"A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise" Phosphorescent's New Video

"A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise" 

Phosphorescent's New Video

One of Phosphorescent's major breakthrough album "Pride"  Here is one of last years sleeper hit off the album........ Love it!

Phosphorescent I co-directed with Matt Thiesen, A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise.

The video is produced by Andrew Runkle, Brian Morrow, and Hoayan Zang. Photography by Jonathon Narducci. Production Design by Jay Johnson. Costume Design by Alexis Brooks, Sarah Brooks.

Starring Phosphorescent's Matthew Houck, Amanda Yates, a horse, and many kind souls from Fairfield, IA who braved the elements for 2 days in the snow.

Phosphorescent "A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise" from The Friends of Friends on Vimeo.

Well not to bad, it turned out pretty well guys! I was fortunate enough to work on this video. It was very early mornings and late cold nights, but its always a good time with good people. I hope you enjoy the final product and let me know what y'all think, and please leave a comment.......

Here are some links to hear, read or download some more from him

Pitchfork Media Review

Dead Oceans. His record label. Tour dates, contact info and what not.

Jespe. took my rug?

So I was looking for my blog on google so I searched for Jespe vs Asia. It came up along with Cole's blog, which has a link to mine. But I found out that People really have that as a name. Will Here are a few of the links to Jespe! Check em if you have a minute. 

Jespe Industrial Co. They own Jespe.com oh man that sucks......

Jespe Kristensen: photographer. pretty good too......

Jespe.org: well its french somthan to do with sports nothing worth looking at.

Jespe aka turkey (myspace) not worth it......  this is his video off his myspace page! what an idiot!

Thug Life

TURKEY

Krabi Town

Well here are a few pics of Phi Phi!!!! 

long tailed boats aka wata taxi

Our little private beach in the bottom right

Where they filmed "The Beach" 

My hut!!!! $13.00 a night not bad huh!

Our view from Phi Phi Hill Restaurant 

Well its been a few days since my last posts, I thought I'd bring you all up to date. We left the bomb ass island of Koh Phi Phi! We spent five days there enjoying most of what the island offers. We were on the hunt for the cheapest place we could find on that island. It took some serious leg work, and with a 70lb pack on your back and the 100% humidity didn't make it any easier. We decided to walk as far away from the Pier we landed on, so we did. This took us though turkey village with all the retarded retards stay. We then ended up on a dirt path, this led us about a mile through the jungle along the ocean. We arrived on a long white coral sand beach oddly named Long Beach. Much much less crowded and quiet, and just plain nice. We walked around asking all the places what they could offer us, we found a nice place for 500 baht. So we were walking there and then this dope Italian dude came out of no where and told us of another place on top of the hill called Phi Phi Hill. The have small huts over looking the ocean for 400 baht. Man we lucked out! this guy was a life saver. We rented the last two huts that they had. Nice firm beds, clean, and some of the best views I have ever seen, we were blessed with thunder clouds on the horizon, which made for some of the best sunsets and views I have ever seen. Cole and I would look at each other and say WOW look at that light, it was a unreal looking sky that had the best light I have ever witnessed, and it would change for the better every minute.  

Well it just so turned out that Phi Phi Hill had the best and cheapest food, beer, and views of all of the island. We would walk for hours scanning all the places and we would always find ourselves back at our resort, and happy to be back. The view in the restaurant was just stunning. It made the food taste that much better. 

So there is an island near by called chicken island. So I hear that it looks more like a turkey, which really got me going. I love the sound of that. So every annoying dumb ass British bag of shit! (sorry Alverez ur cool) I'd say hey mate, lad, or chap, you from Turkey Island eh? Oi Oi! In my most obnoxious accent I could muster up! I was having a damn good laugh! No one really got it except Cole and I. But it was great. Also something else if you say "smokin tha cock" real fast it means hello is Thai. I thought that was kind of neat? 

