completely undercut the last five minutes. One of the cast members looked absolutely livid, and I don't blame him.
Next morning, we strolled from the hotel through St James's Park to Piccadilly. What a beautiful day! The minicon was happening at the Royal Astronomical Society in Burlington House. Another part of London which I don't know well, and I was grateful for (and awed by) con organiser![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
owlfish's map of the area – hand-drawn, showing all available coffee outlets, and with the legend: "Geography Is Approximate." Words to live by.
I'm bad at remembering what happens on panels when I'm a participant: I'm concentrating hard on listening to what other people are saying and thinking about my response, and my 'record' function doesn't work. The theme was "How do we understand TV as a literary medium?" I think what I chiefly wanted to get across was that television's strength, for me, lies in its domesticity – the small space inhabited by a handful of well-drawn characters – rather than in spectacle, and that, for me, shows such as NuBSG might deliver spectacle, but don't deliver credibility in terms of plot or character. (NuBSG also commits the cardinal sin of being dull: disaster for television.) We also discussed the issue of the respectability of SF, a question which becomes more complex in the context of TV, a form that has often struggled to make a case for its credibility. (Tho' I personally gave up striving for credibility w.r.t. my cultural pursuits years ago: "Sure I write fanfiction! Would you like to read it?" Brazen it out, brazen it out...) I'm sorry I can't remember more. I thoroughly enjoyed myself; hope participants and audience did too.
I sadly had to dash off before the tour of the RAS library; I had a dinner date withmraltariel at the Capital (ooh, get us, proper posh). It's such a lovely place, relaxed and welcoming. For the record, my grub:
Oh yes.
Then back to the hotel, where we rounded off the evening with 'The Pandorica Opens' on iPlayer. The terrible gentleness with which all the other toys put the Doctor in the box. Boy oh boy.
London has too often been a barrier to me, a place I have to pass through to get somewhere else, so it's good to be able to stop and take the time to look. We dropped into the National Portrait Gallery, principally to laugh at the statue of Victoria and Albert in mediaeval Anglo-Saxon garb, that makes them look like Posh'n'Becks. (I wanted to link to an image of it, but sadly it's not on the NPG site, for copyright reasons. Quite hard to miss if you're in the museum, though.)
Friday evening, we went to see Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce at the Duke of York's Theatre. Wisely played as a period piece; thank God I didn't have to be a grown woman during the 1970s. The play has a nice conceit – three marital bedrooms on stage all at once, with four married couples hopping between them – and is funny enough, although not side-splitting. It would have been funnier if the pay-off (a collapsing chest of drawers) hadn't been ruined by some idiot's phone going off for the second time that night. Completely undercut the last five minutes. One of the cast members looked absolutely livid, and I don't blame him.
Next morning, we strolled from the hotel through St James's Park to Piccadilly. What a beautiful day! The minicon was happening at the Royal Astronomical Society in Burlington House. Another part of London which I don't know well, and I was grateful for (and awed by) con organiser
owlfish's map of the area – hand-drawn, showing all available coffee outlets, and with the legend: "Geography Is Approximate." Words to live by.I'm bad at remembering what happens on panels when I'm a participant: I'm concentrating hard on listening to what other people are saying and thinking about my response, and my 'record' function doesn't work. The theme was "How do we understand TV as a literary medium?" I think what I chiefly wanted to get across was that television's strength, for me, lies in its domesticity – the small space inhabited by a handful of well-drawn characters – rather than in spectacle, and that, for me, shows such as NuBSG might deliver spectacle, but don't deliver credibility in terms of plot or character. (NuBSG also commits the cardinal sin of being dull: disaster for television.) We also discussed the issue of the respectability of SF, a question which becomes more complex in the context of TV, a form that has often struggled to make a case for its credibility. (Tho' I personally gave up striving for credibility w.r.t. my cultural pursuits years ago: "Sure I write fanfiction! Would you like to read it?" Brazen it out, brazen it out...) I'm sorry I can't remember more. I thoroughly enjoyed myself; hope participants and audience did too.
I sadly had to dash off before the tour of the RAS library; I had a dinner date with
mraltariel at the Capital (ooh, get us, proper posh). It's such a lovely place, relaxed and welcoming. For the record, my grub:- White crab meat with a tomato salad
- Pan fried guinea fowl breast, glazed maccheroni, and pumpkin velouté
- Roast pineapple with star anise, crème brûlée, hibiscus sorbet
Oh yes.
Then back to the hotel, where we rounded off the evening with 'The Pandorica Opens' on iPlayer. The terrible gentleness with which all the other toys put the Doctor in the box. Boy oh boy.
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-22 03:26 pm (UTC)Oh god, that statue's unbelievable, isn't it? I vividly remember the first time I saw it - I stood there in stunned silence for several seconds and then the Resident Geek and I laughed so hard we nearly fell over, somewhat to the offence of the custodian in the room who obviously felt Our Glorious Queen And Consort should be treated with more respect.
But honestly, if you ever needed proof of Victoria's complete and utter lack of taste (I didn't, I've been to Disraeli's place at Beaconsfield and seen all the presents she sent him!) there it is.
Ooh, mmm for dinner.
And I
still haven't managed to watch the Pandorica, so la la la not listening!am caught up now. Yes, wasn't it fab?no subject
Date: 2010-06-23 01:32 pm (UTC)Yes, wasn't it fab?
Oh yes!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-22 05:59 pm (UTC)Yay for being tourists in London - we had a lot of fun doing that last year.
Glad the minicon went well. I like the idea of TV being the small space, and how often is it not the small space episodes of things that work really well?
I don't think I've ever bought the 70s as being some kind of wonderland, mainly through a childhood spent in its years of neverending doom. And Hot Gossip/Legs and Co.
glazed maccheroni
I read that as glazed macchiato. Well, it could have been.
The terrible gentleness with which all the other toys put the Doctor in the box.
You do the best sentences.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-22 06:22 pm (UTC)I suppose that, as the National Portrait Gellery specialises in portraits, sadly you wouldn't have encountered Van Gogh's famous "Exploding Police Box".
no subject
Date: 2010-06-23 08:34 am (UTC)"Exploding Police Box" was not there, sadly; nor do I recall it being at the Van Gogh Museum - although it's a while since I visited that!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-22 09:06 pm (UTC)I see what you did there :D
no subject
Date: 2010-06-23 07:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-22 09:23 pm (UTC)The phone at the play: when will there be a Cone of Cellular Silence that can be lowered over theatres, cinemas, and other such places? Seriously! I'm so afraid of my incomprehensibly complex phone turning itself back on when I'm at a play or concert that I enable flight mode, then remove the battery just in case. And maybe leave it at home for good measure.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-23 01:34 pm (UTC)The theatre didn't make a 'phones off, please' announcement, which was slightly unusual. But you'd think after the guy's phone went off once, he'd have switched it off, or to silent, or something!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-23 04:37 pm (UTC)The theater I attend most often has wonderful trick: about five minutes before curtain, when everyone's seated, they play a single typical cellphone ring going off--it's over the loudspeaker system, but they have it set just right so it really sounds like some poor schmuck's phone is ringing in the audience.
While everyone is checking their own phone (nervously, or self-righteously, as the case may be) they play a few different ringtones, building to a crescendo, and then backing off. It gets laughs every time, and I have NEVER heard a phone ring during a performance there.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-25 10:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-25 04:15 pm (UTC)