Gotta Love D.C.

6/8/2009

Seeing as how my friends are all employed, I took on D.C. today on my own. Went to see the Freedom Documents: The Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution. From reading the info provided while I was waiting in line, I learned that the rotunda room where the documents are kept is only two footcandles in luminosity. Apparently a footcandle is the distance of a candle a foot away from you. A sunny summer's day can reach 12,000 footcandles. But no matter what the lighting is like, seeing those documents is an experience every American should have. 

From there I took a walk to the sculpture garden in the middle of the mall. Among the many interesting pieces a few stuck out in my mind. One being the Wishing Tree for Washington D.C.

by Yoko Ono. While I do despise her for breaking up the Beatles, this piece is pretty cool. It's just a tree. But next to it is a box full of tags in which visitors write their wishes and place them on the tree. I'd tell you what mine was but I'm afraid it's like a birthday wish, and it may not come true. 

Another nifty piece was this two-dimensional house that looked very three-dimensional. 

I decided more art was in order. So I continued my day at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Modern Art museum. As you may recall from an early blog on modern art, I have mixed feelings on it. But this gallery had quite a few I could get into.

Today had it's fill of art, but I could use a bit more history. So I checked out the Native American Indian Museum, which was worth the stop just for the incredible design of the building itself. But inside I dove into the world of the America Indian, from the Incas to the Alaskan tribes. 

The museum closed on me before I could get in all that I wanted, but no matter. It was time to end my night. I had dinner with my gracious host Sara at Bangkok 54, a fantastic Thai place. Then ended my night with a few beers and catching up with my other Sara friend, this one from college. 

We finished up our beers just in time for me to catch the last Metro leaving Foggy Bottom. 

Ancient Civilizations and No Stripper

11-16-2008

With only a few weekends left in London, I need to budget my time wisely and hit up what is absolutely essential. From what I had heard, the British museum is one of these such essentials. So today Luke and I gave ourselves a little education and soaked in thousands of years of art.

But first, food was necessary so what better for brunch than a pie from a delicious little Italian place off of Goodge Street.

The museum lived up to it’s reputation, full of priceless artifacts from ancient civilizations like friezes from the Parthenon. I learned today that those actually would have been painted. There was a computer simulation of what the Parthenon would have looked like with these strips of painted sculptures at the base of the roof. There were many scenes throughout the gallery that were either completely or 75% intact. The ruins were actually set up in the gallery approximately as they would have been in the Parthenon, so with the right amount of imagination, I felt like I was there, sandals, tunic, and all.

We even got our feet sandy as we headed back to ancient Egypt via a tour with a lovely volunteer. She told us all about the different dynasties and how the empire evolved with each new pharaoh. While their civilizations were evolving, some of their supposedly ‘new technologies’ didn’t quite work as well as those of old, particularly when it came to burial rituals. A very primitive Egyptian burial was simply a pit dug in the desert sand in which the body was places with whatever objects he or she made need for the afterlife. No sarcophagus, no tomb. Just sand. This preserved the body incredibly well, however, left the body susceptible to tomb raiders and scavenger animals. Hence, why they moved to the sarcophaguses and embalming to attempt to preserve the body for use in the afterlife.

Those with servants even had them killed upon their death, because you wouldn't want to lift a finger in the afterlife. One pharaoh eventually saw the cruelty in this, and since he was god after all, declared that servants could carve a figurine of themselves which would act as their masters servant in the afterlife.

We also saw some samurai armor and Japanese art, an entire collection of African art, and even Indian Jone’s Crystal Skull…. not really, but it is a glass skull that is debated to have supernatural powers.

Oh and the key to decoding text of the ancient world, the Rosetta Stone.

