Anglotastic is back, Doctor Who and politics in hand! (1/11/10)

Oh, HI, everybody! Hi, hi, hi! I haven't seen you in oh so long! Guess what?! I got a teapot for Christmas! Teapots are great! You can brew three cups of tea at a time! This is terrible! Because you can brew three cups of tea at a time! That is a lot more caffeine than I'm used to! OMG!!!

Holy teapot, that is a lot of caffeine!

So I know I totally abandoned you for, um, more than a month. It's just that Hogwarts scheduled some craaaazy winter exams, and then everyone went home for the winter break, and then just holy cow things have been nutty. But I am back, and how! The blog will resume its regularly scheduled Monday, Wednesday, and Friday appearances, and everything is going to be Anglo-riffic up in here like whoa.

First up: Doctor Who, natch!
I have finally sufficiently recovered from the traumatic conclusion to series 2 to watch series 3, which is to say that on Saturday, I got up and started watching Doctor Who, and then it was 10:30 at night and I was like, "Um, hello, Saturday? Did I time-travel *past* you? What is going ON?"

There are a few things that I just absolutely have to say, and here they are:

• I really don't like the character of Martha Jones. But I do love hearing the Doctor say my name! Also, seeing the Doctor's personality clash with Martha's threw his character in such sharp relief. That was pretty fab. I lurve you, Doctor!

Say my name, Doctor. Say my name.

• The Master used the word "decimate" correctly! No one does that! *copyeditor swoon*

"Decimate them.…Remove one-tenth."

• Donna on the Doctor's jacket: "God, you're skinny! This wouldn't fit a rat!" = I cannot WAIT for oodles of Catherine Tate in series 4.

You're totes right, Donna. He is skinny. Molly Weasley would insist that you eat a sandwich immediately, Doctor!

• I really, really missed the Doctor.

I'm sorry I ever doubted you, David Tennant. You are man enough to be the Doctor. And your glasses make you look super-smart.

• And finally, a spoiler [highlight to read]: OH MY GOD CAPTAIN JACK IS THE FACE OF BOE!!! THAT IS CRAZY AWESOME!!!

This is what a spoiler looks like.

And now, let's get political. That'll be super-exciting!
I'mma be real with you: I don't get British politics at all. (I'm particularly confused by their apparent ability to schedule elections on a whim. "I'm feeling a bit peckish. I think I fancy a spot of tea, a ham sandwich, and an election to determine who should be running the country.") But there seems to be a lot of drama going down right now, so if you're into that sort of thing—or think you can explain it to me—here you go:

• The British government is filled with people who have names like "Ed Balls" and "Alistair Darling." This is confusing enough, but it's made worse by the fact that it seems they're all spatting with each other. The recent catfight features such mudslinging as accusing each other of fighting class wars. Oh, no you DIDn't, girlfriend!


• Peter Watt, former General Secretary of the Labour Party, is totally dishing the dirt on Gordon Brown in the Mail on Sunday. In the grand tradition of political writing, Watt's article is packed with all the excitement of watching pumpkins grow. But still. What an old gossip, eh?


• Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls (seriously? Ed Balls? I will never get over your ridiculous name. Jeez) teams up with "foul-mouthed rapper Kano" to "promote school diplomas." The resultant track and video are actually pretty fab:

Anatomy book? Check.
Female drummer? Check.
Random seafaring vessel? Check.

I dig it.

Anglotastic goes to Georgia! (11/13/09)

Hey, peeps! I am going to Georgia, land of sun and peanuts, for the weekend, but before I go, I want to leave you with TWO THINGS.

One
Did you know that Georgia and England are parallel universes?! Facts:

1. They are about the same size.


2. Their speakers can be equally incomprehensible.


3. The English lurve hot tea; the Georgian lurves sweet tea.


4. The English lurve scones; the Georgian lurves biscuits.

Case CLOSED.

Two
Did you know that Richard Armitage read five bedtime stories to kiddies on Cebeebies? I know it's early in the day, but I could listen to this man tell me bedtime stories 24/7. And so a prezzie from me to you:



Hee hee! There's more where that came from. :D

And now I'm off! I will see y'all on Monday, unless the TARDIS and I get caught up in a time warp, in which case I will see you on Wednesday!



P.S. The above is a gratuitous photo of David Tennant's Doctor Who. You're welcome!

Adorbs book of afternoon tea: a photo-essay (9/3/09)

Just a few weeks ago, chickens, I wandered into massive used bookstore Strand (famed for its possession of 18 miles of books) to while away a few minutes before meeting a friend for a movie.

I thought to myself, I'll just peek around. I definitely won't buy anything. I don't have room in my "cozy" (read: obscenely small) apartment for any more books.

