Tag: life

B243 – IM BASICALLY A CHEF 

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Yesterday Amy and me had the family come round for some food and for a little catch up, I haven’t really seen any of them since my birthday which was like two months ago, so it was good to see them all, even Esme. 
It wasn’t all straight forward, amy and me had a lot of pressure planning today, from what everyone was going to eat ( I cooked a banging curry) to the most important thing the orange cushion that WE (Amy) had to get. 

Yesterday was the first time we played host to my family and I think I was a success, apart from being a bit short of cutlery and plates but who’s counting anyway.

I’ve normally always been the guy sat in the sofa drinking beers and watching TV so never really worried about what’s going on in the kitchen, I’ve just worried about what time it’s been served. My hat goes off to anyone that’s ever cooked a large meal I’ve eaten, it’s 100% pure stress. 

The cooking isn’t the stressful part, it’s the washing up that’s the stinger, you fill your face and then all of a sudden you’ve got a million plates and hundreds of glasses to wash up, and I don’t even have a dish washer, proper 1950s stuff. 

Anyway, it’s now 5am on Sunday and I’m up and out the door off to work, so I’m going to keep this one short and sweet. Here’s some shots from yesterday. 

– I know it’s weird for dogs to wear clothes but I think Mooney pulls it off –
– mum and flo haven’t a moment, or in reality. Mum trying to get flo to sit still –
– she was scared to the Xmas tree pines –

B237 – SPINACH AND CHICKPEA CURRY – WELL WORTH IT.

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Sunday. The plan was to have a proper chilled Sunday and do nothing, just watch TV and eat food. and thats exactly what we did, only this time I decided to test my cooking skills and see what I could make. After searching the app Yummly we came across a spinach and chick pea curry. It has turned out to be one of my favourite dishes, Ive even got left overs for today and trust me I will be eating them!

I really want to learn how to cook more dishes, its something I actually really enjoy and as some one who lives in London, cooking at home saves you a ton of money, we brought all the ingredients but now we have them if we want to make this dish again, we literally only need to buy chick peas and some potatoes, thats literally dinner for under £2 and trust me it is so worth it.

Heres a list of the ingredients I used and the instructions, trust me give this one a cook and let me know what you think.

Oh my top tip is give the potatoes a little boil before you put them in the pan.

1 tablespoon ghee (or sunflower oil)
1 onions (large, finely chopped)
3 large garlic cloves (finely chopped)
1 piece fresh ginger (peeled and finely chopped)
3 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons Garam Masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
380 grams chickpeas (drained)
390 grams chopped tomatoes
4 potatoes (medium sized, 300g, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes)
500 milliliters vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
100 grams fresh spinach
Directions
  1. Heat the ghee/oil in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until softened.
  2. Add all the spices and cook for a further 1 minute.
  3. Add the chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, potatoes, salt and about half of the vegetable stock. Stir well and simmer gently for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked adding more stock as needed.
  4. Add the spinach and cook for a further couple of minutes or until the spinach has wilted.

It literally took about 30 minutes to make. easy.

I got all this information from the Yummly App, it linked me to a different website called http://www.mygoldenpair.com check out that place for even more recipes.

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– it looked a bit bland till you put the spinach in, but trust me this was worth it –
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– got to get the food shot at the end –
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– this dish has really made me want to cook more –

 

 

B236 – PANIC ATTACKS AND COLOUR CLASHES

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A few months ago amy brought some tickets to see the Kooks play in Brighton, they are a band Ive wanted to see for ages and something which I’ve been excited for since she told me we were going. but before we can go to an amazing gig we had to do something that turns girls like amy into monsters / dictators, I’m talking about is IKEA.  Yesterday we had to venture over to the warehouse of nightmares and shop till my credit card pops.

I saw a side to amy which scared me and it happened in the cushion department, we were trying to work out what colours go with what pattern and what fabric would work with the sofa. I never new that cushion shopping was a thing, I just thought they came with a sofa and that was it. who wrong I was. cushion shopping involves panic attacks and a lot of tongue bitting. Apparently my opinions will be taken into consideration but in the end they will be ignored, she even let me pick a cushion that she chose.

After cushion gate has finished it was time to hit the road and head down to Brighton and meet some good old chums and put the whole ikea experience behind us. the kooks smash it they were literally amazing the lead singer is a guy called Luke Pritchard and he knows a thing or two about performing and somehow have managed to hold down a top spot in British indie music since their album Inside in inside out was released in 2006. what was amazing about the show for me was when the blue curtain came down and he performed an acoustic set, for some reason when you bring the curtain down mid set it really makes the gig feel intimate. if you have the chance to see the Kooks definitely get down to a gig, tonight they are playing in Cardiff and if I could get down there I would.

