In October, I got to see one of my heroes, director and fellow Jersey-boy Kevin Smith.  He achieved a dream of mine (making a movie), and he managed to mostly keep his head & humor through all his success. Probably because he doesn’t really see himself as being successful.

The show was exactly like what it looks like on his DVDs: Kevin standing alone on stage, answering questions from the audience and frequently diverting into stories about his life & experiences in the movie business.  He’s funnier than most stand-up comedians. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time. My favorite story was about Bruce Willis, who he directed in his next movie (“A Couple of Dicks”).

There were only 2 drawbacks to the show. The main one was that it went on for three hours. Which wouldn’t normally be a bad thing, but with Marta being pregnant she got tired and cranky. During the last hour she was mumbling under her breath “Shut up, shut up! I don’t care about Gretzky.” (The Gretzy story is terrific, but he rambles off the point a few times and turns a 20 minute story into 45 minutes.)

The other drawback were the question-takers. They were lazy and only took questions from people who were sitting on the aisles next to them. I was sitting in the middle of a row and so they wouldn’t even look at me.

So Kevin, if you’re reading this, here it is… “Did you ever get the 6 Million Dollar Man action figure from Universal Studios?” I was working  at Universal at the time, as an assistant to one of their many Vice Presidents of Production, and they wanted impress you to continue writing another draft of the 6 Million Dollar Man. So they asked all of the assistants to find you an original mint-condition Steve Austin action figure to give you as a gift at your next meeting… the next day! No time for Ebay. We scrambled to every collectable store and comic shop in LA to find it. But I never found out if anyone actually found one (I didn’t) and if they presented it to you.  I also wanted to ask how you feel knowing that you can have that kind of impact, to make a bunch of assistants scramble to get you toys.  Snooches!

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After 6 months of holding back, we were finally ready to buy the baby gear. We went armed with our list of everything we needed. We came out with a handful of samples, an order for a pram/travel system, a Spanish/English nursery rhyme CD, and this picture of me sitting in an adult-sized bouncer (quite comfortable, and it vibrates, too!).

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Panic set in. We had put all our hopes into getting all our stuff at the Expo, but we only ticked 1 major item off the list. We weren’t satisfied with what we had seen at the big British baby stores (Mothercare, Mamas and Papas, etc.), so we went to the one that I trust in America… Babies ‘R Us. Jackpot! We found everything we were looking for and went on a major shopping spree, and they even delivered it so that we didn’t have to drag everything home on the bus. Now we’re putting everything together, feathering the nest.

We now have almost everything from our baby list:

Medicine cabinet

Labor suitcase

• Dressing gown x1
• Massage oil
• Backrub tools
• Nursing bras x3
• Breast pads
• Maternity pads
• Cheap undies
• TENS machine
• Movies to watch, music to listen to, laptop
• Aromatherapy
• Arnica cream
• Clothes to get home

Mom’s clothes

• PJs (x2)
• Lounge pants (x3)
• Lounge sweatshirts (with zipper, for easy breastfeeding)
• Nursing tops (x5)

Nursery

• Moses basket
• Moses basket rocking stand
• Moses basket sheets
• Baby blankets x2
• Cot
• Cot mattress
• Cot sheets
• Cot mattress protector sheet
• Changing table
• Gro-egg room thermometer
• Baby monitor
• Mobile
• Playmat
• Taggies (toy with tags)
• Decorative wall stickers / pictures / etc.
• Muslin squares
• Sleeping bag x2 (Gro-Bagg)
• Swaddling blanket
• Knee blanket for rocking chair
• Rattle, soft
• Fabric book (textured)
• Cuddly toy
• Dummy (x2)

Nappy changing

• Nappies
• Petroleum jelly
• Baby wipes
• Nappy cream
• Towels for changing table (x2)

Breastfeeding

• Breast pump
• Milk storage pots
• Sterilizer
• Nipple cream
• Breastfeeding tops (clothes) x5 (2 so far)
• Bottle warmer

Bath and Care

• Towels, hooded x2
• Baby hair brush
• Baby tooth brush
• Baby nail clipper
• Cotton balls and pads
• Baby shampoo
• Baby soap
• Bath thermometer
• Top and tail soap
• Cotton buds

Baby Clothes

• Newborn short-sleeved vests (onesies), x14
• Newborn babygro (footie pajamas), x13
• Booties, x3 (1 so far)
• Socks
• Bibs, soft, x7
• Hats, x3
• Overall (jacket with hood and legs), warm
• Cardigans, x2
• Going-out outfit, x3
• Scratch mittens

Travel

• Pram / Travel system
• Changing bag
• Baby carrier (Baby Bjorn, etc.)

Babyproofing

• Fire extinguisher
• Carbon monoxide detector

Other

• Zebra cuddly toy
• Bilingual Lullabies CD
• Forehead thermometer
• Memory foam portable changing pad
• Baby bedtime bath pack
• Football outfit
• “That’s not my reindeer” book
• Toiletries bag for baby stuff
• Santa footie pyjamas

There were a few other things that we missed, but we’re a bit tired of shopping so we’ll probably hold off for a while:

• Activity mat/gym (we have a mat, but not the gym part that goes over it)
• Bouncer chair (we saw lots but couldn’t decide)
• Nappy basket (maybe just a garbage bag & hermetically-sealing clip)
• Rubber duckie (everyone needs one!)
• A “Noah’s ark” bath set or other toys (his name will be Noah after all)

They only open up Buckingham Palace for tours for about 2 months of the year, when the Queen is on vacation at one of her other homes.

