Happy Rest of the Birthday-Month Month to Frass!!!!

The HOchieS hope you're having fun times in London and you had some tea for your birthday with lots of little cakes, crumpets and cucumber sandwiches.

It's still the 29th in NYC, so we're not late with our wishes but just so you know, your birthday "month" starts now, so enjoy your 3...now 2 days left in October.

Heh.

Currently listening to: "Krieg" by Taku Iwasaki, from the Soul Eater Original Soundtrack.

Ugh.

MUSE has annoyed me some today.

WTF is up with their having mcr support them at Wembley Stadium?! mcr?!
...

They're so un-deserving of that gig. I cannot even begin to express my disgust.

Anyway, those suckers at the Sunday show can suffer through that bullshit.

H1 and I will be seeing The Streets.

And while those other assholes sort out what they're doing over there in London, I'm going to sort out H1 and try to fanagle a trip to Malahide Castle to see our boys, Arctic Monkeys in Ireland.

Alright.

Remember that plan I came up with a few months ago? The one that involved flying to Ireland after Muse @ Wembley Stadium on 06/16/07 to go see Arctic Monkeys on 06/17/07?

Who's in?!




...




Okay, can we at least go see them when they come back to NY? H1 and I have decided that we are already there.

Powerful Logic

HOchie 1: I don't like Ice T. because he's married to CoCo. CoCo is ridiculous. And any man who married CoCo must be ridiculous too. Nick Lachey was also ridiculous for a while there.

Or 2: The streets in London are so clean, that the pigeons are thin.
HOchie 1: I don't know how they manage to keep the streets so clean if the bins are all hidden.

Or 2's The Famous U.K. MUSE - DAY 6

Chapter 5: "Someone Tell Me Why He Breaks My Fall, and Then Breaks My Heart"

Ah the final full day. Char Kar ran off to the British National Museum and The British Library. Battler ran off to find a lost and found since she lost her hat on the train and to the Sherlock Holmes Museum Gift Shop. These things were all very interesting and I would have liked to visit all of those places but I needed to pack the not so copious amounts of candy I bought the night before. Also, I had to stay at the hotel and get ready for my future husband!

Seeing MUSE in London was brilliant! I wasn't very close to my man this time around but I got to see the show the way the band's performances are meant to be seen - in a huge space. What better a place to see my boys than at Wembley Arena?

They put on one hell of a show as expected and I got so much footage, it's disgusting. If I wanted to, I could have taped the entire show. I totally smuggled that camera in. Uhh, I mean...I'm a tourist. I had it on me after doing so much sightseeing that day. Yes... That's EXACTLY what went down. Unfortunately, I was kind of far from the stage so I didn't get to really see Matt's semi-beautiful face but my view was not so horrible that he appeared a tiny speck.

The lightshow was even more impressive this time. I didn't get outright blinded (The Cheat got banned from Wembley and couldn't do the laser lights at the show this time either):

And look! I actually got a picture of Chris this time! Uh, kind of:

The setlist was basically the same as the show in NY save the three new songs I got to hear:

Take A Bow (still an awesome opener)
Hysteria
New Born
Butterflies & Hurricanes
Assassin (Extended) - (my boys rock!!!!!!!!!!!! It was complete hotness and ::cough:: J, I have a request - Nov. 27th when the KofC single comes out, can you please acquire the Assassin Extended version for me? Heh Heh Heh)
Map Of The Problematique (Matt dedicated my song to me ::sniff:: I love you too, Bells)
Plug In Baby
Soldier's Poem
Invincible
Supermassive Black Hole (I don't know what was up with the robots but it was hilarious and great)
Forced In
Time Is Running Out
Starlight (It was Space Invaders all over again!)
Stockholm Syndrome

Encore 1:

Citizen Erased (I almost cried. That song is beautiful)
Bliss

Encore 2:

Hoodoo (And again, I cannot stress how much I love that man and that band)
Knights Of Cydonia (still only great in concert but it was even more awesome this time around)

WTF Moments II:

1. Notice how once again I didn't get Muscle Museum?! WTF guys?! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! And what's worse... I had to do the stupid thing and torture myself to see what the setlist was for the other nights at Wembley. The show for Nov. 22nd got Sunburn but what really kills me is that the Nov. 23rd show got EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They got Exo-Politics, City of Delusion, Apocalypse Please and damned Muscle Museum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bitches, why?!!!!!

2. Okay, Matt. WTF was up with the 'cape'? I know it was a giant scarf and it was really cool as all hell but still. You were really hot standing on stage with the 'cape' blowing in the wind but then when the prancing started, I was just...so confused and embarrassed. Ugh.
Still, like I said...the cape was pretty was hot:

3. WTF was up with the 'smashing' of the guitar at the end of the set? First of all, there was no need for that. You could have given it to me. Secondly, only hardcore rockers should do that because they know how to. You kind of looked silly and once again my face turned red from embarrassment. God knows I have to get rid of that video footage to hide the evidence. *Disclaimer II: if you ever read this Matt, I swear you're a hardcore rocker. Honestly, that riff you pulled during Assassin was amazing!*

4. Trumpets at the other Wembley Shows?! WTF? Why do you hate me, boys?!

5. WTF - That guy was back... The one that looked like a troll next to Dom's drumkit. This time he was on his keyboard which was kind of hidden in the shadows.

It was a good end to the trip for me. I got to see my favourite band and bought a jacket with MUSE's logo on it. It is a bit too big for me but whatever. I may have to have it tailored. I really wanted that shirt with the hot pink though. Maybe I'll get it next year when they return.

Currently listening to: Whatever crappy XM stations we have on the TV. 80's on 8 with some song by The Eagles.

