Hey Mr. DJ!

Played my first 'real' gig last night. It was a blast. At least from what I saw. Everybody jumping around, going 'woo-hoo'. Almost every song someone comes up to me saying something like "You da man!", "Cool!!", showing thumbs up, or "Do you have Sean Paul?' (my answer to the last one was "go upstairs").

Started of with Basement Jaxx' Romeo, ended it with Salif Keita's Madan. In between there was Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Happy Mondays, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Blur, EMF, Nirvana, The Cure, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson. The closest thing I came to current music was Justin Timberlake's Rock Your Body. I just played good songs you never hear ever in a club here. Maybe that's why they were all flipping out (either that or the alcohol... hmmm, now I think about it, it might have been the alcohol instead of me... oh well).

Hopefully I can play gigs like this again. I loved it. Getting the energy from the crowd is what drove me and what kept me going. I guess I'm a performer after all.

"You're the man!" (in a scottish accent)

From Howard Dean to Bollywood Breakdown via F1 on snow

Yesterday after frisbee we were in the pub drinking our pints when suddenly the conversation shifted to politics. An english dude suddenly spoke to a californian about how Howard Dean will be the next president of the USA. He explained how Dean is using grassroot campaigning and the internet to gather mass, how Dean political stands are, and how he can defeat that Bush. Even though I'm not a US citizen, I checked out the websites and blogs (and added a blog to the sidebar). It looks like Dean is going undergroung, looking for the people who don't care about politics and ask them to go vote for him. This is a huge campaign and certainly different than what Bush is doing. If Soros joins Dean's campaign, well all the help from daddy and Jeb won't help Dubya. Here's hoping that Dean wins. Or anyone else besides that idiot Bush.

To Formula 1, is there a Williams curse out there? He might have wrote it for fun, but you cannot ignore the facts. Bad news for Juan Pablo Montoya then...

It snowed yesterday!!! Hurraaayyy!!! Can't wait to go up the mountains and do my thing (ie. fall, lie down in the snow, snowball fights, etc) on my snowboard.

Tonight will be my first gig as dj evilboy. I'll be playing at this party

You gotta start somewhere now do you?

AJAX 0 - milan (milan, who the fuck is milan?) 1

The fourth meeting of the year. 1-1, 2-3, 0-1, and now 0-1 again. What does it take for Ajax to be able to win against this club? milan created one chance and scored. The great Johan Cruijff said that milan lacks a beautiful/entertaining game during his commentary for NOS. Ancelotti, the milan trainer, replied by saying that Cruijff should go to the movies if he wants to see something entertaining. "Milan is there only to win," said Ancelotti. Another reason why I hate this team more and more.

Something interesting though. Look at the starting line-up and the average age.
AJAX: Lobont, 25; de Jong, 18; Yakubu, 21; Heitinga, 20; Escude, 24; Maxwell, 22; Galasek, 30; Obodai, 21; Sneijder, 19; Ibrahimovic, 22; Mitea, 18. Average age: 21.8.
milan: Dida, 30; Cafu, 33; Laursen, 26; Maldini, 35; Costacurta, 37; Pirlo, 24; Gattuso, 25; Seedorf, 27; Kaka, 21; Inzaghi, 30; Shevchenko, 21. Average age: 28.6.

Amazing that with all these youth and inexperience (3 of the Ajax players made their Champions League debut) they managed to keep milan at bay and lost again due to bad luck. If they can keep this team, there is hope.

Kill Bill: Volume 1

Amazing 4th movie from Quentin Tarantino. Full of violence and funny as hell. The jokes are really well done. Can't wait to see vol 2.

