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February 29, 2004
Pain is good
http://www.kare11.com/news/news-article.asp?NEWS_ID=60120
Posted by dottie at 11:50 PM
Mario Brothers Epic Adventure
Do yourselves a favour and watch these movies. I can see a big screen release soon!
http://www.deviantart.com/view/5142652/
http://www.deviantart.com/view/5143991/
http://www.flashplayer.com/animation/mariosbrothers3.html
I love machinima!
Posted by dottie at 12:45 PM
The magic day...
This is a magic day. A day that only rears its head once every four years or so. Rejoice! The deeds you do today will be lost in the mists of time!
By the time this day come around again you will have shed your old self like a snake sheds its skin. You will not be yourself again, so dont be yourself today.
Posted by dottie at 12:23 AM
Bon mots for the day...
If you cant be honest, try to be truthful
Posted by dottie at 12:05 AM
February 27, 2004
Life is for the unconnected
When I create an entry the system pings a couple of servers to let them know that I have made an update (http://blo.gs/ amongst others...). I just checked the logs and saw this. Cracked me up. I'm off to enjoy my life - humpf.
Ping 'http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2' failed: Ping error: Thanks for the ping, however we can only accept one ping every half-hour. It's cool that you're updating so often, however, if I may be so bold as to offer some advice -- take a break, you'll enjoy life more.
Posted by dottie at 8:36 AM
Dunderheads
I had to set up web and email hosting for a friend recently.
I contacted the hosting provider, gave them all the details, contact addresses etc. Now when you set up hosting such as this you have three contacts - administrative, technical and business. The administrative and business contact was my friend, I was the technical contact.
When the hosting is setup, you receive full details of how to connect to the new service, setup your email, your FTP details, admin password etc. Now you would think that those details would be sent to the technial contact. NO. They were sent to the administrtion contact.
The only problem with that was her contact email address was her new email account that she had just opened. Which is fine. Except that the details that allow her to access her email have just been sent to her email. Yes, the keys were securely locked inside the car.
Many faxes and a disturbing phone call or two later (after which I really did consider changing my name by deed poll to Yossarian) all was sorted out.
I think I owe them my first born though....
Posted by dottie at 8:27 AM
Asteroid impact averted by cloud cover
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3517319.stm
Apparently there was a 30km lump of rock heading toward earth due to impact 'somewhere in the northern hemisphere'. Turns out that the astrologers got the trajectory wrong due to eccesive cloud cover. Whew!
I just have this picture of a giant lump of rock bouncing off the clouds back into space. At least pollution is good for one thing - producing clouds capable of being used as an asteroid defense system! Cool! Pass me some deodorant!
Posted by dottie at 8:19 AM
The new consitution of the DSA (Divided States of America)
More fundamentalism at work. Bush is attempting to balance the zealousness of the East with some western zealotry.
They were very careful with their phrasing of their opposition. If they had banned homosexual marriage then they would really have had a problem. Picture the scene a gay man and a gay woman decide to make a mockery of GWB by getting married. But its illegal because they are both gay. But they are at the same time Man and Woman. Someone's civil rights are getting trampled on somewhere.
So why is it so different for same-sex marriages? Because they is no progeny with same-sex marriages.
I think they should allow same-sex marriages on the proviso that the couple will either donate sperm or be inseminated with it (you work out who does what...) But none of your fancy In Vitro Fertilisation, they have to have full penetrative sex in the presence of a high court judge, or better yet, under the gaze of a full bishop, who annoints the couple with holy water at the moment of orgasm, and presumably conception.
They could film it and release the films to christian groups as wholesome entertainment - church approved! And in a single swoop they could end the twin evils of of the porno industry and the gay peril.
Hallelujah and pass the peanuts!
Posted by dottie at 8:12 AM
February 26, 2004
Minibosses
Remember those platform video games at the arcades?
Remember those end of level monsters that took all your 10p pieces to beat?
Remember the tunes?
These guys do!
Rock and roll video games!
Posted by dottie at 9:15 PM
Hotel primus
I think I'm ready for my meeting tomorrow, finally. Wish me luck!
Posted by dottie at 2:52 AM
Putting up your feet for th evening with a root beer
I love this seat. I want one for my front room for watching TV.
Posted by dottie at 2:35 AM
More cranes
{stands on soapbox}
I was wandering down Manor street today when I looked up to see the sky filled with Cranes.
These are all building flats in Smithfield. Sold off the plans. €350,000 for a single bed, €35,000 for a parking space.
A lot of people have, are and will fall through the cracks in the coming years. Without friends and family we are all a bad month away from the streets ourselves. It worries me.
{stands down}
Posted by dottie at 2:29 AM
Focus Ireland
Every year in Dublin there are more people living on the street. I dont know about most other people but I get to know the ones I pass regularly, either to see or stop sometimes for a wee chat. I always mean to do more than that, but to my shame I have not yet. The extent is a little money here and there and more importantly, I think, a solid meal (usually a sandwich and coffee is requested - always lots of sugar...) and a little bit of non-patronising attention.
