I dunno who these guys are.. but this vid is great.

August 25th saw the release of the awaited Batman game, “Arkham Asylum”. For those who actually read the comic, Arkham Asylum is Gotham City’s Alcatraz – all the maniacs and villians Batman captures get to spend a little vacation there.

The developers were kind enough to release a demo, which I promptly downloaded on my PS3.

I’m not a Batman kinda guy, I always preferred Spiderman, but admittedly this is one hell of a game, injecting the Dark Knight’s comic world with hints of different gaming styles. There’s beat them up, there’s some hack’n’slash and loads of stealth playing too – not to mention the detective work. The game looks great and sounds great, with Mark Hamill (of Star Wars fame) taking the honours as the Joker’s voice. Check out the video above for the trailer. This seems to be a ‘must buy’ title. Hard to believe a team of only 65 accomplished this feat. Way to go Rocksteady Studios!

The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs on Krakatoa, a small, uninhabited volcanic island located west of Sumatra in Indonesia, on this day in 1883. Heard 3,000 miles away, the explosions threw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles into the air, created 120-foot tsunamis and killed 36,000 people.

Volcanoes remind me of lava, which in turn reminds me of Kid Alex, born Alexander Ridha, better known as Boys Noize.

Well yeah, all this was an excuse to post the ‘tres cool’ vid to Jeffer… sorry ’bout that.

Not my usual kinda thing, but I dig it…

So earlier this year, much before I became a blogger, I was prepping for a Dondisko/Mathematikal party. I had really wanted to wear a Fat Gold t-shirt, but still look girly at the same time. So I took matters into my own hands, and cut off the neck to make an off-the-shoulder ‘Flashdance’ kinda top. Really nothing special, but my effort was, surprisingly, much appreciated.
Fast forward to last week and I wanted to take another stab at customizing a T-shirt, I’m definitely no pro, but this was the result!

Things I used:
T-shirt, Card, Lace, Chalk, 2 different coloured threads, pins, scissors.

First, according to the style of the back of the design you are aiming for sketch an appropriate shape on the card. Then set your lace over the card, pin it down, and carefully cut around the sketch.
Next, get a top similar to the shape you want to create, and trace the shape onto the t shirt. Cut the top out. Cut the section on the back which you want to replace with lace. Once all this is done, it’s sewing time! I didn’t have a sewing machine, so it came pretty amateur for me, but if you know how to use one, I definitely recommend it! Sew the Lace to back of the t-shirt.  Try it on. Admire your skillz.

I wore it to last Saturday’s Boat Party, and it was a big hit!

Useful information? I think not!
More top customizations to come in the future? Maybe.

Much love,

Clare.

The plane is filled with people going to Benicassim,

some hopping around in excitement, others sitting in a nervous silence.  A 2 hour flight, 1 hour bus ride and a long queue in the sweltering heat till our wrist bands are on.  Finally, the Maltese contingent at Beni Camp setsup its tents making its presence known by hanging flags and being generally loud (and sometimes annoying).

Benicassim is a festival that promises sun, sea and music. We’ve learned that means, your tents become ovens, the beach is infested with English and there are some bands and Djs at the end of the week. Still, it works. Camping starts Monday and the 3 days build up to the actual festival are just as eventful. Days at the beach then parties at the bar in the campsite or in the town as well as the general vibe are enough to keep a stupid grin on anyones face.

Thursday is considered the warm up,

 the bands start late and the Djs finish early. (early being 5am) Mystery Jets were a more than perfect way to start my festival, with the Walkmen shortly after to reignite my love for the smaller shows. Quickly after The Walkmen we rushed to catch the end of Oasis which solidified my satisfaction for not going to see their whole set. Liam Gallagher was intelligent enough to wear his trench coat in the blistering heat, only to storm off stage mid Wonderwall. The situation worsened when we realized that the pint cups of beer being flung into the air by over-excited Oasis fans were actually filled with warm urine.  Needless to say we left, disappointed and yes, ‘pissed’ off.  Rushing off to see Gang of Four, my faith in the entertainers of these days was restored. They’ve been around long, and they proved why. A powerful set that consisted of great music and some surprising moments such as when the front man beat a microwave with a bat. The rest of the night consisted of running around catching glimpses of sets only to stumble back to camp and pass out in a hammock after Four Tet.

Friday was set to be a big night, with my personal favorites Yuksek and Boys Noize on the bill.

But all hell broke loose when ridiculous winds stopped the festival mid way through Paul Weller’s set. We were told that the festival would have to stop for the rest of the night and we were to head back to our campsite and wait it out. We arrived back at the campsite to see an apocalyptic style scene with tents struggling to remain grounded and barely a soul in sight. Trust us to be some of the only people walking around still managing to laugh about the situation. The night was eerie, yet unique, genuine danger gets the blood pumping in some cases resulting in a damn good time.