*And on a side note, (it's 05/01/2007) as I amend this blog, since they're blowing up in a big way state side these days, I'll give them their due now:

The Noisettes opened for MUSE at this show. I can't say I was very impressed by them. They were alright but I really couldn't handle the lead singer's voice too much. They did have one or two songs I liked but ask me if I remember what they were...*

Or 2's The Famous London Frog or Crow. Whatever! - DAY 5

Chapter 4: The Tower, the Crows, the Bridge, the Circus and the Ripper

We made it to the Tower of London on Monday. I really liked the Tower and all in it. Look at it below. It's pretty cool, right?



There were Knights and Armour but my stupid ass didn't buy my St. George's Cross umbrella. They didn't even have a Jester's Hat for me to buy. So exactly why did I like the Tower? Hm. Now that I think about it, the Tower sucked! The long spiral staircases were almost the death of me. And those damned crows were waiting for it, you know, when they weren't showing me their asses (Whether it be D.C. or London, animals like showing me their asses):





And I just have to say it but London Bridge can be seen from the Tower and Fergie should stop bastardizing it.

Now for something random and because I just wanted to post it, here's an example of a toilet in the Tower:



Yes, it was tough work for me using that bathroom and yes, it was even worse for the person walking below.

After the Tower, we made our way to Picadilly Circus which was the equivalent of Times Square & 5th Avenue. I was very unimpressed and got out of there quickly. I went there with a mission and succeeded.

The last thing we did that day was go on the Jack the Ripper Tour at East End. We were late but caught up with the tour. We snuck at the back and thought we were in the clear but for some reason that Tour Guide was quite keen and noticed that we joined the tour later. And so another 6 pounds came out of my pocket. At least, we three weren't the only ones. I took no pictures on that tour due to the fact that the neighbourhood is now so modern that the photos would all be useless.

Or 2's The Famous London Fog - DAY 2

Chapter 2: Scary Birds Everywhere including the Queen. Har Har.

The Tube or Underground Subway system's pretty good and easy to learn in London. The only complaint really is that if one line shuts down, we're not sure if there's anyway to compensate for it - you're pretty much assed out or have to take a cab or maybe the bus. Since Or 2 won't even do buses in NYC, then there was no way in hell one was going to be done in London. Yep, not even the Double Decker kind. I think I was on one of those when I was 3.

We spent the day walking around near Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. We also saw Buckingham Palace but no MI5 Building! Sorry Char Kar. I wanted to go the Aquarium but maybe next time.

Now let's talk about the fun stuff - this had to be the coolest thing we saw that day:



That's right, bitches! Jack Bauer in London!!!!! Oh yeah, that's the London Eye in the background. Meh.  Haha.

In St. James' Park we found some scary birds, you know, other than the Queen:



I don't know what they feed them over there but DAMN.

And here's a duck with the evil eye -



I, of course, re-visited my steps across Buckingham Palace and let's just leave it at that.

Obviously, I didn't actually see the Queen but I did spend pounds at the Queen's gift shop and got the tackiest little Christmas Tree Ornament for Beetchie. And that's as close to the Queen as I got.

We then hopped on the tube to go see the Tower of London but it was too late to tour it in the half an hour we had left but I did a kind of cool shot of it at night:



Then the real shadiness began when we got back to our neighbourhood. It wasn't really shady but instead of a young, dashing Brit. Lad joining our table at the pub, we got an old, not so good-looking Scot named Angus who joined instead.

Blow.

Or 2's The Famous London (B)log - DAY 1.5

Chapter 1: 7 PM to 7 AM (No no, this isn't 24)

The flight to London on the 15th messed up this HOchie and company big time. NY time was 7 PM when we departed and arrival at Heathrow was 7 AM on November 16th. What messed with the head was the fact that the head was still in NY time @ 2 AM November 16th. As you can tell, I'm still very much confused and incoherent.

I have to say though that Virgin Atlantic's got some bad-assed plane gear. The in-flight entertainment is so fun. I got to watch this UK comedy series called Peepshow which I liked but like most British comedies, it was painful to watch sometimes. I got to listen in full to albums that I've been meaning to preview for some while and walked away with an appreciation for Arctic Monkeys. The hype surrounding them is still too great but really, it isn't bad at all. I really couldn't get through The Kaiser Chiefs though.

Another point of interest worth mentioning was my very gay flight attendant. He was adorable.

The boring details of that day after getting into London involved renting a phone, taking a rail to the hotel (and by the way, a lot of the London Outskirts looks like Queens. That alone is really scary. Also, taggers in England got nothing on NY Taggers - when you do graffiti, do it right!) and trying to find our hotel.
Things didn't start out THAT fantastic. We got stuck in the elevator at the hotel and I almost broke my foot when I missed a step, with suitcase in hand. My foot went under itself in the worst way possible. I guess it wouldn't be a London trip if I didn't fall at some point (ahaha, London Trip? Get it? Ahhh. I slay myself) but it was scary because it's shocking I didn't actually break it off. This was an ongoing concern of mine during the entire trip actually. I always felt that I was going to break my foot either on some cobblestones or spiral staircases.

The rest of the day was spent walking around like zombies as Battler and I went on an almost fruitless search for flip flops. After getting lost for 3 + hours, I finally remembered that I could have saved us the aches since I knew fully well that flip flops are not in use in England. Heh. Oh well. Not only could I have saved us the achey feet but I could have saved myself some grief:



The only real thing of interest I found in the tuck shop other than my childhood in cadbury chocolate was Fido. That's right, Fido is still rockin' the 7UP can in London:



That night after some fish and chips (not in newspaper much to my dismay) at the corner pub "The Pride of Paddington", Battler, Char Kar and I knocked out for the night.

Wow, what a fairly boring day. It's a sad thing when the flight was the most exciting event.