SuperSize Me!

The well known documentary, SuperSize Me was on Channel 4 last night, and since I had never seen it, I decided that it would be a better use of my time than to work on my studio project. I was amazed at the end of it, as I had always known that McDonalds is bad for you, but never that bad. The guy gained 25 lbs in 30 days, and doctors said that his liver was so badly damaged that if he had been drinking alcohol to get him to this state, then the doctor mused that he would probably be dead from it. Having had McDonalds a few times during my stay here in London (it was the first meal I had here, haha), I was quite touched by the film and this morning I went out for a run. 25 minutes later I was done. Haha, we'll see how long this motivation lasts for.

On another note, it is quite beautiful outside today, and was nice and sunny on my run. I woke up at 8, and I have felt alive all day long, it's amazing what exercise can do for you, eh?

Oh, and bread over here in Europe doesn't keep as long as bread in the US, as I opened up my cupboard this afternoon to make a sandwich, and when took out my loaf of bread that I bought a week ago, I found that it was covered in mold. So, I had to buy a sandwich in town instead.

Time Flies

Man, it's hard to believe that it's almost May. In less than 7 weeks I will be back in the good ol' US of A.

This weekend wasn't a very event-filled one, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Saturday consisted of me reading and listening to music, and I bought two new CD's, one by a guy named Tom Vek (he sounds a lot like Soul Coughing), and a mix by a group called 2 Many DJ's. Both are very electroclash in nature, which is a style that I am starting to get more and more into. It is quite the rave over here in London, and was the style of music that they played at Trash.

On Sunday I went to the pub with Adam, where we watched the Manchester United v. Newcastle football match. I was rooting for Newcastle, but Man U won 2-1. Oh yeah, I also watched a Formula 1 race that was on the tele as well. The race was quite exciting, Michael Schumacher came from 13th place to finish 2nd, almost passing the 1st place driver at the end.

I am working on a semi-study model in studio right now, but I cannot seem to get myself motivated to work on it for more than a few hours at a time. That is pretty much how I have felt all semester here, I just cannot engage on a level that I normally do. It is quite obvious why I am not doing so, as there is so much else for me to do while I am here, but part of me feels guilty for not putting the effort in. I have been trained for 3.5 years to work and work and work, and now I feel guilty when I am not working. Haha, by the time I get used to not working, it will be time to work again and then I will be a slacker. Such is life.

Bath/Stonehenge

On Wednesday I went to Bath and Stonehenge with the Britsh Life and Culture class.  It wasn't really that exciting of a trip, as most of it seemed to be in a coach, but such is life.  Stonehenge ok, I think that we stayed there for too long as there is only so much you can do around a pile of rocks.  Bath was alright, but I only got to really see the ancient Roman baths as it took too long at the pub to get our food so we missed the walking tour of the city.  Anyways, here are some pics:

Interesting brickwork in Bath:

Floors of Roman baths:

Some church:

Baths:

the 'Henge:

Slice and Dice

I was just building a model and had just put a brand new blade on my knife when BAM! I sliced the tips of my index and middle fingers on my right hand. I am now trying to type with drafting tape and trash paper wrapped around my finger.

Needless to say, I have taken a break from model building today and it is now time to research music.

Trash[ed]

Currently listening to: Soulwax - Any Minute Now

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Last night I went with some of my mates into London to a killer club/bar named Trash. It was a really good night, and I didn't get home until 4:30am. We had to take the N77 night bus all the way home, which took about an hour and highlights the deficiencies of the London public transportation system. The tube shuts down before midnight and I have known people who have left the pubs at 11:30 when they were kicked out and couldn't get the tube to the train station and had to take a cab. If a city known for its early closing of the pubs can't even accomodate those people, then you know there is a problem. Now that they are allowing 24 hour licensing of pubs I wonder if that will have any effect on the way that they run their transportation. I sure hope so.

Yesterday I had a desk crit with one of my professors and I got some good input. I hadn't talked to anyone about my project since before Easter break, and it was actually nice to do some work for once. He told me that right now I just have boxes of spaces and need to detail what is in between the spaces and make it a building, but then he added that he didn't know how my grades transferred so he didn't know if I needed to detail out the spaces. It transfers back as pass/fail, so techincally I could probably do not much more work and have a passing grade, but part of me wants to develop my idea that I have going and see what I can learn from it. I'm not going to do an intense 3-D model or anything like that, but I will put some more development into it.

I woke up today around 1pm and haven't really done much so far today and I don't really plan on doing much either. I started a new book, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and it is pretty good so far. It's supposed to be an excellent book, and was only £1.50 at Borders, so I figured I couldn't lose. Tomorrow I am going with the wonderful American students to Stonehenge and Bath, so that will be an interesting day. I haven't seen most of those people in over a month, and haven't really formed any relationships with them, so it should be a rather bland day, socially speaking. I should have some pictures up documenting that trip in a few days.

