things i like that u might 2

OK, short & to the point; again, not a lot a blabbing available that would add to &/or wouldn't disfigure yr viewing of this film. general, gentlefolk.
THE PRESTIGE
Christopher Nolan is shit-hot. Christian Bale/ Hugh Jackman/ Michael Caine/ Scarlet Johanssen likewise. There's not a lot arty, obscure or difficult to grasp in this film. Except that after u see it u (meaning i) start wondering (loudly) why evryone else in the film game can't raise their tired arse to this level of polish. Go see this film.
(nice touch with the bowie & the thom yorke too).

things i like that u might 1

my usual movie review methodology involves tapping someone wildly on the shoulder with one hand, gesticulating excitedly with the other hand or a beer in aforementioned hand, & trying - whilst exuberantly prop-giving the film - to remember to not reveal that bjorks' character dies at the end (true story). however, with the burden of distance at my disposal, i seem to require a more traditional approach. so...
CHILDREN OF MEN
me n ash n rach headed out to see this saturday nite in leceister square, at the prince charles cinema (i guess he's a sponsor of some sort; haven't seen him there tho). i had already downloaded the film, but decided after hearing a few things that this was worth holding out for on the 'big screen' (me n ash watched in again at home sunday nite).
i can't say much at all about the things i liked about this film without giving u ideas that'd be better received as an unpreconceived punch in the face, but lemme say that this film was so pleasing to me on so many levels; i'm sure that if anyone shares even one of those appreciations with me u'll get yr moneys worth. this film is so beautiful that after watching it i'm actually going to go back & watch the harry potter film alfonso cuaron did, & i've been avoiding that franchise like the plague til now. catfish?
i'm starting 2 think clive owen is a pretty solid actor too. after initially seeing him in closer (thank u jenny) i've since seen him in sin city (what's not to like?) & king arthur (shocking, terrible - but great male ensemble actors- joel edgerton, mads mikkelsen, stellan skarsgard, ray winstone - oright!) i reckon clive's got the goods anyways. wonder if he got asked 2 do bond?
anyways, go see this one. ok, here's three (not reely spoily) things in the movie i liked: in the court of the crimson king, cover of animals, 10 minutes 1 camera. holy moley!

london snow - like, in the literal sense

it's true! after walking in my usual early morning daze up & down the stairs 3 or 4 times, i managed 2 glance out the window into the dark early morning & saw...THIS!
bit late 4 xmas & not quite enough 2 work on my ski moves, but at least it's not miserable rain & it gives me more opportunity 2 mature past my childish fear of slipping over in the street on leftover icy slush.
more on the way, too. what's cooler than being cool?

back up in yr blog like a resurrection. further instructions 4 minions to follow...

so anyways, after 2 & 1/2 months of bitching , whinging, moaning & otherwise trying 2 speak the local dialect (innit?!?) we again have a shiny broadband connexion. if u got an email saying our blog's back online & followed here then i s'pose yr good 4 another intergalactic instruction, no?
go buy a webcam; video skype with us!
after our recent saturdays' fun & games: me n ash nursing mid-morn coffees whilst across the globe (& in front of our eyes in heavily compressed glory - word up joely!) a crew of saturday nite lively t'bans entertained us with drunken & debaucherous antics. this is the best fun u can have with people who aren't actually physically present & able 2 run & get leon another beer - cobra, please!
so come on tech-oriented types, plug our screen with yr mugs sometime soon. we have the technology!

2 flavours of takeover

so anyways,
we've hosted the brookmeister

and the pangosaurus (hey, i just made that up - oh, u noticed...)

& now it's back 2 lonesome, no friends from home leon & ash. luckily we've got 2 recent housemates in the form of luca (from milan) & chris (from uganda) to remind us (if u could possibly forget with me repeating it ad naus) that it's only the english who ruin england for the rest of us.
i think the english should do with their motherland what they've done with their mother tongue
- forget about it! and by the way, i think the scots - far from trying 2 organise a wussy autonomy-
should get their shit together and organise a takeover of this place. occupations a very popular these days, and if they could win the hearts (guiness & magners borrowed from the irish'd probly do it) of the great white unwashed, i don't think their minds would be any danger 2 lose sleep over. jus a thought. where's mel gibson when u need him?
speaking of crazy anti-semites, i was sitting in this very place (leceister square) yesterday and the 'middle eastern' looking guy sitting in the next seat starts sparkin' up with all this gibberish about money & the koran & accomplices & the koran & thank you 4 the support & the koran & "...but not the jews" etc. i was sitting to the right of him so i couldn't see if there was anything in his left ear, but for all the extra sense it would've provided he coulda been on a direct line to god (but he kept addressing 2 people; might there have been a sinister figure seated off-camera?)
anyways, this nut got up and left after 10-15 mins of this. he took his 2 suitcases too, i was happy to see. thought about letting someone know about this but i reckon there's one wannabe muslim extremist 4 evry loud-mouth cockney on the bus makin' a deal at the top of his lungs. i feel safe enough.

