Below are the 8 most recent journal entries recorded in cantalouphead's LiveJournal:

Friday, May 19th, 2006
12:29 am	180 degrees from nowhere; The Facts: 4 days ago I was contemplating ancient riches and current poverty in Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, Cambodia. 2 days ago I arrived in Tokyo, on a whim, to audition to be an ext era in an opera. I was cast for several parts in two operas for the next month, in Tokyo and Kyoto, with a company from Italy. the productions are Il Trovatore and Andrea Chenier. It is a strange world. Some of the story: A while back I applied for this position from a website but thought they had forgot about me for someone with talent, until two days prior to the rehearsals when they asked me to attend the final casting session. At that point I had very happy and secure plans to go through Vietnam and return home to snuggle Jenn in a planting camp. I had to make a serious decision - something I am not very good at. And here I am. I miss Jenn but how could I turn this down. It's Tokyo, It's Japan, it's two major productions and a steady stream of income for them both. I get to wear make up and dress in fancy 19th century outfits. I bought new converse with checkered insoles for the occasion of my Tokyo arrival. In the very last scene of Il Trovatore, it is my job to run down and drag the main character, Manrico, up some stairs and shoot him in the head to the timing of the orchestra. My roles include a half naked gypsy, a monk, and this murderous soldier. It is very interesting and totally exciting to be in Tokyo. I am overwhelmed and full of new insights-it is an exactly ordered chaos. The most complex city and culture I have ever been amidst, but at the same time it is the most relaxed. Its like Bangkok with a little Vancouver and new york in a utopian future. There is so much going on and barely any noise, even the visual noise is unassaulting. signs and lights everywhere but it all fits it fits and makes sense to the eye. I have barely seen any of the city but I am looking for places to live and I am settling down nicely, and quickly. expensive, of course, but manageable. you can eat well for less money than it cost in Vancouver, and buy cheap electronics that the west has never even imagined. I had a massive sushi combo dinner with soup and salad and some unidentifiable jelly thing with mushrooms in it, for 1000 yen, but that is the most I have paid for a meal yet, anything over 500 is expensive fro me and there are these little shops to eat in where you buy your meal, cheaply, at a vending machine and then give your ticket to the waitress. everyone is ultra polite, extremely respectful and nice, and easy to approach - although no one speaks English and it is still the big massive city where people don't talk to one another very much. Japanese kids are extremely hot and dress to kill, in uniform or suite or retro punk or drag or whatever - everywhere is a mishmash assimilation of old tradition and modern threads. I don't yet know much about mind, thought, and space. I hope to study japanese, kenji, as much as possible. At one glance, this culture seems to be conservative but at the same time, if you are in the right place it seems that anything goes. and I mean anything - I think its just that everything has to have its place. I like it. I really like it. and my place for the time being is here, groking the world from yet another angle. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 8th, 2006
11:56 am	film school credit To make a long story short,this fall I really really want to do one or two credits in film/video production, in order to complete a long forsaken degree of mine from Dalhousie university. I was aiming to go to SFU until I today found a little message on their admissions restrictions page saying "FPA courses in film/video production and screenwriting ARE NOT accessible to exchange students" Damn it all, so my question is, does anyone know where I can do a good credit or two in film history or screenwriting or production or the like? In Vancouver, I mean, I think, er...well whatever info anyone has would be great. today I feel lost and far away from everywhere in the bangkok rain. thanks!! Current Mood: anxious (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 1st, 2006
11:46 am	Jungle Therapy After a few of days of an increasingly perturbed and skittish mind frame; an overwhelming feeling of anxiety welling up inside my head, I realized what I needed and found myself beelining for the jungle. For the past couple days I have been meditating and going for long 7 km treks in the jungle and reading the Cyberpunk anthology. This morning I woke up to two monkeys trying ever so hard to shake durian from a durian tree outside my porch, which backs onto a river in the Khao Sok National park. When they saw me they came over and stared at me for an hour while I talked to them about the price of eggs and fruit detreeing methods. I feel better already. Relaxed, calm, and ready to face the world again. good day to you all!! Current Mood: contemplative (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 26th, 2006
