set·yourself·on·fire

Mrs London's Wedding

2009-02-02T12:46:00.008Z

Suddenly she was dressed in white since last night. And she is still putting on layers! I am not sure exactly when the wedding is taking place and who the groom is, but preparations will continue. But I think I should shut up now, and let the stunning images do the talking...

Oma Hella's Keys II

2008-12-24T13:03:00.004Z

It all started a long time ago, but it only got more concrete when I was at home over the summer. As I posted earlier, I took a few photographs, but I didn't have a flash or anything fancy. This time I thought I would get more serious, and in a friend's photography studio with serious equipment I photographed each key individually. The result: about 180 very beautiful keys, some with tags, some with out and a few random things. As to date, I am not sure what I will do with them, but I am sure I will find something to do. There is the idea of creating a typeface out of the keys or parts of keys, but it needs some more thought and development. I'll keep you updated.

2008-12-11T09:30:00.001Z

EXTREME II

2008-11-29T16:05:00.006Z

It was the wrong time of the year to shave my head, that's why you usually see me like this at the moment, even indoors...

EXTREME

2008-11-18T10:38:00.002Z

Manchmal muss man was krasses machen!
Extreme times call for extreme measures!

do touch

2008-11-16T14:08:00.018Z

Are you feeling it? I am telling you I fucking felt it! Especially the last few days with hardly any sleep... However, there is a sense of pride when I was looking at what I had produced. Sorry for the bad quality of the images, but I took the images in the morning of the deadline, a few minutes before I handed the damn thing in. I wish
I could show you the thin for real, since it is about 10 times better, but we only get the work back in June, so for now, you'll have to stick with these images...
The first part of the images shows the box of the visual and written element (combined into one) and the black box with the envelopes inside contain the reading copy, the appendix and a couple of other bits and pieces as well as a self-evaluation of the project called "modes of design". The roles of paper have the corresponding part printed on them. You only get to see the title. Wish I could show
you more...

Max Kerning

2008-10-24T12:03:00.002+01:00

Ok, some people might call me a geek, but you know what? I don't care AT ALL, cause Max Kerning is simply brilliant. I haven't laughed at anything as much and long as this. So, go on, have a look at it... hush, hush, off you go...

one of these days

2008-10-04T21:26:00.004+01:00

Today is a day, where all I want to do is stay inside, not talk to too many people and just be as sad and happy as I am. I want to think about 'stuff', nothing specific, just think about things that come in my mind. Thinking about stuff that has been, is and might be. I want to listen to music, to depressing music, sad music. I want to be alone, not feel sad and lonely. I don't want to think about uni, work, home, holidays, my dissertation, or my mum. I don't want to be sociable, meet people to have to tell them lies of how fantastically well I am doing. I am not feeling depressed, I am alive, truly alive. I want to be at in my own place and breathe, move as little as possible and make my mind do the walking and talking. And why on earth do I have the fucking desire to tell the whole fucking world on my fucking blog? I don't want to think about that either.

Longboard to the max

2008-08-02T22:11:00.002+01:00

During my stay back home, Sebastian and I finally managed to get together to build a longboard for him. We had this plan for about a year now, so it was time... While I only gave him some (professional) advice in the beginning stages of the building phase, he did most of the hard work himself. I very much like the look of the board now, and can't wait until it will be finished! Being involved in this project, I somehow got back in the mood of longboarding and reading up about it. On my stroll through the internet I cam across two videos. You may have seen them before, but they are still nice to have a look at every now and then.

I lost my key... Help me find it!

2008-07-22T10:01:00.003+01:00

When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, we inherited all sorts of things. Among them a very cute little chest of draws ("Modellkommoedchen" in German). In most of the draws there was all sorts of stuff, but one draw was chock-a-block full of keys – old, nice, beautiful keys. All sort of keys, tiny ones, skinny ones, short fat ones, big ones, elegant ones... the whole lot. Some of them even came with key-tags, some of them made sense, others not so much. But most were written in this old traditional German calligraphy style – very normal at the time, but very amazing to look at now. No one knows where the keys are from, or what use they have or if they still have a use at all. But that doesn't really matter I think, simply because they are really stunning and beautiful as they are!