Anyway, my point is that most people either dont notice these homeless individuals or avoid them as if they had the plague. What focus Ireland is attempting to do is to live up to their name and focus people's attention on the fact that these are people dealing with life without a home. Enduring stigma and hardship and eventually sliding into drug abuse.
The ad campaign that Focus are now running is brilliant. It copies the plaque erecting campaign by Dublin city council where places that have been graced byu historical figures have a little plaque and a short bio written on them.
Focus Irelands campaign shows park benches with a similar plaque reading John Murphy lived here Spring 1992. An arresting images I think.
If you would like to know more about what it is to live on the streets I would recommend George Orwell's classic novel 'Down and out in Paris and London'. It dates from the early 30's but hasn't dated in what it portrays.
Posted by dottie at 2:24 AM
Requiem for remains unknown
What the hell is this? I have seen it all over Dublin. Anybody know?
Comments
john
This has been bugging me for a while now, too..
http://www.manxproject.com/
Fergus JOhnston
To find out, goto this website: http://www.manxproject.com
Posted by dottie at 2:14 AM | Comments (2)
Free books
You wont get the latest Harry Potter here but there are some great books. All out of copyright and available completely free of charge!
and some more here. I have selected Sir Richard Francis Burton coz hes a really interesting character, google his name and see what comes up
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/aut/burton_richard.html
Posted by dottie at 2:01 AM
Easy peasy Japaneesy...anyone?
Looks great but what the hell is it?
Posted by dottie at 1:55 AM
Nutrigrain...
I feel great!
http://turnpikefilms.com/spots/nutrigrain.html
and you will too!
Posted by dottie at 1:39 AM
February 25, 2004
How to fake being tall
10 tips on how to look and feel taller - immediate results!
1. Hammer 2x4's across all your doorways at forehead level
2. carry a chair for standing on in crowds. Better again tie one to each foot for mobility
3. Cut the ends off all your trousers and all the arms and bodies of your shirts, tshirts and jumpers
4. when driving, move your seat as far forward as you can get it
5. eat all your meals off side plates
6. cut down the legs of all your tables and chairs
7. break the top third off all mirrors in your house so that when in a normal standing poition the highest point of your body that you can see is your chest. Try to shave.
8. ask all your friends to kneel down when they talk to you
9. wear a sign on your back that says 'I can predict the weather on mount everest'. Be prepared for people asking you 'whats the wether like up there'
10. date a dwarf (your dick looks huge in their hands!!)
Comments
Naoimh
Funny shit. Just came across this tonight. Liked no. 5.
Posted by dottie at 1:07 AM | Comments (1)
February 23, 2004
Religious Themed T-shirts
I had a free minute and some inspiration...
I'll be smoking a big one in Purgatory for this I know....
Posted by dottie at 7:05 PM
February 22, 2004
March 21st fund raising for cancer research
Keeping on the serious vein for second. I'd like to officially announce that I will be spending the next year trying to drum up funding for cancer research. I havent picked which group will get the money. I want to make sure that they will make the best use of it. There are some very deserving research groups in Trinity college and also in various hospitals around Dublin.
Its a disgrace that in a country ravaged by Cancer as we are (one in three of us will be touched by cancer in some way at one point in our lives), the government consistently underfunds research groups. Most research groups have to rely on private donations and charity handouts just to keep struggling along.
The 21st of Mrch is significant in two ways. First its the day my father finally succumed to his lung cancer. Second, it happens to be national cancer day.
My idea for the fund raising effort is to grow my hair for a long period of time (like most of the year) and then get it shaven off (yes ALL of it, right down to the skin!) while sitting in the middle of Grafton street sometime in the afternoon on March 21st 2005.
I'm giving it a year so that I can raise a sufficient amount of money.
I will be setting up a paypal donation link so that people can donate over the web.
I will be spending a large amount of time in the coming year in garnering donations form private and corporate sources.
Remember that with each donation you will be helping yourself!
Try to give more than just a euro.
5 Euro is just the price of a pint
20 Euro isnt even the start of a night out
60 Euro would mean that you would only have to give up one nights drinking over the whole year.
Balance that against a persons life - you know what makes sense!
I will hve more details up as time goes on and I will set up a seperate page for the charity fund.
Thanks for your time.
Comments
Emmet
Mark - I'm 100% percent behind you on this one, and I'll do all I can to help you in your endeavours. E
Posted by dottie at 8:48 PM | Comments (1)
Bus Crash
Not even sure if I should post this - if people think its in bad taste I can take it down.
There was a us crash on the quays this saturday. Two double-decker buses crashed. One of them mounted the pavement instantly killing 5 people and injuring 20 others.
May they rest in peace.
Posted by dottie at 8:36 PM
Cold comfort
The church in Ireland. What can you say about it?
I think the picture below shows the relationship nicely.
