Enjoy CRACK

The Tate Modern
From the Tate Modern website:

Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth is the first work to intervene directly in the fabric of the Turbine Hall. Rather than fill this iconic space with a conventional sculpture or installation, Salcedo has created a subterranean chasm that stretches the length of the Turbine Hall. The concrete walls of the crevice are ruptured by a steel mesh fence, creating a tension between these elements that resist yet depend on one another. By making the floor the principal focus of her project, Salcedo dramatically shifts our perception of the Turbine Hall’s architecture, subtly subverting its claims to monumentality and grandeur. Shibboleth asks questions about the interaction of sculpture and space, about architecture and the values it enshrines, and about the shaky ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built.

In particular, Salcedo is addressing a long legacy of racism and colonialism that underlies the modern world. A ‘shibboleth’ is a custom, phrase or use of language that acts as a test of belonging to a particular social group or class. By definition, it is used to exclude those deemed unsuitable to join this group.

‘The history of racism’, Salcedo writes, ‘runs parallel to the history of modernity, and is its untold dark side’. For hundreds of years, Western ideas of progress and prosperity have been underpinned by colonial exploitation and the withdrawal of basic rights from others. Our own time, Salcedo is keen to remind us, remains defined by the existence of a huge socially excluded underclass, in Western as well as post-colonial societies.

In breaking open the floor of the museum, Salcedo is exposing a fracture in modernity itself. Her work encourages us to confront uncomfortable truths about our history and about ourselves with absolute candidness, and without self-deception.

Doris Salcedo was born in 1958 in Bogotá, Colombia, where she lives and works. A monographic display of her work can be seen on Level 3 as part of the Poetry and Dream collection displays.

Pop or Soda? or Fizzy? Sparkling?

Duane Hanson exhibit in Volklingen, Germany


By now I'm sure everyone is tired of reading about another pop/modern art exhibit I have seen. Too bad! Duane Hanson is what you would call a 'super-realist.' His sculptures are scrupulous recreations of the average Joe. His exhibit in Volklingen, Germany at the Weltkulturerbe (World Culture Heritage) Site was titled 'The American Dream.'

One of the most memorable pieces at the site was the moustached police officer who stood at the back of the museum with his arms crosses, looking for trouble-makers and photo-takers. Other works include construction workers, a body builder, an elderly tourist couple sitting on a bench, a trash can with a suffocated baby in the bin (which I didn't notice at first, it just looked like a heap of garbage), a Chinese student protester, and a derelict woman.

REAL German (and French) Christmas Markets

Saarbrucken, Strasbourg, and Cologne

Avenue Q

Friday, 14-Dec-2007

It would be an exaggeration to say that it has been a dream of mine to see Avenue Q performed. But I've been really keen to see it ever since Marena recommended it and Esther gave me the music. This show was absolutely amazing totally awesome genius fun stuff.

Andy, Sea Bass, and I went to the Friday matinee at the Noels Coward Theater in London's West End Theatre District. We had front row seats--so close you could see the spit fly from the actor's mouths. So close you could see the stitches on the puppets' faces. So close you had to move your head from side to side to follow the action across the stage.

This show was so much fun. I couldn't stop smiling or singing along (which was probably a bit distracting for the person next to me).

Ultimate Update

Traveling around after finals means that I have so much to share, but limited computer access. Has it been only a week and a half since I sat my last exam? In the coming hours/days/sometime, I'll be updating with my lastest adventures. Enjoy.

Happy Christmas Eve!!

Finals Schminals

Why am I doing all this fun stuff in addition to (instead of?) studying for my exams which are worth between 50%-100% of my grade? I'll tell you why...


I am a bad student.


But an awesome tourist.

Mary King's Close

11-Dec-2007
A spooky look at the ancient underground city of Edinburgh. For real, yo. No photos were allowed inside so I'll let wiki explain it.

Tartan versus Plaid

09-Dec-2007A short trip to quite possibly the world's largest giftshop.

Edinburgh Castle

09-Dec-2007

I finally went.