Be The King

2008-05-25T14:03:00.007+01:00

2 weeks of research, 2 weeks of development, 1 week production... that was the plan. It turned out to be 2 weeks of procrastination, 2 days of research, 1 week of development and several whole days in the screen printing studio fighting with 3rd year BA and MA students for printing tables. Success for Felix, the mighty screen printing warrior!
The brief for this project was to be interpreted very openly by us students, and simply said 'Information Design'. So, that basically meant we could do whatever we wanted – almost. Display some kind of information in a way it can be understood, but that information can be very personal. There were projects about tube adverts, childhood memories, visualizing music... you name it, it was there! I decided to focus my project on the political and social situation in Swaziland, surely inspired of my recent visit. To be more specific, I focussed it on the Swazi king, Mswati III, and his controversial actions in recent years. While the posters make a naive and almost childish appearance, there is more to it. I tried to capture the over all mood in Swaziland – the-happy-everything-is-fine-we-are-friendly-Swaziland-is-beautiful kind of mood. When you have a closer look and start talking to the people, you realize, not everything is as great as it seems, hence the varnish. The posters are all screen printed and the colours really are as vivid as seen in the photos.

Fully Flared – 6 Squares

2008-05-23T12:36:00.000+01:00

Just for kicks...

MUTO rocks Buenos Aires

2008-05-21T09:57:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Lau I stumbled across this video. It is damn nice, so I had to post it! Enjoy!

Talking Combi

2008-04-18T16:19:00.002+01:00

Combi. First of all there is the spelling. I have seen the word "combi" being spelt in all sorts of ways – kombi, combie, kombie, cumbi, komby... the list goes on. They are all pronounced the same way, so they all refer to the same thing obviously. Combis (let's just stick to this one) are Minibus taxis, which usually go from taxi-rank (or combi-rank, a place like a bus port or station, yet much more busy) along a certain route to another taxi-rank in a different city. They stop along the route to drop and pick up passengers. Sort of like "normal busses" in Europe. However, there are a couple of other things, which are quite different. There is no schedule. Combis leave when every seat is taken. That can take as little as 5 minutes, or if you are really unlucky, more than 4 hours. Depending on the length of the trip combis can accommodate up to 20 people (short trips), but at least 16. Thes numbers are for a small normal combi, like a VW van, or Toyota Hiace, or a van similar size. Yes, it is cramped. Generally speaking, the majority of combis are in terrible condition from a European perspective. About 90% would definitely fail the road safety check in Germany!
So why travel with combis? Well, it is the cheapest mode of transport, by far. For most people it is the only option to go into town or home. And why did Inga and I travel by combi? For people who can afford it, there are "safer" and more comfortable options. But a) these modes of transport cost about 6 times as much as combis and b) by using combis you can really talk to people and make contact with locals, even if you are only visiting for a short time. Also the atmosphere at combi-ranks is eabsolutely amazing! It is loud, hectic, smelly, hot, people shouting, people selling fruit and useless toys, busy, dangerous, laughing, shouting... it is hard to describe in words what they are like, one has to be there to fully get the picture.
The "Lonely Planet" warns tourists from using "Minibus-taxis", and gives three reason not to use them:
1. The accident rate is very high, due to bad condition of vehicle and driver fatigue
2. Taxi-ranks are known for thieves, so you are destined to get mugged and robbed
3. Often combis are run by a "company" (someone owns a fleet of combis). When 2 companies are operating on the same route, they sabotage each others combis or machine-gun them.
The first two points are valid, for sure! However, the third point... well, i have never heard of anything like that, not saying that it could happen or hasn't happened in the past. There is a couple of things, which to look out for: always seek local advice, and whenever possible, avoid being at a combi-rank in the dark. It is not a pleasant experience.

Back to "Real" Life

2008-04-16T12:15:00.004+01:00

Over the last 3 weeks I was on holiday, far, far away from the place called internet. "What there are still places where it is hard to go on the net?" Yep, believe me there are... I went back to Swaziland and South Africa. It is hard to describe how it was, since there were a lot of happy, sad, funny, depressing, good, fantastic, beautiful and extreme moments. In fact, the word describing the stay down south best is probably extreme. Extreme in all sorts of ways. Especially the coming back part to London. Swaziland-London – what a contrast!
Even though I was looking forward to go back to uni, this term seems to be a bit of a killer. Due to my laziness or business (that sounds way better), I have to sort out uni before I will write more extensively about the trip and the holidays. Lots and lots of photos will follow to give you an impression and make you a little jealous... hehe!

HD to the MAX

2008-03-21T12:49:00.004Z

Jochen, a friend of mine, was going to Mannheim yesterday. Since he had a spare seat, I thought it would be great to see Hannes in Heidelberg for the day and get another free lift back to Erlangen with Jina (my dad's gf). After a casual cruise through heavy snow, I got to Mannheim around noon, and after an even more casual handshake with the German national field-hockey coach
Markus Weise (Jochen is the manager and the team has a training camp over Easter in Manheim), I took the train to Heidelberg... yes, it was casual too. By the time I met Hannes, it was already 3pm, so we only had a few hours to catch up. Since he is in the process of moving flat, I was quickly made into a slave. Hell renovating is fun! The flat really is a mess, but once Hannes, Henning and Simon moved in, I am sure they'll make it nice and cosy! Nevertheless, Hannes and I still had time to do some catching up, before I went home with Jina at 7.

