I recently mentioned how my trip to London seemed very “kind” because of their proper English accent which also raised the question of what is an American accent sounds like? Well, Rocketbooms new host Joanne Colan does just this in this past episode in learning the American accent.

If you have not heard of Rocketboom, it’s a quirky daily 3 minute vLog, Video Blog (Video Web Log), of internets culture art, technology, news, web drama, and the many more odd happenings around the world. It’s probably one of the most watched vLogs with a bit of spunk.

Is that George W Bush using Tony Blair as a stepping stool onto a horse?! Well, it may appear so, but this is in fact the magical work of photographer and artists Alison Jackson who creates political and media commentaries through convincing pictures, videos, and installation. Her pieces raise the question of authenticity of the media and what we should and should not believe. The funny part about her work is that rather than initially being only a remark to the media, it became the center of the medias attention, revoking at her for making false image statements, only to counter her artist statement about how the media create several false stories.

Her works has brought a great deal of anger to for many but then again, it does makes many think about believing what they see.  Personally, I love her work, and get a good kick out of a few of them, especially in the TV videos or storefront installations fooling hundreds of passing on-lookers.

I was reminded the other day how technologies not only improved my life, but made me just as dumb without it. I’ve been an avid user of computers and such web applications for probably the last 8+ years and I’ll admit, I’m better with it, but incredibly dumb without it.

I use to remember a good dozen phone numbers, but now that I own a mobile phone, I only know 2-3 numbers. I use to be able to hand-write long letters with a pen, but if I try this now, my hand cramps up after half a page. I use to be able to spell well, but ever since I started using spell check I trust software to fix my errors. As a regular user of Instant Messaging, I shorten many words hence can’t spell correctly. I use to be able to figure out where addresses are locally, but now that I am a super user of Google Earth or Maps, I cant go anywhere without it. Google Search is pretty much half my brain. I realized while in London, without a mobile phone, how incredibly hard it was for me to meet up with a friends or for them to contact me. I have my computer save most of my passwords and when I’m not at my computer, I forget all my passwords (though I’ve learned to fix this). My mad math skillz are not that bad yet, but my lazy butt opens up the computers calculator often. Birthdays, appointments, events, holidays at times do not exist unless it’s in my calender.

I’m sure there are many more examples of how techs improved my life but once I’m unplugged from the net or have no access to my laptop, I feel rather dumb at times. Is tech helping me, aiding me, or replacing my brain?

London had tons to offer during my visit and as a designer a hunt down of the shops was a must. I didn’t take pictures of everything, but I’ll post a few things that caught my attention. Thanks to Superfuture.com I had a quick map to guide me abouts the Soho and Covent Gardens area. Otherwise, a mindless trek abouts town seemed to do the trick for finding hotspots. Above is a sick set of belts prints found in the dpmhi  store (maharishi store) More pics and finds after the jump… (more…)

London rocks!!! I was only there for a few days, but it’s very comparable to NYC besides the fact that much like the rest of the UK, everything closes down early. If you ignore the fact that everything here is twice the price than in the states, it’s an eclectic array of shopping, art, events, food, culture, and people. The vibe is jazzy and people here were very kind, though most of the people were tourists. I keep saying “kind” when I speak about the UK and I’ll admit, it’s their darn proper accents. Even people yelling at each other seemed pleasant. I’ll assume my mid-west american accent sounded harsh.

For my journey, I printed out maps from superfuture.com, which included hotspots for food, art, shops, and more. I also printed out a map from StreetSensation giving me insights to the street shops and markets. Only complaints, beside my Heathrow Experience, would be trains on the Tube broke down too often, phone calls from payphones cost wayyy too much (especially to mobile phones, 1 pound($1.80) bought me about 2 minutes time), London is very expensive to live in, and places close down early.

I’ll admit, I loved it there and am tempted to find a job there now. A few things I’ve learned about the culture over there:
- Everyone goes to pubs after work.
- Food= many drinks, hence people can drink a ton!
- People are very stylish.
- The art scene is vast.
- It rains when the sun is out!
Lots of pics after the jump… (more…)

Malmesbury was the mysterious little town I’d been craving to learn more about for many reasons. As my driver had told me, it is a very quaint town with cows, which I later found out meant, I’d probably run into some cows while walking abouts the incredibly picturesque landscape, which did happen (cows are big up close and a bit scary when they mooo at you then). Usually in my tech-centric world I’d rely on Google Earth to get a glimpse of the city, but since Malmesbury is so small, it only had blury images of the place. The hotel I stayed at was a refreshing glimpse back into the past with antique furniture within a stone and wooden built house with tiny little details throughout that is absent in todays modern world. Their staff was incredibly friendly and the room I stayed in was super cute. They also had a marvelous garden area which I lounged at for a bit of time while sketching. Malmesbury is an astonishingly beautiful town with many amazing houses and expensive cars. More pics after the jump… (more…)

While visiting Bath in the UK, I made a quick visit to Bristol. My visit was short, 3-4 hours, but it gave me a glimpse of the city and culture. Unlike Bath, Bristol felt like a real city, full of people, a bit more diverse than Bath, and rumbling with industrial noises. It was less relaxing than Bath, but also had the vibe that most city people would crave for. I basically hung out in the central part of Bristol, with a brief visit to the shopping district known as Broadmead. The park was really comfortable and it was a sunny day to chill out near the waterfront, though little kids kept falling down on the slippery hard marble waterfall like staircase pictured above. Much like Bath however, things closed early besides the pubs. More pictures after the jump… (more…)

So, my first stop in the UK was in the beautiful and very peaceful town of Bath, located about 2 hours west of London. Bath is best know for their natural thermal hot springs but is also a filled with a rather vibrant crowd of people and a nice set of architectural buildings. The shopping area is very cute and gave me my first taste of food in the UK, primarily pastries, which was very good. Shops and stores close early compared to the USA, but many pubs stay open late. This was also where I first figured out the UK cost a a ton! I generally like to go into super markets in a new place to figure out what life is like. You see the local families, usually not the tourists, the varieties in food, how service is given, a variety in age groups, and a zest in how much things cost, which in Bath, was alot once you converted the price. I’m not saying everything was expensive, but a majority was more than what I’d pay here in the USA. The first example was for POM juice, which in the states cost about $3. Well, it was one of the first brands I recognized on the shelf and the price was 3.50 pounds, which converts to about $6.50. Wow..thats alot. More pictures and stories after the jump… (more…)