I'm too lazy to update this blogger. Please move over to my TUMBLR for random updates and more Radiohead fandom.

I am tired. Good night and good luck.

Here's a compiled list of what I consider GREAT DEALS from my London/Oxford trip. Not many but worth mentioning because not everything is included in my previous post! Also, this serves as a buffer between my previous epic post to the next epic Blur at Hyde Park post that I'm too tired to formulate right now. My sentences are going wonky, I'm sorry. I'm still jetlagging a little.

BURIAL + FOUR TET - MOTH & WOLF CUB £6.99
The packaging is SO rad. There is nothing, totally NOTHING to show that it's their vinyl except the scratchings on the vinyl itself. NEAT.

THOM YORKE - THE ERASER RMXS (VINYL SIDE 1) £5.99
In a mad rush, I didn't realise the one I got wasn't the double LP or summat. It's okay! I can always get the side 2 when I feel like it. I love it that it's SO shiny. SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE.

DAVID BOWIE - ALADDIN SANE £4
Like I said in the previous post, you can't get such a great deal anywhere (except Ohio of course) but in Camden. Camden is GREAT. A pity the other LPs like Talking Heads are over £10. Maybe not so great after all. : /

The following 4 cds are 2 for £10:

TELEVISION - MARQUEE MOON (REMASTERED WITH BONUS TRACKS)
KRAZY PRICES AT UK HMV (maybe Ohio has better deals idk)!!!! You can't find cds at amazing prices like this in Singapore! Not Television definitely!

DAVID BOWIE - LOW (REMASTERED)
I was contemplating spending all my money for the day (it was only the beginning of the day) on Bowie remastered albums but meh, my favourite ones like Young Americans and Scary Monsters weren't on the sales. Decided to just get Low which is really hard to find in Singapore for some reason. I'M ON A TIGHT BUDGET.

KRAFTWERK - THE MAN MACHINE
KRAZY!

KRAFTWERK - TRANS-EUROPE EXPRESS
LIKEWISE.

R.E.M. - MURMUR £4
THIS IS A FUCKING GREAT BUY! I believe I found it at Revival in Berwick St. I have always wanted to own this on CD but the HMV here sells it at a ridiculous price! Actually let me correct that, I can't even find it over here.

LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS (SHOTGUN EDITION) £6
WOOHOOOOO FINALLY GOT THIS DVD! JASON FLEMYNG HERE I COMEEEEEE

PULP FICTION (COLLECTOR'S EDITION) ~£6
GREAT MOVIE, SO GREAT I NEED TO OWN THIS IN TIN BOXING, NOT PLASTIC.

OLD STYLE LONDON MAP £3
I got this at National Gallery shop. The only thing worth getting at National Gallery is their art book series (TASCHEN) but I wasn't interested in getting anymore artbooks so I got this lovely map at a great price too! I love old maps!

PHILIP LARKIN - THE WHITSUN WEDDINGS £1.99
GODDAMN THIS IS ON MY TOP 10 GREATEST BUYS OF THE YEAR DEFINITELY. I have been looking for this collection for the longest time ever. Either it's too expensive or the cover's not that great. This faber and faber cover is just perfekt! I got this at one of those Oxfam bookstores in Oxford. Second hand but in excellent condition! Thom Yorke approves!

JEAN-PAUL SARTRE - NAUSEA £1.99
ANOTHER GREAT FIND IN OXFAM! I know nothing about this book, it seems like one of those self-doubting existential musings kind of book. great for a lazy afternoon! Besides, the cover has a Dalí painting so it's an instant win in my books.

BLUR MERCH AT HYDE PARK £57 in total
holy shit I just realised I spent more on the merch than the ticket. It's pricey but they are great buys! Consider the shipping cost waived! ... : /
- Blur at Hyde Park green tee
- VOTE DAVE tee <---fantastic!
- MLIR canvas tote bag

TIMEOUT ISSUE WITH BLUR ON COVER £3.99
GREATEST BLUR COVER IN 2009 IMO, REALLY GREAT.

MIND THE GAP.

