Catching Up Is Hard To Do...But Really Easy Online!!

Hey peeps, there's a new entry (See below)!

I've been giving you some of my stories, what are some happenings back home?!

(Imaginary epics are ok!)

Buuuuut first, I got to ask...

- What the hell is up with Charlie Sheen? (He hit here hard!)
http://www.urlesque.com/2011/03/03/charlie-sheen-comics/

- WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE 'SUPER 8' TRAILER?!
http://www.twitvid.com/T6FFB

- Are y'all as excited as I am about the first of the Tron 3 teasers?!
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/48847

And,

For my comic loving friends, you gotta read this shit:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/08/batman-odyssey-neal-adams-insane/

GENIUS!!!

P.S. Mike I'm halfway through 'Starman'...A-MA-ZING!!!

P.P.S. Did any of you throw up as hard as I did at the full 'Smurfs' trailer?

Alrighty I hope you're all well peeps!! If any of you are in the mood for some chatting, you can Skype me at -- mmmmmtobycanto. Peace!!!

- Toby

Day Nine – EVERYTHING DAY!!!

A badass day unlike any other.

So the day following the concert, we got up a lil earlier than usual to head off to Baker Street, where we’d be checking out Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, there was a really sweet Sherlock Holmes statue outside the station.
2. Yes, the museum was all sorts of creepy and incredibly badass.

They start you off in there ‘A-Listers’ room, which had George Clooney, Will Smith Tom Cruise, Helen Mirren, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie. And some not so A-Listers like Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, and a section dedicated to Robert Pattenson…uhhhh no. From there you enter a 60’s era room with Andy Warhol, Jeri Hall, and Princess Di. Then there’s this blockbuster room with Spileberg, AHNNNNOLD, Jim Carrey, Robert Downey Jr. Indy, and Shrek. Then you went downstairs and they had Alfred Hitchcock waiting. There was a sports room with Beckham, Rooney, Pele, Ali, Woods (No MJ kind of funny). Then the geniuses sections, famous artists and scientists. Next to them was the Royal Family past and present. Then the music icons section was together with world leader section.

(Creepy right?!)

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, I took a picture with Obeezey at the White House.
2. Yes, I took a picture of me punching Bush in the face.

After the political peeps, things got weird and they took you downstairs to creepysville where they had replicas of people being tortured back in the day. There were other various pieces about torture (guillotine and hanging) and infamous criminals from England. They also revealed some of the history behind Madame Tussauds herself. She would make death masks from those that were beheaded and she would take them on tour around the world…eeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh.

After the creepiness, they talk you on their famous Spirit of London tour, which involves you getting into a lil taxi and riding though an animatronic version of England’s past a la ‘Pirates of the Carribean’. It was a lot of fun and very informative. I kept telling Sian afterwards that I felt like I knew everything about her country now haha. So that was the end of the main tour at Madame Tussauds, but for reals, THE BEST WAS YET TO COME!!!

The tickets Aissa got was not just for the main show, but a special sideshow they are doing for the next few months…THE MARVEL 4-D EXPERIENCE!!!

(Pardon the language)

But I was like a kid in a mothafuckin’ candy store.

They had a Hugh Jackman figure of him as Wolverine. With replica claws next to him that were cutting metal and you could take a picture holding them! They had a giant Hulk statue that literally reaches for you! They have had a Spidey statue that if you paid for a picture made it look like you were crouching with him on the roof of his pad! And when you went upstairs they had a replica of Iron Man and little arc reactors that you could take pictures with! And across from him was Sam Jackson-Nick Fury with designs for the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier behind him!

AND THEN THEY PUT YOU IN A ROOM (much like the planetarium, but bigger) AND THE BIG SHOW STARTS!!

The gist: Marvel Heroes are getting commended in England. Their meeting spot:  Of course Madame Tussauds. But when they show up, nobody’s around and they find a letter telling them to go home..who would do such a thing?! THAT BASTARD DR. VICTOR VON DOOM, THAT’S WHO. The heroes then take the next ten minutes whooping his ass, saving England, and getting a big shiny medals.

So what’s the 4-D part you ask? Well during the show if Spider-Man shot web at the screen, Iron Man fired his repulsor rays, or Hulk smashed his hands together for a his signature blast of air, air would blow into our faces. If Hulk threw a robot into water, mist would splash at us. And most crazy of all when Wolverine stabbed a robot, his claws would poke us in the back; it was really unnerving but super funny. Ughhhh it was the best, I loved it!! Once it finished we checked out the gift shop, and jumped on the train to Big Ben!!

