Now the happening scene is dead, I used to want to be there too...

Bloody Placebo and their presale drama.

Ugh.

Posting this on my phone. My mp3 player is dead i think, got soaked in beer last night. It's drying but I don't have much hope. Balls.

FREEDOM!

Sweetie/Karen just completely summed up my thoughts on the latest Muse video over on ETS:

"It's sort of cute and I like the animated bits, but I think the video could maybe have been better if the band weren't in it. I can see what they were going for, but really, Matt couldn't lip sync to save his life! It's a nice concept with the Willy Wonka-esque boat ride and stuff, I just don't think it was very well executed. "

In addition, I  just cancelled my preorder for the Japanese import of  Year Zero. According to the NIN Hotline, there will no longer be a bonus track AND it's been delayed over there. I'll just pick it up on the 13th in HMV here.

 - I WILL get round to reading Lord of the Rings. It's been sitting there in a box since 2004.
- Catch up on my gaming - especially Pokemon. That's right, I still play Pokemon, I'm a dork, yadda yadda yadda.
- Probably cut back on the drinking.

I'll probably do the first one but fuck the last one.

Oh yeah, happy xmas/new year/whatever.

THIS IS THE PUBLIC, CUT-DOWN VERSION OF A FRIENDS-ONLY POST WHICH HAS... CERTAIN INFO IN IT. PLEASE DON'T BUG ME FOR INFO ABOUT WHAT'S MISSING.

London:
Got to Wembley at 11pm the night before, armed with painkillers and a bottle of vodka. Got pissed during the night to keep myself warm/entertained. People started arriving at around 5am and Jeff got there at about 11. The day passed quick enough. About an hour before the show I tried my whole "I'm disabled but can do the barrier, can I get in one minute early?" routine. Got told after 10 minutes that I wouldn't be let into standing due to health and safety restrictions. Understandably, I was pissed off/upset. When the doors opened I ran down anyway and made the barrier. At which point someone came and removed me. But I got put in a seat right above the stage. Anyway, I liked Howling Bells a bit  but hated Archie Bronson - I actually got out and walked around the concourse during them. Well, it was half because of them and half because I was trying to find a way to have a cigarette.

Placebo:
 - Stef was amazing that night. It's great when he's really animated on stage.
 - That guy that jumped the stage ran down past me. Actually jumped over BESIDE me. I just noticed this blur and was like "wtf?!" and then five seconds later he was on stage. It took seven security guys to get him off and... grr I was so angry at him.
 - I Know/Soulmates/Bionic/WYIN were AMAZING.
 - The new version of EYEM was fab.
 - BIWY made me cry for some reason.

Manchester:
Got to the venue just after 7, even though I was broke and almost couldn't afford the coach due to evil cash machines, and met Shreena. I had vodka hidden on me so I got pissed and don't remember a lot. It was as good as the other night, except without the technical difficulties. The birthday speech had me in hysterics.

Yeah. It was great. I'm off to die now because I need sleep.

NO BLOGGING UNTIL 12TH DECEMBER!!

Exams season kids and it's a busy one. The update on either the 12th or 13th will contain the tour report from Placebo.

Take care, kids

New ticket status:

Additional dates are up on The Spiral, only Glasgow and Birmingham have gone on sale:

Glasgow: ticket bought by Shreena for me
Birmingham: spare ticket goes to Shreena

The other dates (2 extra Brixton and second night in Manchester) BETTER go on sale tomorrow. There's nothing REALLY organised except for our Nottingham hotel.

Trent, you're going to kill me one of these days.

Things to do this week:
- Write Nazi Germany assignment, hand in Thursday evening.
- Get extra NIN tickets if they go on sale.
- Organise Nottingham accom with Shreena.
- Organise Glasgow hostel with ETS people.
- Book flight to Manchester in February.
- Get Megabus Manchester - London for Placebo.
- Make banner for Placebo at Wembley (YOU KNOW I LOVE THE SONG AND THE SINGER, YOU KNOW YOU'VE GOT ME WRAPPED AROUND YOUR FINGER).
- Get wallet from post office.
- Organise transport from Galway to Dublin Airport for Friday morning.
- See Muse in Manchester on Friday.

