BBC's The Deep: I wasted 5 hours of my life

Towards the end of my stay in Scotland, I discovered BBC iPlayer. I had heard friends rave about this website for the past year, but I never took the time to actually look at it. Instead, I watched my American tv shows like How I Met Your Mother, Lost, The Mentalist, Castle, Chuck, and The Office via Sidereel. Once all the seasons ended for these shows, I scrambled to find new shows to watch just before bed after I spent the whole day writing/researching, especially while working on the dissertation. That's when I decided to give BBC iPlayer and British television in general a try. I first discovered that BBC had full-length movies with no commercials, so I watched Good Will Hunting for the first time. I immediately fell in love with this website. I then heard that BBC was playing Mad Men from the beginning. Since so many of my friends loved this show, I decided I needed to give it a try. The best part was that there are no commercials on BBC. After watching an episode of Mad Men, the iPlayer suggested I watch The Deep, a new BBC drama. I expected the show to be like other British televisions series, which only have one or two seasons (or 'series'), unlike the American shows that will have several 'seasons' as long as the tv networks can make money off of them. Since the British shows have a limited number of seasons, there is a better story arc with an ending in sight. However, the American shows that last more than two seasons can develop characters more, and fans can continue to watch their favorite shows instead of finding new ones.

The premise of The Deep is not very complicated: an exploratory research submarine disappears mysteriously in the Arctic Ocean, and another research crew investigates. I thought the show would be good because several actors I recognized, including Tobias Menzies (British actor who was Brutus on Rome, a BBC show that HBO showed as a miniseries) and Minnie Driver. The science fiction aspect of the show displayed in the first episode reminded me of Lost, so I decided to keep watching. I thought it would be a 2 season show with about 10 episodes per series. After the first couple episodes, I saw where the writers could continue the story arc for about two seasons and develop multiple mysteries as Lost did. The viewers could learn more about the characters and watch as everyone interacted.

Though I thought it would have about 20 or so episodes, I realized in the 5th episode that BBC only planned and filmed 5 episodes. As I watched everything develop in this last episode, I realized that The Deep was an incredibly shallow and boring show that went nowhere. There had been so much potential, but the series ended with an anti-climatic WTF moment. Instead of allowing the characters to develop, the show only gave a brief introduction to these stock-characters. Instead of using each hour-long episode to tell the most interesting and deep story possible, every episodes after the first moved the plot only a little. Several times I wanted to scream, "Just do what you're going to do and not wander around the damn submarine." I suppose the writers wanted to use the slow pace to develop suspense, but they only developed boredom. The show's 5 hours could have been cut down into 2, which would have turned it into a made-for-tv-movie, and a mediocre one at that. Basically, BBC made a lame a copycat of The Abyss and stretched out the story for an additional 3 hours while removing the most interesting bits. I'm disappointed that BBC squandered so much potential.

One more thing annoyed the crap out of me. Goran Visnjic's character was married but had an affair with Minnie Driver's character. The viewers only see a few seconds of the wife, who refuses to say goodbye to Goran Visnjic before he gets on the submarine because she suspects he had an affair with someone on the submarine. Then the writers develop a romance between Goran Visnjic and Minnie Driver as if the viewer should be sympathetic to this lusty, shallow fling. Time and time again these characters mention how they're in love with each other even though they have hardly spent any time together. Really? They're in 'love.' It's just an adulterous fling that the viewer should condemn and not encourage. The show kept reminding the viewer that Goran Visnjic's character was a 'good man.' He's not a good man. Any man who has an affair is not a 'good man.' Period. The end. This doesn't mean an adulterer cannot seek forgiveness and reconciliation, but he's not 'good' (from a Christian perspective, no one is 'good' except Christ). This character is a bastard for cheating on his wife, who apparently had done nothing against him before he cheated on her. If we sympathize with this character, should we sympathize with Tiger Woods? What if Tiger only had one mistress, would the public accept his actions more? Adultery is a serious matter that The Deep trivializes, and this disrespect to marriage angers me greatly.

Wearing Coats in Summer

Scotland has taught me some odd habits when dealing with the weather. Back in the Gulf South I would only carry an umbrella with me when I would see dark clouds outside. If I saw a clear sky, then I wouldn't have any trouble with the weather. In Scotland, I would look at a clear sky and think, "Oh, it's sunny today. There's no need to carry an umbrella or raincoat." Thirty minutes after walking out of my flat, I would be on the other side of town when a sudden storm drenched me. This storm might end by the time I get home to get my umbrella. I learned to carry an umbrella, raincoat, and thicker jacket in my book bag just in case something happened. Often my book bag was stuffed with extra clothing in case the weather changed suddenly even though I only carried one book and notebook in this bag. Once a friend asked on a sunny morning, "Do you think it'll rain today?" I answered, "It's Scotland." Later that afternoon we had a steady rain. I began not to notice whether it was raining or not. If the raindrops fell, it was no big deal. When I arrived at a friend's house once, she asked me, "Is it raining today?" "I don't know." "Well, didn't you walk outside to get here? Was it raining then?" "Maybe." "What do you mean 'maybe?' What else did you not notice on your way here?" I had no idea whether or not it was raining. I would have looked out the window, but sometimes the view could be deceiving. Often, I would see no raindrops on the ground or streams of rain through the window, but then I'd step outside and feel the steady mist. As it so happened on the day my friend asked me whether or not it was raining, it was raining. When I first moved to St Andrews, several locals told me that this part of Scotland was the windiest but driest part of Britain. I believed them, but I didn't think the label 'driest' place in Britain meant much. A professor later told me that every town in Britain he has ever lived in claimed to be the 'driest' in Britain, so perhaps it's just a lie locals tell themselves in order to endure the weather.