Great buy because I believe TIMEOUT LONDON is not available in Singapore!

JAMIE OLIVER'S MAGAZINE ISSUE 4 £3.99
OH MY GOD JAMIE OLIVER!!!! OF COURSE I'D GET THE MAGAZINE! Lots of great recipes in it, I shall try some!

UNIQLO BASICS 2 for £7.99
CHEEAAAPP

RANDOM BERET/PAGEBOY HAT £4?
Nilah, I bought this from UNIQLO and wanted to give it to you but now I kinda want it for myself! This hat has served me well in the summer, my head was sunburnt and this hat saved me from further damage!

I think that's pretty much all the things that are really worth the money! Other random buys like Rainbow flags and stuff are in hindsight, pretty pricey. Also, I can't be revealing my gifts can I? HAHA

Was really disappointed that I couldn't find the beloved Man Man & Friends #4 in the comic store I went to. The author gave me the only 3 shops in London and I could only made it to 1 of them. Oh well. Sorry, ni;ah. Also very disappointed at my lousy clothing shopping skills, whatever plans I had for shopping (like my blazer/jacket, leather wallet etc) are compromised when I see a records shop. Same goes for Rachel so what to do?!? Bring a friend who CAN shop next time!


And this picture of Thom is oh-so-cute. Thom's black shirt deserves to be on the hall of fame.

good night/morning!

I don't know how I should start in an epic post like this. This trip has been the BEST one in my life so far. I am very thankful for Rachel's cousin - Ee Yung - for putting us up in London, treating us to so many awesome dinners and driving us around occasionally! I am also very grateful for Rachel being my trip buddy because she is the best walking compass ever. Nobody gets lost with her around. :D

This is Rachel with her new DKNY red shades:

Here's me with her shades. I feel positively Thom Yorke in this blue hoodie:


The flight to Dubai was great. We were served by good-looking stewards. There's this Mark Renton/Ewan Mcgreggor look-a-like with the winning smile on the plane. His name is Bojan (pronounced bo-yarn) and probably a Serbian. He wasn't the one serving us directly, it was another yummy steward by the name of Muhammed, great middle eastern smile. I LOVE EMIRATES.

Oh I also need to announce this to the world, /Nilah gave me a HUG. Goddamn that is SEW RARE, rarer than your mature cheese. <--what was that?! In this world, there's only hugs from 2 people that are considered rare (other than from members of Radiohead) - Nilah and Jamie/


Day 1 in London (30th June)



Hate to say this but a second trip to National Gallery was quite unnecessary imo. The archaic artworks are impressive and all but the novelty is kinda gone. I hope Rachel enjoyed it though. I just thought it's a gallery not to be missed so we ought to go there!

Next up was Covent Garden. It's Cornwall Pasty for lunch again! The last time I was here, I didn't tip them and felt sooooo guilty about it so I thought about tipping extra this time but I guess the tipping system is kinda eradicated because there is no extra basket for us to tip whatsoever. Oh well, there's the standard 12.5% service charge though. Guess they took to the Singapore system huh.


We headed to Neal's Yard after that in search of Rough Trade, only to find out that it has moved to Portobello. BUT I'm glad we made a lil trip down to Neal's Yard because this little yard tucked in the corner away from the busy street is just SO charming. Everything is so colourful there and it's a nice hideaway for a sunny day like this. Also, Monty Python used to live in one of the buildings in Neal's Yard:


We ordered drinks (expensive) and literally chilled out there. It was lovely. :)

We made our way down to the busy Oxford Street for some shopping but the day was SO FUCKING HOT that we ended up walking into Uniqlo and sitting down instead of shopping. Oxford Street is beside a main road, not very nice to shop during a hot day imo. I seriously didn't expect London to be this hot, it definitely doesn't help when the week we were there turned out to be the hottest week in London. It is still better than the weather here in Singapore for sure. Singapore is just TOO humid.

