London. Ah, what to say about London? I was going to do a day to day type of blog, but when you’re drinking 12-15 pints a day.. they all kind of blend together.. so i’m going to go with a list format. If only half of these make sense to you, that’s about right. Ryan, John and I made the best of not the best trip we could have taken. Here’s what I remember
• A hazy first day walk across the Thames.
• Giggling at every mention of “Cockfosters” or “St. John’s Wood”
• The worst fish & chips ever.
• 7 AM McDonalds Breakfast
• Lots of Museums
• Television (Tele) + Trashcan (Bin) = the Telebin
• Sad drunk after only night 2.
• Awkward night without a private room
• That’s what happens when people stop being polite and start to get frank. Frank World.
• Nowhere to watch the Arsenal game
• Q: When do places open around here? A: Breakfast Time
• Camden Town with Ryan where we saw bootleg photos of Banksy pieces printed on canvas with “no photos please” sign.
• POACHED!
• Gene = John’s new nickname
• “Here’s the Rosetta Stone. Here it is. Oh no, here’s the Rosetta Stone… Here it is”
• Touristy Abbey Road photos.
• Snowcones
• Female conversion rate for Europe +2 points
• Amstel. Not Amstel Light. Amstel
• Getting lost then finding the pub we were looking for.
• I snapped and beat up John for trying to ruin my vacation photo
• Great Hold Steady show at KoKo with Dexter.
• Ryan kissed the British girl i thought was cute so I went to the dark side.
• “That’s why you make out with chicks and I call my Grandma, drunk” - Ben Goetting
• The Tube runs every 2 min, which is awesome
• Vacation ads everywhere because nobody wants to be in London.
• Our second hostel was self proclaimed “England’s premier party hostel!” and the interior decorating looked like a low budget 90’s sci-fi shows vision of the future where nobody lives past 30. Lots of purple and sheet metal.
• Babe-rhood
• New terms for drunk - “Lashed” Sad - “Gutted” and puking - “Chundering”
• “It got messy” “I had a bit of a nap” - Dexter
• Realizing you spent 100 dollars on drinks.
• Making London kids jealous I’ve seen Jawbreaker
• Ryan and I freaking those same kids out by moshing to Andrew WK song.
• Gene gets action in Parliament = Gene Parliament
• Ryan taking a massive dump in the Floor 2 showers in revenge for an asshole hostel worker. (we were on floor 5)
• Slovenian girls surprising me by singing “Happy Birthday” Karaoke style on my birthday was absolutely amazing.
• Kissing a very cute Slovenian girl in the basement of the hostel was also amazing
• Terrible Indian food, Chinese food, burgers, etc. etc etc.
• Great burger from Haché, great breakfast from a gay restaurant that we didn’t realize was gay at first but weren’t about to leave.
• Realizing Europeans have the worst music taste, it’s all bad dance music and hits you haven’t heard in years. The whole bar freaked out for “Cotton Eye Joe” and that Chumbawumba song
• “I’m doing this for YOU. BEN. FOR YOU!”
• Ryan yelling at Brits at 4AM “Please to being quiet now” which angered them and escalated into “Suck Cromwell’s dick” which lead to threats and “Arsenal’s fags” pushing them over the edge. Hysterical laughter turned to fear pretty quick.
• Seeing how much we could pile on Gene’s face to stop him from snoring = more hysterical laughter. Thinking we might have smothered him = more fear.
• Cinemas = bagged popcorn, warm soda, and screens the size of a home entertainment center. for $30 dollars.
• Couldn’t play poker because of the dress code “No white sport trainers”
• “The One Burger” is not just a clever name
• RYMAN! The Stationer!
• Fun rooftop antics = amazing. Dropping new Arsenal scarf in someone’s puke = not amazing.
• Sick and totally over London on Ryan’s birthday.
• “I blew all over this mattress. Stick it up your Bumwaz!” written in sharpie on my mattress.
• Finding out my grandpa was in brain surgery =(
• A long long trip home.

