Sunday evening...

Hey all,

I'm down here typing instead of watching Top Gear. I think I'll catch the midweek repeat if I really feel a craving for the blokey good fun of watching three well paid blokes talking about cars I'll probably never drive.

Yesterday:

The picnic was pretty ordinary, full of netsters that didn't interest me much. I should have expected as much.

Fortunately by the time I found it (Hyde Park is bloody big) they were about to head to Camden.

Not wanting to be stuck in the Dev with them all, I took option B, which was take a look around the Camden Markets for a bit.

Bought glowstick at Cyberdog, bought bootlaces at the Doc Shop and bought some sweet and sour pork at a stand in the lock.

Back to the Dev, then on to the Marlborough Head, hung with some friends there, then onto Slimes. The journey took fifteen minutes longer than it should have, because the Northern Line train got stuck somewhere in South London.

At least that meant that I managed to chug my way through The Wasp Factory some more.

Slimelight? Most notable thing was running into Alex B, who was flyering for this coming Friday. In the process of our conversation he told me that a good event reviewer doesn't use first person, as demonstrated in Terrorizer. First person is too subjective, it takes away the sense that this is an objective review.

I like using first person, if only because it appeals to my gonzoid writing sensibilities, but I do see his point. As an experiment, I'm going to do the next few things I write in total third person, and see how that plays out.

The rest of Slimes was the usual parade of strange characters and mutant music.

After Slimes: was feeling too buggered to do my usual thing of exploring Camden/The West End/Something or other, so I went back to Leytonstone and had breakfast in the only caff I could find open.

Just after I started my first sandwich, my friend Gary happened by for a Full English Breakfast, and we wound up having a great chat about history, culture, metal and all manner of other stuff.

Great fun.

Back home, where I had a four hour nap and then got domestic, before watching the last half of Lost. I don't care if he was a torturer, Sayid rocks.

Tomorrow: get up early, do some Jobcentre required stuff and if I can get that knocked down sharpish I'll go down to the Heart Foundation shop to volunteer. Monday and Tuesday a different assistant manager comes in, who happens to moonlight as an SF writer.

Crazy week planned: Tuesday Jobcentre sign-on. Wednesday I get Broadband and go to see Ministry. Friday Sick and Twisted. And maybe a little Dead and Buried (the Electro Rose told me I'm on the Guestlist... if I don't think I can make it I'll have to tell her to cross me off).

Sometime this week I also have to go out for a drink with that Redhead I met a The Birthday Massacre. Busy Busy Busy.

Anyways, gotta go.

Over and out.

J

It just goes on...

The heat that is.

And I just heard that next month is going to be even hotter than this one was.

Fucking fuck!

Anyways, here's the blog:

Did another volunteer shift at the charity shop. Discovered that they do run an EPOS system, so if I can get them to teach me how to use that I'll have another arrow in my quiver the next time there is a job opening at Forbidden Planet.

(mental note: be more visible at Forbidden Planet just in case).

Last night I decided not to go out, I just stayed in, read Neverwhere and got to sleep pretty Early (ie just after midnight).

Today I got up just after nine and did some exercise, since if I was going to sweating anyway, I might as well get some health benefits.

Now I'm going to head to a picnic thing some online kids have organised.

Over and out.

J

Too hot, too humid.

Hey All,

I know that I'm a like a broken record or a skipping cd on the weather, but it isn't giving up.

Anyways, here's the news:

I did a volunteer shift at the Charity Shop yesterday. They seemed to like me well enough. It was pretty cruisy, but I did make a note to be more assertive with how I am going to be lifting things like wardrobes, as doing so yesterday gave me a stiff back today. I hope I haven't done any permanent damage to my spine or the muscles that connect to it.

Probably the funniest moment was when the pretty girl there read my Volunteer form and did a double take when she did the maths on my Date of Birth. Everyone thinks I'm 18. Must be the haircut.

I was musing this morning that if I'd fathered a child when I was fifteen, people might think that he and I was brothers.

Then again, if I had fathered a kid at 15, I most probably would not look so youthful.

Today: got up early, listened to Lauren Laverne on Xfm, ironed jeans listening to one of the CDs I have to review (remembers I should be researching the band online... pauses to run google)

Okay, now I know more about Exhale.

