The Sea Centre

After getting up late I had some cereal for brekky, and then before i knew it Sherry was on her way home to pick me up for lunch. Its just so easy to eat over here. We went up to 3020 State St for Indian. We both had the buffet which consisted of endless rotti bread, spinach moosh, some curried cauliflower and onion, chicken korma and tandori chicken which was a bit on the poor side.

After lunch i got dropped down at Stearn's Wharf. I walked up and was in a bit of a weird mood - I was pretty introspective with Bob Dylan playing in my ears while I stood on the side of the pier looking at the sun reflect off the water and a seagull puddle around.

I went into the Sea Centre and it was pretty mad from the get go. I ended up staying at the first exhibit for abotu an hour. It was a pool with sharks about a foot and a half long that you could pat. It also hade a few rays in their as well. They felt kind of like wet dogs. Their hair was short and a little bit rough, but when you rubbed back the other way it was more like sand paper.

I then looked at the shark eggs. They were way cool. They feel like a leather pouch, sort of like a bats' wing. But the eggs themselves are much like normal eggs - with mini sharks swimming around inside a film with yokes and an opening at the bottom that allows sea water to flow.

I then walked over to look at this other fish that kept on following my every movement through the glass.

Then on to whats called 'The Wet Deck' - Which is basically just a palce where they have a hole in the floor allowing them to take samples out of the ocean for closer insepction. They lower this self closing clamp down and draw up samples. Would give a kayaker a nasty head ache thats for sure. The girl had a great eye for creatures with the tweezers. She put them under the microscope and you just see so much. Clams, Bugs, someting with spores on it. Hahaha - I remember the girl saying after my question 'What do you do with them once you are finished with them', 'We just dump them' haha. And also when i thought i had killed one of the little grubs she just goes 'it'll be alright' and basically just piffs it into the dish.

Upstairs was cool too. It was called - The Camoflage Area. Up here there was cool stuff like crabs which i could pick up. The first one fell off my hand twice - or more - ran off to get back in the war. The second one gripped in nice and hard. That was cool to feel how it did that - basically wrapping its legs around my fingers. When i moved them too much one time his front nippers kind of reared up to try and scare me.

The Octopus was awesome. The guy there said that it was almost as smart as a house cat. Apparantly it recognises different people and needs to toys to keep it from getting bored. They can also change their colour and their skin shape.

These ones stay about this size and are only released back intot the wild before they die so that they can reproduce. Some of them grow to be absolutley massive but not this particular sub-species. It's cool putting your hand out near the glass and watching the octopus put a tentacle near it to sort of shake it.

Also saw some cool jelly fish. These were cool as thanks to the light and the current in the tank.

I also watched a short film about how otter's are tracked. Was a bit off putting actually - seeing them drugged and then inserted with tracking devices. To me it sounds like something that aliens would do to us. Come down, beam us up, run tests, and then put us back into our beds so we woke up only 1/2 recalling anything happening.

I then went up to the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company to buy some more chowder, but instead I tried some lobster bisque. Okay but no where near is good as chowder.

I then caught the bus up State st and got home at about 5.30. Sherry had gotten home way before and saw i wasn't there so had gone looking for me on her bike. Whoops!

I made some tortillas for dinner and I like the look of that Zombieland movie. It doesnt look scary. Kind of like that House of the Dead Overkill Game. Which is scary enough for me.

The IT Crowd Series One

Fvourite Quotes:

Nice screensaver

0118 999 881 999 119 725......3

He certainly was the villian of the piece

Oh, it appears we have a visi-taw

A plan. Let me put on my slightly larger glasses

Hello, security? Everyone on floor 4 is fired. Escort them from the premises. And do it as a team. Remember, you're a team and if you can't act as a team, you're fired too.
Dom, get on to recruitment. Get them to look for a security team that can work as a team. They may have to escort the current security team from the building for not acting like a team

Ooh, four... I mean five... I mean fire!

Fire - exclamation mark - fire - exclamation mark - help me - exclamation mark. 123 Cavendon Road. Looking forward to hearing from you. Yours truly, Maurice Moss

Moss, what are you doing? Number twos, leave me alone! Stop doing this, you're always doing this, you're making it go back in!

Maseeejoe's

"Shut up! I'm not interested! These are just some of the things you'll be hearing if you answer this ad. PS: No dogs."

Jiminy! Jones! Look, the nature of the thing that is happening has changed slightly, rendering it yet more interesting!

I've fallen to the communists. Well they do have some strong arguments.

And then you get an Artist says he doesn't want to paint at all

Well an early start this morning, but any excuse to go out hey? Darryl, Leslie, Sherry and myself went to I-HOP for breakfast and after being nearly the first in there at around 7.30 am it filled up pretty quickly. I really enjoyed my spinach and mushroom omelette. It was covered with tomato and hollandaise sauce which really gave it a moist taste. Sherry had an omelette as well and in contrast to mine hers tasted a tad dry. They also came with 3 pancakes which were delicious too. Bit of melted butter and maple syrup does the job.