Weezer wants a bite of the Christmas pie

Alone: The home recordings of Rivers Cuomo
Release Date: December 18, 2007 (USA)

I Was There!

05-Dec-07
Talbot Rice Gallery
You Are Here!

Today was the last day of You Are Here!, a course for international students who would like to get to know the Talbot Rice Gallery. Good times.

A group shot of us exploring the space with our bodies, or something like that.

Yoshiko lying down in the Monika Sosnowska exhibit.

Every Wednesday afternoon we would meet in the gallery and learn and talk and dance and run. I learned that the gallery was formerly a natural history museum and was frequented by Charles Darwin. There was also a pet puma that roamed around before it became a specimen. We wrote storied to go with one of Monika Sosnowka's miniature architectural installations, and made maps of 'our' Edinburgh.

St. Andrew's Day

... was yesterday. And I still haven't been inside the castle!!

Until I have, here's a picture of the Lloydies outside the castle. First try!

Comma-phile

While proofreading my final paper for Natural Hazards ('Was the Parkfield earthquake experiment a failure?'), it was brought to my attention that I am a comma-phile. I love that little booger.
,,,,, ,,,, ,,,,, ,, ,,, ,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,

Winter-Märchenland

Yesterday (Thanksgiving for you Americans), Edinburgh turned on its Christmas lights. Downtown, next to the train station, a Winter Wonderland is set up. There is an outdoor ice rink, ferris wheel, carousel, and German market (with real Germans!). It was such a crisp (ie freezing), clear night and the lights were beautiful.

Blackjack

Thank you to everyone who made my 21st birthday great. Whether it was a birthday card I wasn't expecting, a great big box to open up, a conspiracy to meet up for dinner, a note on facebook, a one-of-a-kind gift, a colorful oven-mitt (with cupcake print!), a paperback trilogy, or a Scottish keepsake, I enjoyed them all. <3

Romanesco Brocolli

Vegetarians and mathematicians alike will be excited to read about my new discovery: Romanesco Brocolli. I saw this beauty at a market in Dublin. The pattern is a fractal, and has the property of self similarity. That means that when you zoom in on a bit, it looks the same as it used to. Cool, huh? I bet it tastes good and is nutrious, too. Super vegetable? I think so.

Dublin was deadly.

10-Nov-07 to 12-Nov-07

Last weekend was spent in Dublin, Ireland, just a 40 pound, 45 minute flight from Edinburgh . There was no loss of life or limb; 'deadly' is Irish slang for really good or cool. Sights were saw, roads were walked down, Guinness was drank.


That's the second stamp on my third passport. Woo hoo!


Standing guard in front of the Dublin castle.


Mmm, baked goods. Drool.


Being my bad self in front of the Bad Ass cafe. Rock on, dudes.


Dancing in front of The Clarence, 'Bono's hotel.'
Uno, dos, tres, catorce! (wtf, U2)

Science!

07-Nov-07
We Are Scientists, American indie rock band, performed at Potterow, one of the student unions.

Bonfire Night

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Bonfire Night fireworks, as seen from Calton Hill.

Pipes and Drums

These Prince's Street performers are my absolute favorite. I stop and watch them every chance I get. Completely amazing, and worth the couple of pounds I chipped in when they were finished.

Chipper at the Chippy

Nothing is more British than fish and chips. Ok, so I don't like fish. But I had a burger and chips and topped it off with an IRN-BRU, Scotland's best selling soft drink (more than Pepsi and Coke!!).

Did you know that Scotland is the second fattest country (the USA is first)? Allow me to hypothesize why:

Battered and fried fish, burgers, onion rings, sausages, and everything else. Hello, heart disease!

Ceilidh (I bet you mispronounced that word)

02-Nov-07

Iain's 21st birthday party ceilidh (pronounced "kay-lee"), celebrated like the Scotsman he is, was a lot of fun. For those of you who aren't familiar with this traditional British (Irish and Scottish, mainly) dance party, here is a sample of the goings on.

