aimless banter

2008-03-28T06:28:00.000+01:00

top 11 of '07

2007-12-09T10:08:00.001+01:00

its one of my favourite musical times of the year when i get to browse the blogs and see what gems are out there that i've missed (menomena apparently), and how other people's perspective disagreed with mine. for me it's too difficult to rank albums and too difficult to track whether an album was released in 2007, so i present to you my top 11 for '07 that i listened to the most...
clipse-hell hath no fury

this was the album that restored my faith in hiphop. tight off-kilter beats, great rhymes and showing a little vulnerability too. it also gave me a whole new vocabulary when talking about crack selling.

beach house- beach house

dreamy pop with girls vocals. unfortunately we only made the last song of their gig when we tried to catch them. i am a sucker for groups with girls singing, and she has a big voice.

of montreal- hissing fauna are you the destroyer

they moved away from the twee sound of their last couple of albums and pumped up the disco side of things. kevin barnes was apparently having marriage issues and that translates into the music if not the tunes. we're going to see them on tuesday, exciting.

liars-liars

i am a huge fan of the liars, and "drum's not dead" although avant garde would have been in my top 10 of last year. this album was more accessible, but still todally rocked, especially "tiny plaster casts of everything"- when it kicks in at the end- rifftastic.

black lips- good, bad, not evil

this is classic rock n'roll. it was tough to decide to go with this album or the live album as the token black lips album (they nearly both made it). scuzzy, guitar driven rawk (or flower punk i think the genre is called), venturing into 50's style storytelling.

lcd soundsystem- sound of silver

any interview you read with james murphy he comes acroos as the smartest guy in popular music. this album was even better than the debut album, and songs like "someone great" put a lot of wistfulness behind a driving beat. he's improved his live act considerably too.

fela kuti- expensive shit

fela kuti has been my gateway into african music, and i keep turning to this album. "water he no get enemy" must be one of the funkiest songs about, it's long and wild and it packs a message.

klaxons- myths of the near future

this album apparently created "new rave", but i'm not sure how rave it is (except for the sirens at the beginning of "atlantis to interzone"). i like pretty much all the singles off this album (even the inspired cover), and i'm intrigued to see where they take it from here.

ghostface-supreme clientele

i don't know which stone i was sleeping under when this came out, but after listening to last year's fishscale i went through the back catalogue. this is an impeccable album, usual ghostface storytelling and languid rhymes, the first couple of listens of his new album haven't convinced me that he's reached this level again.

various- trojan calypso box set

this is in the car, and i never get tired of it. some saucy, some emancipatory (not sure if that is a word), all with a great propulsive beat that makes me think of sunshine.

electrelane- no shouts, no calls

i bought this on a bit of a whim, and it ticks a lot of boxes; girl singers, krautrock, melodies. i can't believe they've gone on hiatus, so this is the last album of theirs to be treasured.

panda bear- person pitch

beach boys meets animal collective. this album is skewed pop at it's finest. probly my favourite album of '07, it has great melodies, harmonies and just enough wierdness to keep things interesting

there were a lot of other great albums that it was tough not to put in this list; deerhoof-friend opportunity, animal collective- strawberry jam, yo la tengo- i am not afraid of you and i will kick your ass, mathhew dear- asa breed, super furry animals- hey venus and black moth super rainbow- dandelion gum to name a couple. what are your favourites, plug them in the comments...

i know it's wierd

2007-08-10T08:54:00.000+02:00

but i want to buy these

but seriously

2007-08-10T08:47:00.000+02:00

how good are sleater-kinney.

kwik-e-mart

2007-08-08T11:31:00.000+02:00

i was in seattle and next to the space needle they had set up a kwik-e-mart to celebrate the simpsons movie. it ruled, look at the picture of the tubby cop with wiggum...

donut soup

2007-08-08T10:49:00.000+02:00

molecular gastronomy is a very intriguing topic for me. mixing up textures and flavours and the food stauts quo; snail icecream, melon spheres etc. i read all i can about the fat duck and el bulli and the crazy shit they get up to. i think it's beyond me, however it's interesting to read from a wtf perspective. however one of my regular food blog reads had a pretty easy one; donut soup . pretty easy, fry up some high quality doughnuts steep them in some milk and water, add some more donuts and then blend the hell out of them (that's the abridged version). so on one of my london work trips i went to krispy kreme (i said high quality) and made it. it's sweet, it's thick, it's donutty and delicious...

