British Food from my Bucket List

There are certain foods I just had to have when I went to England.  When in London, you might as well try the classics!

Tea Time: (a wonderful experience)

A full English Breakfast:

Fish and Chips:

Sticky Toffee Pudding (with vanilla ice cream):

Sweeney Todd London Experience

If you do not know the story of Sweeney Todd, you should watch the movie or the musical.  I experienced his stomping grounds in London.

The building to the right is where his barber shop was located. The church to the left, covers the tunnels Todd would use to carry his victims to Mrs. Lovett's pie shop on the corner of the adjacent street.

The Old Bank of England is next to the church, and is now a pub...

Which serves meat pies. Of course I had one!

And they are not ashamed of their history. This is posted outside:

London 2013 Photo Diary...A Bit Delayed

I have been a tad busy since last January, when I began student teaching and then found a full time job as a teacher (and have been trying to survive my first year since).  So I have been meaning to post about last summer since it happened...

Since summer 2012, I have decided every summer should be awesome. (Especially since as a teacher I get them "off".). In 2012 I studied abroad (and had the best material for posts.)  In 2013, I traveled around with my friend (including going to London). So my next posts will be what I should have posted about months ago.

Here is my photo diary of London 2013. We spent about 2 weeks here.

The Tube celebrated it's 150th anniversary:

I finally got to Abby Road:

We saw Daniel Radcliffe in his play (and a lot of Harry Potter fans waiting to meet him):

Leicester Square was getting a face lift, and the most perfect quote to sum up my feelings of my favorite place on Earth was posted around the Shakespeare fountain:

I walked the area Jack the Ripper hit, and found The Ten Bells pub (one of the last remaining structures that have remained unchanged since):

And found this fittingly named barbar shop in the area:

And we absolutely fell in love with out neighborhood pub, The Rocket:

It was a nice trip. So glad I was able to return so soon.

"Transcendence" Review

Is it possible for computers to become self aware?  How far can we take technology and artificial intelligence?  Pretty far, and we are pretty close. 

Some people are excited about the idea of a conscious computer, and others would rather no computers than to risk crossing the line of natural biology.

Transcendence is Bout a computer scientist Will Caster (played by Johnny Depp), who is on the brink if creating a computer that is self aware.  A group called RIFT will do anything they can to stop this.  So they shoot Will with a bullet laced with radiation, so that he slowly dies before he can make any more advancements.

What RIFT did not foresee, is that Will's wife and partner, Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), decides to try uploading Will's consciousness to a computer before he dies.  She succeeds, and once he connects to the internet, he has the power to go anywhere and do anything.

Evelyn and Will begin to build a lab in the middle of nowhere.  It seems as if Will will be able to carry out Evelyn's dream of saving the world one problem at a time.  But Will's power and everyone else's skepticism cause Evelyn to begin to doubt if Will is still himself.  And this doubt makes her become terrified.

When Will and Evelyn's best friend Max (Paul Bettany), creates a virus that will take out "Will," Evelyn offers to convince Will to upload it to himself.  The ending leaves us with a lot of questions about the implications of the story, and what this might mean for our future.

I enjoyed the film.  The effects were amazing, the story was thought provoking, and. Johnny Depp was HOT.  The plot left a bit to be desired (mainly because audiences are no longer used to having to think when they watch a movie).

This was definitely a movie to watch on the big screen, and the. Maybe a second or third time as well.

I would give Transcendence a 7.5 out of 10.  The film is rated PG-13 and runs 1 hour and 59 minutes.