November 30, 2004

Similarities Being the 80s music addict I am, I couldn't help but notice this wonderful similarity. I want to bleach my hair blonde, put on a striped suit jacket and pick up a guitar.

November 28, 2004

Suckabees Went to see I ♥ Huckabees at the Camden Odeon tonight. The best parts were bringing in coffee and cake we purchased next door and exiting the cinema through the back alley. The in-between parts were pretty poor.

November 27, 2004

Secret Abigail and David took us to an unpretentious Japanese restaurant not too far away from where we live. Can't disclose the name of the establishment here, but send me an email if you're interested and I'll be happy to share. Abigail did all the ordering. The food kept coming and coming and coming, rather like the buckets of water that the broom brought in Fantasia. The dishes were outstanding, from the edamame and the mushrooms to the sushi and sashimi right through to the seafood and vegetable tempura. Oishi!

Beer I'm enjoying a nice bottle of Old Engine Oil this evening, listening to Brassy, optimizing my photos from last night.

November 26, 2004

Saatchi Gallery Met Vanita at the Saatchi Gallery tonight. It's housed in County Hall, a beautiful building from 1922. At 8.75, the admission price is high even by London standards. YBA art isn't my cup of tea but I did groove on Richard Wilson's 20:50. Only one person at a time can enter the room which is guarded by a gallery staff member. At waist level the room is covered with a layer of recycled engine oil which reflects windows, walls, door and ceiling. Five years on, Tracy Emin's "My Bed" looks more like something out of a long abandonded building rather than a real person's private space. The pickled shark looked less than fresh which I imagine subtracts from the eerieness of it all.

November 20, 2004

St. Paul's at Night Blackfriars Bridge in front of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

Need a gift for a sporty biker girl? Not the one on the back of a Harley. I mean the cycling type. Debbi has created the perfect jewelry for her. You can get it from her drrty Grrl web site or the Terry web site.

November 19, 2004

Fishcotheque What more could you want on a Friday night?

November 18, 2004

Mouse has nothing to be Modest about It's great to know that Issaquah can rock the Brits. We heard Modest Mouse in concert at the Astoria. The venue was packed. This time, my arms didn't suffer cigarette burns from any drunken girls flailing about. But that's not what made the show better than Franz Ferdinand. FF were more athletic on stage and banged on the guitar strings a bit more fervently, but MM's music is deep, ecclectic and I do believe they are better musicians. They had a string bass and a violin right up front and I heard (but couldn't see) a banjo. They have talent for pulling out a mixture of emotions in the same song. Plus, they're from the Quah, dude. I see MM is doing a show at the Key Arena in a few weeks time. Quite pleased I saw the relatively intimate show at the Astoria amongst 1600 other admirers rather than in the arena. Before the show we has a perfect dinner with Leo and Clare at Soho Thai. Highly recommended.

November 15, 2004

Moving Well, it's official. We're moving back to Seattle. Handed in our letters at Videotel today. It will be a busy month preparing everything and saying goodbye. Fortunately, Brian has found us our new dwelling, complete with backhoe on the deck.

November 13, 2004

Gazza Today on our Hampstead Heath run, Abigail taught me about Paul Gascoigne (aka Gazza) and the 1990 World Cup. She also taught me: the difference between goulash and borscht that one says "Acton" rather than "Acton Town" Koyaanisqatsi, which I think I saw during a party once. They had it playing as a backdrop. I love my runs with Abigail.

Robert Frank Storylines I went to the Tate Modern last night to hear the latest Bruce Nauman installation and see the Robert Frank Storylines exhibition. Of the many photographs in the Robert Frank exhibition, one was my favorite and another was most striking. The technical and compositional brilliance of this photo makes it my favorite. Along with this photo hung a contact sheet of the shots leading up to this one. Frank comes across a hearse in the street, he moves around it, shooting it at different angles. Then he sees the street cleaner and frames it within the car window. And then a little girl is running up the sidewalk and he quickly shoots a few frames to arrive at this moment captured. Another photo showed a 1956 Chevrolet in Illinois. In the back window was a placcard that read, "Christ died for our sins" and hanging on the license plate was another sign that read, "Christ came to save sinners." Such imagery can still be found on American automobiles today. How strange that seems now having lived in Britain for 5 years. The walk along the South Bank, over the Millennium Bridge and up to St. Paul's was just as wonderful as the exhibition itself. The sky was clear and the lights on the buildings and bridges were dazzling.

November 09, 2004

Trekker vs Trekkie In a conversation today, I hesitated because I didn't know whether to use Trekker or Trekkie. I thought the difference was one of those fundamental pieces of knowledge that most people know, but some of us were kind of fuzzy on when it was explained to us, rather like the theory of relativity. I have since deduced that my circle of friends had a relatively high geekness factor, for it is not commonly known that there IS a difference, let alone what that difference is. I was shocked when I did a quick search on Google and the first site, Wikipedia, actually grouped the two terms together as if they were one and the same. Or maybe, the Wikipedia entry was written by a Trekkie, who simply doesn't mind being called either. Since I vividly remember the fact that there was a distinction being made clear to me, I conclude I was associating with Trekkers.

November 08, 2004

Norman Parkinson exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery I walked down to Trafalgar Square after work this evening to view 20 fashion photos by Norman Parkinson at the National Portrait Gallery. It was my first visit to this museum and I spent another 90 minutes floating around more photos on the ground floor, including some fabulous British athlete photos, and stately paintings of kings, queens, dukes, dutchesses, lords and ladies on the upper levels.

November 03, 2004

Re-election Day

November 02, 2004

Election Day Jennifer took her two little girls with her to the polls. Abby, her eldest, thought they were voting for "presents".

November 01, 2004

Talby Masa is giddy with excitement over the launch of his company's latest mobile, Talby. Masa is in charge of all the software inside. This beauty is designed by Marc Newson, who also did the lovely Lockheed Lounge. I'm waiting until they bring out a shoe phone.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the Moon Took my camera and the pod down to Tafalgar Sqare after work tonight. I tried out my nifty new remote switch. It worked wonderfully, and it had better for 40 quid. Couldn't talk the guy on Tottenham Ct. Road down any further. That's 73 in greenback money. But if I use it for the next 5 years, that's only 4 cents a day. What a bargain!