Mood of Collapse

Two six hour bus rides to get from Toronto to Chicago! Left the downtown riots of Toronto at 1am, onto a Greyhound as part of the epic bus ride to get to Chicago. We managed to doze off for most of it until we got to US Customs. They were abit wide but not too bad, I did tell them I made $12,000 a month when they asked how I would survive in America with no money. After escaping customs we drove round the corner and were decanted off the bus in Detroit bus station. We only had a 2 hour stop over but it was long enough to decide I dont like Detroit!


The bus driver for the next part of the journey went a bit mental because someone had opened up the baggage hold, the guy from the bus station had done it. They were about as organised and as I am, which isn't very! The bus ride to Chicago was pretty nice, put on some Efterklang and some Sufjan Stevens, watched an amazing thunder storm out the window, proper lighting from the heavens to the ground, unlike anything I've seen before. P…

Day two in Toronto and a few observations from the area were in, they like their tattoos and they like their booze! There also seems to be a real World Cup mania here at the moment, very different from the States where no one seemed to care.


After a wee sleep in we all headed up town to get some breakfast, found a nice wee cafe and had one of the best sandwiches I've ever tasted, bacon, egg, tomatos, some sauce along with saute potatoes & a can of coke! My diet is apparently reduced to eggs & coke, I'm doing well not to break it! We had a quick wander to find a bar showing the world cup matches and then headed back to the house to chill. Were staying with some friends of a friend who lives and studies here in Toronto and they have been kindly showing us around. Nickson, Cat & Julia have been spectacular in their hospitality and I'm really hoping they can come to Aberdeen to see how we do things.

Anyway after some relaxing times before we knew it the balcony was f…

Made an early start today and headed down town with no real plan of action. I found myself walking towards the East River where I sat and had a bagel, the biggest bagel I've ever seen. Watched a helicopter land and take off. Popped some Mogwai on the iPod and made my way across the island to the West side, all the way to the next river. Its a pretty epic walk but was worth it.

I found my way to Greenwich village after seeing the other river, I was only a block away. I spotted an Alexander McQueen shop so had a scan in the window, when I looked up and started walking I saw someone who looked really familiar, it wasnt until she was going into her apartment block I realised it was one of the hottest people on the planet, Maggie Gyllenhaal from Donnie Darko etc. I was pretty amazed, guess thats normal for a city like New York to see famous actors strolling around the village. Not even ten minutes later walking up a side street I saw an man in his mid 50's with a Fender t shirt an…

Well its the end of our last full day in New York and its been quite an amazing day. After having a wee rest in the morning we decided to head over to hipster central, Williamsburg.
We had reports of good bars and good places to eat. This turned out to be true. The actual tube journey across the river on the M line was pretty epic on its own, massive views over the NY skyline & the east river. After some wandering around we found our first sight, a latino jazz band playing outside a tiny bar! We stopped for ten minutes to have a listen and watch the hipsters shaking their hips before leaving to find more excitement.
A few wrong turns and a water stop later and we found our way to the main street. Most of the shops were shut but we did find a nice wee bar called Iona. After a round of drinks we headed out the back to the beer garden, complete with ping pong table. Its amazing how tired you get playing ping pong in 28 degrees heat. During a break I enjoyed listening to some Twilight S…

Thought since were in hipster central NYC it might be worth keeping track of what were doing and what we've seen so far.
After a rough 7 hour flight we finally set down in New York's JFK airport. I wasn't looking forward to going through customs but the guards barely even looked at me, too busy talking about baseball. Once we picked up our bags we jumped a yellow cab and made our way into the city. I was kinda hoping for a deep voiced cabbie who would drive like a demon and call everyone "hey ya fricking blow job" but it wasnt to be. Our hostel for the first night was a little dive in Manhattan called the Royal. The room was cool and the sheets were fresh but the windows were screwed shut?
Went for an amazing breakfast, the Lumberjack Pancakes (Bacon, two eggs, sausage, 3 pancakes & maple syrup), that set us up nicely for a day of walking around, stressing about accommodation but finally got into a beautiful apartment that belongs to a friend right on Lexingto…

Just a quick one before I go, the College degree show is open now for 2 days showing off the work of new graduates in design & photography. Amongst the graduates are a few friends who deserve a special mention, Patrick McCallister, Gavin Stewart and Cameron Fraser! I only got photos of Cam's work but all 3 have produced some great designs and will hopefuly be going onto bigger and better things now they have finished their HN/D's! The world awaits you chaps, speaking of which I'd better go get my bag packed and get on a plane.

Adios x

Thats me away to America for 3 weeks, NYC to San Francisco! KG & Ryan will be gone on their world travels by the time I return, if I return. I would like to wish them the best of luck on their journey together.

See you all on the other side!

x

After 6 months of beavering away in pour wee basement we finally decided to have an opening / party / film night / cave drawing / party! You can see more pics from the night on our wordpress page HERE and there will also be a video about who we are and what we do coming in the next month or so along with about 10 other videos I havent finished yet. I'm excited for future plans and doing more events and making things better all round. Its been great seeing everyone working away and just hanging out so onwards and upwards!

Just thought I'd share some pics from the last DO IT night featuring the talents of London based Aberdeen born Offshore! Familiar faces from days of old, the night was good fun, people enjoyed themselves and we managed to get two vjs, 3 djs and on guest musician onto the stage, pretty good going for the tunnels small stage!

I took a step back on this one and looked after the door for most of the night but it was awesome to see so many friends down and also some new faces. Offshore seemed to go down a treat and got people bymping and grinding! The next DO IT is planned for Friday 20th August in Tunnels with some very special guests to be announced as well as the DO IT Oslo on June 25th, check it out here and check the awesome poster! 

Also pretty chuffed to see some recognition from one of my favourite magazines, Juxtapoze. You can read a wee article about DO IT HERE! Massive shout to Mike Chang who designed our poster and cd cover for DO IT! ft Offshore, his work is always getting b…

So we finally nearlyt all made it down to the 26 space at the same time, 5 out of 6 aint bad. Main things were sorting out a plan for our wee opening on the 12th June and also moving forward. Hopefuly in the next few months there will be plans and parties and lots of art and creative things coming your way via all these beautiful people who make up the 26 Collective!

And some more free art exchanges have gone down in the lane with these two new editions appearing over the last few weeks. The last one, the red face appeared to have been ripped off the wall. Obviously some fag hag couldn't handle seeing her own reflection in that creepy face and had to get rid of it!