Rest of the day: wrote applications to the jobs that the Jobcentre printed out for me. Went up to Stratford to get some envelopes. Tomorrow I'll print them all out, post them off and then do another volunteer shift at the charity shop.

I'm suspecting that one of my flash chips really wants to be retired, since when I try to transport text files with it, they come up garbled.

Anyways, I'm heading off.

Over and out.

J

Some Progress...

Some progress getting made:

I just emailed Alternative Magazine (formerly Alternative London) about wanting to write for them. My friend Regis, among others, have been telling me to do it for the past 14 days at least, but I didn't want to do it til the Cattle Decap review was up.

Also: In a demonstration of why I am getting my flat broadbanded, I tried to upload the finished review of Storm by Theatre of Tragedy, but somehow the file got corrupted on my USB Flashkey.

I might be back here later to sort that out.

I had my Three Month Review meeting at the Job Centre this morning. They gave me a wad of stuff to apply for. Some of it the money looked good, some of it looked like Slave Wages.

On the way home I told the Heart Foundation Shop that I wanted to volunteer. They told me to come back at Ten in the Morning Tomorrow so they could see what I was like for a few hours. And the clothes I was wearing were fine (blue jeans, black T-shirt, Chucks).

On the way home I stopped to buy another pair of blue jeans (£11 at Primark).

In Primark I was amused to find the tag described the current jeans as 'Deconstructed Jeans'.

This amused me, so I stopped at a cafe to eat a Bacon Sammich and scribble down a page of thoughts about how Deconstructed Jeans amused me. Expect these thoughts to go up soon.

In the meanttime I'll go home and check how the towels in my washer are going.

Over and out.

J

Appendix: after watching Top Gear I was having Net Curiousity, so I came down here to burn up some more minutes.

And discovered that the Editor of Alternative Magazine had already sent me an email reply, saying that he was impressed by the examples I had picked out, and that he would be open to me contributing CD reviews and covering some events, especially rock/metal type club nights (since they have a lack of that at present).

I have just been composing a reply telling him that I will brainstorm on some ideas over the next 24 hours, and get back to him.

This is pretty good.

And with that, I'm going home to fry up a steak and watch Lost.

Over and out.

J

Cattle Decap review is up!

Hey All,

The Cattle Decapitation review is up, with more reviews coming.

Yay!

I've been up all day, throwing clothes in the wash, skipping and other malarkey.

Nothing much to report.

Over and out.

J

Against my better judgement...

I went out last night.

I was tired when I arrived at half ten, but I did get to see some good friends of mine, who kept me smiling pretty much all the time. Plus I got to see a couple of songs by electro group Client, who feature a pretty damn good bassist.

After Slimes, Starbucks then chilling in a park with folk.

A Bus took me to King's Cross, where I finally took a look at The British Library, and discovered that all the reading rooms were closed (since it's Sunday). I think I'll be back sometime this week with some documentation so that I can get myself a Reading Room Pass and peruse their shelves.

I did take a look at the shop attached to the Library, which had some really interesting books. And I looked at an exhibition all about the Newspaper industry in the UK.

Next a bus to Oxford Circus, where I killed time for a bit (I even played with Synths in the Virgin Basement), before deciding to take the tube to Stratford so that I could a) go to the library (to renew books) and b) see the new Superman Movie.

After killing an hour reading the new SFX magazine, it was time to see the Superman movie. And maybe it's because the theatre was so hot and stuffy, maybe I was just hitting a wall etc, but I really had trouble keeping my eyes open. And it really didn't seem worth the effort.

Frankly, it was pretty damn boring, the action scenes just seemed to be an excuse for Kate Bosworth to get beat up, Kevin Spacey was overacting, Sydney makes a lousy Metropolis (sorry Gus) and so many of the plot points just didn't hold water. Not to mention that it is just too damn long, with too much padding.

I might see it on TV a year from now and think it is better. But for now, I'm not holding out much hope.

Tonight I am going to sleep well.

I have a busy week ahead of me.

Over and out.

J

Still too hot...

But it did rain earlier this morning.

The frontpage of the Evening Standard yesteday was an aerial photograph of the effect that this weather has had on Hyde Park. Serious WTF territory, it looks dry and scorched.