seekraal

2007-08-07T09:39:00.000+02:00

i was at the fish stand the other day and they had this funny green seaweed/spikey stuff that looked interesting. i bought it as seekraal but found out it was called samphire, sea bean/asparagus and a host of other names. it grows near the sea hence it's salty nature. it's crunchy and great, and i've bought it a couple of times since

turkse pizza

2007-08-07T09:36:00.000+02:00

We live near a pretty Turkish street (although there is a horse butchery on the road), and they have a delight called turkse pizza. It is a pizza style base topped with tomatoey paste with a little mince, rolled up with lettuce and chilli and garlic sauce. Pretty great and a steal for eur1.50. I think we may have found the holy grail of turkse pizza, a new shop on our road churns out these beauties which made me change my perspective on the genre; crispy base, tomato & cucumber (a vast improvement on simply lettuce), awesome

backlog

2007-08-07T09:31:00.000+02:00

I need a burst of inspiration, had the usual busy summertime time. Lots of visitors, rose and her sister, dietmar and annie, I was in seattle for week (more on that to follow, lots of tattoos and coffee, no heroin and a disappointing lack of grunge). Anyway, here we go kids, this was a burst of fun cooking we had in june, about a week or so, most of them will get their own post so I can look like a prolific blogger.
I made some thai curry paste. It was pretty easy, you can see all the ingredients, just a little tough to chop them all before blending. You need an inordinate amount of chillis too (20 dried and 20 birds eye). I liked it, but it wasn’t all time, even though I did concentrate on making it as legit as possible (except I did blend it as opposed to pestle and mortar, which is supposed to allow more of the oils to be naturally released). Fuck that I say, life’s too short for pestle and mortar. I made some mussels with it tonight, nice but not as fresh tasting as normal mussels

jarvis

2007-05-30T07:03:00.000+02:00

My best of 2006 post is way out of date (this is what comes of being a less than prolific blogger). However there was an album that I wanted to shine some light on, because I have continued to listen to, and it may still be my gig of 2007 so far. Jarvis’ album appealed to me for 2 main reasons;
1) it rocked
2) it was so jaundiced

rocking is pretty easy and I can name a lot of bands that do it more than adequately. But having a jaded, modern life is rubbish slant is something special, especially when it is so eloquent. It’s always about the lyrics, but simply the title “from aushwitz to ipswitch” or the video to “don’t waste your time” capture a unique slant on life. “ cunts are still running the world” requires no nuance, it’s telling like he sees it. After these gret tracks I still wasn’t expecting too much from a 40 something brit pop washup in concert. However, he rocked; great between song banter and purple haze??!? as an encore.

So this ties nicely into my eternal quandary, how does one age gracefully (or disgracefully, depending on how you want to go). I was on facebook the other day and I saw all these people that I saw in my early 20’s, and they remain douche bags. Then I would have been lairy and told them they were cunts, I have mellowed somewhat in my old age, however the temptation is very strong let me tell you….

atp vs the fans

2007-05-23T09:24:00.000+02:00

hey kids

we were at atp vs the fans on the weekend. it ruled, no camping, hot showers, a fridge and all the mod cons. also great bands and good friends, top!

my highlights; cornelius, the books, yo la tengo, sparklehorse, les savy fav.

great!

madrid

2007-04-12T02:15:00.000+02:00

i went to madrid this weekend to see manuel and kay-z. it was great, only a couple of days, i ate my bodyweight in jamon serrano (manuel bought a leg which we ploughed through). we played wii (the first console i have been interested in owning), drank rum?!?, and ate a lot of tapas. very nice...

photos

2007-04-12T02:06:00.000+02:00

looking at the hyacinth fields, dim sum, roast dinners and a cat-in-a-box

Vinyl

2007-02-24T11:12:00.000+01:00

My new found vinyl craze has gone through an obscene burst. This week I have bought/received; lps;
css, prefuse 73- extinguished outtakes, fugazi-the argument, spiritualized-amazing grace, Jarvis
7/12 inches;
Panda bear- bros, cat power- the greatest, and about 5 others
And I won on ebays;
Pixies, trompe le monde, king tubby-double album, stereolab- , broadcast-work and non-work
Luckily I got a raise, maybe now I need to get a secret credit card that dagmar can’t track…