Dinner was AMAZING. Ee Yung treated us to dinner at this Belgian restaurant called Belgo. AMAZING MUSSELS POT AND RANGE OF BEERS SERVED THERE. Their mussel pots are a kilo of mussels served with a big bowl of chips. I swear Europeans eat too much. I ordered Green Thai mussel pot. It's cooked in coconut milk and reminded me of Laksa (oh how I miss this dish!). SO DELICIOUS. You know I'm too happy when I'm showing my teeth, god I feel like Jonathan. Rachel ordered grilled lobster, goddamn amazing.

The range of beers served there was eye-opening. I pitied myself for being allergic to alcohol but I did take sips of it, sips are fine, not whole glasses. We ordered so many rounds. This is my favourite, I call it the peeing boy:

Singaporeans are so deprived of good beers, Tiger sucks.

Day 2 in Oxford (1st Jul)

OXFORD OH OXFORD~ how much I adore thee. What better a way to spend your day away from the hustle and bustle of life, with sweet smelling champagne and strawberries.

I have an urge to go dandy whenever I'm in Oxford. It's just too charming. Charming is the right word for Oxford. It should always be found next to Oxford in a sentence, charming. Oh, quaint is another one. Quaint and charming.

Sadly the weather made it hard for us to appreciate Oxford even more. It was scorching hot. 31 degrees is no joke. We rushed to Brown's restaurant, hoping to have breakfast (which is the most decently priced thing on the menu) but it was too late when we got there. Breakfast is served till 12 noon. ): It's not too hard to imagine Ed working as a waiter right here is it? The uniform wasn't very Butler-like like I have expected though. :/


We then head our way down the road aimlessly for lunch. It was by chance that we decided to eat at Eagle and Child, the rustic charm lured us in. We didn't know about its historic claim-to-fame! Go wiki this to find out more. The fish and chips here was great. Lightly battered and lovingly browned pollock with lots of chips and mushy peas. We ordered curry sauce as well, was already craving for some spicy stuff only to be greeted with sweet curry. :/ It was still decent though, somewhat like mild Japanese curry. Guess what drink I ordered. GINGER BEER OF COURSE. My stay in London brought about this ginger beer loving phase. I am so going to chug some ginger beer tomorrow. The whole of Oxford serves their own Fentiman's Ginger beer. It's different from your typical sweet tasting ones, this one's got more oomph to it and tastes more like alcohol.


I wore my Radiohead tee to Oxford. I know, I am such a dork.

There is only one shopping district in Oxford that looks remotely like part of a city:


We made our way to Little Clarendon Street where the Beat Cafe used to stand. It has since been replaced by this cocktail pub called Angels. Didn't check it out. Instead we went into the ice cream shop beside it called George and Davis'. Can you imagine Radiohead having soft serve in this adorable little cafe?? :wub: I can!



A bit of fangurl photo posting here:

The bad thing about UK is its early closing time. The sun doesn't even set until 9.30pm! D:<

The Oxford Covered Market is still as charming as ever. A pity we didn't do much there, was supposed to have fish and chips for lunch at the Brown's cafe (thom was there when he told the interviewers Ed used to work in Brown's restaurant). Moving on~

I'm going to skip right into PUNTING. GREAT FUN it is! The only things missing were strawberries and champagne and Sebastian. It was a bit of a pinch to our pockets as we had to ask for a chauffeured ride which costs £6 more. Oh well, we are tourists after all, we should just burn our pockets tourist style and fuel the economy! Punt-boy was a nice little dorkish kid. Some dudes we passed by were asking him for his salary and he was being all awkward and answering in his most subtle way which is not very subtle.

"It depends."

lol cute. We tipped him £4 and he was SO stunned and thankful. Well we were bad tippers anyway, we just went up to him and said "erm we want to tip you! *grins*". Singaporeans should learn the art of tipping.




Oh dear Sebastian and Charles, I could imagine the very nice summer you boys had.

We had dinner at Jericho café, falafel with hummus and flatbread with couscous and olives. Really too much though. We wanted to wait till the sky is darker before we head to Jericho Tavern but it seems like the sun was stubborn that day so we went in at 8 plus. It was rather empty sadly. Like I said, too early but what could we do? Ordered beers. Rachel ordered strawberry beer and I ordered - what else - a ginger beer. Supergrass pumping on your stereo!