Anyways, penny tour of the last two days:

Thursday Night: figured I'd go see a Canadian band in Camden called The Birthday Massacre. Crap name, but their myspace had some pretty good tunes, and there were recommended to me by a bunch of friends.

The tube was like a new circle of hell in terms of the heat.

I picked up a ticket at the venue and kicked back at the Dev til showtime.

The Show Itself: Some assclown had decided that a sold out show didn't warrant a cloak room, so I had to carry my scoleosis inducing bag (with my jacket in it) for the duration of the show, putting me in a really bad mood.

Which wasn't helped by the shockingly bad UK Goth support bands. Some twats name D.U.S.T and Suicide Aircrash Crew or some other crap. Lousy vocals, shit songwriting, canned drums (running of iTunes in one case), fat girls on bass, inability to construct a groove to save their own lives and overlong sets.

Seriously, there is a reason why Goth bands are routinely laughed at by most other musicians, and these bands illustrate it perfectly.

And then The Birthday Massacre came onstage. Initially I couldn't see anything, partially because the Underworld (a converted wine/coal cellar/possible mass grave) was hideously oversold (possibly standard practise in London), partially because at the precise moment their set was about to start a pale redhead was giving me her phone number; a strange enough occurance for me to totally forget something like trying to see the band I had paid to see.

Anyways, drawn by the amazing sounds, I eventually jostled my way onto the floor (silly folk blocked the stairs) where I saw that the frontwoman had some of the best presence I have ever seen.

To be fair, their music is closer to Emo-Pop with Synths than to classic goth, but fuck it, they were still amazing.

After the show: Electro Rose had put me on the concessions list for a show at JoJos, so I went their and danced to strange electro, running into folk I didn't expect to.

It was pretty late when I got home.

Friday:

My Ed loved the Cattle Decap review. Today she emailed me again to tell me that I had forgotten to give it a rating out of five. I gave it five.

Last Night:

Was going to go to Synthetic Culture, but I left it too late to leave. I was delayed by:

- An early evening nap
- Watching the opening sequence of Mad Max playing on BBC
- fixing the mail slot on my door, which was swinging loose (must bring that up with landlady)
- watching the police search my next-door-neighbours flat (I think that the family in question have been long gone. I have no idea what it is about, and I believe that it does not concern me)
- missing busses
- having no idea what bus to take when I got to King's Cross

In any case, I'm not big on Synthetic Culture, and not going saved me some money.

Anyways, probably Slimes tonight, and in the meantime naps, washing, reading and listening to the albums to review.

Once the Cattle Decap album review is up I'm going to email the editor of Alternative London.

Anways, I tarry too long.

Over and out.

J

It's still too fucking hot.

It is still too hot here.

News:

I finally wrote the Cattle Decapitation review, and I just emailed it to the review ed if Morrigans Pit.

One down, four to go. Fortunately they won't take as long as the Cattle Decap album, because it really is one out of left field, while the others are pretty straight forward, methinks.

Also: yesterday I did the online order for my room to be broadbanded. Neato. It should all be sorted in the first week of August.

I'm going to keep moving. I feel like if I sit still too long I'll melt into a puddle.

Jeez I'm a whinger. This is actually pretty normal weather for Brisbane.

Over and out. (for now)

-J

It's pretty damn hot in London...

And everyone is freaking out.

I think that even this PC is freaking out, since it refuses to find some of the websites I routinely check.

I've started reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, and it is reminding me of what a magical writer Neil Gaiman can be. The man is a genius when it comes to weaving fairy tales. Not to mention that it is a fascinating book to read while living in London.

I've also been listening to the Cattle Decap record, trying to get a handle on how I'm going to explain it in 100 words. The other CDs will be easier, since they are nothing terribly special, but the Karma.Bloody.Karma is a pretty tidy piece of metal.

I reckon I might go see the new Superman movie, since this is pretty good movie theatre weather.

Also: those wonderful folk at Kerrang inform me that AFI are currently the #1 Band on the Album charts in America.

I'm allowed to feel a little smug that I interviewed them...aren't I?

Anyways, I'm going to listen to Cattle Decap, take notes and drink cold water.

Over and out.

