Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas time. The time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the saviour in Christianity. Yes, I'm a Christian and I am supposed to celebrate it. I celebrate it in my own way. For others, it's a nice day off to sit down with the family or loved ones and exchange gifts. Me, I'm just sitting here at home. That's what Christmas is all about for me.



Enjoy your Christmas. Enjoy The Darkness (the best Christmas song this year). Enjoy all other Christmas songs (except for Wham's Last Christmas which technically isn't a Christmas song, it just happened that whatever George Michael was singing about happened during Christmas).

A baby

It's the second day of my two-weeks vacation and I'm already bored. Everyone else is still working. I should've worked, but then I'll be sitting in the office, bored as well. Might as well use that time to sleep more. I think I need some sleep. I need to find meself something to do. Maybe play playstation or something. Or read.

One of my best mates just had a baby daughter. We've known each other since we were 9 years old (that makes it 18 years of being friends), I hooked him up with the girl that he ended up marrying. And now he has a baby daughter. While I'm just wasting all my seeds. Pretty hard to imagine. I guess it's just me being stuck in my life, while his life has accelerated and left me where I am. But I am truly happy for him. Hopefully she grows up beautifully.

Just bought season 9 of Friends on DVD to keep me busy during these boring period.

Yesterday had a fancy birthday dinner at a restaurant that was way overpriced. It was just outrageous on how expensive it was. We ended up not eating a lot and not having dessert to push down the total bill. What'd you expect? We're all mid-twenties with normal jobs, we don't have money to burn (yet).

"Oh this is beautiful. Got to soak it up, got to soak it up"

5 Best Concerts of 2003

After my top 10 albums of 2003, here's another list. The best 5 concerts in 2003. I've seen quite some concerts in 2003 so might as well put the best 5 on here and what I think about those concerts.

1. Radiohead at Montreux Jazz Festival, July 2003
The concert I've been waiting for all my life. I missed the ticket sales because I was in Amsterdam at that day, so I had to scour the internet and look for scalpers. I found one for twice the normal price but was more than happy to pay that amount. Went by myself and ran inside to get second row just in front of Ed. It was an amazing concert! Thom was smiling, Jonny looked like a scientist in his corner over there. Ed is indeed tall and handsome. Colin and Phil just kept the rhythm going.
Best moment: Thom actually talking to the audience. Who says he is an enternal sulk?

2. Coldplay - Hallenstadion, Zurich, April 2003
Another one I was looking forward to. A couple of years ago they were just a bunch of students at UCL having some fun, and now they are big arena rockers. Again, amazing performance. The only downside was that the mic for the drum cymbals wasn't working properly so I couldn't hear it when Will was pounding on his cymbals. Chris' charisma is amazing, as my friend said "I just wanna hug Chris!". You can hear everyone singing along on Yellow.
Best moment: The lasershow with Clocks.

3. Badly Drawn Boy - Paleo Festival, July 2003
There he was, alone on stage with his guitar strapped on his shoulder, fag in one hand, glass of sangria in the other, still in his woolen hat although it was 30 degrees. It couldn't be more intimate. He was singing his songs without a care in the world, as if he was chilling in his living room. The songs just came out honest. It was the best way to enjoy Badly Drawn Boy.
Best moment: When he handed his harmonica and towel to the little girl at the front row.

4. R.E.M. - Paleo Festival, July 2003
The veteran arena rockers. They've been around so long but they still rock. With this European Tour, it was a showcase for their best songs, but they did take requests online and they would play it (with the exception of Shiny Happy People). Michael Stipe was still in awe from the firework display just before the concert and had to mention it a couple of time. They played all their hit songs, had everyone singing along, even played longer than they were supposed to. And when they finished with It's The End Of The World (And I Feel Fine), we all knew that if it was the end of the world, we all felt fine.
Best moment: Michael Stipe being in awe from the fireworks.

5. Robbie Williams - Geneva Arena, October 2003
A lot of people don't like him, but for me he is the ultimate entertainer. That's what he does, entertain people. And the best way to enjoy it is at his concert (which he aptly opens with Let Me Entertain You). It was nothing less than a show, complete with 4 strippers, er, dancers. The way he communicates and touched the audience, you know that he is a born entertainer. Blame it all on angels.
Best moment: Playing the guitar on Better Man and missing a chord.

