Distant Heat or Distant Shit!

Ok, so the last time I was at a “rave” or a party where they played techno, house and trance I was in Acapulco. I absolutely hate that kind of music and promised myself I wouldn’t ever succumb myself to that kind of environment again. Well Desert Heat is a annual rave that takes place in the middle of Jordan’s desert. I was asked to photograph this party and was being paid for it so I decided to give it a chance. Even though I would hate the music, the setting was pretty cool so I thought I’d go see what’s up. I got there with my press pass, passed all the lines and seated myself with a hukah. The setting looked pretty good as you can see from the pictures. But I gotta say that it was, without a doubt, the worst party I had ever been to. It was worse than that time that baby seal died in my lap…yeah Ben, I remember!

Any way what was so horrible. Lets see, the DJ’s were absolutely atrocious, no flow at all. The music would cut off from time to time. The people there were either on too many drugs or not enough. Not one raver was there, it was just a bunch of jerk off arabs with glow sticks waving their arms around. The management of the event had hired dancers to entertain the crowd. They had to be some of the fattest chicks in skin tight suits I have ever seen….absolutely repulsive.

It was suppose to last till 8 am but at 3 I retired and went to my cab and slept till Rupert was done. I didn’t even take good pictures. I had no interest at all.
6 am we left and got lost in the desert. We were in the middle of no where on no road at all. The cabbie tried to assure us that he knew what he was doing but I could swear we were going in circles.

What was interesting about this whole event was that it was happening in Jordan, in a muslim country. And it went on despite all the destruction around them. People have opposing views on this. One side thinks that it is inappropriate to have an even like this with what’s going on in Lebanon. The other side (the side I am on) thinks that an event like this shows the world that despite the troubles in our lives and the lives of people around us, we can celebrate life, being young and have fun. (even despite the ironic fact that they are celebrating through western means of entertainment.)

Whatever, worst party ever...after this you cant pay me enough to go to a rave. yadiG!

To see all pictures from this event click here.

What would you take?

Over here the weekend is Friday and Saturday. I spent Most of the day off inside and sleeping. I went out just to explore the neighborhood but that’s about it. Watched movies and slept.
I don’t like not doing anything and at the moment I cant do any work. Not for vane, because I don’t have internet at the apt yet. None for NOX because when you have a real job you don’t bring your work home.
I’m going to try not to be too political and give a very objective view of what’s going on in the region around me. The Israel/Lebanon conflict is going strong. Most of everyone in Jordan, muslim or not, thinks that the steps Israel is taking to eliminate the presence of Hezbollah in Lebanon are unnecessary. Today Israeli airplanes showered sheets of paper throughout southern Lebanon stating that in order to achieve their goals a ground invasion is quite possible and civilians should evacuate immediately.
What do you take with you when evacuating your home(land)? I was thinking about this. What would I take with me if I was to evacuated and only could take a book bag with me, knowing that if/when I come back my house might be flattened to rubble. I have so many possessions that I am either attached to or need. However in the end a decision needs to be made. You can grab your passport and basically be ok, but for me my hard drive, laptop and camera would be in a bag on my back. And if I was given the option of taking only one of those. It would be my hard drive. It contains most of my work, documents, pictures I have taken to document my life and music that took years to find and download.
I hope I never have to make a decision like this but may God be with the people who are making this decision as you read this.

Click on the comments link below and share what you would take with you if you have to make a decision like this.

Day 1

Visually the City reminds me of Pakistan. However I do feel a little lost in translation literally. All the writing here is similar to Urdu (which uses the same alphabet as Arabic) but even though I can read it I don’t know what it says. Sometimes the roads and buildings look too similar to Pakistan that I get deceived.
I woke up 3 hours before our ride was to pick us up for the office. I was going to take a relaxed day but ended up going. Rupert and I picked up Eddie, my editor in chief, on the way there. Really chill, funny, early in his thirties. Got to the office. Which isn’t incredible but isn’t bad. I have my own little corner.

The office is understaffed but that means that I am in complete control of the photo dept. I don’t really have people working directly under me but there are people who work for all the departments. Its interesting how they have it set up. I have a lot of control over how the magazine will come out visually. I’m still trying to get the hang of it.

After lunch my jetlag was kicking in but I stuck it out till 6 and went home passed out for a little>internet café> and then met up with Rupert and Eddie at a place called Beer Garden.

Nice chill place. Everyone was smoking hookahs there. We talked about everything from politics, the magazine, the future, women etc Speaking of women. There are 2 types of them. No 3 types. Either they are really hot or very very average looking. The third kind is interesting. It’s the rich average looking girl turned hot because of money. Their expensive clothes, freshly beauty salon styled hair and make up, and plastic surgery makes them look half way decent. The type of girl that only comes out at night because they look like shit during the day.

I hate flying!

The flight was horrible. I have decided that I hate to fly.

It started raining in New York and because of that we were delayed almost 3 hours. They could have told us that before we got on the plane. I don’t mind waiting in the airport but in a seat cramped with babies and fat people it was so not fun.
Sitting right next to me was a father who had probably a 1 year only on his lap and the seats next to him he had three more kids probably all a year older than each other. In the end I counted he had 8 kids.

So there were 8 kids 1-8 years olds. Horrible sitting in the middle of all that. They were all crying and whining. “Baba I have to go pee pee” I must of heard that 9,000 time. No joke. And the damn baba wouldn’t take anyone to the bathroom. I think two of the kids peed themselves.

So diagonal to me, was seated the fattest 17 year old boy you have ever seen. So fat that he was spilling over to the next seat. I felt bad for the woman sitting next to him good thing she was skinny. So this was probably my only form of entertainment because I got to see a day (on a plane) in the life of a really fat kid. So you know how plane food is absolutely disgusting. Well this kid would eat every single edible item on the tray given to him and even after that he would solicit his neighbors asking them if they were gonna finish their fruit or bread or their left over meals. Fat Fuck. He ate everything that was put in front of him. After I while I was tempted to take the baby sitting next to me and place it in front of him and see what would happen.

I finally get to Amman. Rupert, the picture editor of Skin (the female magazine), comes to pick me up. Nice british dude. We went back to bryan and his apt. Honestly I was expecting something beat of and old. Dimly lit, smelly and what not. It turned out to be pretty nice and cozy. For not I am staying in Bryans bed. He is in Beirut and couldn’t finalize my apt situation before he was sipped there. So till he gets back this is my home. I’m getting tired of temporary living spaces. I have been doing that for the past 4-5 years. I just want me own place. It doesn’t have to be incredible. Just something I can goto and call home. I don’t mind sharing the Apt with someone but I doubt I can find a roommate in a city where I hardly know anyone.





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its funny how this is what the Jordan Times said as i read the paper waiting for my flight to take off.


I guess i'm sending all my money to Vane then!
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Jordan

I (a member of the vane family) am going to Jordan tomorrow. It's an interesting time to goto the middle east. Not only is the area conflicted but peoples views on what's going on are conflicted as well. I'll be posting a lot about what I see and experience there. Feel free to ask questions in the comments link below and I will gladly respond. Check back regularly for updates.


PS. Jordan is about to become Vane...

You tell me....

apples

It's a little insane that this place never closes.

I went there to buy a point and shoot digital camera. They only had 2 for me to choose from. I didn't like either one.

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Fuckin eye candy!

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BnH wont fail me on this one!

Walk / Dont Walk

Sometimes even the city tells me what to do.