On the Sixth Day....

We arrived at the museum this morning, dropped our things off at our desks, then went to find Kate at her desk and see what she expected of us today. She brought us to the museum library, which is another location that’s closed to the general public but our swipe cards grant us access to, and introduced us to one of the librarians, who walked us through the online and physical resources that might be relevant to our project and how we might access them. She seemed very enthusiastic to help us, though a bit out of her depth when we explained our project, but she welcomed us to go to her with any questions.

That done, we took some time to finish our exploration of the museum. It took us the rest of the morning to cover everything that we hadn’t yesterday.  The coolest part was an area called OurSpace, which had four parts to it. The first was a map of New Zealand on the floor, divided into squares; standing on a square caused a space on the wall to light up with a picture relevant to that area on the map. Next was something called the Wall, which was much more complicated. First, there were several digital screen kiosks. Each screen contained a ton of pictures and video clips from all over New Zealand. You could search for a certain theme or just choose at random. There was also a webcam with which you could record yourself. Or you could bring in a thumb drive with pictures and give it to the museum staff at the desk, who would then upload it to the kiosk. The idea was to select up to eight such pictures, then send them over to the Wall. There, you picked up a remote control ‘wand,’ with which you could arrange the pictures on the wall, make them larger or smaller, animate them, and otherwise perform photoshop-esque things on them. If I understood correctly, your creation could be saved and accessed on the web, if you so chose.

The other two parts of Ourspace were rides, which cost money for admission, but once again our swipe cards got us in for free. The first was a simulation of a series of experiences that are considered inherently New Zealand: bungee jumping, sheep herding, sliding down a grassy hill on a sheet of cardboard. It was fast-paced and very exciting and a bit jarring, but overall very, very fun.  The other was a simulation of a deep-sea exploration of a volcano off the Northwest coast of New Zealand,  which used real video footage of real explorations. Both, I think, were very well done.

Once we had seen just about everything, we went and had lunch… and then realized we had nothing to do for the rest of the day. We couldn’t really get started on our project, because we’ve yet to have an opportunity to find out what parts of our proposal our sponsors like, and what parts they want us to change. We decided to spend the time doing individual research and reviewing our proposal, building a wider foundation of knowledge from which to work. As much fun as it was running around the museum, it also felt good to get some actual work done, even if we weren’t sure how relevant that work would be in the long run.

Our work day officially ended at 5pm, and I then spent a bit of time at the fourth floor café reconnecting with home. I stopped on the way home to pick up some groceries, decided to take a shortcut home from the grocery store, and once again got lost and went in circles. One of these days I’ll figure out the most efficient route to take.

Back at the apartment, I decided I had had enough of spaghetti and cooked myself dinner: ground beef on a bed of lettuce with salsa, sour cream, and crumbled cheddar cheese. I might have been a little bit absurdly proud of this meal. Enough so that I even took a picture of it.

After dinner, I joined a group of my classmates for a showing of The Hobbit in 3D at the theatre which hosted the world premiere. We got a bit lost on the way there (which was entirely not my fault), but one of the guys finally swallowed his pride and asked for directions, and we made it there in time. On the front of the building was a large statue of Gandalf standing beside Bilbo’s hobbit hole. It was a beautiful building, with marble floors and pillars and wide, sweeping staircases on either side of the entrance hall. It reminded me a lot of Alden Memorial, but on a much larger scale. And once again, I left my camera behind, and regretted it.

The theatre had assigned seats, which I had never experienced before at a cinema. As we entered the theatre, an usher led us directly to them. We were right in the center, near the back. It was all very fancy. At the risk of being teased, I really think the best word to describe it is ‘posh.’ And I promptly forgot about it all as the movie began and I was entirely absorbed in it, like the true geek I am.

For those who were with me when we went to the midnight premiere in Massachusetts, remember at the end how we talked about them including the March of Cambreadth? We misremembered. The song that the goblin king sang went like this:

Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung!

You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung!

And the tune is not akin to March of Cambreadth, but to the Chimeron War Song, albeit with a few lines of melody ommitted:

Spears will be shaken, swords will be clashed

In this battle before us

Shields will be broken, helms will be smashed

In this battle before us

I don’t know why I find that so bloody brilliant, but I do. I also want to know how it happened. Where did the Chimeron War Song come from? Both the words and the melody?

Anyway. The movie finished around midnight, and we all went back to our apartments to go to bed. We’re getting up early in the morning to go to the beach, so we need the sleep.