The Jon Blog

The Land of Higher Learning

So the Shakespearean vibe of Stratford got me wanting to read Shakespeare, but the pure academic air of Oxford just has me wanting to learn...

I've therefore decided that I need to spend at least a bit more time doing educational things with myself. I've started by making the decision that I will read at least one book per month which is not a schlocky paperback (even though I enjoy these...).

I started today. Touring at Christ Church College at Oxford and having Lewis Carroll's college apartment window pointed out to me inspired me to pick up a copy of "Alice in Wonderland." I am enjoying it immensely.

I also picked up a book on linguistics which looked rather fascinating, and I have also been very intrigued as of late by the House of Tudor, so I picked up a book on Henry VIII. (All I can think to quote about this man is: "Single? Single my ass! He had six wives!")

So that's sort of what's going on here.

Oh, and I did attend a rather astonishing choral concert in the chapel of one of the colleges this evening. It was really lovely.

Last night, the restaurant where I dined had live jazz. There was this British girl who sang standards backed up by a keyboard and a bass. She sounded good most of the time, but I couldn't help but laugh when she tackled "They Can't Take That Away From Me." Because she did it with a British accent, of course:

No, no, they can't take that away from me. With that long 'a' sound like in "caught" or "taut." No, no, they "caun't" take that away from her!

Anyhow, tomorrow I'm off to London and the 9 actor version of "Sweeney Todd."

Just an aside? Did you know that on British keyboards, they put the @ where the " is supposed to be. And they have £ and $ and € way easier to get to than we do. I can understand £ but was rather astonished about the $...

Posted by Jon at August 16, 2004 05:27 PM | TrackBack