January 2005 Archives
3 AM on a Fridaynight. I'm tired and click a link to download an mp3. I get a popup screen that tells me that in order to use this service, I must install an ActiveX control. Yes or No. I click yes.
1 AM on a Sundaynight, I'm still trying to remove the oodles of spyware that wrecked my system, of which IST ist.bar is the main aggressor. Ad-aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, HijackThis and Microsoft's new anti spyware software (beta) are all initially powerless.
But I think I'm in the clear now. How did I do it?
The IST software shows up in XP's 'add / remove software' control panel. Duh.
Change of subject. So... Point Pleasant. What's with the boy priest, Father Thomas? Straight from the Harry Potter school of acting: "Keep mouth open at all times, look surprised."
Who are these people. Why should I care? I can't keep the men apart. If you insist on a pretty people cast, can you at least pick people who are, um, pretty? Also, someone teach whoever is playing Christina to cut it with the 'look sideways, look scared, look down' spiel. She'd do well in silent movies.
Other than that, more James Morrison, please and give him better lines, fuck sake.
It's official, our band doesn't give a fuck about us. First they didn't want us in the front rows. Now we're not allowed to make more than one booking per tour. I.e. they want to get rid of their hardcore, traveling fans. They want new blood at gigs. Hardcore fans are tiresome. I know we are. We've also tirelessly supported the most uncool band in the history of music. And made them bluddy big.
Nope, they don't care one iota. I knew that already, but now we all do.
Update: It's like the ultimate midlife crisis. Instead of leaving their first wives, these men dump their first fans.
I can't possibly recommend a 500 page biography on the basis of its first, short introductary chapter. But if the rest of the book is as good as these first few pages, I will eventually urge you to read:
Dirk Bogarde: The Authorised Biography. (I was foolish enough to get the hardcover. The paperback will be out soon.)
The prologue is an account of the actor's death and an introduction to the woman who took care of him the last two years of his life, Sheila Maclean from County Donegal. Originally hired to nurse Bogarde for 6 weeks, Sheila says:
"... he was unique and had contributed a lot and he still had something to say and do. And that is when it became clear to me that I should stay longer than six weeks. I thought: 'To hell with this, I'm not going to be able to walk away.'"
Bogarde eventually asks her to stay, in a convoluted way:
"You know, it is getting close to the six weeks. What is it that you want to do? Because it is really important to me."
Sheila tells him she can stay on "a wee bit longer," not wanting to over do it. And he says:
"You have no idea how much of a relief that is to me. Because in all honesty I think you and I have the measure of each other."
Sheila tells John Coldstream, the biographer:
"And I understood exactly what he meant. Because I did think that was true -- that we did have the measure of each other."
I think I understand too.
Dirk Bogarde was the lead in four of my favourite films:
* Joseph Losey'sThe Servant
* Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter
* Luchino Visconti's La Caduta degli dei
('The Damned')
* and Death in Venice, also by Visconti
'They don't make 'em like that anymore,' is a trite thing to say, but honestly? I think two of those films would not be made in the current conservative climate. All four would be considered morbid.
Morbid suited Bogarde, who made a clean break from his early Rank matinee idol status, seeking roles that were as dark as his brooding looks.
What attracted me to him was the expressiveness of his eyes. He was subtle performer, intense, mysterious and dangerous as well as slightly fey. A gentleman with secrets. To me he was Britain's finest actor.
I'm looking to ship about 50 books and some t-shirts from Dublin to Amsterdam. I'm told surface shipping is the cheapest, but I contacted a company and got quoted £390. Does anyone have any experience in this?
This one goes out to a friend who's moving house today. Emigrating, as he calls it, although he won't be crossing country borders. But the river is wide and the feeling deep.
As I write this, he'll have locked the door. The house is empty but for the ghost. Hush, don't follow him. Haunt no more.
He is, for the moment, between houses. Uprooted, a vagrant, a traveller and a lodger for a while. Alone among friends.
I think of him, as I always do and hope for a blessed new life and new beginning, good health, joy, and many songs to sing.
God guard his home from roof to floor
The Twelve Apostles guard the door
Four good angels round each bed
Two at the foot and two at the head
Don't ask me how, but I managed to secure 4 (update: make that 3, one's spoken for) tickets (€ 365) for U2 in Brussels. But... I was already sorted for Brussels. Some heavy swapping will have to take place. (For London, or Paris)
The €356 price makes my heart go boom boom. And not in a good way. May stick to continental gigs only: Brussels, Gelsenkirchen, Paris, Amsterdam: 6 shows, 6 less than on the last tour, but these are less prosperous times.
Update: all gone in a swap for Gelsenkirchen. Jawohl, sir!
