Wow, I Think I'm Starting To Get jealous of Myself...Is That Possible?
So where to begin? Um, let’s start right here. Some of you might have thought that my trip to Africa was just a burst of excitement coming out of the overactive mind of Blake J. Nolan. I say to you, “That was not the case.” It is now official. I am going to the “land of all lands,” the “big bad continent,” “A-Town,” that enormous continent under Europe…AAAFRICA…and I’m not looking back. I leave on Friday February 11th, 2005 and make my way through Brussels Belgium down to the armpit of Africa. I arrive in Cameroon, West Africa at 5:00pm on the following day and take the time to meet and greet with my best buddy, Sir Allen Banick III. “What will happen next?!” you might ask. Well, seeing as it hasn’t happened yet, I don’t know the answer to that either, but I can tell you one thing (ok two), we are going to rip Africa a new one! And on top of all the effort it takes to perform such a monumental act, we will be attempting to write a short photo/journal book to describe verbally and visually our experiences for the month that I am visiting. You see, Mr. Banick isn’t just another pretty face, he is one hell of a comedian as well, and on top of that quite the writer and photographer. Plus, from what I hear from the Peace Corps ladies, he is quite the shag. So “What Then?” you ask? Well, after a month of senseless shenanigans in the pit, I travel all the way back to London through Brussels and then a day later start another trip. Wow, this life…I swear it gets harder ever day. Somebody should write all this shit down for me so I don’t forget. Oh, who the hell am I kidding, I remember everything.
DISCLAIMER: All blog thoughts contained herein are free flowing, focus free, ADHD rantings. Please do not take anything with more than a minimal degree of seriousness. At any moment, you may feel lost, confused, afraid, or downright angry with the utter lack of control that exists in continuity. Please, refrain from throwing your computer and/or having to divulge in Ritalin and Addoral self-medication binge. This lack of literary concentration is not a result of your own disorder, but that of the author.
Yea…focus….back to the travel plans.
So now I have just made it back from Cameroon, A-Town….and BOY DO I SMELL. Lather, rinse repeat. That should get the African funk off of me. Right?! Hard to say, seeing as on Monday, March 14th I jump back on a plane and head straight back! My flight out of London takes me right over Iraq (30,000 feet should be enough space between me and those crazy militants) and into the Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. I arrive there at 7:15 in the morning and by 11:30 I am back on a plane, making my way to Johannesburg, South Africa. Once I arrive there, I have another 2 hours before I get on another plane destined for my final, um…destination. Durban, South Africa, located right on the costal edge of southern South Africa. Yep, and you guessed it, I’ll be there for exactly a month before I come back to jolly old England.
So enough of making everyone jealous of how cool I am and how un-cool you all are. Sorry for that. But the truth hurts. Back to the now. Be here now. Ok, so I have been extremely busy the last few weeks, some of you might have noticed due to the non-existence of blogs for that time. A few big things are going on, or have gone on in that time. Let’s start with the not so big.
A while ago I talked about how I am able to continue making money while I’m here through the creation and maintenance of websites for US based clients. Brilliant you say! I would have to agree. Well, one of the larger projects came to a deadline last week, Thanksgiving of all days. The Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative is a store located on Pearl Street in Boulder Colorado and I have been designing their website from scratch since early this summer. I also shot the massive amount of photography used on the site, documenting each item in the store…which is quite a large catalogue. So needless to say, the site is now online at http://www.boulderartsandcrafts.com and both they and I are very happy with the results. Another project that I just completed is a website for a handcrafted wooden fishing lure company called Bass Munch Lures. This was a smaller site, but none the less, it took a good amount of time to complete. If your curious, this one is located at http://www.BassMunchLures.com. Ok, so one more thing to say about work. If any of you people out there reading this know anybody that is in need of web or graphic design work, look no further! I am your guy. Do your part to help me keep traveling and living it up by connecting me with these people. I have been doing web and graphic design now for close to 12 years. 12. So yea, that would be just greaaaat. Yeaaa, thanks. And I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday.
