Life In LDN

Day Miss Sixty One

2008-03-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT :

THE AUTHOR OF THIS BLOG WILL BE ON STRIKE FOR AN UNLIMITED TIME BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY IN HIS POSSESSION...BOB DYLAN BLESSES YOU !!!

Day Miss Sixty

2008-03-22T04:31:00.000-07:00

Nothing so...

Day Fifty Nine Cent

2008-03-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

Nothing interresting except this awereness test brought to me by Angelo

Day Fifty Eight Cent

2008-03-20T04:35:00.001-07:00

Nothing interresting except that Saul Williams is gettin' that Nike $$$

Day Fifty Seven Cent

2008-03-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

First day at my new place.
Mash showed me how things work around.
I like this place...I'll like it even better in the summertime when we'll BBQ on the terrace in the garden !!!

Jour Cinquante Cinq et Cinquante Six Cents d'Euros Jumbo Pack

2008-03-17T02:27:00.000-07:00

OOh45 : arrival at my parent's
2H30 : sleep
10h : wake up
14h : see dela, stéphane, jean seb and tieum for drink water/jussieu music reunion at the best kebab place in Paris
17h : grocery shopping for UK flatmates
18h30 : pick up things for mom at auntie
20h30 : see palina !!!
21h : dinner
21h30 : see hélène !!!
23h : see sasha, stéphane, tibo and JM !!!
2h30 : sleep
9h30 : wake up
10h : see mars !!!
12h30 : lunch with Tom, Stef, Seb, Alicia, Babou, Ketly !!!
15h30 : spend some time with the parents
17h30 : see Nas aka Jazzyland !!!
19h00 : see Anne So and Lisa !!!
20h45 : Eurostar
23h : Marylebone
1h : sleep

no pics today (maybe no more pics since i don't have a cam anymore) but here's a bonus vid i took last thursday at Charlie Dark's show...enjoy...Gentlemen...

Day Fifty Four Cent

2008-03-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

We started the day at Borough Market. The best place for sandwiches !!!
but also for weird/funny stuffs like this...

Some of my fav sandwiches are the salted beef, the wild boar sausages, the ostrich burger but today we went for the world famous chorizo sandwich...if you come on a saturday, there's a 45 mins line to get one...

Then we walked all the way to the Tate British to see the second half of the museum...some more great arts expecially Victor Pasmore who's one of the best all around artist i've ever seen...another piece that was incredible was Keith Tyson's Studio Wall's Drawings...so rich and intense, i think imma go back and spend one whole afternoon observing this one...

Now I'm off to Paris !!!!!

Day Fifty Three Cent (Charlie Dark's African Beats remix)

2008-03-13T17:38:00.001-07:00

Tonight we all went to Cargo to check...

Basically the concept is mixing traditionnal african music with eletronic beats and i gotta say the result was pretty dope ! I mean once you start to feel the music, you get in some kinda trance, dancing and shaking...
My future roomate Mashi is part of his band.
That's him on the keys with Charlie Dark in the...dark

and that's him again rockin the MP

That's the rest of the band...

including "Chief" who was a percissionnist for Fela, just to let you know how dope he is...plus he's a master entertainer...

Overall it was a great night and it ended up even better since...

Day Fifty Three Cent

2008-03-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

That's Tony...Him and I are turning into museum's geeks...Yesterday we did British Museum and National Galery and Today we did half of the Tate with the other half coming up tomorrow...

A little flashback from yesterday. This is Trafalgar Square and it used to be my worst nightmare because of the thousands of pigeons flying all over the place...It turns out much better because supposely they put some hawks on the spot, even if i didn't see them...

The Tate is a nice chill out museum. Prolly because it's not as central as the others, it's less crowdy...It runs a nice English and International collection from the 18th to the modern days...I really appreciated the works of William Blake : he's a UK painter/poet who mixed religious mythology and actual facts. This piece below is entitled "Teach these souls to fly" (1796)...inspiring isn't it?

Another room i really liked was the Vorticism movement which is based on geometrical pieces and movements but can also represent an actual scene...This piece is "The Soul Of The Soulless City (New York - an Abstraction)" (1920) by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson.

I don't know from what collection this next piece comes from but i'm always glad when artists use their art in an attempt to change society...

Day Fifty Two Cent

2008-03-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

After sending some cv's in the morning, i met up with Tony who's a dude i've been playing basketball with for the past two years. he was known for his defense and the fact that he plays with his earphones...haha
after having lunch in Chinatown, we went to a couple of museums : British Museum and National Galery. There were some very interresting things to see but of course...i forgot the camera...
so imma put some uninterresting facts about my everyday life...

- this is the cornerstone of my fooding

soup is good and healthy but the real deal is that it's cheap..haha
however there are many different favours...of course, it won't replace my passion for meat but it's fine.

- this is what keeps me sane

you're prolly wondering two things
1/how come you don't smoke dunhills anymore?
- well actually they stopped manufacturing the menthol ones so i went for the malboro but they're not as good...
2/why are you smoking packs of 10's?
- simple answer : packs of 20 are 5.80£...yeah i should simply stop smoking...

- this is what keeps me entertained

they play 2 episodes of friends a day on E4, they play them twice : at 6pm and 8pm...BUT there's also E4+1 which is basically E4 one hour later...so if you want you can watch the same 2 episodes 4 times in a row...yeah what a fun life i must have...

Day Fifty One Cent

2008-03-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

Ok Today I am MAD cuz i lost 10£ on a stupid move...
I had to top up my phone card so dude at the cash asked for my number...
he printed the bill and i realized he typed it wrong...
he said i said it wrong, i said he typed it wring...we could have gone for hours like this....
he said he couldn't do anything that i had to call the company, i called the company they couldn't do anything that i had to deal with the store...I thought i was in France all over again !!!
but since i don't wanna fight people before i get a job cuz i don't have the money to pay any type of hospital bill, i let that shit go...but i was MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD...

Day Fifty Cent

2008-03-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

- Curtis : "yo d', what's goin' on today?"
- d' :"nothing really..."
- Curtis : "Oh Ok then...GGGGGGGGGG-Unit !!!"

Day Forty Nine

2008-03-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

A little sightseeing in Newcastle...
In the morning we went for a walk along the river.
This is the Millenium Bridge, a very funky one cuz it rotates to let boats go under...

Then we went to the Baltic which used to be a flour mill but now is a contemporary art musuem.

They had some very interresting exhibitions. I really like the ones by Barry McGhee about graphiti culture and one by Cameroon-born Paris based Barthelemy Toguo which was about colonialism, global exchange and over information...
One that really freaked me out was Mark Titchner's. It was basically a dark room with trance music, huge billboards on sides with self motivation messages and a screen displaying strobbing images...Remember the scene in Lost when Kate and Sawyer were asked by the bad guy's daughter to help her save her boyfriend and they find him in a room stucked to a chair with loud trance music, screens, etc??? well it was almost the same thing...I was a bit anxious so we went to the kids lounge to chill...

