A Hard Day's Night

This week has been a little hectic at work so I haven't had time to be on the internet and give details on my trip to Liverpool. I'm in the process of writing it right now but it's kind of long so could take a few days to publish.

Today is my last day in London, and while it'll be sad to leave, I'm excited for my tour of Europe. I'm hoping to get off work early to meet with the newspaper crew in Hounslow, but it takes about an hour for me to get there from my other workplace.

Yesterday was our final haggle video shoot. I'm sort of glad it's over, as it was probably one of the most difficult things to arrange, but then again it was a good challenge and at the end of the day there's a feeling of elation over what we accomplished.

I'm glad I took this internship, even though I didn't do much in terms of editing or shooting video, just to get out and see what the TV business can be like. It's not as glamorous as people make it out to be, though we're a smaller independent production company usually producing things for daytime TV, and it can be quite stressful at times. But I never let that stress get to me as I did before, and although there can be big arguments sometimes, everyone realizes it's nothing personal and everyone is trying to do their job the best they can. I think one thing this experience may have given me is a thicker skin.

Similar to last message, but not completely

This is again for my show in England, but for a slightly different purpose:

We are looking for people to be on our show who need to purchase something big. This can be anything from a new car to a new kitchen renovation to bridesmaid dresses to a vacation (though we've already done those examples). If you know someone who is looking to do a major purchase and would like the help of our consumer expert and would like to be on the BBC, let me or my colleague Oliver know IMMEDIATELY so we can set things up. Either e-mail oliver@flametv.co.uk or call 020 7278 5052.

We'll be shooting these within the next few weeks so the sooner you contact us the better.

Appeal for my show

OK this message is for anyone in the Greater London area (or even in England):

The TV show that I'm working on needs two people who need to make a major purchase (electronics, appliances, furniture, etc.) to be on our show on Thursday. It's a consumer affairs show for BBC1, and what happens is our presenter will go into three shops (with hidden cameras) and haggle the best deal for whatever product you desire. Then you get to choose the best deal, and everyone is happy.

The two people we originally had planned to use can't make it on Thursday. Basically we need someone to meet us for 2 hours this Thursday (April 27) to meet our presenter and do all the video shots.

If you know ANYONE who needs something like a new bed, sofa, digital camera, camcorder, etc. please let me or my colleauge Oliver know IMMEDIATELY by calling 0207 713 6868 or e-mailing oliver@flametv.co.uk

Crazy week

This post is going to be fairly short, because I'm off to LIVERPOOL very shortly to see all the Beatles stuff and more. Yesterday was a slightly hectic video shoot, but we managed to get everything done that we needed to do, even if it did take 11 hours or so. I got to drive the streets of London for the first time, which was a little scary but I didn't have to drive much. I also had to relearn driving a stick shift with my left hand instead of my right.

The days before that were spent frantically trying to find shops that sell a particualr GPS navigation system for one contributor and trying to find another person who needed to buy a fridge as two people pulled out on Thursday because they couldn't make it at anytime on Friday. Somehow we managed to find a fridge person mid-day yesterday, and everything that needed to be shot was (I think).

Liverpool should be a good time, and a good trip out of the city. My phone isn't working at the moment because someone reported it lost or stolen (which is strange because I borrowed it from the internship director 3 months ago and didn't have any troubles before), so the best way to contact me in the next couple days is by e-mail.

I've got my post-UK-rest-of-Europe trip all planned out. I fly to Paris on the 29th, then take trains between Paris, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Prague before flying back to London on May 10, hopefully flying back to Chicago the next day.

Woo hoo! Four-day weekend!

Thanks to the lovely British Government's Bank Holiday system, I got both Friday and today off from work. I wish I would have known that sooner though, as I could have planned a trip to Liverpool and/or Manchester, but I might go up there next weekend, even though I'll probably have to spend quite a bit on train fares. I might take the bus depending on their fares.

This long weekend allowed me to explore a few places I hadn't been before. On Friday, I went up to Hampstead Heath and Highgate Cemetery, where the likes of Karl Marx and George Eliot are buried. They actually charged admission to the cemetery because it's run by a private charity. Oh well, Karl's grave was looking quite clean and well-kept; there must be a dedicated bunch of rich Commies willing to shell out to make sure his grave looks nice.