Saturday started with everyone wondering if the festival was going to go on,

as we all heard the stages had been damaged, but everything was botched together again and we were given what we came for. Minus Foals and Lilly Allen who both canceled due to illness. Foals cancelling was a kick in the stomach for me but refusing to be discouraged we marched off to the festival grounds, face paint and all. The night started with Maximo Park who were kind enough to stick around after they were unable to play the night before. After them Elbow took the stage, and gave us what I can honestly call the most heart warming and beautiful set of the festival. His booming voice and their epic full sound resulted in the crowd going from swaying in awe to melting in awe. Elbow ended their set with ‘One Day like this’, the perfect crowd-pleaser with its powerful lyrics and sing-along ending.  Still shaking with joy after such a thrilling performance, the crowd began to buzz with excitement for the night’s headlining act; the legendary Franz Ferdinand.

Heres where the “holy shit” factor was introduced.

 An hour and a half of pure brilliance, brilliant music, brilliant showmanship, brilliant people to be watching them with. They played all their classics and most of their new album, ending with an epic 15 minute version of Lucid Dreams which I’m quite sure resulted in 3 strokes and 7 orgasms. Next were 2ManyDjs, the most most dance induced set of my life. No one was able to stop dancing the whole time. We had our very own  Fat Gold-er Clare dancing on a skip showing us all how its done and shaking her booty malta-style. At this point the Maltese all seemed to find each other on the dance floor and we had a beautiful family type moment where love was coming out of our ears and groove was spilling out of our hearts. Thinking the night couldn’t get any better we were given the one of the grooviest warm up sets ever by Aeroplane followed by the most insane show I have ever seen. Steve Aoki gave us one of the most aggressive mosh producing sets ever. To top it off he jumped around the stage, screamed a lot, poured vodka down the throats of the people in the front row and smashed a bottle on stage. The crowd went mad and the security were in complete shock. Looking around I knew I was at the best party in the world. The sun was coming up and the sky was a beautiful green; a colour I’d never before seen it take, revealing the mountains beyond the fields.  A crazy Asian man was jumping around on stage and the vibe was too much to resist for the Beni barmen and ladies who all joined us on the dance floor till the sun became too hot to bear.  We practically crawled back to the campsite, exhausted, but ridiculously satisfied.

Sunday, unfortunately, started off badly. 

Many time changes were made resulting in me missing Calexico. Everyone knows its the last night of the festival and has a cloud hanging over their heads, realizing that it will all be over soon. White Lies, who I expected to be amazing, were good, not better or worse. Only having seen one song of TV on the Radio I now wish I got all their set instead. Friendly Fires then gave me that kick in the ass I needed to get my night started. The front man moves as though he’s made out of rubber, wriggling and twisting away.  This however, resulting in a show where his dance moves shadowed his singing. Friendly Fires were followed by Lykke Li, who I think managed to seduce every male and most females in the crowd in the hour she was on stage.  I’ll never see someone hit a cymbal so sexily ever again, I’m sure of it. Birdy Nam Nam were next on the bill. These guys have really mastered the whole DCMing thing. The only way to describe this part of the festival is; “bass and flashy lights, just how we like it”. The night ended with us at the main stage, me being greatly disappointed with the Killers. Maybe its my general dislike for bands who are adored by the masses, I don’t know, don’t care. Thankfully Rinocerose were there to save me, with their afro bearing, scissor kicking, guitarist humping screamo front man, which left all our jaws on the floor. A dying breed, the true rockstar.

I really only spoke about the music here, but Beni is so much more. It being my second visit to FIB, the festival lived up to my expectations. Despite many disasters; tents collapsing, camera’s breaking, and one trip to the hospital (to name just a few) there is no place I would have rather been. Festivals bring out the best in most, from the second they take the first steps into the campsites, the usual essentials like cooked meals and sleep become unnecessary. The beauty of being surrounded by tens of thousands of people all at the same place for the same reason is hard to describe. This year we had we had sing alongs in the bathrooms, forest nymphs blowing bubbles, group cuddles on the floor, dance offs with randomers and enough laughs to last the rest of the year.

A good friend of mine said something on our wind swept Friday night that now makes a lot of sense: “This is the realest shit ever”.

Beni in the eyes of C Bear.

7 days of camping, but I survived.

