Joy!

Hey All,

Last night I chilled with some friends in a pub in Angel. The pub was pretty cool, and strangely enough the background music included Bauhaus, Dead Kennedies, The Clash, The Jam, The Stooges and even Mastodon. I'll have to remember that place.

Today I've got the first cold-sore I've had in something like 18 months, maybe even just shy of two years. Which does suck, but I'm using it as an extremely superficial excuse to do something I really should do: have a Saturday Night in, catch up on washing and reading and most importantly, get to sleep before dawn.

I'm also throwing lysine down my throat and trying not to let the OCD get to me.

I have no idea what triggered the coldsore, since I have pushed myself further physically, been more anxious and more depressed, been under more pressure and had less sleep than I have lately, all at various points over the last 18 months (September to December of last year being a case in point). Maybe it's the combination of all the things at once that did it, maybe the killing blow was this lousy cough/cold that I had last week, maybe that was just symptomatic of the combination.

Whatever. I'm going to downshift for a couple of days and take the blowtorch off the candle.

Other news:

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but thee ed sent me an email saying the since the I Am Ghost record actually came out last year, he probably won't require me to write a review of it.

Strangely enough I had a listen to the album, and it is actually really good. I think I'll write a review of it just to get in some more practice when it comes to writing reviews. Basically there is something really joyful about this album and something exhuberant in the melodies, two things that seem to be missing from the rank and file of underground music right now.

As always, I'm searching for that elusive emotional detox.

Whoever's reading this, don't worry about me, I'll be fine.

Enough for now, going to wash some more clothes and read some more magazines.

Over and out.

-J

Hey All,

In a fit of pique I cleaned the windows of the kitchen, which were pretty damn filthy.

Because the windows were covered in some kind of greasy dirt stuff (from my steak frying indoors and the funky East London Air outdoors) I found that using dishwashing detergent was more effectively than actual window cleaning stuff. I used a cheap squeegee that I had picked upfrom Tescos to minimise the streaking, and tomorrow I might use some kind of Methylated Spririts to wipe the remnant streaking off the glass.

Haven't seen any more snow yet. *pine*

Elea is probably hip deep in the stuff in Brooklyn. Maybe I'll get her to post some of it over.

Last night I did wind up going to see Norma Jean (noisecore band out of Altanta, Georgia). I enjoyed the show, even though somehow it lacked that certain something to take it over the top (getting hit in the kidneys was a drag as well). As the room cleared I unexpectedly ran into Uncle Phil, the Road Manager/Responsible Adult for The Scare. He was over here to sort out logistics for the boys when they return here in a month or so to play some shows. While talking to Phil I also got talking to some of his friends, some of whom I'd met before, who are involved in media and stuff over here.

Cool. More contacts.

Other than that, I'm still trying to find a happy sing-a-long between the demons inside me, to steal a phrase from the artist Brom. Why is it that some are driven by their demons, but others feel dragged down?

Why does my body always seem determined to betray me, making me sick when I least need it?

Why, when I was so obviously miserable (frequently to the point of being suicidal), could no-one find a way to help me at a school that cost over $4000 a year?

And where the fuck is the TV Remote?

Enough self pity. I'm going to make a list of the stuff that I need to do tomorrow and go to bed.

I'll feel better in the morning.

Over and out.

-J

Hey all

Phone didn't ring today.

I'll keep looking.

-J

Hey All

Hey All,

(I you haven't read the previous post yet, skip down now).

I honestly don't know how well the Fopp Cafe interview went. I think that I answered all the questions well enough, I looked good but not overdressed (clean blue jeans, plain black shirt and brand new black chuck taylors on my feet (only £18)), I had my reference from Cafe Scene on hand (which seemed to impress the interviewer), but I get the distinct feeling that I will only be hired if all of the other applicants turn out to be shockingly bad (that might be my lousy sense of confidence playing with me, but that's just how I feel).

Hopefully my experience and enthusiasm will see me through.

Never mind, I am going to keep slinging hooks out everywhere, seeing what bites.

On the upside, while I was walking out, a chap what looked suspiciously like Bobby Gillespie was walking in!

Tonight I think I'll go out and see Norma Jean.

-J

News!

Hey All,

Hot off the press: I have an interview today at Fopp... for part time in the cafe that is in the basement level. Let's see how that plays out.

Oh yeah, it *snowed* overnight. And I missed it (I woke up and saw snow on cars and a little on the courtyard.

Hope there's more snow.

Over and out.

-J

Finally!

Hey all,

I just finished all the reviews I have to write for this issue of Alternative Magazine (including the really difficult ones).

Hooray!

I think I'll go to the Devonshire Arms now.

