On spotting and being seen by Asian-immigrants
It's really USUAL to get glances, nods and gestures that are along the lines of "Hello brother," or "greetings comrade," and anything that feels along the lines of whispering in my ear through a glance: "you - you are one of us."
A sense of belonging, an identification status, the universal nod of "we're going through the same thing" or just a feeling of understanding, the extended stare, the fixed eye contact that says, "we're both not from here, and have come from a similar place."
I'll get recurring glances, fixed eye contact, sometimes stares, and very rarely, subtle smiles, at least in the eyes. Girls on the street will not often smile at me, but will sometimes look occasionally. Older men and foreign males will look more than assimilated young men. If I'm at a stoplight, I'll be glanced at more than a few times by a 30-something asian driver. If there's a shop, street vendor or guy selling chinese, thai or even just kebabs and fried late-night foods, again more eye contact will be made whether its an older man, woman or someone around my age. And the trend also seems to lean towards more smiles. If I'm at a club, a drunk asian guy will give me the "whats up" nod or even go up to me to give me a handshake. Asian girls also seem to give me a lot more stares. Even at the shop I work at, Asian customers will wait for me to offer assistance before they say anything, often denying other employees of different ethnic backgrounds; sometimes they will go straight for me when they have a question.
I kept checking for a decent pallet of posters to come on, as well as trying to find a decently sunny day for some lighting. Had to stand on an intersection island for this, but definitely worth it.
"London market for stolen bikes
The streets around Brick Lane were depicted as a hotbed of bike crime going unchecked by the authorities (Cyclo-therapy, 11 October). Bike theft is, unfortunately, an issue across London, but the inference that the work of council market officers and the police in Tower Hamlets is ineffective misses the mark.
Tower Hamlets Council market officers seize bikes from illegal traders on the lane, and every week they provide details to the police of all bikes taken from illegal street traders. They are then checked against police theft records. From the hundreds of bikes seized over the past few years, not one has been reported to the police as stolen.
We have been working closely with the police and although we acknowledge there are illegal traders left, the numbers are nowhere near what they have been, and we will continue to work hard to remove them.
All untraceable bikes seized in evidence by police and market officers are sold back legally on Brick Lane as part of a joint police initiative. This is mainly an educational exercise, where information and advice is also given about how people can keep their bikes secure, and the dangers of buying from unlicensed, illegal traders."
not my photos
Discovered another gem here in the UK: TK Maxx -- the English equivalent of TJ Maxx in the States. Found these for a low 25 pounds, and i think they're kinda retro cus the original laces were yellowed and I cant find them online.
this is what my food looks like BEFORE I eat it. Yes, that's right, the chicken isn't eaten yet, although it may look like it, I simply pull out the meat over the head of the drumstick so that it cooks faster and gets rid of more grease. The cheese was my special way of treating myself to having a job and celebrating thanksgiving simultaneously.
Cool group of people always -- Saturdays seems to bring in the older crowd, and some tourists (its on a very popular streetcorner for crying out loud). Upstairs seemed to be more of the young hipsters, a lot of drunkeness, socializing, sitting to techno/electro. Downstairs in the basement however, is much more arty, experimental, and underground. There's live performance art, experimental film projects, sound-mashing dj's and eclectic bands. Tonight, you have a dimly lit area with a dark curtain separator, a few dozen stools, film projector and in the middle of the room, a rotating steel disc embedded in the concrete floor -- brown and rusted and squeaky, this merry go-round serves as the dance floor for the energetic and enthusiastic who writhe to the tunes of modern jazz-indie fusions. Onlookers on the outside, those tired of dancing or a notch too timid to get into the action themselves, contribute to the energy and vibe by pushing the disc round and round while the dancers bust headstands and just do whatever natural improv movements they feel during the 6, 7 and 8 minute songs played.
The Entire basement hallway is covered in graffiti - and the bathroom is where you'll find a more intense concentration. Not wanting to look like a pervert or just weird, BUT wanting to get some real graffiti samples for some projects I'm working on, I locked myself in a stall and snapped away. It's really crazy how its everywhere, and it's actually promoted. There's even a documentary on bathroom graffiti featuring this place.
Above is the Whitechapel riots, taken place on the street I bike almost dailiy to get groceries in the early 1900s, when working-class men blockaded the street to prevent a labor strike from marching through. You see the suits fleeing for their lives as the police decide that they're not playing nice with the blue-collars.
Not much to say really...A very eclectic ensemble with 2 (sometimes 3) vocalists, keyboard/electronics guy, trumpet, trombone, and all the usual pieces of regular bands -- kinda reminiscent of a modern big-band era thing. Very jazzy, wonderful pieces.
Also, Watch the guy in the audience in the bottom left of the video...the guy in the white shirt. You're welcome.
So this is the THING that everyone is seeing right now in London, this huge installation in a sporting arena/theatre sized room, with a huge red alien structure, alien spider, and huge cat skeleton next to a huge bitten apple....not sure the significance, but with the bunkbeds it's supposed to signify the fear people experience with the apocalypse. People are allowed to touch, sit and lie down on the beds to look at the space or watch the odd film playing, or even read the books lying around some of the beds (all with the theme of fear and the end of the world: War of the worlds, 1984, etc).
A gruesome, zombie-like portrayal of rich people eating lobsters at expensive restaurants.
Each color is a different message. I thought yellow was interesting:
