First of all, HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY AARON!! YOU ARE AN OLD MAN!! HAHA. We stopped in Portland due to the advice of our friend Sam back at home. I think things have changed since she visited a couple of years ago. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely city - one of the few places we’ve visited where sporadic green parks and places of solitude actually work, and scores of anti-chain bookstores and coffee shops to keep the likes of us entertained for a few days. It also contains the beautiful Japanese Gardens up on Washington Hill, with beautiful views overlooking downtown Portland and Mt Hood in the distance. The areas of Hawthorne and Belltown were a delight to stroll through; wandering aimlessly by the quaint shops and obscure thrift stores was reminiscent of King St ... read more

Chinatown Hungry and poor, we decided to make Chinatown our first stop in San Francisco. We bee-lined straight to a cheap dim sim restaurant ($5.99 all you can eat dim sims! (now I know saying this we sound as though we are total buffet endorsers, but we maintain- its not about the quantity, its about the price!… oh it was gastronomically heaven, even the regrettable third plate) passing myriad trinket stores along the way. They sold the most random things from kung-fu slippers to gunpowder pellets (you throw them at the ground and they make a popping sound like a gun going off) and jade-green buddha statues to ear-cleaning utensils (you know what, they sound like a great idea but those fuckers are murder- ask Aaron- he of the eternal ear wax). I caught an awesome ... read more

Southern California, or ‘SoCal’ as the locals like to call it, is the place to be. Oozing with trendiness and confidence; overflowing with bronzed bodies and hyper-real colours. Whilst Santa Monica had a considerably different atmosphere to more laid-back and less image-conscious Long Beach, they both uphold their Southern Californian roots and traditions of promoting excessive sun-basking, refreshingly cool cocktails and über-cool small beachside businesses. Anaheim, being the other SoCal locale that we ventured to, is home to Walt Disney’s Disneyland. The Disneyland, with the original spinning tea cups and the Disney Castle and Mickey and Minnie Mouse running amuck. We got in early knowing full well that being the summer school holidays, thousands of little shits i mean kids would be running around causing chaos. Some of the rides were incredible, such as the Pirates ... read more

Welcome to Los Angeles; home of the Largo Lullaby and the swan song home of Jackson, Michael- professional moonwalker. They call it ‘Holly-weird’. And they are right. It’s actually incredible how off-kilter this place is. I thought that Berlin had this slight quibbiling nature just below the surface of its shining veneer… Well here in Hollywood (and even more-so Downtown), it’s not seething below the surface. It’s right in your face. To say this place is scary is utterly untrue, but to describe it as unsettling … that may be getting closer. The reason we’ve come to this conclusion is due to a number of things, the least of which is to do with the film industry or those who clammer over it with their Kodaks out (myself included)… But to do with the layout of ... read more

Demonic possession, congress and cardio- a typical day in D.C “Agent Mulder, I'm Dana Scully, I've been assigned to work with you.” (He shakes her hand) ”Oh, isn't it nice to be suddenly so highly regarded? So, who did you tick off to get stuck with this detail, Scully?” ”Actually, I'm looking forward to working with you. I've heard a lot about you.” ”Oh, really? I was under the impression that you were sent to spy on me.” And so began the wonderful, weird, sexy, paranormal, frustrated, exuberant, conspiratorial and beautiful relationship of Miss Dana Scully and Fox ‘Spooky’ Mulder. And where did this wonderful pairing meet? (fictionally of course, just don’t want you to think of me as one of those people who can’t tell reality from fiction… ahem…) Why the J. Edgar Hoover Building ... read more