| (no subject) |
[Oct. 12th, 2006|10:59 pm] |
I am posting this again
because it was a magical day
and I think
things like this
deserve to be relived
in our minds. |
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| conversation with brother |
[Oct. 11th, 2006|06:52 pm] |
me: yo
7:23 PM Chris: yo
me: sup?
Chris: nuttin
me: cool
7:24 PM Chris: yeah
me: awesome
Chris: yeah
me: ok
Chris: what
me: nuttin
Chris: yeah
7:25 PM me: cool
Chris: ok
me: yeah
Chris: nuttin
me: what
Chris: yeah
7:26 PM me: yo
Chris: ok
me: sup?
Chris: awesome
me: cool
7:27 PM Chris: what
me: ok
Chris: yeah
7:28 PM me: nuttin
Chris: cool
me: ok
Chris: awesome
me: yeah
Chris: nuttin
me: what
7:29 PM Chris: yo
me: nuttin
Chris: arab |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 14th, 2006|08:54 pm] |
sexual penetration of a corpse
Let's get this ball rolling. Go to page 154 of the document (which is found at page 21 of the third PDF link). Didn't spend the last 12 days working 10+ hour days as a copy editor/proof reader to let that juicy insertion get taken out. I'm very pleased the review is over. Got tanked at the House of Lords last night, reckon I was inches away from a) being evicted; or b) vomiting all over the Lord Chancellor. Good times. |
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| Fucking gay housemates |
[Jul. 6th, 2006|06:43 pm] |
Looking for a new housemate for a room that's being vacated.
It sucks.
It was OK before, but not now. I like the housemates that remain, but I reckon they're fucking up the process. |
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| Shadow @ Wireless review + more |
[Jun. 28th, 2006|03:48 pm] |
It was like Dusk Til Dawn. Started with the usual Endtroducing/Private Press stuff to be expected. Place was so crowded I couldn't get into the tent, and a little part of me died when he played Changeling and I couldn't hear it properly.
Then the vampires came out. It cranked and crunked up for a few tracks. All of a sudden, Keak da Sneak, Turf Talk and others came out. It was unexpected, as their earlier shows had been cancelled cause of visa issues. People left, I got in the tent, and while it wasn't the Shadow most fools expected, I enjoyed it.
This then ended, and all of a sudden Lyrics Born stepped on stage. This was unexpected times one million. They played a Quanuum track. Then they played Lady Don't Tek No ... DOPE. They did Mashin on the Motorway (unfortunately not followed up by Blood, but I ain't complaining ...) DOPER. Then Shadow finished with Number Song and Organ Donor, like In Tune and On Time style.
It would have been the greatest show ever if I hadn't just seen the Flaming Lips who had just set the standard for best gig of all time 5 minutes before I rocked up to Shadow.
Thankfully, Shadow didn't play any UNKLE rubbish. I know a lot of people like the UNKLE stuff, and I do like a fair chunk of it, but compared to the usual stuff Shadow pumps out, it's fairly B-grade. I got the feeling that quite a few people were turned off by Hyphy. It is a very jarring sound - that 3 Freaks chorus isn't exactly a brilliant hook, but it has a unique sound to it than endears after a few listens. In the end, whether you liked Hyphy or not, the set was worth it from start to finish, and I'm glad I went.
I like Hyphy anyway.
But Shadow is nothing compared to my new favourite band. The Flaming Lips had a profound effect on me. It's easy to write up a new favourite band as many people do, but I've never felt such a surge of happiness while at a live gig. Completely natural before anyone second guesses. From the opening with Wayne Coyne in the bubble, to when they rocked the whole park with Bohemian Rhapsody (a note perfect performance), right up to where they had a guy propose to his girlfriend on stage in front of the whole crowd, it was amazing. (She said yes by the way - and they were both members of the alien dancers that The Flaming Lips had on stage).
It sounds gay, but The Flaming Lips know how to inject a little happiness and magic into the world, and it fucking made my day. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 15th, 2006|07:51 pm] |
Our trip to Paris was pretty enlightening for me. I've read up pretty extensively on French history, and quite frankly they all seemed like a bunch of cunts back in the day. While the English are constantly pilloried, I still think there's somehing charming about the way they've done things, at least in the greater sphere of European colonialism. Whereas the French, they were just bitches. And this has extended to the modern era.
