There are a few updates to photos... the best of which can be found on the main site...
But here are the photos from Europe via... since apparently the blog hasn't been updated with photos since Moab... I really need to switch over to Flickr soon and just create a photostream link straight from the main JohannKwan.com site.
Photos from Utah!
Moab: Album 1
School starts again today, so I'm in "busy mode"... but nonetheless, here are the new photo albums from the summer!
CLICK HERE for Canada Day photos!
Date: Canada Day 2007
Medium: Sony A100 (DSLR)
Digital/Darkroom manipulation: Photoshop CS2
A bunch of my picks:
So... when it gets warm, Carleton does this thing were we pile up a ton of snow and have people ski/board down it... like so:
Guess what.
Spring has sprung... and yet today...
IT STILL SNOWED.
Look how upset I am:
Hah. I wish. I haven't been able to cry in a long time.
I'm feeling like a pile of shit right now. I haven't been able to get this essay done, and not because I'm really all that lazy. I just don't feel like bullshitting right now, and I can't come up with a decent thesis for this joke of an essay to save my life.
Give me an hour and I'll probably feel like bullshitting this thing. I don't have much choice, after all.
There are plenty other reasons to my feeling like I just crawled out of the dirty end of Ron Jeremy. Wait... that's every end. Ugh.
Anyway, I have some things to talk about, and none of them political. I mean, I could go on about a whole lot of things... the farce that we call American politics... the crazy shit in Asia, but truth be told, I couldn't give less of a shit right now.
I just don't feel up to it.
But I do want to talk about Sound Mind. Sort of. I figure I really should talk about it, despite not having much energy to do anything. I really do need to work these fingers up to essay mode.
So here it is. Sound Mind's a zine, and it's a rockin' zine. A zine about music and stuff. More importantly from me, I suppose, it'll soon have a website. That's my job... building Sound Mind a website, one that will blow the pants off every other website in existence.
And that's just what I'm going to do.
But that's not what I really wanted to talk about... no, what I really wanted to talk about, was the show we had this Friday. It was a bang up show and it feels like years ago, probably because I've had a lot of drinks inbetween. Still... it was... one hell of a show.
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't charge my camera batteries before I went, so my batteries died halfway through the third set. Which sucks, in a way... but it left the rest of the night to get really inebriated and melt into the music.
So it worked out for everyone. Everyone else gets to see some photos, and I had a shitload of fun.
Oh yeah, before I forget, the photos are here.
Hopefully someone got photos of the later acts, because they too were not to be missed.
I bought a $24 shirt at auction there to support the zine. I suppose that was a little bit two-faced of me, I certainly look like I'm spending a whole lot of money to support the zine...
But since a website in practise costs about $100 CDN a year to run for the amount of stuff we'll be putting on it, and that $24 will probably go right back into the site and the zine (which costs about the same an issue, I think), no, I really am not actually doing all that much.
I should take a few seconds to talk about the show itself... you really couldn't ask for a better variety of music at a basement show. I mean, there are basement shows and there are basement shows. This was certainly one of the latter. Or the former... whichever one is better... depends on whether not you're a fan of italics, I suppose.
One of the photos in there will show you the amount of people that packed into the basement for one of the sets. Now imagine that the basement's that full... and you go up the stairs to the kitchen. A lot more people there. People on the back porch, smoking. People in the living room, drinking and talking, people going up another flight of stairs to line up for the w/c.
And everyone in the house is listening to the music coming out of the basement.
It was a goodly amount of people. And we raised enough money for the zine to cover the last issue, and no one puked! At least, I didn't see anyone puking... of course, since they would've been ejected from the premises right away, if anyone did, I wouldn't have seen them anyway.
If you missed it, and you're in the area to actually feel bad about missing it... well don't worry, there'll be more.
And I'll keep you up to date, and let you know as soon as the site is up. If you're around the Carleton campus, look around, you'll certainly be able to find a copy or two.
Now I'm going to go wallow for a bit before trying to bullshit this thing till I've got something to hand in.