London from Above... Well, sort of

2008-03-18T22:50:00.009Z

Now that I have been here for a while and have gotten familiar with the place, I thought it was a good idea to show you guys London a bit. I actually ordered a helicopter, so I could present you guys some decent photographs, but unfortunately (for you) I forgot my camera and couldn't be bothered to fetch it, so these photos of a model will have to do for you... In one picture I included some landmarks, the rest I think should be familiar, even though it is quite hard to see on the model, even if you are familiar with the stuff. The model also included the plans for London 2012 (for those who don't know, London got the next Olympic Games, not Paris, hehehe). Anyway, there are Pics of that as well. Of particular interest to me: the Hockey Stadium! So here is a whole bunch of pics...

Smokin' Roof

2008-03-18T21:36:00.009Z

What do you do when uni is over for term, you are on holidays, the weather is great and you are bored out of your brains? Exactly! You take your camera and go to the roof to take some pictures, I mean what else is there to do??? May I introduce John and Jack – my roof top buddies. Aren't they smokin'?!
Not sure why, but I just felt jumping off the roof. It was great fun for a couple of meters. Man wide angel lenses are fun!

DRL Ten Pavilion

2008-03-14T15:05:00.006Z

I came across a building site of this pavilion the other day. It is a commercially sponsored project of some graduate university course and will be at 'Bedford Square' until August I think. It is for anything specific, "it is just a pavilion" I was told. However, I really like the shape of it and ... yeah. I like it!
It will be finished very soon so I'll post pictures of the finished thing. The pictures show a photograph of a model and work in progress.

Candles? ... anyone?

2008-03-14T15:03:00.001Z

Yesterday night we had a power cut. "Well..." you might think "that's not that special?!" You are right, it's not special at all. ...and yet it somehow is. It was so funny to see my street very dark and black. Usually it is very bright even throughout the night, because there are many shops, that keep their display lights on during the night. But not yesterday! My flat mates freaked out and weren't quite sure how to deal with having no light, there were a lot of people across the street looking out the window to see what the hell was going on and to make things even better, there was an accident right in front of my flat (nothing serious). Actually I wanted to make a few phone calls last night, but of course I couldn't use skype because the internet wasn't working – no power for the modem. So, no power, no light, no nothing. What to do? I got out candles, which were one of the first things I bought when I came to London – believe me or not but I got them in case of a power cut. Coming to think of it, it must be a post Swaziland trauma, since we often had power cuts there and we learned very quickly that you have to get candles so you can finish work for the next day! So, go and get candles!

Giant Lindt Easter Bunny

2008-03-14T15:01:00.002Z

Over the last couple of days a good friend of Lau (we were together in Swaziland) was staying in London. SInce the term was drawing to an end, there was enough time for us to catch up a few times.So whenever I was busy at uni, and Denise wasn't at a gallery, museum or exhibition, we got together had a chat, a walk and a coffee. On one of those walks earlier this week we came by this giant slide show. The slides were projected at a high building just by the river in central London, at night of course. We weren't quite sure what it was about, but seeing that easter is drawing closer and closer, it is probably not far fetched that the bunny in the picture is probably one of those Lindt Easter Bunnies (man that's good chocolate!). The pictures were accomanied by an incredibly bad story and Denise and I left after a few slides, so I can't even tell you what it is about. Nonetheless, I this it is still quite a cool promotion for something (even Easter Bunnies, hehehe). Yes, I know it is not the most creative thing you'll have ever seen, but the sheer size of the slides were pretty stunning! It was huge!

New Toy

2008-03-10T13:03:00.002Z

I got a new camera lens today and to make you jealous, I thought I'd tell you! It is a ultra wide angle lens and it is just so much fun to play around with it. I took this pic of my lap top, to give you an idea of just how wide it is.

Frozen Fingers

2008-03-09T02:45:00.001Z

Procrastinating is fun, however, sometimes you get even stuck when procrastinating and that's the point when you have to deal with it as quickly as you can, otherwise you might go mad – really mad! So, the other day I was working till late, and then intended to procrastinate for a bit before going to bed. Which I managed to do brilliantly, the only problem was that I didn't feel tired at all and knew that I could go on doing nothing till morning. Therefore I decided to get up, move my ass and take a few night photographs of London. I was quite surprised to find myself outside within a few seconds (yep, I was getting desperate at that point). Pumped and full of energy I started heading towards the river. "Uh, it is actually quite chilly!" I thought. "Ah well, once you walk for a bit you'll warm up." Before I bore you with detailed descriptions of how I started to loose feelings in my fingers, I can just tell you that it wasn't just 'chilly' – it was f***ing freezing! Insane! Below is the only photograph which is sort of decent, all the others are really blurry, due to hectic shivering...

