Welcome back! It's been awhile since the last post thanks to a wonderful, 4-week vacation back home. I've been back in Liverpool for about a week and a half and have been busy, busy, busy with assignments.
The flight back was alright. My plane from Cleveland to Philadelphia was delayed so I ended up leaving the following day. It was really nice to have one more day back home. Then after boarding the plane to Philadelphia, we were delayed 45 minutes because one of the light fixtures in the plane was hanging loose. It took 45 minutes for maintenance to come out and fix it. Do you know what they did to fix it?!?!? One strip of duct tape. 45 minutes. This caused a huge problem for most of us because we had connecting flights that were leaving within 20 minutes of our landing in Philly. I had 10 minutes to hop off the plane, run to the shuttle, travel from terminal F to terminal A, run down to the last possible gate in the terminal. It was very close but I made it with 2 minutes to spare. I was the last one on the plane, and they were calling my name constantly over the PA as I ran through the terminal.
The flight to Manchester was really nice. I sat alone in my aisle and was able to stretch out my leg. And, icing on the cake, I was able to sleep for 2 of the 7 hours! Here are some pics I took out the window before I got yelled at by the flight staff.
The flight back was alright. My plane from Cleveland to Philadelphia was delayed so I ended up leaving the following day. It was really nice to have one more day back home. Then after boarding the plane to Philadelphia, we were delayed 45 minutes because one of the light fixtures in the plane was hanging loose. It took 45 minutes for maintenance to come out and fix it. Do you know what they did to fix it?!?!? One strip of duct tape. 45 minutes. This caused a huge problem for most of us because we had connecting flights that were leaving within 20 minutes of our landing in Philly. I had 10 minutes to hop off the plane, run to the shuttle, travel from terminal F to terminal A, run down to the last possible gate in the terminal. It was very close but I made it with 2 minutes to spare. I was the last one on the plane, and they were calling my name constantly over the PA as I ran through the terminal.
The flight to Manchester was really nice. I sat alone in my aisle and was able to stretch out my leg. And, icing on the cake, I was able to sleep for 2 of the 7 hours! Here are some pics I took out the window before I got yelled at by the flight staff.
The minute I walked into my room, I've been working very hard on two assignments I had due last week. I had a presentation of a song analysis and a paper that was due today. That being said, I haven't gotten to travel as much around Liverpool or the UK. So no cool places to share with you this post. But I do have a trip to York planned this coming weekend which includes a visit to another castle, a cold war bunker, and a railroad museum.
My presentation was this past Thursday and it went really well. It's funny, when I teach I never get nervous and am able to carry a lesson for 50 minutes or even 2 hours. But once I know I am being graded, I freeze up. Anyways, the song that I chose to analyze was James Bond's "Goldfinger." I analyzed the song in the context of music at the time, films, and the signals different aspects of the songs conveys. For example, I looked at how the big brass chords are presented in sharp, hard, tritones (three notes) making it sound like metal which is a sonic anaphone ( music that represents inanimate objects). I discussed how the "Goldfinger" theme is structure much like the James Bond theme and it utilized in the context of the movie to show how James Bond and Goldfinger are two sides of the same coin. Goldfinger's greed being Gold, Bond's greed being women. My teacher was very impressed with the presentation and I had a blast researching the Bond music. I mentioned that I would like to research the themes of the James Bond films as my Masters dissertation and he was on board with that idea. So my dissertation will be on some aspect of the James Bond music. Pretty cool huh?
Wednesday night, I was able to escape the library to watch two of my flatmates play football (soccer) in a match. Some of you may know, I'm not a fan of soccer. It's long, the field is too big, and there's a chance that the match ends in a tie. 90 minutes and you end up with no winner. Not cool. This soccer match was actually enjoyable for these reasons. 1) The field was about a third of a regular football field allowing more action to take place. 2) There were no ties allowed. And 3) it lasted 30 minutes. My flatmates did not win but I can at least scratch "see a football match" off my things to do in Europe.
My presentation was this past Thursday and it went really well. It's funny, when I teach I never get nervous and am able to carry a lesson for 50 minutes or even 2 hours. But once I know I am being graded, I freeze up. Anyways, the song that I chose to analyze was James Bond's "Goldfinger." I analyzed the song in the context of music at the time, films, and the signals different aspects of the songs conveys. For example, I looked at how the big brass chords are presented in sharp, hard, tritones (three notes) making it sound like metal which is a sonic anaphone ( music that represents inanimate objects). I discussed how the "Goldfinger" theme is structure much like the James Bond theme and it utilized in the context of the movie to show how James Bond and Goldfinger are two sides of the same coin. Goldfinger's greed being Gold, Bond's greed being women. My teacher was very impressed with the presentation and I had a blast researching the Bond music. I mentioned that I would like to research the themes of the James Bond films as my Masters dissertation and he was on board with that idea. So my dissertation will be on some aspect of the James Bond music. Pretty cool huh?
