In other news, I’m back in Los Angeles.

My first impression was ‘wow, people here are fat.’ It really hit me when I was at the Getty and I was surrounded by several groups of school kids just bursting out of their clothing. It’s a bit appalling after spending so much time near fresh, affordable food and surrounded by fit / thin folks.

Living in a city that is so car-centric doesn’t help.

Living in a country that is so fast-food oriented doesn’t help.

Working in an office behind a computer all day doesn’t help.

But it just means I’ll be putting that much more effort into maintaining my health.

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Audrey is up in San Francisco and I’m scrambling to follow suit. I’ll be here for two months working as a concept illustrator on an untitled Zemeckis project, then I’ll be on my way. More commuting, but hey, it’s a good team and a fun project.

I’ll finish posting pics about my trip to India when things simmer down a bit. I haven’t forgotten.

It’s been quite a stir at Art Center and I somehow got in the mix (and I’m a drop out).

It all started here: http://designercowboy.blogspot.com/2008/05/serious-trash.html

then here:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.viewVideos&channelid=82433

and then ended up here:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-artcenter11-2008jun11,0,7266639.story

and here:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/arts-news/controversy-surrounds-yet-anot/

and many more places.

Please take a moment to read through this and sign the petition if you feel you believe in the cause. We’re (students, faculty, alum) are trying to re-prioritize the education of the current students and make the school the best it can be without the need for name-brand (gehry) buildings. There will be a time and place for that type of expansion, but it shouldn’t happen if it will compromise the education of the students now.

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Dear Art Center Trustees,

We, the undersigned, are members of the Art Center Community: its students, alumni, faculty, and staff. First and foremost, we are requesting that the Board of Trustees act — in its capacity as governing body of the school — to put an immediate halt to the current Art Center Master Development Plan which includes the Gehry designed DRC.

The mission of Art Center has traditionally been and should be the nurturing of professional design and artistic abilities through the education of its students. We believe that this tradition of educational excellence has been compromised under the direction of the current administration and its president Richard Koshalek, and we ask that the Board of Trustees take immediate action to again make education the school’s top investment priority.

That prioritization of education should result in tangible and immediate improvements for students, classes, facilities, and teachers. To that end, we request that the Board also take action to dramatically reduce non-educational administrative expenses. We ask that fund raising efforts place the highest priorities on scholarships and endowments which directly benefit current and future students.

Lastly, we request greater alumni representation on the college’s senior leadership team and we respectfully request the opportunity for one or more of our Community delegates to formally address the Board at its next meeting in order to make our concerns known.

As members of the Art Center Community, we stand together: firmly committed to the legacy of the school, its students and alumni. Art Center is not made up of one man’s vision, but one vision built from the whole of past, present and future students. Please do not allow yourselves to be distracted by the legacy needs of one man. Do not continue to allow critically-needed capital to be diverted to non-essential uses. Do not spend more time and money on the distant future, when there is great present need. Put education first.

Thank you for your time and attention.

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You can find the Art Center petition at www.accdpetition.com.

We have over 1000 signatures and we’re shooting for 1500 in the next few days. Please help out!

And don’t be misguided by the top administration’s attempt to rally support for Richard Koshalek with their ‘counter’ petition. If you read through theirs it doesn’t really make much sense.

audrey and i took a trip to india for 11 days during her break at insead. we wanted to start out in bombay/mumbai and then head east to chennai and work our way south to kerala. 11 days is hardly enough time to really take in the country, but we did what we could with the time allotted.

it’s hard to sum up the india experience in a single post so i’ll just go through it day by day and reference my journal. in a word, it was, incredible.

but that’s what i was hoping for.

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smoke and smog greet us.

we landed in mumbai around 10am and ran into some good luck right off the plane. while talking to the woman at the prepaid taxi stand, another passenger from the plane came up and kind of took over the conversation in hindi. he asked where we were going then offered to share the taxi with us since thane was on the way to where he was headed. after looking at audrey and getting the ‘uh, i guess‘ look, we went for it. i was much more willing to jump into quick-trust situations on the trip than she was, but it didn’t take long for her to warm to a similar attitude. after all we were going to be couchsurfing with someone i had only talked to once on skype incl. a few email exchanges.

running into anand (the guy we shared the cab with) turned out great. he found our cab, used a local telephone to call josiah (the guy we were crashing with) and get directions, then offered to buy us some tea. when we got to thane he ended up paying for the cab ride and waiting for us while josiah picked us up. the whole experience was extremely kind and an easy transition into the country.

hung out for a bit and chatted with our host and his gf. both of whom were incredibly kind and interesting to talk to. i can’t stop shouting praises about couchsurfing. once we were caught up we went exploring around the city.

but first a snack. i believe this is a bombay special, and i think called ‘varapow’. but i’m not certain. it’s like a fried masala stuffed in a hawaiian roll with some relish slathered inside. seriously magically delicious. the texture was soft, smooth, crunchy, squishy. sooo good.. i didn’t realize how great they were till i started craving them when we left mumbai.

