NEW YORK GRAFFITI: PART 1

WASTEMAN OF THE WEEK: 030

WASTEMAN OF THE WEEK - KEITH VAZ

So man like Keith Vaz has been smashing it all over the news this week giving it big portions about not wanting the Coca Cola truck to come to Leicester. Naturally all the Facebook mums are fucking outraged beyond words at the Labour party grinch ruining Christmas. He spoke up mid week saying the truck is "not welcome" and went on to say "This national tour to promote sugar-laden drinks is ill-judged and unwise at a time of record diabetes and obesity levels.”

Ok real talk now I really don't give a fuck if the truck comes or not, I think the whole Coca Cola advert thing is one of the most boring played out things about Christmas. But Vaz acting like he's doing this for the better of the city is pathetic. A pathetic little self gain like that nonce Jamie Oliver when he was banning all the cool shit in schools. If Mums let their kids fizzy drinks, they will. They can just go to any shop, fuck the truck. People know fizzy drinks are bad for their kids and make their own decision. Also, wether there is a big truck in the middle of the Highcross or not isn't going to change kids views on Coca Cola the brand. They'll still see the advert every day. Have you tasted it? I'm a 26 year old man and it has me by the bollocks. It's delicious and I crave it all the time. These children have far weaker wills/ senses of what is good and bad for them than I do. Also, it must be noted that the Coca Cola truck doesn't even distribute free samples, it's just a brand building exercise.

Turns out our mate Keith has type 2 diabetes. He's obviously just gutted he can't get involved himself and wants to punish a load of little kids because he's fucked it for himself. The whole thing has back fired embarrassingly with campaigns and pages being launched against him, labelling him a hypocrite as old news articles showing him opening a sweet shop on Melton Road have resurfaced. It'll be interesting to see if the truck will end up coming or wether he was just powerlessly sounding up for the column inches.

WASTEMAN OF THE WEEK: 029

WASTEMAN OF THE WEEK - DJ KHALED

See I had to think long and had for this one. I've been tossing and turning. I've been struggling to come to terms with the truth. This weeks Wasteman of the Week is a wasteman I actually like. In the internet era people like DJ Khaled are absolutely sent from heaven. Whenever he gets in front of a camera it's fucking gold. He's released his new album this week and in doing so done the whole hip hop radio press run hip hop artists usually go through when dropping a new release.

The interview below is one of my favourite videos this year. He looks like he is wild coked up, just talking the most about absolutely everything. It really is incredible viewing. He is just so so funny through out, talking about his come up and why he deserves the respect of his critics. It's fascinating viewing, if not only for his struggle with saying the word 'accurate.' (16:00)

And even though we all know he is a wasteman, he actually comes out of it looking pretty good. He's a wasteman who we all love to hate. An anti hero, and realistically he makes the internet fucking fun. Remember the 'Say my name...you smart' skit? Like he didn't know what he is doing. He's a stupid fat idiot but I fucking get so so excited whenever there are new videos of him, so this week has been crazy.

ANOTHER ONE

NEW YORK: PART 3

Here's the third and final part of the stuff I saw in NY!

We were going for breakfast at like typical, shit breakfast dives most days. I still cannot understand how meat and syrup can taste so nice together. It's like the pancakes bridge the gap. I don't get it.

We visited the Yankee Stadium for a tour. Pretty sick, steeped in history even though it is the new one, the tour was obviously more about the clubs legacy than the actual building.

This guy was puuuure cracked out when we got in the queue to go in. Just a little reminder we were in the Bronx now haha.

Memorial park was at the back of the field and had little plaques dedicated to legendary players.

Baseballs signed by every New York Yankees player.

One thing that was true of New York is that they were sports mad. Like with basketball, American football, hockey and now soccer most sports having at least 2 New York teams, there is just sport constantly on, everywhere. Everyone is so proud to represent their city and it spills over into the sports culture. People everywhere, all the time wearing Mets jerseys and Nicks hats.

The subways were cool. I guess mainly being in Manhattan I didn't see the mental crackheads I wanted to see. Maybe next time I'll go stay in the Bronx.

On the Thursday we went to Madison Square Gardens to watch New York Rangers host Arizona Coyotes in the hockey.

The homeless are odd in NY. People just kind of leave them to it, and they don't beg you and shout things at you all the time like they do over here. I imagine more so than our parents generation, people of that age have grew up around a lot of homeless people in New York, and they seemed to be part of the cities identity.

We went to Hooters to watch the Liverpool game and eat before going to MSG. I had a blue cheese and bacon burger, it was pretty good.

Dan's steak and cheese looked so so good. I should have just got this.

The hockey was sickkkkk. Our seats were pretty high up but they were dead in the middle, we had such a great view of the game.

It was cancer awareness week in American sports, and this girl who was like 13 and was told she would never walk again came out to sing the national anthem. She does dance and shit now, she was just killing it. Everyone gave her a standing ovation and cheered for her so loud. It was such a moment.

couple mandem

As we came out of MSG we had a little mooch around Times Square at night. It was so so lit up.

It was so exhausting, there was so much foot traffic. Just non stop people all the time.

Some of the police had these sick little one man electric cars. It's got the bar for the flashing lights on the top and I assume, with that, a siren. I wonder how fast they go. Can't really imagine chipping down the highway chasing an escaped criminal in this, can you?

Yeah same

The next morning we went to a batting cage. I was so sore for days after. Obviously didn't warm up, why would you bother? It was pretty fun. Felt all inspired and shit after touring the Yankee stadium.

I'm going to find it so hard to convince my kids not to just hammer fizzy pop and throw sweets into their faces when I'm still gonna be about that when I'm old

This was pretty cool. We stayed in Little Italy on out last night.

Obviously went out for a quick sloz

All fucking week I was getting nosebleeds. It was mental. Imagine being me, in New York, trying to be all cool and give the nightlife a bang and I get a fucking nosebleed in the club. Imagine that. What a fucking born nerd.

T with a big pizza. I really fucked it on our last day. we ate out three times and every single time I got something so so shit compared to the other lads.

Since I've been writing my blog and photographing food for it I've affected this weird annoying trait where if one of my friends is going to order the same thing as me I'll change my order usually. Because I want to see as much of the food as possible. I did this here and I fucked myself over. I'm going to change it as of TODAY

Cinnamon Jolly Ranchers. What a time to be alive. I wish British confectionary companies took cinnamon as seriously as American does.

I found this hipster doughnut and coffee place near china town when we were mooching about on the last day. Look at this fucking doughnut! I was so sickly and nice. Man, the food in NY was incredible.

I don't think i've ever had so long to wait from booking a holiday to actually going on it, and NY really didn't disappoint. I felt completely knackered when we got back, Dan had a pedometer (lol) on some app on his phone running by accident and we were walking 25-30 km per day haha. It was so tiring, I feel like we fitted so much in. If you've never been and you like city living, and like visiting London and so on you'd love it. It's hectic and exhausting but I cannot wait to go back.