Gammy Eye (and other ailments)

That week when nothing was fun.

More contemporary art: Picasso

Continuing with my last minute exhibition-going, I took a break from being ill to see the Picasso "Fired with Passion" exhibit at the Royal Museum. This exhibit was neat-o and quite unexpected; not what comes to mind when you hear "Picasso." One thing I learnt whilst there: Picasso's love life was c-o-m-p-l-i-c-a-t-e-d. Let's just say he wasn't a one-woman-man. More like five or six.

It was raining quite hard when the museum closed, so we dashed to the (now world famous, alleged "birthplace of Harry Potter") elephant house to escape the rain.

No J.K. Rowling sightings this time, but I'll keep an eye out.

I Want to Ride My Bicycle!

22-Oct-07

People and Planet bicycle day.

I love bikes. I didn't realize how much I loved them until my mom bought me an awesome cruiser at the end of my freshman year. It was big and beautiful and shiny and white. I loved to feel the warm breeze in my hair as I lazily pedalled around campus. And then it was stolen :-(

But enough about that. At the People and Planet meeting last Monday, we learned all about bikes! There was a tandem, a unicycle, another one that you had to keep pedalling (I forgot what it was called), and lots of cool old bikes. We learned about bike routes all through the UK and basic maintainance. Now I can change a flat tire!

Angelina's Kitchen

Soon to come: a post about the day when Angelina made a whole lot of delicious food. Yum.

Geology Rocks!!

Man, I feel so clever for coming up with this pun-acious blog title.

Yesterday I went to Siccar Point with the Sedimentology Class (the same folks who brought you the Arran Field Excursion). For those of you non-geologists, here's my easy to understand description of Siccar Point: "It's a jaggedy 'angular unconformity' (slanted rock) that supports a theory that geology exists. Basically."


It's me, exciting to be at Siccar Point.


Now that's what I call Hutton's Unconformity!

Siccar Point is about 45 minutes about from Edinburgh, on the east coast of Scotland. To get there, you have to drive to a Turnip Farm, walk through a cow field, and then walk (or slide) down a slippery slope to this rocky area right on the coast.

While we were there, I saw two minks (those slippery animals that make expensive coats) and a huge seal poking his head out of the water.

After Siccar Point we went to another place on the coast (this time a sandy beach) and did some sedimentary logging. Boy, was there a lot of sandstone!


Yep, that's sandstone alright.

No Glove, No Spread of Infectious Disease

Last week I had a lot of fun with StopAIDS, a society on campus that promotes AIDS awareness and raises money for charitable organizations.

On Thursday, everyone met up for a cake bake. The society had a bake sale on Friday, so we had to make all the yummy treats for patrons and passerbys. Because of space limitations in the kitchen, most of us were preparing condoms taped to candy and info flyers with facts about AIDS. About a thousand of these babies were handed out on Saturday night at the Big Cheese, a popular club night at the student union. We all dressed in red (coats, stockings, dresses, facepaint, etc) and handed out condoms/candy to people in the queue. They went surprisingly quickly! Everyone was eager to learn about AIDS and safe sex. (More likely they wanted a piece of candy.) After passing out condoms for about 2 minutes (seriously, hundreds of condoms in 2 minutes!!), we headed up to the club to dance to cheesy music like Spice Girls and *NSYNC (they don't call it the Big Cheese for nothing).

P.S. Did anyone notice the inaccuracy in the title of this post? I sure didn't for a few hours.

While writing an essay on evolutionary biology...

... I had to look up the following words:

basal--pertaining to, situated at, or forming the base
pectinate--having narrow divisions like the teeth of a comb
concatenate--to link together in a series or chain
concomitant--accompanying in a subordinate or incidental way
stochastic--randomly determined
speciose--consisting of a number of species; (or according to the OED: Beautiful, lovely)

Verbal GRE, here I come!!