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pics of Trash:
http://www.endclub.com/img/venue_info/venue1/photo1.jpg
http://www.endclub.com/img/venue_info/venue1/photo2.jpg

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Well, I was going to go and watch the London Marathon today, but to do so I was going to have to wake up at 7 am.  I couldn't fall asleep last night until 3, so when the alarm went off this morning I turned it off and rolled over and went back to sleep.  Instead I watched it on TV.

The weather today has been beautiful; I was outside sketching for a while.  Last night, while I couldn't sleep, I was looking through some images that I had done on my computer, and came across the below image.  I made it while I was reading a book by Thomas Merton, a successful New York author who gave up his career to enter a monastary in Kentucky.  The book was quite interesting and the image below deals with some of what I was thinking about when I was reading it.

Finally Friday

Ok, so it hasn't been that intense of a week here in the LDN, but it's nice to have the weekend here; it means that there's not studio work for me. Last night was a rip-roaring time at a local pub called the Cocoanut as it was my friend Adam's 21st birthday. Shots aren't big over here like they are in the US, so when I bought him a 3 Wise Men, he just about lost it. After the Cocoanut closed (11 pm), we went to a club called Bacchus where we danced for a while and had more good times.

This weekend I am planning on going to watch part of the London Marathon on Sunday. Hopefully I can get some good pictures and post them up here next week sometime.

Remember Me?

Do you worry about your health
Do you watch it slowly change
And when you listen to yourself, does it feel like somebody else
And did you notice when you began to disappear
Was it slowly at first
Until there was nobody really there
Increment by increment
Increment by increment
Increment by increment

Oh remember me
Yeah remember me
Oh remember me

Yeah remember me
Oh remember me
Will you remember me?

Did half of you pass away
What about the other half
Yeah what about the other half
Whatever!
We're all part of the same old bloody regime
With someone taking it out whilst you were putting it in
Increment by increment
Increment by increment
Increment by increment

Oh remember me
Yeah remember me
Oh remember me

Yeah remember me
Oh remember me
Will you remember me?

Oh remember me
Yeah remember me
Oh remember me

From the here and now to eternity
Will you remember me?

I went to the British Sea Power gig last night, it was a pretty good show. There were a couple of bands who lead off the show, who's names I can't remember, but BSP definetly outdid them all. A band known for their live shows, this one sure didn't disappoint me. I would say that the first climax of the show was the above song, which made it quite fun to be three rows back in the middle of a pulsing crowd.

The 'grand finale' if you will wasn't really a song, it was more them rocking out and crowd surfing and running around being crazy on stage. One of their stage props was a giant deer that was woven out of twigs, and they were riding it around on stage while several members of the band were crowd surfing and several others were banging on the drums or twanging the guitars. Right before they left the stage they tossed the deer into the crowd where it was torn apart by screaming fans. I left sweaty and content.

Currently listening to:

Modest Mouse: Interstate 8...
http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drc900/c909/c909968860r.jpg
great band, great album. check out the moon and antarctica for some more top notch stuff.

The Tour.

As some of you may know (I visited half of you), I just returned from a three week whirlwind tour of mainland Europe. I went to Paris, Ronchamp, Basel, Florence, Rome, Prague, Munich, Berlin and Copenhagen. I had a blast everywhere I went and saw so much stuff I am still having time believing what I saw. I stayed with all the Italian Studies kids outside of Florence, the Prague kids in Prague (Fish, I've got some good pics of you with various objects in various body openings), a family friend in Munich, and Tom in Copenhagen. It was good to see everyone and never really felt like I was away.

Tom and me in Copenhagen (most of these pics were selected for my mother as she always wants pics with me in them for some reason...I think that you go to a place and photograph it to see the architecture and the city, not ruin the picture by having yourself taking up all the lens):


The Reichstag by Norman Foster in Berlin:

View looking out over Munich:

Prague Old Town:

View from Prague Castle:

Me in Rome by the Trevi Fountain:

Pondering of the map:

Me eating Swiss bread at the top of the Campidolio in Florence:

Marktplatz in Basel:

Ronchamp:

Me at the top of

the Eiffel Tower:






So, post away.

how can i work?

it is beautiful outside today and i have just returned from three weeks of traveling in mainland Europe( how am i supposed to go into studio and work? there was supposed to be a crit today for all of the work that people had done over break( but since i was gone all break i didn/t do any work. i was just going to go and watch( because there were crits going on in my studio( but now i am going to go and play in the sunshine and mail a package. hopefully i will get back up here later today and get some work done.

/this ends my Hubert Selby Jr.esque posting

(i am reading Last Exit to Brooklyn right now)

start/

this is, the beginning