The British Museum also rotates some commissioned contemporary art pieces that are displayed amongst the permanent collection. We were lucky enough to see:

Anthony Gormley’s Case for an Angel I

Damien Hirst’s Cornucopia

Ron Mueck’s Mask II

Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s Dark Stuff (various mummified animals, collected on a metal stand with a light projector showing shadow faces)

Marc Quinn’s Siren (Solid gold statue of Kate Moss in a yoga pose)

We felt a lot smarter after leaving the museum, but we didn’t want to feel too pompous. Lucky for us there was a comic book store right across the street! They had some amazing comics, graphic novels, and books. My favorite was the comic of Firefly, a sci-fi/western series that was on Fox for not long enough.

We arrived back at MTH just in time for the guy’s floor party that was being held in the basement. I was really jacked to go because there was rumor that a stipper was going to be there. Truth be told, it was actually kind of lame. They ran out of beer way too fast and the pizza they promised the 40 of us that were there came an two hours late and in the form of four 8inch little pizzas. Certainly not enough to feed a basement full of hungry buzzed guys.

But meh. Got to play some foosball with pantsless little guys, watched the Packers play Chicago, and played cards with some cool guys from all over the world. It was cool having them ask, “where are you from?” Then I’d point to the screen and say, from where this game is being played.

The night ended at ISH bar with great conversation with Deb.

Saturday at the Office

11-15-2008


I went into the office today. I feel like a real employee coming into work on a weekend. Before I went in though, I had to hit up Primark once more for some essential cheap yet smart clothes. Upon my walk there, I passed by a department store, whose name I can't recall, yet it resembles a Harrods. Anyways, the point is they had this slogan in there impressive window displays. The phrase disgusts me: "The More, the Merrier," implying the more crap you have the happier you'll be this Christmas. Because let's face it, that's what the holidays are all about right.....(hope you picked up the sarcasm there)

I was asked if I wanted to come in today, so I was going in under my own free will. I figured it wouldn't be the end of the world coming in for a panel discussion with some of the local community, and would actually be beneficial. The goal was to get feedback from invited youth and artists in the area to find out how LifeFM (soon to be Bang radio) can better cater to the needs of the community. Unfortunately, do to a very low attendance (no one from the community came at all) the meeting was cancelled. But it wasn't a complete loss since there was in fact work to be done, as usual, so I did some of that.

Did I ever mention this whole Life turning to Bang thing? It's actually been quite exciting lately. Life FM will be changing to Bang Radio on Dec. 8th, a complete re-branding. The music format / target audience isn't changing but the station is streaming-lining quite drastically. I've seen a lot of presenters that I've come to know well be let go as their show didn't quite fit the sound Bang Radio will embody. It's definitely been a good learning experience.

The other excitement of today was seeing a friend's band play at the Barfly off New Oxford Street. The first night I went to the opera with Luke, we were interviewed by a couple who worked for the English National Opera. We had a drinks with them afterward and we agreed that we'd go out on the town some night and see some live jazz. Turns out that the cameraman, Roney, was in a band back in the day that was playing a sort of reunion gig tonight. So I went out and saw him play at a tiny little basement venue that was way too loud. Pretty sweet gig though, they had quite the local following for a little band from a big city.

En route home, I stumbled upon Newman Street and one of the most famous, and believed to be the largest, pieces of graffiti art done by the genius man known only as Banksy. This guerrilla graffiti artist does works all over London and I believe the UK. Done in his very recognizable minimalist style, Banksy's works are always thought provoking and make wonderful statements about the corporate world we live in. If they don't do that, they are random for the sake of random. He puts a little extra spice to life. Turns what would be a blank, dank, dark alley into a work of art. Check out some more of his works here.

Gaming, Portraits, Evensong, Swashbuckling

10-31-2008

My dad and I took full advantage of today. We went to Leicester Square right off the morning to the ''day of'' tkts shop. There we got tickets for later that evening, which I'll write about after we've gotten through the day. I love building suspense!

From there we went to Trafalgar Square and ran into the London Gaming Festival. In Trafalgar, Electronic Arts was displaying their games, Leicester Square was featuring Microsoft's games (including the new Bond), and Charing Cross had Sony products. I had the opportunity to play a few games and catch some sweet new releases. 

