So yeah... I haven't blogged in 4Ever. SO what. stop emailing me about it already. I have been busy working and working and having fun in between. Since the last time we talked I have gotten back from teching in England and have already confirmed dates to teach in Kona, Hawaii for three weeks in late November early December. I am excited about that. Haven't been to the Big Island in a while. Should be fun. I am still working in San Clemente,CA and have recently joined a up and coming record label called Monarchy Music. I am doing Marketing/New Media work for them with a little A&R on the side. It is hard work but a lot of fun. Anywhoo, don't have a lot of time/patience/care/motivation for blogging so we will see what will happen. I really don't want to go to the darkside but more and more MySpace is looking like a possible route to keep in touch with everyone. Still, I really just hate MySpace on many levels. We shall see. Well, just check out the Monarchy Music website and send me an eMail/comment and we will go from there.

stay trill,

-Adam

Today Paul was kind enough to take me to London and show me around. We drove 15 minutes North to the Coulsdon South Station and bought a Day Travel Card for £6.30 (about $10). From there we caught a train into the London Bridge Station in downtown London. The train ride seemed very fast and the scenery on the way was quite entertaining. Since we were right there, we took a walk around the corner and visited the famous Tate Modern. The Tate Modern is a gallery of modern and contemporary art showcasing piecess from 1900 to the present. The building itself sits on the River Thames and is a converted industrial plant with a huge tower in the middle. This might be the largest (and coolest) art gallery I have ever been to. As we walked from room to room and floor to floor we perused works created by world renowned artists such as: Mark Rothko, Claude Monet, Jackson Pollock, Anish Kapoor and Barnett Newman. I could go on but we must keep moving along. Using our Day Pass we then took the London Underground to Trafalgar Square... Talk about great people watching.Acrosss the street from the square we stopped for a quick steak sandwich and after washing it down with a Stella we took a brisk walk to Buckingham palace. I have to say that I was a bit disappointedd in the palace itself. I just thought it would be more grand. The grounds around it, the guards, the gates, the fountains and the people were better than I imagined but the actual building itself was very monochrome and dreary. Next, we headed into the downtown shopping scene utilizing our Day Passs to catch a double-decker to Regent Street. Oxford and Regent Street seem to be the crossroads for shopping in London. It is a fun area and people are everywhere. We grabbed an iced coffee and hit the Apple Store on Regent Street. It is a massive store with a glass staircase that leads you to a second floor. Starting to feel a little tired we once again used our Day Pass to grab a subway to Knightsbridge where we visited Harrods. For those of you not in the know... Harrods is one of the worlds most famous department stores. It is fascinating to walk around in. It is huge and is contained by one of the most beautiful buildings. I actually did some shopping there. They pretty much have everything you could ever want and if you ask them for anything (even though it might not be in the store) they will find it and sell it to you. You could literally ask them for an elephant and they will find one and sell it to you. Two words... ME LIKEY. Well after wandering a store like that my dogs were a barking and we made our way back to the London Bridge Station. By the way, I don't know who is spreading this awful rumor but London bridge is definitely not falling down. Anywhoo, we made our way back to the Coulsdon South Station utilizing our Day Pass yet again and made it safely back to the manor. I wish I could have a day like this everyday.

The End

To catch everyone up, I am currently teaching Interactive Media at University of the Nations in England. I am at the Holmsted Manor campus and have been here for almost a week now. I arrived on Sunday the 18th and will be returning to Orange County, CA on Saturday July 1st.

Holmsted Manor is a Victorian Manor House in the beautiful county of Sussex in the south of England. Holmsted is just less than an hour from London, 30 minutes from Gatwick international airport, 25 minutes from the seaside resort of Brighton and 15 minutes from the nearest railway station at Haywards Heath. Holmsted Manor is set on 17 acres of beautiful grounds, with ponds, gardens, football and volleyball pitches. It truly is everything I imagined the English country side to be. The only downer for me is the VERY slow internet connection that is available.