On the way back to my sister's, i found Drink Water's new signature...forget about Swizz Beats, THIS is the real one man band...

Al cooked a marvelous lunch...roasted chicken, friend bacon, sausages, peas, potaoes, meat sauce, gravy...it was so delicious even Dookie was maaaad she couldn't eat with us...i'd react the same if i had milk only (and mashed mango)..haha

In the afternoon, we went for a walk...this giant glowy worm is the Sage. It is basically a Music center with two huge concerts venues with amazing acoustic, a library with nothing but books and magazines about music, listening stations and a free workshop space with computers, gear and keyboards...yes, it seems like heaven to me !!!

...and then we spent the rest of the day playing with Dookie...I'm sad I'm not gonna be able to see her again until May...look how cute she is !!!

Day Forty Eight

2008-03-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

This Weekend, we are in Newcastle visiting my sister, Al and Dookie

It's been years since I've been craving for the nice fish'n'chips my sister brought me to a couple of years ago...it's called Marshall's and is located right on the coast in Tynemouth...the fish is fresh and the chips are homemade...it was delicious !!!

It's always very inspiring to see the sea, even if it's the cold and creepy north sea.

Newcastle and its suburbs are a really chill out place where people have weird activities such as pets crematorium..

pizza place in a church [???]

and listing the names/ages/locations of people who frauded in the tube

Then we all got back to chill with Dookie...

Day Forty Seven

2008-03-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

Weird Night..I forgot the camera by the way so no pics again..
Went to Angel to see DJ Vadim but didn't see him...we left prolly too early..
the party took place in this place which was a regular pub on the groundfloor but then it was some posh huge classy living room type of place upstairs...i admit i kinda felt like we were at this private home party where in fact we weren't really invited...and seemed like we weren't the only ones not too comfortable..
they played some house, new wave and then this dude got on the decks with serato...OH THE HUMANITY !!! imma commit murder if i see another "i don't know how to spin but i got serato" DJ...however, it was fun to see posh drunk white people dance to rakim, public ennemy...and of course the "drunk people" national anthem...JUMP AROUND..haha !

Day Forty Six (remix feat. Raekwon The Chef)

2008-03-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

What better to cheer me up than a nice plate of pastas...
here's the secret recipe

1/Chop some fresh tomatos and add some herbs

2/Chop some fresh mushrooms and some bacon

3/In a frying pan, put some olive oil, garlic, fresh chili and chopped onions

4/Fry the mixture on low until it gets golden and add the tomatos...i insist on low because otherwise the water in the tomatoes will make the oil jump and you'll get yo ass burned...

5/Leave the tomatoes live their own lives until they turn into sauce, start boiling water with rock salt for the pastas and start frying the bacon...

6/Once the bacon gets crunchy, add the mushrooms

7/Mix all the ingredients together, add salt and pepper (you can also add low fat cream)

8/Serve it straight from the pan

9/Enjoy !!!

Day Forty Six

2008-03-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

Today i'm disapointed because...
well i didn't tell many people cuz i didn't wanna jinx it but yesterday i had my final interview a very good position in a digital agency. we were only two candidates left.
i thought i did well.
this morning, they called me telling me it was a very close call, that they were wondering if they had enough budget to hire both of us but in the end they picked the other candidate...
it is really disapointing for me because the timing would have been perfect and because i liked the agency...well anyway, imma keep on hunting...

Day Forty Five

2008-03-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

Pics are back...well kinda
In the evening we went to Benji B's deviation, one of the great regulars in LDN.
Eric Lau was on the wheels

and then he introduced his band and singers composed by great talents like tawiah and rahel.eric isn't even on stage, he quincy jones'ed that shit...show was real tight, i can't wait to hear the album which comes out next week.
during the show, Angelo broadcast his great photographic skills with these two...of course, he was supposed to shoot the stage :)

Day Forty Four

2008-03-04T10:11:00.000-08:00

Today was sunny, Marlene came cuz we have a top notch oven here. She's trying to do some macaron but she's still in the testing steps...anyway, we had lunch together and chatted about her life in nice and then in london. it's always interresting to get to know what other people have been thru...
and today i also found this...i dunno how we should take it cuz i didn't know r.kelly had a sense of humour like that...that is just one episode, check the rest if you wanna know the entire story...but i gotta say Kells got A LOT of spare time on his hands.

Day Forty Three

2008-03-04T01:03:00.001-08:00

Remember the days when you woke up, send some cv's, had lunch, send some more cv's, the sun was already low on the horizon, you had dinner and it was already time to sleep..remember? no you don't? WELL I DO !!!!

Day Forty Two

2008-03-02T12:29:00.001-08:00

Got up late
Went to Clapham Junction
It was far
Met some cool people
Were starving
Cuz No Lunch :(
Went to Chinatown
Nighttime already
Ate
That's all for today

Day Forty One

2008-03-01T17:18:00.000-08:00

This morning we all helped Claudine move from Notting Hill to Wesbourne Park...cool place just right in front of Lucky Seven who is suposely the best burger on this side of town but i don't know yet since they asked us to wait 45 mins to get a table...we walked on Porto Bello and gosh all stands had like yummy food...cinnamon churos !!! hot fried schrimps !!! grilled boneless chicken leg !!!
we ended up in another burger restaurant kitchen burger gourmet and it was very good as well but if Lucky Seven is better than the one we had...it gotta be really awesome...
Tonight we went to the Notting Hill Arts Club...all the girls have been braging for months about how Hayley's the cutest girl in the entourage...I've seen pictures and she looks cute but ya know...still gotta wait til i see her in person to crown her queen...we met up there and i gotta admit girls have good tastes when it comes to their peers...However I don't know if we jinxed it but after 5 mins we got in..the music started to suck ass a little..I mean why would i move to London and go to a club to hear Magic System or Kassav...it's crazy...anyway, we still had fun...

Day Forty

2008-02-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

Today's weather is crap !!! so all i did was going to see an photo exhibition about Jimi Hendrix. It was really great but it reminded me two things...I don't think i'd ever financially be able to buy one of these limited edition photos even tho they would look great in my bedroom...and that i'm still mad i don't have the OG edition of electric ladyland with the naked women cover...
Anyway, just found this online and thought it was funny...