We have spent the past two nights lounging out in an AC room with a TV just being lazy as hell enjoying the laid back vibe of Krabi town. From here we are heading to the border of Thailand. We will then head into the peninsular portion of Malaysia. and then we are gonna hit up Singapore, and fly to Bali from there. Oh yeah I cant wait for some Bali. We have a nice support system there with a bunch of cool peeps! it is cheap as hell about the third of the price of what we are spending here, and just as good.

durka durka......

Koh Phi Phi, Here we come

Alright so we are leaving Krabi town, headed to Koh Phi Phi, it is about a 2 hour ferry ride to get there. I am stoked to just be able to be mellow and chill out on the beach and work on my much needed tan. It is where they did most of the filming for the movie "The Beach". I am super stoked, and since it isn't super high season were hoping to find a place that isn't gonna be to over priced. I hear that its a major destination of Scandinavians! Yeah one more blond here to add to the mix. I would just be super happy to get the fuck a way from these stupid British tourists. They seem to ruin everything that's nice about traveling, and for some reason their accents get more and more annoying as time goes by. I often think that British girls sound sexy as hell in the states but when abroad that shit is like nails on the chalk board. And they have so much more cash than I and they just plain bite it!

Non the less I herd that Phi Phi got hit pretty hard from the 2004 Tsunami. They also said that they were up and running again shortly after that. Well as long as they have a beach and some hot babes to look at that's what really matters right!.... Yeah!

Any ways I gotta hit the road and pick up my pack from my old hell hole of a hotel, ironically named Hotel Hollywood. More like run down hot ass hole in the wall. I got attacked by bugs last night my ass is covered in bites and it itches to sit down. Not cool man. I saw a screen on my window thinking hell yeah nothing to worry about, oh but no, I didn't see the two inch gap between the window and the screen. Oh man bit it hard last night.

Well not time to cry about it, gotta move on for bigger and better things, at least I don't have Malaria..... right! fuck that shit. Well island hopping here I come you all better watch out, I got my party pants on baby

Krabi, Thailand

So we left Bangkok last night to take a train all night into the morning to Surat Thani, we got there at five in the morning, then waited around for a bus that would take us towards the west coast of Thailand's southern peninsula. That lasted about four or five hours. Total burn out.

The train was a fun ride, we had a sleeper car with a million other people. It was a total new experience for me. The food car was a pretty fun time. We listened to loud music all night and drank over priced beers. I then started hoping off the moving train at the stations to get a brew for about the third of the price. A bit sketch when it started moving again or the whistle was blowing. I then found out that it wasn't allowed to bring your own drinks into the food car. We acted dumb and like we didn't understand the huge sign posted above. It all worked out until it was time for the staff to go to bed so they kicked us out and wouldn't let us hang in the common area's and told us to close the doors and what not. We argued with the guys for a long while told him we were not tired and we were not gonna go back to the sleeper car and make a bunch of noise and piss everyone off. He took us to the caboose and told Cole and I we could chill back there as long as we didn't open the doors..... Ha right, we waited till he was out of sight, opened all the doors and chilled there for a long while, drank some Thai brandy called Regency or something of that sort until we were about to pass out. And we did so, Slept for about five hours like a champ. Nice comfy beds, the best on the trip so far. All and all it was a pretty cool time. Next time I wanna make sure were better prepared with food and drinks so we don't have to pay Disneyland prices.

So Krabi, its right on a river real close to the beach. It is where all the ferries leave to a lot of the nice islands like Phi Phi, Lanta, and Phuket. They filmed one of the James Bond flicks around here. Dr. No I think??? not sure though. So were gonna hang out here for a bit then head out for Lanta and Phi Phi. Get some much needed Sun rays on my white ass.

Shang Hi headed up north, he got there sound and safe. He is in Chang Mai, He took an over night bus and had a hell of a ride to say the least. The buses here are hit or miss usually miss, and not really hit. Anyways Good Luck Boot!!! hope the north is all the hype, I had to choose the south, the sun just sounded so much better to me.

