Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
right then.
i have forgotten to mention all the escapades of the past week, and the weekend (a very lazy weekend, indeed) has already passed.
It is in fact monday evening, and I will quickly recount all that has happened in the past week before finishing my reading for tomorrow.
well, last monday I went to the Tate Modern art museum, to browse at leisure before visiting again this week for my class project. amidst the masses of children and their mom's on break from school running around and screaming and taking up too much space, i saw some good stuff.
tuesday went to a gig in Islington, one of the trendier boroughs in london. Joe, my flatmate, has a bunch of home friends from brighton who are in a band and they came up to london to play. they were all really nice, music was great, drummer amazing. i talked to him afterwards and told him i thought he was great. he said it's basically all he has time for, he doesn't have a girlfriend, doesn't go to school, has a shit job and just plays drums all day, and loves it. i said, that's gooood. and i meant it.
wednesday steven and i saw a performance by Charles Linehan Company, a UK-based modern dance company. It was lovely to watch, but my mind fell very quiet during the piece. Not that I didn't get anything out of it, it was just not very clear. I want to know more. Here's a video i found of some work/play Charles Linehan does in general..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyG9aWQeN2g
thursday our flat had a big halloween party. i had soo much fun, almost too much fun, but fun nonetheless. a few of us went to new globe afterwards, because there was a halloween party there too. and the dj played all the right songs, i was singing and i was dancing. great time.
friday, complete laziness. saturday wandered around notting hill in search of julia roberts, stumbled upon portobello road market, famous for its antique jewelery of sorts. i almost bought a pocket watch.
sunday night, went out dancing to this club in soho called punk. i felt i was in one of those movies where there's a halloween party and everyone is dressed full-out in something terrifying and all are dancing to thriller with fake blood dripping from their mouths. this was that. it was AWESOME. there was a DJ and also this girl as his assistant who would randomly scream into the microphone during a song. i found myself bent-over laughing every time. just, pure madness. as halloween should be.
the website for punk is here: http://www.punksoho.co.uk/
I found out after going there that celebrities have also attended, like lady gaga!
here are some random photos from my camera:
The New Globe, exterior. pub on the corner, frequented by students.
part of St. Paul's Cathedral. Also, the ice cream truck with "MIND THAT CHILD!"...huh huh huh..
long strides, string bass, notting hill.
currently listening to:
zeppppppppelin duhhhhhhhh
18-minute drum solo man, it's caraaaaaaazy.
It is in fact monday evening, and I will quickly recount all that has happened in the past week before finishing my reading for tomorrow.
well, last monday I went to the Tate Modern art museum, to browse at leisure before visiting again this week for my class project. amidst the masses of children and their mom's on break from school running around and screaming and taking up too much space, i saw some good stuff.
tuesday went to a gig in Islington, one of the trendier boroughs in london. Joe, my flatmate, has a bunch of home friends from brighton who are in a band and they came up to london to play. they were all really nice, music was great, drummer amazing. i talked to him afterwards and told him i thought he was great. he said it's basically all he has time for, he doesn't have a girlfriend, doesn't go to school, has a shit job and just plays drums all day, and loves it. i said, that's gooood. and i meant it.
wednesday steven and i saw a performance by Charles Linehan Company, a UK-based modern dance company. It was lovely to watch, but my mind fell very quiet during the piece. Not that I didn't get anything out of it, it was just not very clear. I want to know more. Here's a video i found of some work/play Charles Linehan does in general..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyG9aWQeN2g
thursday our flat had a big halloween party. i had soo much fun, almost too much fun, but fun nonetheless. a few of us went to new globe afterwards, because there was a halloween party there too. and the dj played all the right songs, i was singing and i was dancing. great time.
friday, complete laziness. saturday wandered around notting hill in search of julia roberts, stumbled upon portobello road market, famous for its antique jewelery of sorts. i almost bought a pocket watch.