1:47 pm	The occasions of recent past culminate thoroughly in a series of remonstrated - and entirely unmarketable- titles; - Looking For Your Self Image: or How I learned to Love Myself - Frustrated: Loosing Your 4th Pair of Nail Cutters in 3 Months, This Time in The Midst of Cutting - Super Gluing Shoes and Eye Glasses - Feeling Lost - The Mystery of What The Fuck To Do In This World -sailing to Malaysia part one: the most romantic setting on earth -sailing to Malaysia part two: trapped in closed quarters with a culturally ignorant expat and his Thai squeeze -Not wearing a shirt for a week -Sweat city -Missing your Girlfriend -Does the World Exist? -Making Moves -Hong Kong versus Tokyo -Singapore Dreams -There's Always Down Under -The Reality of 1800 Dollars and 4 Months in Asia -Alone again -Steven Soderbergh is my Hero -Making movies; the dream of all dreams -Making Decisons -THE Conversation: Paul Auster meets Don Dellilo and Jeanette Winterson for Tea -Beer Gut Marathon -Smiles and Eye Squinting: My Uncle and My Blindness -Beautfiul Cousins -Who's Afraid of Being Alone? -Laingless Reality: Hungry Again, Full Again, Horny Again, Broke Again ...and my personal favorite.. -The art of snuggling your pillow ....... The greater past, as in the past month and a bit, is a whole other story that is difficult to tell, although the more I think about it, the more serious I am about making a very controversial script out of it, as it comes across to me under the guise of a film, although this one is without a title, and ironically this one I am serious about. Jen and I spoke about it once or twice, but I don't think she realized how seriously I like its premise. None-the-less, I have elaborated on it and its absurdest meanings, and cannot speak for Jenn as to weather or not she agrees with its particulars, although it has developed mainly through our many conversations in the past months. I leave it to you to render worthy or not, but please direct all criticism towards me, as surely Jenn did not take part in giving birth to my faults. Khao lak days; Amongst rubber tree plantations on the east coast of Thailand, just north of Phuket province, there is a small town named Khao lak. Home to Nepalese tailors and Thai travel agents and hotel personage, this town is small straight and flat, mixed with tailor shops, dive operations and empty westernized Thai restaurants, overpriced. This is where the the Tsunami hit worst, where most people died, and the most infrastructure was destroyed, worst though, in fishing village full of Burmese refuges, just north of khao lak proper. Jenn and I lived in a national park just a few Km south of Khao lak, where we were living with our pseudo employer, a geography masters candidate from the University of Victoria. Every day Jenn and I would zoom into two on a scooter and direct our attention to our commitments, walking long stretches of peopless beach in search of tourists to survey about there values. "excuse me Sir, would you care to fill out this survey?" we would ask with false intentions, once we found somebody to approach - sceptical as we were abouts its real value in light of the introduction we would invariably give about how Thai authorities would use the information we were collecting to aid the redevelopment happening in the area. I imagine long drawn out shots, Ang Lee like vistas, of hot beach and jungle and post tsunami wreckage, with the characters representing Jenn and I ambling along and sweating like crazy, while talking about everything under the sun. The film is a story of two idealists who left north America to 'help' the world. it is a controversial examination of development, the left, the right, the hypocrisy of both, death, life, west versus east, culture, and ultimately the human condition. It is to be shot with the feel of the 1981 film Coup De Trouchan, staring my favorite, Isabelle Huppert. But instead of the Ivory Coast in a post colonial madness, this is the absurdest theater in a new light. This is the idealism of the left, the volunteer tourist, the values of the privilege youth, that are called to the knife of the absurd. like another film with Isabelle Huppert, 'I Heart Hucakbee's', this film takes on the perspective of her character, the rouge existential detective who proclaims life to oscillate between tragedy and laughing at itself, and this movie is the 21st century Chekov play, that ultimately aims to critique itself and leave the audience with a new twist. not without value, or an answer to the controversy, but the thesis is that the controversy itself is 'perhaps' all that matters, it is both the positive and the negative, the fuel of the dialectic, and the mechanism by which all culture exists. The conversations in the film dive into the existence of class and unorthodox examinations of the Palestine and Israel conflict, and a whole lot more...it is anti everything, but also engaging of everything. mainly though it is about the thesis that the anti establishment, leftist, anti-globalist stance is just as status quo as those they criticise. These days anyway...how idealistic