Well I am gonna hit the sack and get some rays in the AM, till next time peace out.

Jespe.

Stuck in BKK.......

Nah not really. Its been a few days since my last post. I found Colpe and Changboot. They though that I was sick in bed. I was feeling a bit under the weather from some stupid ass street vendor's pad thai I had eaten the night before in a drunken attempt to sober up. It was nothing much I was just trying to go to bed and not be bothered. Any how I did get the shits and they were green as hell. Kind of wigged me out a bit, but that all passed in time.

So Chang boot bought his bus ticket to head up North in the evening of tomorrow, we also might leave then but we have yet to make any solid plans. Were are a bit hesitant due to the 12 hour bus trip to Krabi. Not so cool in my book.

Bangkok is super huge. We went to China town today, Oh my god this place is fucking mad. It is like living a real live rendition of The Oriental Trading Company's magazine. Tons and tons of plastic worthless shit, and I mean SHIT. You cant just buy one, oh no everything is in huge bundles and packets and what not. We wondered the stinky mad streets and well they are more like alley ways with Asian semi's trying to get bye. Total insanity. I couldn't handle it for more than an hour or so. I told them I was gonna head to Na Na place. Its a bit more urban and way the hell more mellow. We all went together and kind of did the same crap we were doing down there.

This country is amazing. I wondered why they have such a low rate of unemployment, and that's because everyone is trying to sell you some crap. There is an everlasting amount of it to go around, anyone can do it. If they arn't selling you crap their selling you massage, sex, tuk tuk rides, or a metered taxi, who don't and wont ever turn their meters on. It is totally nuts. I love it. The rail system is great here. We took it down into the deep urban sprawl today. Air conditioned with TVs advertising weird ass Asian crap or some kind of Collagen that you can drink to look Asian??? I couldn't make it out.

Well that about rounded out the day, it really takes it out of you just walking down the streets here. Trying to hoard away the ping-pong shows, tuk tuk rides, good bang bang suck sucks, or the damn tailors. I mean there are more tailors here than I knew existed. They are all my friend too. Good price Cheap Cheap Same Same. I would buy a suit you know, but the fact that I cant get may balls from sticking to my legs, the thought of a suit is the last thing that would spark my interest. 75 bucks tho. Maybe on the way back I will buy as suit, a Luis Vuitton bag, a Rolex, a Mont Blanc pen, a Burberry Scarf, and some stingray boots. Just to fit in on the plane ride home. Right?.............

Anyhow I think I am gonna head south in the evening and or the day after. The overload of smog and my taste for knock offs have come to an end. Don't get me wrong its good fun here, just not to relaxing. I can buy TP on the way to my bathroom if I please. Where else can you do that. I mean unless your living on the streets of SF or something. Well I got to hit the sack, you all taker easy.....

Jespe.

Bang Cock St Pats

StreetJito's BKK Steelo

Well I have managed to loose my drunken fish named Cole along with Chang Boot? I was woken by Cole at some crazy time to him stumbling around at 4 am. I slept in and have no fucking clue about there whereabouts! Its killing me I checked out of my bedbug filled room and I thought Fish was gonna do the same and we would leave our packs with the front desk and then hop on a night bus and or train to the south! There both fucking ghost!!! Chang Boot was gonna head to the North so maybe he did I have no clue..... I guess I am gonna re rent my fucking room? I cant buy a ticket with out a turkey. Anyhow living it up in BKK, this city is fucking huge and there are so many different parts to it. Urban sprawl and total scumbag markets with slaughtered frogs and eels!