Right. I don't know who the eff I thought I was kidding. But no matter, because I scored the loveliest little slip of a guide to "the art and pleasures of taking tea": The London Ritz Book of Afternoon Tea, complete with a note from a Ritz employee to a pair of dissatisfied customers. The book was presumably a token of amends. Even better: the dissatisfied customers in question were a Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Seriously.

Observe:






For the feeble-sighted, the above reads as follows:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bennet,

Please accept my most sincere apologies concerning your visit this weekend. I hope your wife will enjoy this jasmine tea for a long while! ☺Please have a safe trip back to New York and do not hesitate to contact me when making your reservation. Again my apologies.

Sincerely,
Erica Rhodes

And now to the book itself:





I love sassy books with formal overtones. Ladies of a certain disposition have a habit of writing such books; one of my faves is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears. In it, Zimmerman says,

Most people have an obsession; mine is knitting.…So please bear with me, and put up with my opinionated, nay, sometimes cantankerous attitude. I feel strongly about knitting.

Another is Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande, who, on the topic of "the difficulty of writing at all," asserts that

The stupid conclusion that if he cannot write easily he has mistaken his career is sheer nonsense.

A third is Miss Piggy's Guide to Life. In this admirable work, Miss Piggy offers this sage advice for the broken-hearted:

Only time can heal your broken heart, just as only time can heal his broken arms and legs.

Books of this sort—and books with fine pen-and-ink drawings, and books with recipes and instructions sprinkled throughout, and books with letters and trinkets to pull out and examine, and books that come in sets, bound together in mysterious little boxes—are the most delightful of all books, especially to children. (Ahem. And childlike adults.) I used to pore through books of recipes and poetry, looking at all the words, but not really reading any of them, fingering pages with gilded edges or sweet drawings (so I thought at the time) of Precious Moments-esque lovers.

The Ritz Afternoon Tea book is very much this sort of book. It dedicates a great deal of text to the history and rituals of tea, and recipes are mixed into the narrative. I read every word, and some of the recipes look simple enough, though I may not ever try to make them. Helen Simpson, whose back-flap bio says that her Oxford thesis was called Unreasonable Laughter in Restoration Comedy, drops witty observations in the most unexpected places.

She describes a certain 1773 event as "an enormous fancy-dress tea party in Boston"; she decries "this century's mania for thinness"; she scoffs at the electric toaster, which "destroys the lyricism" of toasting bread; and of English muffins, she says, "Grown men become extremely emotional about them, especially over the matter of how they should be buttered."

Hee hee! I love it. And now…another cup of tea, I think.

Kitten Tea (8/21/09)

Straight to the news: The Onion reports on the royal family's concerns re: the Queen. Has Her Royal Highness been putting aluminum foil in the microwave? "Sources" say: Yes!

Incidentally, if you are in possession of a teacup with a gold or silver rim: That may not be paint. That may be gold or silver. So if you've forgotten a nice brew of tea on the counter in said cup, don't just pop it in the microwave; instead, transfer the contents to a non-metallic vessel before any reheating attempts. (Though the sight of miniature lightning zipping around your microwave can be quite thrilling. Not that I would know.)

You should refrain from putting metallic teacups in the microwave. You should also refrain from putting teacups full of kitten in the microwave.

And that's the news. Now, to bed! The heat is sapping all my energy, y'all. I will soon be a puddle of skin and eyeballs. Gross.

HBP with a cup of tea and cluelessness (7/19/09)

Maybe my blood sugar was low.

Maybe it was raging PMS.

Or maybe it was that Half-Blood Prince is, hands down, my absolute favorite Harry Potter book.

But whatever it was, despite some key perks—Alan Rickman's pitch-perfect Snape, Rupert Grint's continued flawless delivery as Ron, and Daniel Radcliffe's charming stoner scene, to be specific—I have only one word to say about the movie:

Yawn.

Half-Blood Prince: Not my cup of butterbeer.

Moving swiftly onward...

My friend and I did indeed hit Tea and Sympathy for lunch on Friday, and it was adorable, entertaining, and embarrassing. What a fab combo, right? The restaurant is TINY, which is to say that it seats only 23 (23!); actual Brits, complete with adorable accents and vocabularies, go there; and the food was yummy and authentically English. And since I am pickier than a vegan (according to a reputable, meat-and-dairy-shunning source), there wasn't a ton I could eat...but the scones were yummy, as was the vanilla mint tea.

Tea and Sympathy = Yum!