Note the beautiful ornate church and how it is set off by the pelucid blue sky on one side and the crumbling facade of an old tenement building on the other side. The church in Ireland had power, money and influence. No more. They just have the influence now, and to a certain extent through the auspices of Opus Dei (the organisation doesnt exist offiially, apparently....) they still wield quite a bit of power.
It looks like a nice day in the photo. Well yeah, sunshine is great but the wind chill! It's like standing in your nudie, clothes have no stopping power on the wind that howls through the streets of Dublin! A friend of mine lives in Moscow where it regularly gets down to 30 below and he has problems with the cold here!
Posted by dottie at 8:18 PM
Emmet, Renoir, Villa-Lobos, Bach, some guy with a guitar and me
Went to see a brilliant thing today. It was brilliant for two reasons. One - it was free. Two - it was a virtuoso guitarist. Three - it was in the Douglas Hyde gallery. Four - he played Recuerdos de Alhambra' and two pieces made famous by Segovia (another guitarist) Sarabande and Gavotte by Bach.
Despite Emmet being held up by someone taking a questionnaire on how often he liked to scratch his nuts at classical concerts or something like that, and being so delayed that we had to sit beside a silly painting of Umbrellas (Parapluie by Renoir) it was great.
I havent heard live classical guitar since I took some guitar lessons 15 years or more ago. It was a wonderful experience. The hush of the crowd, the technique of the virtuoso performance, the setting (whle there was no direct sunlight, the area we were sitting in was suffused with sunlight from skylights lending a haziness to the air near our seats and we were right beside that lovely Renoir painting!). Fantastic. I want to see more!
Afterward Emmet and me went to see the exhibition of Francis Bacons studio which is mad. Never REALLY liked his work, but I have been fascinated by his studio since I learned of it either shortly before or after his death in 1992.
And damn if I didnt forget to take a picture. Me with the camera right there in my pocket!
I'll be back.....
Posted by dottie at 8:12 PM
Manzer Guitars and Pat Metheny
Just got to listen to Pat Metheny's one quiet night. Beautiful record. I really hope he develops more in this area of solo guitar playing, it shows a side a very compelling side to his great talent.
Anyway, on the recording he uses a baritone guitar made for him by Linda Manzer. She has been making guitars for 30 years and according to all her clients, each one is a cracker. Just look at the artistry of the inlays!
Pat has been commissioning guitars from her for years from standard jaz and flat tops to bizzare inventions such as the Picasso guitar where the brief was to produce a guitar 'with as many strings as possible'. I dont think its possible to fit more on there!
Posted by dottie at 8:00 PM
February 20, 2004
Poets
People always (and I include myself here in this generalisation) think of poets as working from the intellect, purely esoteric, somehow disconnected from reality ,apart from notable exceptions that speak to them, the world of poetry is closed. It is closed for me too. Those with degrees in English seem to wring torrents from a damp dishcloth when they discuss poems. I could never do that, maybe.
I do like poetry though. If you actually let yourself not be intimidated by it and read it. And ponder it. And read it again. You may occassionally breach the walls of understanding and stand within the inner chamber of the poem. Understand the poem. More than that sometimes - *feel* the understanding of the poem. Because at that exact moment you are ready to resonate with the menaing that the poet has planted in these words. You have approached what the poet felt, or at least meant you to feel when the poem was written.
It doent happen often. It can fade as quickly. If you come back to a poem even a day later you might be too far from the feeling to relive it.
But if the original feeling is string enough, if the resonance i sgreat enough, it will be like riding a bike. It cant be forgotten. It will be like the feeling you get when you smell a cake being baked and you recall childhood in your mothers kitchen. Or the peculiar smell of near stangnant water and tall, green reeds suggested by a glass of city water which transports you back to a childhood holiday spent with your cousins by a lake. The memory can never be what the poet intended, the connection can never be the same, but the feeling, the meta-awarness of whatever it is that is to be communicated is the same. That is the secret payload of good poetry.
I think anyway.....
some poetry
William Carlos Williams
Dylan Thomas
W B Yeats
Charles Bukowski
Louis MacNeice
Louis MacNeice, again....
Maya Angelou
I dont know shit about poetry, but I know what I like!
Posted by dottie at 1:03 AM
Jackeens
Everybody I know who is worth a damn is a little bit messy around the edges to one degree or another. I dont trust people who arent.
No mesiness means too many manners. Too many manners leads to a life unfulfilled. Unfulfillment leads to bitterness, anger, negativity.
I like messiness.
A lot of people seem to think that because they have managed to fend off messiness and have found a niche they can use their fingerhold as leverage to denigrate others. This is not a good thing. It forces one party into defence which leads either to subdugation or revolution (which in itself can be a good thing....) and forces the other party into a stance.
A stance is a terrible thing. Even when the 'stancee' knows they are wrong, they are forced by sheer weight of perceived peer pressure to dig in and delve further into the rigidness of their beliefs. In fact, unless they are conciously or unconciously skirting the eges of social groups, they are compelled to dig in to their stance. An alternative outlook is not permissible.
