They might be Giants

One of those fogotten bands.Birdhouse in your soul

Istanbul, not Constantinopleand a lesson about the Sun. And a favourite of a friend of mine

The Oscars

Unfortunately despite my efforts to see ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’, the best I could muster was a version downloaded through questionable means that had no subtitles and I don’t have time to learn Japanese before Sunday night. There is always room for surprise at the Oscars such as ‘Crash’ bucking ‘Brokeback Mountains’ winning streak last year to take Best Picture but I am going to go out on a limb and declare that it will not win. So based on what I’ve seen I am going to pitch my tent in ‘The Departed’ camp. It will not win because of nostalgia or because of a sense of owing to Scorsese (this will come with the Best Director award I am sure) but it should win simply because it is the most accomplished of the nominated films. I’m sure there is technical brilliance behind the flawless recreation of events but for me ‘The Queen’ is all about performance and ‘Babel’ just was not as important or emotive as it would lay claim to being. So in a toss up between ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and ‘The Departed’, I am leaning towards ‘The Departed’ knowing the Academy does not traditionally favour comedies and also that ultimately while ‘Little Miss’ was so entertaining the film as a whole wouldn’t match the class of ‘The Departed’. I will not be taking bets.

The Oscar 5: 'The Queen'

The premise of ‘The Queen’ struck me in the same vein as last years films examining 9/11 – why, what could they achieve? Whether it be a biographical effort or a historic recreation, the filmmakers will still strive to make a commercially successful, dramatic piece and this requires taking liberties with how events unfolded. This could turn badly sour if done in poor taste or not portrayed in a way the people remember. The events of 9/11 and the outpouring of grief following the death of Princess Diana are vivid moments in recent history, any movie must be careful in judging how public feeling has evolved since then.

Straight up the events we know so well are here recreated vividly, intercut with archive footage. However when we enter into the backrooms of Balmoral or No. 10, the film looses its impact as we can never rest easy that these conversations would have ever been held or these emotions were expressed. We can of course read the press surrounding the film and watch the documentary on the DVD to see how much research went into the private actions of the Royal family but if we are to take the viewing experience alone on its merits, which is the truest way of reviewing it, the scenes do not convince in their authenticity. The scenes feel contrived so that they can never permeate enough in their attempt to show the stulted relationships of the Windsor’s. Almost as the pitch perfect recreation of public moments undermines the quieter moments, Helen Mirren’s outstanding performance as Elizabeth II only serves to make the underdeveloped supporting characters stick out like a sore thumb. Other than flashes of Diana, the Tony Blair character gets the most screen time. He seems to be in a remake of the Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes where Dr. Watson is the true sleuth and pays a cheeky chappy dunce to play the part of a suave detective. I am well aware he is infamously surrounded by masters of spin but the man here resembles nothing of presence that Blair conveyed when first elected. As for The Queen Mother and Prince Philip and Prince Charles they are one dimensional and in the case of the latter two poorly cast – why go to the trouble of showing the human side of the Queen and negate it by surrounding her with tabloid cardboard cutouts. The less said about Cherie Blair the better.

Without doubt the film belongs to Helen Mirren, playing a woman who’s life is not her own. She will win the Oscar this year not for an impersonation or an evocation, she literally is the Queen. After she has become the Queen she brings an entire other layer of acting to play, playing doubt and frustration and quiet suffering. Similar to ‘Babel’ this is a film about people in a time of crisis and their failure to communicate, stumped by loss. In Helen Mirren’s subtle performance though we have all the emotional impact displayed that ‘Babel’ tried to string together to lesser effect. So I am pleasantly surprised by ‘The Queen’, it does add dimensions to familiar events, giving context to a world of superficial graces and uninvited expectations that we don’t understand, so that while it doesn’t always ring through resoundly, as we sit in our sitting rooms watching this family in their sitting room there is a sense of solace

The Dossing Times recommends....

I like to do my bit for society whenever I can and therefore I would like to announce that the Science of Sleep is now in Irish cinemas, at last. I’m sure that a lot of you know this already, but for anybody that doesn’t, there you go. CK and I had the good fortune to catch this little gem of a love story at the Wellington film festival last year and it was very much a highlight of 2006 for us both. Infact, CK put it in at number 5 in the Dossing Times Top 10 movies of 2006. The movie won’t be to everybody’s tastes an, indeed, during my second viewing of it last night, more people walked out than any other movie I can remember. For this reason, coupled with the fact that it more than stood up to a second viewing, I strongly recommend that anybody looking for something different in the cinema this week checks it out.

Guilty Pleasures

I’m wondering are we allowed more than 1 guilty pleasure? I’m hoping so as I came up with the 5 below without any hesitation and I’m sure any further analysis of my habits might find others. The requisite element seems to be that you enjoy the habit, or programme or apple, cheese and mustard sandwich knowing that adjudicators of fashion and cool would frown deeply on it. There is some sense of consolation in knowing that I am not alone in enjoying some questionable distractions but I am interested in how diverse and out of bounds peoples pleasures go so be sure to post your own.

Home and Away I have been watching the beautiful people of Summer Bay since I was a child and it was a necessary part of the feeling of freedom after finishing homework each evening. I was lucky enough to visit Palm Beach outside Sydney late last year where the famous beach is located and despite some rain that day it is a beautiful place. I am well aware of the cheese factor, the cyclical nature of the drugs, bullying, joining cults storylines and the great socio-geographic anomaly of so many natural disasters and parentless children turning up in the same place but the show is still compulsive viewing in my books and in Alf Stewart we have one of the great characters of soap.

