Sunday drivers

I got caught in a tidal wave of Tyrone supporters on my way home from Swords on Sunday. Average speed on the M1 between Swords and Balbriggan was about 40kph.
Posted Sep. 27 2005, at 7:58 PM
Comments (4)
If you don't mind my saying so, this is a mysterious picture.
Posted by wwhyte on Sep. 28 2005, at 2:21 AM Delete
All explained! See above.
Posted by perfectlycromulent on Sep. 28 2005, at 7:29 PM Delete
Did Tyrone win?
Posted by Queenie on Sep. 29 2005, at 3:05 AM Delete
Tyrone did win. Apparently it was quite a close game though.
Posted by perfectlycromulent on Sep. 30 2005, at 4:27 PM Delete

Another return

I always like to ask the big questions. Questions like "where the hell did Ricky Martin go?" regularly pass my lips in the pub. I've asked all the gay guys I know (two of them) in case he was spirited away to some secret place that only they know about. But no-one seemed to know where Ricky was. Some people suggested he might be in Vegas, but no-one was sure.

And it was genuinely bugging me. Maybe not all the time, but it was there in the back of my head and would come to the fore whenever I reached "Livin' La Vida Loca" on my iPod.

And then this week he turned up on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and he really has been out of the public eye for four years or so. The relief was huge. Not that I was worried about him, I was more worried that I was out of touch with the world around me. If Ricky Martin could have a thriving career without me knowing about it, who knows what else I might be missing.

But it turns out that he has been travelling around the world and collecting new musical influences for his new album (his new single sounds a little like a man singing a song by that mad woman (Shabiya? Serena? What the hell was her name? And whatever happened to her, while I'm at it?) anyway, you know the one I mean).

He has also been busy setting up and administering The Ricky Martin Foundation and its offshoot charity People for Children, both of which are trying to stop trafficking of persons and modern day slavery.

Of course, as with all pop stars who claim to be trying to save the world, you wonder how much they're really doing and how much more money they could be giving and still live comfortably themselves, but Ricky seemed pretty serious about it. I was only annoyed that Jonathan Ross stopped him from talking about it. In fact I was very annoyed about it. Ricky wanted to say a little something and get the word out there, but Ross stopped him and asked could they talk about something else, as it was kind of depressing.

RTE should have invited him to come on The Late Late Show (actually, they might well have done, I wouldn't know, I don't watch it). It might be a bit rubbish and flat as a pancake, but at least it's a major Friday night entertainment show that's willing to recognise that Friday night entertainment can be, well, a bit more serious.

Certainly it turns out that Ricky's not very funny, bless him. But he does own four rescued dogs, which makes me like him even more than I did before.

SHAKIRA! That's her name. I knew it would come back eventually. What the hell ever happened to her?

I even pulled out my good boob!

Imagine if Raising Arizona was a sitcom, and instead of Nicolas Cage, it had Jason Lee in it. Clearly this is how My Name is Earl was sold in the first place, and it almost kind of lives up to it. Okay, there isn't a laugh every minute, but the first episode has an awful lot of story to get through. We shall see how well it goes.
Posted Sep. 24 2005, at 8:57 AM
Comments (2)
This really is quite fun. it works only because Jason Lee is in it but then he is great so that't not surprising. I hope it stays good and I hope it lasts more than a single series.
Posted by Keith on Sep. 24 2005, at 7:23 PM Delete
Are you sure that's not Harry Enfield in disguise? When and where is it on btw?
Posted by Mark on Sep. 26 2005, at 1:55 PM Delete

41: Plain wrapper please

James Morrow's This is the Way the World Ends is part of Gollancz's yellow sci-fi series. I'm not sure whether that's the same series as the other Gollancz one, but with different packaging, or if it's a completely separate and somehow more lofty series. In any case, the design catches the eye and is old-fashioned and makes the book somehow more appealing with its plainness and lack of dodgy cover art.

And the contents? Well, the blurb on the front comes from the NYRB and claims that if Kurt Vonnegut and Jonathan Schell had collaborated on an anti-nuclear novel, it would be like this. WIthout knowing anything about Jonathan Schell, I'd say that's a far more accurate description than most blurbs I've read. This book has the same Vonnegut weary humour, the same silly quirks that are sometimes great and sometimes not so great, and the same overall desire to see people do the right thing and not make the same mistakes every time.