That's it, the best concerts for me in 2003. Hopefully I get to see better ones in 2004 (although I doubt it).

10 Best Albums of 2003

2003 has almost ended. Everyone is making up their list of "the best of 2003". Music magazines are making their list of the best albums of 2003. Since music is my vice, I though I should put out a list of the best albums of 2003. I bought around 100 CDs this year, so I'm sure I can pick out 10 best albums. The list is based on albums released in 2003 (looking at the production year). I know some albums produced and released in 2002 should actually be listed in 2003, but I'm too lazy to dig that deep.

So here goes, anakzaman's 10 best albums of 2003 in no particular order:

Vehicle and Animals - Athlete
It's simple music. They sound like a cuple of guys having fun at a camping, singing songs about happiness. But that makes it so good, as you can feel their happiness and emotion.

A Mark, A Mission, A Scar, A Brand - Dashboard Confessional
I love it basically for this line "My hopes are high your kiss might kill me, so why don't you kill me, so I die happy". But going further in the album, it's pure emo backed up by rock music. Without any Weezer albums this year, this will do.

Strays - Jane's Addiction
After a long vacation, tons of drugs, solo projects, Lollapaloozas, etc Jane's Addicition regrouped and made this album. Instead of being a charity project, it turns out to show that there was something missing in the world of music. Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro can still rock. Farrell is right announcing "Here we go!" at the beginning of this album.

Heavier Things - John Mayer
John Mayer is the quintessential pin-up boy for college music. Because he looks exactly like one of them. His music is like a life summed up during college. Just beautiful.

1972 - Josh Rouse
An album about 1972, the year Josh Rouse was born. It feels like 1972, the music just flowing along as life was something to be enjoyed. All relaxed, nothing too heavy, but still amazing nonetheless.

Us - Mull Historical Society
Colin McIntyre lives somewhere in remote Scotland. This album shows the remoteness but giving it a natural feel, with the music taking you away. Nice songs and it will grow upon you the more you listen to it.

Speakerboxx/The Love Below - OutKast
This is basically two solo albums packed as one double album (for the price of one album). Andre Benjamin has amazing music talent. The Love Below is his showcase of what he is capable of. Just like Prince at his height of his career, Andre goes away from the normal hiphop and ventures into other places. On the other side, Big Boi's Speakerboxx is no slouch either. Big beats and dance music mixes up with his hiphop and it becomes more of a progrock version of hiphop. Definitely one of the best albums of the year.

Hail To The Thief - Radiohead
After dabbling with electronic music in Kid A and Amnesiac, rumours has it that Radiohead is going back to their roots (guitar-driven rock music) for their next album. When it came out, only a few songs has the distinct sound of being driven by guitars, but it is still a few more than their last two albums. But even if the rumours weren't true, Radiohead still manages to amaze with this album. It just shows that you shouldn't go back, just go further, go all the way.

Stellastar* - Stellastar*
In 2003 the trend was bringing back 80s music. Stellastar* did an excellent job in that, bringing back new wave and punk straight from the 80s with a voice to back it up. Everything you hear on this, you've heard it before (most likely in the 80s) but it still is fun to hear it again, this good.

Room On Fire - The Strokes
The Strokes are back. With more or less the same formula. But better. Nobody could do what they did. That's what makes it so good. Someday the world will be tired of The Strokes. Not this year though.

I have to mention two albums though that were produced in 2002 but I only picked up in 2003.
Lapalco - Brendan Benson
Jack White's favourite boy, Brendan packs so much emotion in here. He plays the classical loser/slacker and it feels like any average Joe's life. Just like me.

American Recordings IV: The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash's last album before he died. He made this all ill and with his wife dying. The first time I heard this album it almost made me cry. It's that deep. We miss you Johnny!

No Elephant on my list. I like it, but not as much as these ones.

