today I went to Eastbourne

early in the morning. took Hat's camera but didn't have anything to photograph most of the time or wasn't used to having a camera. But anyway I walked to Eastbourne town and went in nearly all the charity shops but being an old-lady town there is only old lady stuff or just really mundanely naff and over-priced stuff - Jeans for a fiver, yeah? Think again Scope!- I bought some stockings and a pleated grey skirt that I plan to revamp to look like this>>>
. They have about 20 charity shops but that ain't saying much really.
I also saw some shop window that was being used to show some art that was pretty cool
cos it has a John Lennon quote and a Bill Hicks quote which was apt cos I was wearing my Hicks Lives t-shirt (which is on it's way out cos I made it in 2004!) I liked this art cos it looked kinda shambolic and thrown together, has a sixth-form-esque naivity rather than being stupidly slick and expensive and oblique and BLAAND like the art they wanted us to make at uni.
Anyway then I went back to my nan's granny flat for old dears and had some soup and apple juice:

there's me in the mirror, and my nan and my dad and the window fitter in the doorway.









And my nan must smell of lollies cos I spotted she uses chupa chups body spray (flavour: 'I love me')







and my nan passes the time by perving on this pigeon that lives in the tree outside her window which she insists 'isn't a common pigeon, must be part dove', of course it is. THE END.

Chilli Sauces

It's so hard to find the perfect chilli sauce, Here is some that I have tried and reviewed in no particular order... I have also included Chilli Oils.


MAGGI CHILLI AND GARLIC SAUCE
This sauce is not too spicy, maybe not spicy enough in fact! It starts off as quite addictive but soon becomes sickly, It's the exact consistency of ketchup. I think it is thinkened with some kind of starch, too much filler in other words not enough chilli. Works with Chips. Also too SWEET! 5/10






UNBRANDED CHINESE CHILLI OIL (picture may not be accurate)
I bought this at a Chinese supermarket in china town.
it was unbranded and didnt have ingredients the first time
I bought it, it's very chinese tasting, only works with chinese food.
Later I found out the ingredients included Shrimp, Sesame oil and MSG.
the MSG made it addictive, sesame oil made it chinesey and the Shrimp made it not suitable for Vegetarians/Vegans. 6/10

VEGETARIAN CHILLI OIL (picture may not be accurate)
I got this from a foreign foods stall at a car boot sale, it is a vegetarian version of the above, was really nice but still only works with chinese food.
7/10





ENCONA WEST INDIAN ORIGINAL HOT PEPPER SAUCE
This is really tasty chilli sauce but sometimes too hot to handle, i don't think
it's important for chilli sauce to be VERY hot. I'm not in it for the macho kudos alright? I want that tasty chilli taste, I like to be able to taste the chilli but not be in pain, that puts me in a bad mood when I'm trying to eat. For some reason the taste of this chilli sauce reminds me of the smell of freshly baked bread, really nice, really wholesome tasting. Works with everything! 8.5/10

CHOLULA HOT SAUCE
This chilli sauce, imported from Mexico is hot but bearable it really only works with Mexican foods like burritos and bean chili because of the spices used.
My parents bought it for me from America for $6.45, later I saw it at the aforementioned imported foods stall at a boot sale and it was £9!! I thought, wow they got a bargain! but.... last week... I saw it in Morrisons SuperMarket
for like 99p so go out and buy it if you like mexican food. 6/10




NANDOS PERI PERI SAUCE
This hot sauce is delicious, works with all foods, Italian, Chinese, Indian,
English (Potato Products ahah), ....Portuguese!
I buy Medium cos I love the taste so I always put loads on (AND BTW I DONT EAT CHICKEN!). I think it's the onions that make it so addictive! 9/10




