Shit's Gettin' Heavy

ccseabass — 2009-11-06T19:34:00Z

Diploma research is slowly coming to a close, thankfully. I'm starting to get tired of nothing but reading and can't wait to start on some sketches. Also the stuff I've been hammering into my brain these past weeks isn't exactly easy to digest: 'Basic Forms Of Fear' by Fritz Riemann, 'Archetypes' by C.G. Jung, 'Nature Of Man' and 'Anatomy Of Human Destructiveness' by Erich Fromm and finally 'Structures Of Evil' by Eugen Drewermann . Especially heavy for a wannabe designer who doesn't read a lot. Still, I feel like I'm learning a lot, particularly about myself (which isn't always a good thing) and human nature in general. Anyways, by the end of next week I'll hopefully have a somewhat solid concept or at least a thesis. I'll keep you posted. Until then a peek into our 'hole' in the basement. Not much even less when you see, where the product designers get to work on their diploma but kinda cozy after a while. If only we had daylight...

Slip'n'Slide

ccseabass — 2009-10-30T13:45:00Z

Last Wednesday I met up with a few friends from school and a couple of other longboard and skateboard enthusiasts to visit a local underground car park for a late night skating session. All in all we were about 10 people speeding down the different levels of the lot or trying to perfect our sliding moves :D Great fun, especially since the entire building is heated, meaning you can skate in shorts and t-shirt while it's close to 0°C outside. I had to adapt my 'cruising' board to the needs of high speed, tight-turns parking garage riding but now I'm hooked. Can't wait to check out the other spots around town everyone told me there's at least two equally good ones in Darmstadt. Yay!

Never Mind

ccseabass — 2009-10-20T01:08:00Z

Forget what I said two posts ago. This is what I really, reeeeeally want. Btw, second oral exam in two days. Grrr.

Random Things (XXIX)

ccseabass — 2009-10-18T01:29:00Z

1) Cherry-Banana blend don't look so good anymore after 30 minutes.
2) When you keep eraser and pencil sharpener in the same pouch...
3) Try naming a company in the States that.
4) A friend recently got a visit from the police. Mistakenly.
5) My flatmates Magic Korean Marlboros.
6) I wonder if the woodworms share that opinion.

Can I Haz Dis Pleez?

ccseabass — 2009-10-13T01:19:00Z

Pretty pleez?

I Am Diploma

ccseabass — 2009-10-12T18:31:00Z

Whoop whoop, as of today 2 p.m. my first oral exam is over! That means I'm like one tenth or something closer to my diploma and thereby being a 'state approved' Designer. Not much, but it's a first step and for the moment I'm a pretty happy camper. As a sign of my bliss, a couple of pics from over two weeks ago: kitchen rave and the hunt for Mr. X.

The Darkness Is Spreading

ccseabass — 2009-10-06T13:27:00Z

Diploma research is in full bloom, oral exams are a week away, workspace has been claimed. Sleeping rhythm is suffering already, procrastination always a threat, Slacker action with the boys. Loads of new faces, a few old ones, first sketches are being drawn. A few examples.

Slack Attack

ccseabass — 2009-10-06T13:04:00Z

Prends le pilule bleu. And we'll show you just how deep down
the rabbit hole goes...

Double Feature

ccseabass — 2009-09-30T12:10:00Z

Finally I've went and seen some concerts again! Was about time. So far I hadn't had the patience to look into the local scene after having been spoiled with a great selection of gigs almost every week in Oslo. Last weekend though, good friend Falko and his Safarisounds played a gig with Toni L and Torch at Heidelberger Herbst. One hell of a party, with the crowd entering the stage for the last two songs. Always good stuff even though Funk isn't exactly my thing.

Yesterday then, my flatmate and I went on a very spontaneous trip to Frankfurt in order to see Soap&Skin at Mousonturm. I had never heard of her before even though she's been so very much hyped for over half a year now. Also yesterday I only had the time to listen to half of one of her songs before we left. But damn it was worth it. Good voice, great piano play, very unique style overall awe-inspiring atmosphere and performance. I've never really heard anything like it, even though the music of Deaf Center or Svarte Greiner might show similarities in their very dark, melancholic approach. Despite the very short set of only 45 minutes, a definite must should she ever be in your area.