BOS is a POS

200 U.S. Dollars = 98.0921085 Brittish Pounds
(courtesy of Google calculator)

Sorry to start this week off with a rant. It's no secret that the dollar to pound exchange rate is shite and keeps getting worse. I needed to change some money today and decided to only change enough to last me a couple weeks, so I wouldn't accidentally overspend (which can easily happen when you have a thick wallet). I went to the shopping centre after class and approached the Bank of Scotland. I asked for the current exchange rate, and was informed that it is about 2.188. Yikes, just yesterday it was about 2.14! No thanks I said, and walked next door to inquire the same question. I asked about 5 places what the rate was, because (for some reason) there was a row of travel agencies and other exchange bureaus next to the bank. All of them had rates between 2.2 and 2.3, some had commission fees for traveler's checks, so it looked like the BOS was my best bet. I return to the teller and signed my traveler's cheques. 86 pounds?? What? Unexplicably, the total to be paid to customer was 5 pounds less than the sterling value. I ask if there was a fee because they were traveler's checks. Oh no, there's no fee. Then why is there five pounds fewer? Oh, it's because you're not a member of the bank. Do you want me to proceed? Oh, too bad, I already have. See, it's already gone through. I guess I should have told you that before. Ha. You didn't want that $10 anyway, right? Fucking hell. Doing a little arithmetic reveals that the effective rate of the BOS is... ta dah: 2.315. In other words, worse than ALL of the other places I had decided not to go. And that, my friends, is why Bank of Scotland is a Piece of Shit.

I know 5 pounds is nothing to quibble over, and I certainly realize there a lot of people in worse financial positions than myself. But this episode really irks me because I try to be sensible with my money and I actually shopped around to try and find the best rate. I'm just tired of being ripped off.

wanna talk about... POP art!?

The Andy Warhol exhibit at the National Galleries was amazingly fun! It was one of the highlights thus far of my time in bonnie Scotland.



Silver Clouds: Best movie EVER! Playing with the balloons (until we got told off).

Details of the gallery: (This laundry list may not be of particular interest to anyone but myself. I'm recounting the exhibits so that I can remember what I saw that day.) The gallery's neoclassical ionic columns are obscured with stacks of six foot tall Campbell's soup cans, advertising the exhibition. Inside the museum was a room of oversized cases of canned goods (soup, heintz ketchup, Del Monte, apple juice, etc) and other household items like Brillo Pads.

In a corner room that we nearly overlooks was a Death and Disaster exhibit. Prints such as a tire on a foot, 'Gangster's Funeral,' an operating room scene with a doctor and a nun, and a man who was thrown from a car onto a telephone pole.

The largest room in the gallery was covered with cow wallpaper. There were prints of giant burgers, paratrooper boots, a large pistol, and Repent, Sinners! Everything was in multiples.

The skull room featured several prints of large, brightly coloured skulls. The shadow of the skull had the profile of a baby, encapsulating both birth and death. The wall paper of the skull room was the Washington monument.

The portrait room had brown walls and two of every portrait arranged in a chequerboard fashion. Portraits I recognized were Dolly Parton, Judy Garland and Liza Minelli. There was a cool one: Self Portrait (Strangulation).

Another room had the famous Marilyn screens. The screen print was adjacent to the brightly coloured painted print. Twenty five Jackie O's were on the opposite wall. There was a filmed portrait of Edie someone... basically a silent film of her face, slowed down so that each movement was noticeable. From her swinging chandelier earrings to her dramatic blinking eyes with long lashes. It was mesmerizing to watch.

The children's room had silvery fish wallpaper, and the prints were hung at the eye level of a young child. The images were prints of toy packaging. There was a display case with the actual toys and their boxes as well.

The last, and best, room upstairs was Silver Clouds. An empty room with a high ceiling and two rotating fans attached to the walls. Large silver balloons (the size and shape of pillows) were floating around, some near the ceiling, some on the ground. The sign instructed patrons to "Interact GENTLY with the Art." And that's what we did. For a long time.

Downstairs the first room had several ink drawings, many using a ball point pen. Some that I remember include Foot with Flowers and Butterflies, as well as many of boy's faces. There were also paintings of Mick Jagger and a few self-portraits.