The movie itself is a mix of old movies. Martial arts movies (Bruce Lee, Sonny Chiba etc), Western Spaghetti, Kung Fu (David Carradine), Manga cartoons, etc etc etc. All mixed up with some gender bender and a whole lot other stuff. An interesting take from metaphilm can be found here. The story (if you can call it a story) is revenge. The Bride (Uma Thurman) seeks revenge and is out to kill Bill (David Carradine) and his Deadly Viper Assasination Squad (Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen). Simple.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold" - Old Klingon Proverb

Serious

I finished reading John McEnroe's Serious. It was an easy read, but interesting nonetheless. He did live a rock & roll lifestyle. When he was 27 (my age now), he was already the #1 world tennis player, had a child with Tatum O'Neal, hung out backstage with the Stones, Santana, and more, and was basically feeling invinciblle. What a world of difference talent & hard work makes.

In a world where the body is their major asset, McEnroe didn't hesitate at all about describing his lifestyle. He partied a lot, smoked weed, was on a diet of pizza & beer, didn't practice a lot, slept whenever he felt like, etc etc etc. I wonder if today's athletes can still do the same. But this also answers why Agassi had a huge drop in his tennis career. On top of being injured, he was probably burned out and partied a tad bit too much. But then he shaved his head and reinvented himself and look at him now, still going strong at the age of 33.

Also for a man who is known to be one of the though bastards in tennis, McEnroe doesn't flinch at all when admitting that he's a sensitive person. He admit he cries. A lot. Maybe his agressiveness was just a cover for his sensitive side.

All and all I think McEnroe is a person you either like or don't. If you like him, you'll read this book and like him more. If you don't like him, you'll read this book and then you'll dislike him more (although why bother reading a book about a person you don't even like?).

Sometimes I wish my life was worth writing a book about. It will be interesting to see what other people think of me, of my life, of the things I have done in my life. Maybe if I can get on stage with Spinal Tap (just like McEnroe), then my life will be worth writing a book about. You can always hope...

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Tonight: Kill Bill vol.1 and Ajax - AC Milan.
I'll watch the movie, tape the game, come home and then watch the game.

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I'm getting more and more into this whole blogging thing. I put on a couple of interesting blogs on the side, which I'm sure will add during the course of time. Blogging (and reading blogs) is quite fun, especially when you're in the office and not doing much. Most of the ones I stumble upon are from Singaporean teenage girls giggling about their crush or best friend. But once in a while I find some blogs worth reading. It's interesting how different people's views are on/in the world. Blogging is better than reality TV, because blogging is real.

Totally random

A joke I heard on Conan O'Brien the other day:

"Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, has called George W. Bush 'the greatest threat to planet earth'". (this was followed by a few boos and then lots of cheers, which I believe reflects what the American citizens think of him). "Upon hearing this, Bush replied 'But what about Godzilla?'"

That joke cracked me up. He's really funny, Conan. I like him better than Jay Leno or David Letterman, because his jokes are a bit more intelligent. Or either totally stupid. I guess it helps coming on later at night and having mostly students as audience.

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Rolling Stone is a music magazine. It doesn't venture a lot into politics. But when they have an article like this, about Bush and his war against the environment, it is pretty clear that they are pissed as well at GWB. I believe what Bush and his men are doing against the environment is much more dangerous than what he is doing in Iraq. You can always get out of Iraq, apologize, and help rebuild the country and the region as well. But you cannot clean polluted air or water.

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Speaking of music, here are the (secret) life and times of Chris Martin.

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I'm looking up what kind of knee injury I have. It seems that it's a meniscus injury. How it happened exactly I don't know. Must have something to do when I tore a ligament in my ankle. As long as I wrap up my knee really strong and tight, I think I might make it until the end of snowboard season. Sometimes I wish I was 10 again, where I could do any sports without any worries. Nowadays I have to worry about both my ankles and my right knee. Soon it will be my hip, my back, my shoulders, etc etc etc.

Just another manic monday?

Actually it's not manic at all this monday. The boss ain't here so I have free reign. That means that I won't be doing anything of importance while he is away (yeah right, as if I do anything of importance at all even when he is around). Still a couple of unresolved stuff, but I'll do that later. Manana, as they say in spain (which, according to Sid Lowe [Guardian's spanish soccer correspondant] does not mean tomorrow as it says in the dictionary, it means "not now").