-J

(PS sorry Mum, but according to what I've heard everyone agrees with the review that Adam Milton wrote of The Misfits: they really were that bad!)

and another thing:

I finally got around to buying some of those TOMBO Japanese Felt-tip brush pens (I'll insert a HTML link at some point) from the art shop off Leicester Square, and I've been having mad fun doodling with them.

I'm thinking I'll use them to design that fracking business card that I've beent talking about for the last two years (at least).

I already have the lettering down, I'm just trying to find or design some cool curly art-nouveau stuff to put in the corners, for no better reason than to make it look more Design-ey.

At some point I'll scan some stuff down at the local net cafe (where they still wave when I walk past) and put it on line.

Thinking about it the other day, I decided that I was having so much trouble designing a business card I like because I was trying to design a clean and professional looking business card. I realised that a business card should reflect me and what makes me special, and clean and professional is not necessarily who I am. I mean, I can behave in a professional manner (I'm very rarely unprofessional), and I do have that OCD thing going on, but I don't think that a sterile and corporate design would communicate what I'm about.

The flipside of which is that I have to make sure that I don't create a business card where the kerning is all off, the elements are all over the place and it generally looks like someone dipped some spiders in ink, dropped them on a some card and make them dance the tango.

Looking online for some stuff by Aubrey Beardsley (will raid the library etc as well). Aubrey Beardsley is always fun.

Enough enough.

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

Hey Everyone.

First things first: I am thinking that I will switch this blog across to an online blogging service that is not google-search-able, mainly to protect the guilty. Namely me. True, I don't tend to write anything in here that I'm not willing to back up, but leaving it open to the search engines feels like I've left my fly down or something. If I do change it across, it will still be accessible to everyone, and I will leave a note with the new address in this blog. You just won't be able to type the names of the people I meet and find me telling stories about them (hopefully I'll be able to resist becoming a name-dropping machine again, but we'll see).

In any case, that is a project at the pre-enaction stage. And now, here is the news:

It seems that when I went down to Bognor Regis this week, I came back with a cold. I'm coughing and snotty and throaty and all that good fun. I'll hit it with vitamins etc, and I should be fine in a couple of days.

The good news is that I've finished Clockwork Orange. Finally. Like I said, the Nadsat made it heavy going (having to try to remember the meaning of every second word does tend to slow things down) but in the end I did find it worth the effort. Especially since it has a slightly different ending to the movie. With that finished, I have started on Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr, but so far I am only in the introduction (written by HBj himself), which seems pretty interesting on its own.

When I was in Fopp on Thursday, I found Last Exit to Brooklyn and a copy of Catcher in the Rye for £4 and £3 respectively, so I picked them up, which also gave me an opening to pass my CV across (fingers crossed but I am still going to keep throwing out hooks).

For the In case I haven't mentioned it file: I've set myself the challenge to read fifty books this year. That equates out to roughly one book and a bit every week. Now that I have finished A Clockwork Orange, that puts me two books (or two weeks) behind schedule. I do, however, have a couple of books lined up that are short-sharp-shock paperbacks that I might be able to knock down overnight if needs be, and that oughta put me back on schedule (I did pick up a couple of paperbacks of the first three Corum Novels written by Michael Moorcock when I was in Bognor Regis this week, and besides being perfect tube books (jacket pocket perfect!) they should make for jolly good reading).

Either about my current pseudo-intellectual aspirations.

Before meeting with my cousin Katie in Camden, I chilled at the Devonshire Arms, catching up with a few pals that were meeting there before going on to either Dreadnought or to Synthetic Culture.

Hanging with Katie last night was fun, her friends from Peterborough were cool (both the ones in the band and the others who had road-tripped down to see them play their first show in Camden). Interestingly, the band performed with a Mac G5 in a roadcase running what looked like Logic (I totally forgot to ask after the set, since I was too busy dancing to the electro stuff that two other Peterborough kids were playing.

Since everyone bugged out just after half twelve, I took the bus to Tottenham Court Road and then another to London Bridge, where I managed to find SE1 and Dreadnought, which was actually okay, considering it was the last night and the crowd is typically split between there and Synthetic Culture over at King's Cross (the nice thing about Brisbane was that if you wanted to go to two different events, chances are that you could run between them inside five minutes... the bad thing about Brisbane was that finding two events that were worth running between was often pretty hard, unless you count Metal at the Basement and Hardcore at Mary Street every Wednesday (neither venue holding shows of the type anymore).

Anyways, saw some good friends there, danced about, then took a bus back to Liverpool Street area, where I waited for the N8 to take me home.