We spent the afternoon yesterday looking for a place to drink Guinness and Jameson's. We found a place but it was like 6 or 7 dollars for a pint and 35 bucks for a little bottle of Jameson's. We sat for a min and contemplated whether we want to spend a weeks worth of shelter and grub on an American holiday that no one even knew about. We opted out of that and decided to hit the streets and find all the makings for Mojitos. I know I know they have nothing to do with the Irish, blah blah baaaaa. But there are green. We also bought a little cocktail shaker and some green dye. We dyed everything, the rum the soda water the lime juice, everything. We set up shop on a busy corner of heavily trafficked part of Koh San Road. We were cold chilling mixing up concoctions and staying green as fuck. We were all dressing in green sipping on green and listening to some smooth jams. No one had a clue on what the fuck we were doing yet everyone wanted to join us and sit and shoot the shit. I think the three of us put down about 2 bottles of bright green rum and were slaughtered by sun down. Out of rum and stumbling around town we hit up some spot to grub on some food, hoping to sober up a bit. We ate some fresh fish and all I could think of was a Thai massage. Oh man these people to how to do it. You can do an oil massage for an hour and it might set you back 8-10 dollars. I went for two hours though. and woke up n my own pile of drool, with this little Thai girls screaming at me It time to go you have to go now. Oh man it was much needed to a rough day of slamming rum. So I picked myself up headed to the hotel and got one more beer, trying to stay awake, and then the Internet guy at the spot was trying to get us to join him at some club to drink buckets of Thai whiskey and red bulls. I said hells no and headed up stairs after my brew for some much needed sleep, that is until some turkey woke my ass up at 4 am. All and all it was a nice St Pats day one I wont forget that's for sure....

Lonley Beach

So we have been on an Island named Khao Chang for the past week. It has been back and forth for me. I love it every night around sunset, and then sometimes I hate it. Like when I get bamboo'd that might not make since to anyone other than Cole and Chang boot. So I have been staying on a stilted little Thai hut. Its on the water, literally when the tide rises every night the water rushes up and can be kind of scary if it rough at all. So referring to being bamboo'd has to do with my boy Chang Boot aka Shang Hi. He had a rough look on his face after waking up at or around 1:30pm. I asked him what was a matter. He told me there was this piece of bamboo that had been smashing against the legs of his hut all night, keeping him up. I totally knew what he was talking about and had seen the large piece of bamboo earlier that day. I too had rocks randomly hitting the legs of my hut, totally scaring the living shit out of me. So it turns out there was some kind of ropes and or fishing net attached to it making it impossible for him to free it. So he went out there boots and all with his belt attempting to attach it to the hut somehow. He said it worked for a bit but the belt failed and it kept him up all fucking night. Man he looked like shit.

So back to that last night I got bambooed by multiple pieces along with my neighbors hut as well. We are attached by a bridge so we can here all the bangs back and forth. This is after I have been a sleep for hours. Somewhere around 3:30 am. I am out there half nekked with my led light trying to locate the culprit. It took me a while to locate them, and I couldnt figure out how the fuck my neighbors was sleeping through this. It turns out he wasnt even in there. He came home to find me searching the premise with a led. He was a Little freaked out and kind of thought I was a nut case. So I pulled out all the pieces I could find, Tried to go back to bed and then it started again. Oh man I was fucking pissed. I get dressed and come outside to find my NZ neighbor with a head lamp on treading trough the surge pulling all kinds of shit out of the water. We had a little bonding moment. It was kind of awesome. but I couldn't sleep after that whole ordeal. It was one of the times I hated Khao Chang.

But the place was cheap. We were nestled in a nice quiet area with rooms around $6.50 a night. Food was cheap as hell and super tasty. We ended up missing our ferry out of there and staying another 2 two nights. We had a blast and a crazy drunken buck nekked swim while it was raining and burnouts were dancing to the half moon party. Nuts and super fun.

