kirsten

I GOT ONE! As with finding a decent job, I could only get hold of a ticket by knowing somebody who was already going who had a spare. Praise be to befriending random Guided By Voices nerds at festivals! You can sleep soundly now, ab-mus.

(Boring rant follows. Not even funny in a Classic Pet Hates post way, just genuinely airing my grievances so I can feel less enraged.) Attempting to buy tickets for a sold out show. Japandroids are playing on Saturday and tickets sold out pretty much instantly. They went on sale the day the show was announced and I was at work at the time so couldn't buy them. I'm also atrocious at judging how popular bands are so assumed I'd be able to buy one online after work, but nope. I even walked the long way home on the Hottest Day Of The Year to try and pick up a physical ticket at a record shop they were due to be on sale at. The guy there said they were supposed to be getting tickets to sell, but the promoter changed their mind at the last minute and opted for just selling them online. All very annoying, but I figured that there'd be lots of people selling nearer the time. I had a tab open yesterday on a twitter search for 'Japandroids' waiting to pounce if any tickets came up and eventually one did. I only needed one ticket but the guy was selling two, so I offered to take both of them if he wasn't willing to sell them individually and he agreed to that. He sent me details for where to transfer the money, then told me to hold off sending it as his friend was thinking about taking one of them. I waited aaaaages, then eventually he got back to me to say that his friend actually wanted both. Don't put something for sale on Twitter for everyone to see if you've not asked people around you first, you fuck. Then, it happened AGAIN today! Some guy on Facebook got in touch and said he'd be happy to sell me his spare ticket, but as we aren't friends, his message went into that hidden inbox that you don't get notifications for. Even so, I spotted it and replied within eleven minutes to thank him and ask how much he wanted for it. I got no reply for an hour and a half, then he said to me, "Hey I'm really sorry but I wanted to let you know asap. A good friend of mine asked for the ticket after I messaged you but before you got back to me so I sold it to him." FUUUUUU!!! In those eleven minutes your friend got in touch, but you wanted to let me know as soon as possible? Liiiiiies! Don't offer to sell your ticket if you're not ready to sell your ticket! In the time it took for him to get back to me, another person put up a post about spare tickets they have and I didn't send them a message because I thought I was getting one already. Currently waiting to hear back from another guy, "I'm waiting for a friend that has said they may be interested, I'll let you know when I hear from them." So I'm guessing that'll be another no. Fuck thiiiiiiiiis! I want to get my eardrums destroyed

Preston Preston, fucking Preston. I have only been to the bus station in Preston, but it has always been at around 3am on my way from Aberdeen to London on the Megabus when I've been unable to sleep for eight hours. The bus sits there for so long, long after anyone who needs to get on or off has done so. Your sleep-deprived brain has to contend with this view for what feels like an additional hour as you fidget and fail to close your eyes for longer than 40 seconds. Then, when you do leave the station to continue your journey, it's still 3am, the drive through the streets is eerie as fuck and the most modern looking building you'll see is a fucking Post Office. Fuck Preston. I don't think I've been to many shitty places so... 1. Preston 2. Preston 3. Fucking Preston 4. Blackpool - Only been once and it was hilarious. Shitty seaside town with England flags in every window. I watched a guy snort coke from the front step of a B&B at about 8pm. Also, weirdly, there was a picture of Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen on a banner on the prom... ...Which made us reach the conclusion the Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen is hailed as a God in Blackpool. The wax museum 'Louis Tussaud's' was the funniest thing I've ever been to. I think it's closed down now due to how bleak it was, but well worth the ticket price. We saw such stars as Jimmy Nail! Bruce Forsyth! Most grim, but also one of those most fun trips I've had. 5. Camber Sands - Admittedly, we went "off-season", end of November, for an ATP but the area was pretty sketchy. Lots of the houses had weird slogans up on them.

1. New York 2. Toronto 3. Berlin 4. Washington DC 5. Helsinki (SO CLEAN!!!) Three of these places I've visited for the first time just this year.

Best book! Starring the only cat I've ever liked.

<3 Timony and Pollard! My favourite musicians are so due to a mix of personality and musical ability, so apologies for these descriptions. 1. Jon Wurster - He's a p great drummer which is fine on its own, but I was thinking about this the other day and he's got some link to all of my favourite bands/musicians in some way. He has played with Superchunk for about 25 years, the Mountain Goats for the last decade, Bob Mould band for a good few years too, and even played with Guided By Voices once and with Bob Pollard on solo stuff, I think. Also he's funny as hell and SO HANDSOME! Guess how old he is. Go on, guess. 2. Robert Pollard - I agree with Mr Owl! He's such an enigma. He's insanely prolific but weirdly the good:shit songs ratio is 30:1 and I don't understand how this has happened. I love that he's kind of an asshole and basically a big jock, getting hammered on stage every single gig without fail, and perpetuating great myths about his baseball career when he was younger, but he can write incredibly beautiful, thoughtful songs. I saw Owen Pallett do a lovely version of GBV's 'Game Of Pricks' as the AV Club's Undercover series and he said that before they recorded it, he didn't realise that it contained the words "weep to water the trees" and neither had I until it was pointed out. Bloody beautiful! Guided By Voices have been my favourite band (or at least on rotation in my top three) for about a decade and I finally got to see them live on Saturday. I now want to follow them around and make them my Grateful Dead until Bob's liver finally packs in... 3. Georgia Hubley - She's just fantastic. I only really know her from Yo La Tengo, but she crops up everywhere and it always makes sense. She's such a talented multi-instrumentalist. I love her drumming and how she can go from super laid back and chilled to weirdo experimental freak outs in the space of one song. And her voice is just so so sweet. And she's a Mets fan. 4. John Darnielle - Also prolific as fuck and never puts out a bad record. The ability to write heartfelt confessional albums, opening up about substance misuse and being abused by his stepdad, then to come out with one about pro-wrestling is a-okay with me. One of the greatest living lyricists without a doubt. Actually, just a tremendous writer in general. Check out his novel Wolf In White Van if you like dark stories about play-by-mail role-playing games. 5. Jeffrey Lewis - He's been going forever and is a cult hero but still completely DIY and I love that. You'll never have to pay extortionate amounts to see him live and you'll always have the best time, no matter which incarnation of band he's playing with. An annoyingly talented musician, lyricist and artist. I have still yet to come across a bad, or even underwhelming Jeffrey Lewis album. Honorable mentions for Marnie Stern, Carrie Brownstein, Jarvis Cocker, King Khan and Mac McCaughan