youth comes by way of globalism and ends supporting globalism without realizing it. basically this film suggests to perpetuate controversy itself as a means to an end, a way to break the stranglehold of bureaucracy. but not a violent anarchy, and there are some rules. the likes of which the two characters argue about perhaps. can there should there be ect. and other characters play supporting roles and are important as they were in our 'extra life' while we were in khao lak. there was EDNA: our reason de etre, the ubiquitous German sunbather, grossly burned and not very pleasant in very garments gave us endless critics and sound reasoning as to why the questionnaire was useless, ironic to the fact that it was exactly her to whom the questionnaire was directed. the was SHIRTLESS JUGGLER: who gave us all a rash. the guy who came to Thailand to 'find himself' and is always to be found juggling in front of convient stores and clothes shops, fro the benefit of very uninterested Thai workers. He claimed to be a one man circus and was their to help the children, although he was never around kids and only ever seemed to be trying to indulge his own ego. and their were my Thai tailor friends who were only trying to feed their families. ummm....well..something like that...its a really rough sketch obviously, and not exactly what I mean, I started rambling and got way of course - its not really supposed to be about or support anarchy. just the absurdest of development work and the idealism perpetuated through university culture....or something...I don't know... In any case that has been my month, a long walk and limitless conversation with Jenn: it was in many ways, a most beautiful time. and if your irking for pictures of Jenn, I am sorry I am sorry I am sorry, you will have to ask HER now, she has the cd with all the pics. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 21st, 2006
9:50 pm	here to there and back again Well, its been a while and I must apologize to any eager reader's out there, if you are out there, for I am fully distracted and generally slow at the uptake to record - if you might remember, I am donkey powered and not one of these new age tractor speed things you know, and cantaloupehead, afterall, is where they amble along between snacks and don't ware watches. "ok ok, that's enough for now Augustus, old buddy" retorts Sergeant, overtaking the position of record master and story teller. "There has been so much to tell that I don't even no where to begin," He says as Augustus the donkey powered robot and faithful scribe sniffs his metal parts and wallows in his self pity like one of those cute Thai kitties you can find in every alleyway. "when I last made an appearance here, Jen and I were on our way north I believe, looking to find some pigs and different curry's to taste. since then a whole truck full of things has happened but I think I will only report a few, and say what comes to mind. First of all, we found some pigs. Well, Jen saw the first pig, I should say, and she won the bet. Now I owe her a thick and impressive mustache. But we both win in retrospect because we can eat pork (although we don't really like pork outside of bacon wrapped with pastry) and know what kinds of sounds it once made, and better then that, I get to grow a mustache...it's win win....." Augustus steps in to repeal to his vegan and vegetarian readers and remind them that he too is a vegetarian and finds Sargeant Cantaloup just as disgusting as you do and apologizes for his vulgarity. "so when we arrived in Chang Mai, almost immediately the lovely and wondrous Ms. Jenn Laing was asked, after prompt inspection of her unfathomable beauty, to be so kind as to partake in a local festival and compete for the esteemed title of MS FLOWER BLOOM INTERNATIONAL 2006!!!! Can you believe it, they stole her away from me and decked her head to tow in Thai makeup (and a hair style from a 1930's Russian science fiction film) and made her go out and walk a little walk in front of hundreds of people. She bowed and she bowed and she bowed and she bowed again, and she even spoke Thai in a microphone like a professional. wow. what a sight. the best part is, I HAVE IT ON FILM!! only a few seconds clip of her walking and a few pics of mediocre quality, but I have it none the less." unfortunately Cantalouphead is a little distracted and hasn't got to posting the pics, but he will, I promise. "the rest of the festival was nice too, there were crazy floats made all out of intricately designed flowers, like Angkor Wat rebuilt out of thousands of handpicked and hand placed flowers, and there were some tasty treats to be sampled, but nothing beats my beautiful Jenn.." Augustus steps in to avoid unnecessary cheesy remarks about love from cantaloupheap and ushers him on to the next thought before he looses his readership... "ok ok, where was I....uh so,, we were on our way to Laos, and Vietnam, when I got this job to be research assistant to a masters student down in the KHAO LAK national Park....yah, so can guess where I am now? lounging on the beach all morning, swimming in the ocean, and walking