UEFA Team of the Year

I just cast my votes for UEFA's team of the year. From the 60 nominees, this is my team:

Keeper: Francesco Toldo (Inter/Italy)
Right Back: Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax/Tunisia)
Centre Defense: Cristian Chivu (AS Roma/Romania)
Centre Defense: Jaap Stam (Lazio/Netherlands)
Left Back: John O'Shea (Man Utd/Ireland)
Right Midfield: Andy van der Meyde (Inter/Netherlands)
Centre Midfield: Edgar Davids (Juventus/Netherlands)
Attacking Midfield: Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid/France)
Left Midfield: Rafael van der Vaart (Ajax/Netherlands)
Forward: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Man Utd/Netherlands)
Forward: Roy Makaay (Bayern Munchen/Netherlands)
Coach: Martin O'Neill (Celtic/Northern Ireland)

Hmmmm... Six Dutch players, two current Ajax players, three ex-Ajax players. Am I biased? (the answer is: of course I am!). And why do they insist on playing 4-4-2? I always prefer 4-3-3.

All that while listening to Rufus Wainwright's Want One. Lovely.

The Return of The King

It's finally here, the last installment of The Lord of The Rings trilogy, The Return of The King. So me, pretending to be a geek, didn't miss the opportunity to watch the movie on its first day out. I even ditched my friends who were having fondue. I mean, I can have fondue with them any time I want but I can only be a geek once a year.

The movie itself is wonderful. Peter Jackson has done an amazing job to make the trilogy and with each installment he just steps up a bit more. The Two Towers was an improvement from The Fellowship of The Ring, with the battle at Helm's Deep as the climax. But the battle of Helm's Deep is nothing much compared to the battle at Minas Trith. Then there's the struggles that Frodo and Sam face now which is much deeper and complex than before. At this point, Sam also emerge as the unlikely hero. Or to see the other Hobbitses (Pippin and Merry) getting bigger involvement in the story. Or how Aragorn finally embrace his destiny to be what he is born to be, a King.

Jackson uses a lot of special effects, but these special effects are not the essence of the movie (unlike The Matrix). The special effects are there to enhance the story, but the story is more about how men have to to struggle to fight evil. I was amazed at one point when Legolas single-handedly took down an oliphaunt and the army on it. Big up for Legolas.

Some might complain about the ending, how it goes on and on. I don't, I like it. I mean, this is not your usual Hollywood brainless movie where after the hero saves the day everybody goes around celebrating. After 10 hours of film, you don't want this to end like that. Jackson understands it, Tolkien does as well. Having endure a journey such as this, there's bound to be changes. Even though it's a victory, there are some losses than cannot be regained. And going back to everyday life is so difficult.

Anyway, so that was my night being a geek. My mate (who is more of a geek than me) refused to acknowledge that he is a geek. Well, this guy bought the books before the movie came out so that he can read it before he sees it (the book is still new and never opened at his place). So just accept it, we are all geeks at some level. Deep down underneath my cool appearance and wild behavior, I am a geek.

"that only counts as one!"

Two more days

Two more days at work (today I only have half an hour left). Two more days and then I'm off for two weeks. Still don't know what to do though. I probably will be sleeping at home, buy a book, buy a DVD, buy loads of CDs, booze, weed, and try to entertain myself until I decide to get out of this place for the holidays. Maybe Amsterdam, maybe Paris, we'll see. I could go to Amsterdam and party at Innercity on the 20th but mentally (and a bit physically) I'm not ready yet. I also want to go snowboarding before christmas so that will most likely be on the 20th. It seems that I want to do a lot, it's just that I'm too lazy to do all the things I want. I guess that pretty much sums up my attitude towards life.

I got Five For Fighting's Something About You stuck in my head. Because of the Swatch ads. Having your music on big ad campaigns certainly helps sales. The Dandy Warhols had it when Bohemian Like You appeared on the Vodafone ad. Jet is doing it (Vodafone). Moby basically sold Play because of ads. And million more.

Clarence Seedorf missed a penalty (AGAIN!!!) in the Intercontinental Cup Final. When will he learn to shoot a penalty properly?

"you're really fit, you just have to work on your personality"

Ryan Adams

The other day my mate said that my rants were too much about football. He's right. So today I'm gonna rant about my other love, music. And in particular about Ryan Adams. Not Bryan Adams, but Ryan Adams, without the B.