When you get off the train it’s hard to believe, but Big Ben is literally right next to the station. It took me a moment to realize because I guess I expected this big epic reveal. But it was right there and it looked and I know some people might be like ok, what’s so cool about a giant clock. But I gotta say, IT WAS AMAZING. Just seeing something that big, with that much history you can’t help but be in awe. I think the funniest thing is that I couldn’t stop taking pictures of it. I didn’t matter the angle or how far or close I was, I just wanted to keep shooting. 

We  decided to get a move on, we were on our way to see the London Eye! As we were crossing the bridge, we all took a moment to look at the Thames. It was big.

Haha.

When we got to the London Eye they told us they had a video for us to watch before we actually got on. And can you believe it…IT WAS ANOTHER 4-D ADVENTURE!! TWO 4-D’S IN ONE DAY IS MIND-BLOWING!!!

The video was overall purty sweet. It involved this girl and her father going on the London Eye and experiencing the whole excitement and diversity of being in London. It was also from the perspective of a gull watching everything from the skies. I found this kinda funny because most people here feel those birds are ‘rats with wings’, so no love for the seagull. But the video had more mist and wind and fake snow and Dragons coming at us, like I said purty darn sweet.

After the video we were taken to the Eye itself.

MASSIVE.                    

                                                                                    

It is literally just incredible to look at. 

We then got in line (or queue as they say down here), and waited for our bubble. 

When it comes up, it’s kind of funny, but you have to jump into it. It’s not fast or dramatic at all, but in some ways, it still kind of freaked me out, jumping into something you could potentially miss (My James Bond moment for the day—jumping into a bubble). 

The girls and I were in the company of a bunch of older couples and family. Everyone was pretty chill, excited I’m sure to see everything.

As The Eye starts it doesn’t feel like you’re moving at all. You will notice, if you look at the gears, that it’s just rotating very slowly. When you finally stop thinking about the mechanics of everything you remember to look out the window and see London from the skies.

It’s the kind of sight that makes you stop to take a deep breath.

As usual I took pictures of everything…especially more of Big Ben. (You can’t judge I just found out yesterday Kique and Gabi did the same!!)

Two funny things happened while we were up there:

1. There were two Middle Eastern brothers on board, and both seemed really eager to go on. As soon as we started going up, the older one got seriously freaked out, and laid down on the bench inside the bubble for the rest of the ride. His brother sat next to him, just laughing. It was kind of funny.
2. In the bubble across from us, a man proposed to his girlfriend and we got the full view.

She said ‘Yes’!

I did get a picture haha.

It was a lot of fun, and we even got to take a funny picture at the end of the ride (which they charge you for).  Once we got off (another successful bubble jump for me) we were starving and the girls took me to some restaurants for dinner. Italian won over all and I found myself in a very fancy looking place.

Sidenote: I will take this moment to make notice of the INCREDIBLY GORGEOUS waitress working inside. She did not serve us, but SWEET LORD. It was hard not to stare…in fact I think it could be understood as a great compliment haha.

But I digress, Sian and I got our drinks as Aissa was outside, making business, taking phone calls doing as she does. Sian was super confused because she didn’t understand what Aissa was doing. As soon as she came back in she revealed another big surprise!

SHE GOT TICKETS TO GO SEE ‘WICKED’! CRAZY RIGHT A SHOW IN LONDON!!!

Aissa said a trip to London would not be complete unless you see a show here. We ate quickly, enjoyed our food, paid our check (I silently waved goodbye to GORGEOUS WAITRESS) and we were on our way.

Oh man, everything looked incredible at night. Every building glowed with intensity. The Themes reflected all of this and shimmered with same intensity. There were street musicians on the bridge and loads of people walking by. It’s what you expect the hustle and bustle of nightlife in London to be like.

We took the tube and soon enough found ourselves outside the playhouse. There were so many people there to see the show. Aissa easily got our tickets and we headed to our seats. I was once again in observation mode, looking at all the set pieces, costumes, and posters in the lobby. Everything looked awesome!!

Aissa got us some really kick ass seats. And the set design looked so cool, it included a giant dragon overlooking all of us at the top of the stage. Funny enough, a couple of American girls were in front of us from Minnesota, they were glad they didn’t have to explain where that was to us.

The show started and the dragon overhead started moving and blowing smoke.  Winged monkeys entered the stage, setting the scene up while also managing to scare the crap out of me. And then chorus entered and began their first song.