They must channel the archetype of the social group of their choosing. Conservative or liberal or whatever leaning must become quintessential. Its a frightening thing for onlookers, the target of the inevitable vitriol and of course for whoever is making a fucking idiot of themselves.
The main problem is that communication suddenly breaks down. Unless one of the party is capable of running interference by arejection of their ego and courts humiliation by flaunting whatever rules their social group is meant to hold dear - in other words, conciously making a fool of themseleves - with the aim of disarmament, then the two sides will have to behave like two alpha male dogs and growl louder and louder until either one of them backs down or they fight.
What is there in this world that is truly worth breaking someone elses bones , or possibly endandering their lives? Nothing. Its an oxymoron, but the only thing worth fighting for is peace and by that I mean communication.
The true failure of agression is not violence but the lack of meaningful communication.
So when someone I know and appreciate is measured by someone else who doesnt know them at all, and comes out somehow lacking by their standards and is thus placed in a little box - that makes me want to break a channel of communication. Which upsets me even more.
I had a good night tonight but had a conversation and witnessed some events that made me more than a little mad. There is nothing I can do except comment on all of this - tangentially, as I do not wish to name the parties involved.
So it goes.
Posted by dottie at 12:23 AM
February 19, 2004
Donald Rumsfeld fighting techniques
Master of the way of the empty hand shows off his chops!
Send Rummy to Iraq, his grimace palm technique will pay short shrift to those anti-dmocratic and frankly unamerican and unsporting but American trained insurgents
Posted by dottie at 1:16 PM
Beautiful Soup
Get your barcodes! This is an artist (Scott Blake) obsessed by Barcodes. Check out the barcode Jesus!
This says Irish male, 6'9" 220 pounds - apparently...
and heres me handle...
Click on the pics to visit the sites, if you feel up to it...
Incidentally the 'Beautiful soup' reference is to a science fiction book about a man living in a world where everybody has barcodes printed on their forheads. He has an accident in a supermarket where his barcode is changed to that of a can of low sodium pea soup. Chaos ensues and he ends up destrying the fabric of society.
So it goes.
Posted by dottie at 9:13 AM
Seeing with sound
This is an incredible innovation. I'd love to strap on my laptop, get a webcam, blindfold myslef and see if I can get around Dublin without getting mashed.
Actually, thats a bit of a challenge even to thos with perfect vision, bleedin' (insert name of socio-political / gender group here) drivers!
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/
If anyone would be interested in lending me a webcam I'd give it a go!
Posted by dottie at 8:36 AM
KPMG theme music
I presume when you enter the hallowed halls of KPMG (or whatever they call themseleves now, although I do think a name change due to silly music is a BIT extreme...) that this little ditty will eb playing in the elevator.
http://www.5thpercentile.com/kpmg/kpmg.mp3
I love it. The lilting melody, the soaring pseudo-nationalism of the lyrics, the striving for, for, for something more than we experience in this mundane world. Truly KPMG is a company with vision,a future, they know things I dont.
And thats good enough for me.
I think this utopia needs to be fucked up in some way. We all know that John Morgan is doing his bit as we speak, making sure that incompetents around the country are kept on the payroll of Ireland Inc. (© Sav industries 2004).
Sing it with me now!!.... We are KPMG we have a dream of power and energy we go for the gold, together we hold onto our vision of love of strategy.
I can see some great titles and songs for companies / countries :
ESB - 'Your lights and heat are your privelege, You know we charge by the hour, If you dont want a dark village, pay up or we'll cut off your power'
Vodaphone - 'phone a friend once a month for a ransom, we love to talk about the coverage you dont get, you may be smart, well paid and handsome, but when you get your bill we'll make sure its not met'
Sukis all night bang bang lap dancing emporium and chess club - 'you make some moves with your chubby bishop, with dreams of taking our defenceless queen, but dont forget we all come from south-east Asia, where the chop-chop joints are seldom (if ever) clean'
Ah sure, you get the message - best title and chorus gets a free cocktail in a bar of my choice :)
Posted by dottie at 2:05 AM
February 18, 2004
Webmonkey
Webmonkey is no more! All the staff have been fired (oh sorry, downsized, rationalised, shuffled, reassigned, whatever...) by Lycos. This is a sad day. Webmonkey has rocked its ass off since 1996 - eight years making magic on the net!
err... hang on... its still there!
http://www.webmonkey.com
It inspired me many times, actually saved my ass. Showed me how to really use HTML. It has kinda fallen down recently by not keeping up with Semantic Markup and the latest CSS, but I'm sorry to see the team, and their 'heard in passing' comments, go.
So long and thanks for al lthe fish!
Posted by dottie at 1:23 PM
February 17, 2004
My Brother
Heres my brother. Looking good Petey!