J

Another Short Blog

Hey All,

Went out the the retro club thing, which was different to how I expected. It felt more like a fancy dress party than a proper club event.

Interesting folk, questionable music, hot and crowded. I didn't really care, I looked damn good in the suit I had put together.

The funniest thing that happened to me was the reaction of a Malaysian girl after asking me my age. When I told her I was 29, she briefly refused to talk to me anymore because 'I don't talk to liars.'

Then I showed her my driving license, and she refused to believe that I was Australian because my accent is soft enough that I can actually say 'water' as opposed to 'war-dah'.

Club lights are supposed to make people look young. They called the lights in the bathrooms 'Suicide Lights' because when people see themselves under the fluourescent tubes the suddenly look ten years older.

On to Slimelight, when the crowd was a bit depleted by all the Fetish inclined folk beating each other up at Torture Garden. I still had fun, and some of my absent friends turned up later.

It may be true that Slimelight can be a dirty bunker full of freakish people dancing to ugly music, but it is still the best place to hole up until the tubes start running on a sunday morning. In the ascence of a Fatboys Cafe it is next best thing (if they served four dollar breakfast, it would be perfect).

I just had a look over at http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/ again. It terms of writing long blogs, this girl has me beat. Although she does have me beat for writing culture critiques instead of the everything/nothing stuff that I tend to fall into.

Anyways, gotta go.

Over and out.

J

Dressed up dandy...

...Because tonight I'm going to some kind of retro-cabaret thing in Westbourne Park (wherever the fuck that is).

I spent an hour turning my room over looking for my bow tie before I decided it really didn't want to be found.

I really should raid the charity shops and find a decent secondhand pinstripe suit.

Other news:

I just received the CDs from Morrigans Pit.

Neato.

The new Cattle Decap record rocks.

gotta go.

J

Hey All,

Hey all,

Haven't yet made a decision about Broadband.

But other stuff of note:

Yesterday arvo I was in Sister Ray on Berwick Street, where I picked up Body of Work by Nitzer Ebb, and the relaunch issue of Alternative London (now just Alternative Magazine).

In any case, they are looking for writers, so I reckon I'll send them an Email with links and stuff.

Elea is back in NYC.

I've got to run home.

Over and out.

-J

I was at the fall of Arcadia.

Hey all,

My Thirteen Week Interview wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. They are even putting my name in for a possible Sales Assistant job at Books Etc at Stanstead Airport. See how that plays out.

Of course I don't even know where Stanstead Airport is, but it's a start.

Another thing (one I'm calling for as soon as I'm finished here) is an Admin Job at a Visual FX firm in Romford. Given my typing speed, affinity with computers and nodding acquaintance with the world of post-production, I might have a chance with that.

(Of course Romford is in the wrong direction for my Oyster Card, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it... besides which, Essex people seem strangely nicer than Londoners).

Just from some random Dr Who related googling I have stumbled on a rather intelligent blog by an Israeli culture junkie. I will have to check this out some more.

Question: how did someone who lives in Tel Aviv get to see an episode of Dr Who that only went to air on Saturday. Curiousity is piqued.

I'm considering exercising my option to get BT Broadband in my flat. Weighing the pros and cons.

Upside:

- Having to take review to the internet cafe is a right bugger, especially when compatibility issues mean that you suddenly have to run home and back. Not an option after nine PM. As I do more and more writing, that is a growing concern.

- Ditto wanting to look something up on Wikipedia, then forgetting what it was I wanted to find out next time the opportunity presents. In my world knowledge is power and being able to tell something that people don't know is a valuable commodity.

- Also related to writing: since my primary communication with editors and PR is via email, being able to check email once a day does crimp sometimes. Especially when the time differences are taken into account.

- It would make it easier to peruse job sites, work out what concerts are on, cds coming out etc.

- Don't even get me started on the palaver of uploading photos currently.

Downside:

- Ten more pounds I'd have to make sure was in my account every month (for the first six months). After the router fee (shifty sods). Not necessarily a lot, but I would have to watch the account like a hawk. (tho, come to think of it, I currently spend roughly that amount every two or three weeks here at Haff's Caff as it is)

- Morbid fear of becoming a Japanese Jar Kitten. Information is addictive. I've already skated the edge of Everything/Nothingness with my blogging.