This is Bavaria

2008-03-02T23:43:00.002Z

My sister showed me this really funny introduction to Bavaria, my "home state". It is by the German band 'Anajo' (don't know their music, the only thing I know about them is that they made this video). For all the people, not familiar with Bavarian politics: the colour black refers to the reigning party, the CSU (Christian Social Union, they always dominate elections, very conservative party); red refers to the SPD (Social-democratic Party Germany, less conservative); green to the Green Party, the smallest and barely existent party in the Bavarian government. Not sure, may be it is only funny coming from Bavaria...

Ok, enough youtube videos, back to real stuff soon!

DNC Video – Flip Video Ultra review

2008-03-02T23:20:00.003Z

My brother and I are thinking to buy a mini camcorder to record all the crap we talk. Well, may be this is just an excuse to get another toy, hehe... We'll see. Anyway, I stumbled across this camcorder and it suits us pretty good I think – small, compact, low resolution, and reasonably cheap. So I went to look for some reviews and found this one really funny one. I am still not sure whether the guy is for real, or not. Not quite sure, but it is hell funny! That's for sure! Especially the end (it's quite long, you might want to fast forward...)!

Cliché?

2008-02-28T18:34:00.003Z

While the HUGO BOSS competition took up most of my time, I still managed to go to a gallery on Sunday morning. Didn't know what was on, but since the Photographer's Gallery is so close, there is really no excuse not going if you have half a hour to spare. I ended up stayed there for about two hours... There were a couple of exhibitions going on all at the same time, but one of them really shook me up. Fazal Sheikh exhibited Ladli – his experiences traveling through India. It was focusing on the gender inequality, which still exists in that part of the world, and violence towards women. Now, you might think: "Well, yeah, that's just so cliché to have B&W pictures of street kids and write some words of pity and how unfair everything is." Well, yes, it is cliché, but nonetheless this exhibition was so powerful and so effective, that I was completely absorbed and couldn't think about much else for the rest of the day. In fact I still have to work through the whole thing now. What stroke me most, was the fact that there was a little paragraph accompanying each photograph, not explaining who the the person is in a third person narrative, but in a first person narrative. This made it more direct and as a result a lot more effective. Still, people might think, it doesn't mean it is saying the truth and they are made up. If that is the case, it is still very well done, and deserves its place in an exhibition. But I really don't think they are made up. No one could think of such perversities as stated in the detailed descriptions – being beaten up by your husband because you didn't breed a boy, being set on fire because you refuse to have a check whether your child is a boy or a girl (so you could have an abortion in case it is a girl), being forced into prostitution because you are told you are otherwise worthless as a young girl...
It is in times like these, when I realize just how small my problems are, which I face as a Western citizen coming from a save and secure little world. It is good to clear that fog off our eyes once in a while.

Go check out the photograph's and descriptions of Ladli by Fazal Sheikh, but be aware that they are not nearly as striking and powerful as I have experienced. There is something about going to a gallery, a clean environment, where is it possible to focus on the photographs and see them in proper scale, not only on screen. And I think it is also the physical aspect of actually going to a different place, and not being stuck to a chair mindlessly clicking through the horrible place we refer to as "The Internet". Nonetheless, it still gives you a fair idea of what it is about.

What the hell???

2008-02-28T18:26:00.002Z

Come here quick! – I need a witness!

I am sure you have all heard about the earthquake in Britain on Wednesday at 12:56 am. Apparently it was all over the news. And believe it or not, I could feel it. Holy crap it was so fucking scary! Everything – and I mean really EVERYTHING – started shaking in my room! The walls, the chair I was sitting on, the tables, the shelves... It was scary! I had been working and at first I was thinking I had been imagining it, since I was hell tired and really needed to sleep actually. I only really believed it when Adam asked me at uni the following day: "Man, did you feel that earthquake last night?" Well, I had my witness...

HUGO BOSS ... "Oh crap!"