For example - why is French still considered an international language? It isn't even in the top 10 of most spoken languages in the world (it's 18th), and even doesn't have a wide geographic distribution (Spanish and Arabic are spoken in far more countries than French). Even in the EU, there are more native German speaking peoples than French.
But these issues are left behind when you visit the place.
I was there last summer and I thought it was great. While a lot of people were rude to us in the south of France (while no ruder than what I've copped in London, or even Sydney), I still enjoyed the sunshine, wine and food. When we were in Paris, the food really nailed it for me.
It happened again when we went to Paris last week. It was rad. I loved it. It was freezing but that didn't matter.
So now, I've decided to teach myself French. It's going to be hard, but I reckon I can do it. I was going to learn Japanese, but I don't think I'll be able to do it without proper teaching.
News about that Abu Gharaib shit on now. Man, I wish there was a ANOTHER PLANET I could go to. This one sucks. |
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| a note |
[Jan. 20th, 2006|12:41 am] |
more people seem to be replying to jello girl's livejournal than mine, which is disappointing, because while i am misanthropic, i naturally have a more interesting livejournal.
no offence alice, it's just difficult to understand how i could be less popular. |
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| oh feelin' pretty buzzed |
[Jan. 20th, 2006|12:34 am] |
i just drank a whole bottle of merlot.
feelin' pretty good.
today i was responsible for a tapered fee scheme design for legal aid practitioners. the idea behind that is that the longer a lawyer works on a case, the less they get paid. the fee diminishes over time, which is an incentive to be efficient. it's more fair than a lump sum payment for case, yet much less fair than paying a set hourly rate. a rough guide to tapered fees for dummies.
tuesday i worked 15 hours, wednesday only a mere 10 hour day. getting moneyed up.
did you know that for England and Wales £2.1 billion is spent on legal aid? that shit is massive. no wonder they wanna reform it. and here i am preparing dossiers on why a tapered fee scheme promotes efficiency yet retains fairness.
i'd like another bottle of merlot, but i should probably go to bed.
later. |
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| shit that i purchased in the US |
[Jan. 14th, 2006|12:54 am] |
i bought some stuff in the US, and have pics of some of it below.
Via Spiga Kafel's - normally retail @ $200 US, i grabbed them for $70. They are sweet.
Italian leather gloves with kashmir lining, normally $70, my purchase $32
I succumbed to the nano craze, but they're practically essential for the dreary London commutes to work.
I bought a hasidic jew. Shalom
i also purchased a green lacoste polo shirt and levi's jeans for general purposes. clothes are so cheap there it's ridiculous.
....
( and now for a segue proper into the US trip. ) |
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| ready to rock, ready to roll |
[Dec. 16th, 2005|10:47 pm] |
... 2005.
What a year. First, living in the hectic, hellhole of Chalk Farm upon Camden. But all was fixed when we made our way to the leafy burbs of West Hampstead. Different surrounds made for different moods, and we'll be finishing the year on a high that was unimaginable 6 months ago. In 3 1/2 hours we'll be jetting to San Francisco, then after 5 days onwards to NYC, the place I've always dreamed of going ever since I can remember. If the modern world has a Rome, then New York is it.
So as the end of the year rapidly approaches, I feel it is my duty to the world to sum up what's been happening. And since I have no creative urge, I'm going to give my top 5 in music...
- John Legend - Ordinary People
This song defines my first year of living with Alice. Listening to the lyrics, it sounds like it was written for us, in one of those corny moments that 5 years ago I would have laughed at. In a way, I still laugh at the sentiments now, and feel far removed from the person I once was. I'm no longer the jaded kid who loved punk music and hated RnB. On occasions I still shirk at RnB, but punk Gravy has died, possibly never to return.