We grabbed lunch with my roommate Luke since he works right off of Trafalgar square. Following our O'Neils meals, Luke took my dad and I on a personal tour of the Coliseum, home of the English National Opera.  The company was just finishing up with a rehearsal so we stayed to watch them tear down the set, very behind the scenes VIP kinda stuff.

We also took an hour to glance over The National Gallery,as it was also in Trafalgar. Neither of us were keen on spending hours upon hours at this gallery, however, I saw plenty of what I needed to see, including:

• Van Gogh's  Sunflowers, Long Grass w/ Butterflies (more abstract than I'm used to for Van Gogh) , and Two Crabs (which was different than any other kind of Van Gogh I've seen before)
• Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres 
• Velazquez's The Rokeby Venus (woman on a bed looking in a mirror, her reflection stares back at the viewer)
• Beuckelaer's The Four Elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earch; a series of paintings each portraying a different daily seen of a market
• Delaroche's Execution of Lady Jane Grey (takes place at Tower Hill)

From there were ventured to Charing Cross where shops and street performers entertained us for a few hours. A stunt man did tight-rope walking, knife juggling, sword swallowing, and all of it with humor and whit.  My favorite was a string quartet that not only played well, but worked the crowd as well. I'll get a video up sooner than later. 

From the buskers to the banks of the Thames. We walked around by the Eye and checked out the living statues and other street performers. I randomly remembered that daily Evensong at Westminster was at 17:00, which was coming up pretty quick.

Once again these boys & men, ranging from ages 6 to 60, almost moved me to tears with their beautifully blended tones reverberating throughout Westminster Abbey. This time I was actually able to see them in action since we got to the Abbey early enough to get a decent seat near the choir stalls. 

On our way out of the Big Ben / Parliament area, I finally got the picture I've been meaning to get for a while and finally had a decent camera to take it with. 

And now to break the tension, the suspense. Have you been feeling it?? Aren't you just dying to know what show I saw tonight? Well, by now you've probably forgotten that I even mentioned I went to a show tonight. Dammit, I really need to work on my suspense building.

Anywho, we went to see Zorro: The Musical. Ever since I heard it advertised I figured it was going to be a cheesy show, more of a spectacle that a musical, but for some reason I was still ridiculously intrigued by it. I have to admit, I was thoroughly entertained. Not only by the artistically creative sets, interesting plot-line (that was, however, a little dodgy at points), and sweet sword fighting / fight scenes, but the music as well.

The music was all of spanish origin: flamenco, mariachi, and of course throw in a few musical theater ballads. But the dancing that accompanied the uniquely scored show sold it as well. All around a solid show for a new West End musical. 

They just need to do something about the tube trains that are loud and clear passing underneath that Garrick Theatre...

A Full Friday

10-24-2008
This random Friday became rather eventful rather unexpectedly. Kris and I took a journey south of Hyde park to see the sights there. The first sight to see was the Marble Arch right outside speaker's corner.

Our ultimate destination today was the Saatchi Art gallery. It's an art gallery completely dedicated to contemporary Chinese artists.

Zhang Xiaotao

Feng Zhengjie: Chinese Portrait P Series 2006 No. 1

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Love it! Bite it: (and entire city made from dog chews)

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Angel

Bai Yiluo : Civilization

Since we were just a few blocks away, we decided to edumacate ourselves by going to the Science Museum just outside the Imperial College of London.

We saw the worlds first computers, planes, jet engines, an exhibit on plastic (most exciting), model ships, and a whole array of things you'd expect to find in a science museum. Excluding, however, the one thing I did expect to find, on of those pipes you hover your hand over to make your hair stand up. I mean, come on, how do you miss that?

The coolest section was the interactive children's section. The only downfall, all the damn kids. Although they didn't have the electric hair stand-up thingy, everything else made up for it's absence. This computer monitor to the right was one of my favs as it taught children about sound waves and audio. Basically what I do every day.

