Sons of Loki

Have I been a busy bee! I started my job at Halifax last month, and while it’s not the most exciting work in the world, it pays the bills and I can listen to audiobooks all day long. I’ve only just discovered the joy of audiobooks, listening first to Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men – as good as the film, though it runs on a little – and Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer which has awakened in me a previously dormant passion for courtroom drama (although I am a fan of Phoenix Wright).

Audiobooks are fascinating little works. One voice actor has to do a dozen voices – male, female, old, young – and read it and pace it in a way that resembles a radioplay, but which doesn’t take away from the flow of the book. And some books work better than others. I tried listening to Catch-22, but for all it may be a classic work of literature, it doesn’t work as well read out as a thriller.

I went home for Easter and picked up a few books, including the Writers and Artists Yearbook which is proving to be worth its weight in gold. Struggling as I am to be a freelance writer, it’s remarkably useful to have a thick book filled with tips and advice and the people you need to be talking to. I wound up writing some stuff for submission – we shall see where it gets me.

I rattled this out on the train home. I quite like it.

My office is a seat on a Class 156 Sprinter from Norwich to Manchester. Coffee quivers in my cup from the dee-dum-dee-dum of the sleepers. Diesel-electric motor whine and grumble. Past the window float volcano-shaped mounds of gravel and dirt; float little houses owned by people with names like Pat and Geoff; float giant-like pylons stalking the land. We arc round a corner and pick up a little speed to make the straight towards Crown Point where hairless men in orange tabards hose down banana-yellow HST125s. Then bursting into open country, the flicker-flicker of tree branches.
The people on this train have a hundred different destinations. For some, this is the Ely train, to their homes and families in Cambridgeshire. No, insist others, this is the Sheffield train, the distant North. Sheffield? others cry in alarm. We’re going to Manchester.
For me, though, this is just a step in a journey; from Norwich to Peterborough, from Peterborough to Leeds, then a bus journey back to my front door and – home.

I’m experimenting! This is the first 1,000 words of a serialised piece I hope to work on in my (copious) spare time over the next few weeks. Please read and leave me your thoughts if you like!

The antenna was the easy part.
Maria’d found it, a rusted metal Christmas tree, in the wastelands next to the Walled City. It was a couple of metres long, bent down the middle, but otherwise looked like it was in good condition.
Maria scrambled up a pile of junk to reach the antenna, lying on its side. She hopped on the central trunk and ran along it to the end, then shimmied up one of the branches that was sticking up into the air. From the top she could see her brother sifting through some old engine parts by the gate.
“I found something big!” she shouted down at him.
Warren came hobbling over, struggling in shoes that were a size too big for him. He surveyed the scene, chewing on a bit of nicotine gum.
“S’radio aerial, or summat.”
“What’s radio mean?”
Maria stared down from her perch at her older brother, the font of all knowledge on matters like these. He was a tinkerer. There was nothing about the various junk that found its way to the wastelands that Warren didn’t know. “Tram supercapas’ter,” he’d say, pointing at a unidentifiable hunk of metal. “Citinet relay. N’that’s a plasma manifold.”
“Radio’s like … s’like what they had before t’internet.”
“What’s tinternet?”
“S’what they had ‘fore Citinet.”
Maria hmmed appreciatively at her brother’s knowledge, then shifted her weight on the aerial so that the metal branch she clung to wobbled slightly. The antenna was mostly a rust-brown, but was covered in flecks of white and red paint that had come off over the years. Various jagged spikes stuck out along the branch. She shimmied down the branch carefully so as to not cut herself on the broken-off bits of rust, then jumped down in front of her brother.
“I wanna use it.”
Warren clucked his tongue dismissively. “Y’can’t just use it,” he said. “You’d need power. An’, like, a mixer and transmitter and cables and stuff. And something to play.”
“You can find that stuff, right, Warren?”
Read more…

The last ten years have seen a surge of interest in Korean culture in the Far East and the wave spreading across Asia is starting to hit the shores of Europe. Films such as Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy have won critical acclaim; Korean cuisine has been increasingly popular in the US; and Korean brands like LG and Samsung are found in homes worldwide.