I have a class of nine students that I am teaching. Even though it is small group, there is seven nations represented between us all. The students are very good workers and have a nice portfolio to show for it. I am teaching the class a program called Flash 8. They already had a week of training in this before I arrived so I will be teaching a more advanced lesson plan using Flash for the rest of this week. Next week I will be helping the students create a portfolio presentation created in flash as a final project. I am excited to see the final products.

I have really just been busy this week teaching and getting used to the time difference. The only adventure I have undertaken was to the grocery store for a few items. Even that was fun as I had to travel through a small English town to get there. I do want to note that the grocery stores here are very well designed and clean. All the packaging is designed using a minimalistic approach. It made the grocery store experience quite enjoyable.

Well, I will be going to London in a few days with Paul Bulgin(School Leader) to take in the city and call it my own. More updates to come.

till then,

Apple Computer and Nike just announced a partnership that will see the launch of Nike+iPod products. Apple said that the partnership is meant to take what people do naturally — like running — and make it better.

Read more HERE.

If you’re in the US or Canada, you can use Skype to call any landline or mobile number in both the USA and Canada for free.

For details and more info click HERE.

Currently unsigned, Cold War Kids is a very refreshing talent and if pushed to describe their sound would have to use mixed genres such as Americana meets Garage Rock meets New Wave meets almost a pop-punk. Although, in order to really appreciate and enjoy their sound, their live show is a must! With Our Wallets Full and Up in Rags (both EPs) simultaneously released Cold War Kids is sure to be getting even more buzz in the coming weeks. SPIN magazine just gave them a write-up that sums up the buzz:

"After a strong showing at SXSW, Cold War Kids have set off a minor war among interested record labels, one that hopefully won't result in an arms race or the fall of a world superpower."

Listen to them at:
www.monarchymusiccorp.com
www.coldwarkids.com

See their video at:
You can see it on their MySpace or HERE

See them Live at:
04/10/2006 08:00 PM
Winchester Slaughterhouse w/ Two Gallants
Lubbock , TX - 5$

04/11/2006 08:00 PM
Rubber Gloves w/ Two Gallants
411 E. Sycamore , Denton , TX - 5 $

04/12/2006 08:00 PM
Emo's w/ Two Gallants
603 Red River, Austin, TX 73301 - 8 $

04/13/2006 08:00 PM
Walters w/ Two Gallants
4215 Washington Ave, Houston, TX 77001 - 7$

04/14/2006 08:00 PM
The Republic w/ Two Gallants
828 s. Peters st., New Orleans, LA 70112

04/15/2006 08:00 PM
The Nick
2514 10th Ave, Birmingham, AL 35201

04/16/2006 08:00 PM
Common Grounds w/ Two Gallants
210 SW. 2nd Ave, Gainesville, FL 32601

04/17/2006 08:00 PM
Will's Pub w/ Two Gallants
1850 N. Mills Ave, Orlando, FL 32801

04/18/2006 08:00 PM
Tampa Transitions Skate Park w/ Two Gallants
4215 east Columbus Dr, Tampa, FL 33601

04/19/2006 08:00 PM
Cafe Eleven w/ Two Gallants
501 a1a Beach Blvd, St. Augustine , FL - 6$

04/20/2006 08:00 PM
New Brookland Tavern w/ Two Gallants
122 state st, Columbia, SC 29201 - 8 $

04/21/2006 08:00 PM
Wetlands Dacehall w/ Two Gallants
157 E. Rosemary st., Chapel Hill, NC 27514 - 7 $

04/23/2006 08:00 PM
The Fire w/ Illinois
4th and Girard, Philadelphia, PA 19019 - 5 $

04/24/2006 08:00 PM
The Bowery Ballroom w/ Two Gallants
6 Delancey, New York, NY 10001 - 8 $

04/26/2006 08:00 PM
Chomodley's w/ Two Gallants
Waltham, MA 02451

04/27/2006 08:00 PM
Middle East Upstairs
472 Massachusetts avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 - 9 $

04/28/2006 08:00 PM
SMOG @ Bard College w/ Two Gallants
Annandale , NY 12504

04/29/2006 08:00 PM
Downcaf w/ Two Gallants
Bennington, VT 05201

04/30/2006 08:00 PM
The Living Room w/ Two Gallants
23 Rathbone st, Providence, RI 02901

05/05/2006 08:00 PM
Empty Bottle w/ Two Gallants
1035 N. Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60601

Star Wars Kid (Ghyslain Raza) has reached an out-of-court settlement with schoolmates who harrassed him to the point of breakdown.
Read more HERE.

