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'roads'? we don't need 'roads' So you thought Davis was just a bunch of trees, bikes, professors and cows did you? (Admittedly famous cows, with windows in their stomach) And liberal-leaning tofu-munching ex-hippies? Yes, yes, I'll give you that, it is all of those things. But it's also home to the flying car. Oh yes, Back to the Future II here we come, and it's all starting in flat old Davis. I saw this news article on the BBC website and thought, great scott, this is really heavy. I like the idea of flying cars, but I hate the idea of flying drivers. No, I'm not sure this will work. Hoverboards, on the other hand... |
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1.9.07 08:44 |
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ich bin
watercolour, micron pen; it was very hot today, more than a hundred of your old degrees, and yet i still ventured outside at lunch (not too far, mind) to brave the valley heat and draw the bins. R2-D2's cousin. |
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1.9.07 08:50 |
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las vegas, encore une fois Three years ago (next week) we (that is to say, my wife and I) got married in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a ceremony that involved an Elvis, Presley. So for Labor Day weekend we flew back to the desert land for a nice relaxing visit, drinks in the pool, play a few slots, have some good food, and for me at least, do some drawing (while mrs scully had a facial/pedicure). We stayed on the top floor of one of the brand new 38-storey Signature Towers at MGM Grand (they weren't even there last time I went, last year), which had an amazing view over the Strip (and a dizzying vertigo-inducing balcony). I drew the picture above (with the beloved purple micron pen) shortly after arrival (and shortly before heading down to the pool to enjoy a strawberry daiquiri). After dinner at the rio, we saw harry potter on the IMAX at the palms. The night before the wedding, in 2004, I went to see spiderman 2 at the IMAX in the luxor with simon (mrs scully went with the girls to see the chippendales; i bet i had more fun!).
Next day, we popped down to caesar's for lunch (and to pick up cheesecake for later, while watching a cheesy statue show), before mrs scully went for some relaxing pampering, while i sketched in the desert heat (and also from the air-conditioned safety of Bellagio). We dined on the terrace of Il Fornaio in NYNY, a really nice Italian restaurant, with the romantic sound of electronic slot machines and wheels of fortune jingling on the air-conditioned breeze. Excellent seafood, but the best part, of course, was the company. And mrs scully even won some money on those slots, so the next day we had another nice lunch at Mon Ami Gabi, on the (actually outside on the actual street) terrace of Paris. I love the Paris casino (I'm not talking about the little french grocery store, though they were convenient when i lived in Aix, and always had Pepsi Max), they go to such a great effort. the themed hotels like this, NYNY, and the Venetian, are to me the best ones in Vegas. Just being ultra-swanky, which is the current trend among the new resorts, is not theme enough for me. I'm glad there's no burnt oak-themed casino though; it would be shaped like the library, there would be the chav-only lounge, and every half an hour there would be a 'show' fight outside one of the special themed pubs. (On TV in northern CA, though, they do advertise the Black Oak casino, which gave me the original idea; I doubt Steve Wynn will go for it though).
And so we left Vegas once more; at the airport, however, I decided to stick five bucks into a nickel slot machine, while waiting for the plane. Within seconds I'd won a hundred bucks! Cashed out straight away. We both left with more a lot money than we gambled with. That's the thing about Las Vegas. It's a crazy, mad, disjointed and unusual tourist town, but it's not that expensive, and whereas in other big cities, what you spend in London stays in London (and then some), in Vegas there is always a chance of winning some of your dosh back. |
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6.9.07 06:50 |
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pavarotti Dio mio, this news is very sad, Luciano Pavarotti has died at 71. He always had such a wicked smile. And how can you hear him sing Nessun Dorma without thinking of Gazza's tears, Roger Milla's dance, Rudi Voeller's hair filled with spit, and Waddle's mission to send the first football to Mars? And I loved his work with the Three Tenors (or 30 Quid as they preferred to be known). Arrivederci, il nostro amico Pavarotti.