It was awesome!! I haven’t been to a show in so long, but I was totally blown away at how good everything was. The acting, the songs, the choreography, it was a helluva show. For those who don’t know (and I’m pretty sure you  all already do), ‘Wicked’ is a take on ‘The Wizard of Oz’ from the perspective of the Wicked Witch, who’s actually a misunderstood good guy. I gotta give serious props to the ladies who played Glinda and Elphaba, FANTASTIC!! When ‘Defying Gravity’ was over at the first half of the show, I’m pretty sure the whole audience was in chills.

UHHHH SO DAMN GOOD. We were so jazzed when the show finished. I couldn’t stop smiling, what an epically epic day.

I think this is how everyday should be.

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Make sure to give yourselves a day where you can see and do anything, I don’t think we do it enough : ).

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It was so big, that I didn’t feel bad at all about taking the next day off. At least I got caught up on some writing.

Till next time guys and gals,

Toby

Day Eight – Camden Rock

What’s this?! Two posts in one day?!

You know it folks!

So on this day the girls took me to a place called Camden. It was crazy awesome because this area is like being in a completely different London, even though it’s still London. Camden is like PunkRockVille U.S.A., but not U.S.A. because I’m in the U.K. but you get what I’m saying. Every building is super close together, and it’s all mom and pop shops. There’s literally only one road that goes through here! This place is also clothes galore, but more alternative ware. There are tourist shops like crazy, and a lot of local artists selling their work. I think the only corporate store I saw was a KFC. The girls and I went down to a pub to get something to eat, of course I got fish and chips. ‘Twas quite tasty.

Interesting Note: Camden day was also, Ash Wednesday. (For you Catholic folks) But instead of Fat Tuesday like they do in the states, they have Pancake Tuesday instead and make pancakes!!

After the pub, the girls reminded me about Beardyman's show being tonight.  (See 2^nd post if you don’t remember Beardyman) Unfortunately, word was that it sold out, but that didn’t stop the girls from making sure we got in. They tried finding scalpers, but there weren't any close by. Sian and Aissa had a system where they would switch places, one near the entrance to the Underground, the other around the concert venue. 

At one point Sian told me to check for Aissa since she hadn’t come back yet. When I walked towards the venue Sian came running over and told me Aissa scored the last three tickets at the door. Meant to be right?!

The venue was really comfortable, like the Rialto but a little bigger. I think it was called ‘The Electric Ballroom’. The opening DJ, JFB put on a great act, hilarious and super catchy. And once he finished Beardyman just popped on stage (No set up for beatboxers, who would have guessed haha?) He put on an amazing show and just got the audience pumped. The sounds coming out of his mouth would have impressed even the great Michael Winslow haha. Even more awesome, to promote his new LP coming out, he created a mini-L.P. at the show, made from suggestions people gave him on facebook and twitter. The only downside from the show was everybody who decided to keep having bar/bathroom brakes. And for some reason the only way they could do this was by constantly going through my friends and I. They wouldn’t stop coming, and didn’t seem to realize we all wanted to slap them. At one point I made a barricade with the girl to my left and the guy at my right, it worked and we all seemed to laugh about it.

 Beardyman Son, Check It!!

After the show, we took the bus to a bar near the flat. It super chill and they were playing Bob Marley on the jukebox and Kill Bill V.1 on the TV, which was kind of funny. The girls and I got some drinks and talked about films and middle school. Kind of funny story, we found these girls from Boston getting hit on my a group of Brits. Sadly enough, Sian told me exactly how this would play out, since most dudes here have plans on how to ‘pounce’ on visiting ladies. By the end of the night both girls played right into their hands and were making out with two of the dudes in their little group. Honestly, it kind of annoyed me. But the girls were from Boston, so I shouldn’t expect much (HEYYYYYYYOOOOOOO) haha.

Around 3 am, I was a lil wasted and we had to head home. I got super hungry for some reason and once we got back to the flat, Sian made me pizza and fries. IT WAS DELICIOUS AND SHE IS A SAINT. Once I finished, I played some Wii with the girls. It didn’t take much after that for me to pass out like nobody’s business. 

   
So Lesson For The Day:

·         * You like alternative, check out Camden!

·         * You like kick ass music, if you ever see the name Beardyman at a concert venue, GO SEE IT AND GET YOUR FRIENDS TO SEE IT TOO!

·         * Girls from Boston, are girls from Boston. Don’t be a girl from Boston.