Yes, Please

ccseabass — 2009-09-28T12:58:00Z

I wanna ride this North Shore trail. I'd probably break every frigging' bone in my body, but goddamn, I wanna ride this trail so baaaad!

Panic! At The Ropes Course

ccseabass — 2009-09-24T13:13:00Z

Last weekend, good friend Martin finally redeemed a two year old birthday coupon for a day at a local high ropes course. So on a beautiful late summer Sunday three guys and three girls made their way to Betzenstein for what turned out to be a pretty cool experience with a couple of exceptions.

The park was quite pretty with the sunlight playing through the leaves and the platforms, giving the whole thing sort of a Neverland-ish atmosphere. We arrived at a pretty busy time and killed an hour chilling on a nearby meadow (Martin and me trying to sleep off our hangover from Heilbronn) before listening to the safety instructions. After those the girls went off to do the beginners course while the boys started off with an intermediate one (harrharr...).

I have to say that I'm not particularly afraid of heights, but in 10-12m above the ground with nothing else holding you but two ropes... well, you get the point. After two courses, Martin and Julia took another intermediate trail while Tim who goes climbing almost every week urged me to take the expert course. Frankly, I wasn't too keen on doing so, only wearing sneakers and having seen how difficult it would get. But then again I didn't wanna let him go by himself and I did feel a certain inner temptation, so we went. Bad Idea.

Already having been scared shitless at the second obstacle, there was one about halfway through the course where I was this close to losing it. It was shaky as hell, I had major difficulties keeping balance, I was slowly losing strength in my left arm (which was carrying all my weight at that time) and had huge troubles with the constant reattaching of the carabiners to the different ropes. I was so fucking panicky I kept shouting horrible insults (motherf***** being one of the lighter ones) at Tim who had already passed it for the entire time it took me to get through the obstacle, which was all in all maybe 10 minutes. During my struggle and verbal abuse of Tim I caught the glimpse of a kid doing a course one level below us. He stared at me in utter disbelief probably thinking "If you can't handle it, don't go up there, dumbass!". God, he was so right.

Anyways, half an hour later we were one safe ground again. I had lost 2 pounds of sweat, the ability to speak and my sense of humor. In retrospect it was cool to have 'taken on the challenge' but I could just as well have done without. Still a really cool day. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take our cameras up so you'll have to settle for these three shots from below.

The Last Two Weeks Are A Blur

ccseabass — 2009-09-23T13:19:00Z

Darmstadt: diploma research.
Cologne: meeting a friend from back in the States after over 11 years and a farewell party gone slightly wrong.
Darmstadt: preparing for diploma workshop.
Stuttgart: diploma workshop, lots of work and wonderful dinner.
Heilbronn: exhausted, drunk at Weindorf and late night pasta feed.
Erlangen: high rope course, beer garden and chilling.
Darmstadt: dazed and confused.

Fuck, I got so much shit to sort out! More updates soon though.

Random Things (XXVIII) The WTF Web Issue

ccseabass — 2009-09-15T10:48:00Z

1) Sooo... how much are they again?
2) What you get when searching for 'wood texture' on Shutterstock.
3) Sympathetic downtime message by Surf The Channel.
4) And another one, this time by Firefox itself.
5) Home. Downloads. Forum. Share Porn. 'Nuff said.

Welcome Back

ccseabass — 2009-09-08T13:00:00Z

Nothing brings them warm fuzzy feelings for this town back to life like the beauty of a delicate, heartfelt little piece of art like the one below seen just a block away from my apartment. That or the fact that people here have already discovered the trend color of over two years ago (purple) seen in the streets everywhere. That or the cute little Nazi couple in line behind me at the late night supermarket that bought four cans of the cheapest beer around seen last evening.

I hate to say it, but I think there are few cities in Germany that have less class than Darmstadt. Thank god there's good friends to make up for it...

Flashing Lights

ccseabass — 2009-09-07T09:51:00Z

Man, I wish I could've been there the opening event of Warp's Warp20 anniversary tour kick-off event in Paris last May. Perfect selection of artists/music and from the looks of it, a really good party. Too bad the few remaining concerts will probably also be somewhere far beyond my reach :P