For those who don't know Ryan Adams, he's a great singer-songwriter. His songs are mostly alt-country. In 2001 his album Gold received critical acclaim and made him one of the best singer-songwriter out there. That was followed by Demolition. In 2003, Adams wanted to bring out an album called Love Is Hell. He finished it, but the label, Lost Highway, didn't like it. Adams was ordered to make another album. Some arguing and fighting continued, but Adams gave up, went into the recording studio and came out with Rock N Roll. He recorded it in 2 weeks and was basically him cranking up the guitars.

The critics didn't know how to perceive it. Because this album is so unlike Ryan Adams. In Q, it said that Ryan Adams is being ironic and now is rocking just like Bryan Adams, to please those fans who are always asking for "Summer of 69" at his concerts. In Rolling Stone they loved it, just like most of the other critics.

After releasing Rock N Roll, Lost Highway agreed to release Love Is Hell as two EPs. That way the fans will know what Adams was going through and why Lost Highway didn't want to release it as an album. Well, I got both EPs and Rock N Roll.

I honestly think Rock N Roll is overrated. It's a good album, but not something you expect from Ryan Adams. His lyrics weren't too deep and basically he's angry. Angry at Lost Highway for not letting him release Love Is Hell. He's pounding his guitars, screaming out song after song. It's a commercial record. Calling it one of the best albums in 2003 is not right in my opinion. He could have easily done better than that. Listening to Love Is Hell it reminds you of the real Ryan Adams. The moody one. Part 1 is really dark and moody and it just makes you stare into space. I guess it's a bit too dark for Lost Highway's liking. Part 2 is a bit more beat, but still as dark. I prefer Love Is Hell over Rock N Roll anytime.



But going back to Ryan Adams, if you haven't heard him yet, go get Gold and then Love Is Hell. If you already did, which one do you prefer? Rock N Roll or Love Is Hell?

Miss Kittin

Again a weekend fuelled by alcohol. From thursday on, it was alcohol. Went out for drinks on thursday, had a birthday bash on friday (which ended with a lot of booze and Magneto), and saturday topped it off with miss kittin.

Mental note to self: try not to drink Champagne. It will give you a pounding headache the next day.

Miss Kittin was great. She played in Weetamix and really made the crowd go wild. Her electroclash sounds suits perfectly for the club. No wonder that she is one of the top DJs in Europe (#1 being Tiesto). This is what clubbing is supposed to be.

Rivaldo

From Hero to Zero? Just look at what Rivaldo (age 31) has achieved in his not-too-long football career:
1992 - Winner, the Copa-90
1994 - Winner, the Copa Bandeirantes with Palmeiras (Bra)
1994 - Brazilian League Champions with Palmeiras (Bra)
1996 - Bronze medal in the Olympic Games
1997 - Winner, European Super Cup with Barcelona (Spa)
1997 - Winner, Confederations Cup with Brazil
1998 - Runners Up, World Cup 98 with Brazil
1998 - Spanish League Champions and Cup Winners with Barcelona (Spa)
1999 - Spanish League Champions with Barcelona (Spa)
1999 - Winner, Copa America with Brazil
1999 - FIFA World's Best Player
1999 - France Football's Ballon d'Or
2000 - 3rd, FIFA Best player in the world
2002 - World Champions, World Cup 2002 with Brazil
2003 - Worst player in the Italian Serie A League
2003 - Out of contract, looking for a club

A career through Corinthians, Palmeiras, Deportivo La Coruna, Barcelona, and AC Milan has now come to a halt. Not because of injuries or old age but because of arrogance. He left Barcelona one year before his contract ended, on a free transfer because he couldn't see eye to eye with trainer Louis van Gaal. Rivaldo got snatched by AC Milan, but only played a handful of games and was finally released from his contract in December 2003. Now looking for a club. Offers so far from Bolton Wanderers, Middlebrough, Wolverhampton Wanderers, a club in Qatar, and a club in Portugal. Not really clubs you want to play for when you have "FIFA World's Best Player" on your CV.



