My beautiful mother and me.  Or is it “I”?  I think it is.  My mother and beautiful I.  Just kidding.

It’s so nice to spend time with my family.  It’s hard being a billion kilometers (or so, not v. good at metrics) away all the time.

Timewarp me back there, please.

Yeah. Big decision to make. And I need to make it soon. Anyone have one of those magic 8-ball things? Is there an internet version? I’m gonna go look. [ctrl+t - search "magic 8-ball"] Yep, first result.

Question 1: Should i take a year off before grad school and work in ___________ (kind of a secret)?
Answer 1: My sources say no.

Let me rephrase…

Question 2: I’m totally scholastically burned out and may possibly have the chance of a lifetime job; should I take the job and go to grad school a year later?
Answer 2: My sources say no.

Wait, does this thing only say that one answer…

Question 3: Do you only know how to say “my sources say no”?
Answer 3: Absolutely!

Ok. I am more confused than when I began…

Maybe I won’t leave it to a CGI Magic Eight Ball to make this decision for me. I’m gonna do it the responsible way—by flipping a coin.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I am trapped in studio finishing up my Berlin and China projects, as well as 2 essays and what feels like a million journal / sketchbook entries. And then I have a whole 3-day weekend to prepare for a new semester. Holy shit, I am burning out quickly.

Anyway, the above images are little interludes in my sketchbook. The top one is kinda obvious, but I imagine it to be on the press passes that are given out for the Olympics. A little reminder / warning for journalists to write only nice things. The next two are images of remaining Nazi buildings in Berlin that have been redefined and reused, but how do you really ever take the Hitler association out of the picture. It’s kind of a tough question, if they are perfectly functioning buildings (and in the case of the stadium, quite beautiful) should they just be re-appropriated and reused? I’m sure that was an issue for the Germans after the war, and it is their question to answer. And the final image of the Fonz standing on Karl Marx Allee (the former Stalinallee), shows that the street, and all its socialist grandeur, was really just a television set. The East Germans wanted to impress the worlds TV viewers with their quick, glorious rebuilding of Berlin, but it was all a facade. The fact that it is a cardboard cutout of Henry Winkler as Arthur Fonzarelli is meant to reiterate the layers of “deception / confusion / fantasy / television” within the street.

Tongli is a small water town outside of Suzhou, known as Little Venice.  The best way to get around is, obviously, to hire a boat and a gondolier to maneuver through the canals.  Below are a few thousand words.

There are plenty of boats to take you around, Tongli isn’t a huge tourist destination, yet.  I think they are trying to make this into a resort town, which seems a little odd.  But I saw several renderings of resorts and condos featuring some very happy German Looking families in the renderings.

All boats come with a free Chinese Gondolier.  She was strong and somewhat intimidating, and I said “xie xie” a lot.

Tongli is still very simple and traditional.  But this water seemed a little dirty to do your laundry in.

We had just eaten crayfish 30 minutes before I took this photo.  They came out of the dirty river, and were sitting here alone (aside from the flies) for god knows how long.  Bon Apetit.

Just some roofs.

“Healthy citizens, happy families and harmonious socicty (sic)”.  My favorite sign in all of China, it makes communism seem so quaint.

And then in the middle of this quaint and simple old town, I ran into this sign:

Hmm, restaurant, garden, toilet, sex museum….which one should I go to?

Yep, that one!

Well, there goes that stereotype.

This one was titled “Women’s Dependence”.

Dick in bush.  These things write themselves.

Number one is supposed to read “after the death of husbands“.  But the reduction of men to a sex object through this typo is great.  And the dildo selection at this museum was impressive.  There were double headed dildos made of stone dating back 2000 years.  There were also some other very bizarre sexual contraptions that my innocent mind has never even dreamed of, such as a saddle with a giant steel dick welded onto it.  I was later told that this was a torture device.  Sexy.

Words can’t describe how much I miss those Chanel sunglasses.

There are two strange things about this museum.  The first is the location.  This really seems like a sleepy, conservative, traditional town.  The fact that there is a very freaky sex museum within it is confusing.  You expect it in Amsterdam, LA…the debaucherous cities.  But Tongli?

Secondly.  No one seemed sexual to me in China.  Apparently they were 2000 years ago.  And judging by the 1.3 billion people in the country, somebody is fucking.  I would speak to 26 year old guys about sex and they would giggle like little girls.  I don’t understand how their ancestors were inventing things that would make Belladonna blush, but people in their mid 20’s today seem to have no sexual desire.

Looking up in the Jin Mao Tower on the Pudong. Shanghai, China.

Rooftop bar / restaurant on the Bund. Shanghai, China.

Looking down the Bund, across from the Pudong in Shanghai. I had to go for a drink here after Shanghai Shopping all day. Holy shit, I didn’t think it would happen, but I miss China.

Just Curious.

A few weeks ago I took a day trip to Leipzig to see the BMW plant by Zaha Hadid. The architecture was overshadowed by the totally fucking amazing choreographed robot dance that builds the cars. There is an enormous warehouse full of giant robots that quickly build and pass along the car from robot to robot. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I stood staring for a while at the dancing robots and tried to find the perfect song on my iPod for them to be dancing to. I ended up with the new Bjork album; the sounds the robots made kinda sounded like her music anyhow. And, I think I want a BMW now.

We had a few hours to kill around town before the tour. The main thing I wanted to do was to go to Auerbachs Keller, the bar frequented by Goethe in real life, and the fictional first stop of Mephistopheles and Faust. Outside is a statue of Faust that you are supposed to rub the foot of for good luck.

I’m hoping that the good luck translates into much better hair than I was having this week. And goddamn I look serious about Goethe.

The wear of all that rubbing. Like the Buddha’s belly in China, I was quick to Purell my hands after this rub. Good hygiene trumps good luck any day.

After the Faust stop (and a beer or few) I had to choose between Bach, Mendelsson or the Stasi Museum. I chose the Stasi. Inside were the most ridiculous costumes and espionage / surveillance tools. Seriously, comical. It is hard to believe that this organization imposed as much fear as they did. The disguises are a complete laugh, if you ever find yourself in Leipzig, you must go.

Not five minutes after I left the Stasi I saw this sign:

Fitting.

 The Beijing bug eating videos.

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5560535889735480266&hl=en[/googlevideo]

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7959934647381477237[/googlevideo]

Rocks by Druids (or whatever), shirt by Paul Smith. Hang on to your ego.

Gernika.