The source of this wave? The city of Seoul: home to over ten million Koreans, heart of the Korean peninsula, and destination for six million foreign tourists in 2006. A city steeped in history, Seoul is home to the newly-constructed National Museum of Korea, the largest museum in Asia with over 150,000 articles in its collection covering Korean history, culture, and art, as well as a expansive collection of Chinese and Japanese art.

Seoul boasts an expansive palace district in the north of the city, home to a long line of Korean kings. Built in 1405, the dazzling Changdeok-gung has been recently restored and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Meanwhile, at Deoksu-gung, Korean architecture blends with Western design in a serene palace complex. Be sure not to miss the daily changing of the guard, held three times a day at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 3:30pm, where dozens of guards parade in eye-catching traditional uniforms to ceremonial music.

A unique sight in Seoul is Cheonggye stream, an oasis of greenery and flowing water amongst the skyscrapers of the downtown area. Prior to 2005, Cheonggye was buried beneath concrete, but with the demolition of an overhead highway and fervent restoration work it became a favoured spot for families and couples to relax along the below-street-level banks, a respite from the inner-city traffic. Nearby, the famous Dongdaemun street market offers an amazing selection of products, from Korean traditional clothing to live octopus. For more general shopping, try Myeongdong, Seoul’s very own Oxford Street, with a host of top Western and Korean brands.

Opened in 1984, the Yeongdeungpo branch of the long-established Shinsegae chain of department stores features ten floors for fashion-lovers looking to browse to their heart’s content. Elsewhere in Yeongdeungpo stands the brand new Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Times Square complex, opened to great fanfare in September, with over fifty restaurants and a host of the world’s top fashion brands in residence – Gucci, Prada, Bulgari, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton, to name a few. And a 15,000 square metre rooftop garden ensures a haven of tranquillity above the bustling streets.

With a long history of Buddhism, Korea caters for more spiritual concerns through temples such as the Hwa Gye Sa International Zen Center, which offers free meditation sessions and organises month-long Zen retreats for the truly dedicated. And there’s no better place to experience the serenity of nature than at Bukhansan National Park, 80 square kilometres of mountainous forests and burbling creeks on the outskirts of Seoul. The immense 836m granite peak of Baekundae is a achievable if strenuous hike, and the soaring vistas of the park and distant Seoul are well worth the climb.

After a strenuous afternoon of mountain-climbing, what better place to unwind than at the 24-hour Dragon Hill Spa in Yongsan, a perfect example of the Korean jjimjilbang? A relaxation mecca spread across six floors, the Dragon Hill Spa boasts enough hot and cold baths, steam rooms and saunas to satisfy even the most weary and aching traveller. After partaking in the separate men’s and women’s baths, treat yourself to a meal at the rooftop restaurant, enjoy a swim in the heated outdoor swimming pool, or unwind in the communal unisex area with drinks, snacks, and different areas ranging from ice cold to scorchingly hot. A full range of massages and spa treatments are on hand, too.

Then relax at the W Seoul Walkerhill, in Gwanjang-dong, which offers rooms graded from “Wonderful” – which is anything but “standard”, with minimalist décor in elegant red and white and a unique foot-massaging “pebble rug” – to “Extreme Wow”: a 13^th-floor suite overlooking the Han River and featuring a LED-illuminated dining room floor, a fully stocked wine cellar, four-person Jacuzzi with stunning mountain views and your very own personal waterfall.

Tokyo may have a reputation as one of the most expensive cities in the world, but even backpackers on a budget can scrape by with a few tips.

In its 1,400 year history, the Japanese capital of Tokyo has faced catastrophic earthquakes, annihilation by numerous great fires, and massive Allied bombardment
in WW2; surviving these to rebuild as the biggest city in the world.

Over 30 million people, a quarter of the entire population of Japan, live in the Chiba-Tokyo-Yokohama conurbation, a sprawl of architecture which stretches as far as the eye can see. Every year, millions of tourists from around the world flock to this unique Asian gem, an exotic, blazing and ever-exciting fusion of East and West. It has been more than 150 years since American Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay with his fleet of US Navy steamships, forcing the isolationist Tokugawa government to open up trade with the west. These days, there’s no need to make as dramatic an entrance: and not even a lack of funds need stop you from experiencing the best that Japan’s dazzling capital city has to offer.

