Category: Musings

2005 here we go…

The hangover has abated, the new year’s resolutions have been written and broken already, guess it must be 2005 already.

What happened to 2004? I’m sure it only started yesterday, fast asleep in a car at the Falls Festival with my friend Holly who was supposed to wake me up to see in the New Year. Oops. From there it was another week in Melbourne, packing up and saying goodbye to that wonderful little town where I’d lived for four months.

Then onto Thailand, for a great couple of months of beaches, massages and temples – with a brief jaunt into Cambodia in the middle. It was only March when I left from the Andaman coast town of Khao Lak after a four day dive trip to the Similians – now I read the news every few hours hoping that the tsunami news will start getting better. Strange bookends to the year.

Then back to England, for my nephew’s first ever birthday! He’d grown so much in the year since I’d last seen him – a beautiful, sparkling child who, luckily for his camera obsessed uncle, had developed a complete range of clothing catalog poses (including the tricky ‘toy tractor lean’).

England was a bit of a culture shock – and not just for re-adjusting to English prices after a year in Australia and Thailand. The family home of 25 odd years had been sold while I was away, with everyone moving from Camberley up to Norwich. Oi vey. Nice to see a different part of the country, but it is the arse end of nowhere however funny Alan Partridge is.

My plan for coming back was simple – I would get a well paid IT contract somewhere on the south coast for six months, buy a house and do it up during that time, then rent it out and head off to South America to be a dive master, via Thailand as the training there is so cheap. Somehow I found it hard to get back into that plan, so instead of getting a job I went over to Sweden for another holiday. Obvious really. On my return I reasoned I would have my wanderlust out of my system… Then Stephen called from New York, to ask if I’d come help him out for a couple of weeks with this startup he was doing called ‘Text.com‘. Nine months later I’m still back in New York working for the renamed ‘Fountain Mobile‘ and we’ve just done our first proper campaign – yay!

Being back in New York again has been fun. I was never sure I’d come back, with 9/11, being laid off and other events conspiring to make my last few months here something less than enjoyable. I’m glad I’m back though – New York is a great place to be and full of interesting people and situations, chock full of visual & visceral stimuli.

So here’s to a wonderful 2005 for everyone. Cheers!

The Spirit of Giving

As I sit here with tears in my eyes at the continually rising death toll in Asia everything seems so unreal. The sheer enormity of this disaster is incomprehendable. Having lived through New York over 9/11 the emotions are familiar – the shock, the wrenching at the soul, the heaviness in the heart.

The wonderful aspect of this has been the outpouring of support from around the world. Everyone is digging deep to give generously – even if their governments aren’t always so giving. The American government is currently promising $35m in aid, whereas for the Florida Hurricanes over $3 billion was allocated. Guess it’s a shame Jeb Bush isn’t governor of Thailand. Thankfully the American people know the true meaning of giving, with people and organizations allocating huge amounts to disaster relief. A beautiful thing to see.

Francis ford coppola : a film-maker’s life – michael schumacher. I picked this book up off a cheapy stall in Shoreditch market, having enjoyed Easy Riders, Raging Bulls as well as Apocalypse Now. It’s a great read, which took a little bit of time to get into, but once you’re past Coppola’s early life is fascinating and engaging. Coppola is a true visionary, not just in the film arena but also in how he conducts his business. I actually think I learnt more about start-ups and investment from this book than about how to make films. The main lesson, never give up on what you believe in even if all seems lost. Inspiring stuff.

Unbelievable

It’s been a day now and I still can’t believe the devastation that has happened in Asia. The death toll keeps rising – it now stands at an estimated 24,000 people, whereas only a few hours ago it was 12,000. The sheer density of population in that region, and the lack of tracking & organisation would seem to indicate that the number will increase again.

My thoughts are with everyone out there – all the wonderful people I met when I was in Thailand earlier this year, and the countless others in the region. I really don’t know what else to say. I know how glad I was when I heard my friend John’s fiance Sinnead was OK in the Maldives, so I just hope that there are more stories like that.

Dah dum

In the wake of the recent great white attack off Adelaide the state premier has called for the animals death, even though great whites are a protected species. Nothing like a good old bit of knee jerk reaction, especially since every Aussie I ever met who surfed, scuba dived or whatever was always very sanguine about the sharks they swam with. Someone did post a great idea though, that they should tag the great whites so they can be tracked and then issue alerts to swimmers in risk areas.