Hes looking a bit wrecked as its 7:30 in the morning, before breakfast and hes spent the last few weeks looking after my darling niece whos been sick and is now full of beans and getting ready to stand up! yay! Go Alannah! Go Petey!
She managed to jump off the bed the other day too! Silly billy
Posted by dottie at 12:27 PM
Dublin from the Train
This shot was taken from the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit - a suburban train system, sort of - a system that is, its definitely a train. When it runs. Never a system though. Kinda like the difference between art and science. In Germany train timetables are a science, in Irleland.....). It was late in the evening and I wanted to capture the cranes as the sun shone behind them over Dublin. There were about 7 cranes in view, but it looks like my shitty camera struck again and you can just about see only one of them.
Actually, I'm kinda proud of this one, its not the best photo in the world and there are lots of problems introduced by the camera but...
It was a weird train ride. There were two scobies a few seats up from me skinning up joints and talking about how dangerous they were, comparing scars, swapping fighting anecdotes and generally having a whale of a time. Off their heads. There was an english couple sitting beside them looking a bit pale - nice introduction to one of the mini-cultures of Ireland. Cead mile failte romhat!
They got off at Howth Junction and the one who claimed to be the most dangerous fell over, spoiling the auld savoir faire a bit in front of your public keeling over like that. Off he toddles with his mate down the tracks (no ticket) only to have to avoid a train coming the other way. Ah, for an uncomplicated life...
Posted by dottie at 12:18 PM
February 16, 2004
Seven proofs that Jesus was Irish
1. He never got married.
2. He never held a steady job.
3. He went out drinking with the lads the night before he died.
4. His last request was a drink.
5. He hung around with the same lads all his life.
6. He lived with his parents until he was 33.
7. He thought his mother was a virgin, and she, bless her, thought he was God.
Posted by dottie at 2:56 PM
February 14, 2004
Asthma
Why am I still up at this hour?
I cant sleep.
When my asthma is bad it feels like I am about ot choke when I am dropping off to sleep and I wake with a start, every half hour or so. Fun. So I'm up waiting for th tightness in my chest to pass. I think I'll try the bed again, my brain is turning to mush and I have work to do tomorrow.
Apnea here I come!
Posted by dottie at 2:32 AM
Chinese dictionary
I like other languages. Not that I can speak them. I used to be able to speak French and Spanish. Now. Not so much. English I am having the hard time with also at some of the times.
I would love to learn chinese, mainly so I can chat up all those cute chinese girls who are running around tDublin at the moment. Also because I was in China a few years ago and I would love to go back for a bit more of a look-see.
My girlfriend at the time (hi Naoimh!) was teaching english over there, so she tauhgt me some of the basics, left, right, stop, more beer please, how much for... (that chicken, that dog, that pak choi, that girl at the end of the bar...) , and how to count. Oh the fun we had haggling the honest folk of the markets down from 50pence for an engraved, jade chinese chess set! Them were the days, then off home to relax with a two litre bottle of Tsing Tao beer bought for the price of a stick of gum.
I liked CHina. I think I will learn to speak a little chinese. And to start me on the road I thought I would look up a good dictionary. This is the very best one I could find on the web. It has full background info on how and where each character is used, the various meanings, examples. Wow.
Makes my head spin just to look at one page of this though!
Its fun looking up peoples names:
Adam : second rate - pawn ?!!
Mark : Horse - restrain !
Mick : stride - overcome - henceforth ?
Rory : Catch birds - line up
Well I think that says it all!
Posted by dottie at 2:29 AM
The sweet sound of gunfire
eBooks in your kalishnakov. I'm speechless. I wish I'd thought of it first!
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8626936%5E13762,00.html
Posted by dottie at 2:11 AM
New York in the 70's
Cool archive of photos from New York showing people and places, taken by photographer Allan Tennenbaum. Link to the archive is right down the bottom of the page. Read the blurb though!
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0402/at_intro.html
I remember the queues for petrol we had even here in Ireland in the 70's. I must have been very young at the time but I remember clearly waiting in a queue at Raheny filling station with my Mum and brother in our dads VW beetle. He was away at sea at the time. Showing my age...
Posted by dottie at 1:25 AM
February 13, 2004
Candy Messages
Check it out!
ah such fun!
Posted by dottie at 7:00 PM
Robot Stories
This looks great. From the descriptions its suggests to me that it follows in the footsteps of all the science fiction I like. No explosions, just character development and stories that cut straight to the heart of what it is to be human.
Hopefully it will be coming to Dublin soon...
Posted by dottie at 5:58 PM
Irish Soldiers
This is a statue in memory of the Irish soldiers who dies in the first world war, fighting under the British flag mores the pity. We Irish have never been a martial race. We never fielded our own armies. People through history have said that we fought fiercely for any cause but our own. Well we eventually got it right in 1916.I like to think that these soldiers died fighting for freedom rather than king and country.
