The Case of the Christmas Market, and Other Stories

New MCR album...it's alright.

Hello again, faithful readers. It's freezing here (literally, it's -4C outside) and I am writing this post while drinking hot cocoa and listening to the new My Chemical Romance CD -- which, by the way, is kind of growing on me despite my initial poor impressions of it and my general distaste for concept albums, though it is no "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" (anyone else listening to MyChem?). I thought about putting on some Christmas music, but I decided I can't afford to get into Xmas slacker mode until I finish my work here.

It is week 9 here, and most of the undergraduates have now gone home (the term is officially only 8 weeks), so the city is relatively empty and the libraries are filled with serious-looking graduate students...including myself, I suppose. Class is over and all I'm working on now is my C-Course essay, which is taking shape slowly but satisfactorily. Since we have the extra week and a half, I've been working on it in a leisurely way, which is kind of nice since I've been able to do all the reading I wanted to do for it and now I can still take my time outlining and writing. On the other hand, it encourages procrastination since I still have over a week until this is due, and I keep reminding myself that this is a LONG paper and that it is also technically my first piece of marked work here so it has to be up to scratch (my paleography exam was graded but doesn't count toward my final mark--and in case anyone is wondering, yes, I passed it, so if you need any sixteenth century documents transcribed I am now qualified to do so. Keep me in mind when you find that lost manuscript of Love's Labour's Won in your attic).

One of the stalls at the Christmas market

Of course, with the focus on research and writing, this week was also pretty uneventful. The one exciting thing I did was go on a St Cross-organized excursion to the Christmas Market in Cirencester, about an hour away from Oxford. This was pretty cute: they set up a bunch of little wooden stalls in the middle of town that sell Christmasy food like mulled wine and brownies, and crafty things like handmade ornaments and quilts. Going around the market actually didn't take too long so we got a chance to explore the town, which had some nice shopping and a sweet Roman museum, since apparently Cirencester used to be a Roman town. The highlight of my trip was eating Belgian waffles at the market and buying fluffy earmuffs (they're totally gangsta), and I even snapped some photos, though it was ridiculously cold on Monday so I didn't take my camera out as often as I should have.

More Christmas Market!

You know you're in the Cotswolds when sculptures of sheep look this epic.

The Roman museum was full of these creepy/awesome manikins in Roman garb.

Pretty mosaic depicting Orpheus taming the beasts in the museum.

Dear Disney, why are you keeping this movie from the UK?

So yeah, that's about the only exciting thing I did this week, besides pay too much money to see Megamind in 3D, which was cute but probably did not need to be viewed in three dimensions. Also, I like Tina Fey better in 30 Rock than as an awkwardly-proportioned CG character. Seriously, why does DreamWorks's character design always have to be so hideous? I thought they had finally hit their stride with How to Train Your Dragon, but maybe the weird, chunky character design just worked for them there since it was about awkward teenagers, Vikings, and dragons. In Megamind everyone just had expansive foreheads and weirdly straight hairlines. Anyway, Megamind was fun but I can't wait for the 3D trend to die out.


But wait! (you're thinking) Didn't that movie come out like a month ago? Yes, yes it did. In the STATES. The UK gets shafted on movie release dates. Tangled doesn't come out here until January 28th. What the heck! I'm practically living in a third world country here. A third world country that just arrested Julian Assange and has double-decker buses and tea and the BBC. 

Speaking of the BBC, and since I have nothing else urgent to impart to you this week, I think I will take a second to introduce you to my favorite BBC item that I've discovered since being here: Sherlock. This show (miniseries?) actually aired over the summer, but there was still buzz about it when I got here, so I watched it a few weeks ago and was totally impressed. The show is a "contemporary update" on Sherlock Holmes, featuring the dynamic duo solving crimes in modern London. This seems kind of hokey at first glance, but somehow it really works in this series, and whatever is lost in Victorian aesthetic is made up in the relationship between Holmes and Watson. Sherlock has all the banter and bromance elements that made the recent Guy Ritchie adaptation featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law enjoyable, without the superfluous romantic subplot and ridiculous steampunk plot devices that made it terrible. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a simultaneously intriguing and exasperating Holmes more akin to Hugh Laurie's House than Downey Jr's swashbuckling interpretation in the 2009 film, and Martin Freeman (slated to play Bilbo in The Hobbit, incidentally) plays a capable and empathetic everyman as John Watson, making a perfect foil to Cumberbatch's quirky Sherlock.

One of the best parts of the show for me was the way they managed to show Holmes actually deducing things instead of just running around nabbing criminals. In this respect Sherlock seemed to take its cue more from crime shows like CSI and NCIS than the action-movie approach of Guy Ritchie, and this is also where the modern setting of the show was perfectly utilized. Of course a modern Holmes would use his smartphone to Google weather conditions in the UK when he finds his victim with a wet umbrella in her bag. Or look up maps of the city to find alternate routes when tracking a criminal. The series also definitely had its moments of melodrama and camp, but since I don't mind a little camp (more Star Driver, please), I enjoyed it all. And as a Conan Doyle fan, I thought this series was infinitely superior to the movie that came out last year (as much as I heart Robert Downey Jr), and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for some quality BBC/Sherlock Holmes action.







One more thing I thought I'd leave you with in the spirit of British culture and literature: this poster I saw in Tesco on Monday.

England loves tea and punk rock, obvi.

"These doors save enough energy to make over 4 million cups of tea per year." That's right, everything you have ever heard about England (or learned from watching Hetalia) is true. The British standard unit of measurement is apparently the cup of tea. This is the way to put things into perspective in England: how many cups of tea could I make with the energy from those doors? Not, "How many light bulbs could I turn on?" or "How many homes could I heat?" with that energy. No. It's cool to sit in a dark, cold room as long as you have a kettle and a cup of tea. Keep calm and carry on, Brits. ...Although I can't really speak here, since I have totally been going native not only with my tea consumption but unintentional use of Britishisms like "posh" and "smart" (as in well-dressed). I'm afraid I'm going to go home and ask someone where the queue begins. I've got to get back in touch with my down-home Amurican roots. Oh wait, I was an elitist Californian to begin with. Never mind then.

Sorry for the eclectic post this week, but I know no one really wants to hear about early modern collaboration and Shakespearean attribution studies, which is what I've actually been doing all week. I'll be working away on my paper for the rest of this week too and sooner than I think I'm going to be heading back stateside to celebrate Christmas! I'll definitely update again next week, although after that it might be spotty for a while since I'll be at home, and hopefully seeing some of you over Christmas!

Adieu,
KQ

Kuroshitsuji does Sherlock Holmes, because Toboso-sensei is awesome.