31/11/02 Greatest Fictional
Briton
AA Gill, the Sunday
Times TV Critic, and one of the advocates for William Shakespeare in the
Great Britons series, proposes a new competition in his column today :
"Next time, could
I suggest that to even up the dearth of writers in the list, we might vote
for the top 100 fictional Britons and have Sherlock Holmes battling it
out with Falstaff, Mr Darcy, Winnie the Pooh and Bridget Jones."
I think I'd vote for
Holmes, but I suspect that James Bond or Harry Potter would come out in
the lead.
31/11/02 World AIDS
Day
Today is World AIDS
Day, and over this weekend ads have been appearing on TV paid for (I presume)
by the Irish government informing us that they have been spending €40
million to combat AIDS in the Third World as part of "Ireland Aid". €40
million really isn't that much money, it's about the price of a world class
footballer, should the government really be spending tens of thousands
of euros in an exercise in self-congratulation? AIDS isn't beaten, people
are dying, and not just because of AIDS. Wouldn't the money spent on the
ads be better spent in Africa?
30/11/02 Beauties and
the Beasts
Andrew Sullivan nails
the controversy over the staging of the Miss World contest in Nigeria in
this Salon
article. In the West, the Miss World contest is regarded as something of
a joke. To the Islamo-Fascists its something to kill for. Sullivan rightly
castigates those who attempt to blame the organisers, and asks you to consider
who would be blamed if Christian fundamentalists in America went on the
rampage over a play they considered to be offensive.
29/11/02 Babe Watch
November's Babe of
the Month is Melinda Messenger. She is currently participating in Celebrity
Big Brother, and as much as I dislike "reality" TV shows, it has put her
back into the spotlight. Aside from her adorable looks, she has the one
of the most delectable accents around, and she could "smile for England."
28/11/02 Hell On Earth
Watch
There are few more
unpleasant experiences than getting a rush-hour train on a wet day. You
walk in the rain to the train station, stand on an exposed platform waiting\praying
for the arrival of a train. The first train arrives and you can't get on
because its too full. You wait another five minutes and this time you squeeze
your way onto a carriage. If you are wearing glasses they will immediately
steam up, and you can't take them off to clean them because you are clinging
onto a pole with one hand, and using the other to hold your umbrella, which
is dripping onto you.
I remember hearing
a politician extol the virtues of public transport, outlining the stress
that drivers experience stuck in rush-hour traffic. Bad as being stuck
in rush-hour traffic is, at least you endure it in a warm, dry seat, not
squashed up against complete strangers. Human beings were not meant to
be that close to strangers.
27/11/02 TV Watch -
The Life Of Mammals
As usual, David Attenborough
presents us with a magnificient natural history series. The stars of tonight's
episode were bats, and their amazing ability to navigate using "echolocation",
similar to radar and sonar. Donald Griffin, the co-discoverer of echolocation
in bats (along with Robert Galambos), recalled the scenes when he published
his findings at a seminar 1940 :
"One distinguished
scientist seized Galambos by the shoulders and shook him while complaining
that we could not possibly mean such an outrageous suggestion. Radar and
sonar were still highly classified developments in military technology
and the notion that bats might do anything remotely analagous to the latest
triumphs in electronic engineering struck most people as not only impluasible
but emotionally repugnant."
In 1940, radar was
the weapon that gave the RAF the edge in the Battle of Britain. Bats had
been using it for millions of years to find their way. Evolution is a wondrous
thing.
27/11/02 TV Watch -
Friends
The ninth and (according
to reports) last season of Friends starts on Ireland's Network 2 next Monday
night. Although it lacks the sharpness and bite which it displayed at the
start, it can still raise a laugh.
Apparently, NBC have
lined up an American version of BBC2's comedy Coupling to replace it.
December is very early
to start showing a new season of an American show, I'm pretty sure that
there will have to be a break to show repeats because all the new episodes
won't have been shown in the States by the time Network 2 catches up.
Note : I'm using 'season'
in its American sense, the Irish media will announce it as a new 'series',
but I believe that the American usage is superior because the British\Irish
usage doesn't convey the difference between a new television program (in
American, series) and a new run of episodes (in American, season) for an
existing program.
26/11/02 Author Insanity
Watch
I am being driven
slowly insane by an advert that Sky are running on Irish and British TV
stations. The ad itself is fairly bland, but it is the music that is doing
the damage. I know that I should know what song is playing in the background,
it is an instrumental piece, melodic, I think it is from a film. I have
even tried Commercials
Breaks and Beats which is usually excellent for this sort of thing,
to no avail. This will do my head in until I figure out the name of the
song.
25/11/02 The Greatest
Briton
Much to the relief
of the BBC Winston Churchill came out first in their 'Great Britons' series.
I'm sure they would have been a little embarrassed had the wonderfully-named
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (helped greatly by Jeremy Clarkson's advocacy)
or Diana won it. Churchill would have been my first choice aswell, with
Newton & Darwin close behind. Who would the greatest Irish person be?
Michael Collins? Sean Lemass? Bosco?
23/11/02 The First
Entry
Inspired by the example
of Andrew Sullivan's weblog,
I have started to keep a weblog (or blog, for short) to record my rants
and raves. We all need to let off a bit of steam every now and then. The
entries for before this date were written retrospectively.
