December 2001 Archives
While getting ready for tonight I'm listening to Daddylonglegs - Horse. ("Daddylonglegs write songs that, while largely instrumental, scale new heights to unearth waves of sonority and a rich tapestry of emotions.") Which is a 1999 release by Howie B. The cover was painted by Guggi, though my (promo) sleeve doesn't mention that. I picked it up for a few guilders, have had it for ages but this is the first time I've put it on. It ain't half bad.
You haven't lived if you haven't witnessed Dutch New Year's Eve. This is one of the reasons.
CNN.com In-Depth Specials - euro: ready or not. Check that map. 'We don't report from Amsterdam because our reporter is too busy, um, smoking.'
CNN.comDancers kick off euro party. Yes, let's do celebrate money.
Need advice: I haven't got a printer because I hardly ever print stuff. Now that I'm taking more photographs it would be nice to do colour prints of some of the concert shots. On heavy duty paper. What kind of printer should I buy?
My dumb question for Tom is: What is a weblog?
KHÂ... DHTML wizardry.
There are 15 people at work (out of a possible 70). Four people on my floor. What the HELL am I doing here?
Thinking of getting a real noah grey for my room.
Jamie Theakston's 'Rock Profiles' is so not funny, it's like a Dutch attempt to do Britcom.
Added Dutch logs to the Exit tab.
Jerwin sees the film and thinks 'excessive character development'. Which is funny because I didn't think there was enough of that. That's why I said 'TV series', each character gets episodes of their own...
Section31.com has 9 pages of script for the next Star Trek movie, called 'Nemesis'.
Stuff I got for Christmas (all unexpected and delightful): 20th Century Design (very cool pocket book full of pictures and details on design landmarks. thanks Charis.). Robbie Williams - Swing when you're winning ('Why get R.W. covering Sinatra... when you can get Sinatra doing Sinatra,' said a friend. Still, it'll get the kids interested in good music. From Walter.) J.S. Bach, Cantates de Noël (from Lars, seasonal music), Motorpsycho - Phanerothyme (I'm not a big fan of guitar rock. So this takes getting used to for me.From Els.) Also: 2 bottles of Bourgogne, Domaine Roux Pere & Fils and a bottle of Domaine d'Espagnac. A book of Amsterdam poetry from Martijn. Stuff to make sushi, from Merel. And a rather comfy 'Thinsulate' hat. Oh... and a promise of more from a rather slow Santa. And, on Christmas Day, a blinking SMS'ed tree. Which was sweet.
I'm probably the last person in the world to see the film Snatch. I put it off because of seeing one too many 'Lock Stock' type films. Enjoyed it, despite Brad Pitt. Also saw 'Blow Dry', simple little British film about hairdressing and family.
On a Saturday evening, when time no longer mattered, we were gathered in The Library, in Dublin's Central Hotel. I was hitting the vodka and tonic, S. was downing the pints. T. stuck to Cola, SJ. warmed to the Bushmills and E. handed out chocolate delights from a large supermarket box.
I don't remember why, but we ended up talking about Jungle Book, the Disney animated movie. It's by far my favourite Disney film, and I believe it to be the last good one.
I saw it in what must have been 1968, in the Cineac theatre in Amsterdam, which is now a Planet Hollywood branch. I was five years old. My mum took me.
not.so.soft : mayfly project 2001. Born. Eat. Shag. Die.
'I fuckin' hate Christmas,' he said, as we walked along Stephen's Green in the cold night air, 'It's all greed. You see people shoppin' and grabbin'. Do they really need all them things?'
I grinned.
Well I'm not buying presents for anyone.
I grinned some more.
Well, I'll get my mum something.
I smiled.
... and I'll get so-and-so something...
Who else, I thought.
... and my godchildren...
Yes, I thought.
But that's it.
I already knew what I was going to get him. We stopped on the corner of Grafton Street and said our goodbyes. Just one more thing.
Milo's been improving our Linklust: easier posting for all!
I got the Godfather Collection DVD. It's absolutely fucking brilliant, and I haven't even watched the films yet, just been flipping through the material on the extra disc. There's audio of Coppola's initial meeting with Nino Rota (who wrote the score) and Rota plays him some ideas on the piano. There's tons of extra footage, interviews with the film makers, family trees, etc etc. The packaging is gorgeous. In depth review.
... I'll have to get this too.
