Archive for July, 2008

Feet.2

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

(fyi, attempting to go down a seriously narrow, seriously long close in flip flops after having coffee – not a good idea.)

I really like taking pictures down at my feet, apparently, so that’s today’s amusing topic. To me, it really gives a sense of place and depth, not to mention it pretty effectively communicates the concept of walking. It’s kind of ironic for me, though, because I quite substantially disenjoy my feet. After too many years of wearing flip flops far too often, my feet are rather non-aesthetic, with a weird space between my first and second toe, which is unfortunately slightly distracting. Anyway, my point is, I think it’s cool how it sort of makes me feel like I’m back where it was taken… and for other people, it sort of forces people to create their own idea of the surrounding area in their head, and it makes me really happy when people think about what they see. :)

(The first one is from Edinburgh, the above one is Seattle, and the last one was Vancouver.)

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Amused.1

Monday, July 28th, 2008

I wonder… is it the more I photograph something the more I become amused with it? Or do I photograph something more because I’m amused with it? No matter – today’s subject of amusement is none other than… street performers!

I think really there are three things that fascinates me most about street performances. In general, the first is the people (amazingly original answer, I know). It’s just the whole concept of it – there’s a complete stranger doing whatever they’re doing and a clump of people observing. They don’t know who each other is, or how each other is going to act/react, so it’s just sort of this weird interaction that I find quite interesting.

Secondly, if you look at the people in the crowd, it’s often nothing more than a conglomeration of the typical coupon-saving-sunscreen-wearing-fannypack-toting-tourist. For example, take the LA (top) vs. London (bottom) audience. Here we have two different countries on two different continents, yet the people in the crowd are seemingly eerily similar (tongue twister!). I realize it’s probably because they’re both in relatively touristy areas, but I still find it really funny and equally interesting.

Lastly, standing out seems to be a high priority, which often results in unexpected and largely amusing things, such as people posing as ninjas, or Darth Vaders playing the violin. Whatever the case, it’s usually largely out of place.

And that concludes (random) amusement with Ariel…

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Aye

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

So, I’ve been back from the British Isles for several weeks now… and I’ve pretty much seriously failed at updating since I got back. Nothing overly news-worthy has happened, I s’pose. Until now!

Amy, my roommate from UBC, came to visit, and has been staying with me for the past… week or so. Which has been pretty nice, for several reasons (namely because I have not seen her in a while, and also because it’s nice to have someone else who understands my random Doctor Who allusions, etc.). Plus, it’s been swell to have someone to do things with in general. So, yay for Amy bringing excitement to July!

We went down to Mexico (Calafia specifically, which is South of San Diego) for almost a week. We usually go to Rocky Point, so it was kind of nice to see another part of Mexico, especially since my dad and I sort of forewent our backpacking through Mexico trip for this summer (er, I went to the UK instead…). Anyway, it was a lot more metropolitan-ish, and I still prefer Rocky Point, I think. Not as many crazy loud people or federales with ridiculously big guns pointed in our general direction. And more importantly, no Wal-Marts.

Highlights from the trip, in no particular order, accompanied by pictures:

I love Mexican markets. They crack me up, because they’re overflowing with raw fish (among other things) that looks disturbingly unappetizing, but it’s generally ridiculously good.

La Bufadora! One of two (apparently) biggest natural blow-hole things. Or… something. It was a bit of a walk from the car to it, and the walk there was lined with shops, where I discovered that I apparently do not like the taste of “straight-up” Mangoes – especially when they’re covered in a mysterious red spicy powder.

Then we ran into this random street where people were painting on a wall. Just, random people painting this random wall. It was actually quite exciting, and Amy and I got some paint and joined in. I guess this is what you get when you give two Arts students paint and a portion of an empty wall…

And of course, I’m always a fan of beaches!

And water in general.

Back to the topic of the UK… A semi-big part of the reason I went was to visit schools that I’m looking at applying for for my Master’s degree next year. Namely, a school in Cardiff and one in London. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and people keep asking me and I’ve sort of come to a conclusion. While the London one canceled the degree I was really intrigued by (go figure – why am I having so much difficulty with degrees recently?! Argh.), and the Cardiff school was less than helpful, I think I’m still going to apply for the latter. And possibly look around for something in Edinburgh, because I think I pretty much fell in love with that city. So, bravo for Cardiff and their fascinating nearly-vowelless-Welsh language.

I feel like I’ve written a mini novella here (at least it is complete with pictures, eh?), so I’ll take that as a cue to stop. Hope you’re all having a lovely summer! :)

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