A look back to 2004 and a WDW Oxford Christmas Light Night Interlude

Jake Gyllenhaal is back in stealth mode. While we wait for the master of camouflage to emerge from his disguise, thank heavens we have IHJ filling the gap with new old Jake, including that very special soul Piilot. I know that he is a favourite of many here and so it is my pleasure to post this scrummy picture. There are many more at IHJ.

I was particularly interested to see a couple of images from Jake's attendance at the inaugural Filmmakers Showcase at his old high school Harvard-Westlake. This event took place in April 2004 but it wasn't his last at the school. In December 2004 Jake was back to talk to the students there alongside his teacher Ted Walch, who is pictured beside Jake in the photograph below the poster for the event. You can read all about that later 2004 event - when Jake was very much in Jarhead mode - here.

A WDW Festive Interlude

Last night was Oxford's Christmas Light Night. This event gets bigger each year to the extent that last night it was enormous and took over every single square metre. Wherever there could be a light, there was a light, and on top of that there were lantern processions, Christmas markets dotted all over the place, more mulled wine than you could bathe a whale in and an awful lot of hats and gloves for sale.

At the Castle, it even snowed. It might have been fake snow but it still added something very Christmassy to the mood as one munched on mince pies, supped vodka infused with elderberries and gazed at some of Oxford's ancient buildings lit up to the heavens. The museums were also all open and so you could have toured the shrunken head exhibits of the Pitt Rivers Museum by torchlight, paused over the mummies in the Ashmolean or taken a peek at Mary Shelley's handwritten notes on a manuscript of Frankenstein in the Bodleian. I may complain about the traffic (which is an obligatory thing to do if you live in Oxford), but there are times when I'm rather proud of the place. It doesn't half scrub up well. Do take a look at Conojito's account of the evening here. He was a bit more sober than me so took better photos. Many thanks to him, Ruby and Mr WDW for their lovely company.

I know that many of you have Christmas markets going on in your own cities across the world and so do tell us about them in the comments.