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6.9.07 07:17 |
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varsity, plus the return of the eraser
watercolour, copic.01 multiliner, moleskine. I've drawn this one a few times, but it has been a while, so here is a new one, it's the varsity theatre in davis, on 2nd street. I actually stood up while i drew it. Okay, just for the pencil bit, then i went to a cafe and did the pen lines while having a smoothie. Not content with just that, I went to a pub (with slightly better lighting, and fewer annoying people spilling their drinks next to me) to do the watercolours. Oh yes! I nearly forgot. Remember I lost that 'mechanical' (rectractable) eraser in sacramento a couple of months ago, the one i'd had since i was a young teenager, the most reliable eraser ever? I thought it had finally abandoned me, remember? Well it came back. It just came back. It turned up last week in Vegas, inside a pocket of my camcorder bag. It's a miracle! I'll never lose it again. |
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9.9.07 07:34 |
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who are they? eggsactly!
the eggheads, by robert arneson, the late ucd art professor (see the real things here). Drawn this week, as you can tell by the dates. Anti-clockwise: 'eye on mrak', 'yin and yang', 'see no evil, hear no evil', and 'bookhead'. What a long week! I'm glad it's the weekend, very glad.
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15.9.07 07:20 |
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$545??? Don't you love bureaucracy? I apply for my permanent residency to be renewed (i like to call it my p.residency), print off the form, write out the cheque for the fee (plus biometric services) of $270, and send it off. Ah, but in the space between printing the form and mailing the form, the fees have gone up. There was nothing I recall telling me the fees would go up when i printed the form from the website, but up they went. Not just a little bit. Not just by thirty dollars or so. No, the fee has gone from $270 to a whopping $545!!! No useful explanation, other than some gibberish about 'improving service'. Are they going to take me out for a champagne lunch? Send a Roll's Royce to take me to the interview? Give me an ID card made of platinum (one that I can at least use as ID to buy beer in safeway would be enough, mate) ? Not that I want to criticize them, of course. I do after all want to stay..! |
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19.9.07 06:43 |
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les quartiers de san francisco
San Francisco again, it's a great place to go sketching. I went down on saturday for a bit of mooching and discovering, largely in the SoMa area. As usual I started at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, and was intending on heading eventually to the Mission district, but never made it. I had some mulligatawny, went to the Cartoon Art Museum (which was interesting, inspiring, educational, but not really worth six bucks) before wandering over to Yerba Buena Gardens for a bit of drawing.
Again, for the third SF sketching outing in a row (well, fourth actually, come to think of it) it was a sunny sunshiney day, with only wisps of ocean fog creeping up over the horizon. I left Yerba Buena (below left) and crossed over to Market, walking towards Civic Center. Flippinghell, it's funny how cities soemtimes change dramatically within a few blocks! The Tenderloin is, as I'd heard, pretty rough, and suddenly there were porno cinemas and scores of people just hanging around with little to do. There was a lot to sketch, but I felt a little bit uncomfy, but I did take a few photos. I went up to the UN plaza, among the homeless and the drunks, and I did make a sketch of the domed city hall (see below right), before strolling back down towards union square.
And then a bit later on, I drew the picture at the top of this entry, on the corner of Mission and 2nd. After a bite to eat and a beer at Eddie Rickenbacker's, an interesting place full of motorcycles hanging from the rafters, it was time to go home, with tired legs and sleepy eyes. But on the way back I passed an interesting strcuture in the street; I stood beneath it and took the photograph below. Definitely a touch of Death Star tunnel shaft about it...
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19.9.07 07:24 |
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mrs pepperpot and mr salt
we were pondering if mrs pepperpot was ever married to a mr pepperpot, and if her long-standing relationship with mr salt was a result of her running away from her lying hubbie, or if mr pepperpot had died and was in the ground. We may never know. I don't know if mr salt keeps his salt in his trousers, or whether he is the saltshaker equivalent to the viz character buster gonad. |
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20.9.07 03:57 |
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all over pepsi max...
Around Davis; inspired by a lunchtime sat reading paul madonna's incredible work, and also by my visit to the cartoon art museum in san francisco last weeked, i decided to continue my attempts at monochrome but also add a few words i've been thinking, and yes i even used a ruler for the frame (heresy!). I must admit though, i did at first attempt the ink wash, but got scared/frustrated and sank back into using watercolours, payne's grey. I will give the ink was another go, because i love its effects, i just have to learn how.
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22.9.07 18:29 |
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