Post 82: 310806 9th World Tantrix Championships

The 9th World Tantrix Championships is underway and last night I had my first games. This year’s 200 competitors have been divided into groups of four or five for Phase 1. I’m in Group 1 with 3 others and before the 12th of September we must play four games against each other.

My first opponent was ‘Sanabas’ from Australia. We played all four games in one hit. Things started badly and did not improve. In our second game I took some small satisfaction after falling into a trap in the opening tiles, of being able to defend a slender lead of 14. I took the win by 1 point. As for the other three games I lost them all by narrow margins. I have to perform well against the other two if I want to progress to Phase 2.

Follow the link to the summary of Phase 1

Post 81: 300806 Sports

As an avid escapist I try to spend a good deal of time in front of the telly watching sports games. Being where I am it's hard, in fact nearly impossible, to get televised Rugby, so I have to make do with football without English commentators, K-1 and other fight style bouts, occasional tennis tournaments and perhaps gold if I find the patience. There’s always the badminton, table tennis, American basketball, baseball and now beach volleyball but I have never found a passion for watching those games.

My best connection with teams and games from back home is of course the internet but those live play by play snippets really don’t satisfy my enthusiasm. In saying that, I have now added a sports section to the links where you will find teams and players I try to follow.

Post 80: 250806 Solar System Update

Just in case you were worried about the status of our Solar System i have an update for you. It's now official, we only have 8 planets. Pluto no longer qualifies but has been re-termed a 'dwarf planet' along with Ceres and 2003UB 213.

Post 79: 220806 Poetry Contests

Over the past eight months I have made a concerted effort to push my poetry to the next level. The first stage was to enter poetry contests, something I had never done before. With each result posted however I become somewhat deflated in my expectations and skeptical over my own abilities.

For the past 6 weeks I have been awaiting on the results of three competitions, one from New Zealand, one from America and one online. For some reason all results were delayed beyond their stated announcement dates. My waiting ended today when this evening after killing time playing games I realized I hadn't made my usual rounds of the results pages.

As for the New Zealand and American competitions my name was no where in sight but the online competition delivered a surprise. There I was up on top in first place. I have won my first competition. I am the winner of txt2nite.com’s SMS Poetry Contest 8. It may not be as prestigious as bigger comps but I am well chuffed with the result. Not to mention stoked that the first prize of an iPod Shuffle will be winging its way to me.

Check out the results page.

Post 78: 170806 Our Solar System

Without much in the way of personal goings on over the last few days I’ve been looking further a field for something to report on. Being an avid space enthusiast it’s no surprise that my attention was drawn to the current conference of leading and not so leading scientists discussing and refining the nature of our universe.

Yesterday if you had innocently asked how many planets were in our solar system then you would have been given the nonchalant reply of ‘Nine’. Today however, that answer has changed.

It all began with the defining of Pluto, is she qualified to be a planet. If she is then several other bodies floating out there of a larger mass also qualify to be called planets. Well, the answer was ‘Yes!’ Pluto is a planet which then gives us three more of the little suckers to call our own. Not that we didn’t claim them before but now we can puff our chests a little larger and say there are twelve planets in our swinging solar system dancing on the outer arm, looking in on a densely populated spiral galaxy.

Get this, one was given the dubious name ‘Xena’ after the New Zealand grown television show. What this means is that all books and posters proclaiming accurate knowledge of our Solar System are now out of date. A further problem arises when we learn that there are more bodies drifting by out there that are larger than Pluto but for the time being we can’t get a good enough handle on them to define them. More reprints no doubt to ensure school children know just what our neighborhood looks like. But for now here is what our Solar system currently looks like and check out http://www.iau2006.org/ for the facts.

Post 77: 070806 Photos from the picnic

Post 76: 070806 Picnic in the shade

Yesterday was the last day of my holiday. Nine days with the absence of work. How quickly the time went. My intention was to spend it in the most slovenly way, sitting on the couch or in a darkened cinema, staying out of the heat and trying not to move too much. That was not to be as Sukhee and I were invited to join the staff of the local watering hole on a picnic.

