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impatient, obnoxious, petty, argumentative, and obsessed over meaningless details

Monthly Archives: February 2010

people, the wire, its music

2 Comments Posted by on February 27, 2010

There are some people I know who love the wire and others who dont think it is for them. There are people who want to watch it and have heard all of this great stuff “about the wire” they are now afraid to dislike it. There are also the people who have heard too much about it and now dont want to see it at all.

I always wondered about the singers of the intro music. I even thought the singers on season 2 sounds like Lester Freamon (they must all sound alike). I think it lets the otherwise good season down … it is actually Tom Waites

The opening theme is “Way Down in the Hole”, a gospel- and blues-inspired song originally written by Tom Waits for his 1987 album Frank’s Wild Years. Each season uses a different recording of it against a different opening sequence, with the theme being performed, in order, by the Blind Boys of Alabama, Waits himself, the Neville Brothers, “DoMaJe” and Steve Earle. Season four’s version of “Way Down in the Hole” was arranged and recorded specifically for the show, and is performed by five Baltimore teenagers: Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir, and Avery Bargasse. Read more of this post

other

motown

1 Comment Posted by on February 26, 2010

I found this while looking for some info about Jim McDaid the former Irish Junior transport Minister who drove the wrong way down a dual carriageway well over the legal limit. It is the Moville Co.Donegal St Patricks Day parade 2007:

stilt walkers:

lebelled as centra:

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a song for willie

2 Comments Posted by on February 26, 2010

i still prefer the Up the Ra song:

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other, rants, satire ,

RANK

1 Comment Posted by on February 25, 2010

Follow up to some long forgotten rants about taxi’s

THE TAXI industry in Ireland has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. According to figures from the Commission for Taxi Regulation, there were 4,218 taxis in 2000, before deregulation, and on January 1st this year there were 21,139. The face of the industry has also changed, becoming multi-ethnic in the intervening years, writes FIONA GARTLAND

During the boom years, although there were tensions as numbers grew and as more nationalities entered the industry, there was enough work to provide a living for most. However, the recession has seen a sharp drop in business for taxi drivers, competition for work has intensified and racial tensions are on the rise.

Anecdotes about African drivers are widespread within the industry (I know – my husband drives a taxi): the driver who was seen abandoning the taxi at a Garda checkpoint; the driver who needed directions from his passenger to get from Abbey Street to St Stephen’s Green; the driver who took the long way from Dublin airport to Drumcondra; the driver who did not have any identification displayed on his dashboard.

Some Irish-born drivers also complain that newcomers break long-established unwritten protocols, which include not overtaking another taxi to pick up a fare or to try to get ahead on a rank, and leaving a fare to the taxi behind you if it has just let you out of a side road.

How did they print these lines:

Other foreign drivers have complained about having cigarette smoke blown in their faces or of being referred to as “the nigger”. Read more of this post

civil disorder, other, rants , , , , ,

10

1 Comment Posted by on February 23, 2010

It would be unlike me to ignore Ronan O’Gara this week. He was set up by the media after all. First it was Kevin Myers having a go at him and every Irish person it seems. Ronan was then credited with this well written letter.

I HAVE to reply to the scurrilous article by Kevin Myers (Irish Independent, February 16), although it takes a lot for me, as a professional sportsman, to react to a newspaper article.

However, rugby is my place of work and whether it’s with Munster, Ireland or the Lions, I take my work very seriously.

I do not accept being castigated by a journalist who I suspect knows nothing about rugby but somehow appoints himself as an ‘expert’. This falls well short of the journalistic standards I would expect from one of our main national newspapers.

Ireland was well beaten last Saturday by a French team that was better on the day. I am but one of that Irish team and I’m well known for taking my share of responsibility, regardless of the outcome of any game.

I know only too well the build-up to Saturday’s game — and indeed to other recent internationals — in relation to my position.

I am well able to analyse any game of rugby and would often be accused by those whom I most trust of being my own harshest critic. However, in relation to last Saturday, I will not be scapegoated by Mr Myers or any journalist who wants to write in that fashion.

Any article needs to be balanced and I would suggest to you, Mr Editor, that that is the least you should demand from your journalists, whether freelance or otherwise.

Ronan O’Gara
ROCHESTOWN, CORK

Irish Independent

According to some O’Gara does not live in Rochestown so it has to be fake.

Others dislike Sexton for gloating after a Leinster try vs Munster.

Sexton is a tramp of the highest accord, the way he stuck his face in ROG after the first try was scandalous, pure soccer mob mentality. He has achieved nothing of note in his career.

That reaction will be remembered for a long time, some day he’ll get his comepuance from Munster.

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rants , , , , ,

copper face jacks st.

Comments Off Posted by on February 18, 2010

Lets face it, harcourt st at night may aswell be called Copper Face Jacks St. The night club itself is apparently becoming popular and “the fake tan is rubbing off on the farmers tan to create a muddy, bloody blend of sleaze and public order offences”.

