Die, Die My Darling... I had one of those staggeringly busy days today. Lots to do and email piling up everywhere, even the phone has been trying to cripple me. I spoke to Duncan in the morning and I'm meeting he and Anu at noon. They're crashing here tomorrow night before they set off again for pastures new. I can't even remember the last time I saw Duncan and I think it's even longer since I saw Anu... around the time that Battle Royale came out perhaps... so obviously I won't be online much tomorrow. I finally (just about) finished my course of antibiotics but I still won't be drinking tomorrow which means I'll be designated black cab hailer. Must remember to take the camera. Mot much else to report really - loads of stuff is on hold until next week so for the time being I'm just generally tidying stuff up online and being opinionated over on Londonist. The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new... Maybe I should rethink that PhD. Mike is writing to The Misfits

Hero pen... Dear Sir or Madam, (Would you please help us to transfer this letter to the person who is responsible on the import or purchase for your company? Thank you.) This letter is from Shanghai Hero Group Company -- the biggest stationery company in China. Our business deals with fountain pen, ball pen, pen spare parts, tools and moulds for pens. We got to know that your business is related with pen and wonder to know whether there is any business chance between us. If you are interested in the business, we will send you the details of our products. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you and Best Regards, Export Department Frank Wu (Received this morning via email) I wonder if I can get a free sample. I like the idea of a HERO PEN... Mike is writing to Venerea

Foiled... There was one disappointment during the SF trip. My pal Casey had hidden a package for me (as hinted at here) in the parking lot of the Legion of Honor museum but by the time I got there it was gone. On the upside we had a great walk up there, wandering over a golf course to get some great views... (I'll get the rest of the SF pics up on Flickr over the weekend) If anyone reading this has my mystery package it's only a matter of time before I track you down... Mike is writing to The Captain

Weird... I had around 7000 extra people on here over the weekend. Can't seem to see why... Did news of my secret talks with North Korea finally break? Mike is writing to William Shatner

On such a winter's day... One moment you're in California and the next thing you're in the snow. Not that I mind the weather, and London looks better with all the filth covered up but an extra week or so out there would have been nice. Since we got back things have been hectic AND I had to back to the dentist so I'm all medicated again and not looking forward much to Thursday when I have an appointment with a dental surgeon. Between the pain and the pills I've been a tad unpredictable... I seem to be back in the swing of things over on Londonist and am almost on top of the email. So let's get a few things out of the way... First off a big thank you to all the people who made the last couple of weeks such a blast. The last time we were in San Francisco we were using the city to rest up in after the Amtrak trip and before we tackled Mexico. We didn't see too many people. This trip we were out every single night and day and scheduling coffee and beer with all you guys was nightmare but I think we did ok. A highlight was hanging out with the good folk of SFist. They invited us for drinks and to attend a little prize giving ceremony - we spoke of George Lucas, toilet reviewing, rugby and Ken Livingston. Jackson, Eve and Rita and the rest of the team kept us highly entertained and we introduced them to Rolf Harris. When we were getting ready to leave one of the editors from YAHOO came over and introduced herself with the line "Hey, you're a Londonist. What's the deal with Karaoke bars in London?" Hi Jess! If you're enjoying the coverage on Londonist then keep an eye on SFist too - how can you resist writing like "...he didn't think even Tom Cruise had seen this yet. (Hmm, we pondered, what could this thing be? Perhaps a woman's vagina?)" Go and annoy them. We also met up with DC Mike's brother Marco and his girlfriend Jen in some Crobar-like place that was a lot of fun. We last saw Marco out in Washington and it was good to hang with him again. Always nice to talk about The Minutemen with someone who appreciates them. Nicolette picked us up across the bay and we had the best day hiking with her and the dog. That day probably helped change Jess' mind about us getting a puppy... Alan was in great form as usual. He just started renting the new place in Hawaii and was very relieved to see his latest project finally beginning to take off. Valentine's Day saw us getting lost in Berkeley looking for an anti V Day party in the rain (and rain in California was a first for me - weird but not unpleasant) . We finally found Florencia's place and hung there until the early hours - the only couple in a room of anti-romantics. Good music, good conversation and a drive home with an artist from LA talking about Hunter S Thompson and the IRA. Good stuff. Florencia should be in New York by now... Quick plug - the guys at the SF Inn pulled out all the stops for us so please look them up if you need somewhere incredible to stay the next time you are in the City. Apologies to Jane and Caitlin who we never got to see (and it would have been fun to hang with the SF MetaFilter gang) but next time for sure... We are going to try and get back there before the end of the year (and after the SFist night maybe a trip planned around the rest of the Gothamist network is in order...) but now that Jess has a new promotion to settle into it looks like we'll be in London for at least the next twelve months. I'll need to be entertained. Drop me a line and we'll catch a movie or drinks lots of coffee or rob a bank or something... Mike is writing to The Distillers

Hullahullu signing off... Duncan's Ethiopian blog is sadly winding down but like Gene Hackman in The Poseidon Adventure it's entertaining right to the very end. Highlights include Duncan playing for Manchester United, Bruce proposing to Katie in NYC and Anu being immortalised for her work out there: The highlight of the night is the presentation of two triptychs commissioned from an Ethiopian artist called Shiferaw Mekabo who lives in Mertule Mariam. It depicts Anu at work like some Bayeaux Tapestry with a huge Anu walking around like a benevolent God... Make with the clicky. Mike is writing to Big Black