Dave Barry latest rant is funny as hell. That guy just sits there and writes stuff which cracks me up almost every time. Seems like a decent life, although writing funny stuff must be more difficult (and not as funny) as it seems. And don't forget Dave Barry's blogspot. Full of useful (or useless, depends whether you're bored at the office or not) stuff.

If you like Duran Duran, here's a great timeline from The Observer. I didn't realize John Taylor's first name is Nigel and that he had drug problems. I guess I was naive in 6th grade. He's still one of my idols though.

I've been looking for songs for my friday gig as dj evilboy. I got some good songs already, I will be scouring the CD shops to get more good stuff. Hopefully everything goes well. I just have to make sure that I'm a bit tipsy when playing, but not too drunk. Otherwise I'll end up under the decks instead of spinning the decks.

btw, where is everybody???

"tell me something i don't know yet"

80s

I scored 45.1 on a sunday morning after a heavy friday and saturday night. I knew a couple of other songs as well, but just couldn't get the words right (how the hell did I jumble up Where The Streets Have No Name???).

It did give me ideas for my friday gig.

Thank God It's Friday

Random rants on a friday.

I'm tired, it's friday, and my boss is not here. SO I'm basically just sitting here pretending to be working when in fact I won't be doing anything today. Somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely remember that I have to do something, but I cannot remember what exactly. Oh well, though luck. I don't care. I can always claim "I forgot, it's friday anyway.".

Found this funny site about the end of the world.

I haven't got time to rest ever since I came back from amsterdam. Flew in monday night. Tuesday went to a meeting for the tournament. Wednesday was HOLLAND vs scotland. Thursdays, frisbee and beer at Bar du Nord. Today, birthday dinner & drinks. Tomorrow, mez' birthday party (at which I am guaranteed to be wasted). Sunday, talks off going to Verbier for some serious snowboarding. Monday, back to work with huge muscle pain and still nursing a hangover I presume. Oh well, that's just my life I guess...

It's getting close to Christmas and lots of artists are cashing in by issuing a "best of" album. Why can they not make proper albums? "Best of" albums doesn't feel right. it's nice to singalong and stuff, but you won't get the overall feel of an album, the emotion, the timeframe, etc. I did buy some "best of" albums though. Don't know why. And if you are wondering how many acts came up with a "best of" for this christmas, here's a small list: R.E.M, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Suede, Stone Temple Pilots, Pet Shop Boys, Celine Dion, Patrick Bruel, Michael Jackson, etc etc. Take Red Hot Chili Peppers' Greatest Hits for instance. I own almost every song on the album, so why should I buy it for the extra 4 songs? I did buy it though, for the extra DVD that came with it, hahahahahaa. Pop-culture victim, I am.

For the first time, somebody thought I grew up in the US. Weird. I was talking to this girl about MTV Cribs and pop culture in general, and she concluded that I must've grew up somewhere in the States. Luckily I was a bit drunk so I didn't take offence. Any other time and I might have taken offence. I'm european by heart and mind, asian by skin. I don't have any American accent (don't know what kind of accent I have anyways), only been there once, and I watch/love/understand real football (soccer for you yanks). Oh well, it was probably bound to happen sometime...

McDonald's or Burger King for lunch today?? hmmmmm... (the choice has been made and I had lunch in the latter. just because i was craving onion rings)

Going back to Holland, if I was coach this would be my ideal starting line-up for the moment: Edwin van der Sar, Michael Reiziger, Jaap Stam, Wilfried Bouma, Philip Cocu, Edgar Davids, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Andy van der Meyde, Arjen Robben, Patrick Kluivert. But I'm not the coach, just like the other 15million fans.

