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Hey All,

I made it to the William Gibson thing in plenty of time. There wasn't actually lines around the block, but then again, it was 1300 on a Wednesday, so most people would probably be working.

I bought a copy of his new book and stood in line to sign it. As for the man himself: not quite what I expected, but not badly so. And I would swear that none of the stuff I've read about him (and I have tried to read as many articles as I could) have mentioned that he is left handed.

After the signing I wandered down to Charing Cross Road, where I ran into Chris Cheney from the Living End. I've met him before (a couple of years back, in Brisbane, at a Tremors show at the Zoo), but it seemed silly to mention that somewhere a few years ago I spoke to him for five minutes. That and I think I had already used up my quota of stupid stuff to say with 'I missed you when you played in Camden the other week, but I'm glad to see that you are still playing around.' (which is only a shade better than 'Wow, I didn't know you were still going!' - especially silly since they sold out the Electric Ballroom (cap 1000) before I even knew the show was on).

In any case, my brief conversation on the corner of Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue did no harm to my impression of him as an incredibly down to earth bloke.

Anyways, enough name-dropping from me.

Over and out.

-J

William Gibson Signing.

Today I was at Forbidden Planet, noting down the upcoming signings. And I noticed that there was one coming for William Gibson.

Tomorrow.

Neato. I'll have to make sure I get there early, because there will probably be lines around the block.

Should be interesting in any case.

Over and out.

-J

Hey O

Terrorizer has just introduced me to a French band called Monarch.

Monarch sound like the inside of my head.

Yesterday afternoon I spent the twilight hanging out with some friends at a barbeque in Shepherds Bush; a different set of friends to the ones I've hung with in Shepherds Bush, but it was still an excuse to head over there and have a bootle about.

The actual area of Shepherds Bush is interesting to me. It's slightly cleaner than Leytonstone (there's a £75 fine for anyone caught littering), and there's that bloody big park in the middle. Lots of interesting looking folk wandering about, as well as the usual complement of dodgy characters you'd rather not meet.

Fifteen minutes by tube into Tottenham Court Road. Lots of Victorian and Edwardian buildings about. Interesting.

Back to the barbeque - it was at an antipodean house, and something that came up in conversation was the 'Heathrow Injection', that being the ten pounds that people put on when they arrive in London.

Interesting. I can see how it works (English food is pretty damn stodgy; pasta, chips and other carb-bombs are cheap), but I seem to be the only person who has lost weight since being here.

I guess I can partially put that down to trying to steer towards fresh fruit and vegetables; not to mention that I am trying to economise right now, so I am not getting the usual slice of pizza/sub/whatever that I tend to get whenever I am out.

Hmm.

I'm still reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Interesting lessons in there, but dammit is it dense. When I open a book on the Tube, between Leytonstone and Tottenham Court Road I can usually clear ten pages easily.

With Zen I'm lucky if I can manage four.

I wonder what a mile-to page breakdown would be like? Would I be able to finish a novel between here and Glasgow?

Questions questions.

I'm going to ponder this and more on my own.

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

Hey,

I didn't make it to the art thing last night.

At about half five I just felt physically crushed, then at about six I lay down, meaning to be horizontal for about five minutes.

I wound up sleeping for 14 hours.

How weird is that?

Today I'm going to try to swing by the gallery, so that I can tell my friend that I saw her exhibition.

In other news:

1408, the new John Cusack movie based on a Stephen King short story looks really good.



It opens in London next Thursday, so I'm going to try to get along to see that.

For some reason there are a bunch of movies opening about now that I wouldn't mind seeing.

Of course, I'm feeling annoyed that different movies are given different opening dates in different territories still. Stardust, for instance, has been playing in America for a couple of weeks now, but it doesn't open in the UK until October, and the new Resident Evil movie doesn't open until November.

Still, what can you do?

In any case, I will have to expound on this later, since right now I am in dire need of Margarine.

Over and out.

-J

I'd just like to say...

That Heroes (the TV show) is bloody good.

Tonight I go out to see an exhibition of paintings by a friend of mine.

I wonder how my Mother and Sister are finding Japan?

-J

Hmm

Lately I've been wondering about how to make better Spaghetti Sauce.

I tried cutting up tomatoes, but I couldn't get the damn things fine enough (though it did add a nice, chunky texture to the Dolmio sauce that I had it mixed with).

I'm considering buying a blender.

