Note: This post is really just for me to try to jot down and organize all the information/recommendations/advice I’ve received about London so far. AND MORE ADVICE IS MORE THAN WELCOMED!
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Here, I’ve narrowed down the Blake historical sites to only the ones I want to see most:
St. James’s Church: (10) Where Blake was baptized. The font still survives.
Westminster Abbey: (10) Where Blake practiced drawing. Monument to Blake in the Abbey’s Poet’s Corner.Will probably end up here on a bus tour!
Royal Academy, New Somerset House: (9) Where Blake studied and occasionally exhibited his work. Original building.
13 Hercules Buildings: (7) Where Blake produced the Songs of Experience. House demolished in 1918.
17 South Moulton Street: (10) Will be here on Tuesday!
St. Mary’s, Battersea: (10) Where Blake married Kate. Original building.
Okay, this might be really silly/crazy/touristy, but a tour in a vintage bus plus tea time? That just sounds so ridiculous (in a good way, I think)!
Won’t have time for this on Monday or Tuesday, so will have to do either Wednesday or Thursday.
Location: Starts at Harrods, 87-135 Brompton Road, Knightsbridge.
Time: Starts at 1 p.m, for 5 hours.
Price: £49
Includes: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Nelson’s Column, Hyde Park, the Houses of Parliament, The Royal Albert Hall, a cruise on the River Thames, and tea/scones at Harrods.
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Jack the Ripper Tour
Might have time for this on Monday, or otherwise on Wednesday.
Option #1: Every night at 7 p.m. Outside exit 4 of Aldgate East Station. £9. 2 hours.
Option #2: Every night at 7 p.m. Outside exit 4 of Aldgate East Station. £9. 2 hours.
Option #3: Every night at 7:30 p.m. Outside exit 3 of Aldgate East Station. £9. 1 hour, 45 minutes.
Tentatively, I think I might go to the Tate and V&A on Tuesday, the bus tour and possibly Jack the Ripper on Wednesday, and then the British Museum and Blake historic sites on Thursday.
Location: Millbank.
Time: Open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Price: Free (except for special exhibitions).
Taking photos not allowed.
Need to find out more about the renovated Blake rooms!
Need to figure out what else I’d like to see at the Tate!
“Fresh leaf tea in a pot and bone china, scones with clotted cream and jam, finger sandwiches and tasty cakes… could anything be more British than afternoon tea in London.”
Location: 41 Great Russell Street (opposite the British Museum).
Yesterday, I posted the 10th page of The Poet and the Flea– I can’t believe it! The Flea premiered online November 28th, 2012 and has already received almost 5,000 views. I’m so excited that everyone seems to be enjoying my graphic novel so far and I hope more and more people will begin to read it.
For those of you who have yet to check out The Flea (and for those who wish to read the first 10 pages over again), I’ve included links below. Enjoy!
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In related news, I just discovered a very long and detailed review of the first 9 pages of The Poet and the Flea by Sarah Goode at University College Oxford on the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies’s website! Wow!!! Check it out here!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following images or video!!
One of my favorite operas is Jacques Offenbach‘s The Tales of Hoffmann(Les contes d’Hoffmann). This opera is a fantastical retelling of the life of the German Romantic author E. T. A. Hoffmann, casting Hoffmann as the protagonist of his own stories.
Placido Domingo performing the “Chanson de Kleinzach” aria.
Désirée Rancatore performing ”Les oiseaux dans la charmille.”
Through The Tales of Hoffmann, I developed an interest in Hoffmann and his stories, quickly leading me to Sigmund Freud’s The Uncanny. In Freud’s essay, he uses many of the same Hoffmann stories as Offenbach, but in this case to prove a psychological point (not that Offenbach’s opera isn’t deeply psychological). If I remember correctly, Freud even mentions Offenbach’s opera.
Portrait of E. T. A. Hoffmann
I’m sure you are all wondering, “What does all this have to do with The Nutcracker?” Well, little do most people know, E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote in 1816 one of the earliest versions of The Nutcracker story, entitled The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Nussknacker und Mausekönig).
Alexandre Dumas was also a fan of Hoffmann, employing allusions to Hoffmann’s stories in The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas even went as far as creating a revision to Hoffmann’s Nutcracker in 1844 called History of The Nutcracker (Histoire d’un casse-noisette), or The Tale of the Nutcracker.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, Hoffmann’s Nutcracker was adapted to ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, perhaps the most famous incarnation of the tale. I write this post because my dad purchased tickets to the San Francisco Ballet to see The Nutcracker at the end of the month. Perhaps later I’ll add my thoughts on the production to this post.