My idea of a picnic and the Korean notion of one differ greatly. I imagine the cliché of a broad green field, a checkered blanket and a basket weighted down with sandwiches and perhaps a bottle of bubbly.

Damn, just thinking about it, I am riddled with clichés. Doesn’t that make you just a little pissed off knowing that your thoughts come from someone else’s notion of what is ideal. Gives you a little insight on how a population can be controlled. May sound like a leap but when you control the media and stuff it full of notions of your own sense of right and wrong then doesn’t it follow that the population watching said media will pick up on those notions and slowly loose the ability to discern for themselves.

Anyways, the Korean idea of a picnic turns out to be, and this is just one example, going into the foothills of Sarak mountain and sitting at small tables on polystyrene platforms wedged between sheets of metal and plonked on metal frames. These platforms are an extension of small restaurants that in their infinite wisdom have set them up not only beside small creeks but on top of them as well.

Then to keep us out of the harsh summer sun, as if the shade from the trees wasn’t enough, the whole scene is covered in tarpaulins strung in spaghetti like web-works to those bruised and battered trees.

A pool was made nearby which teamed with artificial life, blow-up buoyancy rings, five foot sharks and beach balls. It seemed everyone and their dog, yes there were plenty of pet dogs lulling about, had traversed narrow roads and clotted small car parks to enjoy a summer’s picnic beneath the tarp.

So that was how the last day of my holiday was spent. I didn’t go for a swim like most others from our group but played Go-Stop as we waited for the food we ordered that never arrived and drank the beer we’d brought with us.

Post 75: 060807 Orange Tree Exhibition

Last night was the opening of the Orange Tree exhibition. I didn't have a lot of info to go on for this one but i was happy none the less to be involved. Who wouldn't be when it gives a chance for you work to be seen in public.

The Orange Tree is actually a bar which was converted into a gallery for the night of the opening, which included pop up books on the pool table and multiple format art works adorning pillars and walls as well as shelves and small tables. I was impressed with the level of work and the amount. It seemed that after the first pass you miss most of the details and need to make the rounds again if not more.

I have three photos in the show along with another photographer from the last show. Ours sat together on a red wall beside a standing lamp and close to the buffet table. A good place actually as it was close to wher most people were hanging out. I think the images remain in place for the next five days.

Post 74: 040806 More photos from Gyeong-ju

Post 73: 030806 Photos from Gyeong-ju

Post 72: 020806 Orange Tree article

As i drift along on a sun bleached journey an e-mail arrives telling me of an article in the Korean Times proclaiming the virtues of our up-coming exhibition. It begins on the 5th of August in Orange Tree bar and resturant which will be converted for the opening into a fully fledged gallery. And once the opening has closed it will revert back to its natural state where patrons can enjoy our vistas while they dine on wonderful Italian meals.

I look foward to being there on Saturday night to share in the warmth of excited faces and hopefully the glow my face is currently basking in will have dimmed and I can go out in puiblic without looking like an advertising neon for the red light district. Yep, it was hot today and due to our being outside for the most part I have turned a rather charming shade of red.

So click on Orange Tree and read the brief article and wait with patience for the photos of amazing temples and hidden grottos.

Post 71: 010806 Gyeong-ju

Here i am in the home of the Shilla Kingdom. The place that many local poets look upon as the height of Korean society, the utmost expression of self, a time when Koreans lived as Koreans and acted as Koreans would when not under the yoke.

Sukhee and I took a nice 5 hour long bus ride to get here. Arriving just before four in the afternoon we were greeted by a kindly man in his air-conditioned car. We'd pre-arranged a driver for a day while here, to show us the sites and let us in on the local secrets. Money well spent if you ask me. He picked us up at the bus station, took us to a hotel to get checked in then drove us around to a few places of most spectacular beauty. We ended in a German styled pub that housed it's own micro brewery and a group of singers from the Philipines, three girls and a guy who sang a mix of pop songs (western fare) and local hits. The beer went down a treat, it's hot out there.

We are now back at the hotel, polished and ready for a good nights kip before the kindly gent in his air-conditioned car picks us up at 9am for a full day of site-seeing. I've already tired the battery on my camera and it too is currently recouperating. Photos of course will follow as soon as i can upload them. This computer in our room has lost the means with which to plug in.