Day Thirty Nine

2008-02-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

Nothing special in the day time...then in the evening, Drine came over for dinner and we went to East Village, a new club in Old Street...I tend to think that i spend way too much time in the east side of town...Giles Peterson was spinnin' his usual great set of tunes and the place was very nice and chill.
I was having a drink when all of a sudden, someone tapped my shoulder...i turn around and this girl asked me "are you french?"..."humm yes".."je te connais, tu organisais broken vibes au djoon!"...the world is waaaay to small..
did i ever tell you the story of Virginie??? well basically the story is...my dear Cindy gave me this TV producer contact in London, he said his daughter got a friend in the music industry...we met up, after 5 minutes we realised we knew one person in common in the music biz..weird already..then while we were leaving she told me she comes from this tiny town near Paris and i was like "oh i went there once at my classmate's birthday, her name is marjorie"...and of course, she knew marjorie...
talking bout how small the world is...it's scary !!!

Ok so ever since i can't post pics anymore, imma post vids...That's Kenna performing on David Letterman's with Skateboard P on the drums and Chase Chad on keys...I LOVE THIS TUNE !!!

Day Thirty Eight

2008-02-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Alright, I won't have pics for a couple of days cuz i broke another camera...it must be my thing, some people are good for football, some others are talented singers, i'm just the master at breakin cameras...

Today was a very pleasant day. Sunny and funny since i got to learn about Ousama Ben London in the papers (i just hope he won't read this and chase my ass...for real, you never know !!!)
After an interview with a digital agency, i went to the Tate.
Last time was really nice because they had these huge slides coming from all levels...
These days they have this huge crack on the lower level which looks like some earthquake just happened and guess what? some earthquake happened this morning, i didn't feel it tho..i was too busy sleeping

I like Tate cuz they have a very interresting way to expose art, very non elitist and accessible for everyone...Tho they don't have any Dali pieces, they have a couple of Miro's who is really one of my favorite painters.

In the evening, i went to la Favela Chic to check Treklife, Oddisee and Olivier Day Soul...I've been talking thru AIM to Star Trek for about 2 years now and i met Odd and Olivier thru Kev Brown last year. It was good to see them again. I mean they are the REAL hustlers of this hip hop game : non stop touring, putting out records, selling records hand to hand...they put on a nice show and Ty showed up on stage to show them some love...

On the way back, i waited 33 mins for the 205, perfect setting to take pics for my "who's waiting for the 205 at the old street stop??? collection" but of course i had no cam...what a shame !

Day Thirty Seven

2008-02-26T14:20:00.000-08:00

Yes they are. So after two days of having soup for lunch, tonight i went for...

I joined Angelo and 3 of his girlfriends and we went to Icco which is a cool pizzeria i mentionned sometime in january...one of his girls is named Anne Laure and she's known for having the hugest boobs on this side of earth...However, as i am a gentleman, i turned her into a glamourous lady...

Day Thirty Six (Day Thirty Five remix)

2008-02-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Maartje is in town.

she's a former residant of the balcombe street flat. she moved back to amsterdam a couple of months ago but her work allows her to be in town from time to time...she's a big fan of crispy duck so we went there tonight but since you already saw pics of it, i'll just rewind yesterday...
we had a nice dinner at marlène's...raclette indeed...yeah that's one of the only way i can eat cheese...we were so full that we lost part of our brain activity and it became "n'importe nawak" angelo asked claudine to fix his coat...i agreed to drink hot tea with dried roses in it...wicked !

Day Thirty Five

2008-02-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

Day Thirty Four

2008-02-23T17:04:00.000-08:00

My best friend Tom was in town with his girlfriend Stéphanie...We met up for lunch in Notting Hill with the whole bunch and ended up in this place called S&M...no not sado & maso but sausages and mash...man it was really good even tho when we came out we did really stink of sausages...

After that we went for a big walk in Camden, i couldn't believe i saw Jermaine Jackson's "let's get serious" (produced by Stevie !!!) 45" for 50p when i bought it for 15 euros off ebay...
for dinner, Angelo took the challenge of cooking pastas for 7 people...it was great as usual...

L to R : Marissa, Angelo, Tom, Stéphanie, Claudine, Steph

Back in January, we filmed my parisian friends reaction to 2girls1cup...with Tom and Vouky as guests stars

...and here's what the girls had to say about it tonight...

Then we went for a nice walk on Jubilee Golden Bridge...very inspiring...and romantic as well...haha

Day Thirty Three

2008-02-22T15:48:00.001-08:00

After sending some cv's this morning and taking care of some duties for drink water, i was really feennin' for some fallafel so i went to the west end...Last year my friend Stéphane showed me this tiny place in St Michel, Paris where they was doing these very nice fallafel, well basically it's a chain and they have many spots accross Europe...the one in London is located in Old Compton street...does it have a link to the Compton hood in LA tho?

Then I went for a walk and came across the institute of contemporary arts where a exhibition called "double agent" was held...the whole thing was cool but what really got my attention is this huge empty room with a projection of sentences on the wall ...i quickly realised that it was someone who was freestyle writing for a dark corner of the room about visitors who were passin' by..how? because she started writing about me !!!...the artist is a spanish bruxelles based lady by the name of Dora Garcia...I just thought the idea was brilliant...it was the first time in my life that i was somehow inspiring someone, it was the first time in my life that i felt like i was part of art...yeah the narcissist part of me...she turned me into a few metaphors : a hedgehog, a stamp, a sloth...nothing super flattering...however she did mentionned the trench, that made me grateful...i sat there in the room for 45 mins, just reading what she had to write about me, other people...

i kinda felt frustrated that there was no interaction even tho i guess that what makes this piece interresting but i feel like going back someday with a bunch of post it's and reply to her writings with my writings that i would then leave on the floor...it would kinda turn this piece into a new piece...well, anyway...when i left she wrote "Farewell mister hedgehog/stamp/sloth"...
After that, I joined Steph and we went to the movie. Of course, what movie do you check when you're in London??? A french movie...we went to see "Le Scaphandre et le papillon" which was out last year in France and all i gotta say is that it was brillant...

Day Thirty Two

2008-02-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

So today, we were all invited to Crispy Duck by Angelo's friend Enrico. He's an safety engineer for a big oil company and he gets a 60£ voucher for each meal whenever he's abroad and basically he's in London once a week...

L to R : Marlène, Claudine & Steph

L to R : Enrico & Angelo

L to R : Marissa & Thili

So crispy duck is a meal i've never seen in Paris, i've seen things that looked like it but not so much actually..haha...i dunno why cuz it's pretty delicious...well basically deep fried duck...
here are the three steps to eat it...

1/drool over this...that's one+one half crispy duck

2/take a pancake and fill it with vegetables, barbecue sauce and crispy duck

3/wrap it up and enjoy !

Day Thirty One

2008-02-21T01:51:00.000-08:00

Ok Today wasn't exactly the same day as the past two days...same mornings however...In the afternoon, i had an interview in Picadilly. On the way back i wanted to take the bus so i stopped here...
You're prolly wondering why i'm showing you this tea store...

well it's a very strategic location right in between two bus stops which got the only two busses going from Picadilly to Marylebone the 13 and 453...so whenever i wait for the bus, i stand outside this store. Plus they have people serving free hot tea so i always make sure i get one cup before gettin in the bus. it is very helpful since it is freezing cold these days...
so freezing that i felt a bit sick when i got back home...i stayed in bed most of the evening.
you know everytime you're sick, you feel like being home...so what could make me feel like i'm in Paris?? or at least in France???

