Below are the most recent 7 friends' journal entries.

Friday, May 16th, 2008
owlfish	8:16p	Eurovision entries 2008 This year's Eurovision song contest features 43 countries competing in two semi-finals and one final over the course of next week. I like getting my opinions warmed up in advance, so spent part of this afternoon watching all 43 videos. (You can see them on the BBC's Eurovision site, or on the official Eurovision site.) Audible trends: Female soloists. String sections. Visual trends: Fantasy and SF elements. Lack of dancers. Ballgowns. Women in clothing tied on or laced up. Sunglasses. Highlights: Best solo: Switzerland - Paolo Meneguzzi, "Era Stupendo" Best duet: Romania - Nico and Vlad, "Pe-o Margine De Lume" Best classical fusion song: Belgium - Ishtar, "O Julissi" Best modern fusion song: Bulgaria - Deep Zone and Balthazar, "DJ, Take Me Away" Best Plot: Malta - Morena, "Vodka" Silliest: Hard call between Spain's instructional dance video and Latvia's pirates. ( All the entries, with commentary... ) Dance highlights (for marzapane): Iceland, Moldova, Ukraine, Greece, Switzerland (especially the breakdancing) If I were to give a prize for most intellectual song, it would go to Ireland - Dustin the Turkey, "Irelande Douze Pointe". Seriously. Notable lyrics: From Croatia - Kraljevi Ulice and 75 Cents, "Romanca". "BUT I WAS THE FIRST THE INTERNET / IN THE WORLD / SAILING ON SHIPS WITH MY MUSIC / I CONNECTED THE PLANET" (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
owlfish	6:30p	A Return to Good Things Location: 44 Narrow St., right by the draw bridge over the channel into the Limehouse Marina. Limehouse. London. About seven months ago, C. and I stopped going to The Narrow for their tasty bar snacks.* They'd changed the menu to a short listing of shellfish options. C. doesn't eat shellfish. They'd taken all the dishes we really liked off of the menu. Today, J.K. and I checked their website - and to my delight, the good things are back! There's more than just shellfish for the nibbling! We settled down in the balmy sunlight Thameside for a shared assortment of goodies. The pickled whelks were elegant spirals, but shared most of the same sea-fresh flavor with the smaller, less rubbery cockles. The pickles that come with the ploughman's were just as good as I remembered. The soup was finally something other than tomato (much as the tomato was amazing); a delicate, confident, smooth leek and potato soup. The sausage roll was what sausage rolls dream of being, with crisp, light pastry and well-balanced seasoning. J.K.'s headed back off on her world travels, but I can quite conveniently return for another sausage roll. * Reservations for the main dining room and its menu still involve planning at least a few days in advance. Bar snacks, in comparison, are available on whim. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
timetodanceblog	3:48a	props (and jazz hands) for In the Heights http://atimetodance.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/props-and-jazz-hands-for-in-the-heights/ http://atimetodance.wordpress.com/?p=360 The Tony Award nominees were announced today and the cat in the front was so excited he threw his feather headdress in the air and made some purrfect jazz hands. The black cat in the background is all like, “Fosse is sooo two decades ago, it’s all about salsa and hip hop on Broadway now. Let me see you shake your caderas.“ In the Heights, a musical featuring some amazing salsa and hip hop dancing (at least from the youtube clips I’ve seen) that has broken the mold for Tony nominees, leading the pack with 13 nominations. I’ve been so excited to see it and now these accolades will ensure that I’ll have to wait even longer to snag tickets. Dear Producers, let it be known that I will shamelessly promote your musical on this blog if you comp me tickets to In the Heights. I would like to see Celia as well. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 12th, 2008
owlfish	7:34p	Odds and Ends Thanks to a visit to sioneva and targaff before they move, we now have two tables to add to our furniture quotient. Even better was getting to see them again! C. has accidently absconded with the mailbox key. Hopefully no one is mailing me anything urgent this week, as I won't recieve it until Friday or so. C. and I were up north since one of his cousins was getting married. He's staying on for work, so I took the train back. I went first class since it was cheaper than going economy. It's the first time I've had a first class ticket on trains within the UK. The armrests were wider, the drinks were free, and the compartment was strikingly empty. Otherwise, it was fairly similar to traveling economy. Only cheaper. (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