Post 70: 260706 9th World Tantrix Champs

Check out the list of current entrants in the 9th World Tantrix Championships. It kicks off next month and despite winning the Asian Champs i have little confidence of progressing far. There are alot of very serious players out there.

This year they are hoping for over 200 entrants from at least 30 different countries. Not bad for a little game that started in New Zealand.

Post 69: 250706 The Photo at last

What is up with this site, when sometimes it won't let me upload photos. Anyways here is the crappy photo of a few of the guys i played football with on Monday night. I must have been at least ten years older than them but i still wasn't the oldest out there.

There will hopefully be five of us heading down tonight. We might even make our own team. Ah i've missed this for far too long.

Post 68: 250706 Indoor at last

I came to South Korea in April of 2003 I think it was. Not long before I left I played a game of indoor football with a team I had been with for some years. When I got here I was hoping to find, start, play indoor football with little or no break. As simple as moving from one field to the next. I’ve been waiting and hoping that long. Well tonight my waiting came to an end.

Last week as my girlfriend and I were walking along the back roads of the town around us I stumbled upon not one but two indoor football stadiums. How excited was I? I waited over three years to play football here, to pass a ball, to save a goal, to cheer and dare I say it, even to yell. Tonight I got to do all that. Not so much of the yelling I suppose, there was no ref to yell at nor was there my brother to fight with as we played.

The field itself is smaller with goals about as wide but coming up to around the chest. There’s no height limit on the ball but it doesn’t do much good with the goals so low. You can’t score from outside the half and you can only kick with the inside of the foot, so no taking the opponents head off. But it’s just as fast and as with everywhere, there those one or two players who can run rings around you and score from anywhere.

There were three of us who went down, Steve, Trevor and myself. As of Wednesday there will be five. At first we weren’t sure how it would work, us not having a team and all. As long as you pay your 6 bucks you can play the whole night should you still be standing. Games are an hour long with a single half time, no quarters. Basically if you’re there and keen to play, you jump on a team and start messing around.

I certainly felt the year since my last game, if truth be told I was feeling it after the second minute. That didn’t stop me from tearing up the field in search of the ball occasionally. I was admittedly slower but after spending a bit of time in the goal got the feel for it again and managed to make a few decent saves and when out in the mix of it, managed to send up a few decent through balls for others to score. I didn’t find the back of the net myself, mind you I rarely found it when I was playing every week.

I have no idea what the score was as it wasn’t kept but that didn’t matter in the slightest. Not having a ref meant there were few stops, just a constant peppering of the goals, a constant hunt for the ball and a constant sweet. I loved every minute of it.

Post 67: 170607 Photos from the Opening

A view of seven of the eight photos. The eighth stood apart on a central pillar.

The reason I put my photos in rooms of white walls, so folks can have a look at 'em.

To give you some idea of prevailing factors. At the top of the stairs before you enter the first gallery a pile of umbrellas greeted newcomers and waved at those who have supped their full.

Part of the plethora of entertainment the evening contained as well as a fractioned view of the artwork covering the walls.

Post 66: 160706 Opening Night

As the rain continues to pour from weary skies I sit at my computer with the fond memories of last nights slow dancing in my weary mind. I did not go as early as planned but it seemed that everyone else was of the same mind. All the artists came in drips and drabs and I did not get to meet them all like I had hoped. But brief conversations were pleasantly shared with the few I did meet.

There is a thrill in having eyes move along the walls and stop at something of your own creation, have them linger and joined by voices raised to express a point of view. I was amply pleased with how my images appeared. Due to the constraints of wall space I originally thought that I would have to have them arranged in two rows but a single row adorned half of the longest wall on the first floor.

The evening itself was filled with the sound of excited conversations that were soon engulfed or perhaps answered by a four string violin bass strained though several peddles so the sound produced was more like a single dialogue from a distant giant rather than the happy strumming of a mop haired Beatle. His solo voice was soon joined by bongos and a small pink idiophone and the tempo picked up. Other voices came in the form of expressionist dance and angst rap that drew applauding ears despite the drawback of not having a mic due to uncontrollable feedback. All this was just on the first floor, up on the second a keyboard and lyric ladened songs were proffered then as the tone changed an acoustic guitar was folded into the mix.