The lovers gift-sterilisation

2007-02-14T09:45:00.000+01:00

That’s what I got mittens for valentine’s day. Some might say it’s cruel, but others (like these guys) advocate it…

two gigs

2007-01-29T21:02:00.000+01:00

it's not a post about data (see what i did there, switch & replace)
we went to see two pretty great gigs last week.
on monday we went to see jarvis. i really like the new album, it's got an interesting old man sleaze to it. and the titles are jaundiced enough to be coming from someone half his age; "cunts are still running the world"", "from auschwitz to ipswitch" etc

and then on friday it was lo-fi-fnk, one of the faces of new rave(tm). they were great, pumping beats, nice sportswear, fun!

i've missed you

2007-01-21T12:01:00.000+01:00

Had a great christmas. It was cool not to travel for a holiday. I sat on my erse, boozed and slept late (and cooked a very delicious goose for Christmas). Billy ruptured her appendix on Christmas which sucked (how selfish can you get?). it was very sucky, she was in a lot of pain, and missed her slot to go back to oz, but luckily alls well that ends well and she’s sunning her bum over there now
Then benjy and phil came to visit. We repeated the same trick but looked at some windmills and went to Rotterdam (and finally went for a peek in one of the cube houses)
New years was surprisingly good,.a little raving (so to speak) and some good tunes

Last week was spent in morzine in the alps for a little snowboarding. We had lessons every day and I loved it as I thought I might. I could carve and make it down the hill in one piece. We had a hot tub to rest our aching bones and a chef cooking us great meals. Very great.

Mouldy is here this week with Clemence, so it’s all good…

marcus

2006-12-18T23:16:00.000+01:00

prince + bratwurst

pics

2006-12-18T23:07:00.000+01:00

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

2006-12-16T10:17:00.000+01:00

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)

2006-12-07T17:17:00.000+01:00

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

2006-11-23T21:59:00.000+01:00

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

2006-11-18T10:32:00.000+01:00

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..

......

2006-11-16T16:52:00.000+01:00

start spreading the news

2006-11-15T21:57:00.001+01:00

the light, the tunnel, old friends & JC

2006-11-15T21:57:00.000+01:00

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

2006-11-01T09:12:00.000+01:00

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

2006-11-01T09:10:00.000+01:00

(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

2006-10-22T11:07:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-17T23:03:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-15T20:59:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-12T18:31:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-08T20:52:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-06T20:38:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-04T16:44:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-02T21:27:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-01T21:25:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-30T12:47:00.000+02:00

(i personally like the mulleted bogan version, Brengmar)

discussing placenta over curry

2006-09-30T12:15:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-30T12:11:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-24T09:25:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-17T13:25:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-16T08:51:00.000+02:00

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...

2006-09-11T21:02:00.000+02:00

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

bugle pop

2006-09-11T20:44:00.000+02:00

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

2006-08-16T21:52:00.000+02:00

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

2006-08-16T21:48:00.000+02:00

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….

our messiah

2006-07-14T23:00:00.000+02:00

this guy is super captivating, i believe just about anything he says. i bought his boxset off the back of grizzlyman and too much youtube (and maybe too little teevee)

the auld country

2006-07-14T22:46:00.000+02:00

So, it’s my classic post, a bit pissed on the train, sipping a beer and listening to lilly allen’s mixtape. That London track has the best reggae sample ever, I can’t remember the track it comes from, but it rules.
I wanted to talk about my trip to ireland the other weekend, it was todally great. I got to hook up with some of the crew, talk shite, drink Guinness and hung out on the south side.
Anyway, we went to an scoue (great music, it didn’t help me with my gaelic spelling), picked up mouldy real late and then had a party at susan’s house (tanks). no buckfast for me (I’m 30, it’s not good for my welfare), but a lot of laughs and chats with pals.
Next day we drove down t’ country, hung out with the cousins. Lots of good soda bread and food, but I was a little tired after the excesses of the night before to give my all. Great to see the family
And I was crowned the pool champion of ireland

berlins uber alles

2006-07-13T22:22:00.000+02:00

So this weekend we went to berlins, berlin is officially the coolest city in Europe!!
It’s so big, and the people are so uber cool, great heavy food and good beer
And the shopping is so much better than nl, however dagmar and I managed to come back with a doorknob and a measuring jug for our troubles.
We walked around the town, ate some good schnitzel and went for great vietnameses food at monsier vuong’s
I had the best juice ever there, apple, mint and soda. Delish. Transportation is so cheap, if there are four of you it’s cheaper to take a cab than to take the u/s bahn (or at least that’s what we convinced ourselves of).We went to the supporters mile and saw a multitude of german supporters, and felt some of the wk fever. Next time za!!
Another highlight was the berlin Tokyo exhibition. There were a couple of artists that had a great affect on me;
Christian stadt- he made portraits of women. They looked beautiful, great detail, flapper style, emancipated
Yayoi Kusama- she made a lot of big inflatable red “thing” covered in polka dots in a mirrored room- very interesting