Pimp's cookies who are re-named "Encore"...

and great cultural magazines like...

I love Beyoncé, she's a beautiful woman (all the ladies who don't say so are just soooooo jealous...)
NB : Public was NOT bought by me but by a third party...geez

Day Thirty

2008-02-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

A boring day in the life of Dav...wait Iv'e done this already haven't I? guess it was just the same day then...

Day Twenty Nine

2008-02-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

A boring day on the life of...ME !

First thing i do in the morning...no i don't put some pants on, no i don't brush my teeth or wash my face, no i don't drink tea with biscuits or even open the curtains...
I go to...

Yeah Monster.co.uk to refresh my CV...THAT's the first thing i do when i get up, then i do all the things that i listed...and it's the beginning of the long "sending cv's" run... A couple of times a day, i go to Angelo's room to smoke and it's always this view on the mint chocolate complex...

...And it goes on until about 6pm...and finally i go to the local Tesco to get some food...

How exciting !!!

Day Twenty Eight

2008-02-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

Ok so today i went to Willesden Junction at Mash's place where i'm moving...
So to all the girls who heard about the creepy little way from the station to the street, here it is...

Yeah i took it on a nice sunset so you wouldn't be too scared in advance...haha
so here's my room...

It's messy with gear and records all over the place so i feel like my Paris room just teletransported itself in this house...haha
and then Massina, Mash's son, will take you on a tour in the rest of the house...hey gotta make the kids work !!!

The Bathroom

The Kitchen

The Living Room

Day Twenty Seven

2008-02-16T17:06:00.000-08:00

Today...and Tonight were friggin' cold in LDN...my gosh !!!
At 8pm, we went to Cargo at some very cool night hosted by the Fat City records people named Friends & Family...

guests included my man House Shoes who's like the Godfather of Detroit hip hop.

i really really respect this man cuz he really helped me out building Drink Water by hooking me up with a lot of Detroit cats...so props to him !

also from Detroit was Guilty Simpson whose LP got beats from Dilla, Madlib, Denaun Porter amongst others...I first heard about him on the Four Tet Dilla remix for As Serious As Your Life and thought he was dope...

and last but not least, Percee P... legendary battle MC... The J5 track with him and Kane is still one of my fav'...

Of course, everytime i'm going hom from Cargo is an occasion to add material to my "who's waiting for the 205 at the Old Street stop?" collection...

Day Twenty Six

2008-02-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

I did nothing but sending cv's today, but at least photomania works so i can show you some pics from the past days...
Oh the irony that i found in Baker street station...At the pace things are moving forwards against smokers they will soon have to re-design Sherlock's logo without the pipe don't u think?

That's Camden...

and that's Amy's and Kate's fav pub...also in bad condition but you can notice they're moving fast on this one...the girls should be able to drink lag soon enough...

Day Twenty Five

2008-02-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, now that we got Internet back, photomania doesn't work...So no pics tonight.I can't catch a break i guess...
so today, I went to Camden to check how serious was the fire that took place last sunday...
It mostly destroyed the right part of the market after the canal which i wasn't too familiar wit...I realized it was pretty heavy since some buildings were like totally down...Still i hope, they're gonna rebuild it nicely cuz Camden is really a dope place to hang out.
Fortunately, none of the record stores got damaged...i went thru the bargain broken and hip hop crades and there were some great wax, but i'm just trying to save some money...once i get a job, of course imma get gorilla on 'em...
We were so happy we got Internet back that we were late for Jazz Re:freshed and ended up not going...That was not a good move.

Day Twenty Four

2008-02-14T13:34:00.000-08:00

I was not dead, I just didn't have Internet connection...Just when you thought you would see how the resuscitation mask works...

Day Twenty Three

2008-02-12T12:00:00.001-08:00

Today was really pleasant..My good friend Tuyen was in town for work...it's always good to have friends from Paris around, it's like having a piece of home with you. Especially with Tuyen since she moved in my former flat.

She works in events and was visiting this huge exhibition at Earl's Court. She brought a couple of goodies including this...

It looked really intriguing to us but i guess we'll have to wait until someone gets close to death to see how it really works...we went to Jen's café for lunch, had some dim sum and pearl juice, then went shopping at Uniqlo...she got some great deals on jeans...20 for 40£...see London is expensive but you can always manage to get gear for great prices...
but better than a great price, i got this...

Mac G4 in great (physical) condition for......FREE !!! hahaha
Steph's agency were gettin rid of a couple of computers and i got the only working mac...
best case, everything works fine and it's powerful enough to handle all my music shit...worst case, it's not powerful enough, i sell it and invite my friends for dinner...

Day Twenty Two

2008-02-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

Nothing, Nada, Zippo...

Dilla Day Twenty One (Jaydee's Revenge remix)

2008-02-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

Alright, just got back from Cargo...and we didn't get in :(
the night started at 7 but we got there at 8.30 and the line was like 300 meters...the place was so packed that they had a "1 out = 1 in" policy at the door...

we queued for about 45 mins and weren't even at half of it...saw my friend Marc from 4Hero and he said it was crazy jammed inside...we quickly realized that we weren't gonna make it so we gave up...i was a bit disapointed but on the other hand, i'm glad londoners are showing love and respect to Dilla...he deserves it.

On the way back, i saw this ad on the tube...

Thought the Whitney and the Hammer ones were mad funny...the two others, not so much...but still that's great copyrighting (from a 27 years old retired copyrighter point of view...haha)

Dilla Day Twenty One

2008-02-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

Two years ago we lost one of the most creative men in the history of modern music...Dilla was inspiration, motivation, education...i guess i speak for hundred of thousands when i say we truly miss him...
I can't even name all the tracks he did that got me screaming "How the hell did he do that??!!!" but here's a few of my favorites...
De La's Stakes Is High and Verbal Clap
Pharcyde's Runnin'
Busta's Ill Vibe remix, Enjoy Da Ride, It Ain't Safe No More and Enjoy Da Ride
Tribe's Find A Way
Tip's Let's Ride
Common's Nag Champa
Erykah's Didn't Cha Know
Spacek's Eve remix
Bilal's Reminisce
Four Tet's As Serious As Your Life (remix)
Frank N Dank's Ma Dukes
Slum's Fall In Love
and many of his own tracks like Workinonit or Won't Do...

These are just A FEW of my fav tracks from him...and yes J Dilla changed my life, so tonight we're going to this tribute party at Cargo, hope it will raise good money for the foundation...let's support and pay our respect...

