Tumbleweed…

September 29, 2009 at 3:27 pm (Uncategorized) (, )

The stat counter looks like a graph mapping the Anglo Irish share price of late. The amount of new comments in the past week mirror the amount of new posts. It’s been like a Roman Polanski film set of late round here. Tumbleweed wouldn’t be seen dead near this place.

Things have gotten so bad I nearly signed up for twitter. But only nearly.

But all is well dear reader. For now I shall offer no new pearls but the world still turns. Just a post about posting.

It happens to the best of us.

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Oh the irony…

September 22, 2009 at 11:11 pm (Uncategorized) (, , , )

As seen on irishtimes.com

Dublin Bus

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As I lay awake last night…

September 22, 2009 at 1:10 pm (Uncategorized)

… I wondered… would I better be off grabbing the pitching wedge or the putter if some scumbag were to break in?

It’s amazing what enters one’s head as they lie awake.

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To hell in a handcart…

September 16, 2009 at 11:54 am (Uncategorized) (, , , , , )

NAMA this, FÁS that, John O’Donoghue acting the prick with his expenses and every other politician afraid to oust him because of their own expense abuse timebomb. We’re falling apart we really are.

I wouldn’t mind if our politicians and social leaders were merely corrupt. But corruption requires pre-meditation and an element of cleverness. What we have instead is incompetence and inefficiency. With Brian Cowen, Mary “Palin” Coughlan, Dirty Willie, and the Lenihans driving the bus that’s not gonna change any time soon.

It must be time for a change, if not a revolution. But we the electorate people stakeholders haven’t the balls to do anything about it. Even the Opposition appear not to want to get in and do anything, they’d rather Fianna Fail try and clean up their own mess it seems.

I genuinely am worried as to the state of the nation we pass on to our children and grandchildren. If this was France there’d be riots on the streets. If it was Thailand there’d be a military coup. If it was anywhere else there’d be public upheaval. But it’s not it’s Ireland. And we settle for this shit.

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Darren Sutherland, Rest in Peace…

September 14, 2009 at 10:43 pm (Uncategorized) (, , )

I just read on the Irish Times site that Irish boxer Darren Sutherland was today found dead by his manager Frank Moloney in his London home. It’s such shocking news. He was such a talent. A real gentleman with bundles of personality but he must’ve felt he couldn’t go on.

darren-sutherland_1206015c

It’s so hard to believe the news, I feel a real sense of loss. Reports say he was found hanged in his flat by his manager Moloney, who had a heart attack and was himself brought to hospital but is said to be recovering.

Another young man who went before his time. I can’t even begin to understand his situation but it happens all too often to young Irish men. He had the world at his feet it seemed but it must be he felt he couldn’t go on. Something was wrong but he couldn’t communicate it and instead sought to end it all. It’s so sad.

I never met him personally but I followed his Olympic adventure with great interest and have friends who knew him very well and have nerver had anything but good things to say about him. I really loved the boxing documentary about him called “Saviours”. He was such an admirable guy, Irish sport is a lesser place with his passing.

Messages of condolence are pouring in on his facebook page as I type. It’s so very sad to read.

May he rest in peace.

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A Monday Rant…

September 14, 2009 at 2:42 pm (Uncategorized) (, , , )

I intended having a delightful home made lunch today which was to involve bread, grated cheddar cheese, rocket salad, chorizo and raspberries. All bought within the past few days. All with best before dates of September 16th or later. Yet the only thing still edible is the chorizo. The cheese has the beginnings of mould as does the bread. The rocket salad is covered in a brownish liquid and smells like a knacker’s armpit. The raspberries have gone all hairy and bacteria laden. Also like a knacker’s armpit. Which is not good. Not good at all.

And I wouldn’t mind but the salad was sealed tightly and the cheese came in a resealable bag type thing and was airtight. I wonder are manufacturers taking the piss with their best before dates? I’d take them with a pinch of salt but that’d probably be gone off too. So is there a greater conspiracy at play here?

If I wasn’t so lazy I’d bring it all back and throw it at the supermarket’s door in protest. Or get my money back. One or t’other. But the point is this, I am most annoyed that my lunch options have dwindled to just chorizo.

So get your act together food manufacturers of Ireland. Or else. Yeah?

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A glorious day…

September 11, 2009 at 2:39 pm (Uncategorized) (, , )

Sitting on the Bull Wall eating a self made sandwich of magnificent proportions. The sun beaming down. Waves lapping against the rocks. Grasshoppers hopping. Fleet Foxes providing the rest of my soundtrack.