But...I'd never had a pot of tea made with loose leaves before, so let's just say that I was having issues with the strainer. (I tried putting the strainer-rest IN my teacup. FAIL.) And the lid of the King Henry VIII–themed china teapot nearly met its death when I tipped the pot over too far. And the too-old-for-me-but-totally-hot Englishman sitting next to my friend very nearly had to catch it for me. *blush*

On a less humiliating front, I watched Clueless for probably the millionth time last night, and I just want to say this: best Jane Austen adaptation EVER. I'm not saying I don't lurve Pride and Prejudice '95, 'cause I do; I'm just saying that Cher is SUCH a good Emma. And that every line in the movie is perfect and hilarious. And that every character is awesome. And that every actor does a totally rockin' job. And that, in short, Miss Jane Austen would be very pleased indeed were she to see it. (And/or horrified by everyone's general lack of propriety in their manner of dress. But whatever.)

"He said you gave him a toothache!"

And now...back to the couch for cuddling with Fred the kitty and watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I haven't seen Mary and the gang in ages—let's hear it for WJM, y'all. Minneapolis represent!

Friday Briefs: Bacon Sandwiches meet Swine Flu and Eco-Towns! (7/17/09)

Dudes. I have hundreds of things to tell you! Well, scores at least. But if you'll check your pocket watches and sundials, you will see that I am running behind like whoa, and I have mere moments in which to post! So keep up - this is gonna be quick as a...quick thing. And brief as a brief thing:

Richard Armitage wearing brief things in Cold Feet. LOL!

And now, on to a few pieces of Friday newsnass. Check it out, ladies and gents:

1. I am going to have a super-duper Brit-tastic day. A friend and I are going to Tea and Sympathy for lunch, where I will be having my favey-fave scones, plus perhaps a bacon sandwich? And this evening, at long last, Half-Blood Prince! I'm sort of planning on it sucking, so as to avoid any potentiality for crushing disappointment. I'll keep you posted. I'm sure you'll be waiting with bated breath.



Bacon sandwich! Yum!


2. Speaking of Won-Won (who never disappoints, incidentally), it looks like we should all be saying prayers to St. Dumbledore to keep the HP cast safe, on account of the UK is preparing for 65,000 swine flu deaths. Their toll has risen rather suddenly to 29 deaths, and they believe 30 percent of the island may become infected. At least they don't have rabies.


3. It's like the Sims! The Tea-Drinkers are in the planning stages for four eco-towns. Aw! Their own little eco-towns! Unfortch, the masses are arguing over what will happen: Will the Sims flourish, or will they set the house on fire? Developments will eventually follow, no doubt.

Tragically, that is all I have time for today, but I will be updating you on bits and bobs of this and that forthwith! Merry Friday to you all!

Eating Britty in the City (7/14/09)

Three words, y'all: Alice's Tea Cup!!!

OMG mismatched china, Alice in Wonderland paintings, and yummilicious, über-British food, complete with more than 100 teas and a fab selection of scones. (Yay! Scones!) I've been dying to check out this Alice in Wonderland–themed restaurant for months, and I finally went for brunch last weekend. If you are in New York at any point, I DEMAND that you eat here.


I can tell you from personal experience that the summer peach tea, ham-and-cheese scone (with clotted cream and raspberry preserves!), chocolate scone, pumpkin pancakes topped with mixed berries, potato-and-chicken hash, and lapsang souchong smoked chicken breast sandwich (with granny smith apples and herbed goat cheese on seven-grain bread!) are all totally scrummy. Emphasis on the ham-and-cheese scone with clotted cream and raspberry preserves. My mouth is actually watering as I write. I cannot WAIT to go back.


And it must be mentioned: I lurve a restaurant with an awesome bathroom, and the bathroom at the 64th St. outpost of the Tea Cup is decorated with white roses being painted red. Oh, yes.


While we're talking about our curious girl Alice: We've all been hearing a great deal about Johnny Depp repping for the Mad Hatter in the upcoming remake, but I didn't realize that the fabulous Helena Bonham Carter would be playing the Queen of Hearts! Awesomeness.


Aside from watching the new Alice and rewatching the totally trippy old Alice, I need to keep my eye on Oxford, home to the real Alice. Oxford is also home to Alice's Shop, which inspired the sheepshop in the book. A friend hooked me up with the Alice and Lewis Carroll Oxford Trail, which I will totally rock on a really nerdy trip to the UK one of these days.



Now that y'all are caught up on all the Alice info I've got, I have just one question for you, in light of this week's impending premiere: Would you send your child to Hogwarts?


Sarah Ebner says no. I say...it depends on how much I like said child. I mean...Professor Snape could really get a little brat into shape. On the other hand, if it were a nice child...perhaps not. Of course, that's assuming that understanding math and English literature through "education" is an actual necessity. I suspect Hermione reads the classics on her own time, thank you very much.