Well, today was the festivites in Soho for the Chinese new year so we tried to take a walk overthere but it was waaaaaay too crowdy...so we went for a cool walk in Carnaby street...it was really chilled out with the nice weather and all...
In a small street, i saw a couple taking a pic of a door and i wanted to find out what it was about, i wasn't disapointed at all...haha

Then we met this very cool man...i asked him if i could take a pic of him and he said yes but only if he could take the same pic with me...of course imma keep the later for me cuz believe me i don't look as cool as him riding a bike like that...

Day Twenty

2008-02-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

So today was a beautiful day in London. nice sunny weather...Of course, we have waited until it was dark to go out...
I was pretty sad because my camera died today...I had it for 7 years...it wasn't the best camera, i had to work hard to take decent shots and as you could see most my pics still came out blurry but...i think it always brought some kind of extra charm into the pics...RIP my dear...
So today, i had to use Steph's camera, no disrespect cuz it's also a dope camera but it's so technologically advanced, the picture looks cold to me...it's like making a beat on a computer comparing to the SP1200...just not the same...
Tonight we had a crepes party at my fake sister Sandrine's new place...she just moved in with her boyfriend Wilhem and invited some of their friends for dinner...We had some delicious salty and sweet crepes (nutella and bananas is THE classic !!!)

All caught up in the action of eating and debating, no one but me caught her living plush Tchoupi stealing from the candy jar...That's what I call an indeniable evidence here ! We might end up in court soon...

Since i got the news that Angelo and Steph's friend Marlène wanna become a food designer i try to practice shooting my own food...so here's one of my delicious crepes and i think i could already give Marlene some tips...haha

Day Nineteen (Domu remix)

2008-02-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a very cool night at Cargo which is great spot in East London. Here's Angelo and Steph chillin' in the smoking section aka outside...

The night was called Future Boogie and they spun some really nice tracks...especially Domu who really killed it...well, i feel mad frustrated since i'm here cuz everytime we go out, people spin some amazing tracks and i don't know any of them...i just wish i had enough music knowledge to hunt them down in record stores or online but all i can do is dance to them...
Overall, i think British are somehow someway much more open minded when it comes to music...they're not scared of edgy selections, plain beats...there's always hope for a change tho...

here's Domu...

Day Nineteen

2008-02-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

After sending some cv's, Angelo and I went for a walk in Regent's park where i didn't go back since i got lost while runnin' on day two...

Regent is one of the nicest park in town but since we're cooking some pastas with pesto i got no time to rap on...

BT Tower

Eagle and waterfalls

Protection for rainy days and lake

Day Eighteen

2008-02-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, today i went west to east and may be going west again tonight...
So today's the chinese new year and this caught my eyes...

It's an generic ad for tube consumers but is it me or they all look chinese ???!!! I call 'cism on this one !!! Are we seen as rude people in public transportation???

There's always sumthin goin' on in the streets of East London...For example, i found this...
In France, we tend to complain about having to sort out our trash...paper, glass, etc..but look at that !

and that was just the glass section...just one third of the cows line...
Then i took the second pic of my "who's waiting for the 205 at the old street stop?"

Day Seventeen (G-Young remix)

2008-02-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

First of all, Happy New Year to all my chinese peeps !
tonight was better than today...we went to have dinner at my fav dim sum place then we went to a nice chill out party called deviation where Benji B and Geology spun some wicked tracks...man they blew my head off...

i met morgan there, who was with eric lau...funny cuz i chatted several times with him online but it was unexpected for us to meet in real life...also met with Emah, who i was introduced to last time at Co Op since she's a dear friend of my girl Vanessa Freeman...yeah music is a big part of my social life..haha

Day Seventeen

2008-02-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

Today I feel like I'm in an episode of Prison Break. Everyone left with their keys so i cannot go out without being stuck outside...and of course there was nothing to eat and i couldn't go to Tesco to buy some food...
Fortunately, when everything is down, when you feel like you're gonna die starving....Here comes the rescue !!!

I know these are not the Korean noodles i cherrish (My sister took the 5 packs left at my parents...grrrrrrrrr) but still ask any asian person about instant noodles and they will tell you that they saved their starving asses at least 10 times in their lives...It saved mine today...

Day Sixteen (The Rub's Booty Mix)

2008-02-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight was ASS...

Day Sixteen

2008-02-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well i hate days like this but i have to go thru them...
woke up at 8, had to send cv's from the kitchen since the maid was cleaning up...
send some more cv's...and more...fell asleep for a min...send some more cv's...
put up my gear, did a beat...haven't got enough records here to taylor it so i put it aside...and that's about it !

Day Fifteen (RZA's Bong Bong reinterpretation)

2008-02-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

just a quick word to say that i failed in my operation to stay awake since i slept about 3 hours, prolly missing calls from 2 recruiters...but i just remembered this thing that happened to me this morning...i think i'm having a miss communication problem with people...remember my burger king story (by the way the women's name is Chen and it happened at the one in Picadilly, just in case you wanna make sure you get your meal right...). So before taking my eurostar, i stopped at the bakery and asked for a drops, which is a pastry with chocolate chips and creme...so the lady puts the thing in the bag and i walk away to catch my train...i was kinda starving so i opened the bag and found a....belgian waffle....not that i hate that but it holds nothing against le drops...i was maaaad...
Then ever since i got in town at 8, i figured i'll drop at the bank to collect my credit card...guess what i got???...a chipless/non payment card..basically i can only get cash from atm...i can't even make online payments.... i felt like i was a teen all over again !!!

bonus Dookie pics...don't you hear Stevie's "isn't she lovely?"

Day Fifteen

2008-02-04T01:51:00.000-08:00

Just arrived in London...I had a great time in Paris...I guess whenever you're away from something or someone precious, you tend to appreciate these moments better...
So after watching an amazing superbowl (congrats to the Giants !!! at least they're compensating for the Knicks wackness), i went straight to the eurostar station...and here's my last view of Paris this morning...

then as soon as the train started, i put cinematic orchestra last album "ma fleur"...i just remember telling myself that it was the perfect soundtrack for what i was seeing and feeling at the moment and then i passed out while dude in front of me was already snoring...maybe i snored too...as long as i don't drool all over me next to a cute girl like when i got back from Toronto in 1998, i'm fine...Anyway, when i woke up, we were already in LDN...imma try to stay awake until tonight so i'll get back on a rhythm...so redbull, diet coke, tea maybe italian coffee are on the menu...

Quatorzième Jour

2008-02-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Last day all together. I woke up late so i would stay awake tonight to watch the Superbowl and go straight to the eurostar station since my train is at 6.40am.
So we all chilled together, of course Dookie was the center of attention...That's her and Al (proud dad/brother in law)

Pop's tried to make peace with her so he went thru her good friend Abu who's the larry bird she likes to torture in her spare time...that strategy didn't really pay off...he'll get another shot next time...