As I was raiding Waterstones for DVDs, I spotted a feature in this week's Radio Times about Dirk Bogarde. One of my favourite actors of all time, once a matinee idol and later an art house favourite in stunning movies such as 'Death in Venice', 'Gotterdammerung', 'The Servant' and 'The Nightporter'. Lived a closeted life all his life, a large part of which in France with his 'partner' (apparently a 'marriage blanc', Tony Forwood. There will be a two part documentary on his life which is said to be a little more revealing than his 8 part autobiography which - although beautifully written, never really gave me much insight into the man other than him being an intensely private man. Looking forward to that documentary (Christmas week). Here's an excellent article on him written after his death in 1999.
Euro Language... how the language will change because the money is.
The Official Ralph Bakshi Home Page... I did see his old Lord of the Rings feature on the big screen. And liked it.
Hoping for a speedy recovery for Matt's dad.
Hey, Shmuel Mikel is back.
From a Whisper to a Scream - The Living History of Irish Rock... an interesting documentary, and the only DVD we owned until today. If you're into Irish music, this is good viewing, if a little fragmented.
None of the shops nearby carried the Elevation DVD, so I settled for The Phantom Menace... a pretty stupid move, because I hated the film. So, dear readers, any suggestions for good DVDs? I'm not too keen on watching movies, unless there's a lot of interesting extras on the discs.
I'm also interested in tools to rip the movies to my harddisk, or make screen captures.
Um... that was ridiculously easy. Ten minutes work. Been watching my one and only DVD for the last 20 minutes. Off to the shops to get more!
Toshiba SD-M1612 DVD-ROM... the dangers of walking home after work and having a computer shop on the way. I said I got my ring instead of a DVD player, but then I got a St Nicholas bonus from work... so I compromised and got one for the PC, rather than the TV set.
Now listen to me curse all night trying to build this thing into my computer. Never done anything like that, but I suppose I should be able to.
Oi... what happened to the radiohead website?
I've got AIM running at work. My handle is EachManKills. Beep me.
Investigating Interactive Agents for Instant Messaging. Does anyone know of a 'googly minotaur' type bot for MSN Messenger? There's Smarterchild... but it doesn't seem to be on line. lemmeknow.
Ha ha ha, my mum's brother Frans is SLATED in this film review of Rage and Honour II: Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Indonesian actor Frans Tumbuan, who turns in a hammy performance of Alan Rickman-esque proportions.
You know what... if I was going to be slated, I'd KILL to be called Alan Rickman-esque. So here's to my uncle.
A young cousin of mine found me through our family site (which is in dire need of re-styling). She doesn't remember me. The last time I saw her she was 3 or 4 years old, I think. Around the time of my mother's death... 1975.
I really, really, really shouldn't be smoking.
I'm having trouble sleeping... nothing new there, but lately it doesn't even seem to affect me as much in the day. Maybe that's the real sign of old age.
Why do bubbles in a pint of Guinness float down?
I've never truly argued over anything on Metafilter before, but when it comes to Buffy, I feel my opinion counts as much as the other's. I don't appreciate someone trying to refute everything I say. That's why I usually don't involve myself in discussion. *weak smile*. I really don't like someone suggesting Buffy doesn't need Giles anymore.
And now I feel very silly for feeling so strongly about fictitious characters.
This week the people of the Netherlands were sent a voucher to pick up a small set of Euro coins, and some pictures of the banknotes to get used to them. Not too keen on the upcoming Euro banknotes, for the selfish reason that Dutch banknotes are the prettiest in the world. These new Euro notes look very... middle European. (pop up 279x500)
Euro-media.nl offers high resolution rights free images.
Lines & Splines mentions Dutch banknotes. Sigh. The prettiest in the world, and yes, they'll soon be gone.
Marianne Faithful, who called a good friend of mine a 'cunt' when she thought he wasn't listening, is collaborating with Blur and Pulp on her upcoming album, which is 'yay'-worthy, and also Beck and Billy Corgan, a little less 'yay'-worthy. I like the old hag.
Murphys red room is red. And their black room is blue.
37signals > Design Not Found > Snapshot (Aer Lingus). Make mine a Guinness.
So apparently, 17 percent of Dutch 'long time' internet users are losing interest in the medium. They say there's no fun to be had. I'd like to know what 'long time' means. I'd like to know when they got on line. I'd like to know what they used to do on line. And you know what? I hope they lose interest. I hope many more lose interest, and I hope a commercial web is a complete and utter failure, because frankly - the web is ruined. Surfing has become a nightmare of pop ups and floating flash ads. You cannot surf for pleasure anymore, unless you stick to a trusted route of adfree weblogs and related personal pages. It's infuriating. So fuck off everybody and clean up your mess while you're leaving. I'd like some peace and quiet on my screen, thanks.
