Maximillian & Us

Sometimes you just need some nice Japanese sushi and sashimi to get you through the week.

I visited the Saatchi Gallery 2 weekends ago to see their latest exhibition, The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today. I enjoyed this exhibition a lot. It is much more interesting than the previous exhibition. I would highly recommend a visit.

The Telegraph

I received a message in my Flickr account 2 weeks ago from the editor of Schmap Guide. Apparently this photo has been short-listed for inclusion in the tenth edition of their Schmap London Guide, to be published late March 2010.

I have not heard of this guide but figured it will be good to get it published. There is no money but I will be acknowledged as the photographer in the guide.

Let’s wait and see if it gets chosen.

Thanks to my best friend, I came to know about Banksy’s new movie, ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’. I was quite annoyed when I couldn’t get tickets to its premier screening in a make shift cinema in Leake Street Tunnel (underneath Waterloo Station). Luckily I didn’t give up and tried to get tickets the next morning before heading to work. I have to say, persistent paid off!! Managed to get 2 tickets to the movie (costs £7.50 each).

We got to the tunnel early as I know there are several entrances to the tunnel. The last time I was there was for the Punchdrunk’s Tunnel 228 installation. We got there about 30 mins early and couldn’t find the ‘Cinema’ sign or entrances. Then we asked a guy and he pointed us to the ‘door’ and said that the ‘door’ will not open until 3pm, which is the ticket entrance time. So we just walked around, taking pictures of graffiti artist making graffiti art in the tunnel.

In order to get in, we have to show the ticket and also the card used to pay for the tickets. Then we have to had our bags checked and ushered into another tunnel to collect another version of the ticket and another empty space with a few of Banksy’s arts. We bought our popcorns and waited to be ushered into another tunnel where it has been turned into a cinema.

The movie / documentary is about how graffiti artists operates in USA and UK and how one unknown guy became a world famous graffiti artist just like that and even went on to design the cover of Madonna’s latest album cover. It is quite a funny documentary and a good insight into their modus operandi. Dav and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

You can still catch his movie in the normal cinema. Visit this site to see which cinema it’s being shown.

Here’s some pictures I took.

Our tickets.

The ‘Cinema’ sign. Look on the left side of the photo, lots of graffiti artists working on making their art.

The fake red carpet. For this movie, they actually spray paint a red carpet leading into the entrance of the cinema.

The queue is getting longer and longer…

First art we saw is the Queen and Prince Phillip opening the movie.

The famous lion statue, except this time it has a microphone in its mouth.

I didn’t detect this CCTV until Dav pointed it out! That’s Banksy alright… always like to ’surprise’ the audience.

The movie started with this logo. Quite amusing.

Burnt Paratha
Originally uploaded by StephNgoi

We have been buying frozen paratha from See Woo lately. Really love it and it’s sooo easy to cook them. All you have to do is just heat it on a wok.

It is soooooo easy to cook and yet I still burnt them! Not only did I burnt one, I burnt 2 parathas….

This incident totally confirms why I don’t like to cook!