2008-02-28T18:14:00.004Z

Well, yeah... Blogging is important. At least when you have a blog, which is read by friends and family, and your intention is that they keep reading it. However, sleep is important also. At least it is for me. And eating. And uni-work. And going to the loo. So blogging isn't that important after all. So, I have been doing a lot of work for uni, and just about sufficient sleeping and eating. Going to the loo was sometimes a close one, but no accidents yet, I always made it! I have been working on a presentation for a competition held by HUGO BOSS, and by last week Tuesday, Christine and I (we teamed up for this competition, Christine is from Cologne) were actually really fed up with it, since David (designer from HB) didn't really like our idea we presented about 3 weeks ago. So we made a few changes that night and handed in a pretty lousy and in our eyes weak second idea. We thought we had to present it, but when we arrived at the presentation venue on Wednesday, we found out we just had to hand it in. That came a little unexpected since we hadn't really completed the presentation, but could have explained the concept quite easily. "Oh crap!" we thought. The tutor we were handing it in to, suggested to hand in an additional text file explaining our concept. "Ok, no prob!" – "But you have to do it within the next 5 minutes, cause I have to be out of here by 4pm!" – "Oh crap!" So we wrote an even lousier explanation to support our presentation, and were happy to walk out of that room at 4pm not ever having to think about the whole thing again! No HUGO BOSS, no straight lines, no boring designs, no more German thinking. ... how wrong we were! On Friday I went to Max's place and we actually planned to have another photography session. Due to some procrastination of the upmost level, we managed to not have to do that (we just couldn't be assed actually), not having to cook (we went to 'Ultimate Burger', very nice crappy food) and we didn't have to worry what we would have to do for the rest of the night, since we had the whole first season of 'West Wing' (watch out, extremely addictive!!!) still a 'virgin' for the both of us. At about 11 pm Christine called me and told me to check blackboard (the communication platform of my college online). "Why" – "Just do it!" So I did, and couldn't believe my eyes! We actually got shortlisted (for my German fellows: shortlist = engere Auswahl) and had to give a final client presentation on Wednesday. After a couple of undecipherable screams and shouts of utter joy it dawned on us – we actually had to continue on the very boring project! An not only that, we actually had to do the whole thing properly this time! "Oh crap!" We met up on Sunday and worked our asses off. I went to bed at 5 am that night, getting 3 hours sleep. We gave everything to print on Monday, and thought: "Ok, all done. Just slam some visual together for the screen presentation and we are done." ... how wrong we were! On Tuesday morning we were told we got an email saying: "David liked your first idea you handed in, but you have to make the presentation a bit more slick and neat." – "Oh holy-shit-buggered-asshole-CRAP!" We actually had been developing the wrong idea! We tried to get hold of the responsible tutor for the competition, and wanted to confront him, why the hell he didn't tell us that on Friday?! But as it turned out, we actually were on the right track, and didn't have to change anything. However, we still tried to do as much as we could and ended up presenting an additional second idea yesterday. The whole presentation actually went really well and they were really pleased with the results, only a few minor points would need to be changed. Now we have to wait until March 11 to find out who won. Since the 7 other groups have really good and strong ideas as well, I think our chances of making 1st or 2nd are extremely small, but who knows... However, in the unlikely even of winning some cash – "Oh crap!"

Unfortunately I signed a piece of paper stating that HUGO BOSS owns everything we handed in and I can't publish it anywhere (I basically sold my soul to them). That means I can't publish anything on the blog. Sorry.

Another Portrait...

2008-02-13T20:51:00.002Z

Had a photoshoot organized today by our photography department. I know this shot is very similar to the one Max and I did, but I didn't have the energy and time to come up with something really amazing in a day (only heard about it yesterday). Not sure what to think of it... Well, anyway, there you go:

Serious Procrastination

2008-02-07T17:02:00.000Z

This little video pretty much sums up my day! What a waste of time!

'Street Art' meets Nietzsche

2008-01-31T11:02:00.000Z

I saw this little piece of art... well, can we call it art? Or shall we say it is 'street art'? Some inline skater wanting to be creative again? Be that as it is, it very much has the characteristics of an 'inline skater being funny...' Anyway, it actually reminded me of an article in the Time Out Magazine (unfortunately I couldn't find it online) I was reading the other day about the 'Banksy boom' that is all around London and many other major cities. Recently this particular style of art is pushing into well established galleries, which if you think about it is a bit of a paradox, since it is 'street art'. It isn't anything new I guess, there have been plenty of similar scenarios in the past which follow the same path of development, but it is quite funny to see that happening now. As Kundera quotes Nietzsche saying that events become more and more important when they repeat themselves, implying that history is repeating itself, it is sort of similar art, Felix says. However, repeating is boring as well, so 'street art' won't stay in galleries long and might even disappear from the streets, which again is a paradox. – Oh crap, I just confused myself here...

"Maximum Meaning, Minimum Means"

2008-01-30T23:39:00.001Z

Naomi Games came to talk about her father Abram Games, a really important and influential British graphic designer. May be you don't know him by name, but I am sure you have seen one of his posters somewhere, and if not so, then you recognize his style of poster design in many others. He certainly has left his mark on poster design in the last century! It was really interesting to hear about his success as a poster designer, working methods and get some real insight into his life. What especially was quite funny to hear, was that during the beginning of his career (but also after his death in 1996) he took poster proposals and other work to potential clients and always got the same answer (later his daughter): "It is great! But we can't use it, it's far too modern..." He really was ahead of his time, but a real genius: "Considering my talent, I am quite modest!" Another thing that was quite striking in my eyes, is his view the importance to get noticed by others, whether it is good work or bad work (or pleasant or unpleasant work) doesn't matter too much. A good contemporary example is the logo for the Olympic Games 2012 in London. I personally – among many others – think it is a shocking
logo with the dynamics of a swastika. But it successfully got people talking about it and therefore got noticed by a huge audience!
Finishing with a Abram Games quote he told his students from time to time: "Remember the three Cs: Courage, Concentration & Curiosity! ... and Cash and Checks, don't forget them either..."

