Is Spaghetti losing its popularity to Penne? “It’s the Pesto of pasta.”

In The Chef   

PHOTO: Neale Haynes

If you are a man who is remotely interested in automobiles, that is cars in a joe person’s dictionary, you’d definitely know who James May is. Apparently, this statement is far from the truth, as I’ve discovered that James may is considered a male sex symbol to lots of people (men and women). He is a classically trained musician and a wine aficionado, a splitfire pilot and a responsible driver who has been tutored by Jackie Stewart and Mika Hakinnen, a cultured person who knows cooking, and one of very few people who drove at 407KM/H and flew to an altitude of 70,000 feet.

I respect such a person who is capable of being a guy in a very fast car and a person with a knife-sharp wit.

In Journals   

I’d like to believe that I have something to do with this. About a year and a half ago, I sent an email to Apple suggesting to them that they should reinvent the mouse as they did with the touchpad, and to me, it seems they have done just that.

In Journals   

If you are a TADAO ANDO fan like myself, You’d know that the japanese master didn’t have a website, so did Toyo Ito. It seems they’re not really interested in selling themselves, although owning a website is not really in any way selling; acquiring a digital space to exist in the digital world I believe is imperative. Mr. Ando has got himself a brand new website, and so has Mr. Ito.

In I Came Across..   

As my vacation is drawing closer to its ultimate demise, I spent a couple of good days at The Red Sea, something that I’ve never experienced as I’ve never visited Aqaba before, and till now I don’t see a good reason why I should go back again to Aqaba. It’s a sea-city, and I live in Sharjah, which is a sea-city, and Sharjah is a proper city! I’m not trying to compare mind you but I believe Aqaba’s tourism facet is not really pretty, as it consists basically of nothing but a sea to enjoy and a diving facility and TCHE TCHE Aqaba. I’d probably hung out at the wrong places.

While at it, a friend of mine was going Scuba-diving and while we were waiting for his equipment to arrive, someone was coming out of the water holding a string in his hand with a kill clinging to it, it turns out he’d fished an Octopus, something that I’d never seen before live. They call him the Lord Of The Red Sea; he fishes whenever he wants and whatever he wants.

In Journals   

This is the first batch of my Holga attempts.

SHOUTOUT: I had a very hard time finding a place that would process my films and as I was searching I found a place called UNITED COLOR FILM. They have lots of branches in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman. They charge AED15 to process the film and AED1 per photo for printing. I went for the place in Sharjah and for those who are looking for shops who develop Medium Format 120 films their number is 065682127.

In The Atelier   

A new chair, Chaise Lounge by Le Corbusier modeled with 3DS MAX and ZBRUSH, rendered with MAXWELL RENDER. This took and outrageous amount of time to render because it’s got an outstanding number of pollies; over a million. Click on the picture for a larger version.

In The Atelier   

BOING BOING posted this video of beatboxing Flautist Greg Patillo playing the Super Mario theme song, this tune never goes out of date.

There is another one:

In The Octave   

Despite the fact that we’ve lost a major international competition for a picture frame, and the global recession causing a lot of  direct and indirect damage to us architects, I’m still in the mood, and more than ever, for cooking. It seems that I could call this ‘The Sushi Period’ for me as a gourmet wannabe. Simple Salmon Nigiris, Salmon Nigiri rolls, and SUMO style Crab stick salad Nigiris. A word to the wise, stay away from bad Crabs.

In The Chef   

I don’t think I’d mentioned anything about participating in a competition in Dubai. Well, THYSSENKRUP ELEVATOR, the elevator giant company has this competition going for a few years now and this year’s competition was in Dubai in Zaabeel park. The requirement was an observatory that is a new emblem in the city’s skyline. They announced the winners 3 days ago and we did not win, a frame did.

In Journals