City Love Companions

Glasgow stands out as a city of stark, hardworking people. That describes Scotland in general, but this particular city has a distinct industrial feel to it. I love it. Things don’t peacefully “flow” in Glasgow, things plow through like a tank. It’s dark, loud, indelicate and uniquely beautiful. It’s the kind of place that nourishes a melancholic talent. Franz Ferdinand and Mogwai; both bands started out in Glasgow. So did Grant Morrison, whom I consider an amazing artist. He’s not a musician though; he’s a comic book author. He worked on my all-time favourites like the Hellblazer and Doom Patrol, among many others. Morrison is also a bit of an occult philosopher. He can go on for hours about how our perception of reality is similar to comic book pages. Nerd alert! Enough of ...

England isn’t the first choice people make when they’re considering their summer break destination, or any time of the year destination, for that matter. The weather can be really nasty, the women are not considered to be very attractive and also about the local food opinions differ a lot. Recently I heard someone saying that there should be a special place in hell for the person who invented vinegar-flavoured crisps. Apart from that I love them, those are just the stereotypes. Underneath those unappealing covers lies something very unique and interesting, for those that dare peek inside. London? No, Manchester! Locals say it’s the place to go for the true explorers, those that aren’t afraid to get their feet dirty, they even say that it is, in some aspects, superior to the capital...

Liverpool is one of the most important port towns in history. The city has prospered thanks to two important factors: slavery and The Beatles. People there are like Germans. They are constantly trying to free themselves from that horrible reputation and no matter what they do: they’re still looked down upon by others. People from West Africa were bought for a bit of cotton and transported via Liverpool to Virginia, where they were sold for a rum, more cotton and other wanna-haves in those days. Most Irish, Scottish and English immigrants also embarked on a journey to the New World from Liverpool. The first time I got particularly interested about this city was because of a peculiar comic book: Hellblazer. John Constantine was the main protagonist: a con artist, magician and an absolute f...

“There is no place like London” sang Johnny Depp at the very beginning of the Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The movie might not portray UK’s capital in the best of ways, namely a dirty, vermin-infested “cesspool”. But it was about London in the 18th century, and much has changed since those times. Even in that slightly unpleasant image, one thing that particularly stood out was the endless variety! The first scene in this peculiar movie shows what London all about: massive numbers of people pouring in from every corner of the world. Different shapes, sizes and races are what strikes you the most when visiting this lovely city. Even after the Brexit, London will remain a massive, crowded and busy metropolis. Actually it is one of the few cities in the world that ...