Scotland also taught me to carry a coat with me everywhere I go, even if I felt warm. This habit has been quite handy because the weather changes so quickly. During the early summer I became excited with the green trees and more sunlight; I thought these changes translated into warmer weather. Sometimes I'd think, "There's no need to carry a coat today." I'd put on short sleeves and step outside and feel the 60º F (15º C) temperature. This temperature is only slightly higher than the average January temperature for where I grew up in Mississippi (50º F or 10º C). The Scottish 'summer' never felt like summer. Whenever I'd accidently forget that a sunny day did not mean a warm day, I'd quickly run back inside and get my coat. Occasionally, the temperature would actually be warm. One day the temperature even got to 78º F (25º C), and everyone went crazy and jumped into the North Sea to cool off (on this particular day, the low temperature in Houston was 80º F). On these warm days in St Andrews I actually thought, "This is incredibly hot. Why am I sweating so much? This is Scotland. I shouldn't sweat here." Yet these days were rare. Even if I felt warm, I'd still carry a coat with me because I knew any moment I'd be in the wind or under a shadow where I'd feel cold again. This habit became so ingrained that I when I visited family in Houston last June, I mindlessly went to carry a coat with me when I left the house. The temperature was around 100º F (38º C) that day.

Though I don't believe that 'summer' actually exists as long as I have to wear a coat, I realized in late August that the Scottish 'summer' was over. I originally wore my light coat when I left my flat, but then I realized the weather was much too cool for this lighter coat. I had to wear my heavier coat. In Mississippi I would judge when summer ended based upon how many people wore shorts and flip-flops. In Scotland I guess I would judge based upon which coat I needed to wear. It's weird living in a place that requires me to wear some kind of coat all year.

Melton Marksmen Return: Formerly Capitol 501 Draft

Maurice Jones Drew (#32) of Jacksonville Jaguars

runs in a game against the Oakland Raiders on

December 23, 2007 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Sam Greenwood. Getty Images Sport.

For two years in a row, I've won first place in my fantasy football leagues. The first year I made some huge mistakes but had some amazing luck. When we all selected our players in the draft, I allowed the computer to pick my team. Instead of picking running backs (a critical part of a fantasy football team because they score most of the points), the computer gave me a bunch of quarterbacks even though I only needed two. I had Drew Brees (Saints) and Tom Brady (Patriots) along with others. A friend saw I didn't have any good running backs, so he offered to trade me three good running backs for Tom Brady. I figured it was a good enough deal, but I didn't really know what I was doing. If I was doing it now, I would have asked for more, such as one awesome RB instead of three mediocre ones. Since I didn't want to cheer for the Patriots, I gave him Tom Brady. Two days after I made the trade, Tom Brady went down in the first quarter of the first game with a season-ending injury. That season I made out like a bandit and sailed easily into the playoffs. In the first round I faced the guy I made the trade with, and I won by only one point. Last year was a bit more difficult because I had no idea what was going on while I lived in Scotland. However, I made a critical move when I drafted Chris Johnson (Titans) in the first round even though he was ranked lower than other available players. It was a gutsy move, but I won the championship from across the pond. I should get a trophy for that... maybe I'll mention it to the guys this year.

My buddies who created the Capitol 501 draft named the league after their street address, and they've moved from their house in Clinton, MS to Jackson, MS. Ergo, the new league's name is 'Formerly Capitol 501.' I kept my old team's name, the 'Melton Marksmen.'

Whereas last year I spent days researching the top players and watching preseason games in order to prepare for the draft, I've been too busy in Scotland to think about the upcoming draft. Last year I printed a cheat sheet ranking all the players; I scribbled all over this sheet with notes about who was under-ranked and over-ranked according to the pundits. This year I scrambled an hour before the draft to find out who was actually available this year. I found a cheat sheet and studied it quickly, so I didn't expect to do very well. I was lucky because I had the third pick in the first round, so I was guaranteed to get a star running back. I wasn't sure what I was going to do in the other rounds, but I figured I'd just wait and see whom the other guys picked and just react to whatever they did. I got Maurice Jones Drew (ranked as #3 RB) in the first round, and normally I would have gone for a star wide receiver in the second round. However, Peyton Manning (ranked as #3 QB) was still available in the second round, so I drafted him because I knew a quarterback of his caliber wouldn't be available for me in the third round. For the rest of the draft I just picked whichever player was best while making sure my team was balanced. I didn't have much of a strategy.