Just got another Neubauten disc from the shop across the road: Silence Is Sexy. More gorgeous packaging. The owner of the shop is a fan, so his eyes light up whenever I buy something by 'em.
When I say I'm interested in actors, it's mostly in the roles they play - their characters. The human beings behind the personas tend to be... empty shells. They need their scripts to be someone, and they need to be told who to be. Giggly luvvies, the lot of 'em. Insufferably vain, and ruthless. If you're an actor reading this, however, I'm sure you are dead nice and can I have your autograph?
All The Queens men... new film with Izzard and another actor I'm always curious about: Udo Kier. Remember the creepy looking guy in Madonna's 'Deeper and Deeper' video? That guy. The Behind the Scenes footage of Eddie is entertaining as he tries to explain that in real life he's a lesbian trapped in a man's body, but in this film he's a bisexual transvestite. Hey, it makes sense to me.
IzzardNoire... more fan fiction. Bloody hell, what's happened since I lost interest?
In case you hadn't noticed, it's Eddie Izzard day at Afterthefloods.com. Eddie Izzard used to be one of my little obsessions. I get them once every few years - well, I have them all the time, but sometimes they last a little longer. (You may have noticed my current one is Anthony Stewart Head.) Izzard was around 95/96. It's a long story, but I'll cut it short. Someone sent me a video for my birthday, then I found out he was actually playing Amsterdam on my birthday, so I got tickets. Watched the show, was blown away. Went to a restaurant. Upon leaving the restaurant, I bump into Izzard who was just coming in. Very weird. He's short. I have now totally lost interest in him, but I found out today my old site about him has vanished off the web, so we're having a little down the memory lane here.
I really liked Eddie Izzard until I interviewed him. I flew to London, and then he wanted to do it by phone. He gave me 30 minutes, but wanted to end it after 25 (and that's when his mobile quit on us twice during the talk). Prat.
't Was funny when someone mailed me to say they sold him his mobile and they had his number but couldn't give it to me cause, 'you know'. Sod off ya wanker, I HAVE it anyway.
Not that I'd use it, even if it still worked. Would you?
On stardom: "There's a point," he says, "where you become a star, and you lose your brain, do lots of drugs, and your head falls off."
It's funny, but he acts too.
Detour - Catty Corner: ok, those Eddie pics deserve Fan Fiction.
Yahoo! Groups : EI-DP.. you have got to be coddin' me: Eddie Izzard fan fiction?
VoyForums: eddie izzard... 'official' board. (Why isn't it on Izzard.com?)
cake or death: an eddie izzard site. And a good one too. No need to revive mine, I'd be hopelessly behind things anyway. I miss the $$ though.
What, there's no Eddie Izzard blog? Look, you have to click at least 3 times to get to the news on Izzard.com, surely someone can do better.
The Genesis Project Due to illness, the part of God will be played by Eddie Izzard, instead of James Mason..
So um... a while back NBCI bought Xoom.com... and all the personal homepages went to members.nbci.com. Where have they all gone now and why wasn't I told? One of my oldest sites (that made me a lot of money, strangely) vanished. Must reinstate it somewhere.
I bought a ring (bottom one, but the lettering is black on mine) by designer Diana Porter in Dublin. For Christmas, I guess. Instead of a DVD player. Who needs 'em when you can buy pretty stuff. I would have loved a bracelet too - but 100 pounds for jewelry was a bit steep already. Maybe next year.
Here's some more of her work. Ok.. wouldn't mind an earring too.
Scan, scan, scan.... oooh, lovely. The colour ones aren't that bad after all.
Addictive personality, yay. Smoking... it's great, but my throat's in bits and it's giving me headaches. As I expected I was unable to restrict my smoking to 'Dublin only'. I was bumming fags off friends the week before I left, and then bought my own packet. In Dublin, I smoked continuously and I haven't stopped since I got back - basically back on just under a packet an evening. Bad, bad, bad. I'd been off them six years.
It's all or nothing with me. I can't keep measures. I HAVE to see ALL the gigs. I HAVE to have ALL the albums. I HAVE to eat the WHOLE bag of sweets. I HAVE to smoke ALL the cigarettes. Thank god I never got into religion or drugs.
