the 'Bs' and 'Cs' of London.

I was just going to do a post about the 'Bs' of London. The reason I started on this theme is because I had two items to talk about, both of which happened to start with the letter 'B.' Then, because '3' is a magic number, I decided I had to have a third 'B.' But then I decided I also wanted to talk about a 'C' and that just wouldn't work. So I had to think of another 'C' to make it worthwhile. But the 'Cs' are sort of on a theme so it just really doesn't work at all. Then I tried to think of 'As' so I could make it an 'ABCs' of London that wasn't really an 'ABC' of London like you would think, but I couldn't. Halfway through this, I probably will think or something. I could always do 'alcohol,' but I don't really want to talk about that.

So, today I indulged in some americana and went to the BAFTA Awards. I explain it as the British equivalent of the Oscars - although we might just call it the Oscars transported to Leicester Square, because the best movie nominees are practically the same as the Oscar nominees. Just recently I read a short article called, 'How British are the BAFTAs?' The answer is: they're not. They don't even have a 'Best British Film' category anymore. They do, however, have a 'Best Movie Not in English' category, which is very nice of them, but adds to the 'BAFTAs not being British' thing. Anyway, the Odeon theatre in Leicester Square was decked with screens and orange lights (due to the BAFTAs humongous sponsorship by the British mobile phone company, Orange), barriers, bright lights, temporary stages, and flags on the lamposts. Really, they go all out for these things. It's brilliant. So me and some of my very American cohorts headed down in the rain (it has rained maybe 4 days total since I've been here and of course, when the Americans are walking down the red carpet it's raining and they're holding umbrellas and just smiling cheekily at the cameras saying, 'oh, British weather!' and it's not funny) and tried to set ourselves up in the best viewing position possible. It was busy. We didn't know where to go. But I did get some clear views of actor heads: most notably Patrick Stewart, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Ebert, Sol Campbell, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Ron from Harry Potter. I mean, there were loads more famous people there but I started to get claustrophobic, my calfs has tightened up, and I was about a minute away from grabbing everybody's damn big umbrellas and poking their eyes out. Along with grabbing everybody's cell phone cameras and throwing them at... something.

Second B: BANKSY. This is a man. A man who stencils. A man who has published a book about the grandness of stencil/grafitti art. I was recently brought to the Banksy light by the A-Train (a lame Ben Garnett nickname) who purchased said book. So Banksy is this dude who goes all around London doing big ass stencil pieces in very prominent public places. They're all very political, but done incredibly well, with incredible creativity, using the environment around them. So one of my goals here is to search out Banksy stencils. Oh, actually, I've already found one. Apparently his stencils are usually gone within a week, but that deep entry I made a while back? About the 'this is not a photo opportunity' stencil? Yeah. That was Banksy. Say his name. BanksyBanksyBanksy. It's like the name for a butler. It's adorable. That's probably half the reason why I like him. Check out his website, it's awesome: http://www.banksy.co.uk

There's also B for books. Oh, duh, right? But there's something great about book culture in London. Sure, you've got your 'chick lit' and even 'dick lit' (a spine-tingling horrible term), but you've also got websites like this created by the city of London (and ANOTHER play off of Harry Beck's tube map!) and you find bookstores dedicated to crime novels on Charing Cross Road and also books on the Piccadilly line of the tube with postys on them saying 'EAT ME!' (just kidding, unless you were in Wonderland), saying 'READ ME! I'M NOT LOST!' and inside you can go to this website and track your book as it travels from person to person around the world. I found one in London that had been in Switzerland only days before, which I gave to Alex to bring to Tokyo. What book? Bill Bryson's 'Notes From a Small Island.' Rather fitting it should be right there on a tube train for me, since it's all about Britain. Of course I had already read it...

C is for Colin Meloy, the lead singer of the Decemberists, and London-nerd extraordinarie. I've been listening to a lot of his solo stuff (including a fabulous 'Sings Morrissey EP' and a live track in which he sings to his pregnant girlfriend and says 'it's weird and it's wonderful, dear.') I've done even more listening to his band prior to the Decemberists, Tarkio. It's much more of a folksy (banksy!) outing, and it's also REALLY REALLY LONDON NERD CENTRAL. He talks of crossing the Strand, of, oh, I can't remember the exact references, but they're kind of amazing. Colin Meloy, I wish your last name was Banksy. Or better yet, Banksy Meloy. The other 'C' is for Matt Costa, who does this really sunshiney folky pop. It's quite enjoyable.

picture: Gardner-Toren, Katelynne. 'kristina looks for celebrities', digital media, 2006.