0h seven

happy new year y'all.
talk atcha soon good lookin' folks.
love, leon

cold fingers of xmas

call this an interim (are any of my net writing other than..?) post til we get the dark aged ones who run the 'technology' in this dickens-era town to give us our broadband line back (these folks invented bureauocrasy 'member...)
sittin in leceister square; looking at a cool old-skool looking (but immaculately newly painted & lit) horsey-propelling carousel. one of those rotating, people-in-teacups type rides thunders around at 90dB a metre to my left while it's current riders scream & whoop in a vain attempt to overpower the steroid tempo techno blasting from yonder. this is xmas chee(z)r london style.
my fingers are getting cold. i'm @ a wifi hotspot paid 4 by some corporate entity with pretensions to adulation - they don't provide hot coffee tho, so i can only last so long...
love to all the loves & lovers out there til i get my greasy telecommunication wires on u during jesus' big day.
kisses,
leon

republic of leon

not to whinge or anything, but i'm currently unable to get back into work due to the gals refilling the atms, thus i'm at the net cafe. my team leader is a twenty year old eastenders dropout who has to speak to form thoughts and has two personality modes: panic & sleep (that's an assumption). now, sitting in full corpowear at the cafe, i've just been locked out of my barclays bank account because i can't remember one of the 4 password/pin/memorable word/electrowidget identikitty parts!?!? fukn brilliant. off to corpo-play free drinks/eats with the folks from the branch tonite. wonder if i can out-faux pas cockney steve's effort from last week? to quote charles brown, "*sigh*".
this shit wouldn't happen under a republic.

3for1 deal on Australian wine, and it's results

So here are some more fun photos of the weekend in Edinburgh when I went flat hunting and once again the girls extended their fabulous hospitality. And Ashley drank much too much wine. Again. And we discovered the joys of Magners Irish cider. Yum. Lizzie and Sarah, you are bad influences! Oh, and there's also a coupla pics of Leon attacking our backyard with a scythe because it's bbq weather and the freakn mower doesn't work. And how vein am I? I just love posting up photos of MYSELF!!! ha.

the giant dance

Hey you mob. Check it out. On my birthday, we hired a zippy little vehicle and headed out of London on the M5. Traffic was a bit of a nightmare at first and it was pissing down, but our trusty driver Rachel steered us safely into the carpark at Windsor palace, whilst I received a very merry birthday call from our Briswegian posse. After a very professional rendition of 'happy birthday' (you mob are good singers hey! wonderlungs!) it was kind of like speed dating, with the phone ricocheting from one freak to another and me trying to tell everyone what was going on in new and exciting ways each time...meanwhile Leon and Rach battled it out for control of navigation in the front, while Zoe remained patient...
Hey Sal, can you see what the sticker on this car says??? It says ASHMOLE and then 'Have you dropped one'! I was squinting into the diabolical English sun for this photo. I just hope you appreciate that.
After Windsor, it was onwards to Glastonbury, where we drank beers, finally found a camp, pitched the tent in darkness next to a big pile of cow shit, and then slept. Next morning, we drove to the BEACH to fulfil one of my birthday wishes, stopping at Dunster along the way. Nearly left Leon there, the name of the place just seemed to fit some how. (Oooh!) The beach itself was somewhat of an anti-climax, altho our full English breakfast was bonza.

Whipped back to Glastonbury again and climbed the TOR and shared a bottle of yummy plum wine! Oh, knights in shining armour and all that jazz. I think I saw Arthur and Guinevere kissing behind one of those hedgerows...oh no, it was just a blackfaced sheep and her wee lamb. Oh.

Then we went to STONEHENGE to fulfill yet another of my dreams. And it was CHOICE. Zoe rubbed her bum all over those stones. Oh yeah. Go Zo! We kissed them. We stroked them. We rolled around and drank silver birch wine (yuck!). It was rad. We also visited Silbury, and the stone circle at Avebury, which was ripper too.

Ended up our holiday in Edinburgh with our Scottish lassies. Sarah & Liz, Claire & Kirsteen, we LOVE YOU!

Have found a flat to share in Edinburgh over the summer. Roll on Edinburgh fest!

So are you all happy? I know its a lot to cram into one posting, but hey, we've got to give our public something! It was fabulous doing a giant dance round the countryside...