Old geezers swimming. The woman in the habib on the beach is jumping for joy. Even the junkies are scowling less than normal. And why not?

Toddlers toddle contentedly. The fat old man struggles to keep up. “Great day to be alive”, says he.

And he’s dead fucking right.

It sure is a glorious day to be alive.

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Sunday Independent = skin crawling rag

September 6, 2009 at 12:16 pm (Uncategorized) (, , , , , , )

Jody Corcoran, is a so-called journalist who writes hatchet pieces for the Sunday Independent. He has apparently walked the walk of life and, according to himself at least, asks “the hard questions” and “then stands over those questions and takes the flak”. Yeah right you cretinous fool.

In his Sunday Independent article entitled, with very little subtlety, “If Tubridy wanted to get personal, he should have asked questions like a man” he does a real hatchet job on Ryan Tubridy, his presentation of the latest incarnation of the Late Late Show and, by extension, RTE. It’s the most blatantly biased piece of work I have possibly ever read. And you’d never guess that the Sunday Independent is losing ad revenue by the bucketload. And it’s just a coincidence that RTE are a major competitor for ad revenue right?

Not like the Sindo to pick on soft targets at all. And it’s funny how they can one week lay into Brian Cowen and then cosy up to him like best mates the next. What’s it to be? Fish or fowl? The Sindo don’t mind. They’ll turn coat in an act just to find their next victim and a cheap headline.

Oh and Jody Corcoran is a self-trumpeting cretin and he writes for a skin crawling rag. The level of bias in that article is cringeworthy. Tubridy never stood a chance of being judged fairly and I’m certain Corcoran had most of it written before he even got to RTE. At the very least a decision was made to lay into Tubridy and praise Cowen. Praise that wasn’t deserved in my book.

Corcoran’s oneupmanship and lack of real critical judgement are there for all to see. He should take his head out of Cowen’s ass and have a look at his review again without the Sindo issue green tinted glasses. But in reality I doubt he has the balls to write a real, balanced piece. He probably doesn’t know how. And his bosses probably wouldn’t let him anyway.

In my opinion Tubridy did a fine job interviewing Brian Cowen. He was assured, confident and clearly well prepared. Granted he might have given Cowen a little more time to respond but then again Cowen doesn’t have the nous or the charm to demand his own right of reply. Barack Obama or Tony Blair he most certainly ain’t. In fact he’s not even close to Bertie when it comes to fighting his own corner.

And as for Corcoran’s “insider” quotes from “RTE big wigs”? I doubt anyone in any position of power would be that stupid to expose Tubridy in such a way. Chances are Corcoran made those quotes up to sensationalise the piece.

Sindo’s editorial team really should read that article with shame. The lack of honesty and/or integrity in their work is shocking. They give real journalists a bad name. If they went bust, with O’Reilly’s fortune going down the drain, well then the world would be a much better, more balanced place. It’s a damning indictment of their rag that I’d much rather buy a tabloid like the News of the World, the Sun or the Star than the Sunday Independent. And don’t even get me started on Barry Egan or Brendan O’Connor, never mind Eoghan Harris. Shower of useless, ego driven, self trumpeting, croneyist hacks of the lowest order.

Did I mention that Jody Corcoran is a cretin? Oh I did? Okay so.

For more on this go to Irish Election. For real reviews (not made up Sindo hatchet jobs) of Tubridy’s opening night go here and here.

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It’s never over till it’s over…

September 3, 2009 at 10:43 pm (Uncategorized) (, , , , , )

You know the way certain songs don’t end but instead just fade out slowly? Well that just bugs me greatly.

To me a song is, or should be, a narrative, a story almost. It has to start somewhere, obviously, and by the same token should end somewhere but very often they don’t they just fade out. It’s either lazy songwriting or lazy production but either way it’s lazy.

Many great songwriters and recording artists are guilty of it. There’s just too many to list unfortunately. In fact I’d say it’s been happening since the dawn of recorded music.

Maybe it’s dictated by a higher power, ie the record company, but still I feel cheated. Almost like I’ve been brought on a journey that trailed off to nowhere. It’s the equivalent of a movie just slowly fading to black in the middle of the third act as the projectionist slowly dims the projector’s bulb. No good. We need closure. We need conclusions.

Whether it ends on a cymbal crashing, a chord jangling or on a final word all I want is for songs to have proper, actual endings. Is that too much to ask?

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