Hampstead Heath is a very beautiful park. Unlike most other parks in the city, this one has less defined walkways, has more hills, and has more naturally growing vegetation in the park. It's a really great way to get out of the city, and I felt really refreshed after walking through some of the park. From Parliament Hill, you can get a spectacular panoramic view of the city, and there was even a fair happening nearby. I wonder if carnies are the same over here.

That night I watched the Passion of Manchester with a friend from work and a few others. It told the Passion story of Christ but in a modern setting with music from Manchester bands, including Oasis, The Smiths, Joy Division and New Order. Most of the people I was watching it with knew the music better than the story, while I was the other way around. I think most enjoyed it up until they played (and then replayed) the song 'Angels' by Robbie Williams, particularly because he's not really from Manchester (he's from Stoke-on-Trent) and he's an untalented pop star (hope I didn't offend any Robbie Williams fans out there, but there doesn't seem to be many).

Saturday I went to the Portobello Road Markets in Notting Hill, another big street market, though this one specialized in antiques. It was funny to watch everyone walking in the street towards the market - it was almost like a bunch of zombies searching for food.

I also made it to the Guildhall Art Gallery and the Museum of London, situated in the center of the original 'City' of London. Because this part of the city is considered the financial district, it was really interesting to see the streets almost empty because it wasn't a business day. The art gallery, though small, was nice and it also contained remnants of a Roman ampitheatre built in London. The Museum of London went through the history of the city up until 1914 or so, and it also included a fun exhibit on the history of satire in London. I didn't get to see everything because the museum closed at about 6 pm, but I did come the next day after attending Easter service at St. Paul's Cathedral.

Easter at St. Paul's was nice. I got there about 1 minute after service started, but they still had plenty of seating. The service ran quite similar to the Lutheran service. Going up for communion was a little breath-taking, just because I stood in line (or queue) right under the huge dome and could see all the great artworks in the building and just behold the church's magnificence. It was also the first time I drank straight from the communion cup. I wasn't quite sure if I could dip the bread, and most people either drank from the cup or skipped it altogether.

After that I made it back to the Museum of London, and was surprised to find most of the museums in this city stay open even on Easter. From what I've noticed, Easter here seems to be recognized more for the fact that most get a few days off rather than as a religious holiday. Britian itself is quite secular, and I think I read a statistic that only 14% of people regularly go to church. In this city, there's also quite a mix of Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Jews, and a few people I talked to say they're 'spiritual but not religious.'

Photos and more

Here's a link to the latest five photo albums:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=zsnak7k.vp0xo6o&x=0&y=9p14n5

Today was a little strange. I got in the office only to have to find another pram shop, as one of the shops the crew were supposed to shoot in was closed because of a fuse problem. From there I took a train to Manchester, picked up two videotapes they needed and took the next train back to London. It was a shame I couldn't stay any longer. From what I could see, Manchester's city centre had a 'hip' vibe to it (if I'm allowed to use the word 'hip'). The first thing that amazed me was that there was a free bus service in the city centre. But I didn't really have much more time to be amazed by anything else in the city.

Looking at the English countryside reminded me a little bit of the Wisconsin countryside, with lots of rolling hills and green pastures. Oh yeah, and sheep. Lots of sheep. That's a little different. That and that every house is brick. I think it's so amazing how many people live in brick houses. I know there was a big thing with a fire in London in 1666 which made people leary of building with wood, but it seems a lot less cost-effective nowadays to have your home in brick, though I suppose a lot of those houses were built ages ago. It's a big contrast to America, where all the new houses have vinyl siding and are in a large variety of colors. Here, you're limited to various shades of brick. Or maybe stucco.

I think it hints at the individuality of Americans and the slightly more social aspect of Britons, although it seems that the UK is far less social or socialist than the rest of the continent. The UK seems to be turning a corner and looking more like America in terms of free-market economy, whereas in France and Germany people are still fighting to keep the old welfare system. There are good and bad aspects to both, but it's looking more and more like these governments can't handle the types of social protections they could guarantee to workers a generation ago, mainly because of economic competition with China and other developing countries with cheap labour. It really sucks for workers here: from my own time at the newspaper I could tell that probably everyone was underpaid, but there's not much they can do about it because their unions have very little power and they are at the mercy of the giant newspaper corporation that owns them. At the same time, the UK's economy is growing better than most other European countries, but it's hard to know to whom that growth is really beneficial. Is it mostly corporations?