The book is slightly too long, and there are some episodes that I just wanted to skip right over, but on the whole it's a thumping read with some very moving moments.
Posted Sep. 24 2005, at 8:01 AM
Comments (1)
I'm up early too!
Those Gollancz yellow-jackets have been around for decades, they were always a good way of finding SF in the library.
Posted by Ray on Sep. 24 2005, at 8:10 AM Delete

It's back

It's back

I finally figured out how to get the PC to do its magic, and there it was. And all's right with the bubble I live in, at least for 45 minutes until that one white word punches up onto the screen and makes me shout at it.

Bloody telly. It's great sometimes.
Posted Sep. 23 2005, at 10:45 PM
Comments (3)
Damn, this is a great show. The first five minutes are almost worth the months of waiting.
Posted by Keith on Sep. 23 2005, at 10:51 PM Delete
When are the "I'm spry!" t-shirts arriving?
Posted by perfectlycromulent on Sep. 23 2005, at 10:51 PM Delete
Speaking of great telly, my housemate Marissa hasn't seen the last episode of SATC (not great telly but some of the earlier episodes were) and I completely spoiled it for her last night.

Doh!
Posted by Queenie on Sep. 29 2005, at 3:07 AM Delete

Defence against zombies

This is about as close as I can get to actually putting up a picture of zombies on my blog. I'm primarily posting this to assure Keith that I'm remembering to lock the doors at night while he's away. Other precautions include:

* Making sure there's a phone and a torch by the bed at all times. There's a sort of ESB strike on at the moment, so you can't be too sure the power isn't going to mysteriously go out.
* Carrying a big stick when walking the dogs round the estate at night. This also comes in handy for bopping that annoying black and white dog on the head, although I've discovered that the best way to deal with him is to change my route so as not to disturb him.
* Lighting the candles in the living room every night, so that I don't have to do it if the power goes out. Of course this is a bit of a double-edged sword. If I do light the candles, I can see, but the zombies can also see that the candles are lit. Perhaps I will have to get blackout blinds. Oh great. Now I'm thinking about that creepy Dr. Who episode.
* Ending each night with a Horlicks and Kahlua. For guaranteed sleepiness.

Defence against zombies

This is about as close as I can get to actually putting up a picture of zombies on my blog. I'm primarily posting this to assure Keith that I'm remembering to lock the doors at night while he's away. Other precautions include:

* Making sure there's a phone and a torch by the bed at all times. There's a sort of ESB strike on at the moment, so you can't be too sure the power isn't going to mysteriously go out.
* Carrying a big stick when walking the dogs round the estate at night. This also comes in handy for bopping that annoying black and white dog on the head, although I've discovered that the best way to deal with him is to change my route so as not to disturb him.
* Lighting the candles in the living room every night, so that I don't have to do it if the power goes out. Of course this is a bit of a double-edged sword. If I do light the candles, I can see, but the zombies can also see that the candles are lit. Perhaps I will have to get blackout blinds. Oh great. Now I'm thinking about that creepy Dr. Who episode.
* Ending each night with a Horlicks and Kahlua. For guaranteed sleepiness.

Pondering

There isn't anything external for me to photograph at the moment, so here I am, pondering. I suspect that this t-shirt I've bought looks like scrubs. I'm wondering if I should get a new, more text-friendly blog. No-one really uses their Newbay blog for writing, it's all for taking pictures of their mates - here we are on holidays, here's the baby walking, here's a stage far away which may or may not feature a band, here we are all drunk - but then I remember that I have nothing really to talk about. I have only three topics of conversation - dogs, shop, er... (I'm sure I have a third! I have a third, don't I?) and they're fairly well covered here.