THANKSGIVING! LONDON STYLE! Ok, so as the holy day of “Eat Too Much” drew closer and closer, I had quite a hard time dealing with the fact that I was gonna be away from my KICK ASS family for the first time, without having the consolation prize of eating with another family. In dealing with this, I made an outrageously large dinner at my flat with my two housemates, Julie and Emily, and my Bunac Hostel lady friends Annie and Liz. All ladies. You know how I do it. So instead of Turkey, I cooked up the most delicious of Chickens in the world. Quite literally, there has never been a chicken that tasted so fine. On top of that, as if there was a need for anything else, I made a ton of other food. Mashed potatoes, home-made gravy, mandarine orange jello, spinach salad (with avocado, tomatoes, garlic and onion croutons, and French dressing), Stove Top Stuffing, cranberry jam (it was all we could find), and apple pie and ice cream for desert. Damn I’m good. Not to mention the 8 bottles of wine that we consumed leisurely. Every other nationality in the house thought I was a bit crazy, but who cares. GO ON MY SON!
QUICK SIDE NOTE:
I have done a few British lingo definitions in the past, but this one is special. They seem to really get a kick out of the word “piss” because they use it all the time. Here is a new way it has been used in front of me, along with the other ways, so please listen in and enjoy:
Pissed – Drunk
Ex. “Hey Bob, wanna go down to the pub and get pissed mate?” Steve said. “Sure Steve. Sounds fuckin lush!” replied Bob.
Other, Less Logical Way
Ex. “Hey Bob, wanna take a walk down to the pub and see if that new hat of yours is gonna get you any attention from the birds (sarcastic undertone)!? “WHAT?! Are you taking a piss outta me!? Are you mate?! You takin’ a piss, outta ME?”
Now don’t attempt to understand how it came to be used this way. You won’t. I don’t. No one seems to. Accept it and move on. Ok, good.
Moving on. Big big news in the world of Blake J. Nolan Photography. On December 10th, 2004 I have a meeting with the owner and director of the largest private photography gallery in all of Europe. Pulling in more than 100,000 visitors a year to each of his galleries, Alex Proud has proven to be one of the most influential names in the realm of progressive and innovative photography. So in order to prepare for this meeting, I have been working on a portfolio of imagery in an effort to present myself as a multi-layered artist. Meaning that I want to show him that I can conquer the whole spectrum of what photography has to offer; fine art, music, experimental, and documentary style. There is more to it than that, but you get the idea I imagine. This portfolio has 36 images, each sized at 24 x16 inches, and they are assembled into a leather bound portfolio display folder. This is costing me a pretty penny. I had become really attached to that penny too. It was in fact, a very pretty penny. I will keep you up to date as to how things go with this meeting, this is for sure. All I can say is If I do actually end up getting to exhibit, it won’t happen for a year or so, but once it does, the door is officially open my friends.
I finished another book a few weeks back and It was even better than the one I read before. Same author, different book, “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown was the first book that he wrote before “The Da Vinci Code.” My God was the book entertaining. I recommend it to everyone as an invigorating read. Yea, so after I finished I needed some time to relax as you might imagine. That time has come and gone, so yesterday I went out and bought a book that would be a definite change of pace in terms of my reading of late. I bought a book called “Scar Tissue,” by Anthony Ketis, the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Some of you might cringe at the idea of him being able to keep you engaged in a book, but I see it differently. He is one of my favorite lyricists, and in modern times, he could be considered one of the world most popular poets if you look at it right. Seeing as music has become the most celebrated art form in the world, and lyrics drive a good song in my book (no pun intended), it can only lead me to believe that a good song writer/poet would be able to write an enjoyable book. Maybe it’s just me, and my awesomely messed up logic, but I agree with myself.
