Living Inside a Giant Strawberry Cupcake

So I got a flat finally after a week of looking everyday on gumtree.com and moveflat.com. It's in east London, off of the happenin' Brick Lane. Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Brick Lane, Liverpool Street, and Old Street are all within walking distance. I chose this area because east london is where it's at. The girl owns the place and has lived there for 10 years. It is an ex-council flat that she renovated with all the nicest and high-end stuff. The place has style. She is like Strawberry Shortcake if that character grew up to be a hip beautiful photographer that now has mature tastes yet retained part of her signature Strawberry Shortcake style that we all know and love from when we used to be 6 year old girls. The kitchen is all pink including the high end appliances like the Smeg fridge. I liken it to living in a giant strawberry cupcake. You might say gross, or what where you thinking Jason! But in the age of ikea it is nice to live in a place where no expense was sparred and everything is high end, and most importantly where someone actually gives two pence about what the place looks like and has a style. I like the kitchen, it looks like something i would put in my illustrations. it's 600 pounds a month ($1000).











film. she switched over to digital in recent years and has the same camera as me. only she's a pro and really needs it.



shes really nice and lovely and has a great sense of humor. i guess you could call it british humor because its constantly sarcastic.



It's called a toilet not a bathroom because in many houses the toilet is separate from the shower/tub and in another small room all together.





my other flatmate is a lecturer on psychological well-being and lives in this room now.





the bathroom is newly tiled



i like this pull string light.



this is my room.









that's an antique lampshade by some guy, i can't remember the name.



Finally here is a video tour of the flat. You can see it in higher def if you click through to the vimeo website.

Harro Rondon

If I have to spell it out for you its "Hellon London" in Japanglish.



this is the first picture I took in London. a large gentleman squished into the super skinny handicapped box. this is one of my prize captures.



Brick Lane is all Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani restaurants. Curry is the official unofficial food of England. Everyone here as a way better knowledge of Indian food than Americans.







side street off bricklane that is always full of merry making drinkers. this side street has cool shops, a cool record store, and a cool bar (the big chill bar). and this picnic table side cart establishment that you see here at the start of the street.



there are these wait button signs everywhere because the streets have these mini islands in the middle where you can cross halfway but have to wait to cross the other half.



One sign amongst many in my argument that London is like CandyLand. once i get enough of these signs together i will make a comprehensive post and you will see how Jubilee, Elephant and Castle, Picadilly, Battersea, Oxford Circus, and Gumdrop Lane come together to form a giant CandyLand board.



the finest english breakfast i've eaten so far, somewhere in Chelsea.



a woman facing her demons at the Saatchi gallery. Or else wondering what the hell is going on like the rest of us.



Old street is another cool area that just blends into Shoreditch.



at the brittish film institute they were giving out these hats that are from the Avengers to promote something like classic england or something. I knew we could take a stupid uninspired pic later on and we nailed it.



Electricity Showrooms is in shoreditch and is highly recommended especially on thurs, fri, sat nights when the downstairs room is playing music and turns into a dance party.





i like the wall paper downstairs too. it looks like it could be designer wallpaper.



the light up dance floor downstairs.





Oh look its the full british version of David Joseph instead of the half british mexican jew version we have to settle for in New York.



outdoor tri compartment p!ss stations.



just look at this specimen will you. dude is a walking human hamburger and he's not afraid to show it. Look at his shirt. Kudos on the body proportions. I don't think he's getting home anytime soon. Looks like he did too many hamburger shots



Phone booths around london are frequently decorated with this.



somewhere off bricklane



CCTV mobile enforcement vehicle. whatever that means.

The End of Barcelona

This is the first time anyone has ever organized a going away party for me because I always do it. thanks marcus and selena. this party happened at the ADA gallery, thanks Isa. and thanks to everyone that came. they got me a piñata but it ended up being this kiddie one with no stick, you just grab the streamers and pull down. there were these inside.   next was an absinthe place its not hallucinogenic though, i don't think you can buy that kind are you making fun of me? next was this bar/club place where everyone was in high spirits, even marcus pardus. well everyone except that guy behind marcellus. Laura part of another group show at this gallery. the ladies gettin their nails did. we drank 1 euro beers at plaza del sol here is one reason why you should just take the pic when you see it. the first day i was in spain i saw these free bikes and thought that i would just take a picture of them another day. and i never did until the last day by accident. anyway if you pay some low fee you can access these bikes from many stations all over barcelona, many of them down random alleys you would never think of. one last fiesta de dibujo at Luis's house. Its amy winehouse and who is that on the right? i don't know. i thought it was going to be kurt kobain until they threw the skirt on me. you know how you're immune to the smell of your own vomit? well this pic makes even me want to vomit slightly so it must be pretty bad for you. hahahaha enjoy what i've burned into your eyeballs for the rest of the day. I hope you think about this photo when you go to sleep tonight. someone OD'd on agua de valencia (cava and orange juice) I like how he went and took his shirt off and got back in the dress. i almost got a picture of him with a dress half on, unzipped in the back looking totally like that was his thing. we met eyes for a mili-second before he saw i had the camera up ready to capture the worst picture of him ever and he slammed the door shut. This is the photo I wish i could forget. artwork exchange time. So Barcelona is over for me. It was 3 months of fun and sun. I didn't work that much. My final thoughts are that Barcelona is beautiful, there are tons of beautiful people, its cheaper than the rest of europe, the weather is always perfect, and its laid back and relaxed. The down side is if you have goals and dreams you have to have the self control of a monk to achieve them because the combo of sun and Spanish work ethic make it almost impossible to get work done. I have the feeling that other places in spain that are not next to the beach might be a little more productive. I also had issues with the "Chino Factor" discussed in my post here if you missed it. Basically the beach, beer, terraces, gallery openings (there are tons everyday), and rooftop parties are calling you everyday and night and everyone else around you is down and concerned about working that hard to make money so it kind of takes the wind out of your sails and you end up chillin' all the time. It seems like Spain is a place where the people are fine with living check to check as long as they have a little money left for a few beers in a terraza and some tapas, because the beach and conversation (which the spanish LOVE to do) are free. This Spanish attitude, for the most part, is a beautiful thing. In Spain Arnold Schwartzenagger says Sayonara baby! instead of hasta la vista baby!. So Sayonara Barcelona!