Comments
Paddy O'Reilly
As an Ex British Soldier (Royal Irish Rangers) I take offence to your comments. Being an Irish Soldier in the British Army along with many OTHERS we are proud of being both Irish and wearing the British flag on our uniform.
mark
The first world war was pretty bloody and generally pointless. I would like to think that the Irish soldiers who fought, died for a good cause rather than the glory of the British Empire.
I think anybody who serves with honour as a soldier in a combat situation has a lot to be proud of. Although, personally I can't support the institution of any standing military force that has the choice to apply lethal force.
However, I will always support the individual soldiers as long as they serve with honour and keep true to high moral standards.
The usual caveats apply to my statement considering that I have only read about and never experienced (beyond paintballing...) combat situations.
Posted by dottie at 4:56 PM | Comments (2)
Dorset Street
Who said Dorset Street Wasnt pretty?
Posted by dottie at 4:49 PM
How to accessorise in Australia
This guy was attacked by a shark, swam three hundred meters to the shore and then drove to the hospital when they eventually got the shark off his leg.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/11/1076388423797.html
Posted by dottie at 4:47 PM
This is your artist on Acid
A mate of mine, Dave Grogan, sent me this. As he says 'this rocks!'
http://www.cowboybooks.com.au/html/acidtrip1.html
from the artict:
'Outlines seem normal, but very vivid - everything is changing colour. My hand must follow the bold sweep of the lines. I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that's now active - my hand, my elbow... my tongue'.
I wonder what happened to the artists career after this? It seems from his comments that it was a very draining experience and his perceptions seemed blunted and his enthusiasm robbed after the effects wore off. I have this terrible image of the poor guy never being able to draw or paint again....
Comments
Dave G
knew you'd like it! :)
Posted by dottie at 3:15 PM | Comments (1)
Helicopters blink blinky or seat of the pants
I do love the Onion...
http://www.theonion.com/4006/opinion1.html
Posted by dottie at 2:20 AM
We have a winner!
My very good friend Emmet is the penguin whaking master of Vodaphone. He's a busy man apparently :) !
The games just in case you missed them:
http://junk.dawnshadow.se/yp010.swf
and...
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/games/7/
Posted by dottie at 2:14 AM
Picture puzzles
Posted by dottie at 2:05 AM
Critical moment
I've reached that critical moment when friends have started reading my blog and making or even leaving comments. I'm afraid, very afraid.
Noone wants to look silly. Having a blog in Ireland is not the same as having a blog in say, San Fransisco or the states generally where it seems to be de rigeur to have a blog and share your thoughts (such as they are) and photos of stuff lying around your house. I have to ask myself - why am I doing this?
I'm not sure I have an answer yet. The original motivation was geek cool and communication. If I have a blog I'll be cool to other geeks, but since I know only cool people (yo muthafuckas!) I guess I'm just a geek. And communication. Well when no-one reads your blog....
Then I thought , OK, I'll use my blog to pick up girls. I had little cards printed up with my blog URL on them in bold coolvetica 18pt. I hit them with my tagline; 'Cranky, dumb and cuddly - thats me!' and then I beam my that shit-eating grin just as I hand over the card. I have a photo if me on the back of the card, in full grayscale, with the same shit-eating grin, just to reinforce the connection. Never fails.
And that's why I'm a single man.
Posted by dottie at 1:59 AM
February 10, 2004
I like movies
...and this is why I like this site.
All the recommendations it gave me so far seem to be spot on. I like the ones it suggested:
Y tu mama tambien - which I have actually been meaning to rent for ages now
The secretary - James Spader, gotta love him, I think hes beginning to get type-cast as a sex object though - I once sold a book to him in Hodges Figgis. Never let on that I knew who he was until I was handing back his change saying 'thanks James, loved you in Crash'. The look on his face was priceless.
Deadalive (Braindead) - hmm. Not sure about this one. I'll rent it anyway and see...
Hable Con Ella (Talk to her) - I had heard the name but dont know nothing about it...
and...
American Psycho. I think this is the first incorrect suggestion here, just from reports I've heard of it. I might watch it anyway.
Comments
Dave G
American psycho is actually quite good. Christian Bale (who is playing the next batman in batman:intimidation), is wonderfull as the 80's icon of dismemberment and misplaced rage.
It is an interesting companion piece for the excellent "rules of attraction" which involves christian's younger brother Sean (played excellently by Dawson Creek's James Vanderbeak)
Posted by dottie at 12:34 PM | Comments (1)
You yes You
Lovely illustrations here. Need more like this man. Engineering background, switched to art. Good move. Someone who believes in what they do. Passion.
See if you can spot the reference to the B-Movie classic. I've seen it round Dublin too - wonder who's spreading it and why? I guess its someone trying to start an 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us' thing going....
Comments
dave g
what b-movie?
Mark Lennox
Invasion of the Body snatchers -
'must not sleep....must warn others!'
Its late now, I'm going to bed. I might not be quite myself in the morning!