In the next room were photographs. Ofthen there were six copies of the photo, stitched together with a sewing machine. One was the inside of a taxi (COUGH, SNEEZE), and one of Grace Jones being painted, tribal style.

The last room had a few nude photos, including one of a woman standing in a shell (like the Botticelli painting). There was a photo of a small dog next to a pool with an antenna headband on, and another of a boat on the ocean with a torso in the foreground. There were also several artifacts and knick knacks in display cases. One I liked in particular was a fan letter written to Andy Warhol, asking him to do a show in the UK. It started off: To Andy Warhol (if possible). The fan also asked if he knew Bob Dylan's address.

karaoke revolution from my bed

This picture seriously cracks me up. Look at that dork on stage! (I meant me, not the disc jockey.) My mouth is opened so wide you can probably see my tonsils.

Angela and I decided karaoke could be our abroad tribute to rotation, which is this week. She did Love Shack and I sang my karaoke revolution favorite, Hey Jealousy.

Home Sweet Home

This is where I live. Turner House aka "T-unit." Right at the base of an extinct volcano, Arthur's Seat. (Remember, Angela and I hiked there?) Also, check out those MS paint editing skillz. My excuse: the mouse is for right-handed people.


A view of the Pollock Halls from Arthur's Seat. I live in the one that's right in the middle by the road.


The view from my window (facing the opposite way of Arthur's seat). Not so spectacular, but you can see the dry ski slope on the hill if you look closely.

Fancy Dress

Not quite Eagle vs Shark... but pretty darned close.
My and Andy's costumes for the Semi-Naked Safari Monster Party. I think we should get the prize for best use of tape and cardboard.


(Caltech) Beaver


Stegosaurus (check out those radiative plates!)

Seeing red again...

Here's a link to Angela's Hair Dyeing Photo Documentary. I tried to dye her hair purple. Apparently I give off an air of knows-what-she's-doing-ness when dyeing hair, which might not be a good thing. If you remember a certain incident circa 2005 involving my own purple hair...

I'm in ur blog...

...writing ur posts.

LOL.

I'm serious about that subtitle...

Guess what I'm eating? Pitta and houmous. Yeah, you heard me.

School's in session!!

18-Sep-07 through 21-Sep-07

My first week of classes. It's like the first week of classes at Caltech. Except nothing like that in the slightest. (That's a good thing, me thinks.)

After a pre-term schedule re-vamp, my schedule is pretty cool: two biology and two geology courses. None of those pansy hum classes.

Structure and Function of Proteins is a 3rd year biochemistry course with a very descriptive title.
Evolutionary and Ecological Genetics is a 3rd year genetics course. I think it's my favorite.
Aquatic Systems is a 3rd year geology course about nice stuff like lakes and rivers.
Natural Hazards is a 2nd year geology course about scary stuff like tsunamis and earthquakes.

Freshers' Week!

10-Sep-07 though 17-Sep-07

It's like the first week of caltech. Except nothing like that at all. More details to come!

Arran Field Excursion

3-Sep-07 to 9-Sep-07
(Details to come soon!)

This is where I spent my week: Isle of Arran

Why yes, I did make that geologic map of Corrie, Arran.

Highlands

31-Aug-07
(More to come; look, I'm feeding a cow named Hamish!)

Goodbye, Sky.

Remembering Sky

Sometimes I can't hold back the tears. Now (around midnight on Tuesday night, 25-Sep-07) is one of those times.

I worked with Sky this summer at Caltech. He taught me how to grow liters and liters of purple stuff, which is harder than you'd think.

The first time I saw Sky was when I was a frosh in Ge11a. The grad students from Ge101 and the undergrads from 11a all went on the same field trip to Bishop and the surrounding areas. I don't think I talked to Sky on that trip, but I was intrigued by him. Sky is one of those people fascinated me for no particular reason. There are always a handful of people like that in my life; people who have some inexplicable quality that I can't ignore. Once I notice a person like that, two things can happen. The first (and most probable) doesn't involve getting to know said person, but instead making up a pseudo-persona based on things I notice about the person from the corner of my eye in the lunch line. Sky was this type of person for about two years. It wasn't until a few months ago that he became the second type of person: the real person, not my judgement-based character.