I bought John McEnroe's autobiography, Serious. Sometimes biographies interest me, especially if it is someone famous that I can relate to. John McEnroe is definitely somebody like that. He was one of the first rock n roll tennis player. His reputation of a big (and bad) mouth was matched with his achievements on the court (unlike Anna Kournikova, but hey, who cares?). So I thought that this book might be an interesting read.

Have I ranted enough today? I think so...

"So where in the US did you grow up?"

HOLLAND 6 - scotland 0

What a game yesterday! I was in the pub watching it. I guess everyone who was for Netherlands was a bit nervous at the beginning, before the game. On saturday they didn't play that well and Scotland scored from one of the few chances they had, while Netherlands just couldn't score. And they didn't control the game like they are expected to. So come the second leg, anticipation was high.

On paper nobody would have doubted that Netherlands is gonna win it and go through to Portugal. But there was just something wrong with the team, with the press, and how everything is dealt with.

Fortunately, everything went our way in the match. Sneijder, Raffie, Bouma, and Reiziger took place for Kluivert, van Bronckhorst, Stam and Frank de Boer. This is what we wanted all along. Raffie is one of the best players Netherlands have. He's creative, quick, and has an eye for goal. Sneijder, although small, has an amazing vision and passing. These two youngsters really showed how mature they were in this game.

The game ended 6-0. Sneijder was the man of the match, van Nistelrooij grabbed his hat-trick and Davids is back being a useful pitbull. I was cheering and drinking like crazy. This is the Holland I know. The one I fell in love with and the one I will not leave.

What's better is that it shut up all the critics and journalists. After saturday, british newspapers were running articles on how Scotland is close to a historical victory and that they have a bigger chance to go to Portugal. Well, here you go, a historical defeat (the second biggest ever in their history) and no Portugal at all. And that, a Scot in the pub said to me, with Roy Makaay on the bench.

I'm still happy from last night's result. Hopefully the Dutch can sort it out and will make a big impact in Portugal. For the moment I'm just happy that I might be going to Portugal after all.

Holland 6 - Scotland 0 (agg 6-1).
Wij gaan naar PORTUGAL. And this was the man of the match:

Ten albums for on a deserted island

On the forum, they were putting on a deserted island albums. You know, the answer to "if you were deserted on an island in the middle of the ocean, which albums do you want to have with you?" On the forum it was 3 albums, but that's too little. Here are my 10 albums and the reasons behind it.

This is in no particular order (mainly order of remembering).
1. The Bends - Radiohead
One of the best guitar albums ever, it shows that Radiohead is (was?) a pure rock n roll band. The songs are amazing and Thom's voice is as good as it gets. OK Computer might be a better album, but I enjoy listening to The Bends more.
2. Lapalco - Brendan Benson
This album sounds like his life, which sounds a lot like mine. I can feel what he's feeling in the songs. Songs are simple and straight forward, but he put a lot of emotions in it.
3. Under The Table And Dreaming - Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band is a case of 5 amazing musicians just having fun. Add Dave Matthews' voice to the mix and you have songs that can make you wander to another island. Also the music is like a movie. Everytime you listen to it, you'll find something new in the details.
4. Grace - Jeff Buckley
Any decent band from end 90s are influenced by Jeff Buckley. Unfortunately his early death made Grace his one and only studio album. However, this album is great. He sings with a voice that can make you cry and his guitar playing is amazing as well. This album is always the least selling album on the best album list.
5. The Chronic - Dr. Dre
The origins of west-coast G-funk rap. Dre did his bits in NWA, but then perfected the Gangsta Rap with this album. It sounds like weed, makes you high just by listening to it. The flow is perfect, also the hooks and the production. Laidback rap/hip-hop can't get better than this.
6. BloodSugarSexMagik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Another album full of funk. These funkmasters learned a lot from George Clinton in their early days, added the metal bits and came out with one hell of an album later. Under The Bridge is still an anthem and the whole album just rocks.
7. Weezer (The Blue Album) - Weezer
The emo album. It's just four guys, playing some music to their emotions. Rivers Cuomo is a genius, and you can tell from this album. The songs are simple but straight, and you just feel like swimming in the songs.
8. Appetite For Destruction - Guns N Roses
Any kid growing up in the 80s must have an album that reminds him of his youth. This one is mine. It's a party album, a metal album, a rock album, a glam album, anything you want. GNR set the standards for the 80s rock movement with this album. And Sweet Child O'Mine is still a wonderful love song.
9. Thriller - Michael Jackson
Michael grew up from being a kid pop star into the king of pop with this album. Here he shows craft and skills and together with Quincy Jones he made the template for any pop album. It's still the best pop album out there. Listen to any new pop stuff and you'll find bits and pieces from Thriller.
10. Revolver - The Beatles
Before Revolver, The Beatles were just another boy band, singing love songs while smiling happily. Then they met Bob Dylan and tried weed. They got hooked and started to make songs under the influence of weed. Apparantly it opened a lot of creativity doors and with Revolver they recorded it. They went on to acid and made Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Club's Band but Revolver is still a defining moment in music.