Posted by dottie at 10:54 AM | Comments (2)
GarageBand
I would love to see some big names in music putting together an album using only the GarageBand software from Apple. Just them, not big name producers or arrangers or the like so BT and Dave Arnold, please dont call us, you're not what we are looking for right now!
I would love to hear what Madonna would come up with. Michael Stipe would be a natural with it. David Byrne could produce music to go with his powerpoint presentations. Moby could... well Moby could probably produce his next album (sorry Moby.....I liked the originals better......).
We could even rope in the other big names in music - David Geffen, although his label might drop him if he did that... Mitch Bainwol the new CEO for RIAA.
Or throw it open to all and sundry, what about Donald Rumsfeld so that he can produce tracks for his inadvertant poetry, closer to home Bertie Ahern our taoiseach (thats sort of like a president, except we do have a president, she - yes she - just doesnt run our country).
Comments
angry
HAHAHAHA< You obviously have no music industry experience.
Wilbur Pan
There was a compilation album that came out a few years ago called "At Home With the Groovebox". The Groovebox (technically the MC-505) was made by Roland and was an all-in-one sequencer/synthesizer/drum machine.
The theme of the album was that each tack was made using only the Groovebox (plus vocals). Beck, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Cibo Matto, and Sean Lennon were among the contributors.
So there is precedent for an all GarageBand album.
Mark Lennox
Well angry, not real experience. But I did work as a session musician for Universal over the course of a couple of years (read: occassionally over two years) and although it was mainly through the auspices of a good friend, and only in Ireland, I still got to meet some of the shadiest characters I would ever care to meet. We're talking people who would hype no-talent, totally naive starlets, just to get laid. Their records actually charted, of course with other people singing.
Truly a breathtaking experience to meet these people, they cannot tell the truth. If you handed them a cup of coffee they would tell you its was tea.
Although I did get to meet some lovely, genuine people too, who have (just about) survived the scene,mostly because they eventually got signed by 4AD. Visionaries should run this business, we dont need any more monoculture.
I would still like to se a garageband album put together - I might organise something like that myself. hmmmm...
Mark Lennox
MC505 is a nice machine!
See Korg has a new Electribe out too! the Electribe -MX with valves and all that. Mmmm. Always kinda liked Korg - first synth was a poly 800 from where I took a quick left into guitar. Only have a Korg X5 now though...
I wonder when the synth manufacturers are going to go headlong into software production? I mean Kodak has just made the decision to phase out film and run with digital. Akai must be feeling the pich. I mean I know its great to reach out and twist a knob, but thats what MIDI controllers are for!
Posted by dottie at 10:08 AM | Comments (4)
February 6, 2004
Labrador Current
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17711
Apparently the labrador currents, driven by what is called the great conveyor belt in the Atlantic, can shut down almost overnight leaving only twoi or three years maximum warning before a catastrophic cooling of northern europe and the onset of an ice age worldwide.
Fuck.
This ican happen because cold, fresh water from melting pack ice and glaciers in the arctic change the delicate temperature and salinity balance of the Atlantic which drives the so called 'great conveyor belt'. Change that balance by a tiny fraction and bang - at least hundreds of years of ice age, possibly hundreds of thousands (and no ice-cream!).
meantime the equatorial belt will be drought ridden. If we are lucky we might be able to exist along some small belt between the two zones.
To think this may have happened to many cultures of man in the past - possibly? If we are to survive this I think ironically our technology will be the deciding factor.
A computer that runs off snow anybody?
Posted by dottie at 1:18 PM
February 5, 2004
Egg Cup Fountain!
Spontaneous Egg Cup Fountain! Just chucked it in the sink and hey presto - couldnt get it to work again when I tried. Flash photgraphy rocks!
A page with some good links for flash photography
http://www.fotronix.com/highspflsh.htm
and the man himself 'Doc' Edgerton
http://web.mit.edu/edgerton/main.html
Posted by dottie at 12:13 PM
Massive Morals
Its about time someone pointed out to the lumbering giants that are tech companies that a little morality, ethics and just plain common sense every now and then goes a long way. However I am in two minds about this one....
I think that this article about Microsoft, Cisco and others being named in a human rights abuse lawsuit is pretty much on a level with any expose on governments selling arms to possibly hostile, or at least restive, nations.
Like they didnt realise that China had human rights abuses, how could they send over tech equipment and software that would allow the government to further subjugate their already oppressed people? Just when they had found the liberating power of information exchange through the internet it is monitored, tapped and restrivted in the worst way, and anyone who 'abuses' the privelege of the internet is jailed.
On the other handwithout these and other tech giants, not to mention the dollar from Joe Q. American Public, China would still be poverty striken. Well okay, it IS still poverty striken, but things are actually getting better. People are getting more educated, the tide is turning. Its the thin edge of the wedge people. Besides,, in financial terms, China owns America. As fars as I am aware China has forwarded the USA the largest line of credit ever given. If they decide to foreclose on that the USA and the world economy would go down the tubes. Anyway, I digress, thats a matter for another day and a conspiracy teory group meeting....