Sugababes Sugababes before they underwent as many line up changes as Happy Days and sold out to catchy pop and cover versions put out some credible and well written pop music. I didn’t like them as much then. Now that they have gone the holy road of pouting at the screen and wearing kinky little skirts I am a big fan. Importantly, for them to remain a guilty pleasure appreciated from afar I can never learn anything of their personal lives or hear them speak as the bubble will burst all too quickly.

Bewitched (The Movie) Normally, this is the type of movie that smacks of laziness and is usually something I would not given a second glance at, especially if I want to uphold the pretentious standards I like to maintain when it comes to movie watching. However a dark evening a while back when funds did not allow activities beyond watching TV, it was my only choice and I committed to giving it a chance, totally sceptical after being subjected to Nicole Kidman’s last foray into remake land, ‘The Stepford Wives’, which was an atrocity. Anyway, it was a charming little film, with the standard romantic comedy elements given just that extra little bit of humour and depth, with great support from people like Michael Caine, Shirley McLaine and the squeaky voiced chick from ‘The West Wing’. Nicole Kidman was gorgeous and Will Ferrell, wonder of wonders was not even just watchable but also enjoyable. They were a great duo and there’s a nice little nod to ‘Singing in the Rain’ in the middle.

Nigella Lawson This woman is lovely, she can cook, talks with an unbelievably flirty upper crust English accent and has a background as a literary editor so surely must be some way intelligent. The episodes of her TV Show have been branded gastroporn, she can lick a spoon like no other entity on the planet and talks about how she likes to cut food into sizeable chunks but realises our mouth mite not be as accommodating as hers. I could devote an entire blog, let alone an entire post to the virtue and sin combo this woman puts on display. I like to be as self-sufficient so she has also served a purpose beyond the purely aesthetic and taught me that hot-coffee poured over ice-cream is the best and easiest way of making a great dessert and that there is no going back after you have boiled bacon in a bottle of Coca Cola!

Spoilerfix.com The thing with ‘Lost’ is that all that keeps me coming back is the mystery. I tire of the back stories, I realise they have significance, tie into the larger mystery and they often overlap and are intriguing in their own right but sometimes they just seem given over to dipping into another side of the characters life which I don’t care about, I want to know what the hell is going on. So I go to spoilerfix.com, a site which gives spoilers for all the main primetime shows coming out of the U.S and the kind people of the site bring together information from other sites, message boards and T.V columns in one handy site. I know its terrible to look at spoilers and in my defence I never did it for shows like ‘The West Wing’ and largely stay away when season finales are coming up but the wait sometimes is just too much and I at least like to know the outline of upcoming episodes. Furthermore I am a great believer in re-watching mystery films a second time to re-appreciate the story that leads up to the revelation. I don’t have time to re-watch each episode of ‘Lost’ so in having an idea of what’s coming up I am really just ensuring I fully experience each episode. I am just being an appreciative viewer.

The Minister, the Judge and the Tribunal

The commentary of Michael McDowell and the various other political statements on the Mahon Tribunal does not necessarily cross the line of separation of powers. Though Tribunals are imbued with powers similar to the High Court they are nevertheless a creation of the government and they in turn are entitled to monitor the work of the Tribunal and do have the legislative power to bring them to an end. However this past weeks war of words does smack of exploitation of a sensitive nerve for the public for political expediency.

The issue of solicitors exorbitant rate of pay and the glacial rate of progress in Tribunal hearings has been at issue since The Beef Tribunal. A right of appeal and the protection of individual rights before such Tribunals is imperative to ensuring justice is a part of the Tribunal system so put simply delay is a necessary evil in ensuring we can stand by the outcome of any findings. Oireachtas committees and inquiries held abroad such as the Scott Inquiry in the UK have been outright failures, contested and produce little satisfactory results. Though there are few high profile outcomes from the spate of Tribunals established during the 1990s the fact is that political lobbying has been revolutionised. I won’t rush to saying it has had results, I remember attending a conference where Marion Harkin bemusedly contributed that the practice of paying for planning permission is a national problem and goes on to this day in her constituency and others in the West of the country and the only reason a fuss has been made of the corruption in Dublin, is well because its Dublin. I would stand by Tribunals as the best mechanism to investigate matters of urgent public concern however there is certainly cause for reappraising how Tribunals are run and clear identifiable methods of taking the findings of Tribunal reports and learning a lesson from them. This would certainly allieve public frustration with what seem to be ballooning bureaucratic mazes that seem ultimately to serve little purpose.

It is absolutely of no value to begin criticising the possible cost of a Tribunal and suggest its termination in its 9th year. To have progressed so far and not see it to a proper end would be more of a waste than any other course of action. Not that McDowell has stuck to his guns, he has conceded that the final cost could be closer to the estimate suggested by Judge Mahon, admitting that no one could read the future. Where then did the impetus come from for the original statement? Did the Auditor General present a projection or did a member of the ESRI research the potential cost? – No. It seems he has plucked the figure out of the air and while no one was actually shocked initially that a Tribunal could run to such expense it was absolutely ridiculed by the person who could most ably make such a suggestion – the Tribunals chairman – stating that he felt a figure 700 m less would be more realistic.

Obviously the opposition have played the political manouever card, an option very easily embraced by the public. It’s difficult to swallow though. Only today did the PD’s rebuke the rumblings of the Fine Fail backbencers, which previously brought Mc Dowell’s Café Bar Licence initiative to an end so then it seems difficult to understand why McDowell would go out on a limb and try to set the ball rolling on bringing the Tribunal to an end so as to avoid any embarassment for Fine Fail in the next module’s hearings. Maybe I am too naive and conflicting with the backbenchers is small fish conflict and McDowell has a more long term game and is speaking out so as to ensure he has partners for a coalition next June. Maybe it was purely rummaging around in the attic of sore points and deciding to make a statement to ensure some pre-publicity for this weekend’s Ard Fheis. There is no denying there was no lead in or pretext to bringing up the Tribunal’s cost, yet bringing it up must have had some purpose. And to tail end the statement with the view that the money could be better spent on education or hospital beds is farcical and an insult to the intelligence of every person in this country. A lack of money has never been the problem with how major services are run, to try and turn the issue into an ‘I care about you all’ type statement is rubbish.