The best place to immerse yourself in the hustle and bustle of modern Tokyo – without spending a single yen – is the area around Shinjuku Station. The station sees a whopping 3.6 million passengers every day, making it the busiest station in the world. At rush hour, it certainly feels like it.

A raucous and motley swarm of Tokyoites hurry to-and-fro between platforms: grey-suited, stern-faced “salarymen”; impeccably made-up “OLs”, or “office ladies”; the occasional older figure in a kimono; schoolchildren in immaculate uniforms; and, if you’re lucky like I was on my first day, the unmistakable sight of a rikishi , or sumo wrestler, in traditional dress. Outside, enormous crowds surge to work or play across one of Tokyo’s hectic six-way pedestrian crossings.

Shinjuku lies on the west side of Tokyo’s 23 core divisions, or wards. The western districts of Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ikebukuro, previously the upper-class area of Yamanote, today comprise a contiguous series of huge commercial and entertainment hubs, whereas Taito and Bunkyo, the quieter areas east of the Imperial Palace (Shitamachi, or “low city”) enshrine a great deal of Tokyo’s historic areas, including ancient Buddhist temples and beautiful areas of parkland.

West of Shinjuku, the major Tokyo business district of Nishi-Shinjuku features wide-open and airy streets surrounding the slender, elegant skyscrapers of the biggest Japanese companies and exclusive Western-style luxury hotels. The angular twin towers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, opened in 1991, feature twin observation decks on the 45^th floor and offer breathtaking views of Shinjuku, Tokyo and beyond: on exceptionally clear days, you may be lucky enough to glimpse the white dome of Mount Fuji, 60 miles distant.

Be sure to go at dusk and enjoy a coffee while the sun sets and Tokyo lights up, notably around the lavishly-illuminated Tokyo Tower, a 332m tourist trap built in 1958. Tokyo’s enormous sprawl, glittering from horizon to horizon with the light of 30 million inhabitants, is a spectacle difficult to forget.

From there, you can continue for a drink at the New York Bar, located on the 52^nd floor of the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel. Prominently featured in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 Lost in Translation , the bar’s sumptuous atmosphere of high-class luxury complements the equally stunning views from the enormous two-story windows and the nightly live music from accomplished jazz acts. While the cover charge of 2,000 yen after 8pm (7pm on Sundays) may seem rather steep especially considering the pricey drinks, it’s worth it to enjoy a hour or two of the jet-setting lifestyle of Tokyo’s elite without shelling out a whopping 60,000 yen for a single night in the hotel.

Unfortunately, for the most part, Tokyo’s nightlife can do a very good job of separating foreigners from their money. The Roppongi district, a hotbed of bars and clubs popular with the ex-pat community, has a great deal of perfectly respectable and popular drinking establishments; but stories abound of hapless tourists coerced by hustlers into seedy Yakuza-run bars where the bill can quickly run into the tens of thousands of yen and where things can get very ugly if you try to dispute the cost.Even the more respectable clubs have exorbitant cover charges and are generally quite small and cramped. Instead, for a club that really lives up to Tokyo’s reputation of ultra-hip nightlife, try WOMB in fashionable Shibuya. A low-key exterior conceals the enormous dance hall inside, a cavernous hangar-like space three stories high. On the dance floor, hundreds of sweaty Tokyo youths gyrate to house and techno served up by a host of international DJs.

After a night of Tokyo’s charms, free entertainment can be found in Harajuku. A district between Shibuya and Shinjuku in western Tokyo, this is where flamboyant Japanese youth culture reigns supreme. The clothing in Harajuku is not so much fashion as fancy-dress: elaborate frilly dresses are the hallmark of Gothic Lolitas, while for other Tokyo youngsters it’s like punk rock never died. Take a deep breath and dive into the crush of Takeshita Street directly across from Harajuku Station, where shops with names like Sexy Dynamite are the
norm. If you’re lucky, you might catch a busker or two on the road outside the station, eager to be noticed.

