Kittens!

The cute factor here at Tiki Chris manor has just been cranked up to 11. Yep, Emiana and I got kittens. Two little 10 week old brothers, which we'll likely call Marmo and Sandokan.

See the Marmo and Sandokan photo set on Flickr.

Anothernotalotta Week in Review (July 25, 2008)

London Daily Photo: Please Explain by Chris Osburn © 2008

Anothernotalotta Week in Review

I almost published one of my Offline posts instead of this review. But that would have meant I then would need to find the time to post when I came back Online. I've hardly been in front of the monitor this week and just haven't had the time to blog.

Anyhoo, I did manage to keep up with my London Daily Photos and to check out a pretty cool StolenSpace exhibition and pop over to Paris to take some Marais graffiti shots for Juxtapoz. Anything else? You'll just have to wait until I find some time to blog about it!

Enjoy your weekend,
Chris

ontoLondon - ontoTravel - Tiki Chris Presents

Paris Graffiti (Juxtapoz)

Photos: French Street Art
Photography by Chris Osburn
Juxtapoz
Thursday, 24 July 2008









Our UK-based buddy Chris Osburn branched out and hit up France for a little vin and fromage and a lot of great street art.

See all the French Street Art photos.

Under a Red Sky Group Show at StolenSpace (Juxtapoz)

Photos: "Under A Red Sky" Group Show
Photography by Chris Osburn
Juxtapoz
Friday, 18 July 2008









Click here for all the photos.

Da Week in Review (July 18, 2008)

London Daily Photo: Leather Lane Market by Chris Osburn © 2008

Da Week in Review

This week, I ...

- made Mai Tais,
- had some yummy oysters in Whitstable, and
- enjoyed a decent curry for lunch in The City.

Yummerz.

Enjoy your weekend,
Chris

ontoLondon - ontoTravel - Tiki Chris Presents

Because You Asked (How to Make a Mai Tai)

Recently, more than a couple of folks have asked me about how to make a Mai Tai. Here's my recipe, kinda sorta based on the recipe of Mai Tai originator, Trader Vic. It could probably use a bit of tweeking but I'm rather inclined to keep it as is and no one's complained yet.

• 2 jiggers of Jamaican rum (Appleton Estate Reserve)
• 2 jiggers of Martinique rum (St James)
• ¾ jigger of orange Curacao (Yes it must be orange!)
• ¾ jigger of Trader Vic’s Rock Candy Syrup or Saint James’s Sucre de Canne
• ½ jigger of orgeat (to be honest, I’ve recently been using Italian orzata)
• Juice from one fresh lime
• Shake vigorously with crushed ice
• Add a sprig of fresh mint and a maraschino cherry
• Enjoy!

There are a gazillion valid recipes out there and lots of opinions. And if you're looking for a good one at a bar in London, the best I've had have been at Trader Vic's and Trailer Happiness.

Exceptionally Good Week to Review (July 11, 2008)

London Daily Photo: Dead Slow Soar by Chris Osburn © 2008

Exceptionally Good Week to Review

This was an exceptionally good week to be me. I interviewed two awesome artists, monster master Chet Zar and Aussie street artist Stormie Mills as well as the kids from Unchained (an awesome new online guide to indie retailers in London). I chowed down on a rib eye while being entertained by burlesque dancers ... sampled some chili cheese fries at a new London diner ... roamed around the big ole Battersea Power Station ... and learned how to make pastasotta.

Enjoy your weekend,
Chris

ontoLondon - ontoTravel - Tiki Chris Presents

Stormie Mills Interview (whitehot)

Chris Osburn Interviews Stormie Mills
by Chris Osburn
whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art
July 2008














Tenacity, humility and belief in the creative process. Think about what you do and make it your own. Following a small component of what you do with the materials you have available may well become a significant component of your work rather than just a nuance. Work hard. It's got to be an obsession, a driving passion. A friend Reg Bolton told me, when I was having a major crisis of direction and confidence, "love what you do, do what you love, the money will follow" for me that's been good advice.

Click here for complete interview.

Chet Zar Interview (whitehot)

Chet Zar's Ugly American @ Strychnin Gallery

by Chris Osburn

whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art

July 2008

There is no question about it - creating your own artwork for your own exhibition is the best. Nobody is standing over your shoulder and telling you what to create and the success or failure of a show rests entirely on your own ability. Fine art is all about freedom for me and being a cog in the machine on the films of other people is a lot less fulfilling and does not offer much freedom. Once in a while you get to work with a director who actually respects your art (Guillermo Del Toro or Adam Jones on the Tool videos, for example) and lets you really be part of the creative process.

Click here for complete post.

Nottalotta Week in Review (4th of July, 2008)

London Daily Photo: You Can Run But You Can't Hide by Chris Osburn © 2008

Nottalotta Week in Review

There was plenty of activity for me this week, just not much of it online. Anyway, I did start blogging for Qype (about Clerkenwell, an awesome photography exhibition at Tate Modern, and London from a photographer's point of view). I also had some very fantastic tapas on Sunday. Yum.