I fear turning into Roisin Ingle. Difference is, I'm not expecting anyone to pay to read what I have to say. And if I did, I think I'd try harder to have something to say. What I didn't mention about her book is the thing that annoyed me the most. Saying "but I can only write about myself" is the journalistic equivalent of saying "but I'm a bastard and I'll cheat on you". Just because you admit to it doesn't make it okay.
Posted Sep. 21 2005, at 9:01 PM
Comments (6)
Books is the third thing! You do good books!
Posted by wwhyte on Sep. 22 2005, at 2:39 PM Delete
Ah gwan would ya! Telly, books, film, music, your family, your friends, politics, zombies, blogging, the interweb, mailing people, there's some things you talk about. That everyone talks about. You're just focusing on your thoughts cos you're on your own. You get used to it after a bit...... if the zombies don't get you!!!
Posted by Queenie on Sep. 22 2005, at 10:42 PM Delete
I pledge multiple airstrikes in support of a new, more text heavy regime.
Posted by oldrottenhat on Sep. 23 2005, at 1:57 PM Delete
Your hair looks great btw. I went to the gorgeous Gabe for highlights and he charged me a fortune for them. Naughty boy!
Posted by Queenie on Sep. 23 2005, at 5:32 PM Delete
What a weasel! See, he sucks you in with the promise of well-done hair at a low cost, and then he hits you big for the highlights. I hope they're suitably autumnal, anyway.

Thanks for good thoughts, all. I don't really fear turning into Roisin Ingle, (that's another mention of her that will surely get the Bungle fans out in force. Hey, Bunglors!) I highly doubt that La Ingle spent her day fantasising about Hugh Laurie while trying to pin down the finer points of double-blind controlled trials and watching the wind blow through the long, long grass in the front garden which SOMEONE ELSE should have cut before they went away.
I wonder how many more times I'll have to cut the grass this year.
Ah crap. I can hear Dennis from next door with his mower out. The guilt stirs within me. Time to open another pack of Walkers, text in to win an iPod (just how much are vodafone charging me for these short-code texts, I wonder) and watch My Name is Earl.
Posted by on Sep. 23 2005, at 5:44 PM Delete
My Name is Earl is quite good really. Someone else would definitely have cut the grass but his family insisted on seeing him that weekend and everyone knows you can only cut the grass on a weekend. Also, about the Hugh Laurie: Oi, none of that!
Posted by keith on Sep. 24 2005, at 12:31 AM Delete

40: An utterly pointless book

Oh man, is this book ever not my choice of reading material. Thing is, it's hard to see whose choice of reading material it possibly could be. Even if you liked Ingle's weekly column in the Irish Times magazine, you couldn't possibly want to read 400 pages of it in poorly-produced book form, could you?
Posted Sep. 19 2005, at 11:36 AM
Comments (6)
400 pages?? Is the font 40pt?!
Posted by davem on Sep. 19 2005, at 2:24 PM Delete
God, Dave, I wish. Believe me, I was embarrassed to be seen reading this in public. I'm also amused at how the cover design makes it look like she's a witch trapped in a chick lit novel that also somehow looks like a Rough Guide. Well done, Hodder.
Posted by perfectlycromulent on Sep. 19 2005, at 5:48 PM Delete
have you seen the wonder of this yet:
http://roisinbungle.blogspot.com/
Posted by angela on Sep. 20 2005, at 3:27 PM Delete
Roisin Bungle is fab.
Posted by Queenie on Sep. 21 2005, at 3:14 PM Delete
Ingle watch out, Bungle is coming.
Posted by Bunglefan on Sep. 23 2005, at 2:40 PM Delete
Dont want to read it-hate the column. Boring....
Posted by critic extraordinaire on Sep. 30 2005, at 9:46 AM Delete

39: The sea port of Slane

Daphne du Maurier is best known for her stirring romances set in Cornwall. She should, perhaps, not have strayed so far as to try and set one of her romances in Ireland, because she clearly never came over here. If she had, she would know that Slane is not a major sea port and there aren't many places in Ireland called Doonhaven.

Poor research aside, Hungry Hill features an Anglo-Irish family who were granted the land in previous generations and have now set up a copper mine on Hungry Hill, much to the consternation of local family the Donovans, who claim to have owned the land all this time. Family generations rise and die and the mines produce and dwindle and still the feud between the English and the locals carrys on, the only constant in a world where politics and technology should be changing everything.

