Sunday
Dec102006
Question: How you can tell E.T. is British?
Sunday, December 10, 2006 at 03:34PM
Answer: Because he looks British.
Don't thank me for that one, folks, it was a gift from Andy Peterson. He says it also works well with "French" but only time will tell, I assume.
Alison's brother Clay had some surgery this week and is laid low recovering. I decided to head on over last night and make him watch Shaun of the Dead with me. If you haven't seen it, you should. A romantic comedy with zombies. Hilarious.
It's a British film, which I am having to add to my already overwhelming "Cool Things British People Have Done" list. Other notable mentions:
The White Album
Orthodoxy
Who's Next
The Office
Vox AC30 amps
"When the Levee Breaks"
all the weird stuff Radiohead does...
As you can see, I've barely scratched the surface of how cool it must be to be British. Oh, and the teeth. Like Rich Mullins, I'm a good midwestern boy, I give an honest day's work when I can get it. But I think I might choose to be British if I was given the choice. For the accent alone, even.
So last night, after catching up with Clay (and Shaun) I sat down in front of the ol' IMDB (The Internet Movie Database - which as the eternal answer to the question "what else was that guy in?) and found out a couple awesome things about the movie. Well, one. Chris Martin from Coldplay is a zombie extra in it. I pulled up the movie and found that part and, sure enough, there he was. All skinny and lurching.
I've only been to London one time (well twice, but only once did I get outside the airport) and I loved it, but it was too short. Caedmon's was on the way to India to record Share the Well and we spent about half a day and a night there. We went to a pretty awful musical on West End called Bombay Dreams with the hopes of getting inspired about India. It turned out to be a very expensive nap.
Here is where I need to tell you a little bit more about my friend Todd Bragg. He's our drummer, and his kindness excedes his talent, which is saying something. Also, he snores. Loud.
So there we were, sitting in this musical, all jetlagged and sleepy. The show got to the emotional culmination. The love scene. The guy and girl finally admit their feelings and sing a sweet and tender ballad. At probably the quietest part of the whole evening Todd, fully asleep, let out the biggest snore I've ever heard. It helped, I'm sure, that the acoustically perfect hall took that snore and amplified it like a thousand times. I'm sure the performers heard it. Our whole section got the snickers. It was awesome.
That was pretty much my only London experience. Oh, and we went to Westminster Abbey where we got to see Caedmon's grave stone. That was pretty cool. He was over where they keep all the extra folding chairs, so we had to get a monk to come and move them. Obviously, he's a big draw.
ANYWAY, so last night, after I watched Shaun and found out about Chris Martin I ended up googling Scotland Yard. I have no idea why. I ended up finding this website of a "virtual tour" of London. I looked around for way too long and then got up to go to bed. And I was dizzy from all the 360 action. I'm such a nerd.
Oh, and I found this photo the other day. It's from Ella's brief tenure as a Backstreet Boy...
Don't thank me for that one, folks, it was a gift from Andy Peterson. He says it also works well with "French" but only time will tell, I assume.
Alison's brother Clay had some surgery this week and is laid low recovering. I decided to head on over last night and make him watch Shaun of the Dead with me. If you haven't seen it, you should. A romantic comedy with zombies. Hilarious.
It's a British film, which I am having to add to my already overwhelming "Cool Things British People Have Done" list. Other notable mentions:
The White Album
Orthodoxy
Who's Next
The Office
Vox AC30 amps
"When the Levee Breaks"
all the weird stuff Radiohead does...
As you can see, I've barely scratched the surface of how cool it must be to be British. Oh, and the teeth. Like Rich Mullins, I'm a good midwestern boy, I give an honest day's work when I can get it. But I think I might choose to be British if I was given the choice. For the accent alone, even.
So last night, after catching up with Clay (and Shaun) I sat down in front of the ol' IMDB (The Internet Movie Database - which as the eternal answer to the question "what else was that guy in?) and found out a couple awesome things about the movie. Well, one. Chris Martin from Coldplay is a zombie extra in it. I pulled up the movie and found that part and, sure enough, there he was. All skinny and lurching.
I've only been to London one time (well twice, but only once did I get outside the airport) and I loved it, but it was too short. Caedmon's was on the way to India to record Share the Well and we spent about half a day and a night there. We went to a pretty awful musical on West End called Bombay Dreams with the hopes of getting inspired about India. It turned out to be a very expensive nap.
Here is where I need to tell you a little bit more about my friend Todd Bragg. He's our drummer, and his kindness excedes his talent, which is saying something. Also, he snores. Loud.
So there we were, sitting in this musical, all jetlagged and sleepy. The show got to the emotional culmination. The love scene. The guy and girl finally admit their feelings and sing a sweet and tender ballad. At probably the quietest part of the whole evening Todd, fully asleep, let out the biggest snore I've ever heard. It helped, I'm sure, that the acoustically perfect hall took that snore and amplified it like a thousand times. I'm sure the performers heard it. Our whole section got the snickers. It was awesome.
That was pretty much my only London experience. Oh, and we went to Westminster Abbey where we got to see Caedmon's grave stone. That was pretty cool. He was over where they keep all the extra folding chairs, so we had to get a monk to come and move them. Obviously, he's a big draw.
ANYWAY, so last night, after I watched Shaun and found out about Chris Martin I ended up googling Scotland Yard. I have no idea why. I ended up finding this website of a "virtual tour" of London. I looked around for way too long and then got up to go to bed. And I was dizzy from all the 360 action. I'm such a nerd.
Oh, and I found this photo the other day. It's from Ella's brief tenure as a Backstreet Boy...
Reader Comments (10)
"Revolver" was another great thing those Brits put out.
Although I don't appreciate them for "jack the ripper" or "coronation street"
Shaun of the Dead freakin' rocks.
Yeah, I gotta get that movie on DVD. Plus, you gotta watch the extras. Chris Martin actually came on a BBC TV show before the movie opened to promote a new charity cause the band was promoting called "ZombAID", a charity for the new zombie population. And, the best part is the clip of the "The Funkin' Edit".
But, seriously, a British romantic comedy with zombies is a premise you gotta see.
dude. holy grail. that didn't make the list? what kind of a person are you?
James Bond, Winnie the Pooh, and King Arthur (the legend, not the movie)
When appreciating what the British gave, how can you not list Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and of course, Wallace and Gromit? I am a fan of Coldplay, Keane and Delirious too, but they may be a little too...commercial for this blog :)
To add to the cool British things List:
The House of Commons on CSPAN - otherwise known as Congress after four quick scotches.
Love awkward snoring. I did one sitting in biology class next to my fiancee while the Prof was talking about horse genitals. Enthralling.
Hmm, I think it would be unfair for us to label a completely independent "praise and worship" band who has become the biggest explicitly "Christian" band in the world too commercial. Delirious? rocks.
Andy,
Your welcome in the UK anytime.
If you enjoyed Shaun of the Dead then you need to look out Spaced. It was the sitcom that really launched Simon Pegg into the limelight. In my opinion it is about as half as good again as Shaun..... (dubious language, drug references etc aside!).
Which one's the girl again?