marcus

prince + bratwurst

pics

my blog was getting boring, so i had to upload some pictures from the last month or do, ilja came to visit. jamie lidell played (i don't have any sonic youth pictures, but they rocked)

slack posting

Since I got back to being able to drink again, I have been a shit blog poster. Does that mean that blogging is the drinking of the teatotaller? Or that drinking allows you to spout more crap- I’m not a psychologist, but there’s a good story there.
Christmas is around the corner.. it’s also the time of year for “best of” lists. I’m a sucker for stats and numbers so this is why it appeals to me- it also tells me what I missed out this year and get my downloading ass on asap. (I talk exclusively of music, but there’s many movies and books too), but I will aim to give at least my top 5 of books, movies and albums of this year. I have started running again, it is great, but I have lost all of my condition, and I want to be totally ripped for snowboarding. Bro.
Tonight I am going to watch sonic youth, they are going to rule. Officially. “rather ripped” is far too rock for 40 year olds., it’s interesting to be an older statement of avant rock. I confess that besides dirty I’ve never been a big fan, but murray st and rather ripped have both been great. Kinda mellow and not too difficult to listen to. Anyway, tomorrow night is Jamie lidell and if you don’t have multiply, first kick yourself then go get it.
Only 5 shopping days till Christmas, get moving bitch

vincent gallo loves you (for $50k)

Check it, For just $50k you too can now win a night of unbridled passion with actor/guitar hero/misogynist/tough guy Vincent gallo (cheaper than buying his semen anyway).
Also it applies to anyone ”Heavy set, older, red heads and even black chicks can have me if they can pay the bill”

hype machine

i think this is a great site. If you have heard of a band and want to find out what they sound like, put the name in the search function and kaboom they’ll link you to mp3 blogs that are posting that track. Very useful for checking out what the “kids” are listening to and for finding cool mp3 blogs too. Ps I had blood taken today and barely winced.

opiate of the masses

I am a semi-Luddite at home, we don't get any teevee. There is so much crap on that i dont usually miss it (and my pet bugbear is reality tv and how crap it is)
However, with time on my hands bored in the hospital i got to browse a number of channels and loved two programs; iron chef and project runway.
Iron chef is classic, a reality show with aspiring cooks having to go through immunity rounds and cook wierd challenges (a new tgi fridays meal, ingredients out of a vending machine). A cooking show with a twist (and salman rushdie’s girlfriend presenting it, who is real purty) i hope betty goes next...
Project runway is also on on reality show, this time with fashion designers (one with the most outrageous neck tattoo) most entertaining.
Which leads me to think that dvd series, books and red wine wont get me through the winter, and the idiot box needs to be cranked up tivo-style..

......

start spreading the news

the light, the tunnel, old friends & JC

it was nearly like that kids...
i was about to make my triumphant entry into winning the new york marathon. i trained my ass off, lots of early mornings, shitloads of pasta, enough gatorade- i was ready for it. unfortunately at the 23rd mile something happened and i flaked out. the next thing i heard was an american voice asking me how i felt and waking up plugged into oxygen in the back of an ambulance.
it was rough, i didn't know where i lived, why i was in the us, where i was staying etc etc. i got rushed into intensive care, double drips, oxygen, heart rate monitors the whole deal...
it was Rhabdomyolysis which means muscle tissue breaking down and poisoning the blood. i had to stay in hospital from sunday through saturday..
that's ok if you feel poorly, but when you feel ok it sucks. it's so boring and i was expected to get out every day after my blood test.
i missed my conference, hospital bills are $35k+, but at least i have my health :)

bmw drivers are jerkoffs

some people say that since i started driving a bmw and using a blackberry, i've turned into a facile, money-driven jerkoff.

i disagree.

i've always been shallow, money hungry and a jerkoff, it's just now i have the trappings of this have finally been allowed to me...
bite me losers

Jack your body loser

(friday night's post which got lost on blogger)
I may have to subvert the title of a hot chip track, but like a chump I'm hanging on a stop trein heading back to utrecht after missing my stop.
Had a cool few drinks in eindhoven beforw my macdonalds fuelled trip home.
This week was very poor for my marathon training. I got drunk off my ass till 3am in hamburg on wednesday. But luckily I got o drink a quick kulsch in cologne wit ill-j on my way home. We're going to hook up properly for the idfa, but it was good to see him and see his photos.
Aside from that this week has been uneventful.. We ate some good spanish food at guillermo's house.
My work got us a trip away for the weekend for our wedding, and we're trreating ourselves to maastricht. I'm intrigued. We get a nice hotel and dinner and get to explore a new town. But for now, like the twat I am. I chill on the train half sober dreaming of being home. Over and/or out
-- Sent via BlackBerry

zoot woman

last night we went to eat sushi and watch zoot woman.
both were good, i had been craving some miso soup, that with a little sashimi and some very nice scallop ngiri (and the obligatory asahi)
unfortunately sushi meant we got to zoot woman late, but they were pretty cool (though the singer looked like a prize twat, and les rhythmes digitales was awol)

also this week, my sweetheart celebrated her birthday. we went to luce for dinner, it was pretty good, i had quail filled with goose liver and some nice italian cheese.
unfortunately the trains fucked out on my way home for birthday celebrations so dagmar had to come pick me up. there was a slayer concert in den bosch and i got to drink beer with these slayer fans however. dutch slayer fans are personable fellows (and it always surprises me how many metalheads are proper nerds)
going to rotterdam today to look at some art, maybe catch the al gore movie.