There you go. Ten albums that would make my life better on a deserted island. Although I'll probably be bored by the second week or so and start going crazy.

Just came back from amsterdam. I'm too tired to be writing a whole diary of what happened, but this is the main event of the past weekend:



"he's so sweet"

Went to buy a CD and a DVD during lunch.
This is what I've got:



The girl that Chris Martin wrote the song Shiver for must be having big regrets now, don't you think? Here is Chris, fancying a girl while the girl didn't noticed him at all. Okay, Chris used to be a geek (my mate went to the same school as he did) and had curly hair (look at early Coldplay pictures). But now Chris Martin is a famous artist, going out with Gwyneth Paltrow and all. If that girl did notice Chris Martin then she could at least claim that she once went out with Chris. But then again if the girl did noticed Chris, he wouldn't have written Shiver and Coldplay would sound different. Oh well, someone else's loss is another one's gain.

"if you stand up for this song we'll buy you an ice cream"

Yesterday while sitting with the Greek Bros at our usual hangout place, "Pax Americana" came into our discussion. Basically, my mate read a document called "Rebuilding America's Defense: Strategies, Forces and Resources For A New Century". He said that it was pretty scary stuff.

So today at work I scoured the internet and found some articles. One from The Sunday Herald (Scotland) explaining what was in the document. It was written by Rumsfeld, Cheney, Jeb Bush, Wolfowitz and Libby. Familiar names? Of course they are. These people are the think thank behind a "puppet" named George W. Bush.

Here's another article from antiwar.com complete with links to the original document in pdf format. Here the author tries to take the scary bits and pieces.

On first glance, this RAD document looks like a vision of a megalomaniac that you only find in Hollywood movies. Then after reading the author's names, you realize that this thing is for real. And then knowing what position and how much influence these people have, it becomes scary. I just hope a good Democrat candidate comes up for the next election, otherwise the whole world will be in deep trouble.

Michael Moore said it best in his Oscar-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine that America's culture is based on fear. They are afraid of everything, to the point it becomes paranoia. Compare this to Europe or even Canada, where people are more laidback. No wonder when scared people get power, the first thing they do is make sure that other ones won't challenge them. Don't they learn anything from Yoda?

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Ah what the hell am I talking about? I don't know anything about politics anyway. If I lived in America, I probably won't vote. Except if I live in California, I would've voted for Larry Flynt. Or at least Gary Coleman. Why vote when I don't have an option that I like?

I think I've gone too far into politics with today's rant...

Got the December issue of Q in the mail. Finally something to read again, although this will probably only last for five days. But I can look for good albums. Oh, and it came with a CD, "the best of 2003". Good song. Makes me wanna buy The Darkness. Maybe I should. Yeah I will.