- I need to learn more about the security issues. I think an advice-seeking message to Gus is in order.

I'll give it some more thought.

In any case, I'm off.

I've got things to see and people to do.

Over and out.

- J

Monday Night Again

Hey all,

I saw Nitzer Ebb again, this time at the Islington Academy, and once again they were brilliant.

It was a slightly different crowd that the Secret Show (shhh!) but I did see some folk that I don't usually get to.

Weirdly, the Nitzer formula for music seems to resonate with me, and I had music in my head all of Sunday and Sunday Night. After the Nitzer show I hung with my friend Alice (musical auteur) and her friend Richard, a DJ and Club Promoter of sorts.

I just sent an Email to wish my Dad a happy birthday.

Tomorrow I've got my Jobcentre 13 Week Interview.

Scary.

I should be okay.

I'm not far from finishing The Great Gatsby, and I'm wishing that I had read it properly in High School.

Just for fun, last week I spent three hours reading Hell Island by Matt Reilly. And I thought it was less than amazing. As a thriller, it really didn't thrill.

Maybe his other books might better, but in terms of reading age, it is somewhere just above Dick and Jane.

And the strange thing is that there are still people who will laugh at you for reading Harry Potter.

Enough today.

Over and out.

J

Nitzer Ebb...

Kick Ass.

It was also nice to see people who wouldn't otherwise come to Electrowerkz on a Saturday.

Even though some of these folk didn't come for Nitzer Ebb at all.

The Club After was cool as well.

And things made me smile in quietly unexpected ways.

Though to be fair, I did spend some time wondering why I was in such a good mood, when I couldn't figure out why. Eventually I put it down to the NE show being so good.

Before the show:

The Dr Who season Finale was cool.

I nearly couldn't find my ticket, then I remembered that I had cleaned the old tesco receipts out of my wallet, and found the ticket mixed in. Thank fuck I never throw anything out until I've checked it all.

I'm going to go home and ponder my options.

Over and out.

J

Back From Brighton

Hey,

I'm back from Brighton.

Observations from the trip:

I like Brighton. I find more crazy stuff every time I'm down there. I found a shop in the lanes where you can buy antique weapons. Swords, flintlock rifles and service revolvers etc.

I realised that calling up my Aunt and saying 'Hi there, I'm not in London, I'm in Hove, Actually!' would be a little on the sudden side, so the next time I am planning a trip down there I definitely will call her in advance to see if we can me up for an hour.

Taking the Megabus may be cheaper, but it is by no means the superior mode of travel. Economics aside, I prefer the train. It is faster and more comfortable, plus there is a definite sense of constantly getting closer to your destination, rather than spending an hour weaving through South London. Still, £11 return can't really be argued with.

I killed time before the club opened by watching the new Pirates of the Carribean movie, and it kicks ass. Even more than the first one. Seriously.

Okay, this week I was feeling bored, so I saw Just My Luck, and anything would probably look good after that, but the Pirates movie is a definite must see (check the DVD of the first one beforehand, though).

The club: wasn't bad. More EBM than stomping industrial. Some of the Brighton crew I knew from them coming up to London, some Londoners had gone south to check the club.

There was a short Burlesque act, half of which I missed because they didn't think to announce 'Hey everybody, Baby Bones will now perform her fan dance for you all'.

Still, I chatted to her afterwards, and she was pretty cool.

There was a shorn-headed punk kid irritating everyone on the dancefloor. I wanted to give him the benfit of the doubt, but he seemed determined to be a prat. I didn't see what caused his downfall, but I couldn't help applauding when security threw him out.

I wound up crashing for a few hours at a friends flat, before pell melling down to the bus station to catch my coach back to London at 0900. London Victoria to here.

Neato.

Now to get a couple of hours of sleep.

Tonight I get to see a secret show by Nitzer Ebb.

Over and out (for now),

J

Here's a blog from yesterday:

<<<

Hey,

From the Actionlist that Marlies directed me to, I just sent of CDs that I hope that they'll send me to review.

Top of the list is the new one by Cattle Decapitation. I'm suspecting that in true Cattle Decap style the cover artwork is so disgusting that no-one has been game to review the album (of course I know that previews don't get cover art, but it still sounds funnier that way).

