the things we think but do not say

rat boy

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

Last Sunday in sunny Evanston, my girlfriend and I were having a pleasent lunch at Einstein Bagels. Two very fearful things happened that made me lose my appetite.

1. Finding a small green spotted ladybird like insect in my salad.

2. Seeing this poor boy with a rediculous haircut.

My girlfriend remembered seeing ‘the tail’ back in high school and there was a competative spirit between ‘tailers’ (as I’m calling them from now on). “how long can you grow it dude?”

But hello? It’s 2005. There are many updstanding male role models to look up to. Lots of examples of what to do and what not to do with your hair.

Where did society go wrong here?
Who’s at fault?
Did we fail as his friends and peers?

I blame the parents.

Two motorcycles riders

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

Finally these are posted!
Mandalay is north of Yangon and is typically cooler than the capital, but when in Burma cooler than the capital means 80 and not 100 degrees.

My dad’s family all hail from this town and not that I could say with any authority, but there are Mandalay people and then there are Yangon people.

Mandalay has a long history of two wheel vehicles and to this day it’s still holds true. Everywhere you look, thousands of wandering, whizzing, wheeling characters cut through traffic, of yet more two wheelers. Although Yangon had it’s fair share of motorbikes, when I was there, a ban on all motorbikes were in effect. Some incident involving a government official’s son apparently prompted the ban.

But for me, this trip to visit Mandalay with my parents and my sister and her family was one of the few memories of my family travelling together like that.

On the flight north, my family take a flight with a ’start up’ airline that offerred cheap tickets to travellers through Burma. In the inflight magazine, the first page shows a photo of the CEO, an upstanding, handsome, well groomed Burmese business man in his late 30s. He welcomes me to safe travels!

I hear later that he’s in cahoots with the government and is in fact a massive gun runner. Nice guy huh?

Please take a look through these photos here.

groovetube

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

As I was wondered around the chi chi shops of Hayes Valley in SF the other week, I came across one of the most memerising things I’ve ever seen. It stopped me in my tracks and I stood there quietly for a few minutes just staring.

This amazing visual effect is called the groovetube and what it looks like is a panel of coloured squares that appear to randomly change through different shades and tones. In seconds you see tens of colours appear, move, and dissappear effortlessly.

But what I thought might have been some incredibly clever electronics and LEDS, was in fact far more rudimentary. It’s a box made of a translucent material, that is quite simply, stuck on to a TV. The colours from the TV are ‘averaged’ by each square and leave this perfectly lit panel. Multiply over 36 more squares and you have hundreds of rearranging patterns over and over again.

This will make any old, crap, TV into a stimulating, fascinating box of lights again, instead of the source of evil that it really is.

Check here for more info and a small video!

Did I get it. Of course I did. I couldn’t leave town without it.

I can stop at any time

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

I’ve been playing “hold ‘em poker” with my friends for a few years now and it’s still great fun.

If I’ve not played a few weeks though, I start to get an itch that can only be scratched by either a home games with my mates, or at worst a visit to Gary, Indiana to play on the river boats, which are the nearest tables to Chicago.

Playing at the small sampling of seedy casinos I’ve visited so far there’s a ever present feeling that this is a slightly sad, pathetic activity. The sense that there are a lot of people here that have been welding all day, cashed in their welfare checks and are now squandering it all away at the tables is hard to erase. But after an hour or two of playing with a few of these guys and gals, you realise that everyone is the same underneath.

The latest place I played in, was called Artichoke Joes, right by the San Bruno station on the Caltrain, on the way north from Palo Alto to San Francisco.

Now I understand that each casino has it’s own house rules and customs, but this is the only place where players ‘tip’ each other after a bad beat. It seemed to be a custom that everyone understood, and it happened bad beat after bad beat. What nice bunch of degenerate gamblers!

If you’re interested in starting a new addicition then here are some handy tips for beginners.

Remember, recognising that there is a problem is the first step in dealing with it.

waiting for the hayes bus

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

Shopping in San Francisco is always fun and there’s a number of stores along Hayes St that I love to visit whenever I’m in town:

Gimme shoes is great for shoes that no one can afford. They were the place I found my super rare lacoste sneaks that were sold out all over London when they came out.

HUF is a great sneaker store and this place is filled with beautiful Adidas kicks. They unfortunately did not carry the all green classic rereleased Rod Lavers that were sold out in the Adidas store in SoHo in NY. Bugger

Propeller” is a store full of beautiful, expensive, and essentially useless things for your dream house.

Friend is very similar to Propeller, in that they sell conspicuously over-designed objects for your tiny SF studio apartment.

Flight 001 is a unique store that specialises in luggage and other flight related products.

Fritz is an crepe and french fry restaurant that has a wondefully sunny back garden. All the crepe dishes are named after artists. My favourite is the Mark Rothko.

Scandinavian Details is yet another home furnishing store that seem to be everywhere on this street. Expensive and beautiful scandinavian designed objects. This is where I bought my favourite new watch.

palo_alto

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

Palo Alto sucks.

It’s a weird place. The cultural centre of this town seems to be the Peet’s Coffee shop.

I’ve been staying at a coporate apartment for the last five days and I have a week to go. There’s not internet connection (!) so I’ve not had much chance to write recently. My apologies.