We took a bus home, I grabbed a panini from ISH, and hopped the tube over to Brick Lane where I met up with Chad, Mike, and Luke for an Alaska in Winter concert.


Before even arriving, we got a concert of our own on Brick Lane as we drank our cheap beer from the shop. This guy wheeled his kit around London and played wherever he wouldn't get kicked out of, and believe me, he knew what he was doing. Check him out.

The concert was...I don't want to say a dissapointment because I love his music, but it wasn't what I expected. I expected a full group with strings, piano, trumpet, vocalists

and someone dropping beats, however it was just one guy with video of himself behind him playing all the instruments, all in sync of course. It was an experience.

But all around a solid Friday.

Frieze, Everybody Clap Your Hands

10-19-2008

It was a late one last night...or an early one this morning, whichever way you want to look at it. Therefore I declare it is perfectly acceptable to sleep in till noon when you went to sleep at 6:30am. In actuality, noon is waking up early under those circumstances.

My day started off pretty crazy actually. A group of us were walking to the Frieze Art Fair when we came across this:

I couldn't believe it. Right across the street in Regent's Park a poor young woman was murdered last night, at least that's what we gathered from looking at this crime scene. I got the best picture I could, as I had to sneak through the bushes to get it without getting my camera

confiscated. Obviously the case had yet to be solved because these guys in white coats were searching pretty intensely for whatever clues they could find. On their hands and knees looking through leaves, surveying the land, and roping off the immediate area. I couldn't believe I was seeing something that you'd only expect to find on CSI. I'll be checking the paper tomorrow to see exactly what went down.....

Chances are there won't be anything in the paper because the previous paragraph was a complete fabrication. The above scene was actually part of the Frieze Art fair. This was just one of the many works that really put you in the art. The entire exhibition hall was filled with samples from galleries from around the world, many displaying new concepts and brilliant works.

Beautifully unique works of art.

One of the most interesting parts of the entire art fair was the way they turned smokers into art work. For those that desperately needed that nicotine, there were three glass booths in place, complete with a chair, ash try, water cooler, and ventilation pipe.

Rumshake, Park Art, and Moshi Moshi

10-18-08

Our original goal today was to get bitch'n London tattoos. By 'our' I mean about five of us from Wisconsin who all had our own original ideas for tats and intending on getting inked while we were overseas. I would love to divulge what my design was to be even though I didn't get it, however that doesn't mean I won't get it trapped into my skin sooner or later.

None of us got tattoos that day, mostly because the best places were booked for the day, but also because after short consultations with multiple artists, none of us were really pleased with their feedback. I heard from three different artists at three different shops that my design would have to be much bigger that I would like it because of the detail involved. If any tattoo artists are reading this and can set me straight please comment. While I suppose they might just have my best interests in mind, I also had a suspicion that they were all trying to make an extra £100 off me. Meredith on the other hand (remember her from the art gallery?) scheduled an appointment and will be heading back next Sunday to get the outline of Wisconsin somewhere on her body.

Our trip to the Camden tattoo parlors was no waste of time. Camden is always a fun time, whether it be shopping or just looking. Our excitement today was stopping by a place called the Diner. It's a chain and a good one at that. I had a hard milk shake, strawberry cheesecake to be exact. The perfectly blended rum was barely noticeable and slowly hit me as we chilled in the diner. Katy's fries were the icing on the cake as I dipped them in my rumtastic beverage.

Kallie and I ended up making the walk back to the Regent's park area together and stopped to see the outdoor sculpture garden of the Frieze Art fair. This huge exhibition features galleries from around the world and takes over the largest green space of Regent's for five days. In any other circumstance, I'd be upset that a large green space was being monopolized by a huge structure. However, this art fair looked as if it was definitely worth it. We didn't go into the exhibition hall, that will have to wait for tomorrow, however we did see the free sculptures.