As I spent the day running round doing a million and one things, all my photos were taken on my phone.

P.s Amy thanks for taking me around Ikea, you’ve given me the interior design bug and also for getting the Kooks tickets!!!!!

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– this part of the set made it worth it –
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– the literally havent aged as a band since 2006 –
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– amy mid panic attack because yellow doesn’t go with the orange of the wall… or does it?! –

B233 – BACK TO LONDON LIV’N

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I have literally just slept for like 12 hours, i cant remeber the last time I spelt for that long and now I feel amazing. Im pretty sure Ive beaten jet lag and now back to normal. my plan for today was to spent the day sleeping on the sofa watching netflix but after a quick phone call with my mate anders im on my way to south london to go rock climbing at some place called the Arches. what happening to just chilling on the sofa.

Its been a bit of a productive day, I also put some blinds up in my living room this morning, but ill show you those tomorrow. I need to get hold of some velcro to finish them off, im not about to show pictures of half a job!

it feels good to be back in London and Im now motivated to get on with what I started 233 days ago! since I’ve been doing a lot of travel recently Ive had time to think of some cool projects I want to start, so I’m now going to spend the next few days seeing if I can put them into practise. work has started to slow down for christmas so Ive now got quite a lot of time on my hands, which is actually quite exciting. I really want to get a lot done in the flat and get it up to a level Im proud of.

Ive had a week of not being able to post and now Im finally back on track and ready to pull my canon 5d out and take some cool photos but first I have 4 episodes of the new Peaky blinders to catch up on, I didnt even realised that it had started again!

here are some photos from yesterday and also a shot from the Grand Hyatt hotel reception, Im struggling to get over this view.

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– climbing yesterday, I think I could have a new hobby –
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– welcome back to london, the best city in the world –
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– see you soon shang hai –

 

B228 – THE HIGHEST BATH IVE EVER HAD

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today a bit of an early start, got a lot happening today but looking forward to getting on with every. its the first day of shooting so need to rush over to location, its like 6am now leaving the hotel at 7 to get there for 8. 

Breakfast, Having Chinese food for breakfast is actually quite a good idea. nothing better than noodles and some fried rice for breakfast. takes a bit of time to get used to drinking a coffee at the same time but its quite good in a weird way. I will dedicate a whole post to the breakfast here, i think it desevers it. I have never seen noddles and seafood for breakfast before.

The jet lag is still real, its probably some of the worst jet lag I have experienced, I keep waking up at like 4am and cant get back to sleep, normally i do some running or maybe a swim but I can get past the hotel bar, which is proving to be a bit of an issue.   One thing to talk about is the fact that the time zone is really confusing and I cant work out what the time is in the UK. I know we are 8 hours ahead but I keep thinking the UK is in front. thats probably the jet lag talking but for some reason my head just cant figure it out. the only good thin about waking up at 4am is the fact that I can have a bath with this view, it is literally the best bath in the world. I don’t think anything will ever compare to it!

My plan for these post while im away is to write some bullet points each day and then when I get back to the UK fill in all the gaps. I think thats probably the best thing for me todo, I will probably regret doing it that way, but I think while I’m here i need to get as much sleep as I can because my days are going to be filled with running around trying to get everything done.  

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– A Breakfast of champions? –
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– sorry for the bad light, I didnt want to turn the lights on at 5:30am, this was a bath to remember –
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– looking up inside the hotel –

B226 – THIS IS NOT THE END! I PROMISE!!!!

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Day one of China, is off to a great start after landing Wednesday morning completely jet lagged) I did that thing where you don’t sleep on the plane and it just completely throws you off, always try and sleep on long flights). I went out on a little adventure the some of the crews and explored Shang Hi a little, this place is pretty cool and naturally one thing turned into another and we ended up in this weird secret tunnel which runs under the Bund river. its kind of like something out of a low budget James Bond film, with loads of LED’s on the walls and theres weird sounds like Joshua in War Games.  Im trying to compare everything to films I know as Shang Hi just feels like everything is out of some classic film. Naturally after spending 40 minutes explores it quickly turned into a hunt of classic Shang Hi bar which then turned into us in a local Irish bar down the road. why would we go any where else? it was a great afternoon / evening bar crawl and I wish I had more stamina to make it to the club but my bed was calling.

Im now laying in bed and have been awake since 3am its now 6am and I thought I would spent sometime and get this post done. before I jump in my bath and watch the sunrise over Shang Hi, how cool does that sound. I just hope the smog doesn’t ruin my view.