We moved to the outside/balcony where all the people are. It was so stuffy in the tavern but outside, teh weather was just lovely and cool.



Jude the obscure!


Then it was back to London. One day is just NOT enough for a proper tour in Oxford. ): My next expedition there will be 4 days at least!

Day 3 in London (2nd Jul)

Tate Modern Gallery! I could NEVER get enough of that gallery. My last time there was too rushed, I could only properly go round the shop, this time I could go to all levels and do a proper scrutinising and shop! (lol Nilah I still follow our golden rule of museum visiting)

There are SO MANY artists that I want to check out. I took down notes! A pity Rachel was having terrible cramps, she could only stay on the couch while I go surfing around solo. I bought a cute little canvas and leather passport bag from the shop. Awesome! I love Tate bags. I still love my Dalí and Film ants tote bag that I bought from Tate 2 years ago. :)

We had breakfast at Tate cafe because there is really nothing much in that area. It was a little pricey but who cares?! The food and service was excellent!

Sausage on toasted ciabatta, Vanilla yoghurt with oats and fruits and English Breakfast tea. Oh lovely way to get fat~

Then it was off to Soho again, this time Berwick Street. Take note of this street. This is music heaven! All the awesome record shops are mostly found here in Berwick St - Sister Ray, Revival, Music & Video Exchange etc. As we were rushing for time (Rachel wanted to get back to race for Wimbledon tickets), I had to put my vinyl browsing skills to use. My arms hurt a lot from all the quick shuffling. I am VERY happy with my Burial + Four Tet vinyl. It was only £6.99! Also, I bought The Eraser RMXS on vinyl just because it shines and it's only £5.99. Couldn't find Modeselektor anywhere! D: The shopkeeper at Sister Ray said they don't have it in stock. It was all cool shopping in Sister Ray. They know everything. I don't even have to spell Modeselektor for him! I would have bought more vinyls if only I had the time to browse through everything. Finaz, the Kraftwerk vinyls are SO expensive there. :/

We dropped by Carnaby Street nearby before heading home. (omg I would love to call London home.) Anyway, there's a major Ben Sherman sale in MOD style carnaby street and Rachel got herself a pair of awesome pinstriped skinnies at £35! how cool is that! I couldn't get it because I couldnt fit into their size S, size M is out of stock! ):

In the end, Rachel couldn't get the wimbledon tickets for Jul 3rd, I don't know what happened, ticketbastard cheated us. She got herself a hyde park gig ticket on the 3rd though which was all GOOD because now I have a gig partner! :D

Day 4 in London - BLURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (3RD JUL)

This one requires a whole post on its own, will be done in the next entry.

Day 5 in London (4th Jul)

PRIDE LONDON

Before that, we went to shop at Harrods. AMAZING place but we only could afford food. The food itself was enough to show how expensive the place is. They have excellent service too, every shopkeeper offered assistance in directions. We bought our lunch at Harrods and went to ~Hyde Park~ to picnic. Just like all the English people on a Saturday afternoon. Also, KRISPY KREME!!! oh god they should set one up in Singapore, fuck all the other dunkin' donuts and whatnots, we only need krispy kreme.



Anyway off to Pride! in Soho. We arrived just as they were passing by on the roads. It was AWESOME. I lack a large bank of vocab to describe its wonder. Chingay doesn't even come close. Argh, I miss London.



Argh I don't know which ones to post, everything's up here.
Did I mention how hot the CK gays are in their CK underwear? And how disgusting the half thong wearing gays are?

Pride is definitely an eye-opener. It's so liberating to see everyone cheering for the LGBT group. This is what it should be, a celebration of the infinite variety. Some people are just gay, get over it.