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Unfortunately, you can’t take any pictures inside so there’s not much I can show. I don’t remember much either. It was nice, but not one of the biggest highlights I’ve seen in London. It’s most impressive feature is that it’s one of the few royal palaces actively in-use and open to the public, and of the sheer number of historical and political figures who have walked down those halls and had dinner in the State room.

It’s a relatively modern building, the original build in 1703 followed by numerous additions and remodels. My favorite room was the music room which had a massive gold guilded ceiling, and the white drawing room. Both are extraordinarily ornate, having been completed before the expensive remodeling project was scaled back. The gallery hallway is a mini art museum, crammed with works by Rembrandt, Rubens, and one of my favorites, Charles I with M. de St Antoine by van Dyck.

Once we got to the back steps, we could take some photos.

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My queen, with her crown (in the gift shop).

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Admission to the palace also gave us access to the Queen’s Gallery and the Royal Mews. The gallery was nice, showing some of the royal china, jewellery, and more paintings. The pieces that we liked best were the Faberge Egg, earrings and brooches made with the smaller cuts of the Cullinan diamond, and Napoleon’s circular table with inlays of famous generals throughout history.

The mews is where the royal vehicles are kept.

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The Gold Coach was most impressive. Massive. Gold. Heavy. And supposedly is one of the most uncomfortable to ride in.

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They also stable some of the coach horses here, too.

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It was a good touristy thing to do. (And unlike most of the tourist sites, this one seemed to attract more English tourists than foreigners.) Not at the top of my list, but worthwhile even if just for the van Dyck.

I love my new scooter. It handles great and it’s got style. And if I can stop getting lost, it’ll save me lots of time & money too. Ciao!

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I finished 287 out of 561, right in he middle of London’s biggest duathlon even of 2009.

5k run #1: 25:30
10k bicycle: 28:36
5k run #2: 28:29

The cycling was hard, but this time it was the 2nd run that really got to me.

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It took place in the beautiful Richmond Park, the same place where we got married earlier this year. There were lots of deer around, including a massive buck.

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We did a bit of London touristing last month at Trafalgar Square. It’s a popular place for London to host public art exhibitions, and that weekend there were two.

“The Tournament” by Jamie Hayon, Spain. The centrepiece of the London Design Festival was a giant chess set with ceramic painted chess pieces 2 meters high. The players sat in comfy chairs overlooking the board while others moves the pieces into position. I was on the waiting list to play one of the matches but they never called.

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The next art installation was called “One & Other” by sculptor Antony Gormley, using the empty 4th statue plinth in the square. The plinth was created in 1841 but they ran out of money for the statue to be put on top. Later they couldn’t agree which monarch or military hero to place there, so it’s remained empty ever since except for some temporary art exhibits.

“One & Other” had 2400 people stand on top of the 4th plinth: 1 hour at a time, 24 hours a day for 100 days. It wasn’t really art, it was more like performance theater. Most people used it as a platform for charity or social causes. We saw 2 “artists,” one promoting a snorkeling business and the other doing a exercise routine in support of a cancer forum. Boring.

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We finally made it into the National Gallery and spent the afternoon looking at some truly amazing works of art. I got to see pieces from some of my old favorites (Bosch, Goya, El Greco), and I discovered many new ones.

“The Arnolfini Portrait” by van Eyck, 1434. Incredible detail throughout, especially in the mirror where it feels like you see your own reflection. I also like the old-school graffiti he painted above the mirror: “Jan van Eyck was here, 1434.”

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“Cognoscenti in a Room hung with Pictures.” Unknown, Flemish, around 1620. A classic painting filled with detailed images of other classic paintings. I could spend hours looking at this one.

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The trip confirmed that one of my all-time favorite artists is Anthony Van Dyck. He studied under Peter Paul Rubens and became his chief assistant, then rose to England’s leading court painter and one of the most successful painters of his day. This portrait was my favorite in the National Gallery. The eyes are incredibly detailed and expressive. To me, Van Dyck had the most talent in being able to make you feel the personality of his subjects.

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King Charles I was particularly fond of van Dyck and commissioned numerous works.

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Rembrandt, self portraits. I didn’t realize that Rembrandt painted himself more than any other artist of the 17th century. Each one is an intimate reflection on his life. In “Self-Portrait at the Age of 34″ (1640), he was at the height of his career and so he painted himself in the clothes and style of the old masters from a hundred years before.

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In “Self Portrait at the Age of 63″ (1669) he paints himself without vanity, older and more reflective. This was painted in the last year of his life and his last self-portrait, possibly his final painting.

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“The Ambassadors” b Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533. The distorted image in the bottom centre foreground is an anamorphic special effect — it’s a skull, but you can only see it from an angle if you stand at a special point on the right side of the painting. I don’t know how he did it.

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Of the modern painters, the Monets were nice but they didn’t move me. But there was something about the Van Gogh’s that caught me. I think it was his dramatic use of the color yellow, not a common color to be given such prominence.

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I also liked “Van Gogh’s chair.” It’s one of a pair of paintings depicting his relationship with contemporary and friend Gauguin. This one is Van Gogh’s chair, with his pipe and tobacco pouch, and onions in the background. The other painting is of Gauguin’s chair, an armchair with 2 books and a candle on it (at a different museum, but it would be nice to someday see them side by side)

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