Hey all

Hey All,

I just sent another review across to Thee Ed.

Hooray.

This afternoon I'm going to hopefully make it to a Neil Gaiman Signing at Forbidden Planet (I managed to miss the last one), followed by heading to a friend's housewarming later and then onto a breakcore party in Whitechapel that's being run by some good friends of mine.

That's all for now.

Over and out.

-J

This Is SPARTAAAAAA!

Hey All,

JUst in the last five minutes I've been having one of those fits where I can't stop sneezing. It's like the very act of sneezing triggers the nerve that causes you to sneeze. It used to happen to me all the time, but it hasn't happened in a while. Weird.

Moving right along: On Sunday I went to see 300, the movie based on the comic by Frank Miller.

And I have to say that it is pretty damn good.

True, it can be read as right wing propaganda at its purest (a two and a half hour recruitment poster for the royal marines, even), and true does feature a ridiculous number of scenes of muscular men in leather speedo's shouting a lot. And true, it is probably highly questionable as to how historically accurate it is.

But it is brilliantly rendered, the action scenes are incredible and in terms of the sheer operatic intensity of it, it makes Gladiator look pale.

It might not make sense if you have that second x chromosome, but it is still bloody good fun.

Over and out,

-J

Hey O

Hey all,

I sent over the introduction and the headline for the Bleeding Through piece this afternoon. It seems stupid, but I kinda assumed that Thee Ed or the Staff Writer would write the intro and headline, since I always thought that they handled those things.

Anyways, more writing to do tomorrow.

Also:

In the other window I'm reading the Wikipedia entry on Chekov's Gun, the idea that in any work of fiction, if something is introduced in the first act, it should be used by the end of the work of fiction or else it shouldn't be introduced. I think it's one of those things I've been aware of for years, but I never knew that it had a name.

I looked it up because it was mentioned by the character Finnygan Sinister in this week's 2000AD comic.

Funny how you can find the most interesting things in the most unexpected places.

It is still brutally cold out, but no more snow flurries, as far as I have seen.

Enough from me for now.

Over and out.

-J

Update:

Hey All,

I finished the Bleeding Through feature, and thee Ed seems to like it. He asked me if I would be interested in doing any more.

Unfortunately the Deftones show that I was supposed to be reviewing tonight is cancelled due to illness (word is that Chino has a throat infection), so I guess that means I get to see Life On Mars tonight (though I have also got to write an intro to the feature, come up with a headline, and write a Bleeding Through review in lieu of the cancelled Deftones show).

The weird weather continues, with icy gales blowing every which way and flurries of sleet striking and disappearing without warning. Guerilla Meteorological Activity. Naturally, this wouldn't seem half as weird, were it not for the fact that it is nearly April. I think it is actually Easter this weekend, and it was pretty damn warm last week. What is going on?

And now the sun is shining out of the west, while blue/grey clouds hang over East London.

Also: I spent £14 on an English Language and Literature AS & A2 Revision book, because if I am going to become a better writer, I need to learn all the stuff that they forgot to teach us at ACGS (or I was too arrogant to learn the first time 'round... in my defence, do you need to learn how to walk when you can already dance?)

Enough from me for now.

Over and out.

-J

Scribble Scribble Scribble

Today I'm writing up the Bleeding Through interview.

I'm finding it a little scary.

The weather today has been all weird. At three in the morning it started snowing.

At two in the afternoon there was a twenty minute squall of sleet and shale, blown in spirals by gales. Then the sun started shining, and now it is sinking back to murky blue/grey sky.

I just have to write 650 words and make it not suck.

Courage, dear boy, as my Uncle Alan said to me once. Courage.

When I get stuck I try rereading interviews by other Alt Mag journalists to see how they did it, but I start to feel all ADHD.

Must persevere.

Tomorrow night I cover the Deftones.

Should be good.

Back to the grindstone.

-J

Hey All

Hey All,

Today my Dad sent me a picture of my cat lazing in the sun. Cute. I can just picture the cat lazing around for five minutes, looking like he was thinking of something really important, before exploding into a flurry of activity and then lazing again.

Last night I went out to Camden to see a band play at the Dublin Castle, having met one of the members and his girlfriend on the tube the other night when they got on after Green Park Station.

