January 28, 2004
iTunes fucks you up
really pissed off, just downloaded the iTunes player to try it out and it rearranged the structure of my MP3 collection, all 13 Gigs of it (all mine, burnt from CD/LP).
Now I HAVE to use iTunes to listen to the music coz its not arranged by album anymore, but for some obscure reason by song title - artist - album. Jesus!
Plus I havent got id tags on most of the files as I never needed to before. I dont think I will ever get this mess sorted out.
I'm sure its a great program for those with id tags on all the MP3's. Get this, no id tag, then it doesnt exist in iTunes - and now that all my files have been scattered to the wind, it will take me ages to rearrange them in an order so that I CAN put id tags on them. Fuckers. Expesnive computers and eye-candy piece of crap, blinkered, blinkering, railroading, totalitarian software.
Apple makes things simple for you as long as you dont want to do anything your own way.
Think different? Think again.
Mac Expo this year? iPod mini? Garageband? please. We have had small MP3 players for years and Cakewalk band in a box for longer. Give me a break with the 'innovation' bullshit!
Dont get me wrong, this is not an anti-Apple rant (err....) I would love to use a Mac for its audio side of things, Audio Units, Max/MSP etc. Fantastic. I dont lik the aguar style ethos of 'you dont need to look under the hood' though. Things always go wrong, I want to know what when they do!
Posted by dottie at 1:01 PM
January 27, 2004
Supersize me!
This looks like the blockbuster for the summer! The director Morgan Spurlock decided to try to survive on nothing but McDonalds for a month and have it filmed for that time. He had a team of doctors checking him over to make sure he wouldnt keel over. The results were disastrous. His whole system was badly affected, high cholestrol, bad skin, general illness and lethargy, loss of sex drive, and vomiting. Brave man. I hope its in the IFI cinema before too long!
http://www.supersizeme.com/home.aspx
Anyone hungry? I'm off to BurgerKing which is as eveyone knows has much better fries.....
Posted by dottie at 8:29 PM
Graffiti Tags Murder Machine
I like this. I like it a lot. It'll be gone from the street in a few days. Good. My version is BETTER!
Posted by dottie at 3:19 PM
January 26, 2004
Goodbye Cedric!
Goodbye Cedric! Bon Voyage! Hopefully we will see you soon - under a cloudless sky in a tropical country!
Cedric is heading off to travel around France visiting friends for a week or so before heading to Murcia in the South of Spain. I would love to be going. No rain - actually dont know if I could handle winter with no rain! Weird.
I've met lots of Spanish and Italian people who cant handle winters here in Ireland. The problem is the lack of sun and the low, grey skies. They love it otherwise, lots of fun and drink and talk. All good.
Posted by dottie at 7:46 PM
Views of Dublin
More views of Dublin
I always love tumultuous skies and the contrast between that and bright sunlight on buildings. Lovely. Need to get a better camera to do it justice though....
For all you folks who come to Dublin just to get these shots up and down the river, save your money! Nah, come over nad see it for real. When the light is right in Ireland everything looks fantastic
Posted by dottie at 7:42 PM
Rainy day in Dublin
I went out in the rain and the wind the other day with the express purpose of capturing some images of Dublin. Which I did. Then I just left them on my hard drive. So here they are.
I think there is nothing more forlorn than a broken phone
This cheeky chappie was looking at me.
The view from the Millenium bridge downriver (note this is a colour image not grayscale, this is what Dublin REALLY looks like!)
and the view up river...
This is where some of the video for Phil Lynott's 'Old Town' was filmed. The song voted best Irish song of all time three years running. But how a song can be best of all time one week and not the next is beyond me!
This is the house where James Joyce set his short story 'The Dead'. I think the John Huston film was also filmed here, but I'm probably wrong about that as it is undergoign extreme restoration. The chap who is doing the restoration has apparently opened the house to the public during the proceedings so they can see what is going on and make suggestions. I will try and get in and bring the camera with me, that'd be great trodding the same footsteps as Gabriel.