Second Glasgow show announced. Ticket bought.

Rumoured dates to be announced:

26 February: Second Manchester show. 2 ticket to buy, extra for Shreena.
1 March: Second Glasgow. Confirmed. Ticket bought for me by Shreena. Additional ticket bought by me for Christo in exchange for cash.
10 March: Third Brixton. 2 tickets to buy, extra for Christo
11 March: Fourth Brixton. 1 ticket, seated for me
12 March: Fifth Brixton. 2 tickets. Bought by Shreena for me in exchange for cash, if it goes on sale before 6.30pm tonight, bought by me for Shreena in exchange for cash.

Five extra shows apparently.

God help me.

Muse slayed at the Point in Dublin last night. Best Muse show out of the five I've been to.

Got to the venue at 10.30pm the night before. It was just above freezing the whole night. It was bad. People arrived at 7am and we had fun in the queue. Now, this is important - I ended up chatting with a security guy who was asking about the crutches and about my face and I told him about being beaten up and all. He made sure I got a pit pass and gave me a jacket because I couldn't stop shivering. I thought that was it.

I got let in early. I was in place EXACTLY where I wanted to be the whole night. The security gave me priority water for painkillers.

Now, this is the best bit. Before Plug In Baby, Matt spoke into the mic: "This song is for those who waited in the cold" and kinda looked down at me. Wow. I love that man now. And I was given a setlist at the end of the main set and was told the dedication was for me. One of the best nights of my life.

Despite the cold.

Setlist (as written)
TAKE A BOW
HYSTERIA
MAP OF THE PROBLEMATIQUE
BUTTERFLIES & HURRICANES
NEW BORN
ASSASSIN (My note: extended version)
PLUG IN BABY
FORCED IN
BLISS (Long)
CITIZEN ERASED
SOLDIER'S POEM
HOODOO
INVINCIBLE
SUPERMASSIVE BLACKHOLE
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
STOCKHOLM SYNDROME
______________________
APOCALYPSE
STARLIGHT
KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA

The presale on the Spiral is tomorrow at 5pm. I'm in charge of:

Manchester: extra ticket for Shreena in exchange for Nottingham ticket.
Glasgow: extra ticket for Christo in exchange for Birmingham ticket.
Brixton: perhaps an extra ticket for Jess, I don't know, I need to get in contact with her. As in I'll get her an extra ticket for the 7th and she'll get me my ticket for the 8th.

I'm so worried about this. I know I'll get tickets to everything SOME WAY - the Spiral doesn't need the schexy fanclub tickets as long as I have my membership card - but I'm still freaking. Especially if other dates are announced (and I'm sure there are for Manchester and Brixton). Meh.

Happy Halloween by the way kids.

OMG NIN TOUR 2007!!!!!!!

I'm going to them all. I'm planning it already. It's turning out cheaper than I thought.

Manchester, Glasgow, Nottingham, Birmingham and London, here I come!!!

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...

Opening Credits:
Nine Inch Nails - Suck

Waking Up:
Radiohead - I Will

Monday:
The Cure - Inbetween Days

Fight Song:
HIM - The Funeral of Hearts (Acoustic)

Breaking up:
Madonna - Justify My Love

Prom:
My Chemical Romance - You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison

Life:
Depeche Mode - Here Is The House

Mental Breakdown:
Satyricon - Skyggedans

Driving:
Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People (Live)

Flashback:
The Cure - Pictures of You (wow, best timing EVAH)

Getting Back Together:
Placebo - Infra-Red

Wedding:
Dresden Dolls - Truce (AHAHAHAHA irony)

Birth of Child:
Smashing Pumpkins - Starla

Final Battle:
Covenant - Ritual Noise

Death Scene:
Placebo - Bulletproof Cupid

Funeral Song:
Ministry - Thieves :S

End Credits:
Depeche Mode - Insight

weirdness to the max

Ahahaha. There are apparently 666 unread emails in my gmail account. How kvlt.