(I think the image will show the latest issue, so maybe in a month or two it won't show the December issue, but the subsequent issue)

The latest CD I bought:

Can't wait to see their concert in Fribourg on Dec 7th.

Yesterday stayed in the office til 2030. Yes, that is eight-thirty. I think I broke a record there. Never stayed so late before. I hope it doesn't happen again. To clear my mind, went to play UNO afterwards, with a kebab and some beers. Got home knackered. Not from work, but from the "flash" rule playing UNO.

"my hopes are high your kiss might kill me, why don't you kill me so i die happy"

work sucks, i know! four simple words but they mean a whole lot to me. at least for today. sitting here fiddling with figures for the budgets when suddenly they come in and want me to change the figures accordingly. no wonder enron went down. it's people like them who orders stupid changes. and people like me either can't be bothered to ask or are afraid to challenge. i'm in the first category, just to make it clear. and anyway, it's all fucking numbers and figures. it's not even real, it's only a concept. and they will use this as their "bible" for next year. well, all i can say is good luck. i hope i can find myself a nice survival boat when this ship sinks...

on to pop culture. i wanted to write about matrix revolutions, but this article here is much more interesting. turns out the matrix trilogy has a deeper objective than just to dabble with phylosophy and show amazing special effects. no wonder people didn't get the second one. or the last one. i still find it an amazing movie. and with all these interpretations, it could be up there somewhere alongside 2001: a space odyssey. and yes, you have the right to fully disagree with that and call me an idiot.

as for ben harper yesterday, imagine jimi hendrix with bob marley's soul, rocking out lenny kravitz tunes with the soul of marvin gaye. that's ben harper, more or less. he's in the same category as dave matthews, only drawing from a bigger pool of music influences. i just can't figure out why he's bigger in europe than in his home country, the US of A? oh well, i think he likes europe better anyway.

back to work and millions of friggin figures and numbers...

just came back from Ben Harper's concert. it was awesome. i'll write about it tomorrow or something. for the moment i just have one small rant. why the hell do people go to concerts and then use earplugs to cover their ears??? that's like going to the movies and use sunglasses inside the theatre. bunch of weirdos. and then all the mingers who are basically standing less than 1 cm behind me, pushing and shoving all the time even though there is enough space to let me breathe. give me some space. or if you so desperately want to go up front, then go. i won't stand in your way. but stop standing just right behind me. it gets on my nerves, okay. and please take off those earplugs. if i ever become a musician and i see people wearing ear plugs at my gig, i will tell them to go home. it's only ben harper for christ sake. it's not as if it's death metal or sonic youth or posh spice or something.

i need sleep. whisky in tea is actually quite nice...

Yesterday football result: Portsmouth 6 - Leeds United 1
Three years ago Leeds United was in the semi-final of the Champions League and was boasting talented players like Alan Smith, Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate, Lee Bowyer, Paul Robinson, dan Harry Kewell. The future looked bright and nobody was denying that that team could make it to the top. What a difference three years make, huh? From that list of players, only Smith and Robinson are still there. Rio's gone to Man Utd, Woody and Bowyer are at Newcastle Utd, and Kewell went north to Liverpool. With £80m in debt and rock-bottom in the premiership, the future looks very bleak now for Leeds Utd. Where did it all go wrong? Easiest is to point a finger at former chairman Peter Risdale. One other explanation: football is a damn hard business.

Oh, and talking about football, an interesting article about Roy Makaay and the Dutch national squad. They should easily win from Scotland although in reality it's going to be really hard. I know them far too well.

Petter Solberg has won the World Rally Championship after a thrilling finale in Wales.

Nice to see Petter celebrating with his fans. He is one of the most colourful drivers in WRC these days. Too bad for Loeb, although he did excellent as well during the whole season. I'm sure that he'll pick up some WRC in his career. From now on it will be Solberg - Loeb - Martin - Duval leading the pack. It's time to say goodbye to Makinen and Colin McRae.


