TELLING THE STORY

I visited my friend Ali to talk about his upcoming exhibition in Yokohama (Sep 3 - 18, 2005 ... Atelier K - YOKOHAMA). Originally from Iraq he has been living in Holland for the past 10 years or so. His new work shows an interesting journey he has undertaken in the past.

I am very much looking forward to his exhibition which will tell about him and the atrocities he has experienced during 10 years of fighting in the IRAN-IRAQ war under force and also his development since then as a person and artist.

Article about ALI written by me in 2002 for getunderground.com

Ali's Homepage

N AME picasonic : 5:42 PM | COMMENT (0)

SPRING CLEANING

time has come to clean out my body again. lately i am feeling kind of tired and i am craving a bit junky food - big sign that it is time to do some cleaning.

basically next 3 - 4 weeks:

morning: fruits only

lunch: vegetables + carbohydrates + fat (olive oil + nuts)

dinner: same as lunch, only less

+++ taking probiotics + chlorophyll to clean the digestive system.

already feeling a headache today so i know the bad stuff is leaving my body : )

N AME picasonic : 2:08 AM | COMMENT (0)

LIVE TO WORK or WORK TO LIVE ???

it is finally getting warmer here and it was a great chance to bike to my mom's house. great workout ! and it felt really good to just relax for a while. it is kind of hard because these days quite a lot is going on. projects are piling up and i am not even sure how to do them all. so it is nice to sometimes remember that we work to live and not the other way around.

still at times i find myself chasing my tail, getting recognition for my work, trying to get more and more. it is essential to sometimes step back and look at things from a distance. our lives compared are so small so what am i worried about ? always remembering that life goes on with or without me can help in trying to relax and enjoy the sun and a breeze.

this weekend ... saturday 30 degrees sunday 18 ... what is going on with this climate???

N AME picasonic : 4:48 AM | COMMENT (0)

CAFE ADDICTION

i have to admit i am a real cafe addict. it is my way to escape and find a peaceful bubble. when choosing a cafe, the following is absolutely necessary for a good time:

relatively dark
good music (jazz, experimental, world, lounge etc...)
not too many people
nice corner to sit (i hate to sit in the middle)
good coffee or other drinks
excellent APPLE PIE
preferably no smoke

quite demanding, i know, but here in europe there are quite a few cafes which meet those requirements. i am also not too crazy about cafe chains, they often feel so sterile. here in holland there are basically no chain cafes like you find in the US or Japan.

i guess i will go to a cafe later : )

N AME picasonic : 6:39 PM | COMMENT (0)

G U E E D D : S * # )# #) LKLLD D:L:" !!!!!!!!!!!!

what if your destiny were known to you before the beginning of the day?

the "free" road filled with STOP signs.

you look ahead into a black hole packed with question marks waiting to be answered?

meanwhile the answer seems so simple but we need to come to a halt to be able to THINK. however, it just goes on, continuing to polute our mind.

where do i find a space uninhabitated by greed and jealousy. i want to find a space which will not polute me in that way but spaces we roam in are hard to predict.

we are all searching ... for the same thing ? standing in eachother's way. why don't we look TOGETHER ? together we will be strong.

expectations influencing my decisions, i want to be expectation free - or are they my OWN expectations disguised as foreign invaders?

-------
free thoughts entering my mind inspired by a movie ( CODE 46 - http://www.mgm.com/ua/code46/# ) I just saw yesterday. without going into details, it made me realize again how predictable things are becoming through the overregulation and strangulation caused by technological possibilities.

N AME picasonic : 3:11 PM | COMMENT (0)

BLURRY WORLD

why do i like blurry images? is it the same reason why i like to open letters by peaking inside first or holding them against the light before i open them. is it the same reason why i like darkness instead of bright lights.

for sure the need to blur reality is the desire to change things and wanting reality to be different. maybe after blurring things for a while, a new truth will occur.

N AME picasonic : 4:52 PM | COMMENT (0)

ROOMS 4 KIDS

just received my latest published work. this time i was busy photographing kids' rooms here in holland for a japanese mook called ROOMS FOR KIDS (publisher: xknowledge.co.jp). very interesting to see kids' rooms from all over the world, even from an american indian reservation, i was surprised. always exciting to see one's work in published form, especially if the quality of design/layout is quite good.

N AME picasonic : 8:35 PM | COMMENT (0)

90 MINUTES 2 HEAVEN

cannot wait but 90 minutes it is going to take in the fridge until this home-made delicious chocolote mousse will be ready to eat. the chocolate powder is by the same manufacturer who makes the chocolate for godiva. it is 70 percent pure chocolate. a bit of milk (in this case goat milk) and the powder and a strong arm will do the trick.

cannot wait to eat it. maybe with some homemade macha icecream ... HMMMMMMMMMMM

N AME picasonic : 6:04 PM | COMMENT (0)

CONNECTING THE DOTS

things are rolling, a lot of interesting things going on so keeping track of it is important. my head is always full and i tend to not write things down enough. after making a schedule, though, things look very organized and, although i felt like loosing control, i am back in the saddle again. important to keep some form of organization and connecting the dots. for me things always have to make sense so this is a good way to do it.

ATTAAAAACK!!!

N AME picasonic : 4:09 PM | COMMENT (0)

I WONDER

arms of connectivity
the synergistic
electricity of every day

in our world

who is the important one ?

i wonder

N AME picasonic : 9:50 PM | COMMENT (0)

ORGANISED CONFUSION

new store in the hague by a young talented fashion designer anke baedi. her label called ORGANISED CONFUSION is certainly pushing the limits on the dutch fashion scene which is not exactly known for its courage to do something in the avant garde way. there is a saying in dutch: "doe normaal, dat is al gek genoeg" (act normally, that is already crazy enough). ORGANISED CONFUSION is certainly not normal and lives by the emotions of the designer who basically could care less about current trends. doing a photo shoot there for a magazine i had the chance to really get to know her designs better and i have to say i cannot wait for her to make a men's collection and for me to make more money to be able to buy it : ) ....

N AME picasonic : 1:55 PM | COMMENT (0)

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT ???

well, i hear there was a small demonstration by chinese against the apparent indifference by japan towards their war time past. of course they picked this day because it is the day when the dead from the second world war are remembered.

remembering is one thing but i find it ridiculous to be demonstrating against japan's indifference towards their war time crimes. first of all war is crime in general. second of all, basically every country in the world has dark moments in their past. well, with china, where do you begin ? well, TIBET is already enough to show that chinese history has not been passed by with regard to crimes against humanity. there probably wasn't a society more peaceful than TIBET. we all know what happened there.

this being said, i don't hate chinese at all or other people of various nationalities. i don't want to generalize. i am of course appauled at some of the actions taken by individual country's governments but i try not to let that influence me when it comes to one on one communication with individuals.

of course it is good that there is freedom of speech here which makes demos like this possible. however, i think many of them join these demonstration to voice their general ager or hatred. some of them joining these demos will probably searching for words when asked what it is really all about.

N AME picasonic : 8:53 PM | COMMENT (0)

WAITING FOR ...

... not sure really what I am waiting for. all i know is things are starting to move, many upcoming projects and trips so it should be interesting.

the sun shining
through the window
of hope

lighting it up ...

warming up its
future potential.

N AME picasonic : 8:55 PM | COMMENT (0)