DILITA AFRIKANA PERI-PERI HOT SAUCE
I was hoping to find slightly cheaper alternative to the Nandos equivalent....
but.... I dont know WHO could like this sauce, I've paid money for it so I TRIED to make myself eat it but can't stop SPITTING IT OUT on reflex. It says it contains 'lemons' on the ingredients, the lemon taste is overwhelming, and I wouldnt mind if it actually tasted like lemon, it tastes like lemon sherbets (those boiled sweets) or like Flash Lemon Fresh floor cleaner. it's not natural!!! there might be SOME recipe this goes with but I havent found it yet. 1/10
[NO PICTURE] DILITA MEXIAN RED JALAPENO SAUCE
This chilli sauce was a pale translucent colour which was a bit suspicious, cos sometimes it means it'll be too sweet, only the chinese can do sweet chilli sauce okay? but that's another story. Well it didnt taste like sweet chilli sauce and it certainly didnt taste mexican. REALLY! It tastes exactly like that sweet mint/ chilli/ coriander chutney you get with samosas from indian restaurants or shops (which would be ok but it came in a small bottle so you can only have a tiny bit, unlike at Indian food shops where you get a whole cup!). So... good with samosas and pakoras, not with mexican food. It has mint in the ingredients.
4/10
THAI KITCHEN SWEET CHILLI SAUCE
A lot of sweet chilli sauces are very similar, this one was very nice!
and comes in a really big squeezy bottle. But some sweet chilli sauces taste different.... like Asda's own, which is alright but doesnt have that special... something so... in conclusion, Thai Kitchen sweet chilli sauce is a safe bet, tastes great with noodles and also potato wedges or chips. 8/10




[no picture] CHILLI INFUSED OLIVE OIL
I think... that tesco's chilli infused olive oil is the best, cant really remember cos I havent bought it for ages. but the problem I came across with sainsbury's chilli oil was that it had 'chilli extract' instead of just 'chilli' on the ingredients. so the tesco one tasted more of fresh chilli it came in a bottle with a black lable with a picture of a chilli pepper. Great on Pasta, Pizza and...wedges... 8/10

I have tried other chilli sauces but cant remember if they were any good, dont really think much of tobasco, too vinegary, cant taste the chilli, if you know of any really good chilli sauces let me know!!!

I hate logging in

yeah I hate logging in to things, having to type your password and shit.... so annoying, I especially hate how after I've logged into the new MSN Messenger, I click on my e-mail and I have to log in AGAIN! it never remembers me...
I resent all these security checks being a person who has never once had any account hacked from phishing scams or whatever, who falls for that shit, loads of ppl I know have had their e-mail, facebook and myspace hacked. Not really 'Hacked' since no hacking was really involved they basically gave their password away to some window that popped up and asked for it. haha.

I bet I get hacked now I've said that. :P

Just in case you think I havent been doing anything

I've been making some things sometimes when I have time out of stuff lying around.

this is a fascinator made from the trim from a top Harriet doesnt want anymore and a
skull made from plaster of paris finished with pearl coloured nail varnish.
When I have made 100 things I will consider doing something with them, for now I'll just put em on this here blog.

RIOT GRRRL MANIFESTO

Haven't blogged for a while, Kathleen Hanna seems to say it best for me at the moment, here is her 'riot grrrl manifesto'

KATHLEEN HANNA'S RIOT GRRRL MANIFESTO

BECAUSE us girls crave records and books and fanzines that speak to US that WE feel included in and can understand in our own ways.

BECAUSE we wanna make it easier for girls to see/hear each other's work so that we can share strategies and criticize-applaud each other.

BECAUSE we must take over the means of production in order to create our own moanings.

BECAUSE viewing our work as being connected to our girlfriends-politics-real lives is essential if we are gonna figure out how we are doing impacts, reflects, perpetuates, or DISRUPTS the status quo.

BECAUSE we recognize fantasies of Instant Macho Gun Revolution as impractical lies meant to keep us simply dreaming instead of becoming our dreams AND THUS seek to create revolution in our own lives every single day by envisioning and creating alternatives to the bullshit christian capitalist way of doing things.

BECAUSE we want and need to encourage and be encouraged in the face of all our own insecurities, in the face of beergutboyrock that tells us we can't play our instruments, in the face of "authorities" who say our bands/zines/etc are the worst in the US and

BECAUSE we don't wanna assimilate to someone else's (boy) standards of what is or isn't.

BECAUSE we are unwilling to falter under claims that we are reactionary "reverse sexists" AND NOT THE TRUEPUNKROCKSOULCRUSADERS THAT WE KNOW we really are.

BECAUSE we know that life is much more than physical survival and are patently aware that the punk rock "you can do anything" idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which seeks to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours.

BECAUSE we are interested in creating non-heirarchical ways of being AND making music, friends, and scenes based on communication + understanding, instead of competition + good/bad categorizations.