Then we left for the airport, i dropped My sister Catherine, Al and Dookie and went to Paris to pick up Elise so we could pay a visit to Tuyen at my former flat where she's moving in...the H²O team was together again for about an hour...

Alright yesterday was about the men of the Phuong family so today i'd figured i'd give the women some spotlight. Here's 3 generations of Phuong family women...and Abu whom we haven't figured out the sex yet...

L to R : Catherine, Dookie & Abu (and his/her homeboys), Mom

Treizième Jour ( Ludovic Navarre's St Germain's remix)

2008-02-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

In the loving memory of our ancestors...
Yesterday was my dad's 79 birthday so we had a nice familly reunion...

That's Pop's, good days or bad days i gotta have love for this man for raising an asshole like me for the past 27 years...yeah he kinda deserves a nobel price for that...
I think he really raised my sister and i in a great way, not holding our hand but always on the side of the road if we needed him...and when i think about the most important days of my life, i still remember this 6 in the morning conversation with him...i had insomnia, princess diana just died...i told him i wanted to pursue a career in music and he said that i had to do what i felt otherwise i wouldn't be happy in life...and a couple of years later, he put some money in Drink Water Music (my label)...so no matter how much of a jerk he can be sometimes (cuz he mos def can...), i'll always pay my respect to this man...and i love my mom too by the way (she's gonna kill me if i don't mention her somewhere along with their pic)

Family reunions are always a great moment to verify the Phuong family mythology...
so tonight, we heard some crazy stories about my Grand Pa and some other family members...war, fancy women, smoking/traficking opium...all these crazy things to us were their everyday life...
see our fam is prolly more gangsta than most italian clans (i know Angelo's gonna be mad at this one...haha) ... So my Grand Pa died of an opium overdose...true story...he smoked a lot with my cousin's other Grand Pa... whenever they would get otgether, they'd do the family duties for a minute and then go in a room upstairs to smoke together in what seems to be a double-bong...it's amazing that my cousin who's in his 50's remember all this vividly...he told us how when he was 12, his Grand Pa would send him to this house in their village in Kampot (Cambodia) to buy opium cuz only a kid wouldn't raise the attention of cops...How they prepared the opium and turn it from liquid to smoke...He also told us that whenever they'd smoke together, a geicko would come down from the ceiling to hang out with them and when his Grand Pa died, the geicko died also...So i now take this geicko as a family stamp..
Yeah our Gran Pa's were that much Gangstas...
Here's a pic with three generations of the Geicko clan...of course we had the two opium smokers in mind at the moment...

L to R : Me, Pop's, my cousin and super story teller Kok, his two sons André and Fred

Treizième Jour

2008-02-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

After just a couple of hours of sleep, i got awake by this !!!

"WAKE YO ASS UP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That's my niece Laura aka Dookie who grew up twice her OG size since i lost saw her...
She's so big,it was quite surprising... Well anyway, according to her genes, she'll prolly be one of the leaders of the world in a couple of decades...so send me your funds so she can study in the best schools in the best conditions...and we'll ask our money back with a 1000% bonus once she'll be head of Microsoft...haha

Afterwards, i went to Paris for some duties...LDN is where i live but i guess Paris is home...i had lunch with some of the cowboys (our 100% male crew...you prolly know what our hobbies are...eating, watching live sports, etc...) and then i walked a little and came accross my fav street show on earth...he's in his 70's but rocks the crowd with some ill dance moves...

Then I had a Tea with My "Brother from another mother" Tom and his fiancée Stéphanie...can you believe we've been best friends for 24 years !!!
Tonight we're having a family reunion for my Pop's Bday...

Day Twelve (Daft Punk remix)

2008-02-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

So before i left, i had to take a good tourist shot as a proof to my parents that i'm really in London...After all i could be in Lille, they'd never know...but see to my mom, what counts is the number of sightseeing spot for tourists like her...so i tried my best...

and i went from that to this...the magnificent desert streets of Lognes by night... I often miss them...

I just arrived after 30mins of tube+2h30 of eurostar+1h12 of subway...it felt good to see my parents and even better since they had prepared me a nice meal...
Now imma head to bed since i already have tons of things to do tomorrow morning...

Day Twelve (Drine's Takeover)

2008-02-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here's what my friend Sandrine wrote concerning my statement about Dorset Square in the Day Ten entry :

Right..not that anyone cares but I think I should clarify a few points: Steph and I are not fantasizing about the fact that Dorset Square was the set for Princess Sarah - this is the TRUTH based on the following FACTS:
- Princess Sarah's school was literally 2 minutes away from a lovely 19th Train station. Check this out - next to Dorset Square is....19th centry Marylebone train Station
- Princess Sarah's room had a view on a square and she used to ride her poney around it(yes, she was that rich!)...hello..Dorset Square?!!!!
- Then when her father died and she turned from rich protegee at her school to poor servant she had to go to a small and slightly dingy market and get all the food for the other students which was about 10 minutes walk from the school...that's Church street market.

Are these pure coincidences? I don't think so....

Day Eleven

2008-01-31T16:08:00.000-08:00

Too tired to type...went to a BBE party at this nice place called AKA...I didn't know that place before but it will be one of my regular chill out spots...It really has a nice 70's NYC type of vibe...dope music, gorgeous women...we just chilled there, had a couple of rasberry shots, watch people dance to swing music...

and then i just wanted to make you guys mad so i bought two apples pies at mc donald's...delicious !!! i can't believe they took that away from us in France just because a couple of jerks burned their tongues with the content...

Day Ten (Devil's Pie Instrumental)

2008-01-30T14:33:00.001-08:00

Steph's workmates love her. As a proof, one dude from his creative studio drew her portrait on her hand...quite lovely isn't it?

Day Ten

2008-01-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, i admit that today i was weak...very weak...why? because after 9 days of holding on, it got me...what got me? this...

So after this great interview with this very cool recruiter named Abi, i joined Angelo in an HMV next to Picadilly cuz some friends from Italy came over for a video games tournament...yes they are pro video games players ... yes they travel the world and make quite a lot of money with it...crazy isn't it? when i arrived they just had sushis so just the thought of food got me to think about how much i was resisting BK since i arrived...but anyway, i think someone is holding me off to go this way cuz here's the conversation i had with the lady at the counter...

"Hi, can i have a number 2 : double whooper meal to go with chips and sprite please?"
"yes, 9£88 please..."
"huh? i just want one meal, not two..."
"you said two !"
"no i said i wanted a number 2 which is the double whooper meal..."
"ok wait..."
she went to get my burger...
"4.39£ please..."
(me mubbling) "that's a regular whooper you're giving me not a double but nevermind..."
"...and here's your coke...enjoy your meal ! "
"hummm ok thanks"

so i went back home...and everytime i take bus 13, it drops me to Dorset Square, just a min from Balcombe street...here's what it looks like...