timetodanceblog	2:00p	a road warrior’s guide to dance http://atimetodance.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/a-road-warriors-guide-to-dance/ http://atimetodance.wordpress.com/?p=359 I find that I’m often apologizing for not having posted in a while. My general goal is to post at least three times a week and to stay up-to-date with a core group of dance blogs on my feed. But that can’t always happen. I travel quite a bit for my job, and two thirds of the places I go are small and rural towns. Internet access can be iffy there and my days are so long that there’s no time for writing. Then there’s the fact that I tend to be more inspired to write when I am surrounded by dance. I seek out dance opportunities on the road when I can (more on that later), but I am missing out on my normal classes on rehearsals. I was on an airplane during the last episode of Step It Up and Dance and anyway, it seems most hotels I stay in do not carry Bravo tv in their lineup. Then there is my at-home routine. Missed classes mean that I’m constantly struggling to get my body back into top dance shape, and missed rehearsals can mean missed performance and casting opportunities. My family and friends are important to me, and being away so much means that I may miss additional classes and practices to spend quality time with them. If you are like me, just trying to balance (as the subtitle of this blog says) a passion for dance with real life, I’ve put together a list of some of my own strategies for balancing your traveling lifestyle with your love for dance.  Even if you don’t travel too much, some of these things can apply to you whenever you travel. Take care of your body. Just about every hotel these days has a gym, and if they don’t they usually have an agreement with a local gym. Going for a run on the treadmill will help you maintain cardiovascular endurance, and it also helps me be wide awake for those early morning meetings. As for stretching, I try to do short yoga sequence before bed, maintaining flexibility and centering me before bed. I’m not so good about working out at home, but I find that the close proximity of the hotel gym (or a yoga studio: see my post Keeping Balance on the Road) motivates me to work out every day. Travel can be a minefield of junk food– acknowledge it and do what you can to minimize the damage. I was going to entitle this one “watch what you eat” but I wanted to practice what I preach. Sometimes it can be impossible to avoid eating fatty simple carbs when that is your only option, and the cookie tray/candy dish that comes out mid-afternoon can be hard to resist. Acknowledge that this is a challenge and try to load up on fruit and other healthy options when the opportunity arises. Even in the most rural haven of fried food, there is usually a salad and a vegetable side dish on the menu. If you don’t follow this one, at least you’re working out every day at the gym! It behooves all of us to eat healthy for a variety of reasons, but mine is seeing my bloated, lethargic self wearing nothing but a spandex leotard in the floor-to-ceiling mirror at the next ballet class. Take advantage of the alone time to practice. Usually all I want to do when I get back to my room is conk out on the bed and turn on the boob tube, but taking even just 10 minutes to go over some complicated steps or practice a barre sequence can make a big difference and will make you feel like you did something. I hardly ever have time to practice at home. Even if I’m alone at home, I feel guilty about laundry or dishes (or writing in my blog!) but you don’t have those pressures in the hotel room. Take advantage of this precious time. Go to class. Although I said 2/3 of the time I’m in small, rural towns, I didn’t mention that the other 1/3 I go to large cities. Chances are, any city with a population over 100,000 is going to have some opportunities for dance. Do your research before you leave so you can schedule appropriately. For classes, a google search for “[city name] adult dance classes” will pull up some local dance schools offering evening classes for adults. Make sure you call ahead to make sure they take students on a drop-in basis, and that classes will be offered the dates you’re there. It is often hard to make this work, but doing your research in advance will at least keep your options open. It is also great for your development to study with different instructors in different cities. Social dancers: this is your golden opportunity! If you are a social dancer– salsa, swing, etc, travel may be one of the very best things for your growth and confidence as a dancer. Most large cities have at least one opportunity each night of the week for social dancing. Here again, google is your friend (i.e., “detroit salsa”). My