Last Climb of 2009

Ngauruhoe, originally uploaded by masepack.

Down the Road

Down the Road, originally uploaded by masepack.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh Summer. . . . .

Copenhagen

Terrified American reporter; "Someone please think of the children!"

Sorry lady, these kids are fucked anyways, who cares what shithole of a planet/mess we leave for them to clean up. I can't wait to be safe on my land in the cold north of Canada with "free" water/power and a big gun. Hey I can dream if I want to . . .

Play me out Johnny

, originally uploaded by masepack.

Michelle and I at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde park. I'm looking slightly retarded. We went skating for about an hour and even thou it was on rented skates and on a wee rink, I had a great time. I miss hockey.

New Zealand next week, staying for an extra 10 days now, so maybe I will see you soon _______?

Sun setting at 3pm now, I can't wait for Summer!

Colours of Infinity

I watched this in Uni, have dreams about it still.

"The Colour's of Infinity" is a documentary about fractals hosted by Arthur c Clarke with the soundtrack by Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd. It's super geek awesome.

Colours of Infinity

Colour is my Aeroplane

Colour is my Aeroplane, originally uploaded by masepack.

Angel of Death

Jill from Sparrow and the Workshop @ The Slaughtered Lamb, originally uploaded by masepack.

Went with Natasha to see "Sparrow and the Workshop" at the Slaughtered Lamb in Farringdon, also playing were "Kitty and the Lion" and Joe Guinness.

Sweet.

Cartagena

Cartagena1, originally uploaded by masepack.

Taken at the entrance to the port of Cartagena, there were battlements all around the rocks, sadly it was all fenced off and I couldn't get any closer. We took lunch at Mares Bravas where we had fresh prawns, fried baby octopus, grilled swordfish, and I took this photo. So nice . .

subMedia TV

I've been watching "It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine" (ITEOTWAWKIAIFF) for a quite a while now, why have a website and not use it?

Fighting Fascism

This week:

1. Olympic terror


2. Modest Mouse


3. Torch relay begins

Check out more at Submedia TV.

Clear Cuts

Video features Qwatsinas of the Nuxalk Nation who inhabit the central coast of British Columbia, Zoe Blunt from the Forest Action Network and Derrick Jensen speaking about the impact of clear cut logging in BC.

I'm going to Spain tomorrow so should have some sunny photos in a week.

From Sherwood to Caspa

So since I have got back to the UK I've been quietly working away trying to save cash for the trip back to NZ, but managed to get out and about a little, Jackie took me to "Dans le Noir?" for a belated birthday dinner, a restaurant where you dine in total darkness and your waiter/waitress is visually impaired/blind. Total sensory overload, the food was pretty amazing, we ate Springbok, crocodile and guinea fowl amongst other things, and as it was the "surprise" menu, you spent the night trying to feel/smell/taste what you were eating.

Also darkness makes having a private conversation impossible so you meet the other people at your table too. Coming out into the light was like seeing a radio presenter for the first time, they look nothing like their voice.

Finally made it to Borough market on Saturday with Caroline who was stopping of for a day on her way to a wedding in Spain, good to catch up and shoot the shit about and plan where to be when the revolution comes.

The following weekend I went up to Nottingham to go boating and see Jackie, the river as you can see below had a Cyanide leak a few days before I got there, thou I tried not to drink the water, I was paddling a Liquid Logic "Biscuit 55", playboat with a rounded rail, rolled it once and had 2 swims. Was a good day thou, took a few pics, had a good time in the boat, then tried to hit up a beer festival on the Saturday night but they closed there doors at 7pm because, wait for it. . . they ran out of beer.

Did a couple of media shots for the New Theatre in Nottingham on the Sunday followed by a trip out to Sherwood forest to do a little sight seeing and have a mini photo shoot in the woods. Saw the "Major Oak" an oak tree thought to be between 800 and 1000 years old, it has had supports holding up it's limbs since Victorian times.

On Tuesday Roisin came and I gave the best tour yet, all of the typical stuff, plus 1/2 a day in Camden, Roisin found a piano and a Guitar to play at random stores, I got new shoes, and vegan food. That night we went go and see Caspa and DJ Rusko at a Repeater, first Dubstep in the UK and I guess I had too high expectations, I felt it was a bit lame.

Yes there were extenuating circumstances, Had to go through a metal detector and have a pat down body search and they went through all my things in a plastic bowl, felt like the airport. But we got in and Caspa had just started, he had some pretty mad beats but the flow was shit, I'm not talking glitch flow, but he would only play fro about 4-6 mins before MC Rod Azlan needed a new track, it was like listening to a series of singles, wasn't loving the "fakie bass drop" that lead to "Make some noise/ CASPA!/Yeah Yeah Yeah!" for a minute before the sounds went back on.
Sound system was a little underpowered too which didn't help.