So with around 12 weeks to go this is the type of well though out, issue driven electioneering we can expect. McDowell is better than this, why he is going for unnecessary tabloid type exaggeration is a sad testament to the nature of politics in Ireland.

Where are the left now

Chavez is continuing the become the dictator people always said he would be.

Some private companies are also concerned about President Chavez's intention to make them allow their employees time during the working day to study socialism.

1984 anyone?

The Oscar 5: 'Little Miss Sunshine'

Little Miss Sunshine is the dark horse of the Oscar race. Along with Ryan Gosling’s nomination for Best Actor, its nomination for Best Picture has had a crest of eyebrows furling across the entertainment world. Equally, its won Best Picture at the Producers Guild Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, wins not to be disregarded as it is ultimately the members of these Guilds who will vote for Best Picture. So wherein lies the appeal of this film in a field numbered by recreations of historic events (‘The Queen’, ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’), epic mood setters (‘Babel’) and stellar thrillers (‘The Departed’).

Put simply, ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is a refreshing, feel good movie. This is despite the dysfunction and range of difficult topics on screen. Our instinctive description of ‘Little Miss’ is that it is a comedy. It could almost be described as a big screen sitcom, in the spirit of movies such as ‘Groundhog Day’ and ‘The Apartment’ using humour to cushion underlying sadness. Comedy, however, quick to be disregarded or ever get any type of awards recognition is I think the hardest medium to succeed in. It is subjective, entirely a matter of taste and can fall horrendously flat as any stand-up comedian, screen writer or actor can testify.

That is the great achievement of this film. Being pitched to a producer somewhere in Hollywood a few years ago I can only imagine some hybrid term being devised to convey the mix of emotions and themes on display throughout the film. Joss Whedon, the writer of such gems as ‘Toy Story’ and creator of ‘Buffy’, ‘Angel’ and ‘Serenity’ always chooses comedic actors to play supporting roles, firmly believing that having mastered the delivery of a comedic punch-line they are more than equipped to add layers of substance to what would otherwise be forgettable characters. Whedon has yet to put together a bad ensemble of players so I feel, is on to something. In the same vein in ‘Little Miss’ Steve Carrell ably establishes himself as a credible actor, biting and acerbic, convincingly playing moments of comedy, portraying detachment and depths of despair and all the while appealing to the audience. Will Ferrell should take notice. Carrell is on screen with actors that could never be pigeon holed or associated with one role and in making diverse role choices he too is building up a fine body of work. So, beginning with a dinner table scene, which handles exposition and propelling the story in effortless strokes, the story addresses the complexities and hopes of a rich ensemble throwing them into dilemmas and conflicts. The running time is rippled with moments for reflection, laugh out loud humour, tragedy and farce.

Maybe within this wide-net of humour lies the secret to how it has registered with so many. Thankfully this does not dilute the impact of the film or mean any jokes are held back on, which for the bulk of the running time is a good thing. One blemish though, a decision made by the adults in the situation half way through the film which certainly could be justified within their objectives grates a little and I felt didn’t sit well with the rhythm of the film. To its credit, so good is the remainder of the film (and I cannot recall such other strong examples of this), the film re-emerges unscathed.

Consider Alan Arkin’s gems of scenes. They serve as an apt cross section of the films medly style. I’ve been frustrated with the need to lable each of the characters, his being the ‘porn-obsessed grandfather’. In querying his grandsons love-life, quelling his grandaughter’s doubts and keeping secrets he plays an introvert, extrovert, sage experienced man that should just be relished, not relegated to a character type. His character is real, multi-layered and indefinable, like any of us watching. Such attention is given to each of the characters even in making some, particularly Greg Kinnear’s, very unlikeable at times

So too the story is constructed to give time to resolving each character’s arc, this does not necessarily involve story book answers and a sealed envelope of resolution. The title refers to a beauty pageant, an end point of the family’s road trip and its crown, the dream of daughter Olive. An important final stage performance towards the end is an almighty fine scene, fun and uplifting and offers plausible hints of each finding some comfort in their own skin and waking up to some hope

Blog Awards open

The blog awards voting is open. and we here and Irish Election have been nominated in a few places for some reason. For best blog post. Two posts by me (here and here on the Dublin Riots have gotten a nod. Here and Irish Election got a node for best political blog. Irish election for best group blog. Myself for some reason Best Contribution to the Irish Bloggersphere shared with Cian. Irish Election for Best designed blog and Irish Election for best news/current affairs blog. I swear they were not all votes by me. :) I see Damien Mulley has not appeared in bes contribution category. I can't image him not getting a nod. I call Shenanigans. Is Damien knocking himself out of the race. vote here.

Golden Brown

And some interesting thoughts on the matter.

Fact Checking the Fact checkers

In this country I think it would be great to have someone fact check the media. A new group says that they are going to do this. Media Byte. Alas how ever they are not fact checkers they are propagandist. So I will have a look at this article on corrib gas.

the most generous fiscal terms in the world, with no royalties, no state participation, and companies can write off their costs 100% up front.

So we seemingly have the most generous fiscal terms in the world. Might that have to do with the fact that we have one of the worst strike rates for gas in the World with one of the most expensive exploration rates? As for no royalities. Most European countries have no royalties. The Norwegians dropped them a year before we did and the Brits 5 years before we did. No state participation what has that go to do with facts checking or not. As for the companies being able to write off their costs. They can do that as well in many other countries. Like everyones favourite example of petroleum economy Norway.