Here's my team for this year:

Quarterbacks: Peyton Manning (Colts). Eli Manning (Giants).

Running Backs: Maurice Jones Drew (Jags). Jonathan Stewart (Panthers). Michael Bush (Raiders). Darren McFadden (Raiders). Leon Washington (Seahawks).

Wide Receivers: Brandon Marshall (Dolphins). Anquan Boldin (Ravens). Donald Driver (Packers). Hakeem Nicks (Giants). Jerricho Cotchery (Jets). Kevin Walter (Texans).

Tight Ends: Brent Celek (Eagles).

Defense: 49ers

Kicker: Robbie Gould (Bears)

I'm happy with some of my picks. I did well with my starting and backup QBs, and my top two RBs and WRs should be good enough. I'm not very happy with my extra RBs and WRs (I can only play 2 RBs, 2 WRs and a 'flex' which can be either an RB or WR). I may drop some players for 'sleepers.' These players usually go un-drafted in fantasy football leagues because they're new and too risky to draft when proven players are available. After the first 2 or 3 games, I'll have a better idea as to who are the sleepers, and there will be a mad dash to add them before others in the league pick them up.

It should be an exciting season, especially since all the other players in my league love fantasy football and are very competitive.

Beanscene Music Discovery: Vietnam, Fishing Trips, Italian Opera

In a previous post I mentioned that I've spent a lot of time in Beanscene while working on the dissertation. Not only does the regular hustle and bustle typical in coffee shops give me the energy to keep writing, but the music is usually good. From time to time, a couple baristas plug their iPods into the sound system in order to play music they like and not the crap the corporate owners force them to play. I've begun to pay more attention to the music I hear on tv and in stores ever since I did a radio show last year that specialized in music from tv shows (TV Killed the Radio Star: for audio clips of these shows, click these links for my first appearance & the Canada show). I think this new habit will help me find more music I like, especially since I don't listen to the radio anymore. As I sat in Beanscene and did my research, I occasionally liked the songs I heard since the baristas have a good taste in music. I would then jot down a few of the lyrics in my notes so that I would remember the song. When I got home, I searched online for the lyrics to find the song's title and artist. Youtube lets me listen to the entire song usually, albeit illegally. I've made this post in order to share what I've discovered.

Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds

I've already discovered Cold War Kids, but I haven't listened to a lot of their music. Some of their songs can get repetitive, but I still like them. I gave the barista some kudos when I realized she was playing Cold War Kids, and I was impressed that she had seen them in concert. I love the imagery and story from this song; the lyrics give specific description of what is going on in the hospital like nurses fussing. It also describes the monotonous life in a hospital. The line "Vietnam, fishing trips, Italian opera" confused me for a while. First off, I didn't realize what the guy was singing. I thought he said "fish and chips," but that's probably because I've spent too much time in Britain. I had to google the lyrics to find out what was going on. Almost everyone agrees that 'Vietnam' is a reference to the Vietnam War. That actually wasn't my first thought. I have probably spent too much time overseas and know too many people my age who have actually been to Vietnam, so I don't think of 'Vietnam' only as a war. However, in this song it probably does reference the war since the artists are Americans. Some others suggested that the two guys in the hospital beds were Vietnam war vets. I disagree. This assertion would then suggest that they have been to operas in Italy. However, I think that the lines symbolize three general events that happen in life. 'Vietnam' represents the bad stuff that happens, so it still alludes to the war. 'Fishing trips' represents the fun times in life. 'Italian opera' represents life's dramas that aren't necessarily bad but not necessarily good.

Paolo Nutini - Candy

Bright Eyes - Another Traveling Song

Wolfmother - Vagabond

I actually first heard "Vagabond" while watching to 500 Days of Summer, and I took note of it then. When I heard it in Beanscene, I asked one of the baristas who sang this song because I recognized it. Once she told me the entire playlist came from this movie, I understood why the song sounded familiar. I really like "Vagabond," but I don't like the long ending that seems to drone on forever.

The baristas who selected this music in Beanscene have just started a new music quiz on Sunday nights at 9 pm for anyone who is still in St Andrews and gets the chance to go. I looked at the questions on the first night, but I didn't know any of the answers. I would have love to go regularly, but alas I couldn't stay in St Andrews. I've never actually done a music quiz, but I'd probably suck at it because I hardly know any trivia about artists or pop culture. I should do a history or geography quiz, but then again I never contributed much to the pub quizzes at Drouthy Neebors this past year. I just need to find my niche somewhere else.

Books I'd Like to Read

As I've worked on the dissertation, I made a list of books that I'd like to read once I finished the dissertation. I heard about most of the books because the authors made appearances on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show or Fareed Zakaria's Global Public Square (GPS). I've bought other books because these shows either mentioned them. For instance, I read Paul Collier's Bottom Billion and Zakaria's Post-American World, both of which I liked and highly recommend (my professors and some classmates hate Collier's theories of greed and grievance, which I have mentioned in a previous post, but Bottom Billion is still a descent read because it explains complex geopolitical theories in a way that non-academics can understand). I also read Vali Nasr's Forces of Fortune (or The Rise of Islamic Capitalism, which is a catchier title for the paperback version). I was very disappointed with this book because it's analysis of Middle Eastern history was completely one-sided and made sweeping assumptions that I find inconsistent with reality.