Loch Ness Monster attacking Tokyo

2008-01-29T10:20:00.000Z

Went for a walk in the internet and found this promotion of probably a really shitty film. However, I totally agree with the author's comment: "... I want to see this movie. Marketing magic!" What a shame the video clip was removed from the site... But thanks to youtube you can still watch it if you want.

Mad Mud

2008-01-27T14:07:00.001Z

Max and I though it was time again! Time for another photo shoot and some serious stobist (flash) session! First I had to do some running to get that sweat on my face. Max made me run for an hour and when I returned he sent me away again. "Sweat bitch!" he shouted at me. "Effing Bastard!" I thought. But it gets worse. After 2 hours of furious running he wrestled me unexpectedly and put the right side of my face into a prepared container of mud. Now I was really angry, but before I could perform my bad ass martial arts killer moves, he had already sat me down and tied me to a chair. I couldn't move. Then he had all the time to spray water on me. Man I was mad! However, the picture turned out pretty good I think. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Lau and my birthday in the 50s

2008-01-27T12:56:00.000Z

For those who have missed it, my B-day was last week. And this year you really missed out! Flip man, it was wicked! Now I keep asking myself: "Why haven't I done this more often in the past?" Well, may be because extraordinary parties, require extraordinary circumstances. This year exactly that seemed to be the case. After half a year of depressing events last year I started to get on top of things again, and after a few weeks of being in London I heard the great news of Lau coming to Europe for the winter. (For those who don't know Lau, we went to school together in Swaziland.) After trying to figure out when the best time would be to catch up in various skype sessions and chats, we thought we have to celebrate our birthday together, since we are born on the same day. So basically we are twins, just one year apart, but who cares. My father was quite surprised to find out that he in fact had a second daughter, my twin sister Lau... Anyway, having decided on the fact that we HAVE to celebrate together, we still had to find a place to do that. Timing wasn't perfect, since I would already be back at uni in mid January and my place in London is not suitable for a big party, plus, I would not see many people from my hime town Erlangen, which I didn't want to miss out on. Therefore, the only solution to the problem was that I would come home for the party (what an excellent excuse to have good beer paired with great food, hehe) and have the whole thing at my place. My dad agreed (a true champion by the way) so it was set! What followed was a relaxed and chilled out party with plenty of dancing late in the night! If you wonder why everyone looks rather funny, we had a theme for the party: choose a 50s movie character. While not everyone found a movie character, there was a 50s feeling all around.

1) Franzi and Tim
2) ooooh kiss me! Saskia and a member of the Corleone Falmily
3) Lau the butterly lady
4) "hehe, I have tea and you don't!" Mado and the butterfly
5) "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."
6) dancing late at night/early in the morning
7) The Hockey Crew (Thodde, where are you?)

one crazy New Years Eve

2008-01-27T12:40:00.000Z

What to do when it is quite difficult to visit all your friends over the holidays, due to lack of time and money? Rent out a chalet in the middle of Switzerland (in the "Berner Oberland" for the geography freaks) and make all of them come! In the end we were about 30 peeps and had a hell of a time! It's quite difficult to put in words, since it was so intense, exciting, crazy, difficult, hectic, messy, cold, hot... It truly was an experience and I feel pitty for those who weren't able to come. However, the mountains won't move too much over the next couple of years, so may be there will be a second time. We'll see... Anyway, the pictures below only show you a fraction of what we have been up to, however, you just can imagine the rest!

What's left to say? Even though it was quite busy every now and then, I had an amazing time! Thanks everyone for coming and making this New Year's Eve memorable!

Holy Crap! It's been long!

