noinput.net | plug it in

Talk about a trip sneaking up on you.  As much as I’ve been looking forward to this, with everything else going on this trip just seemed to come out of no where even though I’ve seen it getting closer on the calendar.  I’m a little anxious but really excited to land in someplce I’ve never been and start taking pictures.  Bringing my Canon 20D and my EOS Rebel 2000 for some film, 4 lenses and my laptop.  If by any luck I have power at my seat, I may be able to get some stuff done.. that 12 hour flight would give me a great bulk of dedicated time to GTD.  However knowing me I’ll probably end up working on photos the whole time just because I can.

That map up yonder is where I’ll be for the next two weeks.  I know that typically blogs/most sites/anything fun is blocked from China, I have a few proxies lined up with hopes to tunnel my traffic through home so I can at least post some photos to my site, but no guarantees.  

In any case, check back every now and then and you might see some random photos from somewhere in the world where I end up.  See you in two weeks, 再见

Ok, someone is laughing hard at this, all the way to their eTrade account; get this.  So I call AT&T International service tonight to remove the Mexico package from my phone and add the China stuff so I can tweet from the great wall and all that fun stuff.  The lady that was helping me (wonderfully nice) starts to build up like she has some bad news for me, so I sat back and tried to follow along.

Apparently due to limitations with China Mobile, voice and data don’t play well together.  If you add on a data “package” (to save money) you get locked out of voice service. What’s better, your only other option is if you only add the world traveler package to make cheap international calls, you need to use the data roaming rate of $0.02/Kb. For those of you keeping score that’s $20.48/Mb. What the hell man?  To top it off I figured maybe it’s time I invest in the HSDPA plan and use the wireless anywhere deal with my laptop while I’m there, but that concept is way too easy to be true.  Same deal applies, if I use the data tied to my account, I still get no voice service, and the International BroadbandConnect monthly fee is $140/month.

Just for the hell of it I jumped on Verizon’s site and checked out their plans for an EVDO card and where the American Nationwide price was comparable, they charge the same rate in China for data.  So that’s all there is to it, I’ll take pictures on my phone and if I find wi-fi i’ll post them all real fast or possibly order it in the hotel, but like hell I’m paying $20 bones/mb or giving my money to two separate carriers.

I love all of you dearly who come to my blog, but seeing as each photo from my phone is about 1.2mb, I don’t love you that much ;) 

I’ve had the eiffel tower webcam on my desktop for quite a while.  It’s good memories, and gives me something to think about when I need a little pickup or have downtime (don’t worry mom, I’m fine).  Anhow they’re having a crazy rain storm right now and the image looks sraight out of a horror flick.

 

Nothing else to report really, just kind of an awesomely eire photo.  I can’t wait to get back there. This next time tho, I really want to get into the countryside, meet locals, explore.  Paris is great, but I know it’s only a taste of what the rest of the country has to offer.

I don’t know what it is about this shot that makes me druel but it was too good not to post. I found this randomly on del.icio.us the other night. Here is the link to the full size. Good memories, man.

This man never quits, I love it.

From the New York Times:

Images 2007 05 29 Magazine 03Matter450.1 For Hirst, famous pickler of sharks and bovine bisector, all his art is about death. This piece, which was cast from an 18th-century skull he bought in London, was influenced by Mexican skulls encrusted in turquoise. “I remember thinking it would be great to do a diamond one — but just prohibitively expensive,” he recalls. “Then I started to think — maybe that’s why it is a good thing to do. Death is such a heavy subject, it would be good to make something that laughed in the face of it.”

Hirst, who financed the piece himself, watched for months as the price of international diamonds rose while the Bond Street gem dealer Bentley & Skinner tried to corner the market for the artist’s benefit. Given the ongoing controversy over blood diamonds from Africa, “For the Love of God” now has the potential to be about death in a more literal way.

“That’s when you stop laughing,” Hirst says. “You might have created something that people might die because of. I guess I felt like Oppenheimer or something. What have I done? Because it’s going to need high security all its life.”

Seeing his work in London during the Saatchi years is a great memory. So much feeling, randomness and questioning of reason to his messages. A great artist makes you think, weather it be through a drawing, a photo, or even a dead sheep in a glass tank.

Iconic Banksy image painted over

London transport workers have painted over an iconic mural by “guerrilla artist” Banksy estimated to be worth more than £300,000.

The image depicted a scene from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns.

It had become one of the most famous graffiti paintings by the artist.

Transport for London said a tough line had to be taken on graffiti because it created an atmosphere of social decay.

The Pulp Fiction mural was visible near Old Street Tube station.

In place of the famous image, another graffiti artist has spray-painted the words “come back” in large letters.

Banksy has become one of art’s hottest properties, with Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera among those who are reported to have splashed out on his work.

George Thomas, who owns a barber’s shop near the site, told the Independent the image was a “real draw” to the area.

“People used to come from all over to see it and photograph it,” he said.

“There is no way it could have been mistaken for graffiti. Whoever destroyed it is an idiot.”

By the way, if you havn’t seen his new book yet, you’re missing out.

Drunk man parks horse in German bank (AP)

BERLIN - An early-morning bank customer had a bit of a shock when he found a horse at the automatic teller machine.

The horse’s owner, identified only as Wolfgang H., had a bit too much to drink the night before and decided to sleep it off inside the bank’s heated foyer, police said Tuesday.

The 40-year-old machinist told Bild newspaper he had had “a few beers” with a friend in Wiesenburg, southwest of Berlin, and decided to hit the hay in the bank on his way home.

Confronted with the lack of a hitching-post, he brought the 6-year-old horse, named Sammy, in with him.

When a customer came across the horse and sleeping rider in the bank at 4:15 a.m. Monday, he called police, who then came and woke the owner up and sent him on his way.

No charges were filed, but there might be some cleanup needed: Apparently Sammy made his own after-hours deposit on the carpet.

So would this still be considered a DUI since he was operating some sort of a moving vehicle?