The books I have listed here are not books I plan on reading anytime soon or are books I would like anyone to buy me. I just recently bought a lot of books with a gift card a friend gave me, so I have plenty on my bookshelf to occupy my time. For right now I'm on a theology kick and will read a few books about Christianity, especially books about the history of the church. I also bought a couple books about Scottish and British history that I wouldn't expect to find in the US. Finally, I have a couple zombie books, including World War Z and Huckleberry Fin and Zombie Jim, that I would like to read eventually. Once I am done with all of these books, which probably won't be anytime soon, I might take the time to read some of the books I mention in this post. If I wait a bit longer, some of the newer books might come out in a cheaper paperback version.

So here's a list of books that I'd like to read if I had an infinite amount of time to read and no responsibilities:

Oil on Water:

Tankers, Pirates, and the Rise of China

Paul French & Sam Chambers

This may not be the first book I try to read on this list, but it still looks interesting. I saw the journalist author make an appearance on The Daily Show where he talked about how oil tankers are the backbone of modern civilization. He spent a lot of time on these tankers while writing the book and realized how vulnerable the shipping lanes are, and not just vulnerable to pirates. Any failure in the terminals that offload the oil or anywhere else in the chain between oil producing regions and oil consuming regions could have huge ripple effects throughout the world economy. Because more and more people around the world are getting more prosperous, the shipping infrastructure needs to improve in order to deal with increasing global demand for commodities like oil.

Monsoon: The Indian Ocean

and the Future of American Power

Robert Kaplan

Even though Kaplan is a respected author in some circles, he has written several controversial works. For instance, he wrote Balkan Ghosts, which said that the former Yugoslavia was doomed to ethnic strife because of ancient hatreds. This rhetoric justified American non-intervention for a long time because politicians said it'd be too difficult to change these ancient hatreds. This rhetoric was more political than anything else because American politicians didn't want to intervene in Bosnia unless there were strategic interests. If the former Yugoslavia had oil, then the United States would have intervened regardless of any 'ancient hatreds.' Kaplan's book played into the hands of politicians until the US had to intervene in Bosnia. From what I understand, Kaplan is an expert on strategic naval issues. When he writes about this stuff, he is supposed to be good at it. He gets into trouble when he acts like an expert in fields he knows nothing about, like African wars or the former Yugoslavia. I recently saw Kaplan on GPS when he talked about this new book how China's naval and economic ambitions will clash with India's ambitions. The argument sounded logical enough. Since he is supposed to be an expert in this field, I figured I'd give this book a chance and judge for myself.

The Future of Freedom:

Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad

Fareed Zakaria

I admit it. I have a bit of a man-crush on Zakaria. I love his show GPS on CNN because it is one of the few tv news shows that deals with global affairs in a semi-intelligent manner. CNN even have podcasts, both video and audio, so that I can watch GPS whenever I want. It seems to me that all the other shows are full of nonsense, even the BBC news shows that have an obvious British slant. If any of my readers have suggestions for news shows about global affairs that I should watch in addition to GPS, then I am open to suggestions. I honestly haven't taken the time to see what people say about The Future of Freedom, but I really liked Zakaria's Post-American World, which gives a simple explanation of an emerging multi-polar world in which the power relations between China, India, and the United States will dominate the international order. Zakaria wrote The Future of Freedom before Post-American World, but since I liked the newer book so much I figured I should read this older book, too.

Outliers:

The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell

I've seen Gladwell on several tv shows, including GPS, and I've wanted to read this book for a while. Gladwell is supposed to be one of the most widely read non-fiction writers; I've seen this book listed as one of the top selling books in Borders and other bookstores. Thus, I'd expect his books to be easy to read compared to my academic readings because the average customer isn't going to buy a book he has trouble understanding. According to Gladwell's interview on GPS, this book claims that talent is not necessarily something that someone inherits biologically but is enjoying practice. The Beatles didn't become great because they were born with a given talent. They became great while performing nightly at a club in Germany for months. What really caught my attention was Gladwell's comments about education. Though some children can naturally read better than others in their class, the difference is small when they are 6 years old. When teachers separate the children into 'good' and 'bad' students and thus treat them differently, the difference becomes huge over the next 10 years. If the 'bad' students learn how to enjoy reading, they will surpass the 'good' students very quickly. The idea interests me enough that I want to actually read the book.

The State of Jones

Sally Jenkins & John Stauffer

Growing up in Mississippi I heard stories about how Jones County (near Hattiesburg) seceded from Mississippi after the Civil War began. I didn't know how that happened or if Jones County hurt the Confederacy. I got the sense that this secession involved a bunch of bandits hiding in the woods. When I saw Jenkins talk about this book on The Daily Show (or maybe it was the Colbert Report), I became more interested in the subject. She said that many poor white southerners did not want to secede from the Union because they had nothing to gain from slavery. They considered the war the rich plantation owners' war. This perspective is different from what I usually hear about the Civil War, so I'd like to read this book.