I was bummed out when Alex told me we wouldn't be able to go to Yellowstone for my research project. Instead, he gave me a few other project ideas, one of which involved working with Sky. I think it was this prospect that sold me on the particular project; I was going to work with Sky. THE Sky from the 11a trip. The one with the curly ginger hair and goofy grin. Sweet.

I had to wait for Sky to get back from Western Australia to meet him. Neither I nor Alex knew when he would be getting back. The days past, and the anticipation grew. When I finally met Sky to discuss my project with him and Alex, it wasn't the larger than life moment I always envision when finally meeting a Type1 person (it never is). A Type1 person is inevitably a normal person (but usually a pretty cool one). Sky was no exception (and he was pretty darn cool).

The Type2 Sky was not hugely different from the Type1 Sky. He was a little shorter than I remembered. He was a bit more soft spoken, and a bit more cynical. His music was spot on to what I'd imagined (and quite often very bizarre). He worked harder than I imagined, and always wore retro adidas. He was usually ten minutes late to meetings, but he got to lab before I did, took shorter lunch brakes, and stayed later. His paper, which I read several times (usually with wikipedia open so I could look up the big words), seemed groundbreaking. In a nutshell, cyanobacteria aren't the only critters that produce methylhopanes. Maybe methylhopanes aren't as nifty biomarkers as everyone thought they were. Bummer.

Sky taught me the in's and out's of working in the lab. I guess rule number one is sterility is of utmost importance. One contaminated step can make weeks of work useless. Also, don't put squirt bottles full of alcohol in vacuum chambers. Also, don't leave the mercury light bulbs on for too long. Also, don't leave the hydrogen tank on for too long. Also, don't put the bunsen burner under a shelf (while it's lit!). Also, don't flame a flask which has recently been solvent washed with hexane. As you can see, the fact that N. Mudd was not burnt to the ground or blown to bits while I was there is a testament to how great a teacher Sky was.

When I asked Sky to look over my SURF presentation and give me feedback, he said I needed more information about fatty acid biosynthesis. Instead of learning about fatty acid biosynthesis, I decided to be cheeky. I looked it up on wiki and pasted a screenshot into my presentation. (No one thought it was as funny as I did. At least I crack myself up sometimes.) I hope Sky knew how much I appreciated his help and enjoyed being around him this summer. Did I tell him? I can't remember. I hope so. Maybe not in so many words, but I hope he knew.

The last contact I had with Sky was an email I sent to him. I asked him if he could return my overdue library books to the library. He said sure, no problem. The books never made it back to the library.

I just realized, it was a month ago today that Sky died.

Holyrood

27-Aug-07
(More to come; enjoy the photos for now)

Angela's pissed because I chose the most direct (.: arduous) route to Arthur's Seat

We made it to the top, though! And ate our oranges.

Swans!

*Notice how the swans are larger than a young child.

Fringe

26-Aug-07

More coming soon!

Manchester England, England!!

25-Aug-07

My first impression of the UK comes from Manchester. I booked the most inconvenient (thus cheapest) flight possible which resulted in half a day spent here. First order of business was to buy an adapter and get some cash, then I was on my way to the city centre. I had arranged to meet Rachael, a friend of Andy's, but since my flight was a couple hours behind schedule she had already come and gone. So instead I topped up my UK phone and tried to make sense of the telephone numbers (it still makes no sense) and got in touch with Rachael, eventually. She showed me around her city: I wandered around a cathedral, poked about a neat museum (with a fun exibit about Play!), and watched a gay pride parade. All of this in polka-dotted wellies!

Hello world!

Hi new blog! I've been in Edinburgh for nearly a month now and I'm finally starting a blog. Go me! I'll spend a few posts re-capping what's been going on around here over the past weeks, as well as staying up to date on the present happenings. Right.