So I'm back in TO for the Thanksgiving weekend... whee.
I spent two days making my little brother's computer work. Trust me, it wasn't fun. I won't go into the details... suffice to say: Broken RAM.
Anyway... Music Night photos are up, and that is always fun. By always fun, I mean, I've been too busy to tell you guys about it (well, I did send out an e-mail to Hums students courtesy of Andrea). Oops.
Some of you have probably seen them already, being that you will likely have me on Facebook, or got the e-mail... but I'll post them here anyway.
So yeah. I'm tired. Real tired. Two days of computer fixing, and today I wrote three pages (single spaced, of course, I hate doublespacing) of stuff for an online discussion group for my online class, and then closed the window by accident while trying to move it. My dad has Windows set up with that stupid extra large everything, so the big X is humongous.
Stupid Windows.
Speaking of Windows, I think I've reinstalled that thing six or more times on my little brother's PC in the last week. I'm not hapy with that.
But anyway, I get free food while I'm home, so what the hell do I care? Going to see if we're staying in or going out for dinner tonight now. Oh yes, I'll upload the thing I wrote for class. It's about National Missile Defense and North Korea... and all that jazz.
New photos... these are from my trip. =) Once again I've used Facebook to host them to save me grief.
Here's one:
Click here for more.
Sorry these took so long, but I had to make sure The Charlatan wasn't doing a Canada Day article and would want these for publication.
25,000 people on Parliament, whee.
NOTE: Right-click and View Image in Mozilla Firefox for higher resolutions.
Canaday Day In Ottawa
Sparks Street crowd.
Uhm, wtf?
Some Michael Jackson lookalike who could play guitar really well.
Crowd down Rideau.
Some people who own a sweet window overlooking the Market.
Picture by Hadas. Me holding up a Toronto Appreciation Day banner.
Thanks to this guy. Mister Toronto
Fireworks.
The crowd in front of Parliament clogging up the streets during the fireworks.
Don't forget, everyone: Toronto loves you. Even you, Ottawa, with all your Toronto hating and Leafs bashing.
I'm headed back to the T-dot sooner or later today, I just have to figure when I want to board the bus. I just chased two blocks after Kelly, who just came and went like a thief in the night and reclaimed her sweater from my closet without saying hi at all as I was in the shower. I just heard the door close, grabbed my clothes, and put them on while sprinting out the door to chase her down.
Silly person. =)
I fully intend to use the line she gave me as a pickup line. "I miss Kelly so much, she's gone tree planting! I have to fill up my time with lots of sex to make up for it."
I wonder if it would actually work. It shows a care for friends, right?
Pictures from the walk yesterday:
Okay, so it's not a Stairway to Heaven, but finding an abandoned staircase leading up Parliament is pretty fucking sweet.
Friends make great models, especially if they already are one. =) And Shannon is super cool. See the rest of these photos (they're not all mine, I didn't have my camera on me and they were shot on Janet's point-and-shoot digi) here on Flickr.
Major kudos to Janet for remembering to bring her tiny super-portable and awesome camera on our walk and for putting them up on Flickr. These were taken... Thursday, I believe.
Contrary to popular belief about Jesus and all that Jazz... Easter is when bunnies do chickens and hatch chocolate eggs. Do your part to rid the world of freaks of nature and eat those bloody eggs.
Anyway, those photos I promised are up.
I used Facebook again, I hope no one minds. Their Java uploader is handy.
So Dave just left. I went on a shoot with him last night after putting him in my leather coat. We bought Cubans! Of these I would pick a few to put in a professional portfolio, but here are a few images!
I've got mad high quality ones being uploaded. Let me know if you want to see them.
... and MORE from the night before, yay!
"If you want me to get off I'll get off... literally... not figuratively."
So... general tutorial and music night was last night. I didn't end up getting into bed till 7 or 8 this morning. Good times.