Ok, so today I leave you with a bit of a preview of my weeks to come. So three days after I have been judged in artist terms once more, but this time by a gallery of enormous size, I am left to either feel extremely elated about my future as an exhibiting photographer, or vengeful and motivated to show the lameos of the art world that they can all just lick my balls. Either way, I’m sure it won’t matter too much in light of the fact that I am leaving to travel Europe for nearly three weeks! I have NEVER BEEN to Europe before! (people in London don’t consider England Europe for some reason, this I have found out) A brief summary of the places I will see:
12/13/04 – Arrive in Rome
12/16/04 – Depart Rome for Geneva
12/18/04 – Depart Geneva for Paris
12/21/04 – Depart Paris for Barcelona
12/24/04 – Depart Barcelona for London (yes, weird I know)
12/26/04 – Depart London for Amsterdam
1/1/05 – Depart Amsterdam for London
Okeledokely. That is it for now. Be good. Be safe. And I miss you all more than you know.
Love You All I’m Sure,
Blaketastical
DISCLAIMER: All blog thoughts contained herein are free flowing, focus free, ADHD rantings. Please do not take anything with more than a minimal degree of seriousness. At any moment, you may feel lost, confused, afraid, or downright angry with the utter lack of control that exists in continuity. Please, refrain from throwing your computer and/or having to divulge in Ritalin and Addoral self-medication binge. This lack of literary concentration is not a result of your own disorder, but that of the author.
Yea…focus….back to the travel plans.
So now I have just made it back from Cameroon, A-Town….and BOY DO I SMELL. Lather, rinse repeat. That should get the African funk off of me. Right?! Hard to say, seeing as on Monday, March 14th I jump back on a plane and head straight back! My flight out of London takes me right over Iraq (30,000 feet should be enough space between me and those crazy militants) and into the Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. I arrive there at 7:15 in the morning and by 11:30 I am back on a plane, making my way to Johannesburg, South Africa. Once I arrive there, I have another 2 hours before I get on another plane destined for my final, um…destination. Durban, South Africa, located right on the costal edge of southern South Africa. Yep, and you guessed it, I’ll be there for exactly a month before I come back to jolly old England.
So enough of making everyone jealous of how cool I am and how un-cool you all are. Sorry for that. But the truth hurts. Back to the now. Be here now. Ok, so I have been extremely busy the last few weeks, some of you might have noticed due to the non-existence of blogs for that time. A few big things are going on, or have gone on in that time. Let’s start with the not so big.
A while ago I talked about how I am able to continue making money while I’m here through the creation and maintenance of websites for US based clients. Brilliant you say! I would have to agree. Well, one of the larger projects came to a deadline last week, Thanksgiving of all days. The Boulder Arts and Crafts Cooperative is a store located on Pearl Street in Boulder Colorado and I have been designing their website from scratch since early this summer. I also shot the massive amount of photography used on the site, documenting each item in the store…which is quite a large catalogue. So needless to say, the site is now online at http://www.boulderartsandcrafts.com and both they and I are very happy with the results. Another project that I just completed is a website for a handcrafted wooden fishing lure company called Bass Munch Lures. This was a smaller site, but none the less, it took a good amount of time to complete. If your curious, this one is located at http://www.BassMunchLures.com. Ok, so one more thing to say about work. If any of you people out there reading this know anybody that is in need of web or graphic design work, look no further! I am your guy. Do your part to help me keep traveling and living it up by connecting me with these people. I have been doing web and graphic design now for close to 12 years. 12. So yea, that would be just greaaaat. Yeaaa, thanks. And I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday.
THANKSGIVING! LONDON STYLE! Ok, so as the holy day of “Eat Too Much” drew closer and closer, I had quite a hard time dealing with the fact that I was gonna be away from my KICK ASS family for the first time, without having the consolation prize of eating with another family. In dealing with this, I made an outrageously large dinner at my flat with my two housemates, Julie and Emily, and my Bunac Hostel lady friends Annie and Liz. All ladies. You know how I do it. So instead of Turkey, I cooked up the most delicious of Chickens in the world. Quite literally, there has never been a chicken that tasted so fine. On top of that, as if there was a need for anything else, I made a ton of other food. Mashed potatoes, home-made gravy, mandarine orange jello, spinach salad (with avocado, tomatoes, garlic and onion croutons, and French dressing), Stove Top Stuffing, cranberry jam (it was all we could find), and apple pie and ice cream for desert. Damn I’m good. Not to mention the 8 bottles of wine that we consumed leisurely. Every other nationality in the house thought I was a bit crazy, but who cares. GO ON MY SON!
