Visions and Cucalorus

Here is a recent article for the Seahawk in which i was interviewed about the Cucalorus film festival and Visions Student Showcase.

Cucalorus celebrates unexpected cinema - Lifestyles

I am excited for the festival.

Podcasts

a friend for long hours at the computer.

I have recently been listening to a lot of podcasts while working at the computer. I have sort of exhausted my music library, and just cant devote half of my time to playing DJ. I have found some really good podcasts playing and mixing the exact music i want to listen right then and there. its also a good way to hear about new, or old, bands without too much research.

i recommend them.

here is one i like
http://guinol.podomatic.com/

A couple new videos

This is a video that Annie and I made for Gabriel Mellan. to lure him back to America, however bad it may be right now. we shot it one afternoon and i edited it to one of Gabe's songs called Peddler's Promise.



here is a Bumper (short video title) I made for an animation class for the Cucalorus Film Festival this fall.



it was fun to shoot, and fun making the paper mache head and hand. now that i have the head, i think ill make him into another marionette. ill try to post some photos of the one i made over the summer.

Recently

School has started and it has picked up to a fast pace. I find myself missing some aspects about living in england but for the most part, im glad to be back in the USA.

What ive been up to recently.

The first week of school, Annie and I found a 5-week-old all black kitten around a dumpster on campus. knowing that it would have trouble surviving on campus with the strict animal policy and and the harsh elements approaching we took him home (with his consent)



His name is Deco. he has totally changed my opinion on cats. This may be a big surprise for those of you that knew how much i despised cats. (partially because of my allergy) He is a very wild cat who operates at highspeeds in spurts of 45 minutes, then crashes for a nap. he is still very small and i hope he stays that way. Annie and I are taking turns keeping him at each of our apartments, which is good to give my nose a rest from all the sneezing. Hopefully ill get over the allergy soon.

I got some Eucalyptus branches for my room that smell very very good.


Hannah
Hurricane Hannha came and went. while out and about in the midst of the storm, i sustained a cuncussion. The first week after the fall is pretty hazzy, and i am occasionally plagued with headaches, but healing is in process. Annie was very kind to take me to the ER when the pain became excruciating.

Trying to do school work with a concussion was pathetic. I am gonna try to stay a little safe.


Cider
Right now, annie and I are brewing some Hard Cider for the fall season. It is a surprisingly easy process and im excited to taste and see the results.
These are some Airlocks I made.



Boom box
This has been a dream of mine for a while and after a lot of Ebay bidding and other work, it is finally finished.
I got a boombox on ebay and with the help of Duncan and David was able to hook up my i-pod to play through it. We hollowed out the tape deck compartment so that the I-pod could fit inside.

Its a fun thing to ride around with on my bike.




Art
I have been creating a lot of art, sort of as a procrastination for school work.
but currently, I have 3 graffiti themed pieces of art hanging up on campus. Annie also has three of her travel photographs hanging around campus.




This past Saturday, my self portrait film A Dance Two 20, played during an experimental film showcase at an art gallery downtown. Annie's Bird Watching film also played and won "Best Local Film". It was a fun night.





I quit my food job at the Hawks Nest because i became a certified Japanese Tutor. I will be tutoring on campus in the Learning Center. Im excited to utilize my skill, help other students, and make money... makes a lot more sense than serving smoothies and burritos to ungrateful students. I kept my Hawks Nest shirt however, and tried to keep the fact that i was quitting to a hush so i can go in there and eat some employee food.

I have my first session next tuesday.

Raster Junkie

An Anti-drug video i made in England as i am just getting caught up with editing and posting and recovering from my computer crash this summer.

WILMINGTON

Being back in wilmington is fantastic. being fantastic in wilmington is fantastic.
Its kinda sad that there is only one more year at the univeristy, but ive started making a SUPER RESUME and will soon start making a DEMO REAL to prepare for applying to JOBS.

Im still considering joining Americorps, but id want figure out how much of my loans they can pay off...or "forgive". maybe if i just apologize several times.

I really missed my bike.

I ve got a couple videos to edit. left over things that were shot last semester. so there should be some stuff posted soon.

here is short something about Blaine McGaffigan.