Personally, I don't really care about this guy. His arrogance after becoming the best player in the world in 1999 (he said to van Gaal "I will never play on the left again" when his best place for the team is on the left). His theatrical antics against Turkey in the 2002 World Cup. His playing (he never passes the ball, he gets it, runs or shakes and then shoots). I just like to document the fact that it's a bottomless fall once your on top, just like him.

Oh, and if you try to go to his website at rivaldo10.com it will be forwarded to a Barcelona fan site with news about Ronaldinho. Rivaldo must be sad...

Out of Europe...

Club Brugge 2 - Ajax 1
Don't know what to say really. Ajax is out of the Champions League. In fact it is out of any European competition at all, because this loss means that Ajax is on the bottom of the group. You can say they are unlucky, they had too many injuries, they were young and inexperienced, but the bottom line stays the same: when it mattered, they just couldn't pull through. At least this will give them more concentration for the league and the cup.

Ajax did break a record last night, the youngest squad ever to start a Champions League game. Average age of 21 years, 350 days. Lobont at 25 was the oldest, while Mitea at 18 was the youngest. It's also great to see the midfield filled with homegrown talents: Van der Vaart, Sneijder, and de Jong. Koeman said afterwards that in three years this squad will go much further in the Champions League. True. The question is, will the team remain the same in three years?

Van der Vaart might leave in 2004. His contract lasts until 2006, but when he signed he only promised that he will not leave earlier than summer 2004. If he does play well in Euro2004, I don't see why he wants to stay longer at Ajax. All big European clubs are drooling over him. Trabelsi has a big chance of leaving next summer. Ibrahimovic as well. Galasek and Litmanen are getting older. Not sure if Ajax can hold on to Sneijder as well, his performance against Scotland made everyone aware of his existence. There are even rumours around Pienaar. I do hope that Ajax can hold on to the young guys for a year or two, but realistically, in this age it is fuckin difficult to hold on to them.


I'm listening to The Clash now. Trying to really get into it. The latest Uncut I got was full of The Clash, famous musicians and journalists were rating The Clash's songs. At first sight, The Clash just looks like another punk band, following the footsteps of The Sex Pistols. But if you listen to the music, you can tell that Joe Strummer is an intelligent musician. The Clash just mix any kind of genre into their music. Punk, reggae, ska, disco, rap, rock, it's all there. No wonder The Clash has been influencing a lot of people. It's my turn now to be influenced by them, and Joe Strummer in particular. It's never too late to listen to The Clash.


One funny thing: go to Google, type in "Miserable Failure", hit the "I Feel Lucky" button and laugh at what you get.

"don't be eviiiilllll"

Relax

I needed some rest yesterday. Just to chill and relax at home. It's a monday thing for me, especially after last week. Tuesday out for drinks, Wednesday out for drinks, Thursday out for drinks, Friday party and wasted, Saturday dinner and high, Sunday Lamb and tired. So monday chill and relax seems to be the order. I rented a DVD, Head of State, smoked a spliff and had some G&T. At 11 I was asleep. I still woke up tired though, but that is more a morning habit.

I bought Uncut, because I haven't received my usual mags for this month (Q and F1Racing). There's an interesting article about Josh Rouse. I like his music and it seems that his latest album is actually a story. I think I should pay more attention to lyrics. I don't really like Uncut, it's a bit too "old" for me. Uncut goes more into folk rock / 70s than pop, although it is still readable. I just have to choose which editions to read. Too bad I missed out on the October issue about The Joshua Tree.

Blogging is actually quite fun. It's a place to store all my random rants. If I look around, there are many blogs out there. Some are just like mine, just random rants about anything. Then there are the blogs who compile news and put it there so you don't have to search for news. Then you got the entertaining blogs and also weird blogs. I've added a comment link so that anyone other than me who reads this blog can leave some words. Although I doubt that there are other people reading this blog.

The weather is getting colder. The last two days it's been around freezing point, even during the day. How am I supposed to play football tomorrow? I hope it snows soon, cause if all goes well we wanna go up the mountain on saturday. Can't wait to be on my snowboard.

Tonight: Club Brugge vs AJAX. If Ajax wins, they will go through to the knock-out stages. If Ajax loses they won't. If they draw, then it depends on the other game. In case of draw, Ajax will go through if Celta Vigo either wins or draws Milan. In any case, it's pretty straight forward. They just have to go out and win it!