State benefits will not be accrued until the oil companies begin to pay taxes

That is how most countries make their money from oil such as Norway. I talked about this already here and my sources are there. Most of which are actually sources not just Village clippings.

Shell to Sea' is emphatic enough in it's position. The campaign approves the development of the resource, at sea.

Spending a few paragraphs talk about royalties etc does not really serve your point of saying it is solely about the safety measures.

The Corrib gas project could be worth up to EUR50.4 billion at current market prices.

This estimate was based on a 1998 estimate of the size of the field. Which estimate a size of 6-11 trillion cubic feet. When in fact newer estimates say 1 trillion cubic feet. Or roughly 8 billion or 6 times less then what they say. Surely a media checking blog would check this out. I also note that they use certain news sources to fact check the media. How can you do that. As you are believing that one media source is correct based on pure faith. Hat tip (DL)

The Oscar 5: 'The Departed'

My first cinema experience of a Scorcese movie was ‘Bringing out the Dead’. As ever reviews and commentary harked backed to Scorceses’ glory days. ‘Bringing out the Dead’, a brooding, reflective piece following Nicholas Cage’s loner, New York based ambulance driver inevitably drew comparison with ‘Taxi Driver’. I was impressed with the movie though the reviews were largely negative with the consensus that the movie couldn’t hold a candle to ‘Taxi Driver’, the ultimate benchmark in angsty dysfunction. I delved into Scorceses’ back catalogue from there on and discovering the reverance surrounding the man and was continually disappointed with his recent output. With ‘The Departed’ Scorcese has won back many bygone plaudits, with agreement that returning to familiar ground, the observational thriller, filtered with violence and ideas of loyalty and redemption had worked well.

This is true but there is also the important fact that Scorcese is an eclectic director and has proven himself ably in comedy (‘The King of Comedy’), all ranges of drama (‘The Age of Innocence’, ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’) and even edited ‘Woodstock’. So a return to a ‘Goodfellas’ or ‘Mean Streets’ type set up doesn’t automatically turn up quality. The issue here is he has excellent source material and surrounded himself with quality cast and crew to truly deliver a reminder of his best work. ‘The Departed’ is actually a very simple but classic three-structure tale; (1) establishing the character’s situation, (2) elements spiral out of control isolating the hero and (3) the resolution. Importantly, Scorcese playing with this tried template, ladens the substance of the film with his unique dynamism, thrilling even to those who will have seen the original ‘Internal Affairs’. A world away from sporadic segments of a life to deliver a bio-pic or getting lost in the theatrics of an epic the story touches on key fundamentals. Instilling ideas of rivalry, commitment and honesty the film delivers a master-class on cinematic building blocks. The movie creates a true sense of tension, doing the almost impossible nowadays by delivering genuine shocks, constructing an ensemble of rounded characters and of course punctuating the body of the film with humour.

There is some qualification though. I firmly believe ‘The Twist’ is overrated, it can alienate or insult the audience, negating the pleasure of what went before. I believe much more can be achieved by letting the audience in on what the characters are unaware of. Films created purely for the purpose of a twist with no logical construction negate any sense of story development. ‘The Sixth Sense’ worked well, presenting hints for those who cared to see them, however movies such as ‘The Prestige’ and ‘The Illusionist’ seem to begin with an end point and the other 1 hr 55 minutes and after effect suffer.

‘The Departed’ is somewhat guilty of this, though for the bulk of its running time the audience is one of very few who are let in on the secrets tying the characters together and gripped to see how the web of lies and double-crossing will unfurl. There is however an unsatisfactory pay-off. We’ve committed to these characters and to see secondary characters make moves that change the path of the film at the expense of a final confrontation and resolution can only leave the audience feeling cheated I feel. As ever art is subjective and this may never have been an issue when you saw it, or as is the case with me, there was too much enjoyment on screen throughout the film for this to be fatal.

So overall, the film is resoundly powerful, with a soundtrack of glorious music perfectly suited to the rhythm of each scene. I still remember when watching ‘Bringing out the Dead’ a sequence with Patricia Arquette descending a stairs and how it blurred seamlessly into her opening a door. It was so subtle but struck me for turning this otherwise unremarkable event into a striking little moment. The look too of ‘The Departed’ is unremarkable but is filled with quite moments of style that gel perfectly into the pace of the movie. Talking with a friend about this project of reviewing each of the Best Picture nominees he raised the valid point that ‘The Departed’ may have faded into the cinematic abyss of my mind having seen it a while back now. Once I began writing though I found plenty to adulate and re-appreciated the film all over again and this is worthy praise of a film in itself.

Take the petition

Inspired by this. Here is the petition.

To: Dail Eireann.

We believe that what is good enough for children should be good enough for politicians. Thus we believe that as Enda Kenny wants to bring in Drug testing for secondary school children, that all politicians in the Dail should also submit themselves to drug testing.

Sign the petition here.

Superbowl adds

Anyone that can take the piss out of themselves is ok in my book.

The add the launched the mac.

Michael Jackson 1993.

Lets Test Enda for Drugs

I posted this over on Irish Election. Along with an email I sent enda.

One of the stories in the papers around this time last year was that cocaine was found in the toilets in Leinster House. Yet as of yet Enda Kenny has not called for the drug testing of all members of the Dail. I have not heard him say that he believes that hethe press there to take pictures of him getting tested for drugs. But of course he will never do that will he, because that is against him and it is not very nice to be treated as a criminal. But some how the students of this country are fair g should have his urine sampled? To stop the peer pressure that goes on in Leinster House. Surely if he wants to lead the debate on this issue he should submit himself to a drugs test and have ame in political football.