The Most Powerful Idea in the World:

A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

William Rosen

I'm not sure how much I really want to read this particular book because I'm afraid it'll mostly be about the train's invention. When Rosen was on The Daily Show, he talked about how mankind lived for 18 centuries living in roughly the same kind of poverty. Mankind had to rely upon mostly muscle or nature in order to get work done. Only in the past 2 centuries has mankind been able to have more prosperity because they were able to use steam in order to get work done. If this book is more about how trains, the steam engine, and ensuing inventions have changed our lives, then I'd be willing to read this book. If this book is more about the inventors of the train, then I think I'd get bored with this book.

Lost States:

True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania,

and Other States That Never Made It

Michael Trinklein

Compared to other books mentioned in this post, this one is practically a children's book. Then again, ever book is a children's book if the kid can read (thanks, Mitch Hedberg). I found this book recently while rummaging around a Borders bookstore. I flipped through the pages and was amazed at how the United States either tried to create states where other states now exist or tried to acquire territory that now belongs to other countries. For instance, the United States has tried to acquire Greenland multiple times. Before buying Alaska from Russia, William Seward tried to buy Greenland from Denmark. The stories are only a couple pages long, and there are a lot of photos. It's not exactly an academic book, but it does sound interesting.

Mind if I take some sugar?

For the past few months as I've worked on the dissertation, I've hated working in my flat. Several piles of books from the library littered my desk and floor. Though the piles make me look studious, the clutter makes concentration difficult. Moreover, I'm supposed to relax in my flat and have some peace there. If I worked on my dissertation there, I would constantly work. I need a place where I can concentrate on my work and a separate place where I can sleep and relax. Most everyone else works in the library, but that place is too miserable and quiet. I need a place where I can sit for long hours, plug my computer into an outlet, and have some action around me so that the energy keeps me going. Ergo, I've spent a lot of time in a coffee shop, Beanscene, which is a quick walk from my flat. It's kind of like my friends' Central Perk since almost everyone in my circle makes regular trips here. If I'm lonely and want to see some friends, I just have to sit here long enough because someone is bound to show up. I've spent so much time here that the baristas recognize me. I probably spend more time here than some of them. They're nice to me. After I had a rough morning, a barista gave me a cup of coffee on the house. One of the girls gives me extra stamps in my loyalty card. Another barista talks to me about the music selection. Since I've worked in coffee shops before, I feel comfortable in them. A lot of other people have trouble doing work in a coffee shop, but for me it's almost like a relaxing home. I hardly notice that people are talking and buzzing around me like hungry bees. Occasionally when I'm so focused on my work, a friend will startle me when he or she walks up and taps me on the shoulder. If I was in the library, the silence would distract me too much. Instead of reading about the Parisian banlieues, I'd listen to the buzzing florescent light bulbs, the monotonous turning pages, and the lonely postgrad coughing behind her book. I loathe the library.

Since I spend more time in this coffee shop than in my flat, this place has become a second home. Better yet, it has become my office/living room. I'm not afraid to strike up a conversation with someone sitting at the table next to me, especially if she happens to be cute.

The other day I reached for the sugar holder as soon as the barista placed the large americano with nonfat milk on my table next to my pile of books. There was no more sugar left in the holder except for the fake crap. I refuse to use this stuff. I don't think I'm going to gain any weight because I put a couple spoonfuls of sugar into my coffee instead of the zero-calorie sweetener that makes my coffee taste like I poured a resin straight from Gothic City's Axis Chemicals into the cup. I'll do a couple sit ups every morning to compensate for the extra calories, but I'd rather have real sugar. Since I'm so stubborn, I looked for another table that actually had the good stuff. At the table next to me was a cute girl who was working on her own dissertation. I leaned over and asked, "Do you mind if I take some sugar?" She smiled, "Sure. Take as much as you want." I act embarrassed, "I meant for my coffee."

That would be a great line and an ok story if it really happened. Truth is I didn't think about saying "I meant for my coffee" until a couple minutes after I took some sugar packets from her table. I'll have to remember that line for later.

Fledging Ninjas Go to Glasgow

I've never really visited Glasgow, even when I was younger and travelled all over Scotland with my family. In order to get from St Andrews to my Scottish cousins in Ayrshire this past year, I had to change trains in Glasgow, but I never actually visited Glasgow. Though Glasgow used to be the second city of the Empire behind London, I often hear awful rumors about Glasgow because today it looks like a rusting and decaying city. Heavy industries such as shipbuilding used to bring a lot of wealth and trade to the city, but those jobs left once the waterways around Glasgow became too shallow and narrow for the larger ships companies wanted. At least that is what I read in a Scottish history book. Another source said the jobs left because overseas competition could build ships and other heavy machinery, such as trains, cheaper than the Scots. Either way, Glasgow is no longer as prestigious as it once was. I have heard that Glasgow is now a major shopping center for Scotland and that the area around the university is pretty. Most of my friends still prefer Edinburgh over Glasgow because the Scottish capital has much prettier architecture and more history and culture. Because I rarely hear much good about Glasgow, I am much more willing to visit Edinburgh.