sunday night, went out dancing to this club in soho called punk. i felt i was in one of those movies where there's a halloween party and everyone is dressed full-out in something terrifying and all are dancing to thriller with fake blood dripping from their mouths. this was that. it was AWESOME. there was a DJ and also this girl as his assistant who would randomly scream into the microphone during a song. i found myself bent-over laughing every time. just, pure madness. as halloween should be.
the website for punk is here: http://www.punksoho.co.uk/
I found out after going there that celebrities have also attended, like lady gaga!
here are some random photos from my camera:
The New Globe, exterior. pub on the corner, frequented by students.
part of St. Paul's Cathedral. Also, the ice cream truck with "MIND THAT CHILD!"...huh huh huh..
long strides, string bass, notting hill.
currently listening to:
zeppppppppelin duhhhhhhhh
18-minute drum solo man, it's caraaaaaaazy.
follow a stranger, and never let them go.
[[Do they suspect what I'm about to do? That guy is looking at me. Well I'll just wait here for a second and follow someone out of the station. That lady! She looks like a nice lady, like she wouldn't figure me out, she's got her headphones in and is on a mission...to the grocery store. Damn. Well I'll just wait outside and play with my phone a bit. Do do do. No big deal, just waiting for a friend. What are you looking at? Dum dee dum...Has she come out yet? Surely she must have. Did I miss her? Well she might've gone back on the tube anyway. Oh well. I'll have to find someone else. This girl. Fur jacket and hat seems a bit much for a day like today, but I like your pace. I can deal with this. Wait, did you just look back at me? I better stay further back. Oh good, yes, thanks dude, yeah, walk right between us, she'll never know. Alright, ok, this is a leisurely walk and you're not getting on a bus or anything, I like that. Because I'm not getting on a bus. But where are you going? And why are you slowing down so much? Is something wrong? Are you getting suspicious? You just turned your head again. shit. I don't think you've actually looked at me yet, but I think you know I'm here. I think you can sense I'm following you and have no other purpose but to follow you. If someone did that to me, I might in fact quicken my pace. Why are you not doing that? Do you want me to catch up with you? Do you want to see if I pass you? I won't. Oh, what, wait? You're going into a store? But why. Well, I'll wait for you out here then. No, I can't do this. She knows.]]
just a little excerpt from my journal while completing an activity for class: to stalk someone on the street.
interesting the way it makes different people feel, being a stalker. i've never been so paranoid. well, that's not true, but i felt uncomfortable the whole time.
we spent last class sharing our experiences with this, and some were quite funny. One guy followed his person for a long time, but lost him when he walked into a sandwich shop after the guy and frantically ordered a sandwich to not seem suspicious, not realizing that his sandwich would take time to cook, while his person's sandwich was a cold-cut. Another girl in class followed a man for almost two hours, and eventually lost him around a corner, cause she was keeping a good distance behind him. She felt a bit broken after she had become so attached to following him for so long. It is a dangerous activity, I felt as though I was in danger, as did most of my classmates.
We studied and tried to replicate the works of Vito Acconci and Sophie Calle in this exercise. Sophie Calle I find particularly interesting. Her projects seem to be generally self-centered and she is basically out of my league of practice/understanding, which is why I am so intrigued. I mean, she sounds completely mental. She once followed a man for several days, weeks maybe, followed him to work, home, out to eat, everywhere. She knew all his patterns. Somehow, they had a run-in and got to talking, he mentioned he was going to venice for the weekend. So she booked a flight to venice and continued to follow him there! A few years ago she did an exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (right down the street from my flat) involving the responses of a large variety of people of different professions (lawyer, linguist, artists of varying media) to a break-up email she had received from an ex-partner, so she could try and make sense of it. I mean, really.