This latest proposal from Fine Gael is plain crazy. In an interview with RTE he said it was applied in the US and UK. So lets see if it actually does work. The largest survey to date on the Issue (which I could find in 5 minutes on Google) was taken by the University of Michigan in 2003 that tracked 94,000 students in secondary school. Their conclusion.

Data suggest that drug testing, as practiced in recent years in American secondary schools, does not prevent or inhibit student drug use. The two forms of drug testing that are generally assumed to be most promising for reducing student drug use - random testing applied to all students, and testing of athletes - did not produce encouraging results.

Maybe it is just me but “Does not prevent or inhibit student drug use” seems to suggest that it has failed in the USA. So why would it work in Ireland then?

The obvious answer is that it wouldn’t. Kids have been smoking cigarettes behind the bike shed for years. And been caught for years. But that does not stop them. Teachers know who smokes and who does not and that does not stop kids smoking. Random drug testing works in the Army because people are adults and have something to lose i.e. their jobs also why random breath testing works. Kids on the other hand don’t give a f**k about getting caught. Now Enda insists that this is about stopping peer pressure not catching people. But what does he think is going to happen if a child gets tested positive. That child is probably going to be kicked out of the school. Leading to more disadvantage kids losing out, moving onto harder drugs and causing more of what Fine Gael love best, gang land crime.

But what of the cost of actually administrating this policy (apart from the increased crime rate). In a school in Dublin Ohio. The cost of the program per year in the school was $35,000. Which I would guess is close enough to the salary of a teacher in this country. So basically he is saying that instead of one extra teacher per school, we should have drug testing? Also that school in Dublin Ohio stopped testing as it found it did not work and instead hired a drugs counsellor. (at $32,000 a year). In another report by the same people in Michigan university. They said.

Research has shown that the strongest predictor of student drug use is the student attitudes towards drug use and the perceptions of peer use. To prevent harmful student behaviours such as drug use, school policies that address these key values, attitudes , and perceptions may prove more important in drug prevention than drug testing.

Schools are supposed to be a place where children should feel secure, an environment which encourages learning not an environment that treats them like criminals. If you treat them like that then they will only resent that and become what you treat them as.

Remember this is from the party that complains about the governments lack of coherent planning. Has Enda even read the biggest survey on this question or is he running with it because it sounds good? Why does Enda want to implement a policy that the largest study on it says does not work, that will cause more crime and will divert teaching resources away from schools. I have absolute no idea.

On an obviously separate point under 18 year olds don’t have the right to vote. So here is my challenge to Enda. Medical Testing Ireland sells drug testing kits for 13 euro. I will buy Enda Kenny one, if he is willing to take a Drug test himself in front of the camera’s. Because if it is good enough for the youth or Ireland it should be good enough for our politicians.

Climate Change Upon Us

Serving my own selfish ends the aspect of the recent widespread coverage of the progression of climate change that caught my attention is that the Great Barrier Reef is within 10 years of becoming functionally extinct. I never got to see the Coral Reef on a brief sojourn to Australia late last year when I was based in New Zealand so I am strategising how to get back there and then of course quivering about my grandchildren’s future. Overall it has been a week of worrying developments. First up, RTE aired ‘The Day after Tomorrow’ which is bad enough in its own right. In the movie, Dennis Quaid acts as a grim reaper environmentalist warning some reluctant politicians of impending doom only for the climate to actually go hay wire a few days later. The weather has always been used as a villain in disaster movies but now that the events of such a brainless blockbuster could be some way prophetic is very worrying. (And no all you scientists I am not suggesting events would actually unfold in a form anyway similar to the events of the movie, I merely refer to the sense of immediacy and urgency of findings which I will discuss now so bear with me).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its report this morning warning of rising sea levels, rises in global temperatures and as a consequence stark weather changes. Most notably the report in using the term ‘very likely’ in effect brings to an end the debate on whether or not humans are to cause for global warming. Put simply the way we live is contributing to global warming.

I find talk of minimal changes in temperature and gradual changes in sea level to be very intangible and difficult to relate to and something which doesn’t really convey a sense of threat. The difference with today’s report is that it brings to an end the era of fear mongering or merely being a prophet of doom, it confronts us with a very real threat. All of us and especially countrys in a normally vulnerable position are at more risk than ever. Drastic food shortages, water shortages, entire agricultural livelihoods wiped out – these changes which are bandied about as the results of our carbon emissions are upon us now – not by century’s end or by some other benchmark which really means nothing to us. An entire chapter is devoted to Australia, its worst droughts in history, cracked arid land where wheat once grew, all being endured now during their hottest Summer. The EPA has a nicely put together press release and refers to the central message from the report that scientific evidence is now overwhelming: climate change is a serious global threat, and it demands an urgent global response

ahh David Quinn.

David Quinn in the Indo rallies against the British governments decision saying that the church and state should be separate.

What has happened in Britain this week is gigantically worrying for anyone for cares a fig about religious freedom, about limiting the scope of the State,

Which I do I worry about freedom and the state. But in fairness he is talking through his ass. He says

The Churches have been told that their adoption agencies cannot prefer heterosexual couples over homosexual couples and therefore must abide by the law, or lose all public funding and have no more children referred to them for placement. This would effectively close them.

Look David if you are going to make the state should not interfere argument and don't then condemn the state for withdrawing its money. If you get paid by the state you play by the states tune. If they want to not be dictated to by the state first get religious organisations to stop taking money from the state and raise there own funds. Till then shut up. You should be free to practice your religion all you want and have all the religious organisations you want. But don't expect me to pay for them through my taxes. See David unlike you I do care about the scope of the state. Alas you don't you care about the scope of the church.