Tin cans skull

A semi-happy fellow

After checking out the sculptures, I went back to the room and had a quick nap. It lasted 10 minutes until my buddies came in to get ready for the night ahead of us. Mike, Chad, and I headed to the O2 for the Moshi Moshi records anniversary party. Took us a little while longer to get there than we anticipated as the Jubilee line, the tube line that leads to the O2's front door, was out of commission. So we took the tube as close as we could then hopped on a bus.

The bus ended up taking longer than it should have as well since the driver took us in the opposite direction of the 02 until someone said ''excuse me, where are you taking us?''

His reply, ''opps, thought I was driving the 29 instead of the 20, shouldn't have drank so much tonight.''

Reassuring I know.

Anywho, we made it there around 11:30 and only ended up missing one of the bands we really wanted to see. The gig was from 10pm-7am. We ended up staying till about 5am listening to some incredible DJs while grooving on a dance floor that vibrated due to the giant sub woofer underneath it. 

Oh and saw some incredible bands....

Tilly and the Wall: wasn't incredibly familiar with them before tonight, but I sure am now. Their bass drum is accented by the three singers pounding their feet while they dance on amplified wooden boxes.

and HOT CHIP. I've been in love with this band for a good two years now. When I got to London I immediately looked up tickets to see these blokes and found the cheapest ticket at £100. However at this Moshi Moshi party I saw both bands and DJ's for £20....Hot Chip rocked me hard, and I loved every minute. Even when I was sandwiched amongst sweaty bodies.

An Evening of Proud

10-16-2008


After work today, I got to see how one of my fellow interns is doing at her place of employment. Meredith is working at Proud Galleries. It's a sweet combinatioin of a concert venue, bar, and an art gallery. There are three branches of them in Camden and other parts of London. This one, on this particular night was giving away free drinks as a celebration / slap-in-the-face to the gallery next door who was trying to hold a celebration of their own.

Free drinks and cool photographs of musicians form the 70's? Pretty sweet place to work Meredith.

Modern Art, Tate'nt All that Bad

10-3-2008

Today I felt like a college student in London. I set a record of sleeping in, 10:00. However, it was necessary after going to sleep six hours before that. I had a slow going morning. Eventually, I made it on my run. This time though, I brought my mobile with me to talk to others and figure out what I was to do with the rest of my day. I came to find out that my mobile actually tucks comfortably in a back pocket right above my buttocks. After one phone call, I decided to join a group with a tour of the Tate Modern Art Gallery.

Modern Art. The phrase entices some, and makes others cringe. I straddle the fence, which at times can be a bit painful.

Call me uncultured or someone who doesn’t appreciate all art, but about half the stuff in there just didn’t move me. And to me, that’s what art, in any form, should do. With modern art, the viewer spends too much time trying to interpret exactly what is on the canvas or exactly what a sculpture should be, that by the time it’s all figured out, emotion is an afterthought. I played a game with Rachel in which we tried to interpret what the artist intend in each work, or at least what our interpretation was. Each time our thoughts were completely different from the artists.

I guess my biggest critique of modern art is that so many of these artist are afraid to just be literal. There was a massive clay / bronze sculpture that took up the corner of a room. It looked like diarrhea pouring down from the heavens on to little turds below (I’m sorry but that’s the only way I know how to describe it). Upon reading the description, it’s supposed to represent a lightening bolt from the heavens giving life to yet undeveloped beings. Why can’t the blobs of poop on the ground at least resemble creatures and the pouring bowl movement from the heavens look like a lightening blot?

Another example: say you want to address the issue of domestic animal abuse. Instead of painting a picture of a battered dog cowering in a corner, you splash paint on a canvas while your dog watches….sounds ridiculous, but that’s modern art.