DJ Rusko on the other hand was wicked, has some pretty jelly tracks with some dirty bass, got a bit Drum'n Bassy too, I had sore abs in the morning.

Peace!

Nottingham

DSC_3221, originally uploaded by masepack.

In the polluted river . . .

See-saw of death

See-saw of death, originally uploaded by masepack.

Found my shitty old canon and it had some photos on it!

Seattle @ Night

Seattletight, originally uploaded by masepack.

Burning Man

I got back to the UK the other day, and after a long period of sleepless flying and jet lag I'm catching up on my neglected tasks. One of which is this blog and one of the major reasons of neglect is writers block.
I've been trying to write about Burning Man for over a week now with little success, it seems that the whole event is beyond my ability to describe, I'm a Photographer not a Writer.

That being said I only took out my camera 4 times during the event and snapped off around 200 pictures which is pretty damn low for me considering I usually take more than that in one day and I took enough storage and battery life to choke a donkey. I think Paolo said it best with "You can either capture it or be in it, you can't do both." So there you go, I was in it, I was in it hard.
Even Jay Michaelson's description of:

"It's a temporary city of 50,000 people, devoted to radical self-expression. So you'll find anything you'd find in a regular city -- art museums, dance clubs, yoga studios -- only in the middle of the desert, with no money, and with more creativity than you've ever seen."

seems to miss out a bit, so of the few photos I did take, I will let them tell a bit of the story.
Abby and I made the trip together, and as I had lost the truck we took a bus to Seattle and got a ride down with some people that were found on the internet, Whitney and Tahir. The drive down was long, I will stick to talking about BM, America is still a crazy story thou. We arrived at around 12am on Saturday, and were gifted early passes, set up the tent in the dark not knowing where we were and had our last taste of normality.
We awoke to the stunning vista which is Black Rock City, in the middle stages of development. We had hooked up a camping with "Red Lightning", a group mainly from the bay area consisting of assorted new age/gender alchemist/spirit healer/fire and lightning performer/spiritualist types who have come together to build one great camp. There were a lot of tipi's, 2 healing domes, a Sun and Moon Lodge, the lightning temple and the Entelechy (said in-tel-le-key) where various events, activities, workshops and performances were held. As we were virgins and had also arrived early we were at a bit of a loose end and tried to help were we could without getting under everyone's feet.

I helped a bit in the Entelechy helping Jo-Free and John with the final stages of setup, it was hard to feel like part of the group and for the first few days there was a lot of stress and sort tempers which we were not expecting, but things began to change as the final pieces began to slot into place and fresh people arrived with fresh energy.
There were massage tables being set up so I took the opportunity to practice some therapy on a couple of the super stressed "leaders", one of which (Evonne) later introduced me to people as an "Amazing Healer" which is possibly the nicest thing anyone has said about me, and it really made me feel welcome at camp.

Friends began to arrive and exploration took on greater distances, made easier by the bike given to me by the Campo Allegro crew for helping with their setup, and we hooked up with the Scotians and their crew at Storybooks and Alleyways, meeting more great people in the process. Greg and Natalie et al arrived for the Solar Sonic contingent, and our campsite and crew were finalised, the party could begin.

The Gypsum/salt/sand/dust storms were frequent early on, temperatures were hitting 35-38 (I think), David's poor cooling system could not cope. During these times I hid from the sun and wind as much as possible (not very much) and in the late afternoon headed out into the throng. The gift economy was a little tough to get used to, and as a person who rarely says no to anything I ended up getting caffeinated, spanked, ass branded and drunk on the way to Storybooks, all within about 10 minutes. Saying no to people became the hardest thing, I found myself wanting for nothing, I even got given some clothes!

Days beautifully swept into nights, the desert itself is a beautiful place in the twilight, I don't think I have seen a sunset or sunrise with a greater spectrum of colour, sadly I only captured one sunset and no sunrises, but the moonrise during sunset (right) was rather beautiful.

Night brings a change to the city, from the time that the lamp lighters finish hanging the lanterns until the rainbow dawn, art cars, bikes, art bikes and people navigate the playa, moving between displays, music, parties, art installations and home, it was like being in a movie all the time. Saturday night was the climax of the entire thing with the burning of the man (sorry no pics) which was so incredible I can't describe it. Really.

The temple burn on Sunday was a more somber affair, and the week came to an end. Abby and I parted ways, I headed up to Seattle via a hot springs in Oregon with some new friends and hung in Seattle for a couple of days exploring before tripping back to Vancouver for the weekend and the flight back to the UK.