Were back in Bangkok now we are gonna spend St. Patty's here and drink some Guinness and get fucked up. We are then parting ways with our buddy Chang Boot. He is gonna head north towards Chang Mai and were gonna head south and do some more island hopping. Not bad not bad at all.... Alrighty have a good st pats you drunken turkey's I will be back on the blog soon enough my friends... till then. keep it real

Here in Khao Chang

So we are in this crazy island about 300 k from Bangkok. It cost about ten dollars to get here from bkk. It was a weird ass bus ride then a 30 min ferry to arrive at a taxi stand where they only take you where they want. We wanted to go in the complete opposite direction of where they took us but they would have charged us 1000% more to do so. They are the only mode of transport as well, so you are kind of biting it no matter what. Well it is nice and hot here. They have no sort of trash system though. So that kind of blows. So we are staying in some sort of huts for around 200 baht a night. Not a bad deal when you pay 50 baht for a beer. Well well i got to go now blah blah blah......

Koh Chang

Well we are getting out of the scummy dirtiness of this huge ass Bangkok. Headed for Koh Chang. Its gonna be a 5 hour trip and about 10 bucks from here. Its a small under developed Island not over ran buy stupid turkey's YET! So its time to get some sun and relax and detox all the tuk tuk smog I have inhaled in the 4 days in BKK. Well I am gonna get more blond eat fresh fish, read by the beach and lamp out for this week!!!! Not to bad huh! Well till I get back to a city I will be over and out! CU all soon..... NOT peace out

Chatuchak: Largest Market Ever

So Yesterday we headed to the largest market I have ever been to. As far as I was concerned the largest in the world. There were around 200,000 people there all wondering around buying and selling shit. They sell absolutely everything, I mean anything. From the map to the left you can see how it is laid out. It is over 35 acers of crap you can buy. We made a meeting place if we were to loose each other, and we lost Chang Boot within five mins of being there. Cole and I wonder around trying things on laughing at Asian turkey's, and looking at the most random nick nacks you could ever imagine. If I were a female I would have been in heaven, well a skinny one. It seems like every thing is small and you cant really fit in it if you are bigger than an Asian. It was perfect for Cole and Chang Boot. They have bird bodies. I was kind of amazed at how cheap everything was. There were not that many knock off things other than Levi's they were everywhere. So after lunch which was in the race for the spiciest thing Jespe could put in his mouth, we headed to another section still wondering aimlessly. We came across this Japanese Hippie bar. They were playing some sweet jams and serving cool drinks. So we sat down and just tryed to relax for a minute. Next thing you know my beer was gone and Chang Boot wondered out of no where. It was kind of randomly amazing. It had been at least 2 hours since we last saw him and we had walked over 10 miles. After another minute or two we decided we should head back towards the casa. Good choice. This day was real nice because we decided to take the water taxi to the sky tram. It was much nicer than the scamming taxi or tuk tuks. We got to see real Thai people of all ages and sizes among there normal daily routines. It was cool to see the city from the river, at its lowest point and then the sky tram at it highest point. We then headed back, sat down with a buddy of ours and then got some well needed foot massages. Much needed and really really nice.

Patpong: Ping Pong Show

So we are all here wondering about Bangkok, and wow this city is huge. We have had two more days and nights filled with all types of adventures. The night before last we set off to an area called Patpong. It is famous for the Thai ping pong shows. It's a real downtown metropolitan area of Bangkok. Tons of sky scrapers and people of all races. We walked around for about an hour being constantly harassed by crazy Thai people to come in for one beer and see ping pong show or live sex show. We did some shopping and sightseeing. Let me tell you Bangkok has the best shopping in the world. From real vintage cloths to the almost real knock offs. The counterfeit items are so close to the real thing you sometimes wonder why people buy the real thing. We then wondered around some more being harassed the whole time, till we were fed up, we then headed to a restaurant and sat down and grabbed some grub. The food is wonderful here. From the little old street vendors selling pad Thai, or the sit down restaurants. The food is also the spiciest food I have ever had, I mean spicy!!! So after dinner we decided we couldn't leave Bangkok with out experiencing a pussy show so we decided on a place by the name Supper Pussy! It didn't hold up to the name. We walk in, more like dragged by some kind of street promoter trying to fill a quota. We are sat down and then they sic the girls on you, and by girls I mean 12-20 girls all wanted to help you with something or other. I was completely overwhelmed by this craziness so I headed to the bathroom to take a piss. I came back and Cole and Shang (aka Chang Boot) had managed to get rid of all the girls, ordered me a 10 dollar beer and were sitting close to the stag. That wasn't the end of it. The girls made there rounds again and again. They came asking for us to buy them a drink for 100 baht, No! Then they start massaging your neck and back which is nice then ask for money for the massage. Another NO! and that pissed them off this went on for about 30 Min's till they thought I was a broke joke. Ah now to the show, I am sure you have all herd your share of Bangkok stories which probably include a ping pong show, but this show, oh man it was one of the lamest shows I have ever been apart of. The girls are third to fifth string, most of them have had kids, and it really shows. They all don't know how to dance. They kind of just wiggle back and forth off beat with the most depressed look on there face.