Camera batteries finally ran dry. Gotta charge them sometime today. Finding out now if any of the pictures turned out, since the camera was giving me battery warning signals all night... and that room was dark as hell.
"I want to be on TV... maybe have a talkshow or somethin'... like Conan, or early Letterman."
Something came up in conversation yesterday... how do people really lay claim to any one sexual orientation without ever having had sex?
Hmm.
Suppose it could work. But how can you be sure otherwise?
"Every time I hear the pipes, I feel like charging the enemy." - George
Whee melted puddle of wax!
[20:34:28] Dave Gootman: Not bad. But you have taken way better pictures before.
[20:34:37] johannkwan.com - Kung Hei Fat Choy!: I know
[20:34:47] johannkwan.com - Kung Hei Fat Choy!: these were just cause I was like, "WHOA, puddle!"
If you weren't here last night...
Well, you missed out on a lot of wine and cheese. Which is too bad really, cause it was good and I broke out some of my better wine. Of course the night degenerated eventually into vodka and uhm... vodka... but... that's rather besides the point.
We took photos. None of them turned out. Except photos I took of myself as I was waiting for people to show up. Sad, I know.
Well, maybe they might've come out okay, I'll have to look at them when my monitor isn't getting massive glare from the outside.
Silly outside.
Lying back down and listening to Charles Mingus.
Music = hangover cure. Sorta.
It's become a regular occurence for me to watch the sun rise... some days it's just bloody gorgeous.
Last night was good, friends over for drinking is always good.
Now I'm just watching the sun rise as my friends sleep.
Oooo it got prettier.
I accidentally had my camera set on macro from earlier pictures. *ashamed*
But oh well.
I never thought this day would come.
Okay, I'm being overly dramatic. I knew it would come eventually.
I didn't think so soon.
My friends... I am about to cry tears of happiness.
The IRA's armed campaign is over!
Nuff' said. Read and be happy.
I really don't know where to begin. Bonnaroo was an amazing trip I really won't ever forget... and there's just so bloody much I could write about. I think I might spare you all the whole sha-bang and skip straight to the first full day... after all, the drive there was (while eventful) only funny to us. Besides a tank on the road, several signs proclaiming that "HELL IS REAL", and a crazy country music festival at Nashville... all else won't be all too interesting for the rest of you.
I apologize in advance, I'm pretty tired so it will not be well written. If you want, just look at the pretty pictures. They make more sense.
So, this post will be about the first day. I'd slept early the night before, so I woke up rather early in the back of the van, our home for the next three nights, not including the one I had just slept away.
Our home for the week, a van and a small tent
We went to explore the area some, given the incredulously early hour at which we were up. It was pretty hot, with the sun shining pretty heavily (if only I knew to appreciate it then!), so we ended up spending much of the time after we'd done exploring the myriad of awesome shops, enviromental awareness stalls, and activity tents under the shade of a tree. There were a few awesome things to note: A glassblower showing off his trade, an adobe hut, people doing yoga in the morning, little kids at Bonnaroo, guys sitting on a treestump... and...
Lots and lots of hippies!
Glass is totally awesome. Glass & fire... well... whee!
Adobe hut. Very, very nice crafts inside from a bunch of people who live... yes... in adobe huts.
Yoga in the mornin', yoga in the evenin', yoga at suppertime...
Kids! Cute, cute little hippie kids! YES!
Guys sitting on a treestump... don't know why, but it was interesting to watch.
Emily under the tree.
I love hippies. =)
Before the shows we went back to the van for a while, but not before getting some lunch. I had alligator for the first time ever.
Yours truly chowin on gator.
There was this awesome school bus some guys and gals had built upon and were using as their mobile home for the week. It was impressive...
The blue bus. It was an awesome sight to behold every time I walked between the stages/Centeroo to the van.
We split up for the shows... Emily wanted to see Alison Kraus and Union Station (and get in the pile-up that was outside of that stage), and I wanted to catch Joanna Newsom before I hit the last half-hour of Alison Kraus. The upside was... I also got to see Josh Ritter. I only took one half-assed picture (which really didn't turn out well) of Josh Ritter... so there will be none of that. Joanna Newsom was really shy and cute as a button. Great show.