I think people here are starting to lose faith in government as protector, or the 'nanny state' as they call it. The National Health Service is continually facing huge budget deficits and people are having to turn to private doctors or dentists in order to receive more urgent care, even if it costs a lot more. People here also grumble about the smoking ban and London's traffic congestion charge imposed by the government and the mayor, even if they do help the overall health of people. I think it's safe to say the welfare state of post-World War II is nearly dead, but there needs to be something to be put in its place to help people receive the health care and employment protections they deserve. They showed a few episodes of Morgan Spurlock's (of Supersize Me) '30 Days' a week ago, and one episode showed Morgan and his fiancee living off minimum wage for a month. It was very poignant in that despite inflation for the past 10 or so years, the minimum wage has not gone up in that time. The two also had to face huge hospital bills because they had no insurance, which probably made Brits feel a little bit better about their health care system, all flaws aside.

I did read that Massachusetts just passed a bill that nearly requires all residents have health care. It will be interesting to see if that works and maybe could be duplicated. It makes sense to me that the richest country in the world should guarantee basic health care to all its citizens.

Busy work days

I've been on the phone at work the past two days looking for shops in the Manchester area that either sell LCD TVs or prams (baby pushchairs) for our TV show. It's one thing if the stores sell the items we want: it's another if they will agree for us to shoot video in their store. The big name chain stores obviously don't like the idea, and it's so difficult now to find independent electronics or baby shops in the big cities near where we want to shoot. Getting their permission is an even bigger chore, but luckily I'm leaving that part of it to the main researchers.

The situation looked bleak yesterday, but somehow we managed to find enough TV stores and Pram shops today to use for their shoot tomorrow. We all worked really hard to find these shops, and a few of us were feeling proud of ourselves after we got all of them, but then the director came in to tell us we needed to find a shop that sells electric cookers (stove & oven) that was nearby the city centre. This proved nearly impossible, because A)All the appliance shops in the city centre are chain stores, and B) Most of those outside the centre had closed by the time I started calling. The researcher said not to worry about it, and told me I did a good job today, so I felt a little better about putting all that work in.

I sort of wonder if when the show was originally developed they anticipated running into these speed bumps. It's a good idea for a show, but it's really difficult to get these store owners to catch onto it.

I've just been informed that I'm going to Manchester tomorrow for the shoot. I wasn't anticipating this, but that's fine nonetheless. I get out of the office and see another part of England, even if it is for a short while for work. Maybe I can convince them to let me see Liverpool as well while I'm up there.

BADGER HOCKEY!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH THE MEN'S AND WOMEN'S BADGER HOCKEY TEAMS! NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 2006!!!!!!!! U RAH RAH WISCONSIN!!!!

Over the weekend

Bear with me, this is a long one:

Friday was a fun/long/slightly hectic work day. I went on my first shoot, and had to get up around 6:30 to make my trains to get from Chiswick (West London) to Croydon (South East London) by 8:30.

We're doing a hidden camera show about finding the best deals on electronics and appliances, and the presenter goes into shops and tries to haggle the best deal. It almost felt like a heist, because we had a stakeout at a pub with all our equipment, including three camera bags with little pinhole lenses, and everytime we went in to do a deal we called it a 'sting.' The one thing that was hectic was that we had trouble finding enough shops that would give us permission to shoot video, because even though we're doing it covertly we still need permission from each place and person to use the video, and after the 'sting' a real cameraman goes in and talks to the employees and takes shots of the store. I almost feel like I'm saying too much because of the covert nature of the show, but it's not like I'm working for the CIA or MI5 (or am I?).

The shoot ended around 6, with most things going alright and a few not so good, but it was pretty fun nonetheless. I was so wiped out that I called it an early night, but that also meant I could do more the next day.

