I met Britney Spears.

I met Britney Spears last night. It was kind of surreal, and was a very strange experience. I actually left pretty disappointed and annoyed, however. Here is the full story.

I lined up with friends about 9pm to ensure that we got into the club where she was playing, Heaven, which was opening about 10:30pm. They finally let us in, and there was a huge stage set up at the end of the dance floor, so we immediately rushed down and saved spots right near the front so we could have a good spot to wait when she performed. Although she hadn't officially announced that she would be performing, The Sun, Sky News and MTV UK were all reporting it, so we were pretty sure it was going to happen. The club has historically hosted a lot of big acts, including Madonna a couple years ago.

We waited and danced until about 1am. Then a bunch of bouncers and security guards cleared off the people who had been dancing on the stage, and everyone started cheering. It was so crowded that I was being crushed against the front of the stage. Then, one of the managers for the club came out on stage and said. "I have some good news and some bad news. Britney Spears is here, but she isn't coming on stage." Everyone booed, and they invited people to come back on stage and started playing music again. We were all confused as to why she would show up, but not want to come on stage? 

After about 20 minutes, a bunch of a security guards came and started pulling people from the crowd onto the stage because we were being crushed. When I got pulled on stage, I walked over near one of the doors on the side. So many people ended up coming on stage and were pushing toward the door that I was literally being crushed again! The security guards were trying to push everyone back, but I managed to get squeezed through the door onto the other side.

Suddenly, I was in a smaller bar with about 100 people. There were 15 or so drag queens dressed up like Britney Spears, and people were dancing around. The atmosphere was completely different than out in the main room, where people were in tears from being crushed. Above the bar, there was a balcony with glass walls that looked down on the main room. One of the guys next to me suddenly said "It's Britney Spears!" I looked up, and I could see her inside of the balcony, with a cigarette and drink in her hand talking to some people. 

I realized that the stairs that I had just walked by lead up to the balcony, which not a lot of the other fans realized, so I walked over and was waiting next to them. I was thinking that maybe I'd wait around for a few minutes and see her while she was leaving, since it was already about 2am. A few minutes later, a bunch of the drag queens walked over to the bottom of the stairs and the guard said, "Ok, you can come up now." Without saying anything, I quickly just snuck by him with them (I don't think I blended in with them, but maybe they were more distracting!) and I walked up the stairs.

In the VIP area, there were about 15 people standing around -- body guards, club employees, and the drag queens. They were standing around a small bar talking to each other, and in the corner I noticed that Britney Spears was sitting by herself smoking a cigarette. She looked really tired and was wearing an old grey t-shirt and sweatpants. It was obvious that she wasn't planning on any performance.

Being bold, I walked over and sat down on the couch next to her. I figured she'd just ignore me, but she immediately looked over and smiled at me. I suddenly felt pretty confident since she'd made the first advance, so I leaned over and said "So they're keeping you up here, huh?" and she just smiled back without saying anything. She stood up and walked over to grab another cigarette, so I stood up too and was standing in the corner still. A couple of her handlers came over and started talking to her. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I saw Britney turn around and point to me with her cigarette, and they kept talking for a few more minutes.

Then one of the guys in the circle with her walked up to me and said, "Who let you up here?" I'm not sure whether she explicitly had asked them to kick me out, or if she just asked them who I was. But before I could make up a good excuse, he had already grabbed my arm and was leading me to the exit. On my way out, I grabbed a Britney Spears pin that was on the counter as a souvenir. I waited downstairs in the bar area for a few more minutes because I was hoping I'd run into my friends, and a few minutes later when I saw people rush toward the exit on the left and start taking pictures, I knew that it meant Britney Spears had left the building.

In all, it was a pretty crappy night. Of the 3,000 people who showed up, I'd say only about 100-200 were actually able to even get a glimpse of her. Why even show up if you're just going to disappoint your fans? She could have at least walked out onto the stage and thanked everyone for coming. I was exhausted by the end of it, and my whole body was sore from being crushed and pushed around in large groups so much. Although it was cool to get to talk to her for a few seconds, it simply wasn't worth all the other turmoil of the night.

I recently saw an interview with Britney Spears where she said that she felt like she is a prisoner, which I thought was pretty ridiculous, but after last night I can almost see why she would say that. There were thousands of people crowding and pushing each other to try to get to her, and she was literally trapped in a small balcony area completely surrounded by people wanting to get to her. What kind of a life is that? 

Through all the intense media scrutiny and insane fandom, she has become an abstraction, not a real person. I almost felt guilty for being one of the hordes of mindless people contributing to that.

Anyway, here are a few photos stolen from friends:

Waiting to get inside.

When we thought she was about to come on stage.

One of the many crowds of people pushing.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

It's crazy to think that this is probably the first Thanksgiving in my life that I haven't had any turkey. But the weather is definitely cold enough right now that I can tell it's the end of November. And I also have a lot to be thankful for this year. So -- no complaints! I never liked cranberry sauce much anyway!

Life has been pretty crazy here lately. On Saturday I went to my first foam party at a club near where I live. For those who aren't familiar with the tradition, it's where they have a gigantic machine that makes suds of foam, and the dance floor becomes almost like a gigantic bubble bath. I didn't have a camera with me, but found this image on Google which pretty much captures what it was like:

It was so much fun! The foam got so tall that I literally had to hold my breathe at a few times. I didn't get back until after 4am, and it was only a few degrees above freezing, so the run back was pretty crazy. Unfortunately I ended up losing my shirt, shoes and cell phone! I went back the next day to try to recover them (especially the cell phone), but the manager said they hadn't been found.  So I had to buy a new cell phone... and now my whole face is peeling; I think I had some sort of reaction to the soap. An Italian girl I know told me that my face was distracting her from focusing in class! C'est la vie... I'd almost say that the turmoil was worth it for the experience.