38: Not so wise

Back to normal after the excitement of trips abroad and weddings and all. I only read two books on holidays this time round, and I'm only sorry that one of them was Philippa Gregory's The Wise Woman. A wise woman would avoid it, is what I'm saying. Paul Verhoeven could probably do a lot with it, but the story is boring, not on of the characters is remotely sympathetic, the sex scenes are more nauseating than anything else, and the magic, yes, magic, is annoying and forced. I think I struck it lucky with the first two of her books I read, it's been downhill ever since.

Did anyone else see this?

I thought it was pretty funny.

Lovely Lunenberg and Peggy's Cove

Today we hired the biggest car I've ever driven and we drove to Peggy's Cove (home of the most photographed image in Canada, according to Queenie) and Lunenberg. We saw many salty things as well as old-timey houses and friendly dogs. Good day all round.
Posted Sep. 05 2005, at 3:37 AM
Comments (2)
Is that a braclette I see on Keith's right arm?
Posted by caelen on Sep. 05 2005, at 2:39 PM Delete
No idea what a braclette is but the wristband is the Canadian makepovertyhistory one.
Posted by watchdog on Sep. 06 2005, at 5:02 AM Delete

Married!

At about 2.15 today, Atlantic time, under a tree in the Public Gardens in Halifax. Thanks to Gary Dockendorff, who married us and gave a lovely and entirely god-free ceremony, and made a little souvenir booklet for us to take home. Aw.
Posted Sep. 02 2005, at 10:09 PM
Comments (21)
Yay! Congratulations!
Posted by Ray on Sep. 02 2005, at 10:30 PM Delete
Huzzah!
Posted by Simon on Sep. 02 2005, at 10:55 PM Delete
Hurray! Hats in the air! Yowsah!
Posted by Marco Maggie Lydia & Bob the bump on Sep. 02 2005, at 11:19 PM Delete
Happy merry!
Posted by wwhyte on Sep. 02 2005, at 11:48 PM Delete
And I was there and it was great - Queenie
Posted by on Sep. 03 2005, at 6:17 AM Delete
Happy happy! The groom looked lovely in white.
Posted by Myles on Sep. 03 2005, at 7:49 AM Delete
Ah, yis look great. Sounds like a lovely ceremony.
Posted by Derval on Sep. 03 2005, at 8:41 AM Delete
Hooray!
Posted by Andrew on Sep. 03 2005, at 10:30 AM Delete
Did you put string and tin cans on the back of the boat and spray Just Married in shaving cream?
Posted by StevieB on Sep. 03 2005, at 12:33 PM Delete
wow, congrats!, lovely shirt keith!
Posted by lizarocks on Sep. 03 2005, at 4:53 PM Delete
yay! It all looks really lovely! Congrats you guys
Posted by Barbara & caelen on Sep. 03 2005, at 11:20 PM Delete
Congratulations!
Posted by angela on Sep. 05 2005, at 9:37 AM Delete
Whee! Congratulations to you both!
Posted by Lisa on Sep. 05 2005, at 9:47 AM Delete
Congratulations! Looks lovely.
Posted by Mark on Sep. 05 2005, at 11:03 AM Delete
Well done Keith, you really make a good blushing bride
Posted by The Hoff on Sep. 05 2005, at 2:42 PM Delete
Congrats to you both of you and best of luck!
Posted by Adrian Turcu on Sep. 05 2005, at 2:47 PM Delete
Well done Keith!
Posted by Dave on Sep. 05 2005, at 2:54 PM Delete
Congratulations to both of you. Always good to see a bride wearing black!
Posted by Ivan on Sep. 05 2005, at 5:20 PM Delete
Awh! Looked like a wonderful day (saw the photos from Lorraine's blog). Congrats and here's wishing you both all the luck in the world!!
Posted by Pauline on Sep. 06 2005, at 9:09 AM Delete
You both look so beautiful. Huge happiness to all. I'm crying. Nice tears.
Posted by Paul Byrne on Sep. 07 2005, at 12:37 AM Delete
congrats
Posted by anthony on Sep. 07 2005, at 11:50 AM