fifty shades of orange ( plus some other stuff )

there's a search bar at the bottom of the page.

if you search for "orange" you'll

see that it is my favourite colour.

i have lots of orange things already as you can see from doing a search

but recently a few more items have been delivered to whitfield towers.

that's right... i have been receiving orange items through the post.

first of all, maybe a month ago this turned up

hmmm... not the best angle to have photographed it from.

it's orange coloured gaffa tape.

or jaffa tape.

genius !

a week or so later another envelope arrived

check out the details.

all the writing was in lower case and using orange ink.

genius !

and inside the envelope

that's right !

an orange plastic back cover for my wahl clippers

skill !

a few weeks later a third package turned up in n7

also with orange lower case writing and sealed with jaffa tape.

and inside... boom !

an orange espresso cup. pantone 1505

so there you have it. project fiftyshadesoforange is well and truly on the way.

a big, big thank-you to the general for these.

you know i don't like to use real names here... nicknames only.

i don't actually have a nickname for the bloke in question, but the general is 

kind of apt.

if anybody else wants to send something nice and orange to me, as my birthday

extravaganza proved, you know only too well that i like receiving things through the post.

no iphone pics today but let me throw in a few bonus things on top of the 

fiftyshadesoforange feature.

1

a flat white which i consumed at a sock club meeting the other week.

( i need to talk to you about sock club )

2

a self-portrait in beijing with my orange ursine companion who is still

missing in action.

3

a video for friday.

one of my favourite old songs reworked by gil scott-heron.

new york city, skateboards and a quick glimpse of a llama.

what's not to like ?

have a good weekend.

korean magazine interview at whitfield towers

did i mention i was interviewed for a korean magazine a few weeks ago ?

true story.

a couple of journalists and a photographer made their way over to n7

to listen to my long stories and to try and take photos of me smiling.

luckily for my blog, i had my very own photographer to record the event.

( thanks to la niña for having my back and for the excellent pics )

1

this was my least favourite, least comfortable part of the afternoon.

being asked to sit and smile. posing for photos is not really my thing.

2

look how miserable and uncomfortable i am.

3

oh well. at least somebody was enjoying it.

4

check out my hand gestures.

as the boss knows only too well, when i sit like that and start gesturing with my hands

i'm telling a long story that will have no punch-line.

5

this is probably 5 minutes later and i'm still telling the same tale,

going off at tangents.

6

even la niña was getting bored and started trying to find some arty angles.

not bad at all.

7

the korean photographer goes about her business while i keep

the journalists on the edge of their seats.

8

then again, look at the body language here.

they are leaning forward, hanging onto my every word.

perhaps in the hope that i will one day finish my story.

9

ok, now they're getting bored. looking at each other and whispering in korean.

10

i've no idea what i was talking about here.

maybe my love of coffee ? my ideas for sock design ? my collection of hair product.

who knows ?

11

then as suddenly as my story began...

it ended.

sighs all around and i learned the korean for "is that it ?"

and "was there any point to that story ?"

12

oh hello.

i did take one photo myself.

i wonder if this is the pic they will use in their magazine ?

the one the photographer is taking here.

one of me with a camera in front of my face ?

13

oh right, i remember... i took this pic before handing over my camera to 

la niña for the predictable finale to this post.

14

this is when i said they should watch me for posing tips.

15

and finally.

i've got to say a big thank-you to the korean girls. it was quite a pleasant 

way to spend a couple of hours and i can't wait to see the published article.

will somebody photoshop a smile onto my face ?

will somebody re-write my words to include a punch-line ?

keep checking back here and i'll show you in a month or so.

a few pics from beijing using my new camera

i debuted a new camera when i was in beijing

a fuji xe1.

i think this was the first frame i took with it.

the subject is a perspex sheet with writing on it explaining about the art 

on display in the hotel lobby.

i think i showed you some of the art on display already, but if not then i think 

there are some more pics of it to come

here's one

the lens i used was a 35mm f1.4

but it plays on the xe1 body as a 50mm f1.4

here's another piece 

i thought i'd shown you this photo before,

but my memory is shocking these days.

here's a view down onto the lobby as i was waiting for the lift

i thought it would be a great shot if somebody interesting walked by.

but although i did this shot almost every time i took the lift,

i never really saw anybody walking by.

apart from food and drink i only bought three things in beijing.

here are two of them

little rubber bracelets to show support for the local football team.

i think they were £1 for two but the blokes on the market stall cracked up

laughing when i paid so they were probably meant to be 10p for two or something.

i did bring these home with me from beijing.

four pairs of chups socks.

but i didn't actually buy them.

they were in fact couriered over to my hotel from a friend in shanghai.

that's right, he couriered socks from shanghai to beijing for me.

( it's a long story )

oh look

hmmm... two hotel staff members walking by.

oh look

remember my former assistant, robo-cat ?

oh, ok... i need to hang my head in shame a little.

i was only in beijing for a few days but i didn't eat any chinese food at all.

here's my meal on saturday evening.

curly fries with chilli and cheese.

and to drink

a bottle of tsingtao.

oh and here's a photo of my waitress

what ?

delightfully tacky, yet unrefined...

coincidentally that's the same motto that appears on my friend

elvis's family coat of arms.

what ?

my blog my rules.

more art in the hotel lobby

and look at all those little boxes.

how fetch !

i was rocking my htm flyknits

probably the most comfortable shoes i own.

which is one reason i like them a lot.

the other reason is that they look like something my nan knitted.

oh hello.

a cleaner.

room 605 at the opposite house.

that's where i left finalhome.

take a look at this joker

kicking around the hotel lobby wearing a snakeskin trilby, a blazer

and some knitted three quarter length trousers with elasticated trim.

but can you see what else he's wearing ?

 that's right...

what the what ?!

he was walking around the hotel lobby wearing football boots !

is there any chance ?

more tomorrow...

football boots !

the london coffee festival

it was a while ago now.

( i've got a bit of a blog backlog going on here )

so let me just rattle off a few shots i took and maybe put a few words underneath them

1

free natas at the london coffee festival

genius !

2

free dark chocolate too.

orange flavoured.

also genius !

3

look at this bloke enjoying his job.

he was the nicest smelling bloke i've ever been near.

he seemed to smell of bacon.

4

grrr !

5

a lady gave me this drink.

it looked like shrek's bathwater.

although it had broccoli, wheatgrass and spinach in it she assured me it tasted of

apples and oranges.

to my surprise, she was right.

6

pulled pork.

the bacon smelling bloke i photographed earlier gave me a free sample of this stuff.

it was magic darts  !

7

these chimney cakes were touches of hungarian brilliance.

they could be the way to go.

the next big thing.

you heard it here first ok ?

8

those goody bag things.

i didn't take one.

9

la marzocca were representing.

10

check out this yellow machine.

not quite orangey enough for me but still a good effort.

11

always good signage with la marzocca

12

and let's face it. they make good coffee

13

damned good coffee

14

 mmmm...

15

er... some paper cups

16

a coffee maker like la niña brought me from brasil

remember ?

17

some sort of drip onto coffee thing going on.

18

and as a parting gift, my old chums at gelupo gave me a grapefruit

flavour ice cream...

probably just to get rid of me.

ok, that's that out of the way.

more interesting stuff to come this week including me being interviewed for

a korean magazine, some snapshots from beijing, new af-1's, decent flat whites,

self-portraits in great locations, furniture and fifty shades of orange.

oh and iphone friday.