So you're prolly wondering why the heck is he showing us a square just like the thousands of other squares in LDN...because according a some believers (i.e Steph and Sandrine) Dorset Square inspired the set of one of our fav animations "Princess Sarah"...ok, i admit it looks kinda similar but let's not push it that far, it looked like any other square in LDN...i'll let you make the call !

Day Nine

2008-01-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

Right after sending a dozen cv's and right before going to my second interview, Angelo got me a present...a book for me to read on the tube...yeah you guessed it "How to mow the lawn" !!!! but see, it's not just a book about mowing the law, as the tagline stresses, it's about "The Lost Art Of Being A Man"...Apart from all the cool tricks about lawn mowing like changing a tyre or mending a leak, there are also great lessons for your everyday life as a modern man. such as "Chapter 5 : How to gain points with the fairer sex"
and i especially dug this part..."Getting Your Foot In The Bedroom Door"

Tonight we had a sushis party...Steph and Angelo picked them up at the Japan Centre which is a dope japanese food complex next to Picadilly...very fresh and very cheap...for example all the stuffs on the table cost about 25£...

and then Claudine had a chat with God on a laptop...crazy isn't it?

Day Eight

2008-01-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

Today was...

yeah another road sign story...at the same time, if you're dead, you're not slow. you're NOT moving AT ALL...
So today i had an interview at 2.30pm and i arrived...late. yeah, that's a good move isn't it? i was stuck in traffic and some jerk pulled the alarm from inside the bus. The interview went pretty well so we'll see if it turns into something interresting. At one moment, the recruiter told me "you're a very credible candidate but you should wear a tie at interviews..." so i spent part of the afternoon trying to remember how to nod a tie...and as this blog is not only about me but it is also a public service provider, all guys in the same situation as me will find this useful...

Alright, one week in London. Time to Stop for a second, make my first money counts and pull out some conclusions don't you think? so here's what i spent over the last 7 days... The part i covered is Talib Kweli's email..i couldn't let that go public ;p

So grand total is 253£ for the past week...on that, you need to pull off two things that i could have bought in Paris and didn't really needed here : althought magnificent, the trench (119£) ... and the hoodie (15£) so substract 134£ and you get 119£...
so that means you need at least 160£/week (rent excluded) to SURVIVE in London since you have to remember that living with my friends, i share meals, i don't pay for things like laundry, soap, etc. I hope these info will help some of y'all who think about moving here and how financially prepared you need to be in here. After all, it all comes down to what Seiji told me last time, "Never underestimate London".

Day Seven (Paul Anka cover)

2008-01-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

So tonight was my second trip of the day in the East. Angelo and I met my fake sister Sandrine and her nice friend Kim at Plastic People...well re-named Pla... People since someone stole de "stic" part of the front sign...

Tonight was Co-Op which is the Mecca of Broken Beat and happens twice a month (second and last sunday's) at Plastic...Domu, IG, Orin, Adam Rock, Kay Suzuki were there to hype the crowd and make people dance to some very dope tracks...I remember the first time i went to plastic about two years ago, i thought it was weird cuz even tho the bar got lights, people dance in the dark...now i think it's kinda cool cuz it takes away the show off factor that ruins most parisian clubs, tho it's hard to take pics in these conditions...

We stayed there until 11.30pm on some perfect sunday chill out night and went back to Old street to catch our bus. And what do you do while waiting 19 minutes for your 205 to come??? you take pics of cool people who do the same...

Day Seven

2008-01-27T10:02:00.000-08:00

So Today Steph and I went on a little journey to the East side of town...Everytime i walk around there, i always dig the way they integrate street art into their environment...Here are a couple of examples (i especially like the restaurant/bus)

We had lunch in a dope vietnamnese restaurant and then went to Bricklane, one of my fav spot in LDN, where the sunday up market takes place every sunday...it's very funky tho super crowded...

and do you know many places where it looks like they sell 45" by the pound??? haha

i got myself a couple of bootleg DVD's...it's crazy they're selling movies that are not even out yet for 2£...got "The great debaters" and "american gangster"... and i spotted a couple of awesome shirts that imma get as soon as i find a job...
Before heading back home, we made a stop at this bagel place that i love...it's open 24/7, you get 12 bagels for 2£ and they're fresh so tonight is a bagel special..i bought some salad, some turkey, mustard and nutella !!! after walking all these miles, someone was tired ;p

Day Six

2008-01-26T17:11:00.000-08:00

Nothing much today. It was the last day of sales in most places and i didn't feel like being in the busy crowd so i just took a walk around the Marylebone neighbourhood...a thought popped up in my mind...we tend to underestimate the roadsigns differences when we're here cuz i almost got hit by cars and buses a half a dozen times and that...

saved my life many times...plus it's always cool to have a road telling you that you look right...haha

so tonight, Angelo, Claudine, Marissa and I went out...In England, Smokes are 5,50£ a pack which is crazy. Plus when i wanted to buy a pack today, dude asked for my ID...i fronted on that of course. Since i'm a grown ass man, i don't need to be monitored like a kid...so my italian cookmate took me to this place on Edgware Road where they sell malboro light packs for 3£ only...named Zam Zam Market...

I'm gonna miss my dunhill menthol but until i completely stop smoking (soon hopefully), i think imma stick to the cheap malboro light's...from there, we took the bus and met this group of teenage girls singin in the back...it was funny cuz they looked 16 but sang all the 90's hip hop party anthems like "Insane in the brain" or "Baby got back"... they had weird tribal paintings on their face so i made them pose for me...they were super nice to accept...

Then we went to this super dope pizza place next to Tottenham where they have great pizza's for 4£ only which is a mind blowing deal in LDN...so to all the people who will come to visit me, we'll hit that spot for sure...the rest of the night was just lame...your typical "what are we doing now?" "let's go to that place..." "oh no let's try another one..."...well, we all had a huge L printed on our forehead...Tomorrow should be better...

Day Five (Lord Finesse remix)

2008-01-25T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ok so tonight, Angelo and I got ***beeep*** and then i was craving for chocolate so i bought a snickers bar and guess what was on the package ! well, excluding the fact that mister T.'s face was on it which makes it waaaaay cooler than french snikers bars, there was a personnal message for Marissa (remember the US girl from day 3???) !!!

Then we went for a walk...I came across the best book i've ever seen !!!

We continued on Marylebone High street where i noticed that the traffic signs painted on the road where kinda weird so i wanted to shoot them and i almost ended up taking shots of my own traggic death...yeah it would have been traggic considering the fact that i bought my new super fly trench today...haha

Ended up on Regent street for the second time today and took the bus back home...Now's time to sleep...