about talking to tourists about how much we miss good cheese. now that's the kind of research I like to get paid for!! and all this for 10000 baht and and free room to stay in." unfortuantely Jenn took off to Cambodia and Vietnam and left him to find his own way here. "boo hoo," which was probably good for him in the long run, but she will be returning to him in a few weeks for the remainder of her stay in the southeast "YIPPY HEEEE HAWWWW" - Augustus impartially notices that those are his sounds and reluctantly works his type writer anyway, but decides not to comment further. cantaloup misses jenn already "and I guess on that note I should be heading out, so be good and bug jenn for leaving me all alone in this terribly scary world full of food dishes meant to be shared. and don't be afraid to leave an attachment and tell me YOUR news reader friends, wherever you are in the universe," and on that note sargeant Cantaloupe hops on his motorbike and yells something incomprehensible and takes off down the road to his home for the next 6 weeks. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, February 3rd, 2006
4:56 pm	Where are all the pigs? In Thailand, Bangkok especially, you can not go more than 25 meters without coming across a vendor selling a tasty treat. “In fact, this is an extreme answer to the expression, ‘how far can you throw a tuk tuk driver without hitting a new place to feast?’ and the answer is more like feet in most cases.” Cantalouphead delights that in every few meters he can change from noodle soup to pad kei mai to pad thai, or squid on a stick with spicy sauce to something unidentifiable to various fruits with sugar spicy condiments, Jelly treats in the bottom of fruity drinks, “anything jelly, by the way, Jenn covets by the bucket,” to varieties of curry with rice and many more things fried, barbecued, or boiled, and stuck on a stick or ina bag, and otherwise unidentifiable, leading us to Cantaloupe’s favorite, Thai coffee and Chinese donuts, “especially when travelling at 6 in the morning,” to more things unidentifiable. “this is all street food by the way (and all of it available in a bag if you prefer), Bangkok also offers a million restaurants with exceptional variety, including the wonderful Indian food we have been having in our past route through Bangkok and the cheese cake and french coffee breakfast we had yesterday.” interestingly, the best food we have had was in the Siam square mall where we had this incredible dish made of mussels deep fried in batter with the best som tam to date, a spicey fresh papaya salad with peanuts and lemon and something sweet….mmmm… In fact, so diverse and plentiful is the local cuisine, which always seems to combine sweet with savory, spicey, salty, and bitter, that Jenn and the Sergeant have arrived at two major questions, a contest, and one major conclusion about food in Thailand. Q1: How is all this food supplied everyday and is there really that much demand as to create the need for piles and piles of unimaginable treats on endless streets and in every market? Tentative answer: Thais seem to be both incredibly innovative at arranging complex transportation and organization, as well as being perpetual snackers. Plates of food are generally meant to share and most dishes and vendors hawk snack sized treats and seem to be always filled with happy smiling jelly jiggling bellies at all hours of the day and night. ”One of my favorite sights is to see tough eyed business men retreat into a pink hello kitty designed eatery for a pink bowl full of sweetened soy milk and coconut and squish bits.” But then there is always the strange bun store that attracts so much attention. Every time Jenn and the Sergeant come across this store that sellls only buns (that smell and look sweet albeit average), there is a line up for half a kilometer, literally. How a bun can be so good to instigate a three block line up, sometimes even demanding its own traffic policeman to organize, Jenn and the Sergeant have yet to have the patience to find out. Q2: WHERE ARE ALL THE PIGS???? -every menu has chicken seafood or pork options for almost every dish. “we have seen many chicken and fisherman with their catch (although I have yet to understand the stalls at markets with pales full of river snakes and turtles and where these poor animals fates lead them) but Jenn and I have yet to find a single pig!! we have been looking hard because pork is everywhere available to consume in one form or another, but even through our travels of the country we have found only water buffalo and cows and goats, and hardly is there any beef on any menu. This is certainly a conundrum that must be solved!! For two reasons, one is that there are way too MANY dogs around, and despite the best of our Canadian politeness, we are starting to wonder about their poor fates as well, but more importantly we have made a contest between us and the first one to spot a pig wins. If Jenn wins I have to sport a mustache for at least 6 hours, and Jenn, if I win, has to allow herself to be dressed up in outrageous wrestling t-shirts and obnoxiously rimmed glasses. In any case, the only real conclusion one can make of eating their way through Thailand is this: If anybody even dares claim that they have tried everything, they are most certainly lying! “One guesthouse we stayed on had a menu with 398 dishes on it!!! and that was a remote bungalow on a food limited Ko Tao!” Anyways, all this talk has started to make this stomach grumble. Thai omelet anyone? Current Mood: hungry (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 31st, 2006