In case I didn't blog it, Wednesday afternoon I took a long wander after trying to catch an anti-trident protest, and eventually found myself at Green Park Station, where I took the tube home.

Anyways, the band I saw were okay, but another band that they played with were even better.

After watching the bands play I wound up talking to a surfing-property-developing-ex-fashion-industry-music-fan English dude with surprising knowledge of Australian garage rock.

Interesting.

Today I overslept and nearly missed the Web-Comic mini-convention thing that was happening at Queen Mary University in Mile End today. I made it there eventually, but I wound up chilling with a group of creators at the nearby Wetherspoons. I listenend to them talking about scripting and watched them making sketches and talking about publishing etc. Most educational.

On Monday I submit the Bleeding Through Interview.

On Tuesday I go to cover the Deftones.

The weather here in London has been a little indecisive. During the day it is warm enough that you break into a sweat as you run to the tube station. At night it is still chilly enough that you wish you had brought along another jacket.

Spring is springing regardless, manifesting in all the different ways, not least being an uncontrollable and inexplicable urge to engage in Spring Cleaning.

More news as it comes.

Happy English Mothers Day to my Mother.

Over and out.

-J

Another Update:

I just finished transcribing the Bleeding Through interview.

Jeez my voice sounds funny on tape.

Over and out.

-J

Howdy

Hey All,

It's a brilliantly clear day outside, bright and sunny a with just a hint of crispness in the air (how did a cold edge become 'crispness?' I'd suspect it had to do with Crisp Salads, but I didn't know that the English ate salads that much; I don't see a lot of evidence of it here in London, anyway).

Hell, were it not for my aversion to direct sunlight, I'd call it a beautiful day.

Still, I have to get typing on that Bleeding Through interview, so I'm not going out in the sunlight just yet.

Just a few quick notes: the Combichrist show last night was incredible. Saw lots of friends that I haven't seen for a while and vented some frustrations on the dancefloor. I think that during the encore I was actually dancing so hard that I could barely feel my feet touching the floor (perhaps that was endorphins being released, possibly to do with the barbells I lifted yesterday morning).

Speaking of Barbells, I have set myself a regime of three sets of twenty or thirty on various exercises for the arms and shoulders with three kilo weights, which I do Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. This, along with a new policy of actually going to sleep when I feel tired - I know it's radical, but I'm all for thinking outside the box here : ) - means that I am sleeping much better and feeling better during the day.

Anyways, enough gabbing, time for transcribing.

Over and out.

-J

Hey all,

Hey All.

My life is all about strange balances. For example, I'm accident prone, but I heal quickly. If I exercise too much or work too hard, my body makes me sick so that I can't do that any more.

And another one is that every once in a while I'm brilliant at fucking up in the most retarded way possible, but I've also developed a keen sense of how to unfuck a situation (to be fair, most of the time the first thing that brilliant sense tells me is 'Call someone who knows how to fix this, they can help'.

In this case, I'd managed to get a card eaten by a machine a while back. Fine, get another card sent over from Australia.

Since I didn't have immediate need of the card, I didn't try to get it activated until last Friday (I did try taking it to the ANZ headquarters at London Bridge, but they don't do that kind of thing there).

I made a phone call to the call centre in Australia, but they didn't accept that I was who I said I was. Frankly, I can't blame them, because I had forgotten the password (I know, I know) and I didn't know the limit. To remedy this they told me to get my passport and drivers licence photostat'd on Bank or Police or Consulate letterhead, fax it to Australia and then call the call centre reverse charges so that it could be sorted.

Today I did just that. Not wanting to hike to the Australian Consulate at The Strand, I decided to try the Barclays Bank on the High Road. They told me that they only do that kind of thing for internal matters, but I could try a doctor or a solicitor.

"Thanks honey," I wanted to tell her, "if I had the money to see a Solicitor to get photocopying done, I wouldn't be living in this part of town."

So I tried plan b, the Police Station.

The officer on the front desk wouldn't do it on letterhead for me, but he did stamp and sign the photocopies. Which I was totally grateful for. He did say that since that same procedure, done by a Solicitor, would normally cost £50, I should make a contribution to the Widows and Orphans Fund. Which I did.

Then I hit the Net Cafe to fax the copies and headed back to the flat to make the calls.