Tchaikovsky’s music is always wonderful, if not a little too overplayed for the holidays. A lot of people tend to associate The March from The Nutcracker or The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy not with Tchaikovsky, but with the thousands of Christmas commercials that use these pieces. This also happens with The Chinese Tea Dance from The Nutcracker with Disney’s Fantasia and The Sleeping Beauty Waltz with Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.
I believe the most creative and exciting production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker is Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut. The Hard Nut is set in 1950s America with a very retro feel inspired by the comic artist Charles Burns — a strange but brilliant compliment to the classical music. I hope to one day be able to attend a live performance.
Advertisement for The Hard Nut.
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in the premiere. It’s hard to believe that there were over 400 views from all over the world! Thank you especially for all your likes and comments — they mean a lot to me and make me want to write and illustrate all the more.
That having been said, I would love to hear more of what you all think. Please don’t hesitate to leave any questions or comments. I will without fail respond to each and every one of you.
I also wanted to share some of the kind words posted by my friends on Facebook:
Lindsay: “…this is amazing!!! I can’t wait for each new page! Amazing!!! ^_^”
Wes: “WANT MORE!”
Phuong: “It’s awesome so far! Can’t wait for more!! “
Anyway, thanks again!
Best,
G. E.
***
For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Summary: The Poet and the Fleais a reimagining of the life of the poet-painter William Blake. Set in 1790, at the onset of The Industrial Revolution, William suffers from the death of his beloved younger brother, Robert. Catherine (Kate) Blake attempts to comfort her husband, but cannot dispel his grief. During this spell of anxiety, William is visited by an ominous creature: The Ghost of the Flea. The Flea reveals an invested interest in William’s spiritual well-being — the result of an unorthodox wager. Will William triumph over The Flea’s sinister meddling? Or will he fall victim to The Flea’s corruption?
William Blake was born November 28th, 1757. And this year will be the poet-painter’s 255th birthday! Thusly, I will be premiering the first five pages of my graphic novel on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012!
I can’t believe it’s already been two years since I saw VAMPS in New York City. I made so many great friends in line, and I still communicate with them via Facebook today! –G. E.
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Waiting for Hyde:
Curiosity Killed The Average New Yorker
It was 7 in the morning when a skinny, middle-aged woman in a tracksuit jogged up to us and asked “What are you guys waiting for?”
Carey, one of many fellow fans I had met for the first time that very morning, asked her friend Shannon to hand her the signs. After receiving the pile of lined paper from Shannon, Carey proceeded to display the first page to the skinny woman. In crude Sharpie marker, the sign read:
We are here for VAMPS.
After staring at the words for a moment with a confused expression on her face, the skinny woman responded by asking, “What is that?” Carey tucked the first page behind the others to reveal the second sign.
They are a Japanese rock group!
“VAMPS” is the popular side-project band of Japanese rock star Hyde. In Japan, “Hyde” has been a household name for over a decade.
Hyde’s major band, L’Arc~en~Ciel, keeps busy dishing out one hit single after another and playing Tokyo Dome (a venue with more than twice the capacity of Madison Square Garden) for the umpteenth time. This year, the band celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Hyde performing at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
Although Hyde doesn’t sport fame in the United States equivalent to that of bands like Green Day per se, his fame among American Japanophiles is enough to earn VAMPS a spot in the 2009 Vans Warped Tour and a 2010 World Tour including four concerts across America.
On Saturday, October 9th, I attended VAMPS’s concert at The Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
After reading the second sign with an increasingly confused expression on her face, the skinny woman asked “How long have you all been here?” Carey revealed the third sign.
Yes, we’ve been here ALL DAY.
VAMPS fan Carey and her signs.
My friends thought me insane for heading over to the venue at 5 in the morning. But I knew better. By the time I got to Roseland, there was already a block filled with VAMPS fans standing in line for the 8 p.m. concert.
By “standing,” I mean fans huddled in blankets, sleeping sprawled out on the dog-piss-covered Manhattan sidewalk.
Chatting in line, I could tell that these fans were truly dedicated.
According to Josh (a friendly, chubby VAMPS fan dressed in a kangaroo costume for some unknown reason), some fans had been waiting in line since Wednesday.
Many had come in from Syracuse, Connecticut and the like. Some – such as die-hard fan Mayline – had flown all the way from faraway places – in Mayline’s case, Puerto Rico – just for the concert. Mayline had even lied about a death in the family just to get time off work.
The skinny woman, confused as ever, continued asking questions. And for every question, Carey had a pre-made sign with the corresponding answer. “7 in the morning, and Carey was already an expert at this,” I thought to myself. “Only 13 hours to go.”