23/11/02 Political
Correctness Watch
Have you noticed that
no matter what Palestinians terrorists do, they are never ever called Palestinian
terrorists by the Irish media? They are radicals, or gunmen, or militants,
or... there seems to be a list of euphemisms somewhere that they are all
working off. What would a Palestinian have to do before the Irish media
would call him a terrorist?
22/11/02 On The Bookshelf
My 'Christmas' books
have arrived, so called because it will probably be Christmas by the time
I have a chance to read them. It's a fairly diverse collection : Thomas
Sowell's "A Conflict of Visions", an examination of the differences between
the Political Right and Left; Jared Diamond's historical masterpiece "Guns
Germs and Steel" in hardback, my paperback version is getting a bit dog-eared;
Bill Bryson's "Made In America", a witty look at the history of the English
language in America; David Friedman's "Hidden Order", an accessible account
of the economics of everyday life; and finally the 1300-page "Penguin History
of the Second World War", which I intend to use as a reference book rather
than try to read straight through.
21/11/02 Consumer Watch
On my summer holiday
to Italy I acquired a taste for Iced Tea, specifically Liptons' Lemon Iced
Tea. However, much to my disappointment, it seems that in Ireland it is
easier to obtain class A drugs than to obtain Liptons' Lemon Iced Tea.
Snapple do a passable Iced Tea, as do the LIDL chain, but Liptons', which
is by far the best, cannot be got for love nor money. Apparently Liptons
withdrew from the Irish market but may be coming back in January. Fingers
crossed.
20/11/02 Irish Politics
- The Teflon Minister
Bertie Ahern, Ireland's
Prime Minsiter is often called the Teflon Taioseach, because no matter
how many rumours or scandals erupt around him, nothing ever sticks. It
seems to me that in his cabinet he has a Teflon Minister, the Minister
for Health, Michael Martin. In the media the government is criticised because
it has doubled the health budget but there has apparently been little improvement
in the quality of the health service, it is a black hole for money. Somehow,
however, Martin never seems to come in for criticism for this (perhaps
Teflon is not the best analogy, nothing is thrown at him that could stick).
He is the minister responsible, and yet if you look at opinion pieces in
the media about the government and the wasted money, the criticism is directed
at Charlie McCreevy, the Minister for Finance. Shrewdly, McCreevy's new
defence when asked about where the money is going is to direct the journalist
to interview the Minister responsible for that department.
19/11/02 Poseur Alert
MTV and local radio
stations are playing Avril Lavigne's hit "Complicated" on heavy rotation.
It is a very catchy song, but I have this weird gut feeling about the song
and\or the artist (it is rather vague) that put me off it. Normally I adore
Canadian girls, and Miss Lavigne is quite cute, but a female friend commented
that she is a total poseur and then it hit me - that is exactly what's
been putting me off the artist and consequently the song.
17/11/02 Sport - GAA
UCD have won the Dublin
Gaelic Football Championship, comfortably beating St. Vincents. UCD are
not a club, they are a university. They offer scholarships to some of the
finest inter-county players in the country. They are making a mockery of
the Club Championships. I should declare my bias here, I am a former player
of St. Vincents, however, I would have preferred Na Fianna to be in the
final instead of Vincents, if they went on to beat UCD.
16/11/02 DVD Review
- Lord Of The Rings
At long last, the
Special Extended Edition of The Fellowship of the Ring has been released.
I did not buy the original theatrical release, as I was waiting for this
version, which has an extra 1/2 hour of footage. Some scenes have been
extended, some scenes have been added - Lothlorien in particular makes
a lot more sense now. This is the definitive version of the film. The only
minor quibble that I would have with it is the absence of any theatrical
trailers, especially as "Fellowship" is the first part of a trilogy. I
was sure that there would be a trailer for "The Two Towers" on it. "The
Two Towers" is out December 18 - after rewatching "Fellowship", I don't
think I can hold out that long...
14/11/02 MTV Europe
Music Awards
The MTV *Europe* Music
Awards and not one of the main awards went to a European artist. On average,
about 20% of the main nominees were European, so I suppose it was only
to be expected.
14/11/02 Government
Madness Watch
I've noticed that
whenever it rains for any length of time, floods accumulate wherever ramps
have been laid down. Did no one stop to think about the effect these ramps
would have on the drainage systems of the roads? Ramps are supposed to
be there to reduce accidents, however, on a wet night, they seem more likely
to cause accidents, as people do their utmost to avoid having to drive
through the floods.
The people responsible
are probably the same people who have put apple trees onto the streets
of our suburbs. Where exactly did they think the apples were going to magically
disappear to after they fell off the trees?
12/11/02 TV Watch -
War Walks
I have been watching
the repeated run of War Walks on BBC2. This is an excellent military history
program, presented by Professor Richard Holmes. I am continually surprised
by how well Holmes can evoke the atmosphere of a particular battle simply
by standing on the battlefield and explaining what happened. This week's
battle was the Boyne, a battle of crucial importance to Irish history.
Once again, the mass of Irish people supported the wrong side in a British
power stuggle, backing James II (technically the legitimate King of England)
against William of Orange (Parliament's choice), and suffered for it. William
even had the blessing of the Pope in the battle - Irish history is not
the simple clash of religions that some would like to make it.
I am writing a War
Walks page, which will contain the opening narration to each episode.
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