Just round the corner from me on North Brunswick Street is the old Richmond hospital which is now used for the small claims court. The whole area arouns Smithfield (near where I live) is dedicated to fruit/vegetable markets and law buildings. Although a friend of mine who works in the fruit mrkets tells me that they may not be there for much longer due to traffic congestion etc. Its a pity. Just as an old part of Dublin is revitalised it looses what makes it so special. Hopefully thy wont tear down the lovely old fruit market building.
Posted by dottie at 2:39 PM
Sunday Night
Ah yeah, nothing sets you up for a productive week like a piss up on a sunday night!
Went to see a friend's brothers band play in the Foggy Dew in town. Pretty damn good! They do a mean Doors impression and not half bad at Radiohead either. All this from four unassuming guys playing for peanuts and the love of it. Live music rocks!
Met up with Mick and Doogie who were just back from snowboarding in France - many tales and broken hearts rather than broken limbs, which is always good!
Folks at the gig:
Steve Keogh and his lovely girlfriend Maria (just in from Greece). Steves brother is the lead guitarist in the band we went to see., so he was the main mover in getting us all down to the gig. Glad we went.
Mick and Rockie were downtown drinking coffee and beer all day. Nuff said.
Cedric and Alex. Cedric is a mate of mine from France who I met through my lfat mates at the time who were also French - Berangere and Vincent. Cedric had tried to get into a night club but was refused as they said he was too pissed. He kicked a pot in anger and nearly broke his foot. It was funny afterward.
I used to go to college with Alex and hadnt seen him in about 10 years. Bumped into him befoe chrimbo and promised to keep in touch. Nice bloke Alex.
Mr Doogitz. The nicest and maddest chap you'll ever meet.
After the gig we all ended up in Thomas Read's until they threw us out after midnight - actually pretty low key.
Promised Paulie that I would pop-up to his house Thursday night and jam some Neil Young tunes, guitars, harmonicas, bottle of wine, the whole nine yards.
Promised myself to make music a priority this year, it'll happen. Greased along by red wine, guinness and friendship, al lessential elements in making good music.
Posted by dottie at 2:21 PM
January 22, 2004
Music and memory
I've been listening to Dvorak's 9th Symphony (the 'New World' symphony) a lot lately. Its a lovely piece of music. I remember it from my childhood - my father had a copy. I always remember the Largo from it (thats the bit from the Hovis bread ad for all of you old enough to remember). It brings back nice memories of saturdays at home with me da. He always used to cook us 'ranch house grub' for our lunch which consisted of toast, tea, beans, sausages and streaky back rashers. MMMMMMM!
He was a gas man my da. He used to spend his weekends either working on his car (an old Merc 380se) which he insisted on maintaining himself. He was well capable of this as he was a qualified marine engineer and had served his apprentiship on the merchant navy between the isle of wight, England, France and Ireland. We never knew him as children because he was always away. Made up for it though. He learned a lot on those ships about life, engineering, jokes and er.... language! Whenever a spanner slipped on a nut or a hammer went astray he would turn the air blue effing and blinding. It was funny rather than frightening though - his turn of phrase was something to behold. Lots of complicated words buffered by explitives, ah yes, he taught is a love of language from a young age! :)
I really want to get my hands on a CD of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. The composers description of the story behind the music:
The Sultan Schahriar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night. But the Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by entertaining her lord with fascinating stories told for a thousand and one nights. The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, daily postponed her execution and finally repudiated his vow.
Good stuff. That was the other piece that was always played. Just hearing those pieces of music bring a vivid picture to my mind of my father in his old cords taking a smoke break and eyeing the old triumph mototcycle rusting beside the house (me da was in a motorcycle gang when he was a youngster - that all changed (well mostly) when he met me ma of course!)
Its been seven years and I miss him still.
Posted by dottie at 4:08 PM
Vanilla Sky moment
Dublin is empty!
Almost deserted!
It's like that scene from Vanilla Sky - I feel like screaming for tech support :) (although that can happen on the best of days!)