They all had different skills. One girl would pull ribbons or razor blades out of her, some would shoot darts, blow out candles, smoke cigarettes. Some would drink coke, open bottles, make omelette's and what not. It took these girls forever to do a two to five second trick. And while you are waiting for this the other girls are just working the crowd, and I mean working it. What really surprised me was the amount of British women that were there and they were enjoying it more than anyone else. The show was one of the worst things I have ever been apart of or have seen. They were really busted ass girls. It was a must do though. I was happy in the long run. So anyone going to Bangkok stay far far away from the nasty ass ping pong show of Super Pussy.

Bangkok: Khao San Road

So I made it to Bangkok today around lunch time. The fucking airport is a nightmare. Its a lot like any other third world destination with tourism as the main source of income among the population. This tends breed crooks and scam artists. Everyone is trying to make an extra baht to two. So I got tired of bartering with the old turkey's and decided to take a state regulated taxi with a meter. Yet I still feel like I was among and deep inside another scam. I had to pay 50 baht to leave the airport, then another 40 for some tollway, where the driver tried to pocket the remaining 60 baht in change. I nearly took his head off after that one. All said and done I got to my final destination unharmed and for a decent price. The whole cab was around 440 baht. Its like 16 bucks. I then wondered around for about an hour trying to depict the coded drunken map my boy Cole drew me at the bar the night before we left. It didn't work out so well. So I am on Khao San Road with a huge bag wondering around a bustling street with a hand written map in a third world country. Well back and forth I went, until one real cool Tuck Tuck driver saw me and we hit it off. Which is rare most of them are scam artists and out to take you, in more way than one. He suggested a few spots I should stay, I was hesitant and told him where I thought I was gonna meet my peeps. He told me the spot to go and which direction to head. I think its all gonna work out.

The room I got I don't think it has changed since they filmed Apocalypse Now. I thought I was in some war movie and it was my first day off the base. Its small and almost nasty. But they keep it pretty clean. The ceiling fan is a green powder coated industrial three bladed beast. It reminds me of those old desks that most teachers had way back in the day. I am on the top floor they gave me a towel, no sheets and a pillow yet its only a whopping 9 dollars a day.

So I spent all day trying to get my barrings and see what is going on around my new spot. It seems to be a backpackers ghetto, tons of street food and vendors, lots of sit down restaurants, and bars. Every place you can sit down and eat usually has a room to rent as well. The place I decided on is called the New Siam Guest House. I would recommend it to most of my friends that don't need AC and don't have a suit case (aka stupid girls).

Well I am sitting here after a solo dinner waiting to meet up with my buddies. I have yet to wonder to far from Khao San road, although I have found places to buy almost anything you could think of, real and or fake. Even shit I didn't know existed and or what the hell it is. My dinner was 3 dollars I decided on a coke instead of a beer which would have doubled my dinning cost. I am surprised how costly beer is here compared to everything else. Well that's a taste of whats going on in Bangkok and every day is a new adventure..... so till next time.

Welcome to Singapore

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