and the DJ played Torn on the Platform 3 times!?

Went to see We Are Scientists last night. It was a fantastic but short set, although any set short of three weeks is to short to be fair. They played about seven tracks from WLaS and about four from BTM. The banter was kept to a minimum, 'twas a crisp performance from the boys to a decidedly lacklustre crowd of industry/clients/twats in the lush, intimate surroundings of a former strip club. There were a few "fans" though and they warmed up after about ten minutes with some mild moshing but people looked at them funny. The thing is this gig was a showcase for tiscali which is why there were so many "suits" I suppose, and it was being filmed aswell and nothing more puts the British off more than cameras in the area unless, of course, they're off their face in Ibiza and are happy to have their boat plastered all over ITV7 or Bravo,...I digress. I really enjoyed it (just to see them was enough) although it wasn't a perfect gigging atmosphere and I didn't touch a drop which I'm fairly proud of.

I was gonne title this"Was not WAS" then realised it was crap, oh well.

In other news the NME Awards weren't very good this year. The highlights being Faris Badwan towering over Tom Clarke, Dizzee Rascal featuring Matt Horne and James Cordon, Frank Carter handing out flowers and Kelly Osbourne embarrassing herself. Otherwise pants.

Hurricane

Did you ever feel like Briony when you were growing up, I still do sometimes but to a lesser extent. I see people doing things and feel as though I don't understand, my grown up mind does not allow me to make a fool out of myself by interfering. The world's not new to me, I've seen a fair bit, but every now and then I feel naive and innocent. It takes a while for things to dawn on me, I think maybe my mind's not as sharp as it once was. I get innuendo, that's easy, but I miss obvious things like stop talking about that thing someone's coming who shouldn't hear it and I'll carry on until it's nearly too late.

-

I know this bloke who used to wind me up no end with semantics and I'd fall for it every time until I started fighting back, it took a while because he's gormless and you can't get the message through to him. I made a fool out of him which pained me but if it only made him think twice before speaking and learning some tact maybe it was worth it. To paraphrase - your brother's gay, why don't you kill him - I think the only reason the guy didn't twat him was because he was stumped by the audacious stupidity of the comment. Sometimes I think the guy is having us on with a strange and surreal act but to what purpose, does he make everyone else look stupid by the way we treat him, many people have been rendered speechless by the things he does or says. If he's not as stupid as he makes out then why do it. Does he feel good being ridiculed by his peers. He also switches his game up when he talks to hot girls with a sincere act some seem to fall for. Maybe it's just me losing faith in humanity, hmm.

-

Do I believe I am good or bad? No one is 100% either obviously but fundamentally I feel I am bad, I do good things, selfless things, but nothing shakes the guilty feeling. I'm not explaining it properly here, I'll write more when I can figure out how to.

Don't let the bastards grind you down

As a good friend once told me in latin.

It's hard though, to keep your head up
When you're sinking under bureaucracy
And it slowly eats away at your soul,
Mind and body. Incompetent at helm
Four first mates helping us to drown
Even though we're in the same boat

I should jump ship but there's no land in sight
Their white elephants exacerbate me
Screaming in to the depths to just take me
I'm sure I will emerge from the water
I just need the courage to take the plunge

Camden Town

Burning Down.

Obviously a little late but. When watching the footage on the news it was quite shocking. I thought it was the Stables that were on fire and my first thought was that the council were behind it cause they want to put in high street stores, the place already has character flying out the window with the Wetherspoons, Starbucks and Nandos all over the show. It turns out the fire was on the other side of the road in the market by the canal and the Hawley Arms.

Now it's upseting to see any boozer go up in flames but The Hawley Arms is a vacuous shithole full of poseurs hoping for the off chance to be scene with one Miss Winehouse though I suppose you get those sorts of people everywhere, it's just not a comfortable place to drink in. The best place to drink in camden was Proud Galleries but that's gone now, I miss that place, in the summer you could go out on the terrace and drink on these beds or deck chairs with punks and rockers printed on them, before it closed they had it done up like Alice in Wonderland now it'll probably be a Boots. The Enterprise is far enough away from the centre to be safe from the BS yet close enough to be part of the crowd is such a nice pub with dark corners and bright windows depending on your preference and the atmosphere is friendly and there's a Gelateria called Marine Ices right next door for when it's hot in the summer. At the other end of Camden Town There is a nice pub called The Hope and Anchor just behind Koko which is good for a pre gig drink, never normally busy which is the way I like it.

Speaking of pubs, I've still not been to any of my locals this year. After six weeks, I think it's impressive, however, this means i have also not seen any of my "friends" from where I live. I 've been out with other people just four times this yeaar and once on my own. Books are definitley going to feature a lot this year as company, I think. Although I am thirty this year and should probably do something to celebrate if that's the right word. That's not till August abyway so there's plenty of time to um and ah over it

Semi Precious Group

Everybody should join this gorgeous group for gorgeous fans of the gorgeous Semi Precious Weapons, it's criminally underpopulated.

Come on you know you want to ;)

The Ace of 99 Red Scary Monsters

The Kids were easier to manage yesterday (apart from the usual strops). I'm so glad they enjoy music, we danced and sang along to The Beatles, The Libertines, Hot Chip, Maximo Park, David Bowie, Justice Vs Simian, Bloc Party, Reverand & The Makers, Kaiser Ciefs, Foo Fighters Remi Nicole, The Killers, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead and Nena. The sun even came out and I took them and my neice out in to the court yard for fresh air. There were no other kids about, they would have liked that, but never mind. It seems less kid friendly than when I was growing up, the place used to be teeming with tiny people. I think a lot of the residents don't like children very much since people started selling the flats they bought cheap off the council to "non smoking professional couples with no pets" it's like the kids are vermin there are even camers all over the place to catch wrongdoers. Back in the day (check me out I'm old now) we all looked out for eachother, even the parents kept an eye out for other kids. Now there's no one to look out for, they have all been driven indoors to shoot monsters and tackle Ronaldo. Maybe we can start a revolution this summer and get all the kids out just to anoy the crap out of the prffesionals.

In other news

Join my group if you dare, or for a laugh either way it's your choice.

Drones revolt... ...sort of

People at work, myself included, have traken to writing notes expressing general despair at life and work and leaving them about the office. Who knows what the people who find them think. My last one said simply: Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh! I used to leave job hunting magazines and papers around for the bosses to see and hopefully wonder about the morale of their staff. A friend once told me since starting at our job he picked up many of the symptoms of clinical depression I checked wha they were and found I had nearly all of them.

It is a rather demoralising place and everyone I've spoken to who have left seem to be happier having done so. I should follow suit and join them but I keep bottling it. The type of work I want to do is very difficult to get in to and pays very poorly.

I think I'vre become institutionalised, I know my job inside out but can't take any of the skills in to a new one because no one else uses the system we do.

Aargh, just venting a bit.

Better now.

The Gary

Work is soooo boring even lunch is dreadfully slow today. I was thinking, if I owned a pub I would call it "The Gary" just so punters could say "I'm gonna take the missus up The Gary". Yes, I'm that bored I've resorted to gross humour to get through the day.