Day Five

2008-01-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

After spending the entire morning sending cv's, Angelo and I went to the west end to find some clothes...of course, i had my coat in mind...so i went to Zara to try it again, and it wasn't 170£ like i said but 170€ which makes it 119£...Angelo said it looked nice but then at the uniqlo next door, i found a dope but more classic coat for 50£...after a couple more stores where Angelo tried on some suits (he just got a job at Cisco...yeah congrats to him..no !!! not the dru hill guy but the computer company so he needs suits...), he told me "you know, nothing will match the happiness of putting on your Zara coat every morning..." that was so stoopid that it convinced me to buy it so we went to 4 different Zara's but they were sold out, i felt like someone was puttin me through a test to see if i really wanted it...but now, I GOT IT !!! who's the flyest dude in LDN now??? ME !!! hahahahhahahahah

while on Regent street, i remember that my sister took a pic of the street in the early 90's and it was probably my first photography shock...just perfect...so i tried to take my version of it but it kinda sucks...

Then on the tube back to the flat, i turned my head and saw this !

Just when i forgot about this midget, he comes hunting me all the way in LDN !!! yurk !!!

Day Four (Afronaught Re-Edit)

2008-01-24T15:55:00.000-08:00

Ok so i just got back from jazz re:freshed. This gig takes place at Mau Mau, one of the coolest bar i know in the west part of town and if you ever happen to go there on a thursday, you'll get to hear some dope music no matter what. Even if it's a band i never heard of, i know that if they're down at jazz re:freshed, it'll be some quality time. For example : tonight, Angelo, Stef, Claudine (who's like the 4th unofficial roomate of the Balcombe Street flat) and I went to see Gianni Quartet, a dope jazz band, for 3£ only. So props to Adam Rock and his crew...(www.myspace.com/jazzrefreshed for more info)

during the set, i took what i believe to be my nicest pic so far...

so everyone was chillin', happy to be here...isn't it Sir?

Now my back kinda hurts and i don't know why so imma get some sleep...

Day Four

2008-01-24T03:45:00.000-08:00

Morning Quizz...So three people live in this flat on a daily basis...Andrew, Angelo and Stef...
How many toothbrushes do they use???
See for yourself !

As soon as i woke up, i got a call from a recruiting agency and got a meeting with them on monday which is pretty cool...now Angelo, Andrew and i are gonna have a nice and healthy lunch..fried potatoes and fried salmon...and then it'll be all about sending cv's again...
Today is thursday so tonight i'm going to Jazz re:freshed in Porto Bello, it's one of the dopest live/Dj gig in town...

Day Three (Extra P remix)

2008-01-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

Ok so i just got back from the US people reunion...check the time and you'll figure it wasn't all that...
At about 6pm, Angelo's friend Marissa got here...I pretended i was from LA and she wasn't sure if i was telling the truth or not which was cool cuz i'm starting to question my english skills since i don't understand all of what people are sayin' here...well she's from the US tho so i actually my statement is pretty wack...
anyway, she was really cool...but while we were talking, all of a sudden she went..."I really want some nuts !!!" which sounded a bit weird to me...but she was talking about actual nuts and not the things i had in mind...
we had a nice meal..Angelo and I are slowly but surely becoming the kings of the delicious cheap meal...
then we had to get rid of the food smell...Marissa got fresh cuz she wanted to meet some cool US people to hang out with...

then we were on the tube and this ad caught my attention

so between that and the "I want some nuts !!!" scream...i got some weird signals tonight...

then we got to the place and it was...well...kinda empty...on some MJ Billie Jean type of floor...

people were having dinner so it pretty hard to socialize in those conditions...i left before Angelo and Marissa so i hope she found some friends to eat nuts with...

Day Three

2008-01-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

Nothing much today...woke up, had lunch with Angelo...well basically eating last night dinner's leftovers consisting of coconut rice and chinese vegetables...
been online all afternoon to post my cv on all recruitment websites and contact agencies i talked to from paris about two months ago...
plans for tonight? Angelo is taking me to some London based Americans reunion...should be fun..i'll take some pics...

Day Two (Puff Daddy remix)

2008-01-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

Ok so i just got back from my little run in the west end. got the hoddie at h&m which was easy but couldn't find the coat...tried at least 6 stores : h&m, urban outfitters, uniqlo, gap, some no name stores...and it all takes me back to that super xtra fly trench i saw at zara in paris...saw it again today, tried it on for the 3rd time in 2 weeks, was close to buying it for the 4th time...but i had put it back because now that i'm here, i need to have some sense...it's thin, it's 170£...but i think if i smoke some good weed, i'll be high enough to buy it...wait til you see it !
The good thing is that i found a record i've been looking for a long ass time..ok i know i swore i wouldn't buy any wax for a couple of weeks but Boyz II Men's Thank You Eddie F. & The Untouchables remix??!!! Couldn't let that one go...2£ my friends, now cry me a river...

Day Two

2008-01-22T05:22:00.001-08:00

Things i saw when i woke up...For a second i thought i was not in LDN but in Montmartre with a nice view of the top of Le Sacré Coeur...

then i thought i was outterspace cuz when i looked up and i saw Mars...

..and looked down and saw some kind of moon sand...

Anyway, since my friends are fancy, they have a very cool maid who comes in every week to clean...so i had to leave the flat for 45 mins...so i decided to go for a run in Regent's park...but after a couple of kms i got....lost...
took me about 20 mins to figure out my way back...
aiight, imma go downtown now cuz i still need to find my coat, buy another hoodie to replace the one i got stolen at the july broken vibes and some food cuz it's my turn to cook tonight...

Day One

2008-01-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Ok so my dear friend Palina picked me and my heavy suitcases at 10am, considering i watched the giants defeat the packers until 5 in the morn, you have a ruff idea of how fresh i looked...
she took me straight to the eurostar gate which was super kind of her since she only made a back and forth trip from her place to drop me off...
ok this eurostar trip might have been the second worse after the one from Disneyland where the coaches were filled with 80% of kids runnin all over the place...
i ended up next to an asian guy who took of his shoes and whistled the songs he was listening to...me and some other dude gave him the "what a fuck" look but he didn't seem to get our point...
so i took a short nap...woke up in the channel...dude had fell asleep and had his head next to my shoulder but i didn't feel like punching him in front of everyone...
got to LDN and it felt super weird to end up in St Pancras when for the past 2 years and 12 trips, it was Waterloo...fortunately, my friend Angelo picked me up and helped me out with the lugages...

Angelo

man, it was so heavy that i wondered if some chinese kid named Chang didn't end up in my suitcase so he could illegally immigrate in the UK...
Ever since it's raining (not really a surprise tho), i spent the rest of the day gettin a sim card (my temporary number is +44.79.42.52.04.65) and openin a bank account at HSBC...and that's about it for now...

Westside view of Balcombe street

Eastside view of Balcombe street