Here, in a nutshell, the reason why self linking on community weblogs is not allowed. From e-mail:
"I don't understand the no self link rule. Do you have something against my sites?"
I don't know who wrote this, but this made my day.
LIMBO (to the tune of Vertigo)
Unos dos tres catastrophe!!!!
`Turn it up Sebastian'
Site goes down, it's dark
There's turmoil in your head
You can hear your heart
You feel a dread so much stronger than
you thought ,Your eyes are wide
And you sold your soul
It can be bought
But then you start to wonder........
Hello, hello (f*ck that!)
I'm in a place called limbo (ticketbastard!)
I can't refresh the page as you already know
Can you please help me someone?
I can't Fail, Fail !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This site is full of holes
As the touts steal the tix
to sell for gold
They laugh as the
Boys play rock and roll
They know they can sell
And take our souls
I can't stand this page
Would you rather take a cheque?
The girl fromticketbast*rd
Will have my hands round her neck
Listening to the bullshit
Listening to the bullshit
Ooooon Hold, Ooooooon Hold!
Hello hello (F*ck that)
I'm in a place called limbo (ticketbast*rd)
A pre-sale code that they say they do not know
Can you please help me someone?
I can't fail!!!, Fail !!!!
site-failure
Oh yeah
Hours of fun.
*Sebastian Clayton vocal* :
none of this, none of this will be yours
none of this, none of this will be yours
none of this, none of this will be yours
Just give me 40 bucks for nothing in return..
Hello hello (f*ck that)
We're in a place called Limbo (Ticketmaster!)
I can't refresh the page as you already know
Can you please help me someone?
I can feel the life draining out of me, you f*ck ups are teaching me
how.....
how to scream!!!
SCREAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM !!!!
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
(Sebastian's the bloke who runs u2.com. He also happens to be Adam Clayton's brother. When the first complaints about U2.com came in, Seb was quoted 'laughing' about it on the Dave Fanning show. )
10:27 AM. 'If you are receiving this notice the current demand on the site is too high to allow you to continue at this moment.'
No tickets for the prol yet. Too many people online these days. Why don't they all f.o. to wherever they were in their pre-connected days.
Update 4pm: No joy whatsoever. I can't remember not being lucky with online sales. The problem lies in U2.com's presale code. Once there's an error, the system thinks the code has been used and renders it useless. Oh well, next shot on the 28th when general sales start. Wasted 40 dollars on U2.com membership. Bono can give another round in the Clarence. But someone I know will suffer greatly for this.
Meanwhile, USA pre-sales are starting. The first complaints are trickling in. Wheeeee.
Update 6pm: One of my mates got through for Brussels. So I'm sorted for that gig. London, however, not yet.
And so the madness begins, again: U2 Tour dates announced.
Tomorrow morning 10 AM, pre-sales for some of these concerts start. Hundreds of hardcore fans will be going insane, click-click-clicking, trying to score tickets (registered fans are allowed 2 to 4 tickets for one single show) through the abominable Ticketmaster sites. I'm sad to say they've taken over handling in my part of the world too.
The object of the operation? Get tickets that allow you inside the oval. In the USA, these are the cheapest tickets. What the pricing in Europe will be, I'm not sure yet.
I had planned a trip to IKEA today, for CD cases and a dining table, but on second thought that money will be needed to fund this year's U2 trek: Brussels, Gelsenkirchen, London, Paris, Amsterdam and maybe more. New York, perhaps, in November or so.
Looks like my 2005 is all mapped out.
Mr Hg came bearing presents. Am now proud owner of the little beauty above, a 1997 Toshiba Libretto 50CT, "the first notebook computer to weigh less than two pounds".
Now I've got to figure out how to get this thing online.
He: "So, I'm doing this thing about Jesus, that's gonna stir things up, don't you think?"
Me: "I'm a Prod, that stuff doesn't really affect me. This isn't Holy Catholic Ireland."
He: "Well, Catholics are the BEST people!"
Me: "OH YEAH? So that's why ALL your best friends are PRODS then, eh?"
He: ...
Baton-time again. Yes, yet another meme. Thanks, Mr Hamster. This time it's musical questions:
1. What's the total size of music files on your computer:
38.4 Gigabyte
2. What is the last CD you bought?
Finally got Coil's Horse Rotorvator on CD. (Stevo, pay them what you owe them!)
3. What is the last song you listened to before you read this post?
Morrissey - Spring-heeled Jim
4. Name four songs that you listen to a lot or that mean a lot to you.
Only four?
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Roberta Flack - Killing me softly
Declan O'Rourke - No place to hide
Frank Sinatra - Night and day
5. Which three people are you passing the baton on to and why?
I am going to pass on the baton to the first three people that ASK for it in the comments, because I'm embarrassed to approach anyone with this.