Mary C. from dublin writes: writes:

If you’re a girl, expect to be harassed constantly by tactless, slobbering, white-guy dancing drunk idiots. This is the only place I’ve ever been hit on while sitting on my boyfriend’s lap, so don’t think you’re ever safe here.

A tourist observation:

Oh my lord. This place….

Monday night–bumping with nurses, Gardas and seemingly hundred of others that needed to binge drink til nearly 3 in the morning.

Drinks and smokes were flowing. Glasses were consistently shattering. The clothes were minimal, particularly on the girl who’s bum fell out of her dress at last call. Sweating is inevitable as you dance away the evening, and in my case, all of the next day.

The smoker’s patio was heaving with people. We placed ourselves in the tiny room on the way to the patio and danced the night away.

it is certainly a site worth seeing if you are looking for a wild night out.

Please note: I am writing this review as a tourist, so, keep that in mind.

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potato men

1 Comment Posted by on February 18, 2010

“Handlers fail to stop Cowen’s close-up with a giant spud”

In the popular episode of the Simpsons which featured U2, Homer sneaks into the Springfield Stadium claiming to be a ‘Potato Man.’ The security guards at the door quickly reply, “Where the hell have you been?” and let him in. This joke aimed at a rather wacky Irish stereotype may infact be true.

There was a protective cordon thrown around Brian Cowen as he arrived at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin for the launch of Paidi O Se’s football tournament. His media handlers were determined to protect their man to the bitter end. There was no way that the Taoiseach was going to be photographed standing next to a giant Mr Tayto.

independent.ie

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other

the irish mind and bonos inner dynamism

4 Comments Posted by on February 17, 2010

IDA Ireland has enlisted the support of Bono, the U2 singer, and the artist Louis le Brocquy in a 4 million drive to market Ireland as a prime business location for US multinationals.

In language far removed from IDA Ireland’s typical investment parlance, the body said “le Brocquy aimed to make a recognisable image of Bono’s outward appearance while attempting to portray what he conceives to be the wavelengths of his inner dynamism”.

The text of the advert itself is in a similar mode, stating that the flexible attitude of the Irish pervades the ecosystem. “The Irish mind. An abundant supply of that rare commodity you’ll need to bring your business to peak performance,” it says.

“The Irish. Creative. Imaginative. And flexible. Agile minds with a unique capacity to initiate, and innovate, without being directed. Always thinking on their feet. Adapting and improving. Generating new knowledge and new ideas. Working together to find new ways of getting things done. Better and faster.”

This contrasts nicely with the children who have thrown their toys out of the pram: Read more of this post

other, satire , , , , ,

All changed, changed utterly

2 Comments Posted by on February 17, 2010

Michael Collins Grave

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. O when may it suffice?

Yeats in Easter 1916.

Brian Cowen wants economic sacrifice and needs the place looking great as if 2016 is some sort of tidy towns parade:

TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen last night invoked the centenary of the Easter Rising in five years’ time as he made a “rallying cry” urging people to make short-term sacrifices to allow a return to prosperity by 2016.

“Yes, we were a generation that lived at a time and place of prosperity, but when challenged we looked to the future and looked beyond our own self-interest and said that, yes, this is a country that is worth working for and building.

“Yes, we can say in 2016 when we get to O’Connell Street and look up at those men and women of idealism that gave us the chance to be the country we are that: ‘Yes, we did not fail our children, but we did not fail our country either,’” he said.

irishtimes.com

The original proclamation of 1916 was very idealistic in its goals. It can have my allegiance once it comes up with its side of the bargain. Read more of this post

other, rants , , , , , ,

giving shit up

Comments Off Posted by on February 16, 2010

also known as lent.

People urged to give up iPods for Lent

British church leaders are encouraging people to give up their iPods for Lent, instead of more traditional vices such as chocolate, to help save the planet.

The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, and the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, are among those calling for a carbon fast for Lent which begins tomorrow.

As well as spending a day without using technology such as mobile phones or iPods, the 46 daily suggestions also include eating by candlelight, cutting meat and vegetables thinner so they cook faster and flushing the toilet less often.

“Instead of giving up chocolate for Lent, why not fast for justice … to help those suffering from the effects of climate change,” said Bishop Jones.

Reuters

Fasting for 40 days was invented when Jesus gave up eating and started tripping:

The temptation of Christ is detailed in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to these texts, after being baptized, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the desert. During this time, the devil appeared to Jesus and tempted him. Jesus having refused each temptation, the devil departed and angels came and brought nourishment to Jesus.

In Luke’s and Matthew’s accounts, the devil tempts Jesus to:

* Make bread out of stone(s) to relieve his own hunger
* Free himself from a pinnacle by jumping and relying on angels to break his fall. The narrative of both Luke and Matthew has the devil quote Psalm 91:11-12 to show that God had promised this assistance, although the devil omits the part of that passage which makes clear that the guarantee applies only to accidents, not deliberate jumps.

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