Maybe its the Chinese new year? Well it IS the Chinese new year but I wonder if the street is shut down for them?
Hold on signs of life around the entrance to Dublin Castle....hmmm better ask a Guard....
Oh yeah. Its an EU summit! Of course, we are hosting a very important meeting about whether or not to have armed guards on planes. Er..... providing guns for terrorists? I dont think so. Imagine how easy it would be to find out who was one of these special airforce wardens or whatever they are calling them. It would be relatively easy to find out the members of that force, target one of them, board the same plane as them and then at the appropriate time in the flight, at an opportune moment bushwhack the warden and presto - a loaded gun. Fuck that!
Oh yeah, I think they are also talking about whether we should let Eastern European countries into the EU. I vote yes! The totty ratio has risen dramatically with the arrival of the former USSR sattelite states emigrating to Ireland. Bring em on! Now I dont frequent lap dancing bars as a general rule - purely for educational reasons. I'd like to learn Russian, or Polish, or even Lithuanian and its important to surround yourself with native speakers. I have a plan you see, it pays to be devious - it pays to be a cunning linguist :)
Posted by dottie at 3:32 PM
January 21, 2004
Wheee!
Just got sent this by a friend:
http://junk.dawnshadow.se/yp010.swf
read em and weep:
Comments
Jonah Montgomery
I don't know how to copy the pictures, but I was able to land 320.5!!
My name is Jonah, I live in Queens, NY. Age 28, married 3 kids! Don't ask me how, it's like I blinked one day and the next thing I know POOF I went from young punk to family man.
My mothers family is from Ireland, no idea where in Ireland, however.
I stand not quite as tall as you at 6'4" can't tell you what that is in any other measurements, as the normal american I didn't bother to learn any other system.
I do enjoy your writing and look foward to more.
Mark Lennox
Hey Jonah,
Ah feck! I tried to get that little icy gonaded ball of feathers a bit farther but couldnt beat 320 (huff). Ah well, I graciously pass the crown !
Thanks for the support. I was a bit surprised to see any comments at all, let alone positive!
Had a quick Google and figured that the Montgomery's come mainly from Longford. Although this page ( http://baz.perlmonk.org/surnames.cgi?view=alpha ) doesnt list the Montgomery name at all. They could have been aristocracy or landed at one time or another before the diaspora.
6'4" is tall enough my friend, any taller and you find the lintel in the doorways with the most sensitive part of your skull!
Call back again!
Jonah
I don't have too much time to smack that bird around. My wife says it is too violent for the kids to see.
My Irish descent would be from Ryan, my grandfathers surname. I really need to find out more about where I came from. I'll ask my mom and aunt for some more info, but I would hold off on the aristocracy bit, we most likely were potato farmers.
Montgomery is my dad’s side, Scottish. I do have a book on his family history. Four generations graduating from princeton and harvard law. Unfortunately, he felt that environment was not full of the people one should socialize with. So he decided that we (my two brothers and muself) would not be exposed to the ivy league. I understand what he was talking about, but if a persons character is strong enough it shouldn't matter was others say or think. He was a hippie hold over, would have had the long hair if he did not go bald. Full of love, peace and understanding for everybody but those in his family.
Thanks for the info on Irish names, and here I thought that the computer was only for e-mail and porn.
Off to work.
Posted by dottie at 2:47 PM | Comments (3)
Rosscommon
Drugs in Ballinasloe!
I just heard on the radio that the Gardai (thats the Irish police BTW) have seized something like 2 million Euro worth of hash in Ballinasloe, Rosscommon. Just a few miles from where my granny lives! Janey mack, the countryside used to be a bucolic retreat from the hectic pace of big city life - what next crack dealers pushing their wares on unsuspecting lambs - 'hey cottontail - first one's free!'
I suppose it was going to come though. ANyone who has any experience of small town life - the lack of privacy, the lack of incentive, the lack of employment opportunities - knows well how easy it is to fall into dissolute ways. The great fallback for the Irish has always been drinking of course and that has taken its toll over the years god knows.