Today there was supposed to be some kind of freezing storm blowing in, but I haven't seen hide nor hair of it. Plenty of wind, no storm. Hell, last night I was able to walk around London with both my jackets undone and my scarf around me neck once in a very loose knot, the kind of scarf arrangement you see on hipster assholes whenever you try to see a band in the kind of venue they frequent.

Other random crap:

I cleaned up all the stuff on my bed earlier this week and found a couple of magazines worth re-reading, a pile of sampler CDs worth ripping and a battered second-hand copy of In the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, that I think had been under my bed for at least six months. Naturally I had forgotten all about it, because I went to Borders and bought myself a shiny copy of In The Name of the Rose the week previous.

This entry is getting into Everything/Nothing territory, so I'll sign off here (I've got to buy food, wash clothes and finish writing reviews anyways (I wrote some pretty tight notes at the Devonshire Arms on Thursday Night, in between rapping with my pal Robert, who was DJ-ing, but I couldn't stay long because I had forgotten my keys and I needed to be back home in time for my flatmate to let me in).

Enough from me.

Over and out.

-J

Posting from the Gutshot

I'm posting from some poker club near Barbican. I am here because I was supposed to find some pub or other, but couldn't find it.

I only have two minutes, so I'm going to type this really quickly.

Tonight I go to see some electro indie band with my cousin Katie. Should be fun.

Yesterday I tried to call about the Primark job but could not get through.

In the end I decided to go to Tottenham Court Road and put in my resume at the record shop my friend had told me about.

Out of time, gotta go.

-J

Hey Hey

Hey Everyone,

Just got back last night from another overnight trip to Bognor Regis to visit Grandmother and see off Dad at Heathrow later.

Writing an application letter, sprucing and printing CV and running around to drop off CV at the bookshop on Charing Cross Road meant that I didn't get to Victoria Station until about three, way later than I meant to (as for the bookshop, I am trying to keep this blog a lot less Google-able, but translate the last word of Medecin Sans Frontieres and you'll have it).

Anyways, I hope that I do get a chance at that job, since it would be *sweet*, but my friend who told me about it also told me about another place down the street that would be hiring. Going to drop a CV in there Today.

Also while I was in Bognor Regis: I got a call from Nenad telling me about a clothing retail job in a discount chain opening up on Oxford Street (experience+money=why not), plus I got an SMS from Thee Ed asking if I wanted to cover The Audition at the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes. I'm not big on The Audition, but I've been meaning to have a look at the Bowling Lanes for a while, and free show+copy published = win. It did mean that I had to pell mell it on the tube after seeing off Dad at Heathrow at half seven last night, but that was okay.

The show itself was an interesting affair. Rising stars of British Punk were in attendance, editorial staff from heavy-hitting magazines and a whole lot of very exciteable kids.

The bands: I Am Ghost were suprisingly good. Tellison were indie rock but I really liked them all the same. The Audition were... The Audition. They look good, they play well, but their songs aren't that inspired. The crowd went wild regardless. Too wild. Fights actually broke out in the last two songs, and the band either couldn't see what was going on (plausible because of all the teenage girls who had climber onstage), or they just didn't care. Either way the band played on, finished their set and eventually the violent members of the audience were ejected.

Afterwards I got talking to some UCL MA programme students from America (one of the UCL campuses was pretty close by). I got talking to them about New York Hardcore, Steinbeck etc. Later on I got talking to a pretty blonde from Germany, who was very nice but complained that I talk too fast (strangely enough something I have only ever heard since I came to England). I have no idea if I'll ever see her again, but she was cute.

Missing the last tube meant walking to Tottenham Court Road and catching the nightbus, London hitting me with its best Lousy Smarch Weather. I did get to see the shop that Z at the bookshop told me were hiring soon. And a vacant shop that had been taken over by a bunch of Art Squatters, complete with the notice of Court Hearing taped to the front.

The Night Bus took me home.

Overnight the tickle in my throat has turned nasty, but it won't kill me. Not just yet.

I think I am going to try to get out of London more regularly this year, since every time I go away I come back a refreshed, or recharged of defragged or something (apart from when I came back from Paris and promptly developed extreme hypochondria).

Today I have errands to run and jobs to apply for (I keep trying to call the number that Nenad gave me, but every time I try to call I get a busy signal. Goddammit!

Soddit. I'll have a shower and get onto the errands I have to run.

Tonight I think I'll commandeer a table at the Devonshire Arms and do some writing.

OVer and Out,

-J

Monday Again

Hey All,

It's Monday Again. All of last week I was getting up sursprisingly early (as in before 6 AM), and today I was out of bed at half seven.

Fridaynight I stayed in and caught some sleep.

Saturday Night I was toying with the idea of seeing Alien Sex Fiend playing a rare show at Koko, but I had to cook some mince before it expired, which meant that I had to cook spaghetti to go with it, which meant that I had to eat it while it was all hot. By which time it was too late to go to the show. D'oh.

