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mission in possible
looks like the old wembley doesn't it? it's a street down in the mission, san francisco. I did actually try to post this a few days ago, but the blog 'timed out', and then vanished again, and predictions came true, and rivers turned backwards, and comments previously posted were gone, and pete got a bit unhappy. Anyway, the mission, back to the mission, posting a blog entry is like mission impossible these days, let me tell you though the mission is the best place for a burrito, it's where they were invented pretty much. I tried el salvadoran and went back next day and tried mexican. Shops too, Needles and Pens is a great little shop, highly recommend, independent self-made comics and 'zines, 16th, and aquarius records, valencia, great stuff even when hung over from a night of karaokeing and beers and stroppy barman in the marina. San francisco, november 2007 |
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1.12.07 05:45 |
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'feel the fear and do it anyway'
the penultimate day in november gives way to the second day of december, and davis is a cold cold place, sunny until today when large looming clouds passed over the central valley like darth vader's star destroyer. But there's me, out there with the unusually temperamental micron pigmas, wondering if i should actually start doing things in colour again sometime soon. I think I will. I have a load of very colourful new paints and I am not afraid to use them. well, a little afraid perhaps. But 'feel the fear and do it anyway'.
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3.12.07 08:08 |
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i'm not in love with television
the mission again, looking towards that big transmitter thing on one of those big hill things (what a lucid writer i am tonight) (well, it's late) (hey that's no excuse) (well it's my best excuse) (all the best writers stay up late, honing their craft) (yeah well this one stays up drawing city powerlines and listening to music to block out the endless commercials in the background) (while drinking tea i suppose) (you got that right) there was a little more blue/grey in the original, but scanners of the world have united to take over, hand it over, hand it over. |
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5.12.07 07:42 |
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and all the leaves are falling
You heard, it's cold. Determined to draw after a weekend of non-sketchtivity, pete stepped out into the bright cold december sunlight and caught the last gasp of the balding autumnal trees in front of mrak hall, the powerhouse of uc davis. I like going in there, they always have sweets at the front desk. So my fingers are cold, my micron pigma 01 is rasping and scratchy (i hate to get a new one when it's still full of ink but the nib's going), and my brush is all over the place. Ok, it's not THAT cold, but it's cold enough for davis. It's not like the big ice-stor in the midwest, or the bad chilly weather you're having back in the UK (i'm just presuming here, by the way). But I am determined to brave the cold-finger brass-monkeys in a thick scarf and warm jumper to get sketching this week, even if it means missing out on precious thai soup... |
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11.12.07 06:50 |
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i wanna walk like you Last week I was in the bookshop talking to the guy behind the counter, to whom I was giving some dvd footage I had shot of the Harry Potter event in July (I’m a very slow editor), when a guy in a cyclist’s helmet, who had been struggling to write a cheque (in this day and age), looked up and interrupted. “Potter?” he rasped, accentuating the double t in what appeared I believe was an attempt at a British accent. Slightly off-ended (if not exactly offended), I shot him a quick look and carried on. He said it again in case I hadn’t heard him the first time, and I nearly responded “Malfoy?” but chose to ignore. He stayed quiet and went back to writing his cheque (they spell it ‘check’ here, you know). After a few minutes he approached me and apologized, he hadn’t meant to make fun of my accent, he was trying to compliment it. Oh, ok, I replied with as little rat’s arse as I could find. But this was not the first time, and it will not be the last, that I will be complimented in such a way. You see, it is apparently socially acceptable – even compulsory – for many Americans to affect a British accent whenever they meet someone from across the pond. And they really don’t mean to offend – I think they find it charming, or quaint, or perhaps they think we will applaud their efforts - they are after all trying to be like me, I should be honoured. The thing is, if a Brit were to do the same, they would very likely be doing it to take the piss. An American however might not understand why it’s greeted with cold British sarcasm, such as recently in Sacramento when I congratulated the woman in the saltwater taffy shop for her incredible Australian accent (“I thought Bea