Joanna Newsom tuning her harp.
Using her amazing voice to start the show.
I did manage to catch the last half-hour of Alison Kraus and Union Station, though I really couldn't see the stage from the way it was totally packed. Wasn't worth being impolite and shoving to the front for 30 minutes of Alison Kraus, so I enjoyed it from afar, lying in the sun.
Lots of people at Alison Kraus
I skipped off for a bit and met Emily back at the van after Alison Kraus, and at 5:30 we went and saw The Allman Brothers Band. If you thought the above picture looked packed... despite the rain, EVERYONE went to see The Allman Brothers play.
Packed!
We managed to get pretty damned close, given our relatively late arrival to the show. They were awesome... and we met a guy from Edmonton named Dan out there. After that, we hit up the van again, before Emily head off to Dave Matthews Band. As I've said, I'm no big fan of Dave Matthews, so I took the time to grab a nap. I woke up minutes before Saul Williams started, though, so I got there as fast as I could. Saul Williams was amazing... there's a beautiful irony in a tentful of white guys (well, majority of them, anyway) listening to a black spoken word artist speak about how they've been oppressing the black people for so long... in Tennessee, no less. Much cheering. Also some fidgeting from select members of the crowd... heh.
Mars Volta was on after Saul, so most everyone stayed. I got pretty close, and this is one show where I wish I didn't have my camera. It was too dark to make good use of it, but with it I couldn't really let all the dance out. It was, however, still a fucking awesome show.
Went to bed exhausted after Mars Volta...
I'll leave the Jenny Lewis pic (which is on the next day) up until I have that day covered. Night all, I'm tired as hell.
I still haven't gotten around to that e-mail. That's the way I am... but I figure I'll sit back, have a beer, and write up that adventure that I've been promising for so long.
There will be plenty more this summer, so keep your eyes peeled.\
Keep in mind most of these pictures were taken with my camera dangling at my hips, to avoid people noticing I was taking photos so I could get around the buildings.
The adventure begins in the Yamaha Music School (the one across from Mel Lastman Square). I look down, and I've got my camera, and I think... damn... it's too nice a day to be sitting here waiting for my little brother's cello competition. S'much as I like music and all, I hear my little brother play all the time. He's not that good.
So I go down to the street. At first, I really have no idea where I want to go. So I wander, experimenting with camera options. I go over to the Performing Arts Centre, look around, go into the School Board building, all sorts of places. I even go inside the office buildings I would later go and explore, but I'm just snapping off pictures. Here are a few...
Twas' fun. A lot of shots (like the one with the cop and the road workers) were taken with the camera at the hip or just with the camera held in my hand as my arm dangled at my side. Of course, none of these people gave me model releases, but since I'm not making money off any of this and it's quite possibly under the whole freedom of press thing anyway... neh.
If I were to sell prints... *laughs* then I'd be in trouble.
Anyway, after buying a book from the sale at the public library, I go back to the Yamaha school... only to find out my little brother's gone in already for his competition thing and I'd have more time to explore. Quite awesome, in my opinion, so I went back down.
I looked up at the office buildings I had already walked through the bottom floors of, and thought... "Hmm, lets get to the top and take some wide-angles from up there..."
Of course, I realized that people might not be so happy with that, but hey, what's photography without a little bit of fun?
First building I went up, I could only find the elevator that got up the the 8th floor. Total suck. The doors to the offices were also all passcard locked. Well... not exactly, I'll explain in a sec. Here's a photo of the 8th floor:
Yeah, that's the office for L'Oreal Canada... at least in Toronto. I was curious, and the office right across from the main door was empty. I tugged on the door handle just to see if it was actually locked...
... it wasn't. There must've been a shoot going on, because I could hear people around the corner... and it definately sounded like a shoot. I was tempted to go back to the van, grab my tripod and my manual, and pretend to belong... but I probably would've been caught with my pants down pretty quick.