As I wondered on the internet today, I found an interesting article called Constants by Chris Balfe. Although I lost respect for this person for what he did a while ago, his articles are still great. In this one he talks about music and comparing it to F1. But if you don't like F1, it's still a good read about the music. Earlier on I was checking out Vanilla Ice and I found a quote saying "proof that people will buy anything as long as it's on MTV". Is music heading that way? Fortunately for me, I prefer to have Q judge the music instead of MTV. But millions of clueless people out there are falling into this trap. They don't know what good music is anymore, all they know is what's on MTV. Which usually is bad music. I guess it's up to me to "guide" young people to good music. Although it is still a dream of mine to be on MTV.

Damn, I'm ranting a lot today...

Lamb

Went to see Lamb in concert yesterday. We drove all the way to Fribourg (a 1.5 hour/150 km trip). They played in a small club called Fri-Son. A pretty intimate club, fits around 300 people. It was packed for Lamb, as it was their first stop for their European Tour, after they launched their fourth album.

What can I say about the concert? They are amazing. If you close your eyes, it feels like your in a room surrounded by music. The drums will keep the beat and creating a wall, the bassline (using a double bass) will thump and bounce on it, the guitar sounds are flowing, then the samplings/keyboards will fill in any gap, and to top it off is Lou Rhodes' vocals which will "haunt" the room. They can play soft songs, upbeat songs, and the effect will still be the same.

Lamb itself are Lou Rhodes and Andy Barlow. Andy is the music genius behind Lamb. It's pretty hard to classify what kind of music Lamb plays. One minute it's soul jazzy, next minute it's drum n bass, and suddenly it becomes trip hop before dashing off with electronica. The center of the music is Lou's vocals. Her voice has this creepy quality to it, that makes it feel as if it comes from another dimension. I still describe it as haunting.

It was said that the 4th album was almost never made due to internal conflict. Some say that last night there was tension between Lou and Andy, but who cares? They played amazing and Andy's energy is just feeding back from the crowd. With effective lighting (and a spliff), the show became much better. Highly recommended.

hungover

I woke up on Saturday afternoon (around 3 o'clock) with one of the biggest hangover ever. It took me about 4 hours to regain consciousness. And an aspirin.

It all started on friday afternoon. I had some drinks at my place, a couple of vodka redbulls etc. Then moved to the Inter-Continental for the Sindy XMas Ball. All dressed up in my suit and all (black suit, purple shirt, black tie). There I met up with everyone else and started partying. Bjorn Again played some ABBA songs, while I was away drinking some bad wine (and champagne and beer). In the other room there was latino music. My friend was going around saying "It's so easy" to me. Perhaps it was. Stayed there til around 4.30 (not sure about the exact time). I had to drag myself out of there. Went home and *boom* fell asleep. Until I woke up with a hammering head. The next day people were saying that I was in topform at the party. That means that I was truly wasted and made/was a whole lot of fun.

Yesterday we had a suprise dinner for josie. She didn't suspected anything. We made her pissed off at us (especially at me) so she was really suprised seeing that we were all there for the dinner. Everything worked out well as planned. "I love it when a plan goes well" (or something like that from Hannibal Smith).

Something interesting when I was talking with a friend on Tuesday. I said that basically I'm living the same way as when I was 17. The only difference is that now I have more money to waste instead of time, while 10 years ago I had more time to waste than money. Must be one of the most honest things I've ever said.

"you lying bastard!"

Friday, I'm in ...

Yesterday I was waiting for a txt msg at night. I got it at around 22.30 saying "we are moving to la coupole, you coming?". I said "yeah, I'll meet you there" even though I had no clue where La Coupole was. So I called up Kyle who lives around the neighborhood of where La Coupole is supposed to be.

Me: "Kyle, do you know where La Coupole is?"
Kyle: "Yeah, it's there" (giving me directions). "What you doing there?"
Me: "Meeting up with some people."
Kyle: "Nice place. It's a strip club."
Me: "Whaaaat? You must be joking me!"
Kyle: "Nope, it is. And no matter what, just stick to beer dude."