birthday post

Today I turn 31.
Not one of the most monumentous birthdays, and considering I made a load of people go to Prague last year for my 30th, I decided to play it extremely low key; beer, the old lady and teevee (I had a t-shirt that said it used to wine, women & song, but now it’s…)
I got a lot of calls and e-mails today, which was very sweet, thanks to all, and to those who forgot- fuck you thanks a lot, I know who my real friends are.
Happy birthday to me!!

diy is for assholes

had a pretty cool weekend.
we went to a party at the supper club in amsterdam on friday. billy had a work shindig with free drinks and we got invited along. (it's strange that even though i'm very capable of buying my own drinks, free drinks still remain a great bait). i was expecting a lot more from the supperclub, i'd heard a lot of buzz about it, but it was a bit of a wankoff (but nice snacks and free drinks)
which lead to yesterday's grade a hangover. i went birthday shopping for dagmar and set up our new mp3 blog, which is still slightly faulty, but will very soon blow your mind (todally).
went for a good long run and got lost in the utrechtse heuvelrug today (they're like mountains but netherlands size (so not like mountains)). i got back to dagmar stripping paint off the windows and repainting. like being tidy, doing diy is not a passion of mine. in fact it's almost guaranteed to put me in a foul mood, but i made it through fairly swimmingly, with minimal cursing and minimal boozing throughout it.
off to see the congo's now, should be good

pasta

that's the shit kids
blogger has been keeping it off your screens, trust me it was as delicious as it looks...

today is the sabbath

Some photos from the weekend (and last week). Very nice to have pete, grant, ryan and phikwe here. Some good venison and beers yesterday. today I made the frankly delicious butternut tortellini with walnut basil sauce. Next time i'll make an elaborate photo tutorial
Happy week, I’m going clay pigeon shooting tomorrow…

rapturous

Last night was the rapture at the Tivoli.
(or the mighty rapture as their bass player put it)
They were cool, big bass and cowbell leading the way (with a bit of sax thrown in for fun). The better singer looked like a geekier version of sergie from google (not a good look for a rockstar). They played all the classics, and I danced most of the way through. Their support act was pretty cool too, the david Gilmour girls, a dutch 4 piece They were pretty great, but severely lacked a singer to take them to the next level. A hot chick would make them more interesting (but a hot chick would make me more interesting)- that’s why I got married (yo baby yo baby yo baaaaby)
I tried to take some awesome pictures (the roadie had a hairdo that was a sight to behold) but my camera is crap in the dark. And youtube and flickr refused to churn out some great shots. So take my word for it.
Pete is here en route from prague back to durban, we hooked up on Tuesday for dinner. I cooked my first sole (slibtong in dutch). Very easy and very tasty, maybe again this week.
I downloaded the new grizzly bear album from allofmp3.com ($2 an album, forget filesharing) it is such a great album, but I don’t know why. It’s intricate and melodic, almost post rocky, but great (the colorado track is my first post on my new brotherly love mp3 blog, watch this space)for now check this
Ok happy weekend, this blog is lacking cool pictures

women

i just finished reading women by bukowski. I'm a big fan of his, and i thought post office and ham and rye showed great humanity despite the constant boozing and chaos. women was different, he was in his 50's, a little famous and constantly boozing and swopping women. but he was pretty relentless and merciless about it, and it got boring by the 150th page. there was redemption (or at least a glimmer of hope) on the last page, but don't put it on your reading list kids.

briefs

i had an epiphany some time last year when i was in new york. i had seen so many american apparel ads that i had to go check it out. there wasn't any halfclad lovelies, but i ended up buying some y-fronts for the retro chic of it all. but little was i to know that it would turn on me.
18 months later i'm a y-front addict and i'm writing my briefs manifesto.
in short my reasons are;
1) they looks cooler than the boxer
2) they're more comfortable (essential for the man who's well hung)
3) they provide more support when running
4) it adds a soupcon of excitement for the ladies (i'm basing this on a poll of one)

volver

was as all almadovar movies pretty great. very powerful women, 2 dimensional stupid men, rich emotions and great colours (although no transvestites or gay subplot for a change).
it was a bit of a struggle to understand with the dutch subtitles on a spanish film, but the general idea was well communicated (and they 70% of communication is non-verbal).
some great scenes;
when she's cleaning her husband's blood of the floor and has to answer the door, the guy asks about the blood and she says "women's problems"
the opening scene where they're cleaning the graves
when sole goes to her aunt's funeral and all the women are buzzing around her like flies in black
happy week

what our kids would look like

(i personally like the mulleted bogan version, Brengmar)

discussing placenta over curry

hey,
so i was in london this week and had billy's b-day as i came home on thursday night, so it was busy(that's code for apologising for being a bad blogger).
i went over to soggy and candice's house on wednesday for a good curry. candice is so big. it's wierd it's the closest person to me who is having a baby so it's so much more real. she is real big and the baby feels wierd squishing around in there. (not to mention all the graphic stories about childbirth and the aftermath). i dunno, it's 2006 it's wierd that childbirth is so analogue and visceral.
wednesday was a good shindig; howie, tash, benjy, mouldy, clemons and me. like candice i was teatotalling. it's not such a bad buzz, but you do feel less interesting. anyway my self imposed ramadam has ended. i'm craving a guinness, and that's what i'm going to be going for.