Neato. The card is now activated. I just have to wait for them to send out the forms to fill in so that I can get a PIN number attached to the card. Should be no later than three weeks : )

Feeling rather good about my problem solving skills now (or at least my instruction following skills, which aren't quite the same thing, but come close when the instructions come with their own set of barriers).

Naturally I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without the people who were kind enough to organise the replacement card at their end, so big thanks to them.

Anyways, gotta run.

Over and out.

-J

Update on Update:

I headed to the Islington Design Fair, and when I arrived there I discovered that the Design Fair was not in fact a the Islington Business Design Centre.

Nope, it was in fact at the Artspace/Gallery Space etc on the same street as Electrowerks. The place that's next to the rickety cafe that reminds me of West End in Brisbane and I used to go to Life-Drawing Classes in the Basement.

The exhibition itself was pretty cool. It seemed to be a bunch of artists and photographers with five or six pieces each on display, and the artists themselves were usually nearby and happy to answer any questions posed to them, especially tricky ones about how the stuff was screenprinted or what photoshop processes they used or whatever.

After leaving the exhibition, I decided to wander from Angel down to Oxford Street, and I found a couple of interesting little cafes and what have you along the way, as well as some cool buildings and what-have-you. Eventually I got to where I was going, whereupon I jumped on a 25 back to Stratford and walked down to Leytonstone.

The whole trip took me forever, but I was in the mood for walking and thinking.

Now I'm in the mood for sleeping.

Over and out.

-J

Update

Hey all,

Friday I finally got around to making an appointment with my GP to get my ear syringed. At least I wanted to, but the nurse insisted that I get them looked at by the Doc instead. Fine. Next Friday the doctor is going to look at my ears and decide what action needs to be taken. After weeks of half deafness, a combination of olive oil in the ear, chewing celery and lifting weights (don't ask why, it just seems work) my ears seem to be popping clear now anyway, though if I tense those muscles that make my ears hum I can still feel/hear the wax popping under the tension.

I also vacuumed the flat lifted weights, bought two more pairs of jeans from Primark (under £10 total) and finally posted a copy of Alternative to my Mother in Australia.

Friday night I went to a friend's birthday gathering at a bar near the London Museum. I only meant to stay for an hour but I wound up staying until the end, running into various friends and getting talking to a makeup artist for quite a while.

At the end I wound up travelling back with the group to the party host's flat in Islington (in the shadow of a fuckoff big church), and I got talking to an architect who is alos the keyboardist in a moderately successful goth band and an ex music journalist, games journalist and sometimes novellist who is currently training to be a train driver.

Again, I did mean to only be there until the tubes started running, but I somehow managed to stay there until five in the afternoon. Oops. Still, I did meet some interesting people and had some intereting conversations about music and literature and architecture and sound engineering etc.

From the flat I walked to Highbury and Islington station, where I decided it was too nice a day to spend forty minutes stuck in a sardice can on wheels, so I walked down to Angel Station, taking in the sights as I went. When I got to the minimall with Borders in it I checked to see if I could find Alternative Magazine in there, and I was initially dismayed to find that I couldn't.

Then I found it. Under 'Culture'. Often it is in the Tattoo section or with all the Music Magazines.

Anyways, when I arrived home I found that a) I was pretty damn tired and b) that tickle in my throat was turning into something a tad more rough. I was planning on heading down to Brixton to see if I could get a cheap ticket for Nine Inch Nails and then on to Slimelight. Hmm. I considered my options for the evening while watching Primeval, and when I fell asleep and woke up watching some kind of horrible quiz show I was convinced to take a quiet Saturday at home.

Today I think I'll head back to Islington a see if I can take a look at the Islington Art Fair (this weekend is the Graphic Design Segment).

Feeling good.

Over and out.

-J

Update.

Metal Mag Editor emailed me back yesterday to say that he would get back to me as soon as possible but that the magazine was on deadline. Fingers crossed that he likes my stuff.

Nine Inch Nails show was pretty good, but I'm told that Wednesday night was a harder and crazier performance with more older material.

Apparently touts were selling tickets for face value outside, so maybe I might go Saturday (word is that they always travel with two setlists and alternate them night by night).

I just vacuumed the flat, I'm going to do some barbells then get down to some more writing.

Over and out.

-J

I totally forgot to mention...