For a more sedate experience, visiting Tokyo’s parks is an inspired way to unwind. Ueno Park is a great way to waste an afternoon strolling along the wide paths, mingling with the crowds, and watching performers near the towering fountains of water. For a different experience, visit the beautiful Japanese-style gardens at Rikugien. For a paltry 300 yen, you can visit quaint little teahouses hidden under towering trees, marvel at meticulously manicured lawns, and enjoy 88 scenes from famous poems recreated in miniature around a serene central pond.

While Tokyo may not be able to beat the sheer number of temples and shrines in Japan’s historic capital Kyoto, the ancient Senso-ji temple in Asakusa is a fine example of Buddhist grandeur, having been around as long as Tokyo itself – and it’s free. Beyond the enormous Kaminarimon(“Thunder Gate”) with its giant red paper lantern, a crowded avenue of souvenir shops bustles with tourists in the daytime and early evening. Return late at night, however, and you’ll find a very different experience. In an empty courtyard, under the bleached night sky, the temple buildings loom ominously, yet serenely.

For more materialistic concerns, head to the Ginza shopping district: the home of upmarket department stores like Wako and Matsuya, as well as big name fashion boutiques. The high prices, however, mean Ginza has little to offer except window shopping for those on a budget.

For electronics, Akihabara is the undisputed capital. Though
the big name stores like Laox offer duty-free shopping for foreigners, the real bargains are to be had in the smaller, messier shops hidden down back alleys and up dimly-lit stairwells, offering dirt-cheap state-of-the-art equipment made in Japan.

Tokyo has no shortage of hotels. Pleasant, if rather mundane business hotels offer single rooms from around 10,000 yen and doubles from 15,000 yen. I stayed with Sakura Hotel, a backpacker-orientated company who offer bargain singles from 6,090 yen and doubles from 8,200 yen in a central location with friendly, bilingual staff. The hotel’s sister organisations are worth checking out too: the clean and professional Sakura Hostel, located very close to the Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, has dorm beds at 2,940 yen; and for stays longer than a month Sakura House have 185 long-stay guesthouses across Tokyo starting from 39,000 yen (£190) per month for a dormitory and 48,000 yen for your own room with a shared kitchen. For a room of your own, you can’t beat the cheap and cheerful The Koenji, well located, clean, and just 2,500 yen a night.

Vending machines everywhere sell drinks, hot and cold, for 100-180 yen. You can eat well and in true Japanese style at fast food restaurants like Yoshinoya, where a big plate of rice and Japanese-style curry will set you back only 400-500 yen, with a cup of miso soup and a glass of water thrown in for free. In a pinch, combini (convenience stores) offer ready-to-eat sushi, sandwiches, and microwavable meals for a low price, and the ubiquitous 99 yen shops can feed you on the cheap.

Japan’s rail network is internationally renowned for its efficiency and the trains in Tokyo are exceptionally clean, safe, and reliable. JR (Japan Rail)’s Yamanote loop line circles the core of Tokyo, with trains every two minutes and clear English displays in every carriage. As well as JR’s numerous train lines, Toei Subway and Tokyo Metro lines criss-cross the city. Tickets can be purchased from English-speaking machines and are priced by distance, costing around 110 to 270 yen for short hops around Tokyo. For those perplexed by often-confusing network maps, the best option might be an Oyster-style prepaid smart card: the competing Suica and PASMO cards can be charged up with up to 20,000 yen after an initial 500 yen charge. They work on all subway, bus, and most train lines in Tokyo: they can even be used to pay at vending machines.

If you’re planning to travel throughout Japan, an absolute bargain can be had with JR (Japan Rail)’s Rail Pass, which offers free travel on all JR lines throughout Japan except the Nozomi Shinkansen (the fastest of Japan’s famed bullet train services). A seven-day Rail Pass costs 28,300 yen, which compares favourably with the 26,440 yen fare for a return ticket between Tokyo and Kyoto. Bear in mind, however, that if you’re planning to stay in Tokyo the Rail Pass will probably cost you more than you save.

How to get there

Almost all international flights touch down in Narita Airport, located 70km from Tokyo, but you can catch JR’s Narita Express service from the airport’s two stations to Tokyo Station, which takes 55 minutes and costs 2,940 yen (free with the JR rail pass). Alternatively, the rival Keisei line offers the Skyliner for 2400 yen (36 minutes) or the bog-standard Limited Express service for 1000 yen (80 minutes). Avoid taxis, which will set you back 30,000 yen.