U-S-A

ah-back-in-the-USA.-after-a-long-tour-no-money-left.fun-in-arlington-working-a-little. next-week-going-back-to-school-in-wilmington....

made-a-puppet.


got-a-bike.

Bruxelles

finally on a computer with internet access. this is what Adam and Annie and i have been up to.

Primavera Nusic Festival in Barcelona - lots of music and staying up all night
Tarragona beach town with rokan ruins - couchsurfed with a Spanish painter
Valls at Pipirimosca farm to do some WWOOFing
Hitch hike to Girona - head to Paris
Eifle tower, and French swap meet
Hitch hike to Bruxelles - 7 cars and 12 hours, lots of fun and interesting people.
Bruxelles for two days - today we hitch to Amsterdam then head to Copenhagen.

Ill try to write some mmore soon.

Barcelona

Hello,

WE have made it to barcelona, but again are under the time crunch of paying for internet , so cant do much contact.

Semester End

Its been a while since my last post and so much has happened.

Blaine and I did complete the Great Glen Way hike. It was very very fun, and thankfully there were no injuries. It rekindled my love for hiking, exploring the outdoors, and camping. when we returned to Hatfield, we were elevated to Hero status for completing such a demanding hike. we went to the pub and told stories of our journey. A group of guys were inspired to do it for themselves, so i think right now they may be in the middle of it.

Back in Hatfield i turned in my last assignment to finish off the semester. It felt strange because everything was very informal and it didnt seem like an end at all. I guess all the other students will be seeing eachother again soon in the fall.



The Next day was off to Milan, where we would travel into a small mountain village called Courmayeur; just at the bass of Mount Blanc. the highest mountain in Europe. we got to ride the cable car up to the top of the mountain as well as visit some other very exciting and dramatic nature scenes.




Back to London, Annie and i spent a couple days visitng some London spots that we had missed. On the 17th of May, we went into Covent garden to celebrate Norwegian Day with many of my Norwegian Friends and other Norwegians. It made me excited for the 4th of July. We met Annie's dad at the airport at 6:30 am and walked around London for a bit then prepared for our next trip to the Isle of Skye.




Dr. Jolly (annie's Dad) had been to the Isle of Skye 20 years prier so he had some amazing places he wanted to take us. He did a very good job of adapting to driving on the left side of the road as well as all the round-abouts and the one lane highways (with "passing points").
We stayed in the Skyewalker hostel which is run by a very nice Scottish couple who play very pleasant folk music.
Our 4 days consisted of, hiking on some very beautiful terrains as well as some very desolate and other-worldly cliffs and valleys. We stumbled on some magnificent caves, and played there until the tide chased us back up the cliffs.
We attended a Scottish Accordion and Fiddle festival then got to sing along with the Hostel owners as they played some great tunes. We sipped some Drams of Scotch Whiskey at the Talisker Distillery and learned about the process.

We headed back over to Loch Ness where we hiked up to a beatuful falls, annie got two ticks. that night we enjoyed the snyed remarks of the British commentator at the Eurovision contest.




Next it was back to traveling...back to Hatfield where Adam has been staying since May 21st. he as navigated around very well and has become used to the British ways. now we pack up and ready ourselves for 3 days of live music at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. We leave on the 28th.

journey to Nesse

Tomorrow morning, Blaine and I will be embarking on our 5 day hiking trip on the Great Glen Way.
We will take the train from Hatfield to Fort William Scotland and hike about 15 miles per day and camp at night. Our packs are heavy, but soon to get lighter as we eat the food we've wisely chosen to bring. We will hopefully arrive in Inverness on the 5th day and say hello to Nesse, catch a train back in time for Blaine's exam next tuesday.

I will take some photos and video, and hopefuly our plans all work out.
here is a map to track us.
www.greatglenway.com

Hatfield

Well, I am back in Hatfield now. the journey was very good. so many cool things we saw, and people met. I have so many pictures/things i want to post up here, so over the next week, i hope to post little groupings of things.

First, Id like to share the panoramic photographs that i took with my phone.

Ok, starting in Salisbury where Mab took us to Stone henge and some cool cathedrals, then to Bath to the roman baths, and wonderful canal walk.
