It was easy to be entertained with the diversity of musicians, of audience and the staggering diversity of images that adorned the walls. A good sized audience came to share in our night and orange cheesecake. For me a pleasant surprise came when I was able to add a small red dot to the corner of one of my photos. My very first.

I found I had to ask myself a question, do I create for the sake of it or do I put too much hope in the sale at the other end? The answer is, the sale is fluffy icing I can delight in but do without. If my cake remains un-iced I still take pleasure in its consumption.

Without a doubt it was a successful opening to which a lot of effort was put in by Chen Lie, our curator and all those she found to help her. As I slunk away into the slight drizzle of a warm summers night I found myself quietly glowing from the pleasure of being involved and the growing expectation of ‘Next’ time.

Post 65: 140706 Poetry and Orange Trees

I left for work a little after one this afternoon. As I walked I wrote a little poem.

“What is more hideous than a toad?” the toad asked.
“A slug.” replied the slug.
“How is a slug more hideous than a toad?” the toad inquired.
“Just look at me.” the slug replied in an off hand manner.
“I am.” licked the toad. ”and you look delicious.”

Oh and some good news. Of the back of the current exhibition in Insdaong I have been asked to contribute to another joint exhibition that begins on the 5th of August. This time at the Orange Tree gallery.

The fear I had about the short life of my photos has been eased. As yet I have few details but when they come to hand to will happily report on proceeding. This will be my third exhibition. Does that make me an artist? Or is it when you sell your first piece?

Post 64: 140706 Why i'm a Veggie

One wonders why anyone would actually eat meat when you read stuff like this. It was taken from The Humane Farming Association website. I hope they don't mind.

http://www.hfa.org/about/index.html

Animal Suffering

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service, each year about 10 percent, or 900 million, of the animals raised for food never reach the slaughterhouse. They die on the farm due to stress, injury, and disease. The on-farm death rate ranges from a low of 4 percent for cows and calves to 12 percent for turkeys, 14 percent for hogs, and 28 percent for some types of chickens.

Agribusiness corporations claim that animals in factory farms are “as well cared for as their own pet dog or cat.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The life of an animal in a factory farm is characterized by acute deprivation, stress, and disease. Industrialized agriculture has made the determination that it is more “cost effective” to accept some loss in inventory than to spend money on treating animals humanely.

Farm animals, by the millions, are forced to live in cages or crates just barely larger than their own bodies. While some species, like hogs and veal calves, may be caged alone without any social contact, others, like egg-laying hens and chickens, may be crowded so tightly together that they fall prey to stress-induced cannibalism. Unable to groom, stretch their legs, or even turn around, the victims of factory farms exist in a constant state of distress.

If a private citizen confined a dog or cat in a manner common in factory farms, or subjected an animal to surgical procedures without anesthesia, the individual could be charged with cruelty to animals. Farming is an area, however, that federal and state laws protecting animals barely touch. The powerful agribusiness and pharmaceutical lobbies have seen to it that farm animals are specifically excluded from welfare laws.

There are virtually no federal laws that protect farm animals from even the most harsh and brutal treatment as long as it takes place in the name of production and profit. The federal Animal Welfare Act, which regulates the treatment of animals for commercial purposes, does not apply to farm animals unless they are being used in research or for exhibition. Moreover, a majority of states have specifically exempted some aspect of the treatment of animals in agriculture from their cruelty laws.* It is left entirely to the preference of the individual company how many egg-laying hens are stuffed into each little wire cage, or whether an artificially inseminated sow must spend her entire pregnancy chained to the floor of a cement-bottomed cage.

Post 63: 130706 Article in the Times

Here's a grab from the Korean Times yesterday where an article on our show appeared. As of yesterday the doors opened and by all reports the show looks "fab". The team that spent the night hanging the photos are fantastic and regarded as saints. Many thanks. I can't wait to see it.

Follow the link under Current Escapes to the right to read the full article.