QUICK SIDE NOTE:
I have done a few British lingo definitions in the past, but this one is special. They seem to really get a kick out of the word “piss” because they use it all the time. Here is a new way it has been used in front of me, along with the other ways, so please listen in and enjoy:
Pissed – Drunk
Ex. “Hey Bob, wanna go down to the pub and get pissed mate?” Steve said. “Sure Steve. Sounds fuckin lush!” replied Bob.
Other, Less Logical Way
Ex. “Hey Bob, wanna take a walk down to the pub and see if that new hat of yours is gonna get you any attention from the birds (sarcastic undertone)!? “WHAT?! Are you taking a piss outta me!? Are you mate?! You takin’ a piss, outta ME?”
Now don’t attempt to understand how it came to be used this way. You won’t. I don’t. No one seems to. Accept it and move on. Ok, good.
Moving on. Big big news in the world of Blake J. Nolan Photography. On December 10th, 2004 I have a meeting with the owner and director of the largest private photography gallery in all of Europe. Pulling in more than 100,000 visitors a year to each of his galleries, Alex Proud has proven to be one of the most influential names in the realm of progressive and innovative photography. So in order to prepare for this meeting, I have been working on a portfolio of imagery in an effort to present myself as a multi-layered artist. Meaning that I want to show him that I can conquer the whole spectrum of what photography has to offer; fine art, music, experimental, and documentary style. There is more to it than that, but you get the idea I imagine. This portfolio has 36 images, each sized at 24 x16 inches, and they are assembled into a leather bound portfolio display folder. This is costing me a pretty penny. I had become really attached to that penny too. It was in fact, a very pretty penny. I will keep you up to date as to how things go with this meeting, this is for sure. All I can say is If I do actually end up getting to exhibit, it won’t happen for a year or so, but once it does, the door is officially open my friends.
I finished another book a few weeks back and It was even better than the one I read before. Same author, different book, “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown was the first book that he wrote before “The Da Vinci Code.” My God was the book entertaining. I recommend it to everyone as an invigorating read. Yea, so after I finished I needed some time to relax as you might imagine. That time has come and gone, so yesterday I went out and bought a book that would be a definite change of pace in terms of my reading of late. I bought a book called “Scar Tissue,” by Anthony Ketis, the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Some of you might cringe at the idea of him being able to keep you engaged in a book, but I see it differently. He is one of my favorite lyricists, and in modern times, he could be considered one of the world most popular poets if you look at it right. Seeing as music has become the most celebrated art form in the world, and lyrics drive a good song in my book (no pun intended), it can only lead me to believe that a good song writer/poet would be able to write an enjoyable book. Maybe it’s just me, and my awesomely messed up logic, but I agree with myself.
Ok, so today I leave you with a bit of a preview of my weeks to come. So three days after I have been judged in artist terms once more, but this time by a gallery of enormous size, I am left to either feel extremely elated about my future as an exhibiting photographer, or vengeful and motivated to show the lameos of the art world that they can all just lick my balls. Either way, I’m sure it won’t matter too much in light of the fact that I am leaving to travel Europe for nearly three weeks! I have NEVER BEEN to Europe before! (people in London don’t consider England Europe for some reason, this I have found out) A brief summary of the places I will see:
12/13/04 – Arrive in Rome
12/16/04 – Depart Rome for Geneva
12/18/04 – Depart Geneva for Paris
12/21/04 – Depart Paris for Barcelona
12/24/04 – Depart Barcelona for London (yes, weird I know)
12/26/04 – Depart London for Amsterdam
1/1/05 – Depart Amsterdam for London
Okeledokely. That is it for now. Be good. Be safe. And I miss you all more than you know.
Love You All I’m Sure,
Blaketastical
posted by Blake J. Nolan | Thursday, December 02, 2004
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7 comments