In any case, I went straight on to Slimelight, running into a local friend of mine in the street, but making it there just after midnight.

Slimelight was much as usual, notable events being meeting some more people I had previously only met online (geez I'm a nerd), running into various friends of mine that I don't get to see as often as I like and seeing two great live sets, one by Unter Null and one by Sonar. The Unter Null set featured a bloke working the electronics that I had previously seen twiddle the knobs for Terrorfakt (I think it was Terrorfakt, all these American Tech/Noise acts seem to blur together sometimes).

After the club I went with some friends to a quiet after thing at the north end of Walthamstow. Somewhere along the way some of us stretched our legs by taking a walk up to a small green hill. The hill itself wasn't much, but the view was pretty amazing. Through the scrubby trees we could make out a strange sillouettish skyline, with several of the weird London sky-scrapers on view (there are more weird skyscrapers to come to London... I'm not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing).

Anyways, the silouettes were strangely done... it was late in the afternoon and we were facing west, so they had this weird reddish glow hanging over them. The vaporish and pollution-y air was giving the air around the towers a weird bluish glow, somehow refracting and softening the light, so that the silouttes looked a kind of bluish-grey instead of black. But they were still only about five or so miles away (I'll check the map and find out), so the shape of the buildings was still sharp enough. It looked like something carefully created in Photoshop with layers and channels and the like.

One of those times that I wished that I carried my camera around in my pocket, even though I doubt that it would do that kind of scenery justice.

Anyways, we wandered back to this girl's flat and watched SAW, which I haven't seen before even though it is now up to three sequels and I am notorious for seeing stupid numbers of genre films.

Lots to do today because I am going down to Bognor Regis tomorrow, coming back Wednesday.

Better hop to it.

-J

Hey All

Hey All,

Sorry to be cryptic, but a bizarre turn of events has led to a possible opportunity for me. I will explain all in due time, but for the meantime I'm figuring out how best to move on this (it's nothing overly incredible, but it would be good for me).

In other news: happy to hear that the should be a new Nine Inch Nails album dropping around about April (unless Trent really freaks out and trashes it between then and out). Apparently it was all written and recorded on laptops in hotel rooms while NIN were on their world tour for 'With Teeth'.

Anyways, got to update my CV and type up an application.

Over and out,

-J

Is this thing on?

Hey All,

My apologies for the radio silence for the last two weeks (or thereabouts). To all that might have been concerned, I haven't been in a pit of depression/bottom of a bottle/anxiety hell/hiding from the russian mafia/rendered by the CIA or any of the other possibilities that might explain why I haven't posted, I just haven't been in the mood to put words on screen.

In any case, here's a quick whistle-stop of my last two weeks:

Nothing much, except that I went down to Bognor Regis to see My Dad (who was staying with my Grandmother), collected a pile of stuff that he had brought over and just defragged for two and a half days (instead of my usual gig/club/wander weekend thing).

So now I'm back up in London with a pile of swag. Assorted soaps, shampoos and whatnot from hotel rooms, a pile of CDs that I told my Dad to bring over (incl Converge and Dimmu Borgir, oughta keep me happy for a while), some more shirts and slippers and my pinstripe suit from Australia (yay, I have a suit again).

And a copy of Maus by Art Spiegelman that my sister and her boyfriend sent over. Sweet, I've been meaning to read it for years.

Since getting out of London and getting away from the internet was in effect something of a Reset for me, I've been thinking about what positive moves I can make. More on this later.

Enough for now.

Over and out,

-J

Edit: My Dad was also cool enough to find me a copy of Death Before Dishonour, the magazine from Brisbane featuring some design and journalism by my old pal Joel Birch, who I have mentioned is one hell of a designer (even if his work does remind me of Jake Bannon going head to head with old Sisters of Mercy Covers... it still beats the hell out of anything that I've done).

Did I mention that one of my resolutions was to do more design work?

Not to mention that I have set myself the LJ Challenge to read 50 Books This Year (I have no idea how many I read last year, but it wasn't as many as I meant to).

I bought three diaries at Victoria Station: a Page A Day A4 (to act as my desk diary, the first thing I look at in the morning and the last I look at night), a week a page A4 (mobile calendar in my satchel for planning stuff in advance on the move) and page a day pocket-size (for listing all the fiddly little things I need to do).

So far it seems to be working okay.

The idea is that if I write down the things I want to do/have to do/should do/would like to do as well as all the other random ideas I have, I might actually get around to doing more of them.

Speaking of which, I'm going to throw on some washing, skip for a bit then get moving on some other stuff that needs to be done.

Over and out (again)

-Jason