That about sums it up.

And links to our photos:
Ryan’s Photo Set
My Photo Set

I have a problem. I want to blog more here on Phazerblast, but I don’t want my posts to end up being “today I did this.. then this.. then that.. then went to bed”, and I don’t want my posts to be too personal, I don’t want just link to other peoples things, and I dont want short posts that aren’t thought out. So I wind up not blogging at all.

I have been posting all the little random images, video, etc that I find around the internet on Tumblr. So you can check that out at http://phazerblast.tumblr.com. It’s funny/cute and all that jazz.

On a personal note / news item. I’ve been super busy at work. Finished up the Rocket from The Crypt and A Cursive Memory projects. Right now I’m working on the art for John Reis’ (of Rocket From the Crypt / Hot Snakes fame) new project The Night Marchers. Once that is done you’ll see it here for sure.

I guess that’s about it. Here’s a little something I did today for my boss. Photo retouching / restoration is one of my favorite things to do with photoshop.

So I got a survey from AT&T today about my iPhone and I was bored so I decided to do it, when the questions about internet speeds came up with a list of applications, iChat is in there! I hope this means it’s coming soon, I really miss AIM on my phone.

For those of you who knew me in high school, you knew I was the one kid at Newport Harbor High that did a zine. Starting in 1995 (perhaps late 1994) with “This Zine Sucks” and continuing in 1996-1997 with three issues of “Phazer Blast,” my zine making career was short lived. in 1996 I got AOL and in 1997 I figured out how to go to web pages and so my interest in making a print zine was overrun by new found fascination with the internet that continues to this day.

Well a few years ago I archived my zines for the web, but with re-design after re-design they eventually made their way off of the page. After going through all the old Thrasher issues in my last post I decided I should re-upload MY ZINES. Because, I think we all can agree that are of equal historical importantce. (ha!)

It’s pretty funny looking back at all this stuff again in all it’s lo-rez jpg compression glory. Sorry if it’s hard to read, but if you don’t read it that’s less embarassment for me. So enjoy Ben’s Zines 1995-1997

I remember playing with these little Perler Beads when I was a kid at day care like it was yesterday. So seeing that they are still around, and that someone made these AWESOME coasters with them has been the highlight of my day (yes, that’s what my day has been like). I think I’m going to have to buy some and make my own. T&C Surf & Skate Coasters anyone? Link (via Craft)

Have you ever HOPED that someone could prove that something you owned was whale vomit?

I have a few random links to share that have been collected this week.

The future from the past. AT&T’s “you will” commercials with many technological predictions that have come true, including EZ Pass and in car navigation. It’s pretty cool to watch. Although none of them were brought to us by AT&T like the commercials say, oh well.

One of my favorite holiday songs. Christmas with a fast food theme. mmmm.

I remember in high school this kid has one of those things that made the noise that would let you bypass putting coins in a payphone, essentially letting you make free phone calls (this was before anyone I knew had cell phones.) I thought that was the coolest thing in the world. Now, thanks to the internet, kids know how to do all kinds of evil shit. like opening padlocks with a soda can or making and using bump keys

I watched a couple shows on the Travel Channel the other night, and now there are a few things I really want to do. One I’m doing very soon, and that’s visit Phillipe’s. The French Dip sandwich was invented at Phillipe’s in 1908 and it’s pretty much a Los Angeles landmark. I’m going there and eating some sandwiches, soon. The other thing is something I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little kid and that’s go prospecting. At The Roaring Camp Goldmine you pay for a week of camping, and you can pan for gold, use a sluice box, and all that jazz. This is definitely on my agenda for this summer.

It’s Christmas time and I bet a lot of you are taking your children to see Santa for the first time. I hope you get some awesome pictures like these kids.

This amazing flickr set really doesn’t need much explanation. Just check it out. Souvenirs replacing actual landmarks from all across the world.

(via BoingBoing)