March 2005 Archives

What creeps me out about places like Flickr is when people you don't know, have never met, have never e-mailed with, 'friend' you. I wish there was a way you could 'unfriend' strangers. Or simply not allow it unless you give permission.

Dude, I's SO not your friend.

It's almost 6.30 am in The Netherlands, 8.30pm in San Diego. In a few minutes, U2 will be going on stage, for the first concert of their 2005 Vertigo tour.

Most of tonight's concert will be taking place while I commute to work, while several U2log.com editors and associates will be at the show. They will hopefully provide instant feedback on what's going on. G. is there too, but his texted updates regard his own well being more than that of the band. Natch.

My life will revolve around U2log.com/U2book.com for much of the rest of the year. See you on the other side.

Stupid, daylight bloody saving time.

Grr.

Brilliant. The BBC airs the first episode of the new Dr Who and somehow the sound of live show Strictly come dancing, the 'Idols'-like dancing competition that was on before, is still coming through. So there's Billie Piper, as Rose, being attacked by alien mannequins and Graham Norton is babbling in the background. Not the best start for the new series!

I was handed these colourful vouchers at the train station -- the design struck me as 'of this time, but looking back at the 20's and 30's (see 'Dutch Moderne').

Best quote I read this week (in Q Magazine... who appear to be taking a cue from Word these days) was from New Order's Bernard Sumner on meeting Greenday for the first time: 'Ah, the American Alarm!' Bwah!

I have a lot of the new New New Wave bands records, but The Killers' Hot Fuss is the one I keep coming back to because it genuinely makes me feel better and I keep turning to 'Indie Rock And Roll' for a boost. I think it will stand the test of time.

New albums to get acuainted with this week: New Order - Waiting for the Sirens Call, Nick Cave - B-sides and Rarities, Athlete - Tourist, Doves - Some Cities. Having an mp3 player makes it easier to focus on complete albums again. 4gb is, however, not enough for the voracious listener.
(Update: both Athlete and Doves go where I've stuck Coldplay. The bin.)

Almost everybody I know who got the flu/bad cold, got it twice this winter.

A colleague introduced me to the Paleolithic Diet. I'm not a diet-believer (unlike my step mother who has been dieting obsessively for the last 30 years.), but this one seems to make weird sense. Not that I'm ever going to be able to do without dairy products and starch, two of life's great comforts. But I have adapted my behaviour: more fruit, more raw root veg & meat, less spuds & rice.

I've never suffered from SAD before, but this year's winter definitely gave me the bloody blues. Glad to see the back of it.

Still debating whether I should fork out 70 euro a month for a fitness club .

I have Oink invites. Want Oink?

'House, MD' and 'Medium' are two of my favourite new tv shows. Plotwise, both aren't the best, but Hugh Laurie is compelling, even with the bad accent. And Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber (and the kids!) are portraying what must be the first ever realistic husband/wife/family relationship in the history of television.

The Office (USA, just started on NBC) isn't bad at all. It's just... exactly the same as the UK original. I think superfluous is the word.

Having never watched Dr Who before (bar the occasional glimpse), I come to the new series fresh and with no expectations other than wanting 'good tv'. Billie Piper (Rose) is just... surprising. A likeable female character who isn't a stick figure. I'll just have to repress the whole Chris Evans thing.

Unfortunately, Eccleston (The Doctor) is all kinds of weird, the way he holds his head and all. Will probably get used to it and keep watching.

Had forgotten Easter is my favourite holiday. It's Springtime, you get all the time off and none of the (family) obligations or emotions that Christmas/New Year bring. Wonderful.

I wish there was a single search interface for all Amazon stores. I often buy either from .com or co.uk and it would save a lot of time searching. And if possible, it should generate associate links for all stores too... Maybe it's already out there. Perhaps it could be done as a Firefox plugin.

It's amazing how quickly a body responds to exercise. I've had four 1-hour sessions at the physiotherapists' gym, doing all kinds of leg muscle exercises. The leg press machine was one I was told to be careful with and the first three times I couldn't really press more than 15 kilos before my knee started to hurt. Today 15 kilo felt like feathers and I had to go up to 40 before it felt right. Mr Physio said to try 50 next time and predicted I'd be doing 70, 80 soon. My thigh muscles feel a lot harder too. Just four trips to the gym, that's all it takes. (I must confess I also do exercises in between my gym visits, on the metro! Just tightening leg muscles in sets of 5. Nobody notices.)

