Week 18

Hello pollo locco!
Well as some of you may know the last 7 days have been what's known as freshers week, or to elaborate 'teeny boppers are finally released from controlling middle-class parents clutches, go ape shit and get their stomach pumped'. fucking mental. But it hasn't been all bad, there have been many interesting encounters and more than a few random moments, the whole experience best summarized in this little snippet: St George, Mother Theresa and Heidi treck through the rain following a fat middle-eastern Father Christmas who is leading them all to a Norwegian sailor's hospital to get totally shit faced.
Not much else to say really.







We can take absolutely no credit for this little wonder as it was Yolanda who came up with the message. It sounded so much more charming in her brocken English but when you read it to yourselves imagine a little Spanish lady with big hair saying it to you. Frightening.

This week we love...



So I was hoping to interview the night porter of my building, Tony, to find out what horrors he'd witnessed over freshers week (I know one guy was puking his guts out and ended up throwing up blood), but night porters are strangely hard to get hold of. Instead here is a fairly interesting conversation I had earlier this week. It's definitely not an interview, but my 5 minutes spent with him make me sure he deserves to be our featured person. Here goes:
*After many many drinks in the Ice Wharf in Camden (ok, not a cool spot but we had coupons!), Will and I were getting hounded out of the bar by this enormous black guy, who I believe was the bouncer*
Bouncer: Come on guys, get out of here, I've got a lady waiting for me at home and I believe she's put on something very very special..(chuckles to himself)

* Will gets up to use the loo, I follow to tell him I'll meet him outside*

B: Hey, hey! Stop right there! I know exactly where you're going!
E: What?
B: You're going to have illicit sex with that man in the gents, come on, get out of here!
E: EXCUSE ME?
B: Yeah I know who you are, you skank, you whore, come on, move along (chuckling still)
E: Says the guy who's got his hussy waiting for him at home.
B: Not a hussy, a husky.
E: What?
B: Yeah, I'm a beastophiliac.
E: Fair play. I like your gold tooth, where did you get it?
B: It was as a rite of passage, for the first dog I fucked.
E: Wicked, what kind was it?
B: A Great Dane. So I could cuddle in its fur afterwards.
* Will stumbles in*
B: Thank God you're here, get this crazy bitch out of here, she's totally sick.
W: ?
E: Go home and fuck a jack russel. Loser.

And that was that. Told a massive black bouncer to sleep with a hound. Amazing what 4 glasses of wine will do to you.



The Bombay Bicycle Club- I Had the Blues but I Shook Them Off

I wasn't really sure what to say about these guys but inspiration has come. I'm sitting at my desk right now and looking out the window and who should I see but 'across the road man' slouching on his balcony and smoking a cigarette. He looks like shit. All pale and frowning and middle aged even though he's probably in his late 20s. And I think this album is for him. Because it's not life changing and there's nothing exceptional about it but it's just catchy. And unabashedly adolescent. All rejected love and misplaced anger , it's the perfect soundtrack to riding your bike around in the wind and still kidding yourself that everything you do is important. A lot of the songs seem to blend together to me but some like 'Evening/Morning' and 'Always Like This' are especially catchy. You've also got to love them for how many instruments they clain to play, eg: Jack Steadman- lead vocals, guitar, xylophone, banjo and triangle. Bless.


Dr Zhivago- David Lean

So I found out I have to spend a month in Kasan (7 hours train ride inland from Moscow) and thought I'd psyche myself up about camping out in Russian wasteland by watching Pasternak's classic love story. Spanning approximately 40 years and set in Bolshevik Russia, Dr Zhivago tells the story of a doctor/poet and his undying but never truly fulfilled love for the beautiful Lara. The film was made back in 1965 and although it won 5 Oscars it was deemed a failure by critics and is now seen as a popular classic, which I think is a fair judgement. The acting is super corny and Julie Christie's bouffant hardly seems fitting for a woman who ends up dying in a forced labour camp, but it is a bit of fun, plus the shots of the Urals and massive plains really are impressive. Favourites include the little red Balalaika, the snow palace and Omar Sharif's childlike mannerisms. Oh and the way he always looks like he's about to cry. The guy's just moved by everything!


Anish Kapoor, Turning the World Upside Down- Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA

Enjoying a short respite from the rain I rode my bike around Hyde Park (as you do when you've got too much spare time and anti-social tendenciess). I was just across the pond from Kensington Palace when I turned around and what should I see but an enormous disc placed at the other end of the park. It looked like the moon had fallen into the gardens or maybe even the Little Prince's planet, but as it happens it's just one of Anish Kapoor's new sculptures. I say 'just' but these things are really fucking impressive. It's a series of 4 mirror sculptures that have been set up around Kensington Gardens until March 2011 so you can wander around the park and see yourself reflected upside down with all the trees hanging down from the sky, or admire the patch of clouds floating behind your head. I'm not a massive fan of modern sculpture but I think this really is very interesting. It just looks so surreal to see these enormous bits of metal planted among the chestnut trees, plus if you go in the next few days you can also enjoy a coffee or a game of ping pong in Jean Nouvel's pavillion outside the Serpentine Gallery. Lush.

Also...




Bought these bad boys from the 99p store on Camden High Street. Clearly excellent.