It would be nice to see a balance. The tech giants provide their technology and situate their companies in China and the government is held over to improve its human rights, especially in the area of electronic censorship, prosecution, etc. otherwise said companies will stop production, pull out etc. Essentially threaten embargos.
The problem with that is that is what countries and governments should be doing. We are talking about companies here. Companies have no other reason than to make more dividends for the shareholders, regardless of how that is done. Dead children in Bopal, dead sea life on your nearest coastline, mercury in your water, acid rain, nuclear waste in the Irish sea, all due to big companies cutting corners or 'taking risks' to make more money.
The much abused UN has tried it best, setting up guidelines and the like to direct companies toward ethical business practices. How are they going to stop them? They combined might of the world expressed through the UN couldnt stop a single mad texan and his clique, how are they to stop a corporation and their phalanxes of highly paid (note: not overpaid!), highly intelligent lawyers?
In Ireland the CAB (Criminal Assests Bureau) was formed after the shoting dead of Veronica Guerin. It brought many criminals to justice in recent years. I think we need something like this for corporations. But as ever the question is - who watches the watchers?
Posted by dottie at 10:25 AM
February 4, 2004
Kuroshin
Hey whats wrong with MovableType?
Kuroshin (by the way the 'S' key is in between the A and the D and if you dont have one on your keyboard I'd be happy to send you the $10 it would cost to get a new one - although that would probably be a stoopid keyboard used by most other people so its not cool, or uses too many clock cycles of the on-board microprocessor to deal with each keystroke, or allows strangers to type on your computer {or friends even!} )
Kuro5hin rant about Movable Type
Hey since we are talking stpid analogies if a murderer uses a knife to kill someone it does not mean that I'm a murderer when I butter a piece of bread with a knife. Ha! You see I dont even eat bread! or drink Latte, or use iMacs, and hey amnt I just proving your point? Lazy sonofa - go prove your own point! I have to write about deflossing my teeth!
Go stick your blogboard up your a-blog!
And heres the best picture I could find of me being 'pensive'
I would have to say that Kuroshin has cast the dragons teeth upon the earth to bring forth his Myrmidons, but he will find that they turn on him instead!
p.s. anyone whoi hasnt realised - this is a flame, and a bad one, probably a lame flame? ok - still sick. Also you WILL have to read Kuro5hin's original post to understand what the hell I'm going on about... anyway, like I said later.
Why am I writing like people actually look at this blog?
Posted by dottie at 8:54 PM
Neicey Noo!
My neice and goddaughter Alannah! All of nine months old! What a cutie, she knows how to play to the camera!
Posted by dottie at 7:32 PM
and now..the Cathedral!
Viking type doorways - these were all the rage back when Dublin was founded, like 1000 years ago! Hey thats like five times the age of America*! Wow!
*yeah, I know or therabouts anyhow.... ok maybe just the United States, happy now?
Oooh!
Aaah!
Rapunzel! Let down your hair!!
This last one is some 12th Century cathedral. They didnt make them too big in those days, guess they were lazy or something. They were all pretty short too if this thing had a roof on it! Me and my crazy tall girlfriend would have had to be atheists - they would have burned us at the cross! Our pleas of 'we couldnt get into the church to get communion - besides which those tiny hosts ore too small for our huge bellies!' would fall on deaf ears. We would have been turned to ashes which would have mingled with the wind and air - lovely, a true hallmark moment!
Hmm. I've been sick the last few days. In fact I'm still sick. Excuse any rambling......
Posted by dottie at 7:26 PM
Suicidal Super Puppy!
These things just keep getting better!
for those of you interested:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/games/7/
enjoy!!
Posted by dottie at 7:08 PM
Cars! Cars! Cathedral! Cars!
I was out walking the other day (actually going to pick up my film camera, antother story..) and this is what I saw parked outside Christchurch Cathedral - no rhyme, no reason, jusr hunks of gorgeous metal, rubber and leather. When you put it like that actually it sounds kind of fetishy!
Posted by dottie at 6:43 PM
February 2, 2004
Gradual Biological changes to buzzwords
This is scary. Georgia (U.S.) is banning use of the word 'evolution' in classrooms, claiming it is a 'buzzword'. The reason they are doing this is because of pressure from parents.
Typical reaction from conservatives when they are threatened. If they allow children to think for themselves they will of course immediately start sniffing cocaine, drinking non-stop and shagging rings around themselves before OD'ing, drying out and blaming it all on their parents. Better to shield the from all this allowing them to grow up as carbon copies of the parents, secure in the knowledge that their view of the world is the only view.
Whats this about calling evolution 'gradual biological changes over time'. That makes it sound like the world has just hit puberty, and you know what that means. Soon the world will be caught french kissing saturn or pushing mercury off orbit just to see how long it takes to plummet into the sun. Oh yes, puberty is a much safer way to describe evolution.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/01/30/striking.evolution.ap/index.html
Posted by dottie at 9:52 AM