varapow!

it took about an hour to get from thane to downtown by cab. you have to first grab a rickshaw to the toll bridge then pick up a cab from there. the cabbies didn’t speak much english but we managed to explain where we wanted to go. in thane/mumbai they all meter their fares by the km and the trip downtown was around375Rs (under 10$). 40Rs is 1$.

typical 3 wheeler rickshaw (tuk-tuk).

typical india traffic.

the traffic is really something in india. especially in mumbai. you learn quick that you need to be extremely aggressive to make it through those streets alive. everyone honks, and it’s actually encouraged when driving around bigger trucks so they know you’re there. the lanes aren’t really adhered to, but it works in an organized chaos fashion. everyone driving knows the system as well as their vehicle. it made me realize that when you drive your car/rick like these guys do, you get a concrete understanding of your turning radius, acceleration, stopping distance, etc that people who aren’t used to driving like this never truly experience. perhaps that’s why there are so many accidents in l.a. sitting in traffic has numbed everyone to the experience of driving that they barely know how to handle their own vehicle when it comes to avoiding a collision.

i thought the chaos was a lot of fun.

the bombay ambassador taxi. aka, fiat premier padmini. not super comfy, but lots of charm to make up for it.

lots of cute 3 wheelers.

we ended up in churchgate, then walking along marine drive next to the water, down to chowpatti beach and then drove up to malabar hill to check out the ‘hanging gardens.’ rather bare and not really impressive but there were a lot of people just ‘hanging’ out. so maybe it was a misunderstanding in translation..

walking along the ledge at marine drive.

the concrete beach stained with betelnut.

ordering some food at the chowpatti beach stands.

bhelpuri snack. crispy, sweet, tangy from some orange zest. cilantro and dried bananas. it was good, but not great.

playing at chowpatti beach.

it was getting dark so we went to see the haji ali mosque around sunset. the crowds, the heat, the colors, the beggars, the beauty, the trash, the goats, the kids, the smells.

i bought a handkerchief for 10Rs. i should’ve bought more.

popular spot on a sunday. this is just past the military controlled metal detectors.

shops hug the left, a ledge leading to rocks, trash, goats and water on the right. then a long stream of people moving to and form the mosque.

hanging around in the debris.

chasing after a plastic bag.

inside the mosque. the guys like audrey.

standing outside the mosque looking back towards the way we came.

sunset.

found a taxi, took it back to thane and got ready for dinner with josiah. he took us to a place (and i’m cursing myself for not getting the name of it) that was tucked in the corner of a mall near his house. the food was really incredible. some of the best indian i’ve ever had.

a skewer of onion, peppers and cottage cheese. holy f*$%ing tasty batman!

a clay pot of basmati rice sealed with bread dough.

tada! it’s delicious!

turns out dil se is ‘for free.’ more yum though i was so busy eating i didn’t get the proper name for a lot of these dishes.

didn’t have enough room in my tummy to finish the jelebi. such a shame.

good food is always, always, always, a great way to finish the day.

so about 3 to 4 times a day my neighbors blast their music and i’m treated with the bass reverberation shaking the walls of my place. at first i thought they just did this to cover up the sex, but i might be wrong. they can’t possibly be doing it that often.. right? they also have a young boy who likes to scream, so it might be to drown him out. or maybe they’re doing little 10 minute dance parties…

regardless, it’s pretty obnoxious and i’m close to knocking on their door to ask them to keep it down but for now i’m settling with cranking my music up as loud as this little macbook+altec lansing can handle. it’s passive aggressive, i know, but it’s working for now. and ever since my neighbors in pasadena took to banging on my walls at the slightest hint that i was listening to music, i’ve made a little pledge to prevent myself from being like them if the roles were reversed. well now they are, and here i am. blasting my music. not to send them a message, but to rather drown out the ruckus. (or maybe both.. )

on that note, the klaxons rock. you might know them by such great hits as golden skans and it’s not over yet. between them and jim sturgess singing all my loving i should be able to hold my own against singaporetechnofever2008.

speaking of, i got to check out the butter factory a little while back and had a rather good time. some things i’ve noticed about the singapore night life:

- the drinks are very soft. most of the bartenders measure the shots.
- it’s rather expensive for ‘brand’ drinks that soft (15-17 SGD$ / 10 $USD) but their house vodka is usually smirnoff so it’s not a bad pour.
- some locations have just one person running the cash register so all transactions get queued at this choke point resulting in a long wait for change.
- since you don’t tip on drinks, 10 USD$ isn’t that bad after all.
- most of the people in the club look 15.
- there is an air of.. innocence and little pretense amongst the locals. easier to understand in person than put into words, but it’s really refreshing.

the first room is adorned with cute (and familiar) illustrations.

the second (dance) room before i got this party started.

and once people got the hint that it’s a dance floor.

