1st point
I'm completely enamored by anything British. I am, as my friend Allan said before, an anglophile. I have no idea why that is. It just is.
Last night, as I lay on the couch for the whole day (I was bed, rather, couch-ridden), I could not do anything but watch shows and movies on the telly. (Can people tell how hard I'm trying to be or sound Brit?) And thank God for BBC America! Okay, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with BBC America. I thought I would be able to see a lot more soaps or britcoms on it. But no! It's all about Footballers' Wives (I don't like that show anymore) or In the City or Robin Hood. And I don't particularly like those shows. But anyway, last night, they showed a docudrama entitled "After Thomas." While I could have watched other films, I decided to watch that one for 2 reasons:
1) Ben Miles played one of the lead stars. I doubt his name would ring a bell. He's not that famous (at least as far as I can tell), not even in the UK. But I like him. I liked him ever since I started watching Coupling (Malou, did you finish watching that, after all?) And I tried watching most of the movies (that's on DVD) that he's been in. And sadly, he's mostly done telly. *sniff sniff*
Oh! Btw, just in case you're wondering, he's not that good looking. I liked how he played his character in Coupling. And I like the way he can just transform his voice. He usually does radio plays, adverts, voice-overs, and audio books because he has such a great speaking voice (when he modulates it, that is).
2) It's about a 6-year-old boy who suffered from autism. I did not know much about autism and was not interested in the disease until I learned of a friend whose 6-year-old son (yeah, eerie I know!) suffers from mild autism.
I took an interest in the film and watched it. And I loved it to bits. It is now my most favorite film of all time, although it's only a made-for-TV movie. It's such a moving and touching film. You guys have to see it. Check BBC America for show times. I highly recommend it.
It showed the toll it took on the family as they battle Kyle's autism; how heart-wrenching it is for the mom and the dad to be faced with the fact that their son could possibly never love them; how wonderful and loving Kyle's family is to never have given up on him and not had him sent to a boarding school for kids with autism; and how a dog, a golden retreiver, changed Kyle for the better.
Again, it's an amazing movie. If you want a touchy-feely, comedic (at times), moving movie, this is definitely worth your 2 hours (with commercials).
Did I mention it's a TRUE STORY?
2nd point
One experiment I hated doing (aside from the 12 hour ones I described in detail in my previous post, "Grateful for this 12 hour experiment) is Microscopy. One would have to go into what we call here in the lab as the "batcave," a small, dark room filled with 4 different kinds of microscopes hooked up to a camera and computer, and spend several hours cramped up in that tiny room looking at "microscopic" cells.
I had to do that this morning. Normally, whenever I had to spend 3 hours counting weird cells in the batcave, I'm alone. But this time, when I got there, someone was already using the microscope next to the one I was about to use. It was the newest addition to our lab. The half-french, half-greek postdoctoral fellow. I never had the chance to talk to him, 'coz he always works with one particular person. And they're always busy. So, as he was looking for cells that were successfully transfected and I was looking for cells that were suspended in the mitotic stage, he and I chatted away. Interestingly enough, we talked about "The Crystal Maze" (who remembers that show? Anyone?), and "Mr. Bean."
He then made the observation that we watched the same things growing up. So, he made the conclusion that we're about the same age. He asked when I was born. I told him the year. And he was born a year before me. I said that he's a year older. He said, "Maybe not. I think it's less than a year. I was born in November." I told him, "Nope! You're still a year and a month older than me."
Anyway, microscope work didn't seem as tedious and boring, when there's another person to chat with. =)
I'm completely enamored by anything British. I am, as my friend Allan said before, an anglophile. I have no idea why that is. It just is.
Last night, as I lay on the couch for the whole day (I was bed, rather, couch-ridden), I could not do anything but watch shows and movies on the telly. (Can people tell how hard I'm trying to be or sound Brit?) And thank God for BBC America! Okay, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with BBC America. I thought I would be able to see a lot more soaps or britcoms on it. But no! It's all about Footballers' Wives (I don't like that show anymore) or In the City or Robin Hood. And I don't particularly like those shows. But anyway, last night, they showed a docudrama entitled "After Thomas." While I could have watched other films, I decided to watch that one for 2 reasons:
1) Ben Miles played one of the lead stars. I doubt his name would ring a bell. He's not that famous (at least as far as I can tell), not even in the UK. But I like him. I liked him ever since I started watching Coupling (Malou, did you finish watching that, after all?) And I tried watching most of the movies (that's on DVD) that he's been in. And sadly, he's mostly done telly. *sniff sniff*
Oh! Btw, just in case you're wondering, he's not that good looking. I liked how he played his character in Coupling. And I like the way he can just transform his voice. He usually does radio plays, adverts, voice-overs, and audio books because he has such a great speaking voice (when he modulates it, that is).
2) It's about a 6-year-old boy who suffered from autism. I did not know much about autism and was not interested in the disease until I learned of a friend whose 6-year-old son (yeah, eerie I know!) suffers from mild autism.
I took an interest in the film and watched it. And I loved it to bits. It is now my most favorite film of all time, although it's only a made-for-TV movie. It's such a moving and touching film. You guys have to see it. Check BBC America for show times. I highly recommend it.
It showed the toll it took on the family as they battle Kyle's autism; how heart-wrenching it is for the mom and the dad to be faced with the fact that their son could possibly never love them; how wonderful and loving Kyle's family is to never have given up on him and not had him sent to a boarding school for kids with autism; and how a dog, a golden retreiver, changed Kyle for the better.
Again, it's an amazing movie. If you want a touchy-feely, comedic (at times), moving movie, this is definitely worth your 2 hours (with commercials).
Did I mention it's a TRUE STORY?
2nd point
One experiment I hated doing (aside from the 12 hour ones I described in detail in my previous post, "Grateful for this 12 hour experiment) is Microscopy. One would have to go into what we call here in the lab as the "batcave," a small, dark room filled with 4 different kinds of microscopes hooked up to a camera and computer, and spend several hours cramped up in that tiny room looking at "microscopic" cells.
I had to do that this morning. Normally, whenever I had to spend 3 hours counting weird cells in the batcave, I'm alone. But this time, when I got there, someone was already using the microscope next to the one I was about to use. It was the newest addition to our lab. The half-french, half-greek postdoctoral fellow. I never had the chance to talk to him, 'coz he always works with one particular person. And they're always busy. So, as he was looking for cells that were successfully transfected and I was looking for cells that were suspended in the mitotic stage, he and I chatted away. Interestingly enough, we talked about "The Crystal Maze" (who remembers that show? Anyone?), and "Mr. Bean."
He then made the observation that we watched the same things growing up. So, he made the conclusion that we're about the same age. He asked when I was born. I told him the year. And he was born a year before me. I said that he's a year older. He said, "Maybe not. I think it's less than a year. I was born in November." I told him, "Nope! You're still a year and a month older than me."
Anyway, microscope work didn't seem as tedious and boring, when there's another person to chat with. =)