Last night: drum n bass in Weetamix, although the DJ was crap
Tonight: Ben Harper in concert

last thursday was the MTV European Music Awards. a couple of years ago i would've watched it, taped it, and watch it all over again. i still have the 1999, 2000, and 2001 MTVE Awards. but from last year, and especially this year i couldn't be bothered anymore. which is weird, since i am a self-proclaimed pop culture addict, so MTV should always be top on my list. i guess that it's getting worse and worse. MTVE awards should celebrate european music. but it is justin timberlake who goes away with the most awards. how about coldplay, robbie williams, radiohead, craig david? or kyo, anggun, sigur ros, leaves, the raveonettes, the hives, even zucherro - real european artists? and with christina aguilera hosting that show, it just gave me another reason not to watch. at least try to get a decent host. robbie williams, ronan keating, ali g, even wyclef jean did a good job in the past. but last year with p diddy and now christina, the value of the award show just went down.

anyway, last night somehow ended up in a new club called Music on Air - or MoA for short. it's a bit weird but at least it's a proper club. proper size, proper music. only needs proper clubbing people and it will be all good. got home at 4 or something. can't remember exactly cause i was a bit drunk. interesting discussions though about being fit, boots, relationships, etc etc etc. you know how i get when i'm drunk...

"i'm fit enough, am i?"

My music corner

Earlier today I forgot to say that I was listening to Stellastar*. Good band. They sound so 80s, a mix of punk and new wave. Also, his voice reminds me somebody. Sort of Jarvis Cocker meets Robert Smith meets Simon Le Bon. Definitely worth a listen (or as in my case, worth to buy the album).

Here's what I've bought today:
Dashboard Confessional - A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar --> emo, sounds like weezer, jimmy eat world, etc...
Ryan Adams - Rock N Roll --> Ryan Adams cranking up the volume and guitars...
Outkast - Speakerboxx / The Love Below --> split identities of outkast...

I watched Matrix Revolutions last Wednesday. Turns out to be the simplest one of the trilogy. I'll probably write something about it in due course, when most people have seen it. Now I'm only waiting for Kill Bill vol.1 and Return of The King.

Got some email from friends from primary school. They all met up yesterday. I couldn't be there because I am halfway around the world. Turns out nowadays they talk about career, marriage, babies, pregnancy, business, etc etc. Where will I fit in with my pop cultural nonsense? I don't have a career (only a lousy job), I'm not married (yet), I have no kids (yet), I cannot be pregnant and I don't have money to start a business. Is my life standing still or are they all on accelerated growing-up mode? Maybe that's one reason I don't want to go back yet. Fear of growing-up. Sort of like that movie, Beautiful Girls.

Played sports again yesterday. Indoor. Wasn't too bad. Finished off by drinking a couple of pitchers of beer. Always good for the health, as recommended by the doctor.

Spend most of my morning compiling a good music list on amazon. I think I might have forgotten some albums, but this is what I can think of so far. If you haven't listened to one of them (or even worse, any of them) then you should go out and try listening. These albums are worth it.

It's rainy and cloudy and monday. Why does mondays always have to be like this. Lucky me boss just left, so I got the afternoon free. When the cat is away, the mice are partying.

I just came back from Milano to meet a highschool friend I haven't seen in ages. Spent most of my time here: walking around the shops helping my friend get gifts for everyone.

It took me 3 hours to drive the 320 km journey. It's a pretty nice ride. All I need is good music and something light to think about. We did go clubbing to Casablanca at Corso Como, but it was packed as hell. Weird music as well.

I'm not sure if I needed a weekend from home though. There was a halloween party I had to miss and other social events. But I'm not gonna regret it (unless somebody comes up with bad news for me from the party). And I got nice weather in Milano. Although my coughing didn't help me at all. I need to do something about my coughing. Maybe a bit of sleep? Or a bit of coughing medicine?

"uno grand birra. grazie mille!"