age actual

sorry to all my hard-edge art readers and cold-hearted subscribers, the first part of this post is a bit nostalgic and emotional. It's about age.

i first 'met' age on the blog for advertising agency see life differently. i was hangin' with one of their peeps and he told me about his regular features on the blog. i started reading and from the first post, i was hooked. i think i was one of the only readers outside the agency who would comment. i probably drove age nuts, because i was constantly putting a spanner in his 'nike are the greatest company in the world' works. some things never change.

the blog and organisation dwindled, and at the same time, we became friends on myspace, where i found a link to his personal blog, in my atmosphere (a john mayer reference, for the uninitiated - how i envy you).

i started following the beautiful writing on his blog and age started reading mine - we struck up friendship, following links to other blogs and i found myself part of another ad-type blog full of opinionated and heartwarming reprobates, where age was also regular contributor and fellow aus representin'.

age and i finally met in person before i went to london back in 2007 and we have maintained an ongoing catch-up coffee-based bromance since then. we recruited another friend of his into the fold and we've had our own awesome gang for years. in busy times, maybe it's only age's twitter feed i see, or read his beautiful posts about himself, love and life (which he's going to start doing again, right age?), but there's always ongoing 'check this out' emails, twitter messages, random text messages from italy and big hugs when there's time for catch up.

i've always met up with people who i find interesting from the net. it's not 'social networking' as someone recently tried to categorise it. it's friendship. deep, meaningful, long-lasting. apart from being a really important part of my life (which i will really fuckin' miss, ahem!), age's friendship also reminds me how much the world has changed, and sometimes how much it doesn't.

i don't ever consider that age may be a different kind of friend than others. or that it's weird that we met on the internet (although it sounds soooo nerdy), but there are still loads of people that do. they don't quite get it. which, if i'm honest, is totally cool. it's like age and i (and all my other nerdy, bloggy, twitter-based friends who i have become dear, dear friends with) still get to have this secret awesome gang headquarters that will eventually catch on, but right now, we've discovered the hiding place.

and the reason why i'm going on about this is because age is heading back overseas to take up a super-rad position in an organisation he has been going on about for YEARS. he's following a dream, taking his girl and moving to london. right on.

i'm super, super proud of him and i hope he never comes back. which i say, of course, with love. i know that he's going to have a super challenging, but ultimately wildly fulfilling time there. and i'll be watching like some soccer mum from the sidelines, having been part of all the torturous waiting and training and planning up until this point.

i promised age that i would write him a list for london. the places that i know he'll love. or hate, but should see anyway. for all you londoners reading this blog, age is amazing. please, treat him as though he really were my brother and take him under your wing.

age, melbourne loves you and will always be here. but, from someone who came back, i never want to see you here again, y'hear? forza!

image credits: ben dux and his hipstamatic. 

lauren's random london things for age

coffee

monmouth; kaffeine (central london); present and allpress (shoreditch); the last cafe on broadway market which is full of hipsters, but the coffee is good; lantana (run by australians - go there. you'll need it sometimes, plus i think it's where will's cawfee thing is); london particular (same mob as lantana); bar italia and ecco are some good quasi-italian places to get a mini fix (although fundi is about 1.5 hours away. heh)

art

tate modern. i think your peeps have a membership thing going on - use it. not just for the art, but for the members' room view - it's amazing.

wallace collection - sneaky amazing baroque/rococco collection that is both amazing and cheap (if not free)

wellcome collection - amazing medicine/sciene-based gallery, library and research facilities

vyner st galleries - fred, vine, kate mcgaraghty and some kind of impressive private gallery/collection -  about half way down, look up.

ibid projects and white cube - both in hoxton square

regent studios - there are about 3 or 4 great little galleries there.

chisenhale gallery is also a bit funny to find, but worth it - great works.

gimpel fils and lazarides greek st galleries for street art. and stolen space in truman brewery.

riflemaker - solid, in soho.

cheapish food. 

ok, not that you'll need to eat cheaply, but if you do:

korean cafe at holborn, near centrepoint -  had nori and korean street food (it's kinda near gimpel fils)

bagel joints at the top end of brick lane. so bad, but so good.

home made soup from the corner shop on bedford st (i think) off tottencourt road

il padrone pizza in finsbury park is la porchetta in north london. 

southwark is a good area for some nice food too - there was a great turkish place that will took me too last time that was pretty rad. and pubs serve proper good food there.

writing/literature

ministry of stories -  you, of all people, have to check out the ministry of stories on hoxton road. it's the london version of the superhero shop you went to in new york. but with a monster-theme. i so badly wanted to buy you a can of a vague sense of unease on the way home, but had zero money or baggage space.

ICA, RA, RCA, BA, DC and the barbican-  insitutute for contemporary art, royal academy, royal college of art, british academy, dana centre and the barbican - all have ongoing programs for talks, presentations and interesting stuff. stuff that will fill your mind with amazing things. you should go.

clubs

resident advisor is a good site for clubbing/dance nights - if erol alkan is playing anywhere, go.

bourne & hollingsworth is around the corner from lantana and lazarides' rathbone place and on friday nights is absolutely jammed, but the cocktails are fun (espresso martini, served in a teacup) and there's a reasonable DJ once a fortnight. clare selby and i bullied the dancefloor one night and it ruled.

the w+k peeps put stuff on all the time too - they know better than anyone, probably.

bands book out like stupid amounts of time in advance - get in early.

xoyo is hipster city in shoreditch, but it's on all the time and they had some cool stuff last year.

outside london is also a great place to check out properly intense club nights and good emerging bands.

food warnings

don't get sushi or dumplings in london. the cost will make you cry, the quality is not worth it and you will just crave shanghai dumplings or $2 sushi from chinatown badly. imagine ben telling you this information so you believe me. but, there is a pretty decent asian grocery in chinatown, for cheapish asian groceries.

organic fruit boxes are the go. fresh fruit/vegetables are a bit light-on (compared to oz standards), so sort it out early. street market fruit/vegies are even better. and i think there's a farmer's market in victoria park area that's worthwhile going to.

travel

manchester, oxford, brighton and cornwall are places to check out - there's cool little shit happening there all the time. national express is pretty reasonable in advance.

live it dude.