Oh, sweet Jesus, what I’d do to be back at Beni at the moment. You know when you’ve been thinking about something, and waiting for it come, and you’re constantly imagining it at it’s best, and often you’re let down. This was not the case at Benicassim. Apart from a few minor changes it was exactly how I imagined it. Of course, I was a festival virgin, and above everything else I was mostly concerned about how, the little princess that is me, was going to survive 7 days of camping, but I’m alive and I’m going to share.

The flight up was mad, it was filled with Maltesers.

Being only 17 I had to have a guardian, and I chose Fatgold-ee Thom. He took care of me alright, he bought me a neon yellow worker vest so he can see me at all times and a collar and leash (with added poopie bags) to keep track of me. He also didn’t let me smoke or drink and was with me at all times . I swear. The flight up was mad, it was filled with Maltese all heading to Beni, and we were all ready to start the mentality as soon as possible. Above being travel sick, I’m also petrified of planes, so over the drowsiness of my travel sickness pills, my friends were giving me sips of their drinks to calm me down. Needless to say I was quite gone and was walking up and down the aisle constantly bugging everyone who was sleeping and at one point I even ended up doing a split…

We spent the first 3 days before the festival, getting drunk

Once we were there, aside from the insane que in the sun for our wristbands (which by fault I got a ‘4 Dias’ one and not an under 18 ‘Especial’ one) and the killer walk, we were all good to go. The group I was with, which was about 25-30 maltese, took over a massive section and hung up a couple of maltese flags to show whos boss. We spent the first 3 days before the festival, getting drunk (On 10 Euro per litre bottles of Smirnoff), trolling the campsite and checking out the parties around us. We ended up partying in the pathways of the campsite, in the bar with loads of topless men (ahhh yeah…). We even witnessed a fat guy called Steve begin to strip… but it proved to be too intense for some people and they walked away. We met Gay Josh, who fell in love with my friend (dude of course) and I fell in love with him. I managed a bubu on my knee because I was filming Paul giving frights to people on the campsite, and became VERY fond of this Italian woman and a dude called Bruno *wink wink*

Day one of the festival and I was already hoarse.

 The 20 minute walks where highlights, and once we walked in, my breath was taken away. Me, Julia and Miki, stuck together on the first night, and we nearly died. We laughed so much that our sides hurt, Ju nearly threw up on the grass at a point she couldn’t help laughing. The first day also opened my eyes to how many special people there are in this world. From the guy who let me put a cigarette out on his arm, to ‘I love Paris’.

The Beni Hurricane

Then came the infamous Beni Hurricane, which wasn’t a hurricane, but thats a Po‘tay’to/Po‘tah’to thing really. That was rather fun. I got blinded by the dust and got pissed on. Sweet. Saturday came, and was probably my favorite day of the entire festival, purely because of the mood I was in. Elbow where fantastic, almost too fantastic. I remember standing in the crowd, going mad to Franz Ferdinand cos they were playing all my favorite songs, and when they started playing ‘Lucid Dreams’ I turned to Miki and went: ‘Awh I have a feeling they won’t play the extended electro bit’, and they did, and boy did they do it well. I just stood there in awe. Then we rocked it out like mad to 2manydjs, which led me to dance on a skip with a guy who I made friends with over our booty shaking abilities. At a point they played ‘Zombie Nation’ and you could hear, all over the festival,

maltese screaming ‘U x’alla zobbna, u x’alla zobbna mil-kullhadd…’, I felt so incredibly close to home.

Afterwards we moved on to Aeroplane who played ‘Chase’ by Giorgio Moroder from our favorite film ‘Hot Rod’, then front row centre for Steve Aoki, who by the way is a bloody psycho, led us to watch sunrise with a bunch of strangers who grew to love each other over night, and caused me to have blood spurted all over my arm. Ahhh the fond memories. I calculated that on this night I was constantly dancing for 12 hours.

The final day

It had arrived and everyone was in a more relaxed mood. I fell in love with the lead singer of Friendly Fires, and Lykke li, who covered both Kings of Leon song ‘Knocked Up’ and Lil Wayne’s ‘Amilli’ amazingly, the Killers brought out the 14 year old girl in me and Birdy Nam Nam made me want to crouch down on the floor and cry. We woke up the next morning only to realise that all the great music, easy peasy friend making and wonderful partying was over. The days of letting loose and acting in ways you wouldn’t usually where out of the window.

It was really sad packing our things up, but we were off to Barcalona where, story of my life, I was to lose my camera and get hit by a bike.

But never mind that. So I guess I can safely tell you that my first festival experience was success. In an a suprising turn of events (Sarcasm heavily implied) I came back with swine flu. But that was okay, I needed the rest. I really, really needed the rest.

Until next time amigos!

Beni Hurricane and Swine Flu Survivor,

Clare.