And finally to round off my return to my blog the new yo la tengo single, sounds like vintage yo la tengo (ie. excellent)

finally i made spaghetti puttanesca tonight (the whore's pasta) . it wasn't as good as i'd expected, maybe too little garlic and anchovy, i'll post a picture when i get it right.
bye

daniel johnston

2006-04-05T23:17:00.000+02:00

i wanted to post this, pretty wierd; i haven't seen the "devil and daniel johnston", but i've always loved that yo la tengo "speeding motorcycle" song.
Bye

owner of a lonely heart

2006-04-05T23:14:00.000+02:00

hey
one more day of work for the next 3 weeks.
GREAT!!
this time next week we'll be chilling on the beach in zanzibar. this time in 3 weeks i'll be married. big changes. big excitement.
byye

missive from the train

2006-02-26T11:40:00.000+01:00

So here I am Friday night on the train…
Half drunk from work beers (we ran out of the classic heineken so I was forced into bok beers). Listening to vitalic on my new ipod and trying to decide whether or not to go to raving tonight. I really want to go dancing, but then it’s not my game these days and I kinda need a little nudge to get me going.
But enough about my Friday night dilemmas, it’s an embarrassment of riches, rather than a paucity…
Last weekend was great we were in somerset, ate and drank a lot, played skittles and walked in the countryside. But above all else we ate, we had epic potjiekos and even a braai (barbecue to the uninitiated) in the middle of February. We saw Stone’enge too, which from now always reminds me of that scene from spinal tap.
It was ok, if a little cold and full of tourists (i.e. crap)
Otherwise this week has been work and sleep filled

swedish psych power

2006-02-02T22:20:00.000+01:00

i thought i'd double the fun for one night and post again about the gig i went to the other week. i went to go watch dungen in this small club in utrecht called ekko. i have had the album "Ta Det Lugnt" but couldn't really see the hype. however, live they were great, superskinny, peter frampton hair, black suede cowboy boots and a lot of rawk.
i uploaded this blurry shot because i thought it encapsulated the mood. expect a lot more shots, we have some interesting gigs coming up...

time to chill

2006-02-02T21:53:00.000+01:00

holeeey shit
it has been cold for a couple of weeks now, ice on the canals constantly and when i got to work this morning it was snowing. even though it's not as much of a novelty every time i see snow i get all childlike and excited (even on the way to work).
second bash at the rotterdam film festival this weekend. last week we watched a pretty, but pointless film about rastafarians. we have booked 4 movies this weekend, so we're guaranteed of something good.
or at least wishing we'd gone to watch brokeback mountain ...

2006

2006-01-17T20:34:00.000+01:00

once again i'm tardy in updating my blog, but it was one of my new years resolutions. had a good holiday back in durban with family and friends, and i've arrived ready to kick 2006's ass. i don't know why, but i feel like i have a lot of optimism for 2006.

things are cold and rainy here, but it's all good. i've been to limburg and delft so far this year, watched "grizzly man" , it was great.

i'll leave you with a christmas time/south africa photo from the roof of sonya's flat

and again

2005-11-20T14:19:00.000+01:00

a new season.
A lot chillier, less light, but still fun. a great excuse for drinking strong beer and staying in pubs/cafes (though i don't often need kinda excuses).
Had a great day in that kinda vein yesterday, hired some bikes, and went round amsterdam. i went to the most amazing paper shop;
all different kinds of paper, colours, textures and sizes.
Then a couple of duvels and a game of scrabble. (whcih i was cheated out of, but i'm man enough for it not to hurt (much) 24 hrs later)
we also watched before sunset and before sunrise. i had never seen "before sunrise" before, and i thought it was wanky, a little too unscripted and painful. it did remind me of young love though, so maybe it evokes a thought.
anyway...