Till next time,

Toby

Day Seven – Heartbreak at the Emirates

Ok folks, there’s watching soccer and then there’s watching soccer in England.

Aissa got passes to go to the Emirates stadium so we could watch the Arsenal vs. Barcelona game. Unfortunately it was away, but the Emirates had this really cool set up where you could watch the game on a giant screen with a bunch of other fans and eat hot dogs and drink beer and buy jerseys and memorabilia. (Every sport fans dream right?) I got into observation mode again as we found our seats and just watched how intense everybody got while watching the game. In all honesty, I loved every minute of it haha. And while it’s one thing to have your brothers freaking out over a game in your living room at 6 in the morning, it’s another to have an entire room full of them chanting and screaming. The electricity of it all sucks you into the momentum and soon enough you find yourself chanting and screaming as well. 

Sidenote: For all people who love mustard! If you eat anything with mustard in England, be prepared as that shit is completely different. I don’t know when the world decided to separate its mustards across continents but they did. This made me very sad…and almost gag because it’s waaaaaaaay to damn spicy.

 Back to the game!!

Everybody was super passionate, yelling at the screen like they were actually watching the game at the stadium. People criticized the ref (and his moronic f!@#ing calls), and stood up cheering and hugging when Arsenal scored. IT WAS AWESOME. I think the thing I loved most is how everybody really comes together while watching a match. You have people from all over, completely different parts of life, strangers no less, and when you’re at the game it's like you’re with people you’ve known for years. This guy that Aissa and I have never met kept looking at us when he got frustrated with the game and would shake his head, so I made sure to shake my head back haha. 

What an experience, so if you ever get a chance to visit here, and do yourselves a favor and watch some real football.

P.S. ARSENAL GOT ROBBED AND THAT REFEREE WAS A DOUCHEBAG….AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BARCELONA DO YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY WITHOUT DIVING EVERY FIVE SECONDS!!!

P.P.S. Funny side story, Aissa and I got a taxi back to the flat (Driven by a lady no less, Aissa was like “I’ve never seen that before!”) and as we got to the door, these guys were sitting in a car right next to us. It looked like they were waiting for somebody. 

Aissa, being the absolute best, got me an Arsenal scarf, that I wore for the rest of that night. 

One of the guys in the car noticed and made a comment about the ref’s shit calls. Aissa and I started talking to him about it, when a voice came from nowhere, and we see the person this car is waiting for is a friend peeing on the wall next to them. The best part about this, pee guy starts having this whole conversation about the game while still peeing on his wall. HILARIOUSNESS!!! We told the guys to have a good night and headed inside. Pee guy was still peeing.

Till next time,

Toby

Day Six – A Walk Down Oxford Circus

I think the best description of this came from Sian, who said she “felt like a mother dropping of her kid at the first day of school.”

The girls, who had work for the day, gave me the tube route and took me to Oxford Circus. That place was shopping stores aplenty, let me tell you. People have this tendency to tell me I have moments where I look lost, I can tell you I probably had that look on my face all day…or maybe when I found myself in a five-story Urban Outfitters. (That shit tripped me out) There were mini-tourist shops, clothing stores, fast food places, more clothes places, a theatre for the Queen play, ‘We Will Rock You’, cafes, and did I mention the clothes places?

I literally found myself walking around for like two and a half to three hours. I did manage to find some food, but like when I ate at McDonalds the day before, I felt guilty for buying it. 

They had popcorn chicken, how could I say ‘No’?!? The cashier had a bit of difficulty understanding me, when I asked her what this specific meal offered. I gave up halfway and just went with something normal.

The food was tasty and I kept laughing as more and more people kept stopping at to eat there. When I finished up, I bought myself a muffin with the intention of finding a place to observe everything.

I eventually found a bench, which was luckily in one of the quieter sections of the area. I got to eat my muffin, take photos, and look around, it was definitely a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the main street.  

I got stopped by a couple of people-for- causes on my trek. The first was a young hare-krishna lady…who honestly didn’t look like a hare-krishna at all. First she asked me if I was French (New Nationality to add!) When I told her I'm from the U.S., she asked what state where I was from and said Arizona. She proceeded to ask me if it was cold there. I laughed…and not in a mean way. The other was a nice girl asking me to send money to a fund that helped abused children. Being that I wasn’t from here, there wasn’t much I could do, but I thanked her for the information. 