Saturday morning I went to the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. As you can see from the pic, they really tried to recreate what the theatre would have looked like in the 17th century, down to the materials used and how things were constructed. I wish I could see an actual production there to really experience it, but the tour guide was really knowledgeable about the place and a drama class happened to use the stage when we were there.

From there I went to All-Hallows-by-the-Tower, a church dating back to the 600s but suffered major damage during the Blitz. I was pretty much the only tourist in there at the time, and so after I asked the priest where I could go, he gave me about a 1 hour personalized tour complete with history of the church and the city of London. It was pretty cool and nice of him, but it was a little awkward as well and he kept on trying to quiz me about certain aspects of London history or a 'what does this look like to you' kind of questions.

From there I went to Sir John Soane's museum, and it was probably the first time I've had to wait in line (or queue, as they call it) for more than 5 minutes for anything in London so far. That says a lot about the quality of places I've been to, most of them free to the public. I'm sure that if I went to Madame Tussaud's to see the wax figures, that'd be a different story, both in that there are long lines and is terribly expensive.

Sir John Soane's museum is basically taking the British Museum, which holds a lot of artefacts from Ancient Greece, Egypt and Rome, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, which holds plaster casts of sculptures and artefacts from Elizabethan and Victorian times, and putting them both into this one crazy guy's house. Sir John Soane was a 19th century architect who designed the Bank of England among other things, and apparently he had enough money to go around buying Egyptian sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?), famous paintings and sculptures and put them all in his house for display. A few things were roped off for refurbishment, which seems to be a recurring theme in this city.

I also went to the world famous (?) Harrod's department store, just to see what the fuss was about, and after looking at £10,000 watches I got pissed off about materialism/capitalism and had to leave the store for my own peace of mind. Outside the shop were some protestors handing out flyers to boycott the store because they use animal furs. I'd boycott them just because I don't have the money to buy anything worthwhile in there.

That night I went to a former coworker's party, and spent much of the night on the rooftop terrace freezing my arse off to enjoy the view of the city and chat it up with some guys from the newspaper. A few beers and one slightly spontaneous acoustic guitar jam session later, I was back on the bus home to hear that the Badgers had won the national championship! It was a little difficult to express my excitment while not wanting to disturb anyone on the bus.

The next day I went to the Old Spitalfields Market in East London. I must say it was probably the most original of any of the markets I've been to, though again most items are pandered to women. I did splurge and buy two Rock 'n' Roll T-shirts, though I still had money left on my gift card so I didn't feel too bad about spending money.

The East End has traditionally the cheapest housing in London, and it's where lots of immigrants come first. While this brings a lot of cosmopolitanism to London and vibrancy to the markets, they also have problems with crime and poverty in this area.

From the market I went to the Whitechapel Art Gallery, though most of it was blocked off for refurbishment (again, a recurring theme). The one place that was open was a big white room with some photographs and a few TV sets playing a loop of a video that recreated a panel of people who were interviewed for a 1970s Playboy article. Kinda weird.

From there I tried to make my way to another art gallery in the area, only to find that it was closed for refurbishment. Frustrated, I made my way home before receiving a free dinner that night.

My friend Jenny came to visit from Madrid with her dad, and we went to a wonderful Lebanese restaurant. We ordered a huge meat sampler platter and the food just kept on coming, down to a huge fruit plate and desserts like Baklava with some mint tea at the end. We were so full that Jenny and her dad were able to put the fruit in a small bag to take back to their hotel for the next day.

The first few days at Flame

Well, it's my third day at Flame, and they spared no time putting me to work. The first two days I spent logging video, which basically means taking video that's already been shot and type out what is happening onscreen/what the interviewee is saying. I've done this before for NBC15, but thankfully here you don't neceessarily have to put down verbatim what the interviewee says like you do in news.

Though logging is a bit tedious, a lot of the interviews and subjects were really interesting. Most were for a program that deals with issues of surveillance in London, including Closed Circuit TV cameras, DNA databases and the paparrazi. It's also interesting to see how they ask questions in documentaries, because many times you have to re-ask a certain question or make the interviewee go over a certain point again to make it a good, complete sound bite.

Today was spent mostly trying to set up places where we could shoot video tomorrow and in the future. Tomorrow I'm off with a crew to my first shoot, which should hopefully be fun, if not educational.