We then spent the night in London, where i had some medical issues to solve. In the morning flew to Amsterdam where we were met by Blaine and Chris, snow, cold, and excellent falafels.



An overnight bus to Berlin. Touring the city, bar crawl, and huge hostel.









Another Bus to Praha. Charles Bride, the castle and hotsel friends.







A train into Budapset. I think this may have been our favorite place, partly because of the cool hostel we stayed at, but mostly because of the nice hungarian people, fun things to do, and awesome city.





By the time we got to Poland, i think we were both pretty worn out, and a little tired of doing the whole tourist thing, so unfortunately i dont have any panoramas from Krakow or Warszawa.

more photos are soon to come.

Praha

WE had some fun times in Prague, visiting the castle and old town relics. walking along the river and ducking into Czech pubs.

WE met some really nice Swiss guys at the hostel and hung around talking with them until very early in the morning.

One of our favorite times was our sunrise spent on St. Charles Bride...a pedestrian bridge that is filled during the day with sketch artists and people selling little metal works. Well at sunrise, there was almost no one there, so we relaxed and watched the sun rise over the awesomely old building tops.

Our train ride to Budapest was six hours of productivity and fascinating scenery. WE were able to update diaries, write post cards, and enjoy the relaxing ride.

Now in Budapest, we checked into our hostel just near Green Bridge. Once we unpacked, the receptionist asked us if we would mind switching to another room. we followed her up into the rickity elevator where the double doors are manually opened, through a courtyard and into a high cealing apartment with its own kitchen and bathroom. we got a major upgrade. we are now rooming with some auzzies.

WE went to a Hungarian Ballet tonight in an beautiful old Opera house. Tomorrow we are signed up to explore some caves underneath the Budapest Castle on the Buda side of town. then i guess to the famous hot spring baths.

Our tickets to Krakow leave on Friday at 6 am

Goodbye Berlin

After four wonderful days in one of my favorite cities, Berlin, annie and I went to a travel agency to book bus tickets to Prague. We couldnt find tickets under the Internet time constraints. Well, we got tickets for a 6:15 am Bus. We didnt want to pay for another night at the hostel because we'd have to leave so early and skip breakfast. (this was more of my idea, and I had to do some apologizing to annie later) we stayed in the little common room area for a while until the kids from the club came out and made such a ruckus, then we moved up to the 7th floor where there were some mattresses laying in the hallway. we were just going to sleep for an hour, but security found us so we got up and caught the train.

I will mention that we did a really fun Pub Crawl the night before in Berlin. It was my first Pub crawl, and a very fun experience.

A Bit of the Wall


T-Punkt!


well, now in Prague, a hustle and bustle little city on hills. our hostel is nice, it has a kitchen and...free internet. so we will try and book some couchsurfing places for our next destinations. cant wait to get out and see the city tomorrow.


love

ßerlin

We are in a gigantic hostel in Berlin right now called GENERATOR.... it has a wopping 900+ beds. It is set up sort of like an electrically charged warehouse.

Yesterday we wwent to an outdoor market and looked at some german trinkets and got really cold. had fun doing a collage at night.

Today we went on the freee walking tour of berlin. it was awesome. this city has so much history tht is so interesting to me, and i feel like i know more about it. we saw all the great famous sights, and even stood on the ground over the bunker which Hitler took his life in. We saw the window michael Jackson almost dropped his baby out of and some otehr great sites.

well, gotta go look for train or bus, or plane tickets to get to the next place.


we plan on doing a fun Pub crawl tomorrow night.


love all

Amsterdam

after a weekend of West England, We arived in Amsterdam and have been wondering around for fun. more updates to come.

love

Easter Breaking

Easter Break starts on Friday, and I am very excited.

We start off on Friday by heading heading toward Bath and Cornwall with Annie's mother. we will see the English coast and stonehenge.

On Tuesday the 18th Annie and I have a flight from London to Amsterdam.
March 22nd Amsterdam to Berlin
March 25th Berlin to Praha
March 29th Praha to Budapest
April 1st Budapest to Krakow
April 5th Krakow to Warsawa
April 8th Warsawa to London

These are just our temporary plans. all we have booked so far is the flight to Amsterdam and then home from Warsawa.