Meanwhile the danger continues closer to home back on 54th street… For the second time this month the street was closed off as fire trucks evacuated a building. Again not our building, but kinda worrying. One of the hazards of being near a busy area I guess.

In more happy news.. had a great company holiday dinner last night down at Giorgione. Lovely food, erratic heating and slightly over-pretentious. Once everyone around us got more drunken the atmosphere became more fun though. Merry Textmas!

BTW, finally succumbed to buying a digital SLR. My new Canon d20 arrived the other day and I’ve already blown off 300 odd pics on it. Very cute indeed, just have to get the hang of using it and taking the kind of photos I like taking! I just love the fact that it fires off a shot within miliseconds and starts up just as quickly, very different from my dearly beloved but old and battered S30.

“Is there an ultimate, Cyberface?”

“Oh no. But there is an ultimate goal, and this is it: Jam and Spoon.”

Ten odd years ago while I was at PGL a rave head called Dave Schnell gave me a copy of a radio broadcast by Future Sound of London. That tape, The Test Transmission, totally changed my taste in music and was the soundtrack of my life for pretty much the next five years. The flowing ambient trance, the banter between Cyberface and Yage, the fact that almost every song on there was huge but not until 7 years later and the loving fuzziness caused by repeated tape to tape copying.

Then I moved to New York, didn’t have a tape player and only got the chance to listen to it every time I went home. Bugger.

Until now…

That tape, with all its nth generation tape copy muffled loveliness, is now in MP3 form and taking pride of place on my iPod as I wander around New York. For me it is the sound of memories and I offer it to all of you who have shared that journey and so many good times:

Test Transmission

With thanks always to Dave for your mixtape generosity, wherever you are, and to all of you for everything, always.

PS, The MP3 is BIG and split into two parts (tape sides) – each ~65 meg. So if you’re not near a broadband Internet connection it will take you a looong time to get it. Sorry! Let me know and I can burn you a CD when I get a chance. Also, at some point that link will stop working as we’re decommissioning that server – so get ‘em while they’re hot!

Hitted and Runned

Just heard an almighty crash outside my window and looked outside to see a small white truck speeding away from the junction. Back at the junction was a large pick up with its back totally mashed up and lots of people running after the truck. Hmm..

Much though I love my new apartment the rat run that is Kingsland road is a bit of a drag. Tomorrow morning around 5am big trucks will start air-braking outside my window for no apparent reason, as they sneak past all the BQE traffic into Queens. Bless ’em.

Sunny side of the street

Well after a precipitastic start to the day, with very wet feet to show for it, the sun is now shining brightly on 5th avenue. A lovely day to watch the stars go by. Well, the couple of stars. First and most obvious of which is the suspended silver sparkling one at the intersection of 5th avenue and 57th street – beautiful. The second was my first celebrity spot in a while, seeing Kristen Johnston (3rd Rock from the Sun, Sex and the City, Austin Powers) wandering along head down to shade her eyes from the sun. Nice.

Happy Thanksgiving

New York is apparently a little bit confused today. It’s the end of November but somehow tropically warm outside, if grey and cloudy. Fall has decided to finish off its main job of the season, with the paths of the local park covered in piles of crunchy brown leaves.

Meanwhile I seem to have gotten myself way too much into a new TV show. D’oh. Dead like me is a series about a group of dead people whose job it is to collect the souls of people just before they die, preventing them from ending up in limbo. The concept is great, darkly comic with a mix of family issues covered off as well as the strangeness of death. There are also some wonderful lines, such as ‘I love you, I just don’t like you anymore’, and on the subject of breakfast ‘I fancy trying something different this morning’ – ‘There’s a big menu to choose from out there’. Plus the English reaper Mason sounds just like my mate Robert.

Go team, go team!

Well the official pictures from the Chengwin vs. Chunk homecoming are now online. Go check them out! You can just about see me on the 13th page in the crowd shot, the back of my head in my black, fur lined hood in the middle of the image. Fame at last!

Also a big thanks to Squen and her possee up in Hanover for a very entertaining weekend. College ice hockey, moonshine and tax free shopping – what more could anyone want?