Tomorrow is the first day of production and Im looking forward to seeing everyone and getting stuck in with work so this next bit isn’t easy to write, but I am now going to have to stop posting my daily photos till I get back to the UK. I need to respect the production company I am working for and if they say no photos, that has to mean no photos. I am still going to write these posts and find something to photograph outside of work, but I wont be posting until I get back to the UK and get the green light. its the one thing I really didn’t want todo, I am determined to keep this up for 365 days but the next six days are going to have to be posted next week. I will still take at least three photos a day I promise!

If you cant take not reading my posts on a daily basis, then why don’t you just start reading from B001 again. I will buy the first person to tell me how many photos I have posted up to this date a christmas gift.

Heres my photos from today see you guys in a week when I promise I will post all the days that Ive missed!!!!!! Ill post 5 pictures today so its not all doom and gloom.

Also dont forget I have my first print for sale, heres the link.

https://joshfspear.com/about/prints/

GET INVOLVED!

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– the view from my room, cant complain about this one –
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– the view from my bath, definitely cant complain about this –
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– taking the secret tunnel to the otherside of the river yesterday, one of the weirdest experiences of my life –
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– just your average street, I cant get over how big the traffic lights are –
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– this place is open 25 hours a day –

 

B225 – IT HAD TO BE ME THAT SAT THERE!

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Im writing his mid flight and have just flew over the border between Belarus and Russia, its about 7 hour 45 minutes till we reach shanghi. I could go on to talk about what I did this morning but my travel buddy bean thinks we should do a review of the plane and to be honest I could agree more.

Today we are travelling on an Airbus A380 with Virgin Atlantic travelling in Premium Economy, which is actually a good flight for a number of reasons.

  • The space. As someone who is 6ft 1 AND A half inches tall, I have a problem when it comes to travelling and that is my arms and legs they basically make me langkey and mean that I’m either squashed with the person next to me or have my legs spread out half my down the asile. It means long journey’s can feel even longer. It also mean that’s you can have your laptop out and not take up the seats on either side of you, perfect for trying to get a blog post done by the time I land. I’m determined to keep these post scheduled for 10am each day.
  • The service is really good, long flights can be a pain but nothing is better than some good service and some good food. The Air hostess is really good and that cant bring food and drinks around enough, after dinner they even brought round brandy and some amertotto liquor, what more could you want.
  • I don’t want to go on about it but when you get on the plane they even give you this little Hershals pouch thing with all your tooth brushes and stuff inside. It’s a small thing, but compared to last month flying on Air Canada Rouge where you need a tentnus shot before you get on the plane. so this little pouch is a big deal.

 

My only problem with the flight is that I kept on backing the chair, I accidently sat on the side arm and now it plastic cover keeps on falling off and now its fallen off completely, and my table now bounces around when I try to eat of use my laptop, the air stewardess did they and help me but I think it’s a lost cause.  Its kind of my fault anyway but could probably do with a little redesign. Not biggy Richard, I know you have a lot on at the moment.

Im looking forward to seeing this part of the world and exicted to start taking pictures of the completely new place. Im also exicted to crack on and get to work, its so hard for me not to say what it is im doing here, but I promise as soon as I get the green light you guys will know.

UPDATE: Im at the hotel and we may have a problem, google doesnt work and thats where I look up words I dont know how to spell or words im not too sure on. Im now officially in trouble, my spelling could get a lot worst over the course of this week. So sorry for that, and please just ignore them

Heres my photos from the plane.

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– this is bean taking her pre flight instagram shot –
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– B&W photo of a plane window –
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– always working, and enough space so she doesnt hit me with her elbows –
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– dont mind if I do –
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– I broke the chair, not sure its completely my fault, more wrong place wrong time I think –

 

B224 – I dont like being an adult

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Well the day in a life of josh is one of pure excitement, today was the first time in over two months that I have actually had a afternoon during sun light at my flat for me just to enjoy. My plan head home at 2pm quickly edit some photos from the short film I have been working on yesterday and this morning, before sitting down to watch some tv and chill. well, that quickly went out the window. after turning on the kitchen tap I quickly realised it was blocked like properly blocked, my only option was to take the sink piping apart and see if I could fix it, with no luck and time not on my side I had to make the call to a local Plumber and cough up the money for him to turn up with a £3 plunger and fix the proper in under 20 minutes. lets just say I had to pay him enough money to buy about 55 plungers, but least its fixed now and I suppose I can no fix the problem if it happens again. so I guess I’ve learnt something new today.  I dont want this to be what its like being an adult, why do I have to worry about these kind of problems.

tomorrow is the day I fly to China for a week long job and as some of you may know China doesn’t allow social media and I think that include WordPress. The job im also going on have said that not a single photo can be taken which means that for at least 15 hours of the day Im going to be somewhere I can take photos. Making this blog even more harder todo each day. Im basically going somewhere, that its literally impossible for me to Blog from both by the government and by the production company. But I am josh spear and I can make this work, just like I managed to get my kitchen sink fixed…

any way here are my photos from today, I would like to say how much fun I had the past two days on that short film and cant wait to share it with you and i would also like to add that everyone should owner a decent plunger. it will save you a lot of money in the future.