Best Headline Ever

From Galway Advertiser. Dolly Parton’s impressed by Galway jugs

The Oscar 5: 'Babel'

I’ve set myself a task of reviewing each of the movies nominated for Best Picture for this year’s Oscars. Hopefully release dates will suit this target!

'Babel' is a film about miscommunication. The title refers to the Biblical story of the people of Babel striving to build a tower reaching to Heaven. God seeking to put a stop to this feat of engineering gives the people of the city different languages so that they can no longer work and co-operate together. Of course the origins of the worlds various languages is not so simple and neither is the message of the film. The notion of miscommunication is multi faceted, whether it be the media reporting the events of an accident spun into an act of terror, a mute girl rejected and isolated in the busiest city in the world, a married couple unable to communicate, even though they have shared the same loss or the simple explanation behind a day trip being smothered by scepticism and panic.

Completing a self proclaimed Trilogy of Death, director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu creates a hybrid of the movies that went before using the fractured storyline of ’21 Grams’ and the multiple story arcs brought together by a single incident of ‘Amores Perres’. Both these films are harrowing, intense watches, ’21 Grams’ has become a by-word for a draining viewing experience to turn any type of day into a Greek tragedy in our house. Babel, a million miles from any semblance of a laugh, never reaches these emotional depths though.

The film is not story heavy, this is not a criticism, it is not the objective of the film to tell a plot heavy tale. Equally the film does not focus on style keeping a naturalistic look throughout, avoiding say the distinctive colour themes used in ‘Traffic’ to distinguish each perspective. Only one shot circling a young boy on a Moroccan hillside towards the end shows any element of playing with the camera. The film's focus is simply on being an observation of people in a crisis and their inability to communicate, so much substance of the film goes unsaid. While the individual stories are gripping they are unfurled in a shuffle effect so that momentum is lost more than once, and scenes tend to wander, particularly the coverage of a Mexican set wedding. The effect at times is a muted and under whelming impact.

Performances are all flawless, not a trace of over shadowing with Pitt and Blanchette, and great performances from Adriana Barraza ‘the Mexican Nanny’ and Rinko Kikuchi ‘the Japanese school girl’ have duly been recognised with Supporting nominations – a testament to the great ensemble on screen.

To finish, this is a sweeping, cerebral treat of a movie and absolutely deserves its nomination for Best Picture. The film is a raw and simple insight into peoples lives, each suffering from loss, whether it be of innocence, a family member or respect and yet it has layers and resonance, being selective in the amount of information it gives us ensuring we are as vulnerable as the characters with no guarantee of a resolution. It does waver but never so much as to undo the overall effect of this thoughtful movie.

Labour on food traffic lights

I started to write this piece with a view to seeing what it actually proposes. But on reading it I got angry and insulted. I felt belittled and talked down too. I felt that this document was treating me like a child. And most insulting of all that I needed someone to do the thinking for me. I feel the need to yell and scream at this document. But obviously I can’t point out every line in this policy. So here is some choice ones

People lead busy lives, so making healthier choices when shopping needs to be quick and easy. However, choosing the healthiest foods quickly is almost impossible at the moment for busy shoppers.

It really is not people are not stupid they know that chocolate is fating and celery not. They know that pre-packaged meals are not as good for you as fresh food. That Frosties have loads of sugar and porridge little. It really is not that hard to do. Yet Labour think so much of the electorate they think they do not have the intelligence to do that, that it is almost impossible for people to know the difference between good and bad.

The average person buys 61 items in 26 minutes during a weekly shop. Given that each purchase implies some examination of competing products, this means that shoppers have all of seven seconds to scan each label. Is it any wonder that consumers confess to a feeling of helplessness as they navigate supermarket aisles?

Two things. Firstly most people will buy the majority of the same products every week so that label reading was done either at a previous shop or outside this 26 minutes. And really how long does it really take to read the word Frosties. Why does it take someone 18.5 seconds to move between products. Who calculates that. Have you ever seen anyone time you in a supermarket. People chose to spend 26 minutes shopping it is not because of time constraints. How many people watch Coronation Street, lost Big Bother. They chose to watch TV and not shop. Do you get confussed in the aisle. Do you get panic attacks thinking oh no daddy or chips, daddy or chips, daddy or chips.?

Currently up to 11 different types of information are displayed on processed food products in Ireland. By the time a bottle of sauce or a ready made chicken dinner is on the shelf shoppers are often very confused about what the information on the label actually really means.

Ok lets take an average label for coca cola. Clearly marked are calories, fat, sugar, protein, fibre sodium. What is confusing about that? Are we seriously saying that the majority of people do not know sodium =salt?

Add to this the spiraling obesity levels in this country and it becomes clear that consumers need impartial assistance in making healthy food choices.

Look to cause of rising obesity is really very very simple. 1.) People are eating crap and 2.) people are not exercising. Now people know these things. They know litres of Coke are not good for you, that crisps are not good for you that chocolate is not good for you. Parents for instance, know this yet they still give their kids these products. No amount of coloured stickers is going to make them stop doing this. They already know.

The system would also address situations where manufacturers make unsubstantiated health claims about products. This is because Traffic Light labeling can reveal at a glance the levels of the key nutrients in each food product.

How is traffic lights going to help people know whether all these super yogurts like Activia or Actimal actually do anything?

But maybe I am being to harsh on Labour maybe people really are so stupid that they have to be told what to do.

Consumers in the UK have become increasingly aware that green means eat plenty, amber, eat in moderation and red, means eat such products sparingly.

