Megs came and saw what I did in the lab and played with some of the equipment:
We went for a walk at lunch time to have a look around the campus. My boss had given us a heads up about a few things I'd never seen before, so we went in search of those. We found the rare books collection in the library, which seemed to have an awful lot of early editions of Gullivers Travels. We also saw the art gallery, which had a really weird exhibition on at the time, that wasn't really my taste. And after some exploration we found this stained glass window.
It's the Lindesay Clark Window by Robert French. The story goes that he had a falling out with the architect during the construction of the building, so instead of being the focus of the building, it's relegated to the side.
My boss hired a video from the library for us to watch over lunchtime. I'm sure this was for Megan's benefit, because it's not something we normally do. The video was a documentary about Rosalind Franklin and her input into the determination of the structure of DNA and how she was ripped off by Watson and Crick because she was ballsy in a time when women weren't meant to be. It was a real eye-opener. Probably a very one-sided account, but I'm sure there are many stories like this in history.
The following night, we went to see the Flaming Lips at Festival Hall. It was awesome!!!! They were fantastic! They're such great live performers.
Festival Hall was a real disappointment, considering it's been host to acts such as the Beetles and Bob Marley. I'm pretty sure the decor hasn't been updated since those times. The seats were maroon vinyl bench seats and were really rather uncomfortable and there was no leg room. I know that I'm getting old, because I'm at a gig and complaining about leg room! Hahahaha!!
The band went off though and that's all that really matters. The band members all entered through a giant, neon-coloured, psychadelic vagina on the tv screen. I'm not sure if that was a metaphor for the birth of the show or something, but it was fun nonetheless. The lead singer entered in a giant plastic ball, which he then crowd surfed in. I have to say it's definitely one of the most memorable openings of a live show I've ever seen.
Of course there were the dancing animals on the side of the stage like at all Flaming Lips Gigs. And plenty of balloons, confetti, streamers and smoke.
Their finale/encore was Do You Realise. I love that song! I actually nearly cried when they played it. Well, I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, but no tears escaped down my cheeks, so I don't class it as actualy crying. It was just so good live and with everyone singing along.
The following morning, Megs had to leave early for her plane. So I got up at 5am to see her off at in a taxi. I'm pretty sure I've only just caught up on sleep from the busy weekend and early start!
The Flaming Lips were awesome! Their intro was fantastic and really fired the crowd up, particularly the crowd surf ... probably the best live act I have seen, closely followed by the Cat Empire.
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