Carnet de Voyage

The Submarines is my absolute favorite band. I guess the fact that I have all of their albums signed (aside from this one) shows how much of a fan I am. I discovered them through a friend maybe 3-4 years ago. I love the fact that they make some of the best indie-pop loves songs you can ever find anywhere. There is also something really endearing to me about a couple working and creating together. And the fact that they produce fun love songs for you to listen to makes it all even sweeter.

I am quite disappointed that I missed their live show here in L.A. in April. I still have to complete my collection and get this album signed. I have been listening to Love Notes/Letter Bombs over and over ever since I downloaded it. I think I love it as much as Honeysuckle Weeks. Fire, Ivaloo, and The Sun Shines at Night are probably three of my favorite tracks from the album.

Yes, you do know who I’m thinking of. Full list of films here.

via @ebertchicago

Designer/Photographer Matthew Nicholson made this amazing paper pinhole camera version of the Leica M3. This is one pinhole I wouldn’t mind sporting. Matt told me that he will be releasing the camera via @Mattmakesstuff next week so go follow him on Twitter and get yourself a pinhole Leica.

Patricia and I went down to Laguna Beach this afternoon to meet up with Mark Chamberlain of BC Space. We worked on the video portion of Phase XVIII of the Laguna Canyon Project. The video is currently up, along with the original piece from the project, on the second floor of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Laguna Beach.

We had lunch with Mark and caught up on things that he has been planning since we last spoke with him. One of the things we talked about was the annual Summer Solstice event that BC Space normally put together. This year Mark has lined up John Gardiner and Carrie Pohlhammer to do a version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, along with the musical talent of Mark Turnbull. Mark had also promised me that he will make a very special Soulstice Soup for all to partake.

The event will take place on Thursday, June 23, MMXI, from 6-10 PM PDT by the Gregorian Calendar. John and Carrie’s rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream will begin promptly at 7:37PM.

BC Space Gallery + 235 Forest Avenue + Laguna Beach + CA + 949.497.1880

I work mostly with computer graphics so in recent years I have had fewer and fewer opportunities to frequent an art supply store. There are times, however, when I do need some old school, traditional materials to work with. Case in point, Friday. I needed some good old drafting supplies so I drove down to Art Supply Warehouse to stock up. I lost—or rather, misplaced—a lot of my art tools during the renovation last summer. I’m just being too lazy to go do the hunt for those needles in the hay stacks. (Getting my life back together after that event is a whole other story entirely.) Although I really should since one of the items just so happened to be the nib holder that my father gave me when I was 3. I made my first drawing with it, and it has come along with me—even with my move across the Pacific—all these years. I have used it in every possible writing and drawing scenarios. It definitely deserves heirloom status at this point.

I am digressing.

In any case, I walked out of the store with about $90 worth of French curves and templates. I told Ed Giardina this, and he thought I was a weird-o for spending so much money on something like French curves.

When I was a student in college, this was the place to go for supplies. I have bought many drawing papers, pencils, drawing boards that kept disappearing on me, sketchbooks, and God knows what else. It is still the place I go when I need something. These days, the supplies haven’t changed much: graphite pencils, erasers, nice pieces of Strathmore art paper.

What I really like is that they have a pretty good drafting section. Perfect for when you need $90 worth of French curves, right? I know that I have Sketchbook Pro on my computer. But sometimes it’s just nice to draw things out by hand. Also, it all seems quicker to me. But you can’t own enough French curves. You just won’t know which ones you will end up using. Besides, those French curves are so darn nice to look at.

The only reason I will frequent the brushes section is when I need a No. 1 and a No. 3 Winsor Newton to ink an illustration. Oh, you can use them for paintings. How do you paint again? (I only took two painting classes in art school. In the second class at SFAI, the teacher said during the critique that mine was the best painting he had ever seen in 5 years. Since I had no idea what I was doing with the painting, or even what I was supposed to do with those paints, aside from pushing them around on the canvas with the pallette knife, I decided to walk away from my career as a Sunday painter completely.)

These rows and rows of pens are too colorful to ignore.

You know, I’m sure there are better art supply stores around. The thing about me is that I often go with the least resistance. I can order electronic parts from Jameco or Mouser, but when I need something quick, I just drive down to JK Electronics. Art Supply Warehouse is no difference. My friends tell me about stores in Los Angeles that I should frequent. I just think it’s ridiculous for me to make that long drive when all I need is a couple of inexpensive graphite pencils.

I went to lunch with Asmar at Sushi West in Long Beach yesterday. I have known Asmar since I was 18. One of the connections that we have is the fact that we are both of mixed decents. Asmar is half Palestinian and half Japanese. We often talk about everything that all of that entails. All the ways and degrees of identifications we both make to each part of our heritage.

One of the similarities that he and I have is that we both grew up outside the States. Asmar, as a child, lived in Kuwait and Japan. We often discuss how those experiences shift our views, particularly our ideas of friendships or relationships. Sometimes we wonder if we hold those ideas somewhat differently, because we both have seen how people in other parts of the world view those ideas.

He and I are also one of those crazy liberals. We rarely let our conversations end without a good political and social jab or two. It’s all the product of two awared, like-minded individuals who are a little frustrated by the things we see. In the end, I don’t think we are unlike any other individuals in that regard.

Over the last year, Asmar and I have been getting together pretty consistently. Once a week you can find us at Sushi West eating some Japanese food and catching up on our lives. Other times we would hit the streets of Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles really late at night. And, of course, there are also those times that we go out to try new culinary places when we hear about them.

When I told Asmar that I was going to take a picture of him, he gave me a nonchalant look. He said to me that he has never liked seeing himself in pictures. I think most people know what that is like. So I told him that I was going to take a nice photo of him. He saw this picture, and he said to me, with a smile and a little laugh, “Accurate.”

The weird thing about me is I live in Orange County. I am within close drive to many beautiful beaches. Yet I rarely find myself anywhere near the ocean most of the time. These were shot at the beginning of January. I had an unusually less than stellar day one weekend so I decided to drive myself down to Huntington Beach. All I had was my trusty Galaxy S Fascinate. I put on Travie McCoy’s Lazarus (which has been my go to fun album for months now) and went to work. Photography has always been my therapy. There’s something about it that I still can’t fully articulate. It has something to do about looking through a framed world. It makes me look more. More so than drawing. When I sketch I tend scrutinize every single detail. When I am taking a photograph, I feel like I am actually looking at the world around me. It’s pretty amazing what you can do with camera phones these days. Sometimes it’s not really about the kind of cameras you use.

We did a pretty amazing martial art shoot with the Greek artist Stelios Faitakis in Venice. Stelios has a great mural on the outside of the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.