Fabulous. Someone's started a 'Dunglish' weblog.

The Dutch are known for and pride themselves on their command of the English language, but they're a lot less good at it than they think they are. (Have you ever heard Dutch politicians speak English? Jaw droppingly bad.) Their need to show off their skills sometimes makes for hilarious examples. Check the blog for some.

English is also thought of as 'cool' by copy writers, so we're treated to mostly inapropriate and often cringeworthy English-language advertising: literal translations, grammatical errors, etc.

I've always thought I should keep track of them, write them down, but I never do. Now I don't have to. Awe, as they say, some.

My English is bloody good, but it is far from perfect. I started learning English at a very young age, 6 or 7, through English speaking relatives. In primary school we started age 10, it was a new initiative of the school I was at. I believe it's standard practice now, but I'm not sure. By the age of 12 I was more fluent than my teachers and did my school friends' homework and their written tests. We had a 'system'. Our teacher suspected what was happening, but he couldn't prove it and never caught us.

Sometimes I make 'Dunglish'-type mistakes, especially when I get tired. When I'm abroad, speaking English, for more than three weeks, something happens to the language part of my brain. I'll open my mouth and *think* I'm speaking English, but Dutch will come out and it takes a few seconds for me to realise it. A few vodka tonics fixes the problem. Do I think in English? Yes.

Two Dutch broadcasters are offering podcasts of some of their (hour long) radioshows. I subscribed, listened briefly, and unsubscribed.

Turns out I want to hear (short) podcasts made specifically for that medium rather than regular radio. Turns out I want to hear 'amateurs'. Odd that. Bit like reading blogs instead of regular media -- getting the view from the sideline.

Matt's offers Ev's Odeo demo talk from Etech as a download. Did somebody bring their chihuahua? What else could be making that barking sound?

The Odeo screenshots look slick.

Listening to Michael Geoghegan's Reel Reviews podcasts has rekindled my interest in film and I picked two classic movies on DVD today (both of which I have seen before): Once upon a time in the west, and Scarface. I hope I'll start paying more attention to film and filmmakers again, like I used to.

It got me thinking about films that I *haven't* seen or may have forgotten about. For example, I'm not sure I've seen It's a wonderful life, but I *must* have because you couldn't switch on the television in the early 70's or James Stewart was on it.

Anyway, here's a list of classic films I should have seen but haven't (and I'm vaguely using IMDB's list of Top rated 250 movies as a guide):

• Casablanca (Seen bits. Bogart never says 'Play it again, Sam.')
  
  
• Citizen Kane (It's a sleigh. That's all I know.)
  

• Dr Strangelove (seen parts)
  
  
• Psycho (I avoid horror)
  
  
• The Seven Samurai
  
  
• Rashômon (I don't think I've seen ANY Kurosawa, not even Ran)
  

• To kill a mockingbird (unsure)
  
  
• It's a wonderful life (unsure)
  
  
• The Manchurian Candidate
  
  
• On the Waterfront (Seen large parts)
  
  
• Touch of Evil (I'd never even heard of this one until recently.)
  

• The Shining (Daddy's home...)
  
  
• A Clockwork Orange
  
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (Haven't seen a lot of Kubrick, full stop.)
  
  
• Metropolis (Probably haven't got the patience.)
  

• Nosferatu (Hate vampire stuff, really. My Buffy/Angel love is a fluke.)
  
  
• The Night of the hunter (Love. Hate.)
  
  
• Brazil (Does Bowie play a shark in this?)
  
  

It's my intention to remedy these gaping holes in my cultural upbringing this year. (Made a quick trip to the video store... they only had the two Kurosawa films on DVD, none of the other ones.)

I've made 'best film' lists before, but here's a short list of films I'll never forget seeing, for whatever reason.

• Lawrence of Arabia (overwhelming scenery, O'Toole's eyes)
  
• The Omega Man (a lot more scary than I thought it would be)
  
• Gaslight (creepy and tense)
  

• The Man with the Golden Arm (Had not 'seen' addiction before and suddenly realised Sinatra could *act*.)
  
