Archive for the 'Tourism' Category

The Adventures of Matt Gondek, Freelance Artist IV

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I’ve been in the design game now for alittle over a year now. Recently though, I’ve been getting requests for work overseas.

Obviously, I was excited. My work is going to be seen in other countries.

However, I forgot that I live under a rock. No one else in the world goes by inches, and no one else uses the dollar for their currency.

This poses as a problem for me. When I’m asking how big the final design is going to be, and they reply back with “A2″, it’s a change. Not to mention, when it’s time to pay the bill.

Fortunately there are websites that will do the conversion for you. My advise to any young designer out there is to read up on this stuff now, before the situation arrises. I could spoonfeed you the answers, but poking around on the net for a bit will get you the same results.

Just one more thing to know on the long road to mega rich art success business 100%

The Poor manners of Bishnu

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Over the weekend KP and I were skipping merrily down a sidewalk which led us to our good friend Jim and Amber’s House for a night of merriment. However, during the travel, KP found a wallet on the ground. We picked it up and looked through it for a telephone number so we could return it to it’s rightful owner.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. I noticed he had a slew of credit cards in his wallet, so I figured I’d just make a quick call to one of them and get his phone number.

I pulled out a gold card and dialed the number on the back. I explained the situation to the man on the other side, but he didn’t understand what I was saying. After 10 minutes on the phone and his gold card being cancelled, he told me he couldn’t help me so I hung up.

Next, I tried his Target card. The EXACT same conversation happened. I was pretty mad.

Being it was Saturday night, and Monday was a holiday, I had to wait until Tuesday to call his bank. When I called, someone who spoke English answered, and within minutes, the problem was resolved. The guy came to my house that day and picked up his wallet.

My point is, all these companies are sending their customer service calls to other countries because it’s cheaper for them. However, they are offering NO service whatsoever. The man on the other side of the phone couldn’t understand what I was saying, and I couldn’t understand him. How is this helping ANYONE? It’s ridiculous.

In other news, Cloverfield was amazing.

New Albums of 08′

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There are alot of new albums coming out next year, but only one you’ll need to care about. The band Doughnuts in November will be releasing their MUCH anticipated record here on American soil early next year. Up to this point, all their releases have only been available in their native land of Mexico. That all changed last month, when a merger between two of the biggest record companies in the business took place, allowing music from other countries into ours.

These actions did not come without sacrifices. Already losing two band members in the past, (Freddy Loser in a vicious knife fight outside a local club, and Dead End to malaria) Doughnuts in November had to be literally sneaked out of the country due to a public outcry of traitorism when they found out they were coming to America to record. The day before their 4 week burro ride across the border, the lead singer of DIN, Doug Dickens, almost was fatally wounded when an unknown assailant rigged his burrito with explosives. Fortunately, Doug was to busy pleasuring one of their numerous groupies and had skipped on lunch. The burrito detonated in his refridgerator and no one was injured. Another account saw their drummer, Astella Dios, with a three day hospital stay due to an attack from a moltov cocktail, which was dropped from a bridge while he was passing underneath in his camaro. The attacker was caught two days later by fellow band mates Finish Line and Maximum Buick, and was severly beaten. Courts ruled in DIN’s favor, and Finish and Maximum were let two with a paltry fine of 40 pesos and three hours of community service. The last, and most outrageous feat to stop the band was to their sole roadie, El Roadie Diablo Negro, from foreign dignitaries. While America and Mexico were discussing the merger, Europe, whom also wanted rights to DIN, invited El Roadie to an “all inclusive” vacation celebrating their success. However, upon arriving to Europe, El Roadie was quickly siezed and his four groupies (which is the standard number which accompany any member of DIN at all times) were shot on sight. Taken to a remote location, El Roadie was tortured within a mere fraction of his life for nearly four weeks for any information that would result in the inner colapse of the band. Standing fast, El Roadie endured hours of beatings, water torture, and starvation daily but never broke. He finally escaped after a clumsy guard forgot to re-tie one of his hands. El Roadie managed to untie himself and escape, but not before taking the lives of no less than 14 European guards, 3 horses, and 18 children.

Through much struggle comes much benifit however, as predictions claim that their album will be no doubt, the smash success of 2008 and possibly the first quarter of 2009. With a very grueling tour lined up of “at least 7 shows” next year, the album is expected to make the band 10’s of dollars. Stay tuned for further updates on the release of the album.

The Washington D.C. History Museum

Below are some photos I took while I was at the History Museum in Washinton DC. They had a large variety of dinosaur bones, gems, and animals.

Right outside of the musuem, you have the option to purchase everyone’s favorite ice cream from the future, Dippin’ Dots. Behind the museum is a tent, where for three dollars, you can kiss women. As you can tell, you’re in for a fun filled day.

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The Washington D.C. Air and Space Museum

Although not an “art” museum, it’s still interesting to go and see these giant rockets, shuttles, and planes that people created to send people up into the air.

All those stories about how brave the astronauts were all true. As you stand in from of these giant monstrosities, you begin to notice how shoddy and poorly put together they look. They’re not smooth and round like TV suggests. They are all blocky, with pieces sticking out, and uneven surfaces that look poorly weilded together. I’d be crying if I had to go into outer space in one of these dang contraptions.

Still, it’s fun to check out this stuff, along with all the airplanes and helicopters they have. The museum has a large collection of space suits they used throughout the years, which is fun to check out too. Not to mention, the gift shop has space ice cream 8-)

I took pictures of the pretty looking ones. You can eye them up below.

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National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

The National Gallery of Art is a giant maze-like building of artwork from different time periods and cultures. Each room has about six or seven pieces, a couch, and a depressed security guard.

I don’t want to name drop, but where else can you get the fresh scoop on Rembrant AND Sabin in the same day? The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., or as I like to call it, the NGOAIWfuggin’DC. That’s where.

You can spend hours looking at everything there, or at least until 5pm, which is when it closes. They even have Picasso’s boyhood gift shop located conviently in the building. Now even you can buy a ton of prints from artists and pieces that are not even located anywhere near the NGOAIWfuggin’DC. That’s right.. all kinds of prints for sale of pieces not even in the museum, which is kind of lame if you ask me. It seems like the gift shop is BFF with Andy Warhol, whose museum is here in good ole Pittsburgh.. not anywhere NEAR the president’s place. Below is some photos I took at the musem. Enjoy!
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Washington D.C.

5in1-reader-wcord.jpgfca5_1.jpgI recently got back from a Trip to Washington D.C. One of the biggest differences between there and here in Pittsburgh is that the bums yell at you in foreign languages. Also, everything is more expensive. A $28 shirt from Urban Outfitters here will cost you $32 there. Not to mention the $27 I spent on two drinks at an upscale Asian French Restaurant called OYA.

Also, for some reason, the back of the White House was completely blocked off, and there were military people at the Washington Monument to “scare” tourists (his own actual words). Eventually we found out that they were there for a ceremony later that day which we missed. There weren’t alot of places to buy a drink, which was bad due to the constant walking and heat.

Everyone there that works for the city was mean, including the lady who was working at the Metro Station. When we asked her for change for a dollar that wouldn’t feed into the ticket machine, she refused and we had to get change from a random woman.

Also, there was no grafitti or anything of that sort anywhere. It was a very clean city and all the buildings were really nice and visually pleasing.

More pictures later.

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Washington Monument
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El Casa De Presidante


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The Capital Building


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