To Do

I'm beginning to feel stretched a bit thinly. I only have two weeks left, and in the meantime, I must finish/clean up work, see more Fringe shows, write an extended abstract for OurCS, organize the trip to OurCS for WiCS, begin pondering the startup of a Drexel ACM-W branch, see Edinburgh Castle, Visit Holyrood Palace, and go souvenir shopping. Too. Much. Stuff. To. Do.

Ceilidh

I was invited to a Ceilidh (KAY-lee) organized by the English tutors at Heriot-Watt.

One of the girls at pub-knitting told me that there's two kinds of Ceilidhs: One, the tame fundraiser-type Ceilidhs, and the other, drunken Ceilidhs. This one was mostly the first type, but with some random confusion thrown in for good measure.

It was a lot of fun, and now I'm exhausted.

Can I briefly talk to you about the point of life?

I saw Mark Watson: Can I briefly talk to you about the point of life? last night at 11pm (it was a bonus show). Between it being his 4th gig of the day, the late hour, his collapsed lung, and a terrible bout of hiccups...he looked like death. He has really good reviews, I expected better, but as I said, he didn't look too healthy. That could be an excuse.

He looked familiar. I believe I've seen him on TV on Mock the Week. [edit: I know I've seen him on "Mock the Week"]

Weekend Review

Friday

Adam Hills: Joymonger Standup comedian from Australia. The best show I've seen so far.

Saturday

Hotel World A play about the death of a hotel worker and how it affects everyone else around her. It's performed by a group of six 14-18 year olds from London. It was good.
Auto Auto Two Germans beat a Vauxhall Astra Mk2 to pieces, shattering the windows turning the roof into a singing saw, etc. They use hammers and their fists to pound beats against the cars as they sing songs from just about everywhere. Entertaining.
Astronomy for Insects Weird as hell, and definitely freaky. It lasted twice as long as it should have, but if it were 45 minutes long instead of 1.15, it would have been excellent, but funky. I definitely didn't catch a transition between the "passageways to other universes" and Santa Claus. But that's what you get from Russian physical theatre.

Sunday

Escaping Hamlet I read a review that described it as "camp", and that's the truest description I can come up with. Hamlet wants to become an actor...some random actress jumped on the laps of the people in the front row. I really don't know why. And the stage and costumes seemed to emit some sort of bad funk.
Andrew Maxwell - Waxin' A fairly popular Irish stand up comedian. He was decent.

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The Udderbelly venue is a giant purple tent that looks like an upside down cow.

Jihad: The Musical

So, last night, on a bit of a whim, I dragged myself to the C and saw Jihad:The Musical.

Things of "note":
"We Jalalalalalalalala-love you!"
"I wanna be like Osama B and be Islamically renowned"
cast members traipsing about in pink-sequined burqas

I say this often, but with scenes like that, how could it not be good?! There were Afghani stereotypes, French stereotypes, American stereotypes. It was amazing and most definitely not PC. Not bad. Just...different.

The Fringe this week

Two comedians: Adam Hills and Andrew Maxwell. One play, Hotel World.

And of course, one weird-ass show:
Astronomy for Insects: Moscow's Fringe First, Total Theatre award-winning 'Alien Circus' blackSKYwhite troupe present a show about passageways into worlds that are other than human and those secret parts of Santa's trip on Christmas Eve. 'Poignant, terrifying, exhilarating' Guardian.

I have some difficulty convincing people that The Fringe isn't about seeing world-class productions. It's about seeing undiscovered artists and funky stuff you can't find back home. *ahem*. lol

Crisps

Iris: I'd like a glass of water and some ...uh. Crisps. Yeah.
Bartender: Tap water, and what flavor crisps?
Iris: Flavor? Uh. Normal? Plain? Those there. *points*

My flatmate tells me I should've asked for "ready-salted", apparently the equivalent of "normal" potato chips. This language barrier makes things exciting.

Shows, Shows, and More Shows

Macbeth: Who is that Bloodied Man? was good. I think if I had read the play I would've known what was actually going on, instead of being solely amused by the stilts, fire, rolling lawn mower of beheaded ..heads, and the added bonus of motorbikes. Yeah. It was strange.

Best of Scottish Comedy was a typical stand-up comedy club/show, except everyone talked so fast I barely understood them half the time. Additionally, they had "standing room only". More amusing was the guy dressed up in a penguin costume all day (Stag party).

I was home around midnight to catch the fireworks over Edinburgh Castle from the window in my hallway:

Insomnia

It's 3:30am and I'm not even a little tired, despite trying to sleep for the past four hours.

And what do I do with this newfound chunk of time my insomnia has given me? I read through the Edinburgh Fringe guide, and take photos of boring things. Like, this ad from the catalogue:

The bottom reads, "Only Scientology can save you now!"

Friday I'm going to get some pizza (which I could kill for) and see this show. Anything that involves Shakespeare, stilts, and fire is a classic, for sure. Saturday evening I'll be going to see Best of Scottish Comedy. What's next? The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain? The best Eagles tribute ever? A Yiddish cabaret?!

I dunno, but I'm wondering if "Camille" is the same French artist I listen to back home...despite her being labeled as Irish. lol. [edit: the answer is "no".]

Edinburgh Festivals

Well, the Edinburgh Festivals have begun. The Military Tattoo and the parade outside my window Saturday morning pretty much marked the start of it.

I saw Kristen Schaal last night. It was okay. Not really that funny. So maybe it was a little less than "okay".