There will be new posts soon!

seersucker

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

Seersucker is and will probably always be a complete fashion gamble. For some reason, the fashionistas that be have deemed seersucker to be the next big thing. Seersucker pants, jackets, suits, shorts, underwear, socks and even jumpsuits are now falling prey to this vicious fabric.There’s apparently amazing properties that makes it breathable, light weight and comfortable. But the one property that at it’s core is it’s ability to render anyone to look like a knob jockey.

If you’ve been spared the horror of experiencing one of these garments, then consider yourself lucky. But if you must know, it’s that crinkly cotton fabric that has those crap litle stripes all over it. Please take a look at the examples here. Let’s just say that these 10x8s aren’t going into the front of these model’s portfolios.

To this onslaught I give you some simple steps to see if seersucker will make a sucker out of you. (Oh come on, it’s called seersucker for Christ’s sake.)

A. Try on a jacket and look at yourself in the mirror.

B. Let the fabric work it’s magic.

C. Give yourself a pat on the back for trying to make something that very few men can pull off.

D. Take off the jacket and thank the nice homeless person for his time.

It’s just one of those things that at best will make you look like a cock and at worst, will make people think you’re Colonel Sanders.

It’s got ‘flash in the pan’ written all over it.

petsessories

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

I’m giving this one to Skymall for free.

“Pet-sessories, the newest, funnest, line of Accessories for your Pet!

In the long tradition of bringing you the consumer only the best and most fun things from around the world, we here at Pet-sessories have found three great new additions to any Pet Lover’s home. And we know better than anyone, isn’t that right Fluffykins, that getting around the house can sometimes be hard. So that’s why we blessed our little tushies, when we saw these little ‘helpers’ to get our best friend from A (your bed) to B (the floor). Or in the case of the ‘Pet Stroller’ A to B can be over 30 yards!

So when you and Nibbles want to cuddle up at night in your bed, don’t let his arthritis stop you and your best friend from enjoying ‘Will and Grace’. Get the Pet Steps or the Pet Ramp and let the good times roll! (Muscle atrophy, cataracts, ear infections and hypothyroidism permitting.)”

You know, even when I try, I still can’t write this shit better than the real writers at Skymall. If you really do want one or all of these fucking awful, degrading pet aids, get them here:

PAW STEP RAMP. $99.50
Make it easier for her get up on the couch herself.
Ideal for small breeds, senior pets, or those with arthritis or hip trouble, this ramp system enables them to climb up to the furniture or into the car with ease. (And you’ll spare your back!) Just slide the lightweight plastic ramp to the edge of the couch or car - use the optional extension for higher beds or SUVs. The carpet strip offers traction, and snaps off for easy cleaning. Supports up to 120 lbs.

THE PET STAIRCASE. $99.
Sturdy, lightweight pet stairs help pets climb to furniture otherwise difficult for them to reach. Designed for pets up to 100 lbs., especially older animals or those suffering from joint problems, our stairs have removable shearling covers that are soft on paws and made of 100% machine washable polyester. The entire staircase weighs less than 2 1/2 lbs. Skid-resistant adhesive backing; beige cover included. Made in U.S. Oversized items. Three Step only.

THE LIGHTWEIGHT PET STROLLER. $129
This stroller is as easy to push as a baby carriage, and keeps pets safe, ventilated, and shaded. Designed for dogs and cats up to 25 lbs., and especially house cats and older dogs with joint ailments.Pet enclosure detaches. Includes safety brake, carry strap, and washable 1/2″-thick pad. Folds for storage, Rip-stop nylon netting and water-resistant poly/cotton fabric over a rust-proof steel frame

Curious young boy

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

Asia 2005!

I took 5 weeks out in February 2005 to travel to a few Asian cities. The first major impetus was to visit my parents who have now retired in Yangon.

The first part of my pics from Yangon (the capital of Myanmar/Burma) are here.

bleep

Originally uploaded by georgeaye.

Sometime over a year ago, Warp Records, opened their electronic doors to “Bleep“, an online music store that actually makes sense. The music is heavy on beats, breaks and electronica. There’s about 50 small independent record labels signed here and pretty much their entire back catalogues are here to browse and buy.

Your wallet is in Danger, Will Robinson.

The basics:

The tracks are DRM free.
None of the “this song is ok on ONLY FIVE pcs, but you can play it on as many iPods as you like” bullshit.

High bit rates.
They used the LAME codec and the tracks are around 192 kbps. Which means that they sound better than most iTunes tracks.

Pricing is affordable.
LPs at $9.99 and tracks are $1.35 a piece. Nice.
I was all set to buy the new Prefuse 73 CD today at my local record store when I realised that I was about to pay $7 more than at Bleep. Here the middle man between me and the label is slim(mer).

Thousands and thousands of hard to find tracks.
There’s so many great, obscure, remixed, redone, rereleased, reissued tracks that you can go nuts here.

The site is designed much like the original Warp Records site, by The Designer Republic. There’s a great preview feature where you can really listen to the songs and scan around rather than a measly 30sec you get everywhere else.

I’m still not really that ready to give up buying CD, since most online services are full of contractual agreements that make the act of enjoying your music a pain, but Bleep is the best of it’s kind so far.