Jackie, the room mate of Rachel's cousin was telling us how amused she is at Singaporeans. She told us over a dinner of instant noodles (yum yum) that Singaporeans go gaga over protests and parades. You can't blame us for living in a country where you have to register to put up a demonstration! A fucking joke during the World Bank Summit. We had a great LONG chat with Jackie who told us about her expedition to Singapore amongst other things. I want to live like that, having lots of stories to tell whereever I go. Singapore is just TOO small. I miss London.

Day 6/Last day in London (5th Jul)

Arsenal + Camden!

Rachel is a major fan of Arsenal so we had to get to the pilgrimage even though our tube service line (Jubilee line omg Jubilee is a song by Blur!) is down. I feel very grateful for Singapore's top class transport system. London's tube is just too shabby to live in the millennium. They have scheduled maintenance and frequent suicides that fucks up the system. 3 suicides in a week! If it were like this in Singapore, it would have been on the headlines already!

I digress. Anyway, we took a longggg time to get to Arsenal because the directions were a bit confusing and Arsenal Emirates stadium is GIGANTIC. Rachel got herself a female cut jersey with Fabriegas printing for a whooping £55 in total. It was worth it of course for her. I took photos just to spite Arsenal fans. I don't understand the love for football and you can save your breath trying to explain. Fandom is unexplainable.


Off we go to Camden after that on bus. Bus ride was TERRIBLE, it was stuffy and we felt like we were back in Singapore - bad.

Camden is somewhat like a bigger Bugis street. There are just SOOOO many stalls, selling the same things and many other thingamajigs. I still prefer portobello market. Portobello is like Dempsey Hill but we didn't get to go there again due to lack of time. ):

Anyway Camden is where you go for GREAT GREAT vinyl deals. Jesus, I got a second hand Bowie vinyl (Aladdin Sane) at £4! Goddamn I love collecting Bowie vinyls. Where else could you get such a great deal??? The shopkeepers are friendly there, toasting beers, enjoying life, that's the way on a Sunday baby. There's also this über weird underground Cyberdog shop that sells neon futuristic clothing and plays LOUD (loud is an understatement) techno music. Pricey but interesting. I wonder how the shop assistants work there with the music. The shop is bathed in UV light (eh I hope that's the right word, sounds harmful) like a nightclub. I see families shopping in it and felt all weirded out. What could families possibly buy in that shop?!

My heart skipped a beat when I passed by a dude that looks uncannily like Graham Coxon (!!!!). Graham stays in Camden so I was hoping for a bit of luck but meh, it's not him.

There's this lovely sweets shop in one corner that sells tasty sweets at £1.5 for 100 grams. Got some Lemon bon bons, soor plooms (omfgsour) and wine gums. yum yum. Then we got ourseleves each a belt that is too big for us, but it's a nice simple leather belt (I blame Thom) at only £8! I blame Thom a lot for my clothing choice.

I FORGOT TO MENTION OUR LOVELY LUNCH AT CAMDEN. We went to Haché. Go google that shit too. It's the BEST burger restaurant in London. We ordered the au naturel steak burger (medium rare) with Onion rings as a side. Spent quite a bit there but who cares!!? It's the BEST tasting burger I have ever had. Though that might be an exaggeration since I'm pretty much deprived of gourmet burgers here. Just look at this though:

JUST LOOK AT THAT AND THE HUGE ONION RINGS! well spent money that is. I would have licked the plate if I could.

Dinner was sponsored by Rachel's cousin again! Very satisfying crepes at a little French crepes cafe at South Kensington road. I think I have had my fill of cheese in a day, I ordered a Britany style crepe and it came filled with lots and lots of cheddar and goat cheese, soft carrots and crispy bacon. The crepe was really thin and crispy and not oily, it stayed crispy right till the last bite. Awesome! Reasonably priced too. What was missing was a ginger beer.

Then Rachel's cousin drove us around the very charming estate of Chelsea. He said that many celebrities live there. It is such a big contrast from the one we were staying. Canada Water is bordering on the dodgy neighbourhoods like Peckham. These places are really dangerous, stabbings take place like regular activities. It's just saddening, the way the neighbourhoods are made in London. Guess every city's got its flaws.

