GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

I popped up in Athens to face a phalanx of police riot shields. In LA, Stephen Spielberg's mother showed me her wall of fame to her son (it's on the way to the restroom). Then there was Occupy London ... and the $10/night Kung Fu hostel in Hong Kong with its Changi prison aesthetics and crazed woman who refused to budge from my bunk bed … SPOT PLANKING: One of the funnest things you can do in Geneva at the Gagosian Geneva gallery. Thanks to Johan @Gogo for being a great sport! My latest escapade was a complete departure from anything I've done before - the Damien Hirst Spot Challenge - a kind of global scavenger hunt where you had to dash around visiting 11 galleries showing his Spot Paintings (NY-LA-London-Paris-Geneva-Rome-Athens-HK), and as a reward, receive a print personally dedicated to you by the older YBA himself. It was one of the stressful and exhilarating adventures I've ever undertaken. The full spot-by-spot journey is thrashed out on my art s...

90 SECOND TRAILER (YouTube) WATCH on YouTube DVD Sleeve. Click on image to read it.  UPDATE: 20-min (full-length) video of this tour on YouTube Earlier, 2004 movie, 16,000 Feet on a Friday: 3-min trailer | 1-min trailer Donations for these Peru Projects - administered by FPC Global Outreach - are always welcome and appreciated. As you can will see in the videos, they're put to good and immediate use! To donate, contact Lon Haldeman, haldeman@pactour.com PACTOUR PERU PROJECTS | LON'S BLOG Delivering books to remote schools along the Amazon. I'M JUST BACK from my second expedition in Peru with cycling legend and tireless philanthropist  Lon Haldeman of PACTOUR . The 17-day, non-stop itinerary involved several charitable projects:  a shopping trip for a home for abused and homeless girls;  delivering books to remote schools along the Amazon;  visiting two schools that PACTOUR built near the jungle town of Iquitos; inviting street kids to a...

I'm suddenly the lucky owner of this homage to Mr Sulu/George Takei - since it's about art, go forth and read about it on my ChelseaGallerista blog .

The Cat Attack: A little remote controlled mouse with skittish attachment keeps cats on their toes  (shot on my iPhone, a bit of drumming by the Greenpoint Marching Band in Hudson, 2010) Let's face it: it's generally more fun to watch a white elephant gift exchange than a traditional Christmas gift opening. Same ole, same ole, given and received with gracious grimaces - sox, books, TJ Maxx gloves, scarves (OK I was guilty of gifting a few from my recent Peru video shoot ), tins of mass produced shortbread butter cookies ... oh wouldn't I kill to see someone gift a black velvet flocked painting to a serious art lover! But this year, after teaching a Christmas Day yoga class, I was generously invited by a student to a wonderful gathering and saw a particularly fresh stocking stuffer: It's called a CAT ATTACK: a remote-controlled toy with convincingly twitchy, skittish mousey moves. Three laser-pointer-blasé cats - a tuxedo, a tortoiseshell and a cali...

A Galfromdownunder Traffic Cone Bag in a pear tree! (More shots of this on my Traffic Cone Blog ) Avagoodone, as we say Downunder! Thanks to artist  Pamela Talese for taking these shots, and loaning me her silver Nutcase helmet. 

At Westville Cafe, NYC, Sep 2011 Ten Years After the Fact Dept:  I was delighted to meet Aussie ESPN Sports commentator and all-round creative guy Thai Neave ( Thai Neave Photography ) who brought his old, tattered Random House copy (circa 2003) of my book to brunch - and loaned me his GoPro helmet cam to try out in my upcoming Peru trip. Apparently Thai was inspired to make his own trip to Cuba as a result of reading my book! Here's Thai in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNlA7L_07Yo

Where I first landed: Bike Friday in Eugene, Oregon USA I had just arrived in the USA , and was interning at Bike Friday, Eugene, Oregon. Every morning at 8am was a sales meeting. I was transitioning from being a nite owl in Central America to a morning person in the USA, and judging from the empty chairs around the sales manager's cubeless cube, I wasn't the only one. Nonetheless, I managed to get to the shop by 7.58am, park my bike in the garage at 7.59am and wandered through the small break room where, unusually, the TV was on. One of the new salesguys, Michael Kelly, was standing in front of it, staring. "What are you watching?" I asked. "World Trade Center," he said simply. I saw the smoking towers on the old fuzzy box (even then, this was a clunky old telly with a bubble screen) but it didn't register. I thought it was a special effects movie and Michael was indulging in a bit of pre-work viewing. I mean, everyone in 'merica ...