Maybe we to are so dumb we need colour coding to know what to chose. Maybe I have too much faith in people. Maybe I am wrong in thinking that people buy chocolate inspite of knowing the nature of it. Maybe if people really have to question. Is it safe to dry a cat in the microwave after giving it a bath? Maybe they don’t realise sugar puffs are made from sugar. Maybe we really do need Labour telling us everything we should and should not do. Maybe we need a traffic light system for the next elections as well. Red means bad, use sparingly does it not?

Lebanon is off again

I know I have mention this loads of times but when you read MacDara in the Leb. You really begin to see how petty everything in this country is.

The Killinascully

Live the Killinascully experience.

Oscar Nominations Are In

The Oscar nominations are in, comprising a selection of the movies which have had critics and audiences alike glued to movie screens. Irish interests rest primarily with Peter O'Toole nominated for Best Actor for 'Venus'. 16 year old new comer Andrew Simpson, a native of Donegal is the catalyst for the drama in 'Notes on a Scandal', starring Oscar nominees Judi Dench (Best Actress) and Cate Blanchette (Best Supporting Actress). Also Consolata Boyle, a Dublin based designer is nominated for Best Costume Design for her work in 'The Queen'. Finally I'm glad to see that 'The Dossing Times' movie of the year, 'Little Miss Sunshine' is nominated for Best Picture. I've been listening to its soundtrack and its great listening. Even better is the nomination for Abigail Breslin for her role as Olive in 'Sunshine'.

Custard missile.

Here is a conversation we were having today. A custard safety missile. If you hit custard powder hard enough it will explode so it is possible to create a missile using Custard powder. But what better way but have it tipped with a custard warhead. Custard is a non-Newtonian fluid. Meaning that it is soft to a little pressure and hard to a lot of pressure. If you filled a swimming pool with custard. You could not walk across is but you could run across it. So how to use this as a missile. If you dropped the missile on your foot the pressure created is probably not enough to detonate the custard powder as the custard powder would be soft at that energy. But if you dropped it from a plane and the pressure on the custard would make it hard hitting the powder hard. BOOM.

One interesting idea is custard speed bumps. Hit them at 50 mph it feels like a speed bump. Hit is at 20 mph and it feels like a puddle. But that one is not my idea.

Foot in mouth.

Just listen to Bill Richardson a Democratic party candidate for the president on MSNBC. Talking about his foreign policy experience that he has that no one else has. He talked of his time as UN ambassador deeling with 185 countries while the other candidates have no experience . Is there not 192 countries in the UN. And should a former ambassador know this? And even if he is referring to the time when he was ambassador. There was 187 not 185.

irish election post

I don’t have any other sources of this story other then Fianna Fail press releases so I don’t know how accurate it is (If anyone knows where it was said let me know but it is not entirely new). But if they are true and that Labour want a.) a rotating Taoiseach or b.) Pat Rabbitte as Taoiseach this is truly bizarre.

”Enda Kenny is previously on record as saying a rotating Taoiseach was not on. His views are in stark contrast to the position adopted by Deputies Costello, Quinn, McManus and Bruton in the media this weekend. The insistence that the position of Taoiseach should either be rotated between Labour and Fine Gael or that Pat Rabbitte should be Taoiseach for the full term of the next government says a lot about Labour’s lack of faith in Enda Kenny.”

Fine Gael and Labour seem to be doing their up most to lose this election.

With Deasy coming out and challenging Kenny, and then the ease the Pat Rabbitte is getting rode by the Indo. I mean all he had to say was “I want Fianna Fail out but if worst comes to worse if it is required to keep Sinn Fein out of power we would go in for the good of the country and stop FF/SF happening”. Not only does it answer the question but it also gives Labour a shot at the anti-Sinn Fein vote. Indeed they could campaign on the platform that they are the only party that can stop Sinn Fein and again play the FF/SF card damaging FF. But a lass he is trying to dodge the question and allowing Pat Kenny to look good.

Now we seem to have Labour non-committal on supporting Enda Kenny as Taoiseach I mean was the point of the Mullingar accord not to avoid this kind of thing. Surely in a pact the first thing agreed upon is who is going to be the leader of the government. Surely that is point number 1.

Also how does a Rotating Taoiseach work. In Britain they have a practically a lame duck prime minister. With many people thinking, feck it we will wait till the new guy starts he might be better. With a rotating Taoiseach would we have people, unions etc waiting for the flip. Thinking that the other guy would be better to negotiate with.

I presuming that we would have differing policies with different Taoiseach’s. Which of course leds to the fact that Labour don’t trust Enda. If they actually trusted him to implement their policies then surely there would be no need for talk of an arrangement that has never happened in this country and to my knowledge in any other country.

Steve Stauton said “I’m the boss. I’m the gaffer. At the end of the day what I say goes, the buck stops with me”. Surely Enda would be in the same boat. I know this post just rehashes many of the points of the Fianna Fail press release but the thing is they are right.

Pan fried Rainbow Trout with Sweet Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichoke mash.

Considering that Fortress Thomand has fallen I felt that I needed something to pick up my sprits. So I got cooking.

First for the Sweet Potatoes Jerusalem Artichoke mash. Take 3 Artichokes and peel them. Add them to boiling water and add some salt and Lime Juice. Boil for about 3 minutes. Then add a peeled Sweet Potato. And boil until soft. When soft mash them, add 2 tablespoons of Wholegrain mustered, some milk and some fried red onions.

For the Trout fry flesh side down for about 1 minute. Then fry skin side down for 5-10 minutes. Until the fish is cooked.

For a White Wine Sauce. Melt some butter in a pan fry some garlic in this. Then add milk, floor and white wine. Stir the sauce until the sauce is of sauce like constituency.