"Gangway for foot-cycle!" I was afraid of having this happen to me when I moved, but in Northern Poland, the language is a little bit more like home. They say 'receipt', you ask for the 'bill' in restaurants and they don't take the 'u' out of certain words. Even when you say a word that they don't say over here, they at least know what you're talking about or get it from context. Any time I've encountered a native of your Poland, they DO look at you like you're mental. I've found myself adjusting my vocabulary a bit, though: room-mate, apartment, garbage.

Haha, I know, there's so much going on in it. They were selling the LP for $10 at their gigs. THOROUGHLY GOOD GUYS! I put on A Giant Dog's album for the first time in ages today in preparation for seeing them at the end of the month and, shit, it's good!

I saw Adrian Teacher and the Subs twice in the space of two weeks despite them hailing from the opposite side of the country from me. I have had Terminal City on repeat for about a month now. You can and should download the whole thing for free here: https://adrianteacher.bandcamp.com/album/terminal-city

Gene Wilder has lollipopped his clogs.

Toronto. I think it's west of Warsaw.

I'm currently working in a used bookshop here in Poland and keep discovering great things about some of our regular customers. There's one auld guy who comes in quite frequently and is very sweet. He has a walker/zimmer frame thing and needs a little help opening our mega heavy door. Whilst discussing our favourite regulars the other week, I mentioned him to my manager and she said, "Oh, you met David? He's so great. He was the voice of Magneto in the animated X-Men series..." Apparently once he was asked about this and he, being an old fella who just saw it as a job and had no outside interest in it, told our boss, "Yeah, I think I played Mr Magnets or something..." Then just this evening, I found out that Guillermo del Toro regularly comes into the shop. I wouldn't recognise him if he came in, so I'm now hoping that if I have ever unwittingly served him, I was charming as fuck and he'll write me into one of his films.

David O'Doherty Bridget Christie Josie Long Stewart Lee Michael Legge

You're living your own personal Truman Show/Teabags Show.

Hank Scorpio is the greatest one-timer ever. But... 1. Moe 2. Milhouse 3. Lionel Hutz 4. Mr Burns 5. Fat Tony

I saw a better/worse video of this rollercoaster in Japan recently but can't find it now. It's this, though. Fuck that.

It's not exclusively vegetarian, but Pomegranate across the road from the Playhouse is amazing with plenty of veg options. Menu: http://pomegranatesrestaurant.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Pom-jul-2016-menu-a4-.pdf You usually have to book ahead, though, because it's always busy.

Yas min! LGW has been moved to early November this year, rather than later on in the month when it usually is, and as fate would have it, I'm back in Aberdeen for a wedding at the start of November, so am unexpectedly making it four years in a row! Yaaaaaas! Excited for Dinosaur Jr and the general greatness/weirdness that is the full Le Guess Who? line-up. I love that I only know about 10% of the bands playing. I absolutely trust the judgement of the organisers. It's a festival for discovering new loves. In terms of festivals here in Poland, I am going to Time Festival in two days purely to see Run The Jewels. Tickets were $30 which seems to be a total steal considering that it's a day-long festival. Joey Bada$$ should be great, too. Also, after over a decade of waiting, I am finally getting to see Guided By Voices live at another festival in September. I nearly bought tickets to their last scheduled UK appearance, but they pulled out before I got the money together. I hope Bob's liver holds out until September... The rest of the fesival's line-up is pretty shite, but I only bought a day ticket for GBV. Also, playing that day are my childhood sweethearts Barenaked Ladies, who I haven't had the stomach to go and see since Steven Page left the band and now I'll get to, out of morbid curiosity, and not feel like I wasted any money on it.

FFO Superchunk = every human being on earth, riiiiiiight?

This year is the Hero Killer. It'll be Jarvis Cocker next :'(

My new flatmate puts on gigs at a small venue nearby. He's got good taste. Last night I ended up seeing two great bands, Weird Lines and Adrian Teacher and the Subs. The latter have an album out this year called Terminal City and I've been listening all day. It's great, super poppy and catchy. 10/10, would recommend (it's on Spotify).

It's usually my go-to site and I've also gone straight to the airline through it (same with hotels and Expedia), but I seem to remember there being a website where you typed in your destination and it showed you which cities you can fly to there from that were cheapest. So it saved you looking up flights from your local airport and then just guessing nearby airports that it might be cheaper to fly from. I don't feel like I've just invented this, but maybe I didn't see someone on here mention it... If it is just some mental dream I've had, though, I'm going to make it a reality and become a billionaire.

Did I make it up or did someone post quite a while ago about a good website that shows you which airports it's cheapest to travel between that isn't Skyscanner? If it's real, then can someone please tell me what is the site I'm thinking of? I attempted to search on here, but it's tricky when there is a user called Flights. Trying to figure out how to get to Philadelphia from Toronto for pretty cheap, but without flying directly. ie: bus to Buffalo and plane from there or something.

Aw, Alan Vega

I think that @neepheid was!