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/sophie-calle-talking-to-strangers
umm, I refuse to make a post without a visual, because it's boring. So here is this. Not quite associated with Sophie Calle, but along the same lines of voyeurism, flanerie, le derive, observing people, etc. This is just one of the vast array of incredible photography by Henri Cartier-Bresson, a recent favorite of mine after seeing his work at the Art Institute in Chicago.
just a little excerpt from my journal while completing an activity for class: to stalk someone on the street.
interesting the way it makes different people feel, being a stalker. i've never been so paranoid. well, that's not true, but i felt uncomfortable the whole time.
we spent last class sharing our experiences with this, and some were quite funny. One guy followed his person for a long time, but lost him when he walked into a sandwich shop after the guy and frantically ordered a sandwich to not seem suspicious, not realizing that his sandwich would take time to cook, while his person's sandwich was a cold-cut. Another girl in class followed a man for almost two hours, and eventually lost him around a corner, cause she was keeping a good distance behind him. She felt a bit broken after she had become so attached to following him for so long. It is a dangerous activity, I felt as though I was in danger, as did most of my classmates.
We studied and tried to replicate the works of Vito Acconci and Sophie Calle in this exercise. Sophie Calle I find particularly interesting. Her projects seem to be generally self-centered and she is basically out of my league of practice/understanding, which is why I am so intrigued. I mean, she sounds completely mental. She once followed a man for several days, weeks maybe, followed him to work, home, out to eat, everywhere. She knew all his patterns. Somehow, they had a run-in and got to talking, he mentioned he was going to venice for the weekend. So she booked a flight to venice and continued to follow him there! A few years ago she did an exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery (right down the street from my flat) involving the responses of a large variety of people of different professions (lawyer, linguist, artists of varying media) to a break-up email she had received from an ex-partner, so she could try and make sense of it. I mean, really.
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/sophie-calle-talking-to-strangers
umm, I refuse to make a post without a visual, because it's boring. So here is this. Not quite associated with Sophie Calle, but along the same lines of voyeurism, flanerie, le derive, observing people, etc. This is just one of the vast array of incredible photography by Henri Cartier-Bresson, a recent favorite of mine after seeing his work at the Art Institute in Chicago.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
optimism in a city half-empty of life
a few art projects being discussed in my class, ways of making the most out of potholes, construction, and the like of a dirty city.
http://www.petedungey.com/2010/project_pages/pothole_gardens.php
http://www.mis-guide.com/anywhere.html
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/suite_venitienne/
and now i must go stalk someone on the street as a project for the class. i'll let you know how it goes. i'm kind of nervous.
xx
http://www.petedungey.com/2010/project_pages/pothole_gardens.php
http://www.mis-guide.com/anywhere.html
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/suite_venitienne/
and now i must go stalk someone on the street as a project for the class. i'll let you know how it goes. i'm kind of nervous.
xx
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
this is england.
last year, i happened upon this film called This is England, written/directed by Shane Meadows in 2006. It was a piece of art to me, the story struck me, disturbed me, and the characters were spot on, and the fashion of it all appealed to me, still does.
now Shane Meadows has come out with a follow-up of four television episodes with the same actors, set in '86, a few years after the film when the kids are a bit older. And I find the show to be just as brilliant as the film. of course, i only post things on here that i find to be brilliant or worth looking at again.
swear i'm not just spending my time in london watching tv..
also, i can see this blog is becoming sometimes more of me expressing interesting things i've come across rather then just the adventures i'm taking. i apologize that it may seem more of a journal for myself than for those back home at times, but adventures will be posted as they come still. i find the blog to be a much more productive form of procrastination than facebook ever was, and a good way for me to keep track of the things i've been seeing and listening to and watching, so i can come back to them later easily.
hope all is well in the USA.
cheers.
now Shane Meadows has come out with a follow-up of four television episodes with the same actors, set in '86, a few years after the film when the kids are a bit older. And I find the show to be just as brilliant as the film. of course, i only post things on here that i find to be brilliant or worth looking at again.
swear i'm not just spending my time in london watching tv..
also, i can see this blog is becoming sometimes more of me expressing interesting things i've come across rather then just the adventures i'm taking. i apologize that it may seem more of a journal for myself than for those back home at times, but adventures will be posted as they come still. i find the blog to be a much more productive form of procrastination than facebook ever was, and a good way for me to keep track of the things i've been seeing and listening to and watching, so i can come back to them later easily.
hope all is well in the USA.
cheers.
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