In a stark contrast from the current healthcare system in the US, the UK has the National Health Service aka NHS. This is a socialised healthcare service that pretty sucks for preventive care but does fine if you get hit by a bus. It’s what you would expect from free health care. Service is generally poor…not terrible…but not great either. It’s certainly not all roses like the picture Michael Moore painted in Sicko. There are plenty of people that have fallen on that line between life-threatening and non-life-threatening that have gotten the fish and chips up their arse as a result.

As the US is shifting towards this public healthcare model, note that the NHS is going bankrupt and that overall I prefer privatised healthcare like most people in the UK get anyway because you want someone to look at that rash under your bum instead of defining it as “non-life-threatening” and telling you to bugger off.

I will end this blog by saying bollocks…just because.

Back in May 2008 I wrote about Derren Brown – An Evening of Wonder. None stop engagement with the crowd. None stop jaw-opening mind-reading acts. You just kept saying “WTF?!?” through the entire show. Bar none, the best show I have attended live. No annoying kids singing. No annoying dudes singing. As a matter of fact…no singing at all.

Luckily we were able to score frontish row seats, maybe 4-5 rows back. If you want to watch the exact show I was talking about, you can now purchase the DVD if you did not catch the show on Channel 4 in the UK. Better yet, catch a live show in London this summer, which I will be doing soon.

Update (June 2, 2009): I’ve purchased front row seats for 45 quid each on July 15 in case anybody is in London and would like to rock out with us.

I don’t usually post the most viral video on the Interweb on my blog as you will have seen it already but because this clip of Susan Boyle was exceptional and worthy of being watched multiple times, voila!

I don’t know what it is but something about it touched my soul. It brings me back to the Les Miserables showing at the Queens Theatre we went to last year. I like it when videos do that to my deep sensitive side, like that old video of that monkey falling off the tree. Absolutely moving stuff. The Punjabi Michael Jackson is worth re-watching also.

This is from earlier this month but since I missed it while being on holiday, I thought I would revisit my angst. When British PM Gordon Brown visited the US earlier in March, he gave Obama:

“…a pen holder made from wood from the anti-slave ship HMS Gannet. The gift was both classy and priceless, showing an understanding of the significance of Obama’s ascendence to the presidency.”

In return, Obama gave our British PM a 25 DVD Box Set. Yes, a set of some of the greatest movies of American history…namely:

# Citizen Kane
# The Godfather
# Casablanca
# Raging Bull
# Singin’ in the Rain
# Gone with the Wind
# Lawrence of Arabia
# Schindler’s List
# Vertigo
# The Wizard of Oz
# City Lights
# The Searchers
# Star Wars: Episode IV
# Psycho
# 2001: A Space Odyssey
# Sunset Boulevard
# The Graduate
# The General
# On the Waterfront
# It’s a Wonderful Life
# Chinatown
# Some Like It Hot
# The Grapes of Wrath
# ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
# To Kill a Mockingbird

I would have personally included Matrix, Indiana Jones, maybe some Rocky Rambo. I mean, what is more American than a veteran of war blowing shit up? Hmm, add Armageddon and Independence Day in there also, as they show that when the world is in crisis, America comes to the rescue. All in all, however, you got ET, some Marilyn Monroe, Jack Nicholson…even Psycho and Star Wars Episode IV were on there. Jar Jar Binks has more international appeal than you would care to know. The problem I have is that DVDs are assigned a region, which means only special (or hacked) DVD players would be able to play such DVDs. The fact that you are making Gordy Brown hack his Downing Street DVD player does show some serious cheek on the part of the prez. WTF.

The good news is that Michelle Obama is more keen on gift giving and has personally asked aids to pick out Marine One helicopter models for Gordon Brown’s sons. Fair enough. I wouldn’t mind playing with those. Transformers or PSPs may be more fun but you can’t just buy Marine One plastic helicopters on the high street.

