Flower Power

The Singapore Botanical Garden is not the type of thing I normally get excited about. But after several people told me it was worthwhile and reading several recommendations online , it was my first destination last weekend.

I am, relatively speaking, a fan of public parks and open green spaces. I appreciate nature and enjoy the tranquility and magical design of our world. I am also a big fan of Central Park in New York, which I especially love because of its juxtaposition within one of the worlds most urban centers. Therefore, I appreciated Singapore Botanical Garden's suburban location and lack of entry fee.
Unlike central park where signs lead to 'the Great Lawn' or 'Strawberry Fields' or 'Walman Rink', signs here where titled 'rain forest', 'Orchard Garden', Ginger Garden'. Of all the exotic choices, my first choice was "Orchid", the largest collection of orchids in the world.

I could try to put into words how fascinatingting, exotic and magnificent the garden was, but seeing as I am not much of a writer, these images are a better representation. The complete set can be seen here.

I will also add that the heat and humidity of Singapore can be stifling. I was convinced that in spite of the heat, the people managing the orchid garden somehow dialed up the humidity even more. A fact you might notice when you see water perspiring on several flowers. Needless to say, the day required a stop back to the hotel for a shower and change of clothes.

Weekend Won

On Thursday I started to feel shitty. On Friday the feeling got worse. It was the flu - AKA, the 'Chinese Flu', AKA - "welcome to China - you're sick".... FUCK... Really???

On Friday night it hits like a ton of bricks; sweats, aches, cough, congestion... being sicks sucks. Being sick in another country sucks even more.

A few lessons learned however (CHINA FACT):
1) Get a VPN so you can watch netflix
2) There is a delivery food service called Sherpa.com - CRITICAL!
3) Stock up US cold and cough products, they just don't have them here... So i'm toughing it out with some advil i brought...

Four movies (Buy the ticket, take the ride; a Hunter T. bio, Full Metal Jacket, Bronson and Trainspotting) and 12 hours of sleep later, its Sunday morning..... Still feeling under the weather, but its a beautiful day and I can't bring myself to stay cocooned in my room for another 24hrs. Did I really travel half way around the world to sit in bed and watch movies???

So its off to lunch with the only two people I know (who I don't work with); American couple from Cali who are old friends with one of my best college buds.... Lunch is good and then off to to do what all folks do on Sunday - hit up the knock off video store!!

In NYC, you occasionally see guys hawking $5 DVD's on the street. Well let me tell you - in China they have elevated this to an entirely new level. I swear, it looks like a legit store, until you go to pay and its 10RMB (~$1.50) per DVD (which I was told was expensive)... unbelievable.. Anyway, still haven't tried em out, so will report back on the quality.. But thought I'd catch up on some classics.

After lunch, I went to check out the Shanghai art fair - I thought, "this will be a great way to see all the gallery's in the city without having to schlepp around"...

Well - I was wrong. It was 99% crap, so i took the business card for the only gallery that looked at all credible (Shanghart) and headed to their actual gallery...

CHINA FACT: All stores are typically bundled together on the same street. For example, there is an entire street of guitar stores... Just like there is entire area of gallery's.

Anyway - Shanghart is located in the M50, which is somewhere between an artist colony and gallery village. Kinda like Brooklyn, but more concentrated and in China... The road is completely covered in Graffiti, and its basically open studios all the time. Unfortunately, the art quality left something to be desired, but I will keep looking.

So thats Sunday. Gonna pop in a movie and kick back till another work day rolls around....

Proof that the internet is awesome

tremendous website of random and historical photos and miscellaneous articles...

Fat Possom - strong first part of '11

three really great new releases.. Smith Westerns, Crocodiles and Tennis.
here are the videos.

Tennis - Pigeon from Scott Laidlaw on Vimeo.

I am America. I am a Pickup Truck.

Winning

Mashed Up Album Art

Randomly typed this into Google and ran across this site... Thought it was worth sharing...


here is the artists story:

A little while ago I put a bunch of Wu-Tang (both group and solo) albums on my computer. 21 of them, in fact. I inherited some mild OCD from my mom, and as anyone who has seen my iTunes can attest to, it manifests itself in weird ways. I need to have decent-quality album art for every album on my computer, which currently equals over 90 gigs. The problem was that almost all of the Wu-Tang album art was horrible (ODB's two albums being the only real exceptions) -- no offense to the original designers, but as iconic as they might be they're looking pretty dated these days. So, armed with inspiration from what Olly Moss and others are doing (as written about by me here, and later by Kottke here) and a book of Blue Note Records covers, I set out to remake all 21. The first seven are here (click for full-view):

20 Years of Ninja Tune

Ninja Tune. Perhaps the label behind more CD's in my college collection than any other. Earth Rise remains to this day, on heavy rotation. From flavorwire, here are some video's a quick overview of the 20th anniversary box set.



"Including six CDs, six 7-inches, two posters, and a hardcover edition of the retrospective book Ninja Tune: 20 Years Of Beats & Pieces, the Ninja Tune XX box is a collector’s dream. The set features new tracks and remixes from Roots Manuva, Amon Tobin, Diplo, Gold Panda, Kid Koala, Mr. Scruff, the Orb, and a host of others, alongside classic tracks from throughout the label’s history."