Photos, do your thing . . .

More photos on Flickr

Burn

Burn, originally uploaded by masepack.

Back from the burn, in Seattle til further notice

South

South, originally uploaded by masepack.

In Sacramento, Playa today!

Beach

Beach, originally uploaded by masepack.

So we have been super busy getting ready for Burning Man, still trying to sort a ride to Seattle, but from Seattle we have a ride all the way!!

If I haven't replied to your emails, I'm sorry, when I'm back on the UK I'll have a lot of free time . . .

Check ya in 2 weeks

Zaireeka!! I'm 26!

So a lot has happened since the Zombie walk on Saturday, Sunday brought more great weather and the Latin festival at trout lake at commercial and 14th. I picked up some new clothes (shock) for cheap and had a swim in the lake with Primer before catching up with Devin to go to Heba and Gemma's for a wine and a curry.
Yoshi gave me a call as we were leaving and convinced me to head downtown for a drink which turned into an amazing night or partying and 4 people riding 2 bikes at top speed around the city at 4 in the morning before catching the sunrise at English bay.

I awoke hours later in someone's chair at a flat in the west end and biked home for some real sleep. Monday was a little bit of a write off after that, ended up catching a movie with Amy (Mean Creek). Tuesday I spent playing with logos for Solar Sonic, called my Gran and recharged.

Wednesday was wreck beach day followed by a family dinner at Larch, watermelon gazpacho, pine nut and feta salad with sun-dried tomato dressing and sweet corn risotto. Francis also arrived back on Wednesday, the boys are back in town.

Thursday began filled with promise, Francis and I got on bikes and rode to the camera store to get him a SLR, had a decent crash on the way and fucked my foot so I bought a new 35mm F1.8 DX lens for my camera to ease the pain, at least this purchase has a guarantee! I went and saw "Shine" with Amy, a burlesque musical playing at Waterfront theater on Granville island, It was pretty wicked, I think the catch phrase right now is "sex-positive", and with lyrics like “I miss spreading your cheeks / and licking your bum / I miss kissing your lips / when they’re soaked in my come.” it's pretty hard not to have a fun time. The evening concluded with a trip to the Astoria (I painted that sign!) for a night of reggae and dancing til about 0330.

Friday involved more naked sunbathing and sleep until about 5ish to get ready for Philistine at the rickshaw theater, was an ok show, not quite what I was expecting but I had a good time until the amazing after party at the "red gate", this crazy underground club on hastings down a back alley, nice a sketchy, had a great night. Made it back to Larch about 4, just enough time for a quick nap and a shower before Amy took me out for birthday breakfast.

I'm 26! Jesus. More sleep after breakfast, then the setup for Zaireeka began. 4 Stereo's, 3 iPods, 2 computers, 1 projector and a shrine later we were ready to roll. But before we kicked off Paolo, Yoshi and I went out for Mexican where it finished up with a round of tequila, a sparkler and a sombrero, after which Yoshi picked plants and flowers on the way home and made an art piece out of her head.

Zaireeka was Incredible! Is soundgasm a word? Thanks to everyone who made it possible, I've been waiting for 5 years to listen to that album. . . so happy :)
Still no ride for Burning Man, I'm sure it will happen thou, the Universe is on my side :D

Solar Sonic

Checkout this new video from Natalie and the Solar Sonic crew that we are hooking up with at Burning Man! Tickets, Campsite and hopefully transport have jut gotten sorted out, now I can focus on getting prepared for the festival itself, is it hot in the desert?

Red Lightning
Solar Sonic

Zombie Jesus

Zombie Walk 2009

The Zombie walk was happening on Saturday, never made it down before so had a look, and it was a pretty cool day, from the art gallery to English bay, there were moaning bleeding Zombies terrorizing tourist buses along Robson and Denman, small children hiding behind Mother's, classic. Some of the costumes were pretty well done, the nurses were many and there was makeup being done for about 3 hrs at the art gallery.

I ran outta memory halfway through the walk, but a quick stop to pick up Yoshi to help and a quick delete, we managed to catch Zombie Jesus for a few minutes down at English Bay with some other random zombies that turned up.

Crossed the bridge to 4th ave street festival where there were a bunch of classic cars on display, 3 stages playing, and other assorted hippy things. There was a super sweet black and gold 77 Trans Am there, it was my favorite matchbox car as a kid, it was kinda surreal seeing it up close, American cars are so over the top.

Still working out how I'm gonna get to Burning Man, also need to get involved with Natalie and Solar Sonic this week so I am on low consumption mode til then.

Peace