  

(A propos of Michael Geoghegan's name, he pronounces it 'go-hegan' - but I think in Ireland it would just be Go-gan.)

A few days ago I wrote a short post which later developed into a longer post. It went:

'Steven Levy asks: "Since anyone can write a Weblog, why is the blogosphere dominated by white males?"

My answer: Because it isn't.'

That was all and then later I started ranting why he didn't go out and ask Anil, or Dooce, and Rachel and Firda, or Salam Pax and other Iraqi and Iranian bloggers, the entire country of Brazil, etc. etc. And then I was done ranting and I deleted the post. Which is just as well, because Derek as usual expresses himself a lot better than I can. Go read Powazek: The Big Mirror.

Scoundrel cum poet Robert Blake after his 'not guilty' verdict:

After the verdict, he said he needed to find a job but would first go "cowboying."

"Cowboying is when you get in a motor home or a van and you just let the air blow in your hair," he said. "And you wind up in some little bar in Arizona someplace, and you shoot a game of one-hand nine-ball with some 90-year-old Portuguese woman that beats the hell out of you.

"And the next day you wind up in a park someplace playing chess with somebody, and you go see a high school play where they're doing 'West Side Story.'

"And you just roam around and get some revitalization, that there are human beings in the world, that there are people living their lives that have no agenda."

Maybe he could write a book about it all.

(Nobody knows who Robert Blake is anymore. I'm the oldest at work and in my circle of friends. It means that nobody remembers the stuff I grew up with. In fact, they don't know or remember stuff they should have grown up with. Lately that's making me a little sad.)

Had the strangest dream involving a boat, Nick Cave, the Pope and a Tsunami. It was slightly scary, what will all the mad water, but also fun, with Karol Wojtyla's hairdressing business on the side.

I suppose it's one of the lighter sides of being feverish and sick again.

Just bought a pair of GA tickets for U2 at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 8. The new pre-sale system U2 have conjured up with TM actually works (old fanclub 'zine subscribers get first pick). At 135 dollars in total (for 2 tics), this will be a comparatively 'cheap' show.

Thrilled. Have never been to New York. Also scared. Must save up money.

Only an hour delay on the way back. Good weekend, shopping, meeting friends, great gig. Sunny days, Sunday felt like Spring. Back at work now, most of the snow has melted but it's still cold.More about Declan O'Rourke's outstanding gig later. Some pics at Flickr, but I didn't put a whole lot of effort into them. Remind me not to take my migraine meds in the daytime - they make me very sleepy.

I worship at the shrine of Marks & Spencer, the only shop in the world where I can grab three pairs of jeans / trousers off the racks and know that they'll fit, perfectly, without having to try them on. I think most of their clothing is a bit, um, too old for me, eventhough I AM of that age, but trouser-wise M&S is da bomb. And it's even better now that I've found out that even their 'medium' length is short enough for a leprechaun like myself. Currently wearing brown rib cords for the first time since the 70's.

Other good shtuff in Dublin:

* The fruit smoothies at Stephen's Green shopping centre and at the airport (forgotten name of franchise)
* Room #25 at Kelly's Hotel (view, cleanliness), not to mention the unexpected price drop of (another) 10 Euro. Fifty Euro a night in the city centre is unheard of.
* Burgers and malts at Eddie Rockets. For junk food, they are top notch.
* John Kelly, who is one of the few gents in the business.

Bad shtuff:

* "Service" at the Octagon bar in the Clarence Hotel. Dear U2, please hire people who speak English and don't fight among each other. And when I ask for brown sauce, I don't want garlic sauce.
* Bad service just about everywhere. Ireland was my REFUGE from that, man, what the fuck?
* Ridiculous internet access pricing.
* Mr F. (The F. stands for Fucking unreliable cunt.)
* Iskander's. Formerly best kebab place in the world. Now inedible.
* Getting ripped off by taxi driver. 28 Euro for the airport - city centre drive. I remember when it was 8 pounds.

Finally landed in Dublin at 10.30pm local time (was supposed to arrive at 8pm). I was lucky, there were people on board who had been waiting at Schiphol Airport since yesterday and the woman in front of me,who had been travelling for 24 hours, was pulled from the flight because she had never actually checked in for the flight (yet she had been given a boarding pass!)