Over the weekend somebody suggested when blogging I start focussing on highlights, instead of a blow by blow recounting.

So here is the definite highlight of my day, yesterday:

At about half ten I had ducked into the Virgin Megastore at the old Tower Records site to check out the metal section. I was surprised to find that they had a re-issue of some stuff by the Fugs (a bunch of crazy New York Beat Poets in the 60s who accidently invented punk rock). One of the song titles: Halfway Through Their First Recording Session, The Fugs Sign The Worst Contract Since Leadbelly's. Nice. Not only did they pre-empt Punk Rock, but they also pre-empted the clever wordplay extended songtitles of the 21st Century by 30 years.

They even beat TISM, whose hilarious songtitles are an unsung precursor to all the noisecore bands that have sprung up in recent years. While pondering this I walked out of the Virgin store, to discover that triumphant Italy Supporters were celebrating winning their World Cup Match (quarter final or something). They had climbed the fountain in the centre of Picadilly Circus and were chanting 'Italia! Italia!".

Absolutely amazing.

And with that, I sign off.

Over and out.

>>>

And here's the news from today:

This hot weather is really robbing me of my ability to think straight, remember things etc.

I wonder if there is a medical name for people with an intolerance of hot weather? Maybe if I lose more weight it won't bother me so much. If I drink any more water I'm going to pop.

In any case, I bought my ticket on the megabus site to ride down to Brighton. I printed out the confirmation just to be sure.

I'm debating whether or not I should take a bus to Victoria tomorrow, or whether I should risk taking the tube. Tomorrow being 7th of July, and our friends in Radical Islam being kind enough to release a tape of one of last year's suicide bombers (one of those things which may or may not be a coded signal to cells still in the UK).

I'm pretty sure that I will be running late, so I will probably take the tube to Victoria.

Sweating all the way.

Other News:

Marlies got back to me by email, telling me that the CDs I had requested from the list would soon be on the way (except Kataklysm, because she had Shotgunned that for herself).

She also told me that The Cattle Decap one she would have done herself, but she sent it on to me since she doesn't know much about the Cattle Decap style of metal. And because I was a fast reviewer.

Turns out that Metal Blade (Cattle Decap's Label in Europe) are always on top of when online reviews come out.

This interests me, since I did take roughly five days to do the Zonaria review. Bear in mind that it probably would have been two days, except that first I had to download the demo, listen to it on my laptop, discover that the tracks sounded all wrong because of glitches in the Unpacking, listen to the tracks on Myspace, write the review, take the review to the net cafe, discover that the file had corrupted, come back the next day with the file rewritten and then email to the webzine.

Other observations:

Innocent Banana and Strawberry Smoothies are fucking beautiful. It's nearly £3 a litre, but the litre I bought three days ago has lasted me this long, because just a mouthful is enough to make me feel better.

Also: The flat is looking really nice right now. The Swede has a new boyfriend (sort of) and has turned from slobbish to houseproud overnight.

And I haven't got around to calling my Aunt yet. Dammit.

Over and out.

J

Blogging Blogging Blogging

Hey,

From the Actionlist that Marlies sent me, I just sent of CDs that I hope that they'll send me to review.

Top of the list is the new one by Cattle Decapitation. I'm suspecting that in true Cattle Decap style the cover artwork is so disgusting that no-one has been game to review the album (of course I know that previews don't get cover art, but it still sounds funnier that way).

Over the weekend somebody suggested that I start focussing on highlights, instead of a blow by blow recounting in my blogs.

So here is the definite highlight of my day, yesterday:

At about half ten I had ducked into the Virgin Megastore at the old Tower Records site to check out the metal section. I was surprised to find that they had a re-issue of some stuff by the Fugs (a bunch of crazy New York Beat Poets in the 60s who accidently invented punk rock).

One of the song titles: Halfway Through Their First Recording Session, The Fugs Sign The Worst Contract Since Leadbelly's.

Nice. Not only did they pre-empt Punk Rock, but they also pre-empted the clever wordplay extended songtitles of the 21st Century by 30 years.

They even beat TISM, whose hilarious songtitles are an unsung precursor to all the noisecore bands that have sprung up in recent years.