Jon Stewart sums it up a bit better than I do here:

It’s about bloody time someone charged for the loo on the airplane. I mean, what’s paying a quid when you have to pee? Ok, if you don’t have a quid on you, things might get messy, but just be aware of this and go to the loo before you board the plane. During my last trip, I recall thinking about whether I should go to the loo on the plane or when we land but decided on the plane because it would mean faster time getting to the bus to get back to London from the terrible Stansted airport.

Look, spending money to use the toilet sounds absurd but it is completely optional. It just takes planning, like everything else in flying. You can’t bring liquids over 3oz on the plane, and likewise you can’t bring any urine on the plane over 3oz without paying a quid. Seems fair to me. I do have a love / hate thing going with RyanAir. Sometimes I love them sorta, but sometimes they call me an “idiot blogger” and I get offended. Overall, however, I will continue to fly with them for my entire time in London because you just can’t beat their prices….even if it’s a quid more now per flight.

So with all of the Indian influence in the UK, it’s only natural that you get some of this on TV. Michael and curry…I personally can’t complain.

I had always wanted to live somewhere that snowed. I reckon last year it snowed in London once for about an hour…a very exciting hour. This year, however, we have been treated to the biggest snowfall in 18 years. Now, I’m used to driving up to Tahoe from SF and taking in the snow but to do enjoy it from home is something I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing until I moved to London. I am admittedly cold-blooded after enduring the coldest winters in the world, the San Francisco summer.

The great thing with London is that the entire city shuts down when snow hits. Any snow…and we got the best snow in 18 years. Tube shuts down, buses shut down. Even the chippies shut down. So basically everyone in London went outside yesterday and made snowmen. Not a bad way to spend a day.

Sygirl tumbling like a UFC move gone bad.

I, on the other hand, prefer the ancient ninja art of levitation.

It’s supposed to snow later on this week. Looking forward to it!

Apparently, the UK economy officially on the brink of recession, which means the currency has dropped significantly. This means it’s probably a good time to visit the London Ninja as the pound is trading at a pretty good low. When I first came here, it was roughly 2 to 1, now it’s at around 1.6 to 1. Probably means Brits won’t be taking those shopping trips to New York anymore just to buy up the town. How times have changed.

On the bright side, it means that pints in the UK are now an acceptable rate of 3.3gbp * 1.6 = $5.25. That’s not bad for a bigger imperial pint.

I have been watching the Olympics since feeling the excitement in America. We didn’t really feel the excitement in Taiwan during my childhood because all of the excitement was around whether Taiwan should declare independence from China for calling Taiwan “Chinese Taipei”. What is that? That’s like calling America “British USA”.

Every four years I am accustomed to sitting around the dinner table and watching well edited slow-motion panning John Woo shots of Olympics atheletes, their mums, their uncles, and their sick grandmothers in the hospitals speaking about the only dream they have ever had since being diagnosed with gonadian cancer. The thought of the agony of removing the cancer-laden testicles from such a bright star would inevitably bring tears to my eye (as is yours currently, I hope). It is great television from 8pm to 10pm every night. A great story told by Bob Costas.

This year, however, things are not the same. Instead of hearing about the Hamm brothers overcoming down syndrome to get gold in Olympic gymnastics, I am hearing about how excited the British are about getting Bronze in the Pommel Horse. Whoopty doo. First of all, the pommel horse is like the least exciting sport in gymnastics. And even if it’s exciting, I have not seen any sick uncles, hospital shots, or bawling scenes from the guy’s sick sick African half-sister. WTF.

We do get some mention of Phelps….thank God. Yes, very grateful that the Brits would mention the best Olympian ever. Thanks, BBC. I owe you one.

I swear to God there seems to be an “important” football match every other week. Well this week(month), we have the Euro2008.

The most glaring thing with this event, however, is that the UK is not present….and as such…Beckham is not present. And when I say Beckham, I mean Victoria…aka Posh. So sad.

Digging into this matter a bit further, I discovered that the reason being commonly cited by Britons is football manager Steve McClaren, who was sacked after the UK not qualifying. Personally I think it was because they did not offer the red carpet treatment to Victoria.