3D movies - fake it and make it :)
Today I had the opportunity to attend a presentation of the new type of digital media used in marketing – 3D movies – and it was totally mindblowing! The presentation lasted for about 40 minutes and we got to see how all these elaborate pieces of imagery created out of virtually „thin air“.
To see some of the videos we've seen during the presentation, just go to http://www.eyeliner3d.com/musion_eyeliner_showreels.html, but trust me, seeing it in 3D floating huge in the air in front of you is waaaaaay better than anything I have ever experienced before. Not to mention it gave me some very cool ideas for upcoming projects... Hihihiihhihiiiiii!
I so love it! :-D
Barn dancing in Amersham :-D
Weeell, last weekend I finally got my first opportunity to experience life in the British countryside and it was quite eventful... :-D
I had applied for this project called the International Students Weekend in Amersham where, together with another 32 students from 18 different countries, I was placed with a host family for the weekend and participated in an old Amersham tradition – barn dancing. Me and Elham, an Iranian girl on an English language course at one of London's colleges, were hosted by the chairman of the organizing committee of the project, so we got to help out with the final preparations of the hall where the barn dance was taking place. This, of course, was very interesting for me, as – naturally – the barn dance is a sort of an event, so I got to see how it was done.
The Amersham barn dancing developed from the Scottish dancing tradition and is a predecessor of the American line dancing, which is very popular in the American West. It was quite different from anything I had ever experienced before and it was great fun – especially since the explanation of the dances took about 10 minutes, whereas the actual dancing took about 2-3 minutes all in all. LOL! :-D
The thing is that all the dances are performed in formations of 4 or 8 dancers who perform the moves according to the instructions from the Masters of the ceremony – in this case a couple who are leading the event. It was particularly funny seeing people messing up the steps and the moves and going in the opposite direction from the one they should be following, and although this caused quite a confusion, somehow it didn't matter – everyone – and I mean EVERYONE was having an amazing time!
Other than dancing, of course, we went out and did some sightseeing of the Old Amersham and we also went to a methodist service on Sunday morning, which was a great experience to contrast to the regular catholic services I am so used to attending (not that I have attended any in the last couple of years, but still...). For all interested, pics are in my online album and you can find it at http://picasaweb.google.com/palachinka/BarnDancingInAmershamMarch24252007.
So I want to thank again Eileen and Jerry – my hosts for the weekend – your kindness and hospitality are greatly appreciated and I hope someday to be able to return the favor. A big thank you also goes to reverend Fiona Weaver, the chaplain at my University, who was organizing the trip for the London Met students – without your effort we would not have had the opportunity to have such a great time! :-D
So there...
London here I come! :)
Hey you guys!
It's been quite a while since I posted anything here, so I thought it was about time to do so. :) A lot has happened over the last month and a lot more things are about to happen, so here are some updates. As I wrote in my previous post, after I quit my job, I was considering doing some travelling so I finally decided to go to London to check with the universities there for my Master's degree and then to visit one of my very good friends, a crazy girl from Greece who is now doing an internship in Amsterdam.
Soooooooooooo, London... As some of you already know, ever since I was a child I've always had a fascination with London and I still consider it my favorite city in the whole wide world. ;) I have had the good luck of one of my international friends offering me a place to stay, so Harmandeep, I know I already said this, but I am really very grateful for your hospitality and I am looking forward to returning the favor when you finally decide to come a visit me in Croatia! ;) But anyway, I've been to London back in 1994 when my father was working in the UK and ever since then I've always been saying that I'm going to go back there one day and stay a little bit longer. So this time I stayed a full week and in February (hopefully) I will be moving there for a year to do my master's course in Events Marketing Management at the London Metropolitan University. Yes, you read right, I sent my application and all the rest of the documentation so now I am waiting for a decision by the University, which, after my interview with the course leader at the beginning of November, should hopefully be a positive one (but still keep your fingers crossed, just in case :)).
Anyway, back to my trip.
Day 1 - Get to know London
I got on the plane on Oct 31st and in only 2 and a half short hours I was in London. As my friend Harmandeep is a working dude, I had to wait for him to get off work around 6.30 to come pick me up. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to explore the city on my own, so the first thing I did after landing is to take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington, one of the railway stations in central London and leave my luggage there. Next stop was, of course, Leicester square, which I had still remembered so vividly from my visit to London twelve years ago. I couldn't believe how well my memory served me on some specific things. So after getting off the tube at Piccadilly and strolling to Leicester square, I decided to go down to Trafalgar to fulfill the first goal of my trip: see an impressionist exhibition at London's National Gallery. Personally, impressionist painting is one of my favorite directions in art and I jumped at the opportunity to take the audio tour through the exhibition. It is definitely the best possible way for a person to make the most of their visit to a museum or gallery. I mean, what's the point of looking at dozens of paintings and not actually learning anything about them. Don't get me wrong, I am not a „museum“ person generally, but every once in a while I get this craving for some cultural education and this time it managed to fit perfectly with my personal taste. It was definitely the best 4 hours of my trip (together with the 4 hours I spent in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, but you will read about it in my next post).