Apparently tonight and every Thursday after work they have wine and chips and dip for the workers. Woo hoo! They also have a good assortment of snacks in the kitchen, which I will take full advantage of. Most people here are fairly young as well and seem very nice so far. I'm missing the crew at the newspaper, but I'll see a few of them this weekend.

Busy weekend

I had a really fun time with Looo this weekend, and we covered a lot of ground in a very short amount of time. While I did revisit some of sites I've been to, we also went to a few places I hadn't seen but really wanted to go to. I was a little proud of myself acting as a tour guide, and felt like Looo was able to sample just about everything that London is famous for.

Friday night, one of the sports guys had a party to celebrate 40 years of working for the company. It was in Walton, which is way the heck away from anywhere near central London. Our train took at least an hour to get there, and Looo and I got there at about 11, when everyone had already had quite a few and the party was beginning to wind down. We had fun though, as quite a few people started singing some old classics once the DJ had left. I found it interesting to see what songs are popular with the Brits. Besides Bohemian Rhapsody and American Pie, there were a couple that I didn't recognize. Because the place was so far away, we had to take a cab back, which cost us £22.

Calling Saturday a full day would be an understatement. We started at the Tower of London, which was a really cool place. The "Beefeater" tour guide was really good and made quite a few good jokes. The guides are actually high ranking military men who now live with their families inside the Tower. There was a lot of history at the Tower, much of it bloody, and there were quite a few places inside to see, including the crown jewels and Sir Walter Ralegh's prison quarters.

We then made our way down to St. Paul's Cathedral. I must say it is probably the most beautiful of all the churches I've visited, and that's saying quite a lot. The ceilings are just stunning, and there's also a crypt with loads of famous people either buried or memorialized there. I didn't realize until we got there that tourists are also able to climb to the top of the dome. So Looo and I climbed 530 steps altogether to reach the top, which had a really pretty view of the whole city, better than the view at Monument.

We rewarded ourselves with a pint of good ale and some traditional English food at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a favourite pub of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. From there we made it to the British Museum and then down to Trafalgar Square, popped into the National Gallery for 10 minues before it closed, and then walked down to Westminster Abbey and Houses of Parliament.

Our day was not over, though, as that night we went to a pub in Soho before walking through Old Compton Street (considered the gay district) to a club in Holborn. They played a lot of good indie rock music and some classics as well, and by the end of the night everyone including us were out on the dance floor just hopping around like no one cared.

On Sunday morning we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the highlight being a Beatles medley played by the traditional band. Making our way through St James' Park to Waterloo, we then took the tube to Hyde Park to see the crazies at Speakers' Corner. We walked all the way down the park to the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall, before going to the Victoria & Albert Museum and Natural History Museum. I hadn't seen much of the V&A (as we call it) before, and it was really cool to see how (mostly rich) people lived in Europe for the last few hundred years. They also have some massive plaster casts of statues and monuments from around Europe, as well as a good collection of Asian artefacts.

Somehow we made it to all these places in less than 48 hours, and I was really tired afterwards, but it was worth it. I also had some interesting conversations with Looo about how London compares to the rest of Europe, and I think I might post those thoughts later.

It Don't Come Easy

I tried to send this originally through e-mail on Friday, but I got the address wrong. So here it is again:

Well, I had my second interview at 1 yesterday, and after thinking about it
overnight I thought Campaign Productions had more to offer me, even though Flame TV had more interesting stuff.

I called Campaign this morning to tell them the good news, and they told me they had already chosen someone else whom they had interviewed later that day. Apparently, if I had told them that afternoon that I had chosen them, I would have been guaranteed a spot.

Thankfully, Flame TV still had an opening for me so I gladly took their
position. I probably won't be able to do as much producing work as I would have at Campaign, but I will be able to get a better look behind the scenes of putting documentaries together, which should be exciting.

I'm thankful for the opportunity that the newspaper gave me, and it still is a tough decision because of the great people I worked with, but I really feel that because I'm going into broadcast I should do something more related to broadcast. After going through all this
though I know I don't have the right to complain if I get small jobs at first. I think that if I can show them that I'm a good, smart worker they will let me do bigger tasks.