Well, the winner is in. I have a lame blog. I must retract my post regarding "Heat Vision and Jack". I will admit that I have had this screener for some time now but because of my lame blogging skills I had not blogged about it until recently. Through a conversation with my friend (Trever) I was accused of steeling this post from a fellow Blogger (Foosh). I had no knowledge of this and did not mean to steal his post. I apologize and will never do this again. I really have come to hate blogging and yet I seem to love it more everyday. Hey, at least I don't have a myspace like Carlos or Dave or Mike or Levonte.

Now for your viewing pleasure. MC Hammer's blog.
View it HERE.

Look HERE and HERE.

Yes, I am back from a couple weeks of not blogging. Work has been an overload and had to kill my blog until my work was cleared out of the way. I have a few good posts for you so stop complaining.

Burger King has recently caught my eye with its new ad campaigns. They have all these weird websites scattered throughout the web and I just found a new one. Have it your way HERE.

Lord of War is sure to disappoint if you are looking for a big-budget action movie. However, if you are wanting to enjoy a thought-provoking film focusing on the international arms trade industry, you will be pleased. Nicholas Cage(don't really like him as an actor) plays the role of an arms dealer that will ultimately have to confront the morality of his profession. This film was definitely enjoyable to watch and the cinematography was well done. In all honesty though, I must admit that the acting in this movie lacked a bit in quality. On a side note, the bonus features on the 2-disc DVD are just as interesting as the film itself. My favorite bonus feature was the documentary regarding the current state of the international arms trade business. You can check out the trailer HERE.

This is a great video I came across yesterday. High speed cameras capture these canines in a very cool way. You can see the video HERE.

So I have been out in Nashville for the last four days visiting friends with my roommate Carlos. We have had a great time and have thoroughly enjoyed our stay so far. Downtown Nashville is very cool and has a lot of Nashy attitude. Out of all the cool shops an antique furniture store was the best of all. Oh did I mention we went to Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It wasn't quite how I remember a circus but it was still really fun... and expensive. Suffice to say... Nashville is pretty radikool.

Video podcasts are really cool. When I have time I like to peruse the podcast directory in iTunes and check out all the great podcasts that are out there. After sorting through tons of junk I usually find a few gems. Channel Frederator is one that I have discovered recently and have come to really enjoy. It compares itself to Cartoon Network but without commercials. Although it is on par with adult swim, I do think it is worth a gander.

A movie theater in a suburb of America's technology capital has begun trial-running a payment method that allows customers to not only purchase tickets from their cellphones but actually present an on-screen barcode to the tickettaker. The Emagine Entertainment theater in suburban Detroit is the first US theater to implement pay-by-cell technology from Mobile Box Office, which is currently restricted to Internet-enabled phones with color screens. Moviegoers need only go to the MBO site, buy a ticket, wait for a text message with a link back to MBO, and follow the link to a webpage with a unique barcode representing the purchase. Emagine has installed scanners that read the barcode off of the phone's screen and grant access to the theater.

brought to you by engadget.com

Hummers sure have gotten a bad rap since there introduction into the consumer world. I came across a site that is dedicated to showing pictures of people flipping off hummers. What I find funny is that out of the 17.1 million vehicles sold in 2005, 4.3 million of those were full size SUV's. That means that as you look through FUH2.com almost 1/4 of these people drive full size SUV's. Well, theoretically speaking of course.

Please feel free to support my site by clicking on the ads at the top and the bottom of my blog. This will help me stay motivated to blog. Thanx

This is my public apology to Trevor. He is the reason that I am once again blogging. You can check out this hotty biscotty HERE.Trev masta flash sure does make Canadians look cooler by the minute. It's a hard job but somebody has to do it.