Inspired by Kindle Singles I’ve decided to publish one of my favourite short stories, “Paradise“, on Kindle available now for £2.15 or in American dollars!. It was inspired by a 2007 article in Time about the burgeoning rock scene in Beirut flourishing despite a turbulent political climate and the threat of war.

So, yeah. It’s a story about a hipster douchebag, but you might enjoy it.

Eventually he found a café in Ashrafieh which was just opening as he arrived. He read the day’s newspaper over a cup of black coffee and a chocolate-filled pastry, trying to gather his thoughts. He was supposed to move into his new apartment today. Gabriel left the café and walked back to his current, soon-to-be former apartment: it was past eight, and the traffic on the roads was steadily increasing. He let himself in to his little one-bedroom place and finished the rest of his packing, stuffing toiletries and a few unwashed clothes into his suitcase and backpack, checking under tables and behind the sofa for anything he’d forgotten. He slung the backpack over his shoulder and stuck the suitcase next to his little 15 watt practice amp: his guitar was still at Alex’s. Then he toured his home for the last time. It was a sweet deal, but nevertheless too expensive to afford on the money he got from his parents.

In the words of Beck, please enjoy! You don’t necessarily need a Kindle, because you can download Kindle for PC, iPhone and Android.

Found a job! Yes, I’m sort of working freelance for Demand Media, an online publisher who run eHow and LiveStrong, among other things. Of all the “work from home” schemes I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot) it’s really the only one that works. It’s absolutely perfect for me. You pick a title from the database – I’m doing how-to guides, like how to write a personal statement or how to fix Guitar Hero drums – write the guide, which takes me anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour, and submit it. Either it gets approved straight away, or a copy editor has you make a few changes before it’s (hopefully) re-accepted. And boom, $15 (£9.50) for an hour’s work sent via PayPal. Any time of day, any day of the week. One a day, and that’s my rent and utilities for the week covered.

I mean to write a post on here about my experiences from my first few articles and tips for newbies like myself, so keep eyes peeled.

It’s 2011, the first year of the 10s if you don’t believe 2010 is in the 10s (which it is, as any sensible non-pedantic person agrees). Resolution time!

• Write a radio script! I realised that while writing a play requires you to get a director and a stage and actors, you can write a radio script and submit it to the Beeb and you might get feedback, if they like it enough, and if they really like it they’ll buy it from you for megabucks and make it into a radio play. How ace would that be?
• Join the theatre society! I wouldn’t really say I’ve always wanted to be an actor, but I do kinda feel like I need to do acting at some point in my life, when I think about it. I didn’t go to no fancy acting schools and I have only seen about three plays and my only experience with Drama is a term of Drama enrichment in sixth form, but someone’s got to be the extras.
• Have a shower! No, wait, that’s my plan for today.
• Start jogging (again)! I’ve been running on-and-off for three years now? I used to use the treadmills at TUFS, which was really convenient, but there’s no sense paying silly money to use the gym at Leeds when I have the beautiful wood near my house to run through.

I discovered an amazing app called RunKeeper (currently free for the pro version) which – get this – you set up a route, like run 0.5 miles then walk 0.25 miles and repeat three times, and then you pop in your headphones and listen to some banging tunes and a synthesised voice tells you when to start running and when to stop running and how far you’ve run and your pace and speed and stuff all in your ears automatically. And it tracks you by GPS so you can see exactly how far you ran, how high you climbed, and then overlays it on Google Maps.

It’s so weird. You know your forefather William Gibson told us how technology would revolutionise the world. And while we don’t have nanomachines in our bloodstream or skull-guns or brain-cyberspace interfaces yet, I honestly think the age of better living through technology is here. My phone tells me when to run for optimum fitness. My PC makes the screen warmer in the evening so I can sleep better. Then my phone monitors me while I sleep so it can wake me up at the right time. I know it seems like iPhones and smartphones and app ecosystems are overhyped, but it really is a revolution in the way we use technology. The future is now, people!!