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Vice Blog

LONDON - RECYCLED FAVORS

I went to a surprise birthday party last night. Since there is no such thing as a successful surprise party without little hats, balloons, and those things you blow into that screech and unroll, our friend Pegah went to a pound shop in Dalston, well, actually a 98p shop, to stock up. It turns out that 98p shops employ the most resourceful recyclers in the world.

Being in a semi-constant state of agitation, I tend to chew things pretty much non-stop. I also like peeling labels off bottles (cue sexual frustration jibes), biting through pens, grinding my teeth into tiny stumps, and picking at my beard. Not usually a rewarding set of characteristics, but on this magical Sunday it all changed.

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As I nibbled through the party blower, its golden exterior started to unfurl, and it was then that i noticed the main body of the horn was made of rolled up film reel. This was clearly an amazing example of recycling. I screamed out about my discovery to the party, everyone went a bit quiet, one or two kind friends looked interested, but generally the party was underwhelmed.

But it got better. Once I started to analyse the party horn with more vigor I noticed that the golden skin was the wrapping off Solera Gran Reserva, a "Fine Brandy that Recalls the Bold heroism of Spain." Great, eh?

I unraveled further and found the rigid tip of the party blower to be made of a short section of bamboo.

Here are some pictures of the film reels. We couldn't scan them because they were smeared with beery spit that had adhered bamboo, feathers, Sellotape, and unidentifiable ooze to them. And we don't want that stuff on our scanner.

Does anyone know what movies these are from? The only film I've ever seen is

Phonebooth

with Colin Farrell, and I don't think this is it.

BRUCE