While pondering this I walked out of the Virgin store, to discover that triumphant Italy Supporters were celebrating winning their World Cup Match (quarter final or something). They had climbed the fountain in the centre of Picadilly Circus and were chanting 'Italia! Italia!".

Absolutely amazing.

And with that, I sign off.

Over and out.

J

Sent of a List of CDs I'd like to review

Hey,

From the Actionlist that Marlies sent me, I just sent of CDs that I hope that they'll send me to review.

Top of the list is the new one by Cattle Decapitation. I'm suspecting that in true Cattle Decap style the cover artwork is so disgusting that no-one has been game to review the album (of course I know that previews don't get cover art, but it still sounds funnier that way).

Over the weekend somebody suggested that I start focussing on highlights, instead of a blow by blow recounting in my blogs.

So here is the definite highlight of my day, yesterday:

At about half ten I had ducked into the Virgin Megastore at the old Tower Records site to check out the metal section. I was surprised to find that they had a re-issue of some stuff by the Fugs (a bunch of crazy New York Beat Poets in the 60s who accidently invented punk rock).

One of the song titles: Halfway Through Their First Recording Session, The Fugs Sign The Worst Contract Since Leadbelly's.

Nice. Not only did they pre-empt Punk Rock, but they also pre-empted the clever wordplay extended songtitles of the 21st Century by 30 years.

They even beat TISM, whose hilarious songtitles are an unsung precursor to all the noisecore bands that have sprung up in recent years.

While pondering this I walked out of the Virgin store, to discover that triumphant Italy Supporters were celebrating winning their World Cup Match (quarter final or something). They had climbed the fountain in the centre of Picadilly Circus and were chanting 'Italia! Italia!".

Absolutely amazing.

And with that, I sign off.

Over and out.

J

Too Fucking Hot!

Hey All,

London is in the middle of a heatwave.

Okay, it is a pretty piss weak heatwave compared to the heatwaves that I have lived with in Brisbane, but considering that London isn't that warm most of the time, the change does make it pretty damn uncomfortable.

As in I can't think, can't sleep and can't function type uncomfortable.

Which is really annoying, because I really need my wits about me right now.

In any case, the review of those Swedish Kids is up.

http://www.morrigans-pit.org/mp/cd_zonaria_vain.php

And it looks like I've been accepted into the Contributors Team. Neato.

Next Step: select a couple of CDs from the list she directed me to, get them sent over and review them.

I'm going to try to catch a movie. Because I haven't seen a movie since forever.

Also: I'm heading down to Brighton on Friday to catch a club down there. I'll probably contact my Aunt down there in advance to see if there is time for me to drop by.

Mega-bus seems to provide pretty good prices for the Travel. I tried looking it up before, but I got confused and googled EasyBus.

Nevermind.

I'll sort it out later.

Over and out.

J

Damn It's Hot:

Hey all,

It's half four on a Sunday, and it is way too hot in Leytonstone.

Friday: washing, thinking, tidying, magazine sorting and shopping.

Friday night: went looking for a club called Dreadnought, only to find that the address that I thought was the one I needed (halfway between King's Cross and Angel on Pentonville Road) was holding a Smiths Tribute Night.

Dammit!

I wandered up to Angel, then to Highbury Corner before remembering there was another club I could go to at the Mean Fiddler.

Bus down to Soho.

The club at the Mean Fiddler wasn't bad, but the definite highlight was catching up with Alex B and Na'ama.

After the club the tubes weren't running yet, so I took a wander through the West End. Stumbled on the location of a couple of interesting things, but couldn't find the Holborn Library. Eight minutes from Bank, my hairy arse.

Tube Home. Sleep. Get up. Watch Doctor Who.

I don't care what anyone says, the new Doctor Who still rocks. And this episode rocked really hard: shadowy government organisations, SF mythologising, creative story arc-ing, AND cybermen and Daleks.

Then: headed to Slimes, reading The Great Gatsby on the Tube.

Met interesting people. Saw interesting electronic acts. Danced and had fun.

After Slimes: Chilled in a park with some friends.

Might have been sunburnt.

Now:

The Zonaria review should be going up on Morrigan's Pit tomorrow.

Heading home.

Over and out.

J