Drugs are a new thing though. I'm not entirely opposed to a bit of weed. I would class it at a lower level than alcohol actually. However over-abuse can lead to depression, apathy unless you have stimulating lifestyle/surroundings. A depressed, unemployed young man in a small town with no jobs is a painful thing to imagine.
It was a nice summer this year. I wonder did they grow the grass themselves. ...
(Dont get me wrong - I love small towns, the sense of belonging, the slow pace, the community spirit all wonderful things, as long as you are set-up!)
Posted by dottie at 9:41 AM
Mums Birthday
Its me ma's birthday on the 1st of February. Shes sixty this year. Doesnt look it though.
Still works too damn hard. She owns a boutique and has run it for the last 30 years. She's one hell of a lady!
We are going to get a bunch of her friends together and go out for dinner and then either get my relatives to come up from the country or go down to them (they live in Rosscommon). I'd like to go down to them but the logistics get messy, time off work for my brother and sister in law (and time out of the gym for my little niecey-noo!).
Plus I've left it on the long finger. I'll have to organise it all today.
I have one criteria - no surprise parties! My mum hates surprises. Yeah shes a control freak, but I still love her!
Posted by dottie at 9:32 AM
January 18, 2004
Handels Archway
I thought you might be interested in seeing the archway from Fishamble street.
Maybe not, but here it is anyway.
And here is the statue that stands in the courtyard beyond the gate. I think its meant to commemorate the great event of the first production of Handel's Messiah.
Incidentaly there is a pub on Fishamble Street called Handels - typical of us Irish , you can keep your statues, the best way to remember a good night out and a great man is to open a pub!
Posted by dottie at 7:25 PM
January 17, 2004
Dance Music and New Music
Went out to Judge Roy Beans last night to send off Noel Milner in fine style. Met people I havent seen in a long time and others I see all the time. Not too much drinking, by me at least, which was nice for a change - I can actually remember the whole night and had a good time! Got a dirty dance from some girl in the bar who was trying her best to be Christina Aguilera (Dirty Girl tm) - she convinced me!
Afterward got back to Rory's flat on Hanlons corner to play didgereedoo and listen to Rory DJ until 6 in the morning - damn he's got some good tunes. Mostly deep house. We keep trying to convince him to get a few gigs for himself - he will, he will. Watch this space for news!
So got up today at about 11 - actually woke up in a spasm of pain from the feotal position I had slept in in the armchair after only a few hours sleep. Nice brekkie and then off to meet my brother, his wife and my niece. Little petal she is. Nice lunch in the Avoca Cafe and then off to a new music 'salon' in the Contemporary Music Centre on Fishamble street (Fishamble street is the place where Handels messiah was first performed - although the church where it was performed no longer stands. There is an archway that was part of the church and had a protection order on it. About 10 years ago there were apartments being built on the site of the old church and they wanted to remove the archway. There was a public hue and cry and a barring order put against them. However there was an unfortunate 'accident' where some machinery 'went out of control' and knocked the archway down. Well, more hue and cry and the building was stopped until the archway was rebuilt at much greater cost - ha. Justice prevails in at least one case). Anyway, its a very historic area - must tell you about Wood Quay another time....
The concert was great. It was four pieces played on solo violin - Darragh Morgan was the violinist, or fiddle player as he liked to say. The composers were in attendance and one of the pieces was a work in progress. It was great to watch the interaction between the composer and performer and a question and answer session was held after each piece.
The music was completely diverse. The first piece was written by Frank Lyons and was caled 'Dazed by the Haze'. It was based on themes from a live performance of Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix. The violin was augmented by prepared samples played from a laptop. Lots of granular synthesis of samples from the violin and also from the recording on which the piece was based. Very interesting, but I think demanded a larger venue. The concert was held in the library room of the CMC which just held the twenty people who were attending.