strategy when I walk in the door is to ask the organizers where the serious dancers hang out. More often than not, they will introduce you to the best dancers, who in turn will be excited to dance with someone outside of the same old group. Living in a city with a large a vibrant salsa scene (DC), it is fun and confidence-boosting for me to travel to smaller cities where I can be a big fish in a small pond. Every city has its own distinct style of social dancing, and exposing yourself to new styles and new partners will help you improve by leaps and bounds. See my account of Salsa in Seattle for an example of this. About 4 and 5: bring some extra cash and a shot of courage. Getting out there to find classes and clubs in an unfamiliar city is not always easy. It may entail a pricey cab ride and you have no idea once you get there if it was worth the trip (see The $52 cha cha cha). Obviously, have your wits about you and ask around about the neighborhoods you are going to to make sure it is a safe place to go on your own. But don’t let being alone be your only excuse. Chances are, if you show up and put yourself out there, you are going to be glad you did. Happy Trails! (Comment on this)
Friday, May 9th, 2008
owlfish	5:28p	Gresham College Science Fiction Symposium I'm not at the Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo this week, so I hadn't expected to be attending a conference. Yet that's exactly the feel that the Gresham College Symposium on "Science Fiction as a Literary Genre" had yesterday. It was a very well-attended conference session, mind you, with over a hundred attendees - although there was slow-but-steady attrition as the afternoon wore on and the plenary speaker's talk receded further into the past. The event, in which five white male science fiction scholars read their papers on aspects of science fiction and genre, was a product of what Gresham College thought it was looking for in a symposium. The speakers were all distinguished specialists in the field, certainly. I suspect that the last talk, given by Roger Luckhurst, was intended by Gresham to be on contemporary science fiction, but since they gave him the title of "Modern British Science Fiction", that's exactly what he spoke on. There is nothing wrong with conference papers sounding like conference papers, but I had thought that Gresham College's mandate was to present academic topics to a dabbling audience, that the papers would be more tailored to an audience not already familiar with the field. Further, the papers sounded academic because they were all read. This too is a product of what Gresham asked for: the papers will all be published as handout or on the college's website. I hear John Clute is normally an engaging speaker, but since he felt obligated to read from the paper-to-be-published, I sat and wished I was reading to myself what he was reading aloud instead. I love the idea of Gresham College. I love the continuity of seeing references to it this week in the Samuel Pepys blog, and then going to the venue itself. In this case, however, I felt that they hadn't quite figured out how to ask for what they wanted, and so they were stuck with what they'd asked for. Also, it would have been better with less aggressive air conditioning, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the panel, but a great deal to do with how cold I was. It wasn't all disappointment, by any means. Although Neal Stephenson blurred the boundaries of literary and cinematographic genres, he was a lively and engaging speaker. Martin Willis's call to reclaim nineteenth-century science in fiction for science fiction seemed an unnecessary war cry, but still useful for reminding us of the existence of those texts. It made me want to go away and talk to M.K. some more, since she works on science in fiction, but not science fiction. I would happily sit down and read Clute's paper. I'd like to browse through a glossy photobook version of Andy Sawyer's talk. Finally, delightfully, the reception afterwards was in a lovely courtyard by the college, an architectural bouquet of styles, tucked away near Chancery Lane. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
owlfish	1:38p	iTunes etc. As someone with a US credit card, iTunes believes I live in the US. Thus it offers me the free Song of the Week for the US market each week. I often find this funny. The goal of the free song of the week is to introduce prospective buyers to obscure musicians we're not so likely to have heard of. Recently, this has included Duffy and the Ting Tings.* Does iTunes do the same sort of thing for UK or European users? Are the results more resolutely obscure or not? * New, but not at all obscure current musical performers from the UK. (7 Comments |Comment on this)