- Pendulum - Girl In The Fire
This song is to drumnbass as what Stairway To Heaven is to rocknroll. And while there is much contempt for the Pendulum guys in the dnb community, and that dnb is such a marginalised music that very few people will hear this and realise, I feel (and this is purely my opinion) that this song is the most important, brilliant song in drumnbass for years. You can disagree, but I believe that it would be criminal for Pendulum to restrict themselves to drumnbass after making this song. They've already fucking nailed the best song the genre could produce (at least production wise), that any follow up attempts would ludicorusly fall short. Many may disagree, citing cheese amongst other slanders, but a classic always comes with a little cheese, and this is a classic. In fact, it's not even drumnbass. The more I listen to this song, the more I realise that they've merely used dnb as a vehicle to get into an otherwise crowded music scene. Maybe I'm just drunk and rambling. This song comes in at two cause John Legend's voice beats it.
- Kanye West - Gold Digger
Yeah, Kanye's rhymes and flow aren't creative, and pretty formulaic. But I like this song. Stab me if you don't. Gwan.
- Sparfunk and Ed Solo - The Rapture
I heard more and more people cry that drumnbass was stagnating, but this track proved to me that there's still a bomb track out there which can rock a dancefloor and be perfect for a home listen. Still not sick of this song. In one 8 bar movement completely redeems clownstep
- Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
These guys are inescapable in the UK. I disliked them at first, felt them rather predictable and formulaic. But after months of heavy bombardment I gave in and decided to d/l the album, THE WEEK BEFORE THE SYDNEY RIOTS. So poignant, there's something in that for everyone. Pretty catchy song too. Good to see something other than Tube bombing terrorists came out of Leeds this year.
Feel free to disagree. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. |
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| interview me! |
[Oct. 12th, 2005|06:45 pm] |
I'm joining in on this, braap!
Here are the rules:
1 -- Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 -- I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 -- You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 -- You'll include this explanation.
5 -- You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
( Answers to questions ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 10th, 2005|11:11 pm] |
 Let's dance ... ... in my car  |
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| a bit of the old in out |
[Oct. 5th, 2005|09:27 pm] |
Ludwig van ...
Everyone knows the story. Beethoven went wrote a shitload of music, couldn't get laid and then went deaf. He wrote his 9th Symphony after he'd gone completely deaf which makes it even more astonishing. It's been featured in awesome movies (notably A Clockwork Orange), is the European Union's anthem, and is said to be the reason that CDs are 74 minutes long, which is the exact length of his 9th Symphony.
But it's most awesome use was in an episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion. If only that show focused more on the fight scenes and less on the psuedo-philosophy.
One day I will return to Japan ...
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| Food poisoning: A footnote and a header |
[Oct. 2nd, 2005|06:28 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | B*witched - C'est La Vie | ] |
This picture represents how I am feeling right now ...
This overseas jaunt began with chronic food poisoning for me and Alice - my female companion suffered whilst in Tokyo, and I on arrival in London. Strangely enough, I've been rather ill more often this year than the previous 4 years. The combination of poorer diet and the stress of living out of home have combined to make me more susceptible to disease.
Anyway, food poisoning has cruelly struck me down again, for the third time this year. Being restricted to bed for this weekend has left me in a contemplative mood. As in it's time to sum up the past 8 months.
We're a third of the way through our alloted time on this sceptred isle, and things have progressively gotten better. I don't think I've ever experienced the prolonged exhaustion that accompanied our first two weeks in London. A culmination of many different stressful factors: packing for the trip in the week prior, the Big Day Out the day before we left, the redeye flight to Japan, the craziness of getting drunk with freaky Japanese at a psytrance rave (I found that very stressful!), the mega problems with baggage and Lufthansa (this has stained my soul) and to top it all off - jetlag.
Things got better, slightly, when we found a place to live, and then found jobs. Neither were great but they helped. We should have used this good fortune as stepping stones to something better. Unfortunately, we stuck through both until the bitter end. Best to know better.
But enough dwelling on the bad shit. We've found better paying jobs and better accomodation and our life has become ... better. Nonetheless, the first 6 months over here was a pretty tough experience and these circumstances are something I'll be keenly aware of wherever I go next.
To the next 16 months!
Oh, and on New Orleans front: it turns out they actually required a US work permit. Perhaps if I was awesomely qualified they would have waived it. But at least I tried. C'est la vie.
See how cultured I've become? I know French ... actually I learned that phrase from that awesome song by B*witched which had a Riverdance breakdown. Top stuff.
And now for some sheep improv ...
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