Anyway, thinking to come back to the office later if I couldn't get any higher, I walked out and started looking for the stairs. Good thing too, since as soon as the door closed behind me, the occupant of the office I *would've* snuck into came back from the bathroom. Pretty yuppie boy, at that. He looked at me oddly, then pretended to swipe his card before he went in. He didn't even put his card fully in the swipe-machine...
As if I wouldn't have to just try the door... heh.
Anyway, so I found the stairs. They were right next to the men's room... same place the guy had just come from. Whoopie. Someone up above really likes me.
However, as I went up the stairs, every floor above this one was locked. Quite depressing, actually... I guess they must've been all one corporation with their own private elevator or something. The doors probably only opened from the inside. I eventually left the building...
On my way down on the elevator, someone got on the next floor down. Awkward elevator silences are nothing new to me, so I just fiddled with my camera. Imagine my surprise when he tried to start conversation with: "Are you a model?"
Flabberghasted, I was like, "uh... what?" I mean... I'm not that good looking, and I'm skinnier than a fencepost. If that's what qualifies for beauty nowadays... wow. That, and I had a camera in my hand... Do most models carry a camera?
"L'Oreal upstairs... youamodel?"
How else was I supposed to answer? "No... just exploring." "Oh."
Awkward silence resumed. I was just rolling it over in my head... me... a model... riiiiiight...
I checked back, and I still had time. Abnormally long performance, I thought, but no worries, I went off to another building. 5000 Yonge. Fancy place, really. They've got tellies in the elevator. Bloody fast elevators, at that. I was up on the 21st floor in no time.
Of course, first thing I did when I got out was hide my camera behind my back. No use... the receptionist (for Cadbury, by the way) asked, "Can I help you?"
Heh the perfect answer to land me in a spot of trouble would've been... "Nooo, I'm just taking photos, eff' off." Or maybe... "Yes, my name is Agent Smith, I'm with the RCMP. I'm looking for Mister Anderson. I don't have an appointment." Riiiiight... I just said "Oops, wrong floor..." and split.
Sucked, cause it would've been a pretty decent view. Such is life, I suppose. I snapped another shot from the hip of the reception desk on the ground floor... and just went back to the school to find my little brother done with his contest.
There were a lot of other pictures, but they weren't all too exceptional. I still can't believe the guy thought I was a model.
A model. Yeah... right.
'I feel like blogging.'
- Myself to Janet, less than a minute ago
Modest Mouse is playing right now. That makes me happy... These last two days have been musically superb.
I don't think anything in the world could bring me down right about now. It's been a good two weeks... since the Medea play (the night before St. Patty's) it's almost been a non-stop flow of awesome.
Just finished up the rest of the Bailey's with Janet, made coffee and Bailey's. Janet drinking is something quite different... =) She just gets giddy... hehe. It's fun.
A giddy Janet on the phone with Timothy, through a haze (light glare, actually) that resembles how I am currently viewing the world.
There's something to be said for waking up early in the morning to a beautiful (though a tiny bit chilly) morning for a walk along the canal with a friend... watching the Wilco I Am Trying To Break Your Heart DVD... and being completely out of it. I love little moments like that.
Completely out of booze and drugs now after the last week, except what medicinals I have left from being so completely sick with the bloody cold. It's leaving now, thankfully. Just a slightly irritating cough left.
This summer will yield good things. My vow of celibacy will expire, life will go on, and Johann will have an entire year's worth of celibate non-action to make up for. It's been educational... but it just isn't me. I'll see it through the end of the year, though. Ahh... life. =)
By request, the music has gone back to Iron & Wine. I had the oppurtunity to introduce him to Kelly last night. Superb music as of late, as I've said. The morning and night hanging with her was probably one of the highlights of the week. The whole week, however, has just been a haze of awesome.
Happy Easter everyone. Jesus died for our sins, remember...
So enjoy them while you can. *grin*