Enjoy your weekend,

Chris

ontoLondon - ontoTravel - Tiki Chris Presents

Shanghaied Week in Review (Friday June 27, 2008)

Double Happiness by Chris Osburn © 2008

Shanghaied Week in Review

A bunch of my photos showed up on the Juxtapoz website this week, including some graffiti shots from Shanghai. Also, PhotoBox published a few of my Shanghai pics in the first of hopefully many more posts on their blog about my photographic adventures in China. Oh yeah, I uploaded several more Shanghai photos to Flickr too. 

Enough already with the Shanghai photos!? Okay, okay.  American Librarian in Freiburg, Chris Mavergames, shares his Expat Perspective with us about a recent visit from dear ole mom. Thanks Chris!

And, of course, there's a whole new heapin' mess o' London Daily Photos just waiting for you to take a gander at!

London Daily Photo: Try as You Might, You Can Never Escape by Chris Osburn © 2008

Enjoy your weekend,
Chris

ontoLondon - ontoTravel - Tiki Chris Presents

Trespass Alliance: Inside Urban Art at Andipa Gallery (Juxtapoz)

Photos: "Trespass Alliance: Inside Urban Art"
Chris Osburn, London Correspondent
Juxtapoz
Thursday, 26 June 2008

The Trespass Alliance: Inside Urban Art group show at Andipa Gallery signifies a shift of urban art's almost exclusive presence in East London galleries to London's more chi-chi western postcodes.

Click here for complete post and all the photos.

Russell Maurice at Goodhood (Juxtapoz)

Photos: Russell Maurice's Industrial Magic and Light/Thursday Solstice
Chris Osburn, London Correspondent
Juxtapoz
Tuesday, 24 June 2008










Russell Maurice's Industrial Magic and Light/Thursday Solstice exhibition is now showing at London indie retailer and collective, Goodhood. Many of Maurice's works are digital print lamps but a number of collages, screen prints, and "other curiosities" are on view as well.

Click here for complete post and all the photos.

Shanghai Graffiti Photos (Juxtapoz)

Photos: Graffiti in Shanghai, China
Chris Osburn, London Correspondent
Juxtapoz
Tuesday, 24 June 2008









Generally speaking, graffiti in Shanghai is an extremely rare sight. Buildings come and go at such a rapid pace that, even if an intrepid artist had touched up a particular wall, there's a good chance that said wall would have been demolished soon after ... The exception to this rule is Moganshan Road, where you can hardly take a step without spotting some graff. The area around Moganshan Road is Shanghai's art district where, luckily, the art isn't just confined to the galleries and shops.

Click here for complete post and all the photos.

Photographing China (PhotoBox)

Photographing China
Chris Osburn, PhotoBox blogger
PhotoBox
June 24th, 2008










A recent three week trip to China (mostly for fun but with a little business thrown in for good measure) provided an overabundance of photo opportunities and a range of fascinating experiences to impart with readers of the PhotoBox blog. With the Olympics soon to commence in Beijing and unprecedented economic growth stimulating a building boom the likes of which the world has never seen, the difficulty wasn’t deciding when to snap a photo but having the wherewithal to put the camera away at all!

Click here for complete post

Swirling Week in Review (June 20, 2008)

Swirls by Emiana © 2008

Swirling Week in Review

Chet Zar's Ugly American
Beijing graffiti photos
China photos a la Emiana

Lamenting the Loss of Bubba's
London Daily Photos

London Daily Photo: Carpe Diem by Chris Osburn © 2008

Enjoy your weekend,
Chris

ontoLondon - ontoTravel - Tiki Chris Presents

Chet Zar at Strychnin Gallery London (Juxtapoz)

Photos: Chet Zar's "Ugly American"
by Chris Osburn
Juxtapoz
Wednesday, 18 June 2008















Monster master Chet Zar's Ugly American opened at Strychnin Gallery's London location on Friday the 13th of June (how appropriate!)

Click here for complete post and all the photos.

Beijing Graffiti (Juxtapoz)

Photos: Beijing Graffiti
Chris Osburn, UK Correspondent
Juxtapoz
Friday, 13 June 2008

Osburn reports, “Similar to Shanghai, Beijing doesn't appear to have much graffiti, particularly for a city of its immense size. Still, if you know where to look, there's plenty to see. One brilliant part of town to view street art is the 798 Art Zone, an abandoned military electronics complex that's now one of Beijing's handful of thriving artist districts.”

Click here for complete post and all the photos.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiya! (Friday the 13th of June, 2008)

Tiki Chris at the Great Wall of China photo by Emiana © 2008

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiya!

I'm back from my pilgrimage to China's mysterious Theretrdspectientower with all sorts of stories to share. Unfortunately, I ain't got around to sorting all those stories out yet. Stay tuned for plenty of posts about my trip in the next week or so.

While I was gone, some of my photos were on exhibit at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. I'm bummed to have been unable to make it up there to check it out but pleased nonetheless. ontoLondon's Daily Photos continued to be posted during my break as well.

Since returning to London, I've paid a visit to an excellent Japanese restaurant with a couple of the folks from Qype along with a few other bloggers and caught a piece of a rainbow for PhotoBox. I've also been pleased to find out that ontoLondon's contributing photographer, Anna Krsikova, will have some of her work in an upcoming show at London's AOP Gallery. Awesome!

Enjoy your weekend,
Chris

ontoLondon - ontoTravel - Tiki Chris Presents

Online

Okay. I'm back. Wow.