Total chaos.

When we finally boarded, we sat waiting on the tarmac for another hour or more. We were in a queue to be de-iced, but they made a mistake and we missed our slot and had to wait some more.

De-icing was fun - they hosed the plane down under very bright lights and then sprayed something (anti-freeze?) on it. It's a long process and I think it allowed for only 5 planes per hour to take off. Funnily my friend W., a flight attendant, was in another plane in the queue with me. We were texting each other. Aer Lingus crew said nothing about not using mobiles. They were going off left and right.

There was no food on the flight except Kitkats and Pringles. And no drinks except tomato and orange juice. 'We are running out of coffee and the wine bottles are broken. That'll be four euro, please.'

Too late to meet up with friends, so here I am talking to you. I'm having a chicken and stuffing sambo for dinner.

Ireland feels very mild and warm (+5). Like a blankie. 'Rest up', he says, but I am totally wired-uh.

Comic Sans walks into a bar and asks for a beer. Says the bartender: "Sorry, we don't serve your type here."

(Heard on my new favourite BBC programme, The Culture Show. Must get that new Francis Bacon book.)

Strange coincidence in iTunes today. 438 songs currently on my HD at work and I'm playing it shuffled. This is what I got:

First it played: A live version of David Bowie's version of the Pixies' Cactus. At the end of the song he explains it's either about a friend of Frank Black's in prison, or maybe Black's own experience in prison.

Then it gave me: Frank Black & Two pale boys version of Cactus.

Enter theme of the Twilight Zone.

Matt posts about iTalk and says:

"It's crazy to think you can store something like 20 hours of your own recordings with this and my mind races when thinking of how I would have used this technology when I was in college."

Which makes me go 'huh?'.

I got my first tape recorder when I was 9 (in 1972), which I used to record myself and my friends. (Unfortunately the cute little thing was lost during my parents' divorce, my mother's death and the ensuing mayhem. Have I ever written about that here? If not, I should.) There was a whole bunch of nothing in between, but I bought an AIWA recording walkman in 1989 and have had various gadgets to record stuff since then, tape, mini tape, DAT, MD. Most of them with better recording quality than the iTalk/iPod combination. So the technology to record stuff for posterity has been in the hands of 'amateurs' for ages. How come it's only sinking in now the iPod can do it? (Other than that most teenagers, college kids would probably not be interested in preserving moments for posterity.)

It seemed strange to gather in the club house while the courts were covered with a significant amount of snow and then be told 'the season starts in 4 weeks time'.

I haven't been a paying member of a tennis club in a while. Seven or eight years when I was in school and two seasons in the late 90's. But I've been playing on and off for thirty years and it's probably the sport I like best despite being very keen on softball as a teenager.

Nothing much has changed, from the looks of it. The club is 101 years old, though the facilities are all brand new. Tennis is still a little 'elite'. 99% of the people invited to this new members introduction evening looked preppy. The ladies (Ponytail, lambswool sweater, getting a little too old for the student look. I mock, but in another dimension that would have been me.) were flirting with the pro within minutes. (No, not my type.)

Membership fees have changed. Quite a bit. I forked over 280 euro for a full membership and applied for advanced lessons (115 euro). Swimming's cheaper, but I hate it so very, very much.

So, by golly, I WILL show up for round robin evenings and social events and I WILL play with strangers, scary as they might be, and I WILL improve my serve after 30 years of mucking about.

It's been snowing on and off all day. Everybody, including myself, is complaining about the cold despite the fact that it's not even below zero. It's 1°C (34°F).

We've been through much worse ('96, it was -15 to -25 for a long time). We've either turned into wimps or our age is beginning to matter. Or maybe events this winter (watching all the tsunami footage did wreck my head, I'm telling ya) have worn us out and we're just gasping for the sun. I know I am. There's some darkness there that could do with the light.

There's a big gap somewhere at the back of my house, where my neighbour wrought a new balcony and windows, so there's a bitch of a cold draught going through the house, creating permafrost all over the place. Just over my keyboard feels like the North pole.

I'm hoping for an Irish heatwave this weekend.