Monday, November 22, 2004      Mark Millar, Amsterdam and The Prodigy

Laziness is a poor excuse I know.

So coming up a month ago, I was reading up on comics and found my way to a message board talking about a small meet up of comic fans organised by Mark Millar. Now everyone goes, umm who, but a few of us go -- no f$%ken way he's the guy who [currently] writes Wolverine, The Ultimates and a Spider-man series. I was one of those who said the rude words, so I joined in on the conversations on the board and decided I had nothing to lose by just showing up. So I did and had the best time chatting to fellow fans / geeks and Millar himself. We all continued to get increasingly drunk and you get photos like this. I had a blast.



Sunday afternoon I returned from my first trip out of the country - Amsterdam. Headed over with 4 mates from work and met up with another 5 more, to go and see The Prodigy. The beauty of Europe is that if the concert sells out in London, its not a huge expense to head east to see them somewhere else. So I got up at 5:15am after being on the booze the night before, got to Heathrow, one of our group left his passport at home -- next flight for you. We landed and headed onto the train and just ogled out the window. Some shifty guy sitting near us grabbed one of my mates tickets and said - "you won't be needing this... you're staying and I'm heading back later", and then bolts down the stairs. Ahhh a very wierd country indeed.





We stroll outside and its freezing. I was watching the weather report for a few weeks and it always seemed comparable to London, but gawd it was frosty. So I sacrificed style for a warm melon and the beanie went on. And everyone who knows me, knows that was a big decision. So we wandered, found more of our group and played some pool and drank a few pints. We went back out and wandered the streets to have a look around and organise our hotel. We end up staying in a 5-star hotel around the corner from the train station. One 2-bed and one 3-bed for €300, so it was a bargain and a very comfortable one at that!





The architecture in Amsterdam is fantastic. London and the English towns I've visited have excited me, but this stuff was fantastic. And the canals -- day or night they look great. We ate and continued wandering to to a big square at the end of what seems to be the major shopping mall, and it opens up to this gorgeous square with a royal palace on one side and the others just surround by old monuments and buildings. Not in Kansas anymore, I was just in awe of everything.



The visit to the Sex Museum was the next tourist stop. Sex through the ages -- it was odd to see some heavy petting recorded in statues and sketches 100s of years ago. And all of the photos, stories and contraptions just make your head spin. Definitely a fun experience. So keep the theme going, off down to the Red Light District after a quick coffee. Yet again, a very interesting place is Amsterdam. Window shopping for hookers. A new experience most definitely.





So we have a few more beers, gather the team [struggled at this] and headed to The Heineken Music Hall just out of the city central. A humungous venue, with guys wandering the crowds with portable eskies and a tap to fill your beer. Ahh thank God for the sponsorship! So the first warmup DJ blew my mind with the best remix of The Smashing Pumpkins 1979 -- I nearly wet myself. The DJ continued on, we all danced around, and so did the massive crowd. The show continued with Chicks on Speed who were just plain awful. A few Aussies in the crowd [yes, we're everywhere], were trying to work out if they were Aussie, and hoped to hell they weren't [they are from the US I think]. Another DJ followed, who returned the crowd to a sea of groovers. And then the main show began..

I've seen The Prodigy three times now, and this was by far the best time. Just so much energy and a huge crowd and a really good mix of older and new. Spitfire from the new album is a new fav, and Firestarter and Breathe [video] still stand up as old favourites. And finishing with Smack My Bitch Up makes the night all very good.

The concert just continued with some dance music after Prodigy finished, and we all slowly dispersed outside and got back into the city central. We wandered aimlessly until 4am and just hit the beds and passed out. The next day we stretched check out to the last minute boundary and left at 12. A quick lunch and wander and we were back on the train and onto the plane [all reading resumes to pass the time].



I got back home around 5ish, dropped my stuff and headed down the pub to have a few pints with my new housemate, Damien. [I got this far and rememberd I haven't mentioned accomodation]. I'm not moving now as was expected in December / January. Steve and Kathryn upstairs in the BIG room are moving into a single room flat down the road, so I have upgraded to the room upstairs which gives me more room and enough to share with my visitor [omg 8 days!]. So I'm stoked because moving is fun, but I'm pretty settled and happy with my location. So Kristen and I advertise, meet a myriad of people and Damien calls a day late and somehow cons me into letting him come through. And bingo -- we've found The One. So I have a new mate to drink with and play XBOX [yes when he said he had an XBOX he got bonus points!] on my new 76cm widescreen tv. I got a super deal from some guy selling his old tv -- so I'm back with the big screen movies again and loving it.

Posted by Nick @ 11:55 pm      3 comments

About

Nick Greenslade, Web Analyst, leaves his comfort zone and heads to London for a working holiday.

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