Flew with United Airlines from New Orleans to Heathrow Airport, London via Houston, TX. According to the pre-flight videos, United recent spent half a billion dollars upgrading its air fleet, and the results show. The Boeing 777 for the transatlantic flight had a vast entertainment library which I explored quite thoroughly over the nine hour flight. After completing my rereading of Tolkien's The Hobbit, I watched the film version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. For purely scholastic reasons, of course.
Also, in the name of scholarship, I forced myself to listen to the 2011 Lou Reed and Metallica collaborative album Lulu, based on a series of 19th century plays by German dramatist Frank Wedekind. Infamously, Metallica singer James Hetfield repeated states that "[he] is the table" and I could not find any reason to doubt him. On the whole I'd say the album is a noble failure, but it definitely had some interesting moments.
Heathrow Airport has been in the news this year because of the horrendously long queues at Customs and Border Control. U.K. Border Agency regulations and the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games are expected to severely test the system. Wait times are estimated at upwards of two hours at peak times. I'm not looking forward to the experience. Fortunately the flight will arrive at 7:15, so I may avoid the worst of it.
What did you think of the movies??
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