good shoes

I saw this track on the new specialten. (which incidentally has an interesting story about an aids orphan in durban called lucky). anyway this sounds like artbrut kinda english storytelling voice- self referential and disparaging. but then it rocks out in the middle and gets superpoppy.

'sup

Busy work week, a couple of work dinners and trying to budget for next year, pretty challenging (please note the appropriate business speak exchange of challenge for problem)
Friday night I made white pepper basted pork fillets with lemon spaghetti, a recipe I stole from the paupered chef (one of my favourite reads).

Yesterday was much of the same following my gut where ever it wanted to take me. We were supposed to go riding our friend adrian's boat in amsterdam, but the weather looked dodgy, so it didn't happen. Billy, dave and tim came to utrecht, and we ambled around.
We went to kantine werklust with adrian and rosa for dinner last night. It is this cool dutch/moroccan restaurant in an old office block. Great food, i had prawns with hot pickled lemon and a lamb tagine with prunes and almonds, delicious...
Anyway, now -km off to run the 30km van almere race to prepare for the ny marathon, wish me luck....

fresh pussy

so the new kitty has arrived
it is very cute and has settled in real well, except for crawling on my head while i was trying to sleep this morning.
also, stu, sd and gareth were over from london for the weekend.
we hung out, rode bikes and went to castell for dinner last night. and ate haagen das for dessert, it is the best ice cream known to man (butterpecan & cookies & cream in a waffle cone- holey shit)

Clean living

so it’s been 2 weeks of no booze. It’s the first time since I can remember that I’ve been completely booze free. I was expecting the health benefits to be unbelievable, seeing through walls, growing my third eye as well as reservoirs of pep and vigour.
however I have found this to not actually be the case (but maybe I’m a little prejudiced, I have a lot of time for my vices)
we had a guest speaker come in to work today. He was the dutch version of simon cowell from idols (i.e. the bitch). He told us about the “x factor””, the intangible wow that sets people/companies apart. It was interesting, but he was lacking the same x factor, which was unfortunate.
Last night I went to a party for googles. We had dinner in a great hotel in Rotterdam called hotel new york”. It was the hotel in holland that people had their last drink in before departing for the us. Beautiful art deco building with some nice tiles, on the water in r’dam.
We get our kitty tomorrow (I’m voting for the name mittens or September, but I’m not getting a lot of play with it)

beware of the twee...

i try, but i can't help liking this, my rock credentials are gone...

bugle pop

Hey
Pukkelpop (or bugle pop as beck called it) was really cool
Lots of highlights
Best show;
Tv on the radio- they were electric (and they get biggest hair and biggest crazy beard combo too)
The last day was vicious; broken social scene, belle & Sebastian, !!!, and others. Saw some crazy bands that I’d been wanting to see, the knife, gang gang dance, hot chip, my morning jacket, . Radiohead were really great (as an avowed non-fan I was pretty blown away). Unfortunately I was too knackered for daft punk on the last night, they sounded cool on the way back to the tent.
Biggest downer;
Shower queues, lots of mud, I think I’m too mature (read old) for camping at festivals. Or maybe I’m not getting buckled enough, either way it’s atp and a comfy bed next time or else b and/or b.
The beer ruled though (as I would hope at a Belgian festival). The swill lager was good, and they had a weiss , a dark and a kriek beer.
Fabulous

pukkelpops

hi, we went canoeing in the canal in utrecht on the weekend. it was great.

so tomorrow we go to pukkelpops. i must confess i'm a little worried about camping and the weather. i'm not keen for mud soaked with loads of people.
we made a promise last night that once dagmar turns 30, festivals are done from a nearby hotel. maturity huh.

anyway- listening to hot chip now, i'm most looking forward to them...


see you afterwards

wild camping

We went wild camping with ilja in eiffel. It was unbelievable. We picked him up in koln and then went to the lakes about 100km from there. It was sunny and warm so there were a lot of kooks around, but after a swim we pushed on to these ancient volcanoes which had filled with water over the aeons. Forest surrounding the crater, crystal clear water, sunshine- it was fucken tops.
There were paths around the crater and a small outside café to drink weiss beer. Once the sun went down we prepared a portable braai, drank some wine and then slept under the stars under a cherry tree (very poetic).
In the morning I had the “no bathroom” feeling- need to pee/dump and you teeth need washing. Once we swam it was much better.
Lunchtime was lamb bratwurst and their local beer.

My girl, sunshine, swimming, the nature, and ill-j- what a great weekend adventure….