The second piece was by Bill Campbell and was in progress and was based on Daragh tale of his flight home from Cyprus over christmas which was extremly turbulent and during which death was mentioned many times! The piece was a prelude and the main piece called 'Flight Home'. It was a lovely piece very much in the classical diatonic structure. Lots of double stopping and some understated arpeggios to suggest chords for the melody and strong harmonies. Really lovely - I would love to see what it becomes!
The third piece was written by Fergus Johnston (who apparently drives a taxi to augment his income as well as lecturing in composition). The piece was an excerpt from a series of pieces called Signals and was the 2nd Movement called 'Extended'. Apparently it came from another piece and was originally written as an electric guitar solo but was extended to this piece. It sounded like a piece of its time, it was written 16 years ago. Lots of fast passages followed by languid playing, odd intervals and rhythms, but a lovely piece also.
The last piece was written by Simon Mawhinney and was caled Barcode III. It was based around a lot of modern techniques which were informed by oriental music - quarter tones, half-stopping (not quite pressing the string onto the fretboard), and bowing near the bridge of the violin. Really evocative and sparse. Lots of harmonics and weird tonalities. The piece itself was based on short themes which were repeated throughout the piece in variations. Simon revealed afterward that he has synesthesia which means that he sees colours when he hears sounds. He desribed the object he saw when the piece is played as a spiky ball that coalesces and explodes as the piece progresses. He said one of his motivations for continuing to compose is that he wants to see more of these objects!
All in all some good music over the last 24 hours. Now I'm off to play some old video games before turning in early - exhausted now, so sorry for the lack of any insight in this long rambling post.
Night
Posted by dottie at 7:55 PM
January 16, 2004
Tall people
A friend of mine (Gavin) has been sending me pictures of very tall people for the last two days. He thinks it's funny to see people who are taller than I am (2.07m or 6'9.5" for you imperialists!)
The first he sent me was of this american chap who is 7'6" tall. Pretty scary. He's an actor too, says he likes roles that he can 'get his teeth into'. That conjures up too many images of Jaws from the Bond movies and bad memories from my school days (no I dont have metal teeth). The picture is of this guy lifting a car. I think its a faked shot as he is not even as well built as I am (which is not saying much). The guy is huge.
The second shot is of this woman from Holland who is 23 st, but get this is 7'4" tall!! You might think that 23st=fat or even 7'4" = distorted and weird. No. She's fantastic looking! Big tall blond girl, perfectly formed. Oh my god, I've found my dancing partner.
I have made it my task to seek out tall women all over the world with the notion of gathering them and me on a tropical island. Why? I'm not sure yet. I should hatch a plot to take over the world, start a franchise in banana leaf products or something like that. But all I can think of is beach barbeques, rum and cokes and samba with the amazon women!!
Comments
Rusty
What is the tall lady's name, and how can I contact her?
Sincerely,
Rusty
Amy Jackson
THATS A BIG BITCH!
Surav
Wow, she can easily carry me. I'm 6 feet and consider myself to be tall! I wonder how will she carry me around
Linda
my friend says that the peoplefrom Holland(she is Belgium) are the tallest....what do you think....
Mark
Well Linda, I dont know about the tallest, they certainly are the highest!
Seriously though, as a nation they are tall. Its scary to walk down the street in the netherlands, most people are near or above my height. A strange experience when you are accustomed to a lifetime of looking down on people!
Akın
How can I contact her????????????
John
Saw it today 17 april 07. The picture is fake. open a small one in corel photopaint, rezise it 30%, file new, open also beside the old one, use the clone to copy the biger girl into the smaller picture. Do beter retouche than in the example, see wrong shades on the road at the legs and the to fat car left in the background.
It remains a dream to find something like that giant girl.
Posted by dottie at 5:03 PM | Comments (7)
January 15, 2004
Christmas Partying
Jaysus. I've done it again this year. Knackered myself physically, spiritually, mentally and worst of all financially from not watching my spending over christmas.
Eejit.