BECAUSE doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community that we need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism, able-bodieism, ageism, speciesism, classism, thinism, sexism, anti-semitism and heterosexism figures in our own lives.

BECAUSE we see fostering and supporting girl scenes and girl artists of all kinds as integral to this process.

BECAUSE we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal as sharing information and staying alive, instead of making profits of being cool according to traditional standards.

BECAUSE we are angry at a society that tells us Girl=Dumb, Girl=Bad, Girl=Weak.

BECAUSE we are unwilling to let our real and valid anger be diffused and/or turned against us via the internalization of sexism as witnessed in girl/girl jealousism and self defeating girltype behaviors.

BECAUSE I believe with my wholeheartmindbody that girls constitute a revolutionary soul force that can, and will change the world for real.

hmmm

They are showing me how to make FAKE POO on blue peter. It really has gone downhill if all they can teach kids to make now is a brown blob. lol!

Pssh Capitalists

It may be an obvious point but I find it very irritating how much time and suggested compassion the news gives to failing corporations. These corporations do not provide a public service, they do not survive on welfare funding out of taxes. They are companies designed to offer something in exchange for profit. Now, they either were overly greedy and gambled all their money away or people just don't want to buy their product anymore.

Recently, the US government bailed out the car manufacturer GM. This is an example of a capitalist organisation working under the principles of the 'free market' floundering. Again, they do not offer a service to anyone, they sell cars. People don't want their cars right now so they aren't making profit. They wanted to work under a free market because it means unregulated free-for-all i.e. 'We'll try to make money however we can, independently, we don't need to help anyone and in exchange we don't need any help from anyone'. They have failed at this and that means putting lots of jobs at risk, suddenly someone has to be accountable, so here comes the government bail-out.

In this country, the news reports lament the gradual death of the Pub. A British institution? Not so much. The NHS is a British institution. The Pub is just a shop, like any other, designed to sell you over-priced and ineffective drugs along with the general 'traditional' pub experience. So pubs aren't making profit, how can they survive? They live mostly on nostalgia and social pressure without offering many other services. The ones that will survive will be the ones that offer alternative services, the ones that act as gig venues, or the ones that are aimed at students who like to drink publicly. In a recession people become pragmatic, so the myths of 'going down the pub' or wearing 'high-status' clothing go out the window (the fashion industry is also suffering).
Make the connection between intangible 'myth' and intangible 'brand' and you'll see why the UK is going to suffer in this downturn. In the Thatcher years, many of our manufacturing and exporting companies were shut down or moved overseas. Capitalist organisations put more emphasis on 'branding', 'brand identity', 'brand image' etc. rather than the product which was secondary. Many of the products we now consume were made in sweatshops and factories overseas, this method of production is down-played as poverty and worker-abuse do not do much for one's 'brand image'.
So, with very few exports and few jobs in manufacturing or skilled trades beyond the service industry, the UK has a lot of money in intangible fields, think of the stock market bubble.

There are those who believed that capitalism was the epitome of equal opportunity. That the free market gave everyone a fair shot if you were willing to work hard (conveniently forgetting the underpaid third world workers who made the clothes on their back, also forgetting that currency is finite and to make money is to take it from someone else) but to see the flaw in any system we have to imagine its ultimate manifestation or its extreme incarnation. People existing purely for profit, organisations fuelled by growth eventually leaves no room for human compassion, no room for failure, no room for sick days, no room for anything unless it is profitable.

So where do we draw the line or, more importantly, who draws the line? In the free market there is, in theory, no one to draw the line, the government does not regulate a corporation's activity so it can technically do anything it deems to be profitable. The other force here is the consumer. A believer in the free market may have previously said that the organisations are regulated by consumer interest, they offer products and they rely on the consumers to buy them. There is truth in this, so if we follow this logic, if consumers are not interested in keeping a corporation afloat by buying its products, why should the consumer still have to bail the company out through taxes when they fail?

We can only conclude that the free market doesn't work unless its ideals are followed through. Meaning: no government regulation and no government handouts, if you fail then you fail if that's how you want to play it. But we know that wouldn't work, and we can see that it isn't working, things like pubs will suffer and no amount of mourning will ever be as important as profit. When profit is put before people, you have to expect that Sipson Village will be tarmacked over to make way for a profitable third runway you also have to expect that corporations will continue to pollute the planet undeterred while it is profitable to do so.