2008-01-24T20:10:00.000Z

Well, there is no excuse really. The title says it all. Lots has happened in the meantime, and I could tell you all about it. I could tell you that I survived the first term of uni very well, but I won't. I could tell you that straight after uni I went to see an excellent play ('Shadowlands' for those pretending to be interested in theater and the arts, incredible performance by the way), but I won't. I could tell you that after that I went to visit Dani in Stockholm for a couple of days, in which we had a spectacular amount of coffee and fun, but I won't. I could tell you that after visiting Dani, I went to Berlin to see Sandra, but I won't. I could tell you that we looked at every pair of sneaker in Berlin, but I won't. I could tell you that this "I could tell you ... but I won't" business is really starting to annoy me! So I am going to stop! ... but I won't! Anyway, after a few lovely days in the German capital city, I went to Copenhagen to see Sebastian. What followed was two of the most intense days of partying I have had in a long time! Two hours after arriving in Copenhagen, I was at a party of Sebastian's flatmate Simon (really, really cool and relaxed guy!) and drunk! Geee, the Danish drink a ****-load! Due to the hangover the following day was pretty chilling intense, however, we still got our asses off the sofa at some point and went to this hardcore electro club. While Sebastian was sweating like a pig on the dance floor, I was having a long chat with Hendrik – friend of Sebastian's. It was deep shit we talked about, I tell you! The next two days we invented a few extreme sports. They aren't even that hard to learn, the only thing that is making the sport extreme is the duration and intensity. The sports were: extreme couching, extreme PlaystationII playing and extreme movie watching. Oh, and extreme Fast Food eating, not eating food extremely fast, there is a distinct difference... Anyhow, the last day, I actually got to see a bit of Copenhagen – small, easygoing, blonde and somewhat alternative! Ten days after I finished the first term in early December, I got to go home. After seeing so many places in such a short time, it felt nice to be able to sleep in my own bed again.

Sixth Sense at Six

2007-11-18T19:49:00.001Z

Yesterday my brother and I thought it was about time for another photography session. Max had the idea for quite some time and over the last few weeks we developed it together. The most difficult part was the set up, which took a few hours. Arranging the flashes for optimum results, making sure that they don't cast shadows on my face or other parts of the scene, controlling the day light from outside the window, positioning the camera to get an engaging and exciting composition, and last but not least – getting the timing right when to drop the piece of bread and taking the picture. – Yes, the piece of toast was actually dropped, it didn't "jump" up from the toaster. – We took at least 100 photos, of which 5 had the toast in the perfect place, and 1 out of those was pretty good to us. For anyone who is interested in the "how we took the picture" check out Max's flickr account. There are 2 pictures with tags and detailed descriptions on what equipment was used and the lot... I'll go and take care of the burns from the toast on my hand now!

STOMP

2007-11-16T12:32:00.000Z

Well, apart from having tons of work to do, I don't really have an excuse to be silent for a while. The last two weeks I was rather busy... four projects, learn how to screen-print from scratch, and the week after next I have an essay due! On top of that Sandra came to visit last weekend, and even though it put me back a little in terms of uni-work, it was fabulous to have a break from work related things! We had a "jolly-good" time in Britain, and I can't wait to have an equally relaxing time in Berlin in a month's time! – No pressure here, Sandra – It was actually really good that someone came and visited me, cause this way I went and saw a few touristy things around London, which I wouldn't do by myself. Long walks and talks, a pretty extensive visit to Greenwich (being part of a "marvelous" and really funny presentation on why longitudes are so important) and cute houses in Notting Hill were not able to match the utterly impressive Saturday night! We had a stomping good time, watching the STOMP performance. I already knew most of the videos on youtube beforehand, but it is no match what-so-ever to seeing the actual performance about 7 meters away! Definitely the most inspiring and fascinating theatrical performance I have ever seen! – It's good to think about things like that, when I see the mountain of work ahead of me... not quite a Mount Everest yet, but definitely as high and difficult as the K2... Oh, btw I didn't take any pictures of Sandra's visit because a) I kept forgetting my camera and b) I really needed a break from things. I'm sorry. More picturesque articles coming soon...

The Changing Face of Letterpress

2007-11-03T15:43:00.000Z

Suitable to the topic of my studies this week, as well as the intenseness, I went to a talk on letterpress (true Gutenberg style) and typography on Thursday night with Edward and Frida from my course. David Dabner and Alex Cooper, two lecturers and tutors from London College of Communications, basically talked a bit about the history of letterpress and type and showed a few of their own and students work. It is quite amazing to see what exciting stuff you can do, just with a couple of letters and an ancient press! The thing I love about letterpress, is that every printed page, even every individual letter, really has character. Due to the non-automatic mechanics of a letter press and the fact that you are manually applying the ink, it is very hard to produce two identical prints. It is a very long process (you have to set every single letter by hand), which means you spend much longer on a poster for example, than if you would design it on the computer. Most of the time using letterpress means you spend more time, and (hopefully) more thought on a project, which generally speaking produces a better result. Of course letterpress has its limitations, eg printing photos is pretty much impossible. Sooner or later it will disappear. However, letterpress is able to produce results, which are nearly impossible to adapt on the computer, and therefore, as well as nostalgic reasons, I hope letterpress will never completely die.