...That last Sunday I discovered that Alternative Magazine is now available in Virgin Megastore and in Borders.

At least it was in the Virgin at Picadilly Circus and the one at corner of Tottenham Court Road, and the Borders on Charing Cross Road and on Oxford Street.

Which is pretty damn cool. I'm not just in print again, I'm in Borders and Virgin.

Anyways, gotta run, I've got to take care of stuff before Nine Inch Nails tonight (provided that Trent hasn't lost his voice again).

-J

Up to the minute:

Hey All,

I just sent off five reviews to the editor I mentioned in the last post: three from Alt Mag, one from fasterlouder and one from Morrigan's Pit. Fingers crossed that he likes them.

Given that I'm now feeling pretty tired and it is almost nine, I decided to blow off the Trans-Am show (sorry Elea!), but I'll catch them the next time they play in London.

The Gallows show last night was amazing, and it was great fun to see my friends in The Scare again. It is the first time I have seen those boys since last September or October, I think, and weirdly it felt like the first day back at school after Christmas Holidays.

I actually found out that something like 20 bands wanted to be on the tour with Gallows (them being press favourites right now) but Gallows actually requested the Scare, a couple of members having seen them play and been impressed. Oddly, it is sort of appropriate that Gallows and The Scare should be touring together, because both have a way of polarising people, and inspiring total hate as often as not.

I have no idea why, I've found the guys from Gallows to be stirling chaps whenever I've met them, and the Scare remain good friends of mine.

I'm still reading Catcher in the Rye, but when I finish that I am going to pell mell through The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie because he is doing a signing for his new book at Forbidden Planet on the 17th (which is also the same day as a webcomic convention that is taking place at a University hall in Mile End).

Speaking of writers, while I was reading the LondonPaper on the tube yesterday afternoon I saw that Iain Banks was doing a reading at Waterstones in Picadilly at 7PM. Half by chance, half by design I ran into Phil (the Scare's Road Manager) outside the 100 Club who told me that the boys wouldn't be onstage until half eight.

That would probably give me enough time to catch the reading, but it would probably be tight. I decided to go anyway. I mean, it was Iain Fucking Banks.

And I am so glad I did. Iain Banks is a really animated speaker, and the Q&A session afterward the reading was extremely interesting. I got to ask him a question and all.

When it ended I took the tube back to Tottenham Court Road and ran up to the 100 Club to find the first support band only halfway through their set.

Anyways, I am rambling, so I'm going to sign off.

Over and out.

-J

Busy Busy

Interesting things are afoot.

Over the weekend I was introduced to the editor of a well respected Metal Magazine here in the UK, and he wants to see some of my stuff. So I'm currently sorting through material working out what pieces I should send to him.

Did I mention that my friends in Parkway Drive absolutely destroyed the Underworld the other night?

Sunday morning I went exploring in Highbury and discovered lots of nice Victorian houses. In fact, I wandered all the way from Highbury Station, past Highbury Fields, Higbury Park, Arsenal Stadium, Arsenal Station etc and eventually found myself in Finsbury Park.

It's been about two years since I've found myself in Finsbury Park, and it seems that I haven't been missing much.

Tonight I'm seeing The Scare playing with Gallows (a punk band that has been getting mad press here in the UK, and are tipped as one of the best live bands in England). Tomorrow I'll go see Trans-Am, an NYC band that Elea recommended and Thursday I get to see Nine Inch Nails again.

I've set myself on a bar-bell regime again, trying to get back some muscel tone that I might have lost over winter.

This is a random post, but I figured that I should put something up, since there has been a bit of Radio Silence from me over the last few days.

More news as it happens.

Over and out.

-J

Update:

Hey All,

That review I was grousing about has been officially approved, and is availiable to be read in the live reviews section of that website I have contributed a fair number of reviews to.

And I reckon it didn't come out to badly, considering how it made me feel at the time. (Geez I can be a primadonna sometimes). In any case, I think I managed to cover what was good about the band and the atmosphere at the gig without mentioning that they weren't all that much as a live act.

Anyways, tomorrow night I'll be seeing some proper Australian Hardcore bands, so if I feel like reviewing it I'll be able to spill superlatives without feeling at all guilty. And tonight I'll probably be seeing a couple of straight up Death Metal bands, which should be fun.

Over and out.

-J