Ari Hoenig

I went to Paris jazz club Sunset-Sunside a couple of weeks back and heard New York-based drummer Ari Hoenig's group Punk Bop. The drumming is exciting, imaginative and, as my flatmate Jerome (who is also a drummer) noted, tellement précise. Go check out Hoenig's myspace page and listen to Bert's Playground. He told us he wrote it for his fish. Oh that a fish would inspire that much creativity in me.

Some recent shots

Why am I so fat?

Got sent this website: http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/.

It's pretty self-explanatory. My favourites are the Slinger and the Loco Moco, basically because I think they look pretty similar pre-consumption to what I imagine they would look like post-consumption. I love that someone actually invented "the Slinger", called it "the Slinger", and then sold it for money.

Toutes mes excuses à ceux et celles de Québec, mais il faut avouer que la poutine se trouverait bien à sa place sur ce site:

Pétanque à Paris

Spring has finally arrived in Paris. The trees are gradually budding with leaves, the temperatures are rising, and the femme fatales are preparing themselves for hunting season.

My cousin Lizzie has also arrived in Paris in order to visit her brother James (also my cousin). Saturday was a beautiful spring day, so we decided to head down to Canal St Martin with my flatmate Jerome (not my cousin), to play a bit of Pétanque.

It was once said that the reason the game of lawn bowls is so popular in Australia is because :

1. You can still play the game while holding your beer; and
   
2. There are ash trays at each end of the green for your ciggies.

Quite amazingly, Pétanque is even less strenuous on the body than lawn bowls! (Bloody genius these frenchies!) In fact, in the South of France, where Pétanque was invented, it is clearly stated in the rule book that players caught playing without a Pastis in one hand and at least one Gauloise in the other may be disqualified.

I assumed the game was called Pétanque because of the sound the metal balls make when they hit the ground. But for those who are interested, the word Pétanque actually comes from the old French, pès tancats, meaning "feet together", a reference to the standing position of the person throwing the boules.

Jamison Inc turns 10,000

It’s now three years since I began writing this blog, which I started chiefly as a way of staying in touch with friends and family back home in Australia. Gradually, it’s developed into less of a travel blog and more of a random collection of observations, thoughts, favourite songs, photos, videos etc. Yesterday, Jamison Inc had its 10,000th visitor. (To put that in perspective, a youtube video of a baby falling over in a puddle would probably get 10,000 hits in a day.)

It’s a meagre milestone, in the grand scheme of things. But, despite the lameness of maintaining a blog ("I have a blog" is not the first thing you say when you meet someone at a party, is it?) I do like the fact that I can now look back at the last three years and easily tap into what I was up to, or what I was thinking about (or what you were thinking about for that matter) at a particular time.

A lot has changed since I started writing. Who knows what wondrous adventures lay ahead. Hell, maybe I’ll take another photo of a teapot. I know, I know, - you’re holding your breath. ; )

Looking forward to continuing to share the journey together. Insha'allah.

Jamison

Teapot

Lift

Stroop!

Stroop Waffles. They are the best thing to have ever been invented. And here we see them in their natural habitat. Look at them, just grazing peacefully in aisle 4 of Albert Heijn supermarket in The Hague. I just feel so very lucky to have seen so many of them gathered in the one place- a real treat. 

You'll notice that I even managed to spot the rare cousin of the stroop waffle, the stroop-waffle-flavoured-ice-cream (yummymilius icecreamus), which hasn't been seen since 1946 and was hitherto thought to be extinct.

Thanks to Eric for the heads up on this one. It's as if Dave Brubeck was commissioned by Radiohead to write a catchy lick for one of their songs. Put your dancing shoes on. This is yummy.