1:43 pm	Bangkok Beginnings Bugeyed tired, Cantalouphead first arrived in Bangkok after 24 hours of travel with a slightly noxious feeling, sort of like he had disembodied himself; a vague recollection of a Gibson novel reminding him that his soul was still floating somewhere over the Bering Strait. “my eyes are burning” cantaloupe muttered as he walked from customs with apparent ease, scratching his underwear away from his sweaty inner thighs and wondering if his stomach was feeling odd from all that travel or the unidentifiable apple jelly desert he just finished, courtesy of cute and smiley japan airline stewardesses. Little did he realize the vast array of tastes he was about to encounter in Thailand, his favorite hobby, eating, about to be the most coveted of all hobbies he was ever to concentrate on. Jenn, his partner in crime, subject of all his heartfelt romantic affectation, cohort, best of friends, lover, and for virtue of significance and recent relationship developments, his girlfriend, met him at the airport and lead him bewildered and confused (a pattern that seems to still happily continue) to her downtown guest house, avoiding tourist 20 dollar tourist trap cabbies and overtly vicious tuk tuk drivers to the local bus which cost about 20 cents or something. Buses are made of teak wood and although look large are fit for the Thai average, about 5 foot 3, although don’t be caugh without grip on something, becuase they drive like maniacs at all hours of the day, and don’t ever really stop, expecting you to jump on and off like you might imagine mel gibson would do in lethal weapon. “Jenn is smart and wonderful and knows how to be sly and softhearted as she needs to be, and she is quite impressively capable in this massive sprawl of a chaotic order that is called Bangkok.” I think Sargeant Cantalouphead was a bit hesitant to meet Jenn at first, travelling with someone can be a difficult prospect you know, and was worried that he might be dependant on her knowledge thus far and silly things like that, but has recently realized that things couldn’t really be better. Jenn and The fruithead complement each other in fact, where Jenn is sharp eyed and always alert, ever aware of potential danger, she chooses her path with expert foresight and is an awesome navigator through ultra confusing and complex streets, corridors, alleys, and buildings, where as Sargeant tends to get a bit lost you know, dawdling in places he shouldn’t, stopping to look at roses so to speak, or the orchids I should say, or maybe even a pattern in broken concrete or something, often talking to people with fake smiles and sinister ambitions. “The best part about us though,” cantalouphead cuts in, “is that we both love food and adore finding new treats to taste” smiling he rests his stomach on his knees, fully satiated after days of eating and now wondering about the next meal, thinks that perhaps his approach to the topic of food and Thailand should be saved for an entry in itself. Current Mood: chipper (1 Comment |Comment on this)
1:40 pm	The Night Before it all began Imagine this; the world has seven strains of oyster seas and from them seven necklaces of pearls are made. The pearls once joined make a harmonious balance of insatiable beauty, however after too many years of complicated history, humans have lost the magic strains and they are rumored to be scattered across the continents in fragments, and maybe even the bottom of the seas themselves. Tomorrow Sergeant Cantaloup, aka cantalouphead, will embark on a quest to find the pearls of some such necklace by journeying to the far far east, to Thailand first, and then who knows, it all depends on what the oysters have been doing in the many number of years before his arrival, and of course, of what fate has in store for him as a whole. By searching for his first pearl, his journey will be mainly a descriptive story, without unnecessary histrionics or even such a guise of an imagination as this first exaggerated entry suggests. none-the-less, they should be all narrated by yours truly, the donkey powered robot and committed amanuensis, Augustus. On behalf of Cantaloupe and myself, We invite you to respond and do hope you drop in from time to time to find what mysteries unravel in the wake of Sergeant’s travels. Who knows, he may never find a pearl nor will I might ever speak of them again, but my probability functions calculate a true and definitive experience to be had, and much enjoyment, laughter, and even a few tears. So please, don’t run away at the sign of a slight hyperbole, just wait, relax, read, and enjoy. Current Mood: complacent (Comment on this)