Hectic Week

2007-11-03T14:53:00.000Z

Last week uni was really hectic! In my main study we were given the brief to design our own portfolio website. Doesn't really sound that bad, but the thing is, that we have to make it come to life in flash, which I guess is not that bad either. However, if you have never worked with flash before, like myself, it does make it rather difficult I think – no, actually I know. Not only do I have to learn flash and program this damn site until next week Friday, I also had an additional compulsory course last week, Print Production. It was only a one week course, 3 days to be precise, but those were quite intense and time consuming. We basically learned how to make files ready for print and all the thing you have to consider: type of print (off-set litho, off-set digital, screen print, etc), choice of paper, budget, colour matching, client's budget... There are always so many variables for every projects, which makes it pretty complex to choose the right and best path for an optimum outcome. And then you still have to convince the client to spend a fortune and find a good printer, who doesn't rip you off! Our tutors showed us a heap of examples of what is possible with different kind of papers, folds, printing techniques, colour, embossing... Very "eye opening" and inspirational! The only problem is to find the money to do all that stuff – business as usual. But hey, we even get something for free, now that we haev completed Print Production: a set of 50 promotional postcards of ourselves! But it also means more work, it due in two weeks. Oh well...

SomE RaNDom NIghT

2007-11-02T14:26:00.000Z

Took these the other day from my roof terrace. The window of my room has the same view as the first two pictures, except that I am not looking over the houses on the opposite side of the street, rather at them. It is weirred, cause the people opposite can see what you are up to and vice versa. I already taught one of my neighbors to wave back at me, the others still need training. The white building in the background in one of the pictures is the Royal Opera House, which is much more spectecular from the inside, but it is sort of nice to live next to it... The big lit up building in the last pic is Center Point, which marks the end (or beginning) of Oxford Street. And the remaining one just shows the nasty part of the terrace.

Green Street Machine

2007-10-29T18:57:00.000Z

Driven by the a serious experimental force, my brother and I wanted to combine the photographic element of motion blur and flash in order to see what results we were able to produce. We spent about 1,5 hours and 100 pictures of setting everything up until we got what we wanted. Ironically, most of the successful pictures of that session where produced on the way home...

Anyway, Max and I agreed to have a second session some time soon, just have to find some spare time.

Italian Stallion

2007-10-28T22:08:00.000Z

Matteo (24, flatmate) discovered Photo Booth on my laptop. He certainly seemed to have fun! ...crazy Italians...

Skate-Park-Punk-Kids and the School Party

2007-10-28T17:39:00.000Z

All of yesterday I was successfully procrastinating for most of the day, after having not slept much the night before due to a typography project. By 3pm I felt the couch-potatoness paralyzing almost my entire body, and therefore I thought it might be a good idea to do something about it. I called up Baptiste (friend from my course) forced him to go visit a gallery. Being as we are – unorganized students – we just wanted to see a gallery and didn't really care what kind. The coice was quickly made (yep, we choose the closest) and started walking. After a few minutes I asked him: "Do you actually know where this gallery is?" "No, I thought you do!", he answered. We decided it might be better to ask someone for the way, and weren't really surprised to find out that we had to go back the way we came. A coffee and some food later we finally found the gallery we were looking for. Finally we would do something useful for the day! Madly excited we went in, and about 3 minutes later went out again. The exhibition consisted of one room with an animation showing about Pamela Anderson's honeymoon (the latest one). We just thought: "...yeah – right ..." As madly excited as we arrived, as madly disappointed we left again... On the way back along the river we came past the local hang out of London's skaters. Having a lot of time to kill before we could go to the party that night, we made ourselves 10 years younger and were really hardcore when taking pictures of the raddest skate performances I have ever seen!

After pretending for long enough to be skate-park-rats, we started off the night by having a few beers on our roof terrace and having a deep and meaningful discussion on design and life. Yeah. Anyway, the main event was the Primary School Party organised by a fellow student, "G". Why school party? Well, because G actually lives in an old Primary School Building! It is a crazy place to live, but perfect for a party! He has a room that is bigger than my entire flat and that's just his living room... Insane! Anyway, we did what is usually done at parties of grand scale, had a great time, and getting an hour extra sleep today was definitely necessary! Can't wait for the next party in this wicked place!

Life is a cup of tea

2007-10-28T16:40:00.000Z

Well, yeah, I know... Yes, mmmh, yeah, ... no, sorry, but... YES, I FUCKIN' KNOW, I have already been here a few weeks, and have only written one lousy email. Welcome to my blog, about my life in cup-of-tea-land!

I hate computers and the internet (as you might have guessed -> picture)! They really suck, but then what would we do without them? Took me ages to set up this stupid blog, and I still don't know why my laptop doesn't want to do what I want it to do, I mean I am already screaming at it, but it still won't hear me! That's the kind of moment when you have to set yourself on fire...