Now, some of it I absolutely LOVED. Take the previous example. You can draw a dog cowering in the corner and distort it all you want, but I still want to know it’s a dog. That’s the stuff I loved. There were even some completely ridiculous pieces that really spoke to me and I loved that. Here are my top picks:

• Paul McCarthy – Projection Room: very disturbing images of self-mutilation, but it does what it’s supposed to, makes the audience uncomfortable
  
• Jannis Kounellis – Untitled: a factory painted on the wall spewing smoke with two dead birds above the smoke with arrows though them
  
• Paul Nash – Landscape from a Dream: Surrealism which plays on the ideas of Frued
  
• Jackson Pollock – Naked Man with a Knief: very Picasso-like
  
• Edward Burra – The Snack Bar: Exaggerated figures in an everyday setting of a dinner bar, there exists an odd tension between the man, woman, and ham
  
• Diego Rivera – Mrs. Helen Wills Moody: huge face potrait
  
• Meredith (male) Frampton – Portrait of a Young Woman: she’s standing next too a cello, realism done very well, the picture is extremely vibrant and carries with it a radiant shine that cannot be caught from a camera. He said about this painting “[it is] a relaxation from commissions, and to celebrate an assembly of objects…beautiful in their own right”
• Cornelia Parker – 30 pieces of Silver: thousands of flattened pieces of silver arranged into 30 discs hung by strings, floating them about 6 inches above the ground. The shadows left by the images made the work. Upon further research into the piece I found out that the 30 pieces represent the payment to Judas for betraying Jesus
  
• Pawet Kwiek – a Polish pioneer in experimental video techniques
  
• Jenny Holzer – Inflammatory Essays: arranged into a colorful full wall display, about 12 essays each exactly 100 words and 20 lines
  
• Susan Hiller – States of Flux: five simultaneous videos focusing on telekinesis
  
• Ohh and I saw Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso… I like Andy better.

And of course, I had to end the night at the ISH bar. Don't judge me. They have the cheapest drinks in London.

A Whole Lotta London

9-28-2008

Today I gallivanted around London with the ISH tour group. For a mere £22.50 we got a hipster guided walking tour around Parliament, Westminster, and Big Ben, a boat cruise of the Thames where a comical deck hand pointed out great sights along the way, lunch at a casual-smart diner (where I had some delicious salmon in a plumb sauce), and the icing on the cake a flight in the London Eye.

The guide on the boat informed us that a popular thing to do nowadays is get married on the London Eye. It’s quite perfect really. Round trip it’s a half hour flight. Do the beginning mumbo jumbo on the way up, say your vows and the very top, then it’s all down hill from there….I told you he was comical.

But really I can’t say much more about the London Eye. It’s an experience and I’ll try to let a picture do the talking.

Upon the end of the London Eye flight, our tour with ISH travel group was over, but our day has just begun. Jenny and I met up with a lovely German girl named Karen. The three of us spent a good hour watching the amazing street performers around the Eye. Then went to an exhibit surreal artist Salvador Dali.

His exhibit was a journey into the mind of a genius. Since I was in his head, I figured I would right down a few thoughts of this master:

• What is important is to spread confusion, not to eliminate it
  
• I’m in a permanent state of intellectual erection
• Life is aspiration, respiration, and expiration
  
• For me, love must be ugly, looks must be divine, and death must be beautiful
  
• The fact that I myself do not understand the meaning of my paintings at the time that I am painting them does not mean that they have no meaning

After Dali, we journeyed to Westminster for a 17:45 Organ Recital featuring the Deputy Master of Music at the Chapels Royal, Ian Keatley. We were surprised to see the he was joined by Jim Motherwell, Her Majesty The Queen’s Piper. It was a brilliant performance consisting for only four pieces.

• Prelude and Fugue in C - J.S. Bach
• Pslam prelude Set 1 No. 1 - H. Howells
• Highland Cathedral - Korb, Roever (almost put me in tears, featured the Piper)
• Final from Sept pieces Op. 27 - M. Dupre

And that, my friends, is how you spend a day in London.