Taxi drivers stopped at the light would shout out their windows at us. We would shout back and, once the light turned green, they would drive away still chuckling.
Tourists stood with their cameras snapping pictures of us. Fans in line would retaliate with their own cameras. Upon seeing cameras flashing in their direction, the tourists would flee.
Theater-goers would ask us, “Is this the line for Jersey Boys?” or “Is this the line for Promises, Promises?” They would leave moping about how young people don’t appreciate Broadway anymore.
Sometime during the afternoon, the VAMPS American tour manager came around and handed out flyers with Hyde’s face on them. We figured the flyers would make our lives easier, a visual tool to show curious passersby.
VAMPS World Tour official flyer.
Unfortunately, the flyer just seemed to confuse people more.
Around 5 p.m. and about the gazillionth curious passerby, VAMPS fans in line started getting fed up with all the questions. Down the line, we started hearing people walking past, complaining, “Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a Justin Bieber concert today?”
By that time, the VAMPS line must have already reached the Letterman Show a few blocks up. I can only imagine the kind of hell that part of the line was getting. “What, you’re not here for Letterman? What’s wrong with you?”
After all her questions were answered, the skinny woman seemed disappointed. As she jogged away, she sighed, “Okay then, enjoy yourselves.” She didn’t even stop to read Carey’s last sign:
Thank you for your time!
Perhaps the skinny woman would have been less disappointed if Carey’s first sign had read “Bette Midler.”
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2012: L’Arc~en~Ciel went on to become the first Japanese band to headline Madison Square Garden. The “WORLD TOUR 2012 LIVE at Madison Square Garden” concert DVD will be released December 26th.
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
Today marks 100 days until the premiere of my graphic novel The Poet and the Flea!
For those of you not yet familiar with The Poet and the Flea…
Summary: The Poet and the Fleais a reimagining of the life of the poet-painter William Blake. Set in 1790, at the onset of The Industrial Revolution, William suffers from the death of his beloved younger brother, Robert. Catherine (Kate) Blake attempts to comfort her husband, but cannot dispel his grief. During this spell of anxiety, William is visited by an ominous creature: The Ghost of the Flea. The Flea reveals an invested interest in William’s spiritual well-being — the result of an unorthodox wager. Will William triumph over The Flea’s sinister meddling? Or will he fall victim to The Flea’s corruption?
William Blake was born November 28th, 1757. And this year will be the poet-painter’s 255th birthday! Thusly, I will be premiering the first five pages of my graphic novel on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012!
I hope you will all help me countdown the days and, when the time comes, celebrate Mr. Blake’s birthday with me!
I’ve been playing around with dates for the premiere of my upcoming graphic novel, The Poet and the Flea. And, although this date is later than I originally intended, I hit upon the perfect one.
For those of you not yet familiar with The Poet and the Flea…
Summary: The Poet and the Fleais a reimagining of the life of the poet-painter William Blake. Set in 1790, at the onset of The Industrial Revolution, William suffers from the death of his beloved younger brother, Robert. Catherine (Kate) Blake attempts to comfort her husband, but cannot dispel his grief. During this spell of anxiety, William is visited by an ominous creature: The Ghost of the Flea. The Flea reveals an invested interest in William’s spiritual well-being — the result of an unorthodox wager . Will William triumph over The Flea’s sinister meddling? Or will he fall victim to The Flea’s corruption?
Since William Blake is my protagonist, I thought what better date than his 255th birthday?
William Blake was born November 28th, 1757. And this year will be the poet-painter’s 255th birthday!
Thusly, I have decided to premiere the first five pages of my graphic novel The Poet and the Flea on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012!
I realize that this date is a ways away, but I hope everyone will be patient and, when the time comes, celebrate Mr. Blake’s birthday with me!
Portrait of E. T. A. Hoffmann
Thank You!
Hey everyone:
I can’t believe that the online premiere of The Poet and the Flea (November 28th, 2012) has come and gone already. But there’s plenty more to come!
In case you missed the premiere, click here!
I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who participated in the premiere. It’s hard to believe that there were over 400 views from all over the world! Thank you especially for all your likes and comments — they mean a lot to me and make me want to write and illustrate all the more.
That having been said, I would love to hear more of what you all think. Please don’t hesitate to leave any questions or comments. I will without fail respond to each and every one of you.
I also wanted to share some of the kind words posted by my friends on Facebook:
Anyway, thanks again!
Best,
G. E.
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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.
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Copyright 2012 by G. E. Gallas
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