I feel like I should blog because it’s Literacy Day or something and I’ve got some time to kill before a webinar later. I was going to have a shower so I could be all snuggly with my headphones on, but then I realised that snuggly usually equals sleepy and I’m supposed to be a professional.
Plus I really need to get some proper work points because I spent at least forty minutes today playing around with the customise options on WP and seriously considered making all the links here bright pink. Anyway, Literacy Day!
What’re you all reading at the moment?
I’m reading this:
Why, Francesca?
Well, I went somewhere rather special yesterday, and by rather special I mean a warehouse in Watford…
Cool huh. I have about a billion photos, mostly of Hagrid animatronics and concept art and Diagon Alley. I was never that into the films because the screenwriting sort of ruined Hermione. It’s a good thing Emma Watson is a total sweetheart.
She’s clearly also teeny tiny.
Since I’ve been to London a few times recently and am on a ‘gap year’ so am supposed to be getting life experience or whatever, I’ve decided to do a little review of my excursions so I can add reviews to my online copywriting profile.
Event and Place Warner Bros. Studio Tour, Watford.
Cost Insane. Tickets plus food plus batshit crazy priced merchandise. They had integrated Starbucks shops and really decent catering but a lot of people had taken picnics. Do that and spend a fiver on Butterbeer, which is foul.
Food See above. Plus nothing I ate made me puke, which was good.
Other people Go early to avoid the crowds. It’s such a popular place that it’s probably packed all the time, which was good in a way because it showed just how many demographics Harry Potter appeals to. There were people from all over the country, people from other countries, old people, families, couples, people with illnesses, deaf people (with sign language guides). 10/10 for people watching, 2/10 for geeking out in peace. It took about halfway round for me to fully process how much stuff I was seeing, and you can only go in one direction. I missed out on the details of loads of little artefacts and information because I’d think “I’ll just go and see X while the crowds are at Y” then I’d get distracted by Z. Take your time. Appreciate how flipping cool the art department was.
What else did I learn?
Well, the Dursleys’ hall carpet is the same as the one my grandparents used to have.
I might post more photos as and when, just to spring them on everyone in the hope that people dash onto the M25 and have a look for themselves. You don’t have to be a fan, but if you have any interest at all in any aspect of filmmaking, save your pennies and get on it!
Next up: either the Tower of London’s poppy art, a gallery in Fitzrovia or a James Bond exhibition. Wait. The webinar.
Francesca's Thoughts 
Late to the bandwagon as ever, I’m reading ASOIAF at the moment, which means you should too 😛
The Warner Bros tour looks cool! Maybe not cool enough for me to motivate myself to get up and go there, but cool enough for me to drop in if I were nearby. Besides, I’ve been having the Harry Potter reread itch lately, and although I haven’t caved in just yet (“think of all the other worthy books you should be reading tsk tsk”), it’s going to happen soon ha ha
Also on the subject of the Venn diagram overlap of Books-Ruby-Reads and Books-Francesca-Reads, I read (on your recommendation!) Trainspotting a couple of months back. I don’t think I can share your love of it, but it was better than I expected! I love books with uh distinctive styles of writing, so long as I’m in the right mood, and it definitely fulfilled that criterion lol. And for a book about heroin junkies, the characters were actually, well, perhaps relatable’s not the right word, but decent, you know?? and I’m never doing drugs after that haha. buT I think maybe I just read it at the wrong time (do you get this??), because I couldn’t be bothered to remember all the characters’ various names, so I never really knew who was doing what.
yeah.
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I will one day read ‘Game of Thrones’. Today is not that day and I keep putting it off because it’s going to draw me in and I can’t afford to spend 10 hours a day reading! Maybe on holiday.
You have to book the tour thing in advance because it’s so popular but it’s so worth dragging your bum out of bed for. I was reluctant – two hour drive! – but seriously, do it! You’ll want to read the books again then too. 🙂
I definitely didn’t love ‘Trainspotting’… it has few redeemable characters and they all do horrible things and it wasn’t even an enjoyable read but I do like the style it was written in and the book itself if that makes sense? Maybe give it another go and it’ll be the ‘right time’? I know what you mean, and the worse the characters, the harder it is to click with a piece.
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Have you found any of the books about town benches?
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It might be the five coffees I’ve had so far but I’ve been thinking about this all day and I can’t for the life of me think of anything about town benches, except the time somebody took a fully-assembled one down from the top of the tower at school.
I can look, though.
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