Aside from that, everything is going well. I got back my first written assignment -- I was pleased with my mark, but the professor marked the whole paper up because I didn't cite the way she wanted. It's a slow transition into the British system, but I'm adjusting. 

I also wrote an article for The Beaver this week defending media studies as an academic field. The shadow minister of education said in a speech that students who choose to study it and other "soft subjects" are actually doing a disservice to society by not learning anything valuable! I basically harpooned him for being so academically elitist, and discussed how communication majors actually land some of the best jobs. So take that!

Can't wait for the weekend. I'm going to a friend's birthday party, and on Saturday, none other than...

...is playing a free show at a club near where I live. I managed to log online with some friends and get free vouchers for admission. Can't say that I'm really that big of a fan of her music anymore, but it should be a pretty crazy experience! The venue only holds about 800 people.

That's it for now. I'll be back in the U.S. in less than two weeks!

Ross Parrot

One of my professors just pronounced Ross Perot's name as "Ross Parrot." It got me to thinking.

I'm rather fond of parrots. 

Ross Perot... not so much.

Alvaro's Visit

This weekend Alvaro -- my family's former exchange student -- flew up for a visit from Madrid, Spain. It was mainly work related, as I helped him with his applications to American universities, but we managed to squeeze in some time for fun as well. I took him on a walking tour of London before the rain started, and we went out to dinner at TGI Friday's and then to a club in SoHo. The Internet was down for the entire LSE network for about 24 hours, and us two "frikis" had a hard time figuring out what to do with ourselves. Fortunately we managed alright after going to Starbucks to use the wifi.

It was a good weekend!

An upside to the economic meltdown

This graph from Yahoo! Finance shows how much value the British Pound has lost is comparison to the U.S. Dollar over only the last three months:

Essentially, a British pound used to cost almost $2 U.S. dollars to get, and now it costs less than $1.50.

Translation: Time to start my Christmas shopping! :P

Sliding Doors

I've never actually seen this movie, but I've been thinking about it recently because it apparently takes place at Embankment Underground station, which is the one that I use 3-4 times per week to get to class and other places.

It's a weird thought that running a little ahead or behind schedule can lead to big changes in your life.

Should I stand on the right, or walk down the escalators? :P

November

It's been a while since I've updated -- I guess that's what happens when classes start assigning actual work to be turned in.

I turned in an essay to my communication theory class last Friday, and have an essay for my British politics due this Friday. Both are worth a wopping 0% of my final grade. It's meant to get students used to what the professor is looking for, and to have the chance to discuss strengths and weaknesses before a final summative essay (worth 50%) is turned in at the end of the term. Some students I know are surprisingly stressed/freaked out about these... don't really understand why. I'm just looking forward to the fact that I don't have any finals before Christmas this year!

I stayed up all night and watched coverage of the election in the Student Union last week. It amazed me how many people turned up -- it was wall-to-wall students, standing room only, and while there were a lot of Americans there, there were a lot of Europeans as well. When Obama won, the place erupted in cheer, and during his victory speech when he said something to the effect of "America is the greatest nation on earth," everyone cheered again. The headline of the LSE student newspaper read "Democracy returns to the U.S. again." Regardless of our domestic views of Obama, the rest of the world seems pretty excited that he's going to be our next president. And I can't say that I really feel differently.

In other news, I've started hosting some friends at my place who are visiting London, which has been fun. My friend Mariam, who I actually met in London in 2007 and is applying to LSE, stayed with me for 2 nights. Walking around London with her was fun because it renewed my excitement in being here. After grumbling to myself about the bad weather, poor customer service, etc, it was cool to hear her say "I love all the old archetecutre!" and things like that. Alvaro is coming from Spain this weekend. Despite living only an hour or so by plane away, he's never been here, so I'm looking forward to showing him around the city.

That's about all that's new here right now... More updates soon.

One of my favourite poems

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

-- Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Cast of Characters

In addition to my Halloween post below, I thought my friend Kyle's portraits of some of us last night would be a good opportunity to introduce some of the friends I've made over here.

First I'll start with mine. You presumably all know me if you're reading this.

Next we have Meg from Canada. She is also in my building and is studying Media and Communications.

Next there is Veronica from Italy. She is in my program and lives one floor above me.


Kyle is from Anaheim, California. He lives in my building and is doing my program.


Finally, we have Josh from Australia and Jackie from Florida, USA.


There are others... but those are the only portraits. I'd like to take more and upload them sometime.

Halloween in London

As all of you know, last night was Halloween. Although it isn't as crazy a tradition as it is in the U.S., people still dress up. So naturally I took part in the festivities. I waited until the day-of to get a costume, and ended up just grabbing the first thing that I saw in the crowded halloween store near where I live.

It ended up being a huge hit.

Random people were walking up to me on the street asking to take photos with me. A chinese girl ripped off one of my blades and asked if she could keep it. 

Here are the pictures:

It's hard having scissors for hands...

Even shopping at the grocery store is difficult!

At least I can still torture girls!