This is the resident cat in the place we are staying in:

It is an attention seeking whore and a naughty one too. He slipped in and we had to chase him out but it just kept rubbing its belly on the carpet and we went all soft on him. bastard, I love this cat so much. I love ginger cats (I blame Thom).

Rachel calls it Lion King, I want to call it Whore now. I love hurling insults at cats. these bastards UNF.

I miss waking up to Whore's mewing. I miss London and Oxford so much. ): The weather sucks here.

My photos are all up on my facebook. Credits go to /Gwen for your camera!!! Also, check out /Rachel's photos, she's got more stuff.

Ta!

I have actually done all my updating on my trip on LJ. Blogger is giving me problems lately. I may decide to move over to LJ. I find it a hassle to copy and paste here but I will try.

The months I have toiled over boils down right to this moment. I think I have said this numerous times but this London/Oxford/Blur at Hyde Park trip has really exhausted me on SO many levels. You'd be surprised at how major the planning and preparation for a little 7-8 days trip could be. I am this >< close to losing my sanity sometimes, a lot of self-doubting involved. But enough of that, I want my trip to be worth all the stress it has given me right till this afternoon where my mum started yakking away about hard-earned money and how I am spending her life money away going to places like UK while my sisters chipped in and made a big fuss over it (THEY JUST LOVE TO FUCK MY LIFE UP). Granted, this IS an expensive trip and I have already been there before, but I truly believe I deserve this holiday already. Also, for fuck's sake, this is Blur's REUNION gig, goddamn, I'm feeling the feverishness accumulated from the past 7 months of holding in.

My mind still hasn't registered the fact that I am going to see a band that I have never even dared to dream about seeing. I am ashamed of not owning a Blur tee yet and it doesn't help that Blur's recent official tees are not impressive (expensive as well). I will not be an arse wearing a Radiohead tee there. I want the night to be a good ol' teenage fandom (before Radiohead came into my life) night. Oh the memories of my noob years~

I am very guilty of giving up major fandom for Blur because of my devotion to Radiohead so the hardship I have suffered over the months is for you, Blur. (I had to stop myself from buying Radiohead items off ebay to save money)

In return, maybe you could gimme a 20 min jam on Essex Dogs. lulz just kidding, don't wanna turn it into a shoegaze gig, I want some Damon-diving-into-crowd fun!


I really love this kitteh in Pasir Ris park but I'm slightly annoyed that it kept rubbing against my jeans, leaving cat fur on it. But like all pets, they are just too adorable for you to get angry at. And yes I got a haircut!



P.S: I'm boycotting Coke, Pepsi and Nestlé products because of their shenanigans on our water! JOIN ME. yea I know what you are thinking, I don't even drink coke to begin with, but still! Visit this website for more info.

Updated list of companies to boycott:
- Masterfood (yes your Mars, Snickers, M&M's etc)
- Coca Cola
- Pepsi
- Nestlé (bai honey stars D: )

I think I might as well go organic and vegan. o hai thom.

The Beta Band - 08.2001, The Montreal Mirror

Q: So what's your relationship with Radiohead? Have you opened for them before?

Richard Bandtree: "No, but, um, Steve and Thom Yorke go back quite a long way. I mean Steve's not queer but he's bisexual and Thom was a bit confused about what he was doing for awhile before he met his current wife, so for about six months they had an on-and-off relationship. That was about four, five years ago now."

Q: Are you serious?

Richard Bandtree: "(sincerely) Yeah, they just kept it going and offered us this tour. It's all over now, they're just good friends, but that's how we met them. I think Thom might quite fancy Robin, our drummer. (laughing) He's a pretty young man."

-------------------------
I shall leave you with that while I go pack my bag and listen to my mum yak away about hard-earned money.

O hai Kate I didn't know you were on Air France as well.

Here's the tracklist, please arrange accordingly when you copy it to your iTunes playlist.

Why am I more excited about that one day in Oxford than the 6 days in London?

Also, in other news, Radiohead won at Ascot. DID ANY OF YOU PLACE YOUR BET ON RADIOHEAD? Such a fine breed.