the butter factory is in a rather touristy place called clark quay. there is a stretch that’s covered by a rain canopy and has some blower vents attached to the columns that are circulating air. very cool aesthetic.

translucent canopy at clark quay.

blower vents.

there are also a lot of night life spots to check out in that area for food, drinks, and ambiance. one that stuck out was clinic. a themed, chic restaurant that didn’t receive that best praise for it’s food by bourdain, but gets points for creativity. i haven’t had the pleasure so i’ll just point out it looked neat.

fetish even.

yeah, those are wheelchairs.

oh and i’m almost over this bug. thanks to antibiotics, lots of toilet paper, and sleep. some may think i’m pushing it by keeping to the spicy food so soon after i was ill but i figure it’s training for india. and it’s so hard to say no to the vat of soysauce with the little floating chilis… that and it’s blasphemous to eat chicken rice without the chili sauce. which brings me to — food!

at the direction of the makansutra i headed to another die, die must try spot for hainanese chicken rice. i’ve been itching to have some good chicken rice since i got here and this place really hit the spot. the rice was subtle and not very oily but had a good flavor. it’s not the most flavorful rice i’ve had but the light taste was a welcome change from the predominantly oil filled dishes here. the chicken was really good but after being in taiwan and having that chicken, this didn’t really compare. in all fairness, i don’t think any chicken compares to the stringy, free range awesomeness that taiwan has to offer.

but i will say that the chili sauce is top notch. there was a hint of orange zest on top of the ginger and chili that added a few layers of yummy. i’ve yet to find a better place for chicken rice here, but i’m still searching so i think it’s too early to rule this as king.

tian tian chicken rice.

the long queue at maxwell center for the goods. usually a sure sign of a winner.

planning a trip to india is a bitch. especially for someone who’s never been, knows little to nothing about the country, and isn’t even sure what he wants to see. but it’s been a rather pleasurably rewarding bitch. i’m learning the lay of the land and how transportation works, and the more i read the more exciting it gets. it’s great having sites like flickr and webshots around. it’s extremely convenient to get a glimpse of where i’m going to go. i also stumbled across wikitravel which is also very insightful (and free!). flying into to mumbai on sunday, then touring the south/east. still not sure what the best way of booking a driver is so if you have any insight, let me know (book through hotel, airport, find someone on the street willing to take me around…).

i’m also making good use of couchsurfing. it’s a site based on trust and user reviews intended for travelers who are interested in meeting/welcoming others in their respective home towns. it seems to bring the trust back into social encounters making me all the more grateful, though i suppose there is a fine line between romantic hopes for humanity and naivete…

feeling a little ill. it might be all the spicy chili i keep throwing on my food, or the typhoid fever shot from the other day (my arm is still aching from the tetanus shot. feels like a dead arm) though it’s prob just a bug from hanging out on the mrt so much. hope it passes before the trip. c’mon echinacea infused yogi tea…

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thanks to ye ol’ makansutra foodie guide i headed over to the gallery hotel where miharu is located. itching for some good ramen this place got the highest marks in the book. contrary to the recommendation i ordered the wabushi shoyu ramen (the miso recommendation had bean sprouts and corn which didn’t sound appealing right then). a tiger beer later i was in for a treat. this is probably the best ramen i’ve ever had (little tokyo, ca included)! the noodles were made to a perfect al dente and the shoyu broth was light and not overwhelming, but still retained a solid flavor. the pork was excellent too. succulent and tasty. even the egg hit the spot. probably the first time i’ve finished a full bowl of ramen with no regrets.

store front tucked behind the gallery hotel.

wabushi shoyu ramen @ miharu, singapore.

in my tummy.

then i went back another day and ordered the hot tsuke-men plate. essentially separated ramen that you dip and eat. there was an option to get a stronger tasting (vinegar-y) broth that i went with and it was great. just as good as the wabushi shoyu. damn i love this place. each dish is about 10-12 $SGD (7-8 $USD).

tsuke-men dipping broth.

tsuke-men set.

dice was so excited to get good ramen in singapore, he ordered the miso ramen and the tsuke-men.

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ventured over to mint toy museum to check out the wares. great collection! 5 floors of narrow halls with display cases filled to the brim with classic toys. there was some really priceless stuff there. the lighting for most of the cases was extremely poor (to prevent fading), and just as i was about to pack up the camera, some small spot lights came on in some of the displays. it turns out there was a thai media group doing a piece on the museum so the lights would be on so they could film. great timing (though not every case had spot lights)! also came across some non-pc toys that i thought were interesting. amazing how blatantly racist our country was (is?) just a short time ago.

robota!

some classic mickey and minnie pieces.

lots of first editions.

sadly, this case is probably worth more than my life.

stwf, but did fly.

stwfbdf.

stwfbdf. surprisingly, i saw a newer version of this toothpaste downtown:

nice save…

and some more STWF while walking around vivo city.

stwf.