Leynos no Daibouken

I have some film reviews to post, but I'm too drunk to finish them right now. The great thing about alcohol is that it erases everything that happens before. It's like you get two days for the price of one.

Ho-Il is visiting tomorrow. I will try and cook chicken gaeng phed for him, since I owe him a nice meal. I was a little surprised to learn that he'd purchased Kill Zone for the PS2, until I remembered that the bad guys in it bear a striking resemblance to the Wolf Brigade troops in Jin Roh, which he has a major obsession with.

Anyway, I found a recipe for Thai Red Curry on E2 (where else), so I'll give it a go.

I was also surprised, and a little happy to find that cigar smoke doesn't set off the fire alarms in my flat. I think I may have to visit the Cigar Box and pick up a Monte Cristo No. 2 to celebrate. Although I'm a little worried that I may have become addicted to nicotine now.

Fun goings on at the 'Blazer:



All pints £2.20

Tasting notes

Cacique 500 (Venezuelan Rum) - Very spirity nose. Cadbury's chocolate buttons with a hint of cinnamon on the palate. A little dull in flavour, but very warm. No smokiness. By the time I finished the glass I was hooked.

Saturday

The day started at two pm. Well, kind of earlier, since I needed to get dressed, have a shower, etc. But at two, more or less, I showed up at the PSC stall on Princes Street and offered to help. Leafletting turned out to be surprisingly easy. I had expected plenty of heckling and cold shoulders. In fact, most people are quite happy to accept the material when offered.

As before, the friendliness of the other PSC members I worked beside impressed me. As did their technique with passers by. They excelled at identifying interested passers by and building rapport with them. One guy in particular seemed to have a good way with multiculturalism, greeting people in Arabic and Polish, among other languages and presenting the leaflets to them with a flourish. Personally, I found that a friendly smile worked best, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to work on technique. As it stands, I learned how to say "welcome" in Arabic.

On Monday at 7:30, there is a screening of Arna's Children, a film about refugees in Jenin, at the CWU, 15 Brunswick Street (off London Road).

When the stall wound up, I headed to Nicholson Square for tea. For a change, I decided to give Kebab Mahal a go, where I was treated to a pleasingly delicate lamb and fenugreek curry followed by gulab jamin.

Remaining plans for the evening consisted of Junebug at Cineworld and Pierrepoint at the Filmhouse.

Er... Speaking of Junebug, I'm really angry that I can't watch a film about romance or listen to music about people fucking without getting upset. I really like Arab Strap too, and it annoys me that it now hurts to listen to their songs.

~

There are two Bluetooth devices in range of my PC that aren't mine. My flatemates? The downstairs neighbours? Who knows?

Missing the bus to my kendo class was a rather stupid thing to do. Getting so drunk that they wouldn't let me into the Cabaret Voltaire was also a rather stupid thing to do. And almost getting into a fight with a ned on the way home was a positively idiotic thing to do.

So all in all, not a very sensible evening.

Not all was lost though. I had a good time in the Borough Hotel bar getting more than a little intoxicated. I now know, first hand, why the Montecristo Number 4 is such a big seller (starts out tasting like sultana sponge, and ultimately metamorphoses into spiced fruitcake). I also tried for the first time aged tequila (Don Augustin, which is also the first tequila I can say I've really enjoyed straight) and I was introduced to Brazil's national drink (Cachaça, a sugar cane spirit that tastes kind of like white rum infused with bamboo shoots) by a well travelled German sitting at the bar.

Borough has pretty much the most impressive selection of single malts I've seen in a cocktail bar. It's all mostly supermarket ages, but in terms of breadth, it's a range that will be rather difficult for me to exhaust any time soon. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for their stock of rum or bourbon, but there is still enough variety to keep most people happy. Borough's real strength is in their supply of esoteric spirits and liqueurs, although getting the most of this requires a bit of research beforehand. The knowledgeable bartenders are of course a great help however. Borough's other surprise is the solid range of bottled beer, also uncharacteristic of a cocktail bar. Rounded off by a relaxed clientele and plenty of room to move even on a Friday or Saturday, I've found in Borough a place where I can enjoy quality alcohol with a minimum of hassle.

Ah yes, the alcohol. I can rationalize and say that the Cab is too small and is usually too packed, especially on a free night, but I am a little sad that I missed a rare chance to hear the Dogma and Access DJs together again. On a whim, I headed to the Studios, whose bouncers let in even those unable to string two coherent syllables together, where indie and "alternative" night, Fuzz, was in residence.

It's nice to know that there is a club night that caters for people still living in 1998. The music was all the stuff I used to listen to in my first year of University, and still composes a large percentage of my MP3 collection. Pulp, Terrorvision, Garbage, Republica, Kula Shaker, and the like. Along side this, they played the obligatory Smiths and New Order songs. I thought it a bit amusing that at school, I'd always considered myself to be one of the badguys in Different Class (one of my favourite albums none the less), and here I was dancing to Common People. Hypocrite.

As much as I had been trying to avoid St Patrick's Day, I did manage to find myself, briefly, wearing a green furry top hat at one point. ^^;

Sadly, the place was rather empty, but I was in uber-anti-social mood anyway. I don't think I said much more than 10 words to anyone after I arrived, except to repeatedly order glasses of Sailor Jerry from the bar. I'm not convinced that this club night will last much longer, but it was a decent enough filler. Just for a nice bit of irony, on the way out I met two other people who had also been turned away from the Cab. They happened to be the other two permanent fixtures on the dance floor. We lamented the lack of a good techno club at the Studios, and went our separate ways.

I think that this is what is meant by "avoidant behaviour."