Wednesday night, I was able to escape the library to watch two of my flatmates play football (soccer) in a match. Some of you may know, I'm not a fan of soccer. It's long, the field is too big, and there's a chance that the match ends in a tie. 90 minutes and you end up with no winner. Not cool. This soccer match was actually enjoyable for these reasons. 1) The field was about a third of a regular football field allowing more action to take place. 2) There were no ties allowed. And 3) it lasted 30 minutes. My flatmates did not win but I can at least scratch "see a football match" off my things to do in Europe.
As some of you know, over the Christmas Break my question that I asked Paul McCartney was answered. On his website a couple days before Christmas, they published a video of me asking the question and Paul's response written below. That was really cool!!!! I didn't expect him to respond. Due to copyright, I can't post it here but it's on his website. His response was what I'd thought he would say. I asked him what he thought about students like me studying popular music of The Beatles and the impact they had on history, culture and society. He responded that it was "flattering, but ridiculous." He thinks it's flattering in that they have made a big enough impact that they have made it into history books. He thinks it's ridiculous that people study their music as a musician because you can't study to be "Bob Dylan." Very true. What was really cool was that my question, and his response, made it into several online news websites. Rolling Stone, Telegraph, Daily Mirror are a few that published my question with his response! I was credited as " a student studying The Beatles MA program in Liverpool." Now I can check "meet" Paul McCartney off my list of things to do in Europe.
Since my start in September, I walked down Penny Lane a couple of times. It's about a half hour walk from my flat. It's probably the second most popular tourist site for The Beatles in Liverpool. The street is named after a Captain Penny who was a slave ship owner back in the 1800's. Of course, that bit of history has been glossed over thanks to the song. It's a pretty busy street as it is smack dab in the middle of the Southern part of Liverpool. In fact, I would say it is certainly a hub of Liverpool, it has major streets all lead to the ''shelter in the middle of the roundabout.'' There are two barbers there that claim to be the barber in the song. There is a sign there that, like Strawberry Fields, has signatures. So...of course....my initials are there for any future visitors to see.
Since my start in September, I walked down Penny Lane a couple of times. It's about a half hour walk from my flat. It's probably the second most popular tourist site for The Beatles in Liverpool. The street is named after a Captain Penny who was a slave ship owner back in the 1800's. Of course, that bit of history has been glossed over thanks to the song. It's a pretty busy street as it is smack dab in the middle of the Southern part of Liverpool. In fact, I would say it is certainly a hub of Liverpool, it has major streets all lead to the ''shelter in the middle of the roundabout.'' There are two barbers there that claim to be the barber in the song. There is a sign there that, like Strawberry Fields, has signatures. So...of course....my initials are there for any future visitors to see.
That's all for this week. Like I said before, not much to report as I have been busy academically. I do have some good stuff down the pipeline. My girlfriend will be coming to visit so we are planning a trip to London and Dublin, Ireland. That trip will have enough adventure for several blogs. As for myself, I'm beginning to plan my 3-week, European adventure at the end of March. I've mapped out an general plan of where I want to go (including Easter in Vatican City). That will definitely be my big push to see the rest of the Europe.
Mark Musings:
Country Music: Liverpudlians, I'd say age 40 and up, love country music. Specifically they love 70's country. They have country pubs dedicated to only playing country music although they are few and far in between. You'd never catch me in one of them.
Accents: For a country that's isn't very big compared to the United States, each town has their own accent. There is a Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Chester, North London, South London, East, West accent. To think that you can drive 30 minutes to Chester and hear people speaking totally different than you is fascinating. The best part is they all make fun of each other's accents.
Trivia! The first trivia of the new year. It's a good one!
Mark Musings:
Country Music: Liverpudlians, I'd say age 40 and up, love country music. Specifically they love 70's country. They have country pubs dedicated to only playing country music although they are few and far in between. You'd never catch me in one of them.
Accents: For a country that's isn't very big compared to the United States, each town has their own accent. There is a Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Chester, North London, South London, East, West accent. To think that you can drive 30 minutes to Chester and hear people speaking totally different than you is fascinating. The best part is they all make fun of each other's accents.
Trivia! The first trivia of the new year. It's a good one!
See you all next week!
Peace & Love,
Mark
Peace & Love,
Mark