My friend who convinced me to try parkour, which I have mentioned in previous posts (in one post we learn basic moves; in another I tried to jump over a wall), convinced me and some other friends to go to Glasgow for a parkour event called the "Roots of Movement." This event was the day after I went to the Edinburgh Tattoo, so I had to catch an early train to get to Glasgow. Unfortunately, we all took the slow train to Glasgow that stopped in almost every small town in the countryside. There was a faster train that went about 100+ mph. It left at about the same time. Instead of getting to Glasgow in 30 minutes with 45 minutes to spare, our train took about a little more than an hour with only a few minutes to get to the event. In the end, it didn't really matter that we showed up a couple minutes late because the organizers were still signing everyone up and giving all attendants brightly colored shirts. Mine was blue.

The fact that the event took place in a large indoor basketball gym without a single window did not do much to improve my biased impression of Glasgow as a large, rusting industrial city without a lot of culture. Also, parkour has a 'rundown industrial city' aura for me because so many of the online videos take place in European concrete apartment complexes or other urban buildings. At least now I can say that I've been to Glasgow and have done more than just drive though the town.

I did not realize this until later, but some coaches were some of the biggest Scottish and British parkour 'stars.' This may not sound like much, and I'm honestly not sure if it is much. A lot of the guys have cool videos on youtube, so they're good at what they do. I just don't know how big Scotland is in the world parkour scene or how many of these athletes have won significant awards. I do know that a lot of the coaches have done events in France and elsewhere, so at least they're in the loop. Roots of Movement is the first large parkour event in Scotland, and it was sold out. The hosts seemed very happy with the turnout and said that this event had the same level of support as many events in continental Europe.

We started the event with a good warmup. My favorite part of the warmup was when all of the 150 attendants created a huge circle and linked arms while sitting on the floor. At this point the coaches went around to pull the attendants away from the circle. We had to cling onto each other. If the coach could pull us out of the circle, then we had to start pulling other people from the circle. It kinda felt like a zombie attack after a while when several people were unable to pull me away from the circle. I linked my arms through the arms of the people next to me and then clung my hands together above my chest in order to give myself a firmer grip. After a few minutes when most other attendants had been pulled away from the circle, several guys, including a friend, decided to do everything they could to pull me from the circle. They finally organized their attack. A few of the guys stood above me, and everyone grabbed an arm or leg. After counting down, they started to pull simultaneously. Since they counted down, I knew when I had to start turning and pushing them away. Unfortunately, they finally pulled me away, but there wasn't enough time for me to try to pull anyone from the circle.

In order to separate us into different groups, the instructors told us to to stand in a line along the wall according to how good we thought we were. If we thought we were beginners, we had to stand to the far left. If we thought we were freaking awesome, we would humbly go to the right. Along with most of my friends, I went as far to the left as I could. Thus, I was part of the beginners group. They had separate groups for the kids, which was nice. I didn't want to be in the same group as 8 year olds, especially if they were better than me. It would have been rather embarrassing if I stumbled through an obstacle after some kid nimbly jumped over or under something. If I was better than them, I would look like a total douche showing up a kid.

There were several 'stations,' and we spent about 20 or 30 minutes at each station. Most of the stations offered various types of obstacles we had to either jump over or crawl under. Sometimes we had to jump from ledge to ledge or balance ourselves across a beam. The goal for most of these obstacles wasn't necessarily to do a certain move but to keep moving. I heard that other events don't usually have special padding, but there were several mats so that we didn't hurt ourselves when we landed from a jump. It was nice getting to do pretty much whatever we wanted, especially since I already knew a lot of beginner moves.

At one station we separated into two teams. One team stood on a balancing bar gymnasts would normally use. We locked arms with each others on the bar. The other team tried to distract us anyway they could without touching us so that we would fall. In order to make it more difficult in the last round of this game, we had to stand on one leg and do a squat while holding onto the other people on the bar. I couldn't even finish one squat. As my videos from previous posts show, balancing on bars is not exactly my strong suit. I'm quite awful with it. I got a little better at it, though. According to my parkour friend from St Andrews, balancing is a very important exercise for this sport because it trains certain muscles that help control jumps, landings, and other parkour moves.

For me, the coolest station was two metal scaffolding towers the organizers erected in the middle of the gymnasium. Each tower was about 15 feet tall, three feet wide, and six feet long. Metal bars intersected the middle of the scaffolding at different angles in order to present more obstacles for us. As beginners, we didn't have a very difficult task. We had to climb up one side of the tower, down the other side, use a bar between the towers to get to the other tower, crawl up this tower, and then down the last tower. It sounds simple enough, but we could only use our left arm. Also, we didn't know the best path through all the metal bars inside the towers so that I had to figure it out as I went along. It forced me to think about how I was moving, where I was going, and how to use other parts of my body in order to get through the bars. It wasn't incredibly difficult physically but was a mental challenge. At one point I slipped on a bar and almost fell off the tower. I could have easily used my other hand to pull myself up, but that would have been cheating. As I dangled from the bars, I had to think about how to get myself back up. I ended up using brute force and my legs in order to get myself back onto the tower. I was proud of myself. The second time through this obstacle I had to use my other hand. This second round was a bit easier because I had found different places where I could sit and swing myself around, but I had to do some moves differently because I was using the other side of my body more.