the last month

2005-09-04T21:34:00.000+02:00

has been hectic...
the summer is madness etc.
our pal emme was here after bennicassim and made us drink a lot, stay up late and do fun stuff. then my sister came and forced more of the same on us, as well as eating more (i am tubbing up nicely). we went and camped on texel (a wierd little island), went to antwerp to mooch around, and the hoge veluwe national park to hire bikes and look at art. next week we're headed to paris and the weekend after dublin again. how nice...

and the sun came out this weekend. i am now not as scared of the winter.

we made unbelievable ravioli with our pasta machine last night; prawn, leek and ricotta in a herbed lemon buttr sauce. sensational (though my sister says that word is the preserve of the homosexual, and i'm not allowed to use it)

FIB

2005-08-10T21:04:00.000+02:00

Sorry this has been sitting around while i haven't
Wow, what a great festival..
Jamon serrano, beach, lots of beer, and some great acts. it is the perfect summer holiday condensed into 5 days including the exotic locale and cheaper prices.
highlights for me were hot chip, four tet, basement jaxx, devendra and yo la tengo. but it was all great

sunburn and ravioli

2005-08-02T17:05:00.000+02:00

the lack of posting has to do with no wireless at home. pisspoor excuse i know, but someone has to use them...
so, we had some friends over for the weekend, and got lots of (unexpected) engagement presents, the most exciting being a pasta machine. now my dreams of fresh pasta will no longer be sated by dry shop bought pasta, it's an all new epoch in my life. to celebrate we made some excellent big raviolis filled with spinach, ricotta and pinenuts. i hate to say it, but they were sensational. really..
in other (more exciting) news i'm off to bennicassim in spain and fiberib festival this weekend, it's going to be great. sun, jamon serrano, cool bands, the beach, wakka...
i'll report back on sunburn and raving...

whores

2005-07-20T22:05:00.000+02:00

i have had a recurring theme of whores over the last day. my brother sent me this cool book called "man bitch" by this professor of african studies called johan van wyk; http://literature.kzn.org.za/lit/44.xml
he was really interesting; the first conscientious objector and a celebrated afrikaans poet who left his dying wife to hang out with low rent prostitutes in a scummy area of durban. the story tells of his escapades with these ladies, in a flat unromanticised way. it's kinda racy and grimy too, like bukowski meets henry miller on the esplanade, to drink a castle and tell war stories. kind of.

and, the second part of my hooker story was when i went for a run today along the canal. lots of guys in cars leering at women on boats. large dildo's and strap ons in the window (and promises of aircon). wierd vibe, lust hangs like a cloud, and because of the cars it's stranger.

anyway, my salmon steaks were great, no pictures, next time..

A new ideal

2005-07-18T22:20:00.000+02:00

I was reading tony pierce's blog the other day about the rules of good blogging ( http://www.tonypierce.com/blog/2004/06/how-to-blog-by-tony-pierce-110-1.htm), and it said that you have to post every day, so I'm going to try and get some archive up here. I think a good plan is to try and make each posting a little bit more of my manifesto, so I can dictate how other people should live their lives (because I definitely know better). The rest of the shit I was talking about in my first post will flow as a direct result. So tomorrow, if you're lucky you'll get my recipe for grilled salmon steaks (if the Eindhoeven fish market has them)...

Version 2

2005-07-05T19:42:00.000+02:00

The Metropolis festival was pretty cool, great weather and a lot of water and trees around (very sedate for a festival). Black Mountain were a little disappointing for me though, a little too out of tune and sludgy. I thought the Dears were pretty cool, at least one of their songs lived up to their hype.
Spektrum were the standout for me though; tight, dancey bass lines, live elctronic drumming and a feisty singer.

the beginning stages of max nolte

2005-03-06T19:00:00.000+01:00

ok, well this is an experiment into how sustainable my ego is (be prepared for reruns in 2040). i'd like to put up a couple of mp3 tracks, some photos and some food-related things (food and the music are passions of mine). .other exciting news is that' i just watched jim jarmusch's coffe & cigarrettes (a bit more aimless than i was expecting) and another slow german movie called "schultze gets the blues", which was sweet but didn't got anywhere.
i am going to the metropolis festival tomorrow in rotterdam (http://www.metropolisfestival.nl/2005/index.php ), hopefully the weather holds up. i'm really looking forward to seeing black mountain and stars, in fact all the bands seem great. i thought i'd post black mountain "druganaut", it's a great sabbathy rock track which i've been enjoying, checkit;
http://www.scjag.com/mp3/jag/druganaut.mp3