"Stream the first compilation in full, visit the Ninja Tune XX website, watch the top 10 Ninja Tune videos of all time, read an excerpt from 20 Years of Beats & Pieces, download the official iPhone app, get the details on Ninja Tune XX events around the world, and buy the box set or the standalone compilations and book."

Murakami @ Versailles

Just got back from France, but with over 2,500 pics taken, I'm still sorting through everything. However, here are some highlights from Versailles!

www.flickr.com cebo2hot's Murakami @ Versaille photoset

Summer Sounds - Sonny & the Sunsets

Great summer beach music - I suspect this will be blowing up in August when the heat hits... Ummm... The heat already hit in July, so go get this...

The Vader Project

Check it out - 100 custom vader helmets by some of todays top urban artists.... Here's the link: The Vader Project

Artists include: Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Paul Frank, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Frank Kozik, Buffmaster and more...

Sounds of Summer pt.2 - Ode to Billy

Put together a mix for my good friend Bill. Went back deep into the crates to dig out some of that '90's metal that helped me through some tough years. Music to keep you sane. Back then it sounded hard core - today you might here it on the alternative rock station.... Anyway, here are some highlights from that time... Enjoy.

Mix2 Billy's Metal 2 by cebo

Track - ARTIST - Album

1. Milk (Ode to Billy) -ANTHRAX - Attack of Killer B's
   
2. Don't Blow Bubbles - BAD BRAINS - Quickness
3. Squeeze My Macaroni - MR BUNGLE - Self Titled
4. Come as You Are - NIRVANA - Nevermind
5. 21st Century Digital Boy - BAD RELIGION - Against The Grain
   
6. Them Bones - ALICE IN CHAINS - Dirt
   
7. Down For Life -BIOHAZARD - State of the World Address
   
8. Vincent - NOFX - 45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough
   
9. Drain You - NIRVANA - Nevermind
10. Epic - FAITH NO MORE - The Real Thing
    
11. Summer Breezes - TYPE O NEGATIVE - Bloody Kisses
    
12. Anesthesia - BAD RELIGION - Against The Grain
    
13. The Bag - NOFX - B Sides & Rarities
14. Easy - FAITH NO MORE - Easy EP
    

Fashionable Star Wars????

You have to be kidding! Images from John Woo, a designer and illustrator from Hong Kong. Original link.

Mix # 1 - sounds of summer pt. 1

Here's our first mix... An eclectic selection of tracks for the car or ipod. Enjoy.
More summertime mixes to come.

Mix #1 5.27.10 by cebo

Track - ARTIST - Album

1. Back and Forth - UNKLE - Never Neverland
2. Be My Lover - ALICE COOPER - Killer
3. Summertime Clothes - ANIMAL COLLECTIVE - Self Titled
4. This Whole World - THE BEACH BOYS - Sunflower
5. Have You Come To Realise - THE KLEPTONES - Yoshimi battles the Hop-Hop Robots
6. 10 Mile Stereo - BEACH HOUSE - Teen Dream
7. Kiara - BONOBO - Black Sands
8. Datascroller - APPARATJIK - We Are Here
9. Close Your Eyes - ALASKA IN WINTER - Holiday
10. Are You Lonesome Tonight - THE CANSECOS - Upper Class
11. The Only Living Boy in NY - SIMON & GARFUNKEL - Old Friends
12. The Good Life (live) - WEEZER - B Sides & Rarities
13. Down By the Water - THE DRUMS - Summertime

Obey This - Last Show @ Deitch

www.flickr.com

Whats on heavy rotation - Richard Hawley

A British crooner, I first heard Richard Hawley when I saw Banksy's 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' - his song 'Tonight the Streets are Ours' - see previous post. I think he's somewhere between Orbison or Elvis but modern.. Either way - I'm diggin' it... Here some recent video's.

'Exit Through The Gift Shop' - nice work

A great commentary about how art tries to brainwash us into believing the hype. Nice job bringing us back down to earth Banksy.... Funny, honest and interesting. A great art film, even if you hate Graffiti.

The Huf Haus (can modular building be cool?)

A Green house, well designed, under $500K..... Now available in the US! From inhabit.com....

From Bauhaus to HUF HAUS: Energy Efficient Prefab Homes

by Cameron Scott, 04/09/10

German company HUF HAUS is offering gorgeous green houses to the masses by bringing Bauhaus style to factory-made green homes. The company’s signature post-and-beam construction allows for big open spaces, and they serve them up with solar panels and even an optional geothermal heating system.

Tripe-glazed glass walls open the houses onto the landscape while also providing maximum insulation. Sure, there’s a healthy dose of (responsibly forested) wood involved along with the more conventional concrete, but here’s something nifty: HUF HAUS’s factory uses its wood offcuts to generate some of the electricity it uses.

HUF HAUS has just opened an office in the United States — based in Cleveland, but serving the whole country — and the company insists that its houses are only pre-fab in the strictest sense of the word: the modular system is designed to be versatile, and, as you can see, every house is different.

+ HUF HAUS

Smashing Watermelons

Mashup of Stephan Hawking and crazy lucho libre type slow-mo video... Interesting combination - maybe......



Thanks SDL for the spot.

Will Farrell Rocks the White House!

Amazing talent. Very funny. Whether you agree with the issue or not, you can't help but laugh either - at least i couldn't...

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell