back in sunny london

yes. it is warm and sunny and though i was sad to leave montreal for likely the last time, i was welcomed home by fantastic weather. oh... and a lot of work.
easter holiday productivity report: 1.5/4 papers completed. go me.

you're probably asking what i managed to do for 3 1/2 weeks, if not writing papers. well, let my photos answer your question:

nyc was hot and sunny and very appreciated. i didn't stay long but these slackers at union sq. made sure i caught the slacky, non-productive virus before leaving.


(that is a policeman telling us all to get off the grass)

this is mt. tremblant, near montreal.
notice the lack of sun and the abundance of snow... in april.
montreal did not look any different.
it was cold.

we hunted eggs. chocolate and real.
i don't have any action shots but we also played this bulgarian egg game.
time passed quicker than we thought it would, too.




i know three pictures makes it hard to believe that i really didn't work for 3 1/2 weeks but you better believe it. it's now saturday and by next friday, i will have written another paper and produced a radio programme. how, you ask? well i have absolutely no idea but it will get done. you will all find out next... oohh... monday or so when i've recovered from a weekend of much needed space from my computer.

partying with eastern europeans...

eike lives with some: maciej (poland), stan (bulgaria) and mika (too complicated).
maciej left for poland today and stan and mika had prepared a farewell breakfast, to which i was invited. i got downstairs and there was an incredible feast set out on the table. and a bottle of wine. which for me at noon is kinda asking for it. so whatever, we started drinking and eating. and then stan says, "maciej, i have a surprise that isn't really a surprise" and whips out this bottle of finnlandia vodka. uhhhhh... seriously? yes. seriously.
before 1pm, i had a glass of wine and several shots of vodka.. and then a second helping of breakfast. and then maciej left and i passed out at 3pm.
sexy.

arcade fire @ brixton academy

it seems a little silly to write about this now because my excitement has mostly ebbed. the show was pretty fantastic, though. i was sadly too small to see everything, but the brilliance of it was that it was so theatrical. musically, it goes up there in the top five concerts i've ever been to - visually, i think it might have taken the title, had i been able to see more. the band(s) were so into it and the lights were great, they had several tv screens across the back, which you can see and the neon bible was animated too. musicians switched instruments - something i am a particularly huge fan of and would want to do if i were ever in a band - and i guess my absolute love of their first album really put it over the edge. they didn't play too many songs off their new album because... well, i think they may have wanted to but realised that only some people had heard the new stuff because it had come out just a week or so before the gig. and having listened to the new album just once, i'm not in love with it like i was/am the first but i'm sure i will be after the third or fourth listen.

i think i've just about covered it. but one thing i do remember thinking after the show, besides that my throat hurt from screaming/singing along was that live shows like these are the reason live gigs are going to become much more prevalent in the near future. the fact that bands like arcade fire and the fratellis can play multiple nights at a venue like brixton academy is pretty rad. it also means that if you want to see a show, you're going to have to get on mailing lists and on some sort of automatic debit-scheme to actually get tickets (e.g. me waking up at 8:30am the day these tickets went on sale and waiting at my computer to click 'buy' at 9am; or, the 5 nyc shows selling out in something crazy like 10 minutes...)

quick update:
i'm in montreal now. it's snowing. and i seriously love joanna newsom's ys album.