28 marchDate: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 13:34:49 +0100heathrow is a shopping mall: "world of whiskeys" is here, in case you miss your fine single malts. sunglasses hut (good for fighting the flourescence?). burberrys, and dixon's offering "new technology at tax free prices"
each of the flight information monitors reads at the bottom:vegetarian breakfast special at "garfunkels" is baked beans, hash browns (neatly formed into little triangles), sauteed whole small mushrooms, two fried eggs, and a stewed tomato; about 10 bucks (6.65 pounds) with fresh oj and toast.
"Extra Savings on Liquor, Tobacco and Perfume."
if this is london, or just an airport, it boasts astonishing diversity - not only are there people who are not white, not bearing elongated noses, but they are often wearing coloured or plain-white floor length robes. and facepaint, and strange jewelry. but there are white people dressed like that too - middle aged british looking women in orange and green saris. kind of plays with your whole notion of whiteness and ethnicity.
of course i am just really tired right now.
fortunately the heathrovians are kind enough to provide a lounge for extended waiting with chairs shaped much like upright desk chairs, so your feet are elevated, and the room is well ventilated.
it's kinda hard to understand these fuckin' limeys, though they all seem like nice guys. english is the same only in typetext. i learned that at college! (history of the language)
i bought two power plug adaptors to be able to use/charge my computer here on the road. a good investment if i am ever invited back! this 2 night trip is going to kill me.
To: jgw @ ndn
From: justin
Subject: for jean gaddy wilson: book recommendationi don't know if you still recieve email here, jean gaddy,
this is justin hall, sitting in heathrow airport on my way to panel at a unesco conference, reading a book i think you should check out. the name of it is "turning away from technology: a new vision for the 21st century" and it was edited by stephanie mills. as folks like you and i explore and promote exciting possibilities for the technology-enabled landscape, we are well advised to listen to the dissenters; many creative visionary people are thinking more broadly about our future than most all of the folks we hear from promoting progress.
hope you are well,
justin
(howard recommended i read that, for my thesis. the plane, international especially, is a good time to read it. i love to answer email or write in that vaccum, but i'm stimulated by the book. that and dr. no on the tv built into the seat in front of me. nintendo games for $5 an hour i didn't try (in the armwrest is a single unit channel changer/volume control/nintendo control/phone))after i land in sweden i am wisked off by a laughing chauffer with sheldon renan who gives me his career rundown in fifteen minutes - experimental film and designs disney themepark attractions on the side. i was burnt out to be inquisitive but i did spew and share some. his great regret was not spending time on camera - that's big money, brand building. i share my sympathy, but he seems successful; he offers me his business card twice. he'll be on 10 planes in six days or something, i'm six in three. watch my penis grow!
i'm disoriented, he's showing me the nokia 9000 and a G3 powerbook. we visit svante long enough for a hug, a book (loser., by svante tidholm), and i drop off my bag
sheldon, who used to hang out with andy warhol and made a teaching film on film and now in 1989 started making money from his previously screwing around knowledge, and i, we visit the home of johann, a host of ours who lives in a building like the bradbury building in los angeles - mesh encircled elevator with a spiral staircase surrounding.
mostly older white dudes from france england and sweden standing around lanky in a suits that make them look large talking about "talking to youth" tomorrow. the panel is 40 people and that's funny. we have 60 minutes between us, that's laughable.
one gent byrtil explains the panel is composed half of vips and half of students - engineering and econ students on the swedish side (as well as students from ethiopia, china, spain, etc). no art students? for a panel on culture? there's culture outside of art you know, he explains.
mark gransard, who is responsible for my attendance, knows balthazar through a family friend. he's young and hip and knows what's up and spent last week in tucson with PC forum (esther dyson and jonathan steuer was there). they don't let in cameras, so mark the documentarian stood by the poolside and interviewed folks about cultural diversity for a film short to stimulate the fourty tomorrow.
marinated salmon, meatballs, pate, proscutto (sp?), cheeses dinner; i didn't drink likker to aid my already cloudy and lagged brain. water only!
until i join svante and his brother po at a birthday party for jon, his 30th. it's an art party - we are the installation. there's writing on the wall, and two young women have been sleeping in this windowed gallery on the street for a week. i'm alternating awake (because it's noon in the states - 7 hours earlier) and burnt crispy inhaling smokes. i do shadow puppets and talking with svante. this party is supposedly filled with media music elite young people of sweden; it's a small country so they fit in a small room. i find them unresponsive unless i'm introduced, but i'm the only guy wearing a bright red polyster jacket - they look trendy and european (thin, dark/muted clothes, uneven haircuts clearly coloured, guys in quasi-skater shoes, silver watches). svante asks if this could look like a party in america; at swat there would not be enough people who looked similar to fill up a room like this; in america at large, there would be more italian/jewish/mediterranian mix in things, if not african - more furry eyebrows, more bigger noses, some oliver skin.
i like talking to svante - a veteran, he's in a position of authority at spray now; he says, "we used to have power, now we have power point." it's funny watching a poet hold a job well. he runs a team of 10 folks in charge of design and navigation for something huge and swedish that's taking the best of american web sites wayne probably hates and building a comprehensive swedish service.
late night we leave for "folks kebab" svante recommends on folk street, near citizens place. a plate of salad fries and kebab (what meat is that?) for 48 crowns (7 crowns a dollar).
po knows only one person in the world with the same first name as him, po bronson. po bronson's never met another po before, besides chinese women. po tidholm's trademarked the name, and registered the domain http://www.po.tm/ - registered in turkmenistan.
the clocks here lurch forward an hour, aggrevating the time difference but announcing summer.
late at night at svante's new apartment we plug in ppp on my duo and it works the first damn time, with no numerical settings in the tcp/ip control panel. we note that used to be a three hour procedure! what has happened to the internet?
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today's muzzik: motorpsycho - psychedelic rock from norway that svante likes
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justin hall | <justin at bud dot com>