Day 2 – Academic involvement
Day 2 was reserved for meeting the professors at the London Met. Since I was interested in 2 postgraduate courses, I had arranged to meet the course leaders in person in order to discuss the possibility of my enrolment in February. Now, you might be interested to know that London Metropolitan University was formed by merging two universities some 5-10 years ago so it is a bit specific in the sense that it has 2 campuses. Of course, the two courses I was interested in are taught in two different campuses, which made my meetings a little stressful (mainly because of not knowing the exact distance and travel time requirements between the two), but still I managed not to get lost and not to be late for either of the meetings. Yeeeeeeey Ivna! :-P The course leaders are very cool people with a great approach to students and I must say I really enjoyed meeting people who are teaching at the university in order to shape the minds and opinions of talented young people, as opposed to them being there just for their reputation and/or salary (as is usually the case here in Croatia).
Day 3 – Shopping!
Oh yes! You didn't think a fashion aficionada like myself would actually go to London and not do any shopping, now did you? :) Of course not! Well, my day started by visiting the Brick Lane market in East London, near Whitechapel. I had a blast exploring all the oriental and asian stores with clothes, jewelry, spices and whatnot. It was a very vibrant and dynamic place, though sometimes I felt very strange as most of the people around me were non-whites and I was a blonde chick strolling around alone so most of their eyes were glued to me. Some of them started saying hello to me in the street and it was quite amusing, I am not used to being the centre of attention, but it was a very interesting experience. :) Next stop after Brick Lane market – Oxford street. Oh yes, yes! I love oriental stuff, but I also enjoy strolling on the highstreet checking out the latest fashion trends which will appear in Croatia sometime during next 2-3 years (yes, we are unfortunately still very far behind with a lot of things, fashion included...). Needless to say my mind was totally blown away. Just walking in Oxford street makes you feel so small, almost antlike. And when you see the crowd of people going your was, it makes you run into the first store you see. But things inside are quite the same – a sea of people, looooong lines at the cash desks, but also much friendlier staff than I would have expected. Anyway, in the shops on Oxford street and later down in Covent Garden I left a considerable amount of money, but with it I got even more considerable additions to my apparel. Am definitely starting to save money to spend on London's (in)famous sales coming up in the next year. Hi hi!
Day 4 – More academic involvement
On day 4 I went to the London College of Fashion (where else would it be located but near Oxford street... Doooooo-oooooh!) to go and discuss some postgraduate courses in fashion marketing I was also interested in. The staff was again very friendly and helpful, but I don't think I'll be going down that road right now (mainly because I lack serious experience in fashion marketing, management and events). Anyway, was good to see all applicants get the same consideration by the school.
Day 5 and 6 - Leisure time
Saturday and Sunday were spent in sightseeing around London. On Saturday Harman joined me so I even managed to have some pics of me taken (you know how I hate having my pic taken, but going to London and not having any pics of myself there – I would be very, very stupid to insist on such a thing, don't you think? :)) So on Saturday, Harman and I had lunch in a British pub down on Whitehall and we had a BBQ chicken melt with the bbq sauce. A very interesting, but also very strange taste this bbq sauce has... Hmmmmm!
On Sunday there was a big rugby game on TV, so I was wandering around town by myself. I was trying to find the Saatchi gallery of modern art in order to get something my cousin asked me to get, but it turned out that the gallery is moving to another location and will not be open before May 2007. Tough luck! So then I went to the Florence Nightingale museum and learned a little bit about the history in the 19th century and then I took a boat ride on the Thames. It was amazing to see some of the major sights in London from a totally different perspective, and it was freezing cold and cloudy, but still it was an experience I definitely want to re-live again.
Day 7 - Bye bye
Monday – woke up, said goodbye to Harman (he was leaving for work, but his room mates were at home in the morning so I didn't have to leave as early as him), took a shower, packed the rest of my stuff in the bag and headed to the airport. Unlike when I got to London, this time I took the tube to Heathrow and it took me about an hour and a half to get there. I passed the check point and entered a dazzling world of airport duty-free shopping. Man, I'm telling you, it would be worth travelling to London just for the weekend just so you can do shopping at the airport... Hi hi! Just kidding, but yes, the airport shops are quite full with almost anything you could possibly want or need.
The plane took off at 3.45 and at 6.15pm I was in Amsterdam! :)
