What's the place you want to go to most? Before it's too late. Before either the place or you have vanished.

Mine is Venice. Never been past Mestre. There are still 60,000 people living inside the city. In a couple of years there will be only tourists and local criminals left.

better be too drunk to fuck than too fucked to drink.

Is there a word in English for the state you are in when you haven't smoked for a couple of weeks and you are desperate for a fag? Detox or deprivation won't do. Those are clinical terms which do not convey the strong physical longing I am talking of. The weird thing with "Schmacht" is that it goes away very quickly. When it is there it is almost killing yourself but it does not leave any traces afterwards.

Taking Sides: New Order v. Joy Division: "Speaking in terms of wine and grapes. It is concentration vs. dilution.

Joy Division is a very concentrated almost black wine smelling black currants and pressed from around 40-50 very ripe grapes (songs) of an amazing quality which have been hand-picked. New Order is like a light sparkling wine made of much more grapes (100+) with most of them still unripe. A few are very sweet nevertheless. The bouquet is full of lemons. Especially the electronic production methods do not add to the longevity of this wine. In short New Order's music is more fun but short-lived whereas Joy Division is stronger and for the cave. You won't regret tasting either of these wines. Both should be consumed in moderation.

Some more thoughts on JD/NO in a recent post tomy music blog. -- alex in mainhattan (alex63@***.com), October 17th, 2001 12:00 AM. (link)"

It must be winter in Brazil now though it's probably not too cold on the Copacabana. In Germany summer seems to have arrived to stay for a couple of days and it's time for a caipirinha and some relaxed music from the other side of the equator.

For a start there is the stunningly beautiful Cibelle from Sao Paulo who released a bossanova album with an electronic touch and a lounge jazz atmosphere last year (npr audio review). Christopher from The Suburbs Are Killing Us offered two mp3s on the 26th July. On Waiting her voice is even sexier than in the Portuguese songs. The track uses noises of beeping cash-registers in the middle.

Another release covering similar ground is by Nouvelle Vague (=new wave), a French project taking new wave and punk classics and performing them in bossa nova (=new wave) style. The additional charm is coming from the fact that the female singers (most of them being French) did not know about the originals before the recording. Copy, right? has the Dead Kennedys cover Too Drunk to Fuck online today. One of the more upbeat songs (with laughing and screaming) of the album.

Dialogue: Elle: <> Il: <<Si. Si. Si.>> Chanson Elle: <>

My favourite is the light version of the dark wave classic A Forest by The Cure. There are tropical birds singing in this forest full of sunshine. It's a rain forest on the beach with African percussions. Never have The Cure sounded so uplifting and easy going. God I need a Blue Lagoon right now.