I did the art test again and changed some of the answers (because there were two questions that I could answer in several ways). This time I got: You are Prehistoric Cave Art. You are primal and mysterious. Somewhat removed from modern life, you have a powerful ability to evoke wonder and show a sensitivity to nature as well as talents beyond what most people think of you.
I just picked up my concert photos... oh my. The colour ones are shite this time. I think there was way too much red light - usually I don't press the release when there's red light, but there was so much of it, I had too. But the black and whites are great - a lot more detail than last time eventhough I didn't do the extra stop (couldn't figure out which buttons to press, in my anxiety). Lots of scanning to do tonight.
I am a complete and utter arse for not taking pictures of my mates at ALL with the Canon. It was a unique opportunity and I blew it. Gav will just have to play soon so we can all meet up again. Preferably in Amsterdam.
This is in Dutch: Hollander blijft net zo zuinig met kerst... the Dutch are cheap for Christmas. We spend the least on Christmas gifts (including our St Nicholas gifts) in Europe, only 161 Euro per household. The European average is 332 Euro.
I like the fact that Christmas isn't the big commercial hype it is in other countries. But it wouldn't hurt if it was a little more festive. My Irish friends seem to take the opportunity to spend copious amounts of time with their friends (and go on the piss, that goes without saying), and I wouldn't mind a bit of that. We tend to retreat and make it a family-only time.
sylloge is back.
I must repent. I took very few photos this last trip to Dublin - though I took 3x36 at the gig, almost none during the day. I was too busy drinking.
If I were a work of art, I would be M. C. Escher's Lizards.
I am a bizarre juxtaposition of the real and the unreal. Based in the realm of mathematics, my two-dimensional appearance belies a complex and free-willed behaviour which both delights and confuses people.
Which work of art would you be? The Art Test
Groovy looking weblog: Tevis.net > Web Log.
Remember I talked about music & magic on the other side of this page a while back? Here's a good quote from good old Bono: A criticism of our recent work is that, in a way, we have learned the craft, and it nearly ruined us. Because, in the end it is magic. The magician pulls a rabbit from the hat, and he is as surprised as the audience (laughs). And God has to walk through the room, as I think Quincy Jones describes it. All your best work you can't claim, but all the average work you can.
This kind of thing makes me happy: Burton diary returned to BBC.
PROVIGIL... I want this for my next trip. A drug that keeps you awake, without the nasty side effects.
Kiasyd talks about the Dublin experience.
Just would like to mention I LOATHE Photoshop 6.
Izzard.com finally gets a make over. It now looks better and is better organised... but lacks personality.
Dublin again. In the company of friends, refugees of life.
Me and the triumvirate backstage in Vicar Street. Sweaty, giddy musicians, teasing, laughing, doing facial impressions of a certain mega star, hugs, kisses, pride, the mirth in the best dressed man from Coolock.
Refusing the champagne, too high on my own endorphins to even want the extra buzz. Being called a 'star', being thanked over and over and over for sticking by, wanting to say 'No, thank YOU for tolerating my obsessions.'
Sitting in my seat at table 7, shaking tons of strangers' hands, 'Are you...?' Yes, I am. I am. So nice to meet ya, oh really, did you really, yes, I remember you. The round of applause, the ring of cheers when I get my song, my dedication, my city acknowledged. Brel turning in his grave.
Hotels. Our own dingy dive, no hot water in our wing. The Clarence bar, drinking in the day. A date set for the Shelbourne for af'noon tea and trolleys that ends up in the Merrion. Surrounded by the prim and proper, Mr Ballymun getting up and imitating a friend's hyperactive son shouting 'YOU ARE CRAP'... the looks on people's faces when the swearing continues. Then, leather stretched across a gentle builder's frame, he plays 'mother' and pours tea from silver pots in delicate china cups. Dipping into finger sandwiches, scones and cream and cakes. Scoffing like a pig. Talking childhood, tongue tied after all these years. Trying on my ring. Getting presents. Talking a little business. Talking a little personal. Walking down Stephens Green in the cold night air, three words given and received. Feeling stupid, but happy.
Yamamori sushi, IFC caesar salad. Running into friends in the Stag's Head. Too many vodkas. Three day hangovers.
Some of my photos are going to be published in an Irish lifestyle magazine ("Aimed at 18-35 year olds, who are single,image and brand conscious, big into fashion, music, culture and entertainment."). V. cool.
Back. I don't know where to start.