I got back home at about 9 am and chatted on Skype for a bit before heading down the street. Today I planned to go to both the Gallery and the Sea Certre down on Stearn's Wharf. I actually wore jeans today. How bout that? I walked down to the corner of State St and Victoria St and I thought to myself 'amybe the jeans thign was a bad idea". Anyway I walked up the stairs of the gallery at about 10.40 and it wasn't even open. Lucky i had my walkmun mun.

Here we see Achilles on foot reaching up to grab Troilos' hair to pull him off his horse. (From the sacking of Troy - Homer's Illyad)

COROT COLLECTION

The Corot collection was only on display until the 4th of October so it was a motivator for me to get there sooner rather than later.

I really liked his style. He had a way of really bringing out a 3rd dimension in his pieces. His sketches were also highly detailed.

This sketch was really really small and unfortunately my Iphone didnt capture it clearly but i was astonished at the detail i this and the ability to use one shade to add depth.

PERMANENT EUROPEAN COLLECTION

I've nearly really considered myself someone who 'gets' art, but I really enjoyed being here today. Especially looking at the older impressionist paintings by people like Monet.

CALIFORNIA CALLING

ANCIENT ORNAMENTS

Japanese Armour from the 19th Century.

Wheel of Time

This was one of three life size statues.

NOBLE TOMBS OF MAWANGDUI

More than 2,000 years ago, a Chinese marquis and his family began their plans for the afterlife with three lavish tombs in Hunan Province which were excavated in the 1970s. For the first time in the U.S., their extraordinary existence will come to life in this exhibition. Nearly 70 treasures including lacquer ware, wood carvings, jade ornaments, bronze sculptures, seals, and silk costumes and textiles from the Hunan Provincial Museum will be on view at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art after an exhibition at the China Institute in New York City earlier this year.

The excavation at Mawangdui in southeastern China is considered one of the major archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Containing the remains and possessions of the Marquis of Dai and his wife and son, the tombs were found between 1972 and 1974 in the archaeological site of Mawangdui, which is located in a suburb of the modern city of Changsha, Hunan Province. More than 3,000 objects from the Western Han dynasty (206 BCE to 25 CE) were found in extraordinary condition representing the highest levels of workmanship. The tomb that housed the wares most represented in the exhibition, also held the remarkably well-preserved body of the noblewoman of the family, known affectionately as “Lady Dai”. “People during the Han dynasty regarded death as birth and longed for immortality,” notes Willow Hai Chang, Director, China Institute Gallery. “To prepare for the afterlife, they constructed their tombs to be eternal residences. As a result of this landmark excavation, we now have a rare window into the fascinating Han civilization through these remarkable objects of the highest artistry.”

The extraordinary significance of this assemblage is not only apparent in the variety and quality of objects, but also the time period and place from whence these artifacts originated. The Changsha Kingdom was heir to the Chu culture in southeastern China. It played a significant role in the cultural formation of the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE), a defining period in Chinese history that shaped the artistic, intellectual, political, religious, and social foundations of Chinese civilization. The objects preserved in the Mawangdui tombs give a visual dimension to early Han dynasty beliefs, design, and technology, while the body of material culture challenges us to re-evaluate our current understanding of early China.

Works in the exhibition showcase those items that were felt to have great meaning to the owner, thereby deeming them necessary in life after death. Many of the objects preserved delicate or perishable materials, such as food, drink, and cosmetics, mostly fashioned with wood, silk, and paper. Some specific highlights include a two-tiered cosmetic box containing nine small boxes, thought to have belonged to Lady Dai. The outer surface of the box is coated with black lacquer and then affixed with patterned gold foil, and the interior coated with vermilion lacquer. The nine small boxes in the lower tier contained items that could have been found on many women’s dressing tables at the time: cosmetics, rouge, silk powder pads, combs and a needle case.

Of course, what would a journey be to the afterlife without the joy of music! Five charming wooden figurines of musicians which seem to form a small family band are included in the exhibition, indicating the importance of song and dance to the tomb occupant. The figures are painted in black and vermilion to depict their faces and colorful gowns.

The tombs at Mawangdui also contained a stunning amount of information in the form of books and tablets on health, well-being, and longevity. These findings are particularly intriguing as they represent some of the earliest examples of a cohesive writing style including the Chinese characters that are utilized today. One inscribed tablet refers to dried soybean seeds that have germinated and were used in the treatment of headache, paralysis, asthma and other health problems. Another book, entitled Prescriptions for Maintaining Health, was written on silk and contains 32 different medical prescriptions.

This is a small piece of parchment that holds health tips.

The exhibition also features one remarkably preserved silk robe and textile fragments two of which are the world’s earliest known examples of printed and painted design on gauze weave. From these superb examples, silk was widely used among nobilities in early Han dynasty. The technology of silk production and textile making reached an unprecedented height that is rarely surpassed today. “ Hunan embroidery” remains one of the four celebrated styles of embroidery in China.

All section on the tomb discovery quoted from The Santa Barbara Museum of Visual Art Website.