... and that would be:
1. Chris
2. Herb
3. ...
If you caught the recent Much Music U2 special on Canadian TV ('U2 Dismantled')... that was one of my pictures they used, full screen, in the Gavin Friday tour of Dublin section. Taken in Dublin in 1990. They must have got it from the website, or from the book if it's in there. No credit, of course. But still cool.
Me: 'So you like pink then?'
She (8-year-old): 'Yes'
[ 'ME TOO,' says the 4-year-old. She also says she wants to be a mum. With a baby in her belly.]
She: 'I like orange too.'
Me: 'Pink and orange?'
She: 'I like all the colours of nature. And pink and orange are nature colours.'
Me: *huh*
She: 'You see them in the sky in the morning... and in the evening.'
It's classic stuff, innit. You watch Top of the Pops. You like a song. You buy it/download it/blag it.
This week's score for me:
* Erasure - Breathe
Damn, that's a great vocal.
* Kasabian - Cut off.
Who? What? Where? Happy Mondays with fire up their arse. Must investigate.
The idea that my weekend's only two days long (as opposed to last week's and next week's 3-dayers) and the fact that one of those days will be spent at a birthday party and the other trying to find a bloody birthday present is making me feel ill.
This year's off to a bad start.
Some of you may have wondered 'Who the hell is Declan O'Rourke' since he was featured so prominently in my Best of list. Or perhaps you skipped the post, I wouldn't blame you.
I've now written a little more about this album and the song that first woke me up and then took my breath away on a bus journey from Dingle to Dublin:
U2log.com editors recommend // Declan O'Rourke - Since Kyabram
This album's seriously making me consider buying an (any) MP3 player because I don't want to be without it while I commute.
I'm going to strangle the next person who posts a bare URL to one of my sites stating 'I don't know how to do links'.
You. Are. Online. Fucking. Look. It. Up.
'I murdered him to death!', he says.
You can take the boy out of the Northside...
Somewhere between Cork and Tralee our (rather smelly and foul mouthed) bus driver is trying to turn into a bus station. A woman in a white car is in the way and can't seem to decide whether to drive forward, or backward and whether to turn or not.
Says the bus driver after cursing her to hell and back: "If she'd a plane, she'd be dangerous."
Best of my 2004
(records I played the most, no rationale involved)
* Declan O'Rourke - Since Kyabram
* U2 - How to dismantle an atomic bomb
* The Killers - Hot Fuss
* Robi Draco Rosa - Mad Love
Best of 2004
(records I should play more)
* Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus
* Morrissey - You are the quarry
* 90 day men - Panda Park
* Nancy Sinatra - Nancy Sinatra
* Leonard Cohen - Dear Heather
* The Dears - No Cities Left
* Ben Christophers - Spaces in Between
* Tim Booth - Bone
* Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
* Interpol - Antics
Best re-release / compilation
* Japan - back catalogue
* Kylie Minogue - Ultimate Kylie
* Virgin Prunes - back catalogue
Disappointments
(records I wanted to play, but didn't live up to expectation)
* George Michael - Patience
* Marianne Faithful - Before the poison
I don't get it
(records other people recommended)
* Arcade Fire - Funeral
Eclipsed
(records that didn't survive the hype)
* Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
God, sorry, Anton Corbijn is set to direct a biopic of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. It's going to be Anton's first feature film. This is great news and hopefully only the beginning of this new twist to his career.
More details at NME.com, who seem to think Anton's German. Arseholes.
Did anyone else receive an e-mail with a picture of a boy attached and the message 'A BOY MISSING HIS PARENTS B'CAUSE TSUNAMI', asking people to forward it to as many people as they can? Typical hoax stuff if you ask me. I think it's a picture of the (mosquito bitten) Swedish boy who was reunited with his dad in a Thai hospital in the first few days after the Tsunami struck.
Aer Lingus is offering 6 Euro flights to Dublin if you book before Thursday and fly before March 16. Return plus taxes it ends up 65 Euro.
Someone gimme a reason.
Update: Got one. Declan O'Rourke plays the Olympia on March 6. Booked. Wish me luck. Got two tickets and... well. Yeah.
Quiet start of the new year here in Amsterdam, well, except for the deafening noise of the fireworks outside. Nothing compared to the display in London, but still pretty amazing as usual.
I'm alone, but not lonesome and the virtual 'X' that was sent to me as the clock struck midnight CET gives me much to think about.
Now I'm watching Jools's Hootenanny and I'm thinking:
Shut. Up. Jamie. Cullum.
Grab a loved one, people, happy new year!