Its funny that no matter how long you spend peniless the lessons learned never seem to sink in, the promises made to yourself never seem to make any difference. And in a funny way you are happier and more focussed when you have no money. The chaff of life with money - all the distractions such as a social life, food, shopping - make it impossible to see a clear path ahead. The simplicity of poverty has its appeals (not that I was ever REALLY destitute, just unable to pay bills properly, the duvet of my finances didnt fit my bed properly is all).
Yes. When you are poor you have to get up every morning and repeat to yourself that life is good, not because you need to trick yourself into getting through the day but beacause it really is. Wealth, comfort, all serve to cushion you from the worlds essence and your own nature.
Life should be simple. Here I sit surounded by tchotchke, hi-tech and otherwise. I use most of it often and some of it less often. I cant help thinking that I would be better off if I dumped most of it (not matter how painful that might be) and concentrate on mastering a smalle portion of my life.
I am a dilletante. I like being a dilletante though as it gives me the air of knowing a lot about everything. This is the case but it is breadth rather than depth. I am going to try my utmost to increase the depth throughout the coming years. That is the ulitimate comfort provided by money - freedom from worry. Couple that with determination and it is almost as good as creativity/knowledge driven by poverty. Almost, as it lacks the fire that only comes from passion induced by poverty and want (poverty can be a spiritual thing too!)
Posted by dottie at 3:27 PM
January 14, 2004
Jazzadelic
Currently listening to: Miles Davis, In a Silent Way
I fuckin love jazz.
I fuckin hate jazz.
The difference? Jazz I love - conveys emotion, moves you, bewilders you, tantalises you, alienates you, drowns you and lifts you and drops you back into the world with a smile on your face and a little more hope that you can change the future no matter what it throws at you.
Bad jazz doesnt. Sell your instruments, burn the music, burn yourself. Harsh - but there you go. I like music. Bad jazz is not music.
Currently listening to: John Coltrane, Olé
Posted by dottie at 6:56 PM
Another year, another distraction
Here we are in the new year. Again I find myself with a mind full of new rules and regulations about how to live my life. Already some are showing signs of wear and tear. In fact most of them are beginning to smell a bit funny.
The most important resolution I made was to keep in touch with my friends. This has been going OK but there are some very dear friends who I have hardly spoken to - sorry Emmet!
Others I can safely put on the long finger. I want to learn/relearn some languages this year. My relearn list: Irish, French, Spanish. My learn list: Mandarin, Arabic. I reckon I'll go with the Irish first as the classes will hopefully be populated with young Italian and spanish ladies who are trying to get closer to Ireland - well how better thannto get closer to a real Irishman!
Oh yeah! Driving. Here I am thirty-three years old (missed my 33 and a third birthday unfortunately due to lack of funds...) and I still cant drive a car. Well I can drive a car - anyone can, its not difficult. What I mean is no licence and I have to think too much when driving - never a good thing if my observations of peoples driving habits are anything to go by.
Last week I was crossing at some lights when I saw a chap sitting in a car with his finger right up his nose. Oblivious to the fact that the road ahead of him was full of people staring in disgust. He was driving a Merc though, dont think he cared. Do women do this kind of thing too? I know they like to take their shoes off in the car. This chap looked like he lived in his car - discarded food, newspapers, items of clothing (I presume they were his except for the cerise pink top that was draped in the back window. I think he got this ina bargain shop and left it there for show kind of like those wallets you could get years ago that had spaces to hold condoms, only everybody would leave one - or more - of the condoms out so it would look like they got lucky recently). I think thats how some guys get into the whole cross-dressing thing. They start buying clothes to drape their cars to make them look more manly and end up dressing in mini's and high heels for the same reason.
Must write down my new years resolutions - always get results that way. Of course I'll never be able to find the list again as my bedroom is a disaster zone - and thats top of the list: must clean bedroom more often.
Currently reading:
James Joyce; Dubliners (again) - great book shows just how good a writer the bould fella could be
Michael Moore, Stupid White men - you have to!
Posted by dottie at 5:57 PM