I did find La Coupole and it turned out that Kyle's description was not far off. It wasn't an out and out strip club, but there were hookers, er, callgirls walking around and the place was full of sleazy men. In the night club there are a couple of stripper poles. Music was dodgy and it was overpriced as hell. I looked totally out of place, in my jeans and t-shirt. Luckily the people I met up with weren't exactly comfortable either, so we ditched the place and went to Soda instead. Much better! It ended up being a great night.

Tonight, the Sindy Christmas Ball. With Bjorn Again.

Can't Stop

Why the hell does anybody want to sit in a glass box for 44 days without food? David Blaine did it and here is some explanation, although not a real explanation.

I need to pay my bills... shit...

Watched Coldplay's tour diary (from their DVD). They don't look like superstar at all. In fact, if Guy Berryman goes into the crowd at his own concert, I'm sure most of the people in the crowd won't realize it his him. Pretty cool documentary though. It seems that they do enjoy being a band and that they don't envy Chris going out with Gwynnie. They should play the heavy metal style Trouble, just like in their rehearsal. If I ever succeed in the music business and go touring, it'll probably be a lot like Coldplay.

Oh, look at this guy playing Super Mario Bros 3 in 11 minutes. Amazing!

Where the hell is my mate? I haven't seen her online, got a txt msg or received an email from her in ages. And I do have a good story to tell her.

Have fun tonight...

"17 without a purpose or direction" - Blink182 (you can change 17 to 27)

Finding Nemo

Finally watched Finding Nemo yesterday. I got to say that the people at Pixar are amazing. The made bugs alive, toys alive, created Monsters, and now they make fish alive. A cool adventure from the Great Barrier Reef all the way to Sydney.

Of course, being an animated movie, the prime market is kids so the story goes along with what kids want to see. But there are in-jokes that only grown-ups will get. For kids, it shows that if you believe in something you can do it. And for adults, it says that they should let something happen to their kids otherwise nothing will happen.

I spotted Buzz Lightyear and that green monster from Monsters, Inc. Couldn't find anything from A Bug's Life although my mate said that he thinks he saw Heimlich on the boat. But that will be confirmed in the DVD.

Now I feel like eating sushi... Hmmmm, nyam nyam...

btw, should I feel guilty that I'm just sitting here on my lazy ass not doing anything in the office because my boss is sick??? of course not!!! :D :D

Update on Raffie's goal: if you haven't seen his amazing goal, you should click here. Shades of van Basten's goal against Den Bosch (different in technique, but similar in skill and style).

...:::|???|:::...

Went to see Kill Bill again yesterday. Not to see the details, but just to meet up with people. Otherwise the sunday would have been lonely and I hate loneliness. I'll probably see it again when vol 2 comes out. Do a Kill Bill night or something.

Saturday night was a weird night. Went to a Bulgarian birthday party, didn't know anyone there and I was totally underdressed (in my usual custom of sneakers-jeans-tshirt). Then went to another birthday party. Impressive place but not a lot of people. Ended in MoA, where they played good drum n bass to about 50 people. What's wrong with the drum n bass crowd here? There doesn't seem to be any. And when leaving MoA a group of people started accusing me of breaking into their car. As if I need to break into a Golf II. Luckily everything was sorted out perfectly by one guy who was still sober, although I wouldn't mind having a fight with his hyped up brother. Stupid cunts.

Today it's quiet again. The boss is not around (he's in the hospital). Don't know why and where. Should I know? Maybe I should. But that's not the point is it? The point is that he is in the hospital and that he won't come to work. Anything else is bonus information. At least for me. No wonder I spend my sundays looking for people...

Just got the Tenacious D DVD. They are one funny band. Jack Black is funny as hell. Can't wait to check the DVD out. I'm still waiting for School of Rock as well.

Tomorrow a groovy night? Hmmmm... Let me think...

My Geek Quotient is 30. "I should be congratulated for my coolness." That's what it said after the result came out.

Ajax 2 - feyenoord 0. Raffie, twice. The first one definitely one of the best goals.

"Are you the DJ?"
"I am a DJ, I'm not playing here though."