I’m having a resurgent thrash metal and hardcore period at the moment, but i realise there’s an outer boundary I cannot appreciate.  The UV of the spectrum of music I simply can’t process, those who know me know I have a taste for everything, including country.  And cocaine K-pop.  clownstep…doomcore…neurofunk…mountain goat tribe chants.

Alas! The beauty behind Mayhem are like bluebells which are invisible to me because they are UV coloured.  Is that the point, completely?

Mayhem [norwegian black metal] is a morsel too dark and deathly for me.  I’m not being literary either,as  there have been a string of murders and deaths associated with the band.  Music is my religion, but it shouldn’t be that way!  I shudder a tad.

Lying safely within this newly discovered boundary are notable bands such as 

Slayer [Californian thrash metal]

Anthrax [NYC thrash metal]

Megadeth [Californian thrash metal]

Metallica [Californian heavy metal]

Dream Theatre [American progressive metal from NYC]

The Dillinger Escape Plan [American mathcore from New Jersey, NY], brainchild of Mike Patton of FNM.  pure freakin genius.  

A trip to Cali is overdue.

Missed my flight, scare the shit out of clem and vivpoo, hopped onto the next one.  get held up in heathrow by fog in amsterdam and so does yuen, at gatwick.get to our boat and went out for a delicious meal at rembrandt square, in a bar hidden away from the main square, served up some gorgeous and interesting mix of dutch and world fusion food.  Seafood bisque with wasabe cream went together awesomely, my moroccan tajine was absolutely fabulous, so was yu-yu’s steak, clem’s surprise dish of the day,  and viv’s whatever food she had that i’ve forgotten.  muscat was great, and so were the brown sugar lollipops, until i got to the liquid centre which i swear was pure ammonium!  Vile! 

 Szmululewicz Cafe- Restaurant 

Bakkersstraat 12 (bij het Rembrandtplein)

Tel: 020-620 28 22

www.szmulewicz.nl

Went to barney’s coffeeshop, with the awesome paintings and crazy music videos… and then to Escape, a really SHIT club, in the search of some trance.  Found alot of funky house and alot of bad dressers, and a strange guy who said my hair was lovely when I was at my 3-day crisis point.   dirt rules.  Saturday - Albert Cuypmarkt, best!  esp at the end of the market, the frites shop.  heaven!  Buy chocs, figs, lychees, freshly made caramelley waffle biscuit things, Sunday picnic on the canal tour boat, trying not to fall asleep…anne frank’s house, and dinner at another local hideohut, where viv had pancakes and i had apple juice and a sandwich.   It was a breakfasty sort of dinner!  Back to London for a quiet but lovely Christmas with Beth, Aunty Thomas, Del and Viv.   (ps. Ken Livingstone, you’re a total ass for stopping all forms of public transport on Xmas day.  get off your planet and onto this one, beeyatch!) 

Derik charts the trip on googlemaps!

Dear Diary/World/iNet Voyeurs…Today I had a day out with the District Nurse, dressing and undressing wounds, and seeing what district nurses do. We also visited an old lady in a Jewish residential home on Bishops Avenue (Where all the tycoons build their palaces, complete with helipads, guest jacuzzis and garages). It was pretty! Alot of the staff were Filipino, and i had them all fooled that I was Pinay too!

It was then that i remembered how badly I want to visit the Philipines, and I must make sure I do so! The people are a great, positive bunch… expertly caring people, and fun!

Then I had lunch at a greasy spoons, Mr Hungry. And then saw a Mr Famished on the bus to my favourite health shop at North Finchley. Hmm… I wonder what I’d seen if I stayed on the bus longer. Mr Cachectic??

1. Sipadan Island, Malaysian Borneo
2. Surin and Similan Islands, Thailand
3. The Maldives (May-Sep, North Male atoll and South Ari atoll
4. Sulawesi, Indonesia /froggies
5. Morocco
6. Havana, Cuba
7. New York (Again and always!) /Rivington
8. Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia via the Trans-Siberian Railway.
9. …and then by sea to Japan
10. Edinburgh, Scotland
11. Belfast & Dublin, Ireland

Hanging around NYmag gives me the warm and fuzzy feeling of being in NY. I just want to sip on some apple cider right now. mmm, juice!

A New Yorker’s Guide to London Neighborhoods

Notting Hill = West Village + Fort Greene
Hoxton = Williamsburg
Soho + Bethnal Green = Chelsea
Knightsbridge = Upper East Side
Brixton = Bedford-Stuyvesant
Hackney = Bushwick + Flushing
Covent Garden = Soho + Theater District
Hampstead = Upper West Side
Clapham = Park Slope
Canary Wharf = Financial District + Red Hook
Piccadilly + Leicester Square = Times Square + Chinatown
Camden = St. Marks Place
Bond Street = Madison Avenue

And it figures that my favourite places for nights out are brookyln NY, and Shoreditch, London. My least favourite areas? Times square and its transatlantic equivelents.

The ultimate read for the reluctant londoner and the NY wannabe. (kinda, me.) clic on ze pic.