That said, the blenders in Tescos are horrible plastic things. Being the art deco obsessive that I am, I'd want one with shiny chrome and neato switches.

I wonder what white-goods shops there are in London?

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

Hey Everyone,

It's pretty damn cold outside.

Cold enough that I've closed the window in the bathroom because I know that if I don't one of my flatmates will bitch about it in the morning.

I walked down to the Tesco at 10 AM today, and everything was bleak and rainy. Just the way I like it : )

I've picked up a book that I started reading sometime last year but left aside for some reason or another. I'm enjoying it, as it seems to be disturbingly prescient as far as cyberpunk/post cyberpunk fiction goes, raising the question of how much the writer was ahead of his time for being able to see things coming that far back (it was written about fifteen years ago), and how much is kids reading the book then dedicating their lives to making bits and pieces of it come true (as has reportedly happened with parts of Star Trek).

Naturally, I'm not going to say what the book is until I've finished it, because experience has made me paranoid about randoms posting spoilers.

For now, time to sleep.

Over and out.

-J

Hey all

Hey All,

This week has been one of those 'Stay home and try to get writing done' weeks.

Trying to find the right words to say the right thing, and then applying a digital razor blade to prose to whittle it down to size.

The weather is still on a yoyo. Sunny Rainy Cold Sunny.

I read online that Brisbane had a whole 12 millimetres of rain (delivered in a whole 15 minutes).

And it just happened to fall on People's Day, the Wednesday Holiday for the RNA Exhibition.

Weird.

Maybe to break the drought in Brisbane, it's time for some serious Urban Voodoo.

Maybe it everyone should be required by law to hold cricket matches and BBQs every day. Antique rugs should be hung to dry beside priceless watercolours.

Something tells me that it still wouldn't work.

Meanwhile London is as London does.

Anyways, back to work.

Over and out.

-J

Whoo!

Hey All,

I finished the new Harry Potter book yesterday. It had been sitting on my bedside for about three weeks (after I bought it the day it was released and all), because for some reason I just couldn't get it together to read the damn thing. It's too big to be a tube book, and I don't tend to read at home that much.

Thursday night I actually picked up from where I had left off (about two chapters in) and to my surprise I found myself chugging through it pretty quickly, knocking down fifty or more pages without even noticing.

Without any spoilerising, I can say that the climax is pretty climactic, which makes it a little hard to follow (I can see at some point in the future I might read the whole series again).

But I did find it enjoyable, and I did find all threads nicely tied up.

Last Night: The Hard-Ons played a fast and furious set in Camden. Big thanks to Pete K for getting me on the list. When I got there their main support was playing, some German rock'n'roll/punk band that were almost exactly like The Living End, only without an upright bass and with German accents.

The Hard-Ons themselves were great fun, as usual. Blackie is still an amazing guitarist, and Ray never seems to get any older. It seems strange that some Australian bands have known something intangible about the true nature of great punk rock that the British are only starting to realise now (with bands like Gallows).

Anyways, more writing to do.

Over and out.

-J

Update:

Went out last night. Missed a call as I left. D'oh.

Spent today wandering and finding new things.

Three record shops I'd never seen open before.

A street in Camden of Georgian mansions, clean and well heeled only two or three streets away from out and out slums.

A park somewhere between Camden and Kings Cross, something to do with Saint Pancras. Peaceful and green.

Amazing.

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

Hey Everyone,

I've just finished the Antibiotics. The cough is much better, and I'm hoping that from here on in it keeps getting better. Rather than coming back all Antibiotic-Resistant and worse than ever.

I guess I should write 'How's the cough?' in my diary, for two weeks from now.

This week I'll be finishing, polishing and sending off stuff for the magazine.

As well as throwing about CVs.

The usual.

The Hard-Ons play the Underworld next monday. Yay!

Over and out.

-J

Hey All

Hey everyone.

Another Sunday Night.

Clubbing last night, after chillout in West London. Peeled off by myself to look at West London becoming Westminster through the windows of a double decker bus.

Now sitting at home, checking messages.

All good fun.

Over and out.

-J

Hey O

Hey all,

Yesterday paid council tax.

Today reading/writing/stuff.

Still taking the antibiotics.

I'm still coughing, but it's back below 110 Decibels, and I no longer feel like one of my lungs is going to tear loose.

So I guess that they must be starting to work.

Reading and writing to do.

Over and out.

-J