No Point Mentioning Those Bats... Hunter S Thompson commits suicide. Fuck. It was only a few weeks ago that I finished Rube. He was the only fucker who ever made sport sound remotely interesting, and American sport at that. I'm a Hunter junkie. I'd read Fear & Loathing as a teenager but I only really got swept up in the whole gonzo thing after Frank forced me to read the biography Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life by E Jean Carroll. Since then I've read everything I could find by and about Hunter - there's some photos on here somewhere of me reading him in the middle of a Mexican jungle - the first google news alert I signed up for covered Hunter and at least once a day I'd get an article written by or about him. Now my gmail alert is continuously beeping as more stories about his suicide roll in. I have the above photo (the cover to Kingdom of Fear) blown up to an almost live size cut-out that greets me every morning on my way up the stairs... Only last week I was driving back into San Francisco with an artist from LA and chatting about Hunter and the fact that on his recent booksigning tour he just sat on the floor and forced the fans to have shots of whiskey with him until the police turned up and stopped the fun. While I was there I picked up a copy of Willard and his Bowling Trophies by Richard Brautigan, another of my favourite authors who also ended his own life with a gun. Willard is the only novel by Brautigan I hadn't read and I picked up a perfect first edition hardback from Dog Eared Books on Valencia. I'm maybe five chapters in and milking the damn thing very slowly because I know that after this is finished there isn't any more. I expect in the next year we'll be treated to a new biography and at least one collection of unpublished writings belonging to Hunter but then that'll be it... Fuck. And oh yeah, we're back. Mike is writing to Songs of the Doomed (audio version)

Bada boom... The guy stood next to me on the MUNI is five parts Johnny Ramone and ten parts Iggy Pop, one of those beautiful burn-outs that just love jumping into conversations with whoever is in earshot. We talk about Chinese medicine and his faith in acupuncture, his distrust of science. He spits out the word like he can taste the metallic tinge of something man made in the word itself. "It's like this black lady once told me, natural medicine is like slow cooking. It nurses the flavour while science is nothing but microwaved shit." He pauses to push the sun bleached air from his eyes as we swing gently on our heels, hands wrapped around straps hanging from the ceiling. People in transit. I notice the crows feet stalking out from the wide blue eyes and wonder how old this guy is. Fifty, easy - sixty, maybe. We hear two cars attempting to outsound each other by hitting their horns hard and heavy. "Dudes got rhythm," he smiles and finishes off their jam by slapping out a beat with his free hand on his thigh. "Bada boom!" I love San Francisco. Mike is writing to Rammstein

Wolf Jesus

Meat on a stick... Mike is writing to Rammstein

Typical... As soon as I arrive in SF all the good stuff is in LEEDS: The Brudenell starts to fill a bit more and suddenly there's a crowd on the dance floor waiting in anticipation for the next act which is oddly... a man in a rabbit costume playing old school Nintendo theme tunes. Pixel! Pixel! Pixel! is probably the most bizarre act in Leeds at the moment and as soon as he takes to the stage the crowd instantly laugh and cheer along as he plays such classics as the Super Mario and Zelda theme tunes. In between songs he "shows off his laptop" and manages to dance about the stage like the robotic rabbit he is. The entertainment comes from the humor as much as the bizarre music, with the whole act basically consisting of his laptop and bizarre synthesiser playing, genius to the students, bewildering to pretty much anyone else... Doc - you are one funny fuck. Elsewhere, Jess has already started throwing up pics on Flickr. Mike is writing to DJ Shadow & Automator

SF So much for that. In the year since we were last here the place has been cloaked with free wireless interweb blankets... I couldn't stay offline if I wanted to. And these guys are so nice. Not content with giving us a larger room than we are paying for they have also promised to move us into an even larger room once the valentines bunnies have left at the weekend. That hot tub is going to see some action... We were up at like 4am - stupid bodyclocks. Going up to the roof now to check out the sunrise... Jess has filled in some of the details. More later. Mike is writing to birds and the faint rumble of Vietnam vets pushing their shopping carts around

Ten days... I have to go and pack. We fly out tomorrow morning and I'm trying my best not to even glimpse the interweb until we get back so things here are closed until the 18th. Unless something goes BOOM. Go click on the fun stuff to the right or go and download some music. Some of you will get postcards and/or even a gift. See you all on the other side. Mike is writing to The Descendents

Almost 5am... ... and all's well. Busy busy. Will have to stop thinking about 'waiting houses' and lost soldiers and start thinking about packing soon. Some sleep at some point would be nice. We had a slight change of plans in that the cat may have asthma. Ever tried squeezing a cat's head into an inhaler tube designed for a baby? Babies are obviously easier to suffocate. He's staying with the vet while we are away in SF which will be a big shock to his system. Poor little git. Anyway - things to do and all that. Forgot about the MP3s for today (yesterday/whatever) but will offer double the dose once I wake up later... Mike is writing to Blur

Yes please... Mike is writing to Zappa

This Side Toward Enemy... I love Jess to pieces but I almost went blind when I wandered over to her website this morning. It's always too early to be exposed to knitted tampons and the furry vulva that use them. Mike is writing to No Choice

Please note... My MP3 blog is back up: That is all. Mike is writing to Rammstein

No sleep 'til Denmark... A quick shout of thanks to Tim who helped kill off my need for sleep even further by providing me with one of these little Danish beauties: The signature item of Stelton Denmark is this stunning vacuum jug made of shiny, durable ABS Plastic. Originally designed in 1977 by Erik Magnussen, this jug has become an international favorite. Keeps hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. I'll have to increase my coffee supply. I can now drink pints and pints of the stuff. Mike is writing to Sheik Yerbouti