In another, similar station/obstacle there was another scaffolding tower we had to crawl up. However, there was a bar jutting away from the tower and from the top corner of the tower to the floor at a 45º angle. In order to get to the top of the tower, I had to find a way to balance myself on this bar and 'monkey crawl' to the top. The instructors didn't show us how to do this because we had to think of a way ourselves. I was the first to go, so I couldn't copy anyone else. Since balancing is not my forte, I slipped multiple times on the slick bar and had to pull myself back up. I almost embarrassed myself in front of all the girls... and by 'almost' I mean I probably did. I finally realized that I just had to use as much upper body strength as possible to pull myself up the bar and just use my feet to balance myself since the bar was too slick. If I got some momentum going, I could get to the top quickly and without falling. My parkour friend later told me that the next step would have been doing the same moves more slowly in order to build up more upper body strength, but I was just proud of myself for finding a way up the bar.

I watched a more experienced group play a special game of 'tag.' The instructors set up a series of large black boxes and walls that the players had to jump over anyway they could. Most of these guys were good enough that they could 'kong' over the tall obstacles and gracefully push themselves over others. In this game of tag, the first player would get a couple seconds' head start in order to get away as quickly as possible. The second player would then chase down the first player and try to tag him before the first player passes over the last obstacle. It was really cool to watch, and this could become a cool game to watch on tv. In fact, whenever I see parkour in spy movies or on crime tv shows (I recently saw parkour on USA's Covert Affairs), it's almost always a chase scene like this game of tag.

The best part of the event had little to do with parkour. One of the coaches, a French dude, made us do a series of pushups and squats. I wasn't familiar with this style of pushup, and it was brutal. I had to keep my arms tucked into my torso as I went down, and my shoulders couldn't be higher than my hips. Also, we had to hover over the ground for a little bit before we could push ourselves back up. He said this style of pushup was better for the body. I'm not sure how. He told me over and over again how I was doing the pushup wrong. Then we had to do squats. Since my knee had been hurting me, I would only go down a little bit because then I would feel the pressure on the knee. He told me to go lower, and I told him I couldn't because my knee hurt too much. He told me that squats were good for the knee. He came over and gave me several instructions so that I could squat lower: I had to spread my feet out further and let my knees point at wider angles from my torso. I was then able to do the squat better. During one of the breaks, I asked him to teach me how to do a proper squat since I had apparently been doing them wrong. He was very helpful and gave me several other pointers I did not know. I would have probably learned all this stuff if I had played sports while growing up, but the instructions were very helpful. We did a series of about 10 more squats. As soon as I did these squats, I couldn't feel any more pain in my knees. Ever since then, I've had no knee problems, so I plan on doing more squats in order to prevent future knee problems. Learning how to get rid of my knee pain was probably the best part of the event for me. I'm glad that the instructor was able to take the one-on-one time to help me.

We left the Roots of Movement around 4 pm in order to catch a train back to St Andrews. While waiting for the train, we walked across the street from Glasgow Central train station to get a sandwich at a cheap walk-in shop. Though we walked briefly around the station and only took a taxi from the gym to the station, I at least got a small feel for Glasgow. At a later date, I would have to walk from Queens Station to Glasgow Central, so I got an even better feel for the city even though I only saw a small portion of the central part. It seemed to be nice enough with pedestrian friendly streets and lots of shops. It reminded me of Orléans, France. That may or may not be a good thing. When I lived and worked in Châteauroux, which is an hour south of Orléans, we hated Orléans because we had a lot of bad experiences in this town, mostly involving the French rail workers going on strike when we had important meetings to catch. I digress. After going to Glasgow for the Roots of Movement, I can see how this city is no better and no worse than other cities that struggle with economic transitions. Some areas may not look as pretty as others, but most cities have rougher neighborhoods. Some buildings may look sketchy with graffiti on the walls, and there may not be a beautiful castle on top of a volcanic rock like Edinburgh has. Still, it seems like a fair enough city if I had to live there and could get used to it. Then again, if I had my druthers, I'd still live in Edinburgh instead of Glasgow.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo: how many bagpipers can we squeeze into this place?

Last spring a friend of mine wanted to plan a huge extravaganza for her last night in Scotland, so she convinced a bunch of us to buy tickets for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which occurs almost every night in August. Of course I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity because I had heard of this event for years and never thought I would actually get the opportunity to go. When I first traveled to Scotland as a child I saw postcards throughout Edinburgh with photos of the Tattoo. I thought the Scottish were odd for calling this event a 'tattoo,' but the photos made the event look like the coolest thing ever. I asked my family about it when I saw these postcards, but they told me we wouldn't be able to go because it happened in August when I had to be in school. Since I now live in Scotland, making a quick trip to Edinburgh to watch the Tattoo wasn't so difficult, and my friend made it super easy to get tickets since she did most of the leg work (by the way, thanks for that).