I am very excited about all of this. I have been working hard this week to complete assignments so that I dont have to worry about them over the break.

when I can get to a computer, Ill try to post an update so keep checking.

Computer Love

I was just listening to Kraftwerk's album "the Mix" and the song Computer Love came on.


And i thought that synth line sounded really familiar. thought a little harder and found Coldplay's song Talk...which i guess samples the synth line.

anyway, pretty cool song.

Oxford

Annie and I had a wonderful 3 days in Oxford, which is just north west of London about 2 hours by bus. We had our first couch surfing experience. We stayed with 5 oxford rugby players. They were very nice to let us stay there in the living room.

In the day we traveled around through the ancient city and wondered down small coblestone streets and poked into the university chapels, libraries and museums to soak in the history.
Our couchsurfing hosts took us out to a nice dinner then out to a club where all the oxford students go.

we stayed just down the road from Gypsy Lane


The non-classic Oxford buildings are covered with really cool paintings


In the covered market. some dead pigs hanging.


At the Gates.


Bishops Chess


Our dancing silhouettes against the dance floor lights



We also went to the Oxford Castle which was once a castle, then a jail up until th 1996 then now a 5 star hotel. it is closed to tourists unless staying there. Annie pulled a pretty slick move and acted as if we were interested in staying there, so we got the full tour of the hotel. It is really cool. each room is the size of three jail cells and the jail doors are kept the same. A very nice place to stay, but about 300 pounds per night.

Such a beautiful smile

Sushi

A group of friends and I have been taking turns making a meal for everyone each week. We have had a lot of really great food from many different countries. Last week was my turn, so i thought i would make one of mom's specialties and my favorites...Tuna Sushi.
Annie was visiting me so she helped cut up all the vegetables and crab, and I rolled them. We made a lot and they all got eaten.





It was a fun night, but i wish i had gotten a picture of them all on the plates.

Peace Now

last week...maybe the week before that. im not sure. Well, I went into London's Parliament Square with my group member to film a documentary on the Peace campaign that has been there since 2001. Brian Haw, who established the camps has been camped out on the hard sideawalk since 2001, and we went to capture his story.

It was a nice day for filming, we got a lot of footage, and the interview with Brian. We also were stopped by several law officers and issued a search a ceasure ticket which i will post later.

Brian has been through a lot in the past years in Parliament Square, and although his attitude is a little bitter (but rightfully so after being beaten and robbed by the police) he still screams his message at the police and any politicians that come out of hiding in parliament square. I will post the documentary when its complete.

Flags in front of Big Ben


Tents on the sidewalk

GO Dog G0o

a dog annie and I found. took him around town, tied him up and forgot.

Spammers

DONT CLICK ANY LINKS IN THE COMMENTS PAGE


for some reason, spammers have found and targeted my blog with spam comments containing links to possibly infectious sites.
please dont click any of these unless you know the person who posted it.

Another Year

Into the Rat year and into the of 21.

I had a very fun birthday, although not as significant as it would have been in the U.S. (21 is legal Drunk Driving age in the US). Never the less it was nice to turn a new age. but i miss being 20. I really liked it. Im not sure if it was the best year of my life...but just being the age 20 is a really good age to be. onward.

annie came up for the weekend and David, my housemate and I have the same birthday so we planned an Old english Costume Party in our kitchen. preparing for it was fun. Annie and I went to all the charity shops (thrift stores) and got some good stuff to make into costumes. of knights.

man shoveling we transformed


Charity Wedding


Annie Painting her Sheild.


Maykup


almost all my housemates made food and covered the table in delicious dishes from China, Nigerea, Germany, France, and England. We had music playing and lots of cider, red wine and lager. i would guestimate that about 25 people came and it got very packed in the small kitchen.

The night was fun, lots of food, drinks, dancing, speech, sword fights, security guards, and sleep.

Unfortunatly I didnt bring my camera down from my room. so i didnt get any really great ones. but i think annie did, so ill get some from her to put up. here are two i dont remember taking with my phone.

Blaine punching Annie? thats what it looks like


Housemate David...birthday boy


one i found...more to come



thanks for the cards, packages, and calls everyone.