Smith herself had walked in" ). But it wouldn’t be ok for them to, for example, imitate a Chinese accent, or respond to their German customers with Fawtlyesque attempts at humourous Teutonic mimicry. I wouldn’t mind, but I feel like I’ve developed a British accent since living here. I would not have pronounced any of the t’s in ‘Potter’ before, they would all be washed away in a downpour of glottal stops. I’ve spoken to other CA-based Brits, and they too have been the victims of spontaneous imitation. Apart from the hilarious faux-brits, there are the ones who make requests for certain words. Sometimes I happily oblige, especially when some Cockney rhyming slang or other comes to mind (although I was out with Tel once, and he kept asking girls about their thre’penny bits). Sometimes I feel like a tired actor, sick of repeating a catchphrase; one time, a shop-girl at a supermarket checkout asked me to say ‘bloody’. “Why?” I asked. “Oh I just love it when you guys say ‘bloody’! It’s so cool!” My first thought was to react with a tirade of classic Watling Avenue vocabulary – everything but ‘bloody’ – but I just politely refused, sorry, I just want my green beans and my milky way, thanks. I think I know how Harry Potter feels now. |
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13.12.07 00:57 |
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and the sky spoke to me another from the mission, 16th and valenica. It's down this street that shop needles and pens was. Bit further down, the mission dolores, oldest building in san francisco. I do love these powerlines don't i. They remind me of musical writing in the sky, and who knows what electronic conversations are going on down each of these long cords. Happy birthday mum! |
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15.12.07 08:28 |
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nothing to do with losing 3-0, then Oh, this is brilliant. Apparently, a Turkish lawyer is preparing to sue Inter Milan for offending Muslims by wearing a white shirt bearing a large red cross (and bringing back horrible memories of the Crusades). Yes, Englishfolk, the cross of St George, that one. The lawyer not only seeks financial damages but also wants UEFA to take action against Inter for wearing the shirt in a match against Fenerbahce (which the Turkish side lost 3-0). The red cross, says the lawyer, brings back 'the bloody days of the past'. The red cross is the symbol of the city of Milan. It's also the symbol of many other European cities, not to mention the national flag of England. I wouldn't mind but they were not even wearing it in Turkey, it was in Milan. Turkey's crescent and star flag is that of the Ottoman Empire, an Empire which inflicted its own fair share of bloody days in the past, and I wonder if Turkey has ever been sued by Balkan or Arab lawyers for causing the same offence? This looks like sour grapes at losing 3-0, or an attempt to stir up more false enmity between Islam and Europe. The only thing is... the red cross in Milan's case is the symbol not of St.George, dragon-slaying hero of the Crusaders, but of St.Ambrose, patron saint of the city of Milan, who had nothing to do with the Crusades, having lived almost a millennium before. Now, Inter's new shirts, while commemorating their centenary, were actually last adopted as their home shirts in the days of fascist Italy, when the club was rebranded "Ambrosiana" (Internazionale not being a particularly appropriate name for fascists). So if this guy wants to sue someone, he should sue England for the flag of St.George and the three lions of famed crusader king Richard I on their shirt, but don't sue Inter for that. Sue them for harking back to when they were a bunch of fascists instead. |
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16.12.07 10:57 |
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evening stranded
And so Christmas is upon us, and the world slows down for no man (except perhaps king george), and the birds of davis (see the three lines above, aother message from the sky) would like to wish you all a happy christmas. My mum's visiting, seeing sacramento sights and experiencing holidaytime america, bringing mince pies and dairy milk and maltesers and lots of other goodies! And a copy of the evening standard...I am still successfully boycotting the paper (pretty easy when you live 5000 miles away), and i see it hasn't changed (though i couldn't find victor lewis-smith, the only good bit)... so news from the old world, let's see some headlines..."new maddy evidence is sent to uk"..."soccer fan spends NHS money on season ticket"..."murder suspect fled using child's bus pass"...ban the bags"..."stop squandering the taxpayer's money, ken"..."my drunken bum of a son"..."capello on collision course with managers"...oh and the best headline of all, "steer clear of scumbag pete". Thankfully, it's about some other pete, though bad publicity in the standard can only be a good thing. Merry Christmas, everybody, eat, drink and be very, very merry |
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22.12.07 08:03 |
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