When Scottish family and friends heard that I was going to the Tattoo, they asked me how I was able to get tickets. For the past decade every show of the Tattoo has been sold out long before the actually event. Even locals have a hard time getting ahold of tickets when they wait too long. One cousin told me she tried to buy tickets for this year but couldn't do it online or over the phone since there weren't enough. Most people try to buy them as soon as they go one sale (next year's tickets go on sale in early December). I'm not sure how or why my friend was able to get tickets so late in the year when so many of the shows were already sold out. If I ever wanted to go back to Scotland to see the Tattoo, I would have to make plans several months in advance.

For those of you who do not know what the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is, I compare it to a military marching band show (but not a parade since it all happens in a small area in front of the Edinburgh Castle). The 90 minute show opens and closes with bagpipers, which include not only Scottish Highland bagpipers but also bagpipers from all over the world including the United States. I've never seen so many bagpipers in one place. Though the bagpipers are probably the most important attraction to the Tattoo, the show includes several other performances from military bands from across the world. This year's show included military marching bands from Poland, New Zealand, the United States (The Citadel, South Carolina), and Jordan. Many of these bands included their own bagpipers. The most fascinating band was New Zealand, who mixed a traditional military marching band style with their non-conventional style. The worse band was the Queen's Royal Guard (I think that's what they were called), who had mediocre rock guitarists playing quasi-pop style music as one of their guys sang poorly. We also watched a large display of traditional Scottish dance. The show ends with a fireworks show over the castle and then a lone bagpiper standing on top of the castle.

Of course, I took a lot of photographs and videos. Though the show was about 90 minutes to 2 hours long, I took about 45 minutes of video. I'm surprised my camera lasted that long. Here's some of what I took:

The show opened with bagpipers exiting the castle.

The bagpipers marched back and forth in front of the castle.

I was surprised they had enough space to do this since

there were so many bagpipers, but they did manage to make

different formations in spite of the tight space.

This was a rather cool stunt from a young motor

cyclist. I'm not really sure how these youth get

to be part of a group like this. I'm also perplexed

that parents would allow their young children,

some as young as 5, to join this group.

Marching band from The Citadel, USA.

They were ok but weren't the best.

Jordan's contribution to the show included a lot of

marching and not a lot of music.

Above all else, the Tattoo is a British military show.

These British soldiers, many of whom had recently served

in Afghanistan, demonstrate how they protected a 'traditional

Afghan family.' As my friends and I watched this, we weren't

sure what was about to happen because the demonstration

started when the British soldiers point guns at the family.

We were also sitting around tourists from the Middle East,

and we weren't sure how they reacted to this demonstration.

Most of my friends agreed that this part of the show was

the most controversial because it painted too rosy a picture

of the Afghan War. Then again, this is a military show,

and I wouldn't expect them to talk about the 'grayer'

sides of war in a festival like the Tattoo.

Fireworks show over the castle

A sample of my videos from the Tattoo

Outside the Tattoo is the Edinburgh Fringe, which is a large street festival on the Royal Mile throughout August. There's also a bunch of shows associated with this event. Though we spent the afternoon in Edinburgh and walked around the Royal Mile before the show, we only glanced at the Fringe. I briefly watched a magician do card tricks for a crowd, but that's pretty much all I watched. At least I can say I saw the "Fringe."

Fledging Ninja Training: Episode Two - Jumping Over Walls

In a recent post, I talked about how a group of us have started to learn parkour. This form of exercise has actually been good for me because I hurt my knee about a month ago and haven't been able to run as much. I actually hurt my knee because I played soccer, which required me to move and turn my leg in ways running doesn't require. Running requires a constant motion, and a friend told me this wears down the cartilage so that other motions become painful. Cross training helps build up the muscle around the knee to prevent future injuries. For now, running doesn't actually hurt, and I don't really feel the pain unless I'm walking up and down stairs. I've had this problem about a year go. Stretching, resting, and cross training is the only real solution. Though parkour does require a lot of jumping and thus leg muscles, it doesn't hurt my knee, but I'm still careful as I do parkour to make certain I don't hurt the knee more. As I've done parkour, my knee has begun to feel better. I still wanted to do some exercise so that my legs wouldn't get stiff. Perhaps some of my readers have different ideas about how to deal with a problematic knee, but my techniques are particular to what I've learned about my body.

[Though I started this blog post in August, I am only finishing it in September; ergo, my knee has healed. Some parkour exercises did help, but I'll talk about that in another post]

In this latest video, a friend of mine challenged me to jump over a wall:

I could have made a third attempt at the wall, but my arms were already too sore. After watching the video again, I understand what I did wrong (my foot was going parallel against the wall instead of perpendicular so that I lost my feet couldn't push against the wall). Now that I know what I did wrong, I can take another go at it later.