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– rory wanted me to post a picture of me, so here it is. enjoy –
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– I took this sink apart and in return got covered in drain unblocker acid, smart one josh –
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– there only one place amy and me could go after that event. the pub –

B223 – WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO WORK ON A SUNDAY

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I really don’t want to ruin the surprise and think it wouldn’t be fair for me to say, over the course of today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday) but I’m working with a really cool bunch of people on a short film that is more of a passion project, which is a really refreshing little project after the mammoth production i’ve been on this last few months.

Today we were out in the elements filming and I can safely say I didn’t have no where near enough layers on. But how else was I meant to spend my Sunday? other than standing on the cold streets of London filming a pretty cool short film. I promise as soon as I can I will share it with you guys, but not until I get the green light from the production company. its just not fair. what I can say though is that its a really cool story and I think is something everyone should watch for the sole reason its a 2017 modern film that covers a lot of ground not geographical but socially and makes that scene in Notting Hill where Julia Roberts says that famous line ” Im just a girl standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her”, yea that line. well this short has come up with a way of making that line look pretty casual.

Ive also had a few mix responses about giving that homeless guy £20 yesterday to get himself shelter at a charity for two weeks. Ive come to this conclusion, and think if he was telling the truth then giving him £20 to have a shower and a roof over his head for two weeks is a pretty good deal and I hope would help to put him on the right tracks and sort everything out, life’s always better after a hot meal and a decent sleep. Living in bethnal green I have met my fair share of crack heads and I know most of them pretty well, you see them on a day today basis. This guy didn’t look like that, his eyes weren’t like theirs and he didn’t talk like them. he seemed decent and if he was lying to me and spent the money of a beer and some drugs then can you blame him, ive been out in this weather all day and its freezing, I was lucky enough to have a warm puffer jacket and a good supply of coffee, but he didn’t and was still wet from the rain the night before and as long as theres homeless people on the streets I will continue to give them some of my change and maybe the odd Tesco’s meal deal because bethnal green has so many homeless people that I just don’t think charities can help everyone. and if your not happy with what Ive done, then imagine being on the streets alone and then someone gives your £20, it gives you an opportunity to make that day slightly easier than yesterday.

Sorry for the spelling mistakes, i hope it hasn’t been the downfall of my conclusion.

Heres my photos from today, enjoy.

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– da boyz da crewdem Frame ratez. touring to an antiques store near you –
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– this beauty –
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– a shot which might be near a location we filmed at but it might not be, you will have to watch the film to see –

 

B221 – THIS IS BIG NEWS!

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Firstly I just want to say sorry for this post being late, Ive done what everyone needs todo every now and again, have a proper lay in. Not a Jet lag weird sleep thing but a proper lay in, may be it had something todo with the hangover im experiencing at the moment or maybe its just my body enjoying a beautiful Saturday like it deserves.

The big news of today is that Ive done something that Ive wanted todo for a long time but haven’t had the focus to and that gets some prints made of one of my favourite photos. The reason its taken so long is because I didn’t just want to get the prints made straightway, the thing is I know nothing about paper or printing but understand that printing is a massive part of photography so I needed to go and speak with someone to understand more about the paper, geeky I know but who wouldn’t want to spend their lunch hour looking at different types of paper. In the end I went for the Hahnemuhle Pearl paper, which is 285gram per sheet of pure paper magic.

Im not expecting to sell loads of prints and its mainly to keep my parents of moaning at me that I need to get some made so they can put one up in their Living room. its quite exciting though and will be good to know if people actually like my photos I suppose. Ive got three already packaged up and ready to go and another two that might take a bit more time to get out the door, but I promise if you do order one I will get it to you as quick as possible and if you live in London I will personally deliver it to you! and I will also ship anywhere world wide but postage in the UK is free. World wide I’m going to have charge you extra, sorry thats just the way it is.

Heres the link to the print!

https://joshfspear.com/about/prints/

right, any way its now time for a Nandos and kick this hangover.

Get buying people!

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– so happy with how my prints have turned out –
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– me examining paper –
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– this was a good paper, heavy which is better –