(Not Arizona)

I walked so damn much it was crazy. The only other thing that made me stop what I was doing was this older English man standing on a street corner. He was blind and holding a case close to his chest. He was blind, but placed his stick near a backpack next to his feet. He was surrounded by pigeons. And I couldn’t tell if he was feeding them or not. He kept wiping his eyes almost furiously. The image struck me so much I literally just stopped there and stared. (which I know isn’t nice, but I couldn’t help it) It was humbling to watch, and I couldn’t tell if he wanted to change or not and I didn’t want to offend him. So I just gave him my time.

I decided to continue on my way and reach the underground. I successfully found the right tube to Bethenal Green and was on my way. (Mom would be proud)

Getting back I had to wait for Aissa, so I sat at the park near the station for about an hour. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think I was completely overwhelmed and exhausted by Oxford Circus. It didn’t take long, but it started getting much colder outside. I finally met up with Aissa after a small mix-up and we were both pretty eager to get back to the flat. It was a looooooong day. We took the bus home and found ourselves taking a super cat nap as soon we opened the door. I passed out on the couch, and while it was light outside when I closed my eyes, it was super dark when I opened them.

Once we got up Aissa and I got ready to meet Sian and her friend Neil in Soho. The trip getting there was fine but I found myself in super observation mode again. Soho was a crazy combination of the new and the old. I also found out it’s where most of the American movie industry works out of. (I must visit this area again!) 

The bar Sian and Neil were at was super hip and super tiny, their ‘tables’ were too tiny to hold more than like 2 drinks. It was pretty funny to look at. 

Funny observation peeps, English people don’t call bathrooms ‘Restrooms’ over here. They’re much more straightforward. So when you find you got to tinkle, look out for the ‘Toilets.’ Also interesting to note, tipping is not common here in fact it’s usually already included in the bill. So if you come down here, DON’T TIP haha!!

We got super hungry and realized the tastiest sounding place was, of course, a Nando’s nearby.  Supposedly by my third time eating there I’ll be an honorary Englishman! Food was awesome, and afterwards Sian and Aissa got hit up by some friends from their work and they wanted us to join them for a drink at a place called ‘Freedom’. Their friends were super nice and even bought me a drink. Neil and I drank a bit and joked around about the people at the club. (Kinda trying to hard?) Soon after he and the friends had to peace. So the girls and I decided to finish the night off at Joiners. We drank some more and caught up on life. (I can’t recall the last time I drank so much haha.) It was nice and all, the DJ was even playing awesome music again. I got hit in the leg by some British dude who was into me, when the girls told him I wasn’t gay, he gave me angry/creepy looks the rest of the night…I’m sorry haha? I also found a new celebrity look alike 'Post Ziggy' David Bowie, the dude was pretty spot on. 

(Seriously, looked just like this.)

We finished the night around 3, and took a taxi home. Another busy/fun day come and gone folks, to bed!!

Tell next time,

Toby

Day Five - Uhhhhh Jet Lag Day Pt. 2…

So that whole talking till the sun came up thing was really nice and all, it just equaled getting up at 4 in the afternoon. I was completely in “Whatthef” mode when I actually got up. I just kept rubbing my eyes furiously and looking out the window…I was not expecting this at all.

So did I do anything exciting at all?

Yes, yes I did.

I started ‘The Sixth Gun’ which is absolutely genius.

And then Aissa left me the flat keys so I could get something to eat on my own. She had to head to work and Sian was already there. I decided to catch up on this here blog first, but as you know time flies when you’re having fun, and it got super dark, super fast. So my big adventure for the day involved finding food on the streets of London…at night! I dropped by the Tesco’s market below us, which is a pretty nifty convenience store, but didn’t find anything that grabbed me. I headed a little further down the road and spotted something purty darn familiar.

Those sweet sweet golden arches.

Yes, I know I’m in England but dangit if people don’t eat McDonalds here by the boatloads. And it was the closest thing to the flat so I sure don’t feel guilty about it…well a lil. But not much haha!

I was in and out of the store but did manage to see that McD’s here sell veggie options as well as muffins for breakfast...WHAT THE SHIT?! Why aren’t they getting on this in the states?!

Getting back to the flat was rather easy. And I was super surprised to see that inside my bad was the biggest ‘Big ‘N Tasty’ that you have ever seen. Supposedly corporate didn’t send the memo to make measly hamburgers over here, just real awesome ones. The rest of the night I just ate, wrote, and read.

I did manage to fit in watching a couple episodes to this amazing show Sian recommended to me. My friends, do yourself a favor and watch ‘Garth Marenghei’s:  Darkplace’…you can thank me later : ).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3311296398556365633#

Till later,

Toby