I need a computer to do my essay. But computers have the internet. I'm screwed in doing all this work methinks. But on the plus side one of the essays I thought was due next week is actually due the 6th. Phew.

SICK!

I am so feeling this right now and I'm not really sure why:

Hand in mine, into your icy blues, and then I'd say to you, "We could take to the highway with this trunk of ammunition too, I'd end my days with you in a hail of bullets". I'm trying, I'm trying to let you know just how much you mean to me and after all the things we put each other through and I would drive on to the end with you. A liquor store or two keeps the gas tank full and I feel like there's nothing else to do but to prove myself to you and we'll keep it running. But this time, I mean it, I'll let you know just how much you mean to me as snow falls on desert skies, until the end of everything. I'm trying, I'm trying to let you know just how much you mean -- as days fade, and nights grow and we grow cold. Until the end, until this blood, until this, I mean this, I mean this - until the end of... I'm trying, I'm trying to let you know just how much you mean to me -- as days fade, and nights grow and we grow cold. But this time, we'll show them, we'll show them all how much we mean. As snow falls on desert skies, until the end of every... all we are, all we are is bullets, I mean this. As lead rains, we'll pass on through our phantoms. Forever. Forever like scarecrows that fuel this flame, we're burning. Forever and ever. Know how much I want to show you you're the only one. Like a bed of roses, there's a dozen reasons in this gun. And as we're falling down, and in this pool of blood, and as we're touching hands, and as we're falling down, and in this pool of blood, and as we're falling down, I'll see your eyes. And in this pool of blood I'll meet your eyes. I mean this forever.

I am so digging this right now:

"It's nothing to do with mortality but it's to do with the great beauty of the color of meat." So said Francis Bacon, an artist of the twentieth century, explaining why he painted scenes of gore and squalor. While admiring his sentiment, I would also postulate that Bacon's appreciation for the color of meat made him a connoisseur of the very mortality he pretended to eschew.

I consider myself a connoisseur of mortality. While my millions of brethren and sistren chew, chew, chew their way through whatever offal comes along, inexorable but mindless, I preserve my energies for the sweetest meat: the carcass tainted by fear. The carcass that suffered the protracted death, the agonizing death. Meat crisped alive by fire, meat sliced open by steel, meat with a bullet in its gut.

Here in the slaughterhouse, I dine well.

It is everything to do with mortality. It is the great beauty of the color of meat, of its many colors: the spongy purple of drowned flesh, the translucent rose of fresh viscera, the seething indigo of rot. Bacon must have painted in the slaughterhouse. It is the great beauty of the flavor of meat, of its many flavors.

When we reduce a carcass to bone, we not only reveal its structure; we become composed of its elements. For most of the others, this is a matter of breaking down proteins and replenishing simple larval tissues. For me it is a kind of catharsis. I take on the qualities of the deceased, I am nourished by his perceptions, and perhaps somehow I aid in releasing his soul.

Consequently, I have lived thousands of lives. I have memorized countless tomes, and written more than a few. I have constructed dynasties, then torn them down or watched them fall. I have been a foetus in a womb and a guru in a cave. I have digested the concepts of "freedom" and "love" and "eternity," and excreted them, over and over again.

Men kill other men, sometimes for sport, sometimes for love, sometimes just sending them to the slaughterhouse to feed still more men -- or, if left too long, to feed me and my kin. Each one thinks he has lived in the worst of times, but nothing has ever been different.

I curl in the slightly damaged brain of a young man who died for no particular reason, after a protracted and honorable hunt. The glistening whorls are dissolving, coming unglued, breaking down into their chemical components. I gorge myself on the primordial soup of his mind. The terrible realization that dawned upon him at the moment of death sharpens the taste.

I become drunk on his flood of experiences and emotions. I synthesize his knowledge. I live his entire life in the time it takes me to eat a path through his liquefying brain. I wallow in his world. I die his weary death.

As always, it makes me glad to be a maggot in the slaughterhouse and not a man.
"In Vermis Veritas", Poppy Z Brite