Great Movie Taglines

Read below a selection of classic movie taglines which capture the essence of their respective movies and some of which have entered the vernacular:

• On every street in every city, there’s a nobody who dreams of being a somebody. (Taxi Driver)

• Nice planet. We’ll take it. (Mars Attacks!)

• Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. (The Shawshank Redemption)

• You’ll believe a man can fly. (Superman)

• He was never in time for classes…He wasn’t in time for dinner…Then one day…he wasn’t in time at all. (Back to the Future)

• You know the name, you know the number. (Goldeneye)

• Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water. (Jaws 2)

• In space no-one car hear you scream. (Alien)

• Don’t give away the ending – it’s the only one we have! (Psycho)

• Be afraid…Be very afraid. (The Fly)

The End of the Heinken Cup

French Clubs are pulling out of the Heinken Cup next year.

What could have been?

I read recently that Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in ‘The Matrix’ series, his basis being that he didn’t think it would work. The man does not believe in regrets (including ‘Wild Wild West’) but he does think now that it was the one role that maybe he should have accepted. The internet is full of rumours as to people who were to play now famous roles, many were just speculation (O.J. Simpson was considered for ‘The Terminator’!) but a number of genuine offers have gone down in lore and make you wonder could any number of careers have taken very different paths.

First up the Indiana Jones box set includes Tom Selleck’s screen test for ‘Indiana Jones’ and he was first choice until contractual commitments to ‘Magnum P.I.’ meant we never got to see a moustached Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford got to play another icon.

Ford himself turned down the Michael Douglas role in ‘Traffic’ and the George Clooney role in ‘Syriana’.

Michelle Pfeiffer turned off by the intensity demanded by the role decided not to play Clarice Starling in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ which lead to Oscar glory for Jodie Foster.

Its hard to imagine anyone other than Pfeiffer playing Catwoman (especially after the woeful Halle Barry effort) but the fact is Annette Bening had signed on to play the role and only pulled out after she fell pregnant.

Robin Wright Penn falling pregnant also meant she has to pull out of ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ and she also pulled out of playing Meridian Chase in ‘Batman Forever’, the role eventually going to Nicole Kidman.

Stephen Baldwin, Ed Harris and Halle Berry were the original line up for ‘Speed’. Could the movie have been lost forever to B-movie DVD boxsets?

Robert DeNiro was committed to ‘Meet the Fockers’ so could not play Bill the Butcher in ‘Gangs of New York’, scheduling conflict also meant he could not play the Martin Sheen role in ‘The Departed’.

Every actor under the sun was considered for ‘Superman’, the most seriously considered though was Nicholas Cage who with Tim Burton at the helm, terrified fans with his plan to play the hero as a wacko!

Chris Farley had recorded the dialogue for the character of ‘Shrek’ before he passed away.

Irish actor Stuart Townsend had committed weeks of acting to film in the role of Aragorn in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series before pulling out. The terms on which he left the project are the subject of much speculation.

Chavez more Democratic by the Day

It seems the Chavez the world favourite socialist man of the people wants to rule by decree for a year. I guess if it does not work after a year people can vote to change it. Oh wait! So do people still think he is a democrat. Do the people who think he is a man of the people still defend him. I guess being a man of the people he already knows what they want. So he does not have to bother with democracy.

A compromise on Reality TV and Soaps

Dearest Readers,

I’m at my wits ends. It’s television. Something has to be done about television.

Let me paint you a little picture. I arrive home from work at around 6pm most week nights. I’m tired and not up for anything too much. Ideally I’d like to sit in front of the box and watch something worth watching. Unfortunately I live in a house where TV is controlled by women and this means 1 thing; soaps and reality tv rule the roost. So if I want to watch something, this is what I had to choose from most weeks;

6.30pm Home and Away
7.00pm Emmerdale
7.30pm - 8.30pm a combination of Eastenders, Coronation St and Fair City

This whole situation got the George Bush treatment this past week when the soap ‘stars’ decided karaoke would be a good way to cement their monopoly of Prime time TV, and SoapStar Superstar was inflicted upon us at 9pm. Reality TV crossed with soaps, can anybody think of a worse union?

I can’t afford to move, nor can I afford a new TV so I’m forced to suggest a rather drastic solution. Now, before you get your panties in a knot, I’m not advocating the abolition of all reality TV and soaps (as much as I would like to). I’m a reasonable man and I willing to concede that there is an audience out there for this tripe. The problem as I see it is that there is now too much tripe on.

I mean look at the soap situation. There are 5 soaps on prime time television, each as stupid, badly acted and preposterous as the last. And worst of all, they are all on at different times, one after the other. Do we really need 5? No, of course we don’t and people don’t need to watch all 5 anyway. So that’s the first thing I thought about changing.

However, this problem is not unique to soaps. It’s demon bride, reality tv is another of the afflicted. Is there anytime during the year when television is free of the poison of reality TV? In its infancy Reality Tv was an intriguing social experiment and although I never watched it, Big Brother was worth doing once. You know, televise 10 ordinary people in a house for 6 weeks and lets see what happens with them? In the original concept the ‘them’ referred to the 10 people in the house, but in an ironic twist ‘them’ has come to actually be us, the viewing public as something far more interesting occurred outside the house. But I digress, once more the problem is not the existence of reality TV, per se, but the sheer volume. Now reality TV has mated not only with soaps, but also the music industry and has been polluting it for several years.

As I began, something needs to be done. So I propose that we compromise and kill several birds with one stone. Thus, as we trim down the numbers of soaps and reality TV shows, we should take the opportunity to clean up the music industry and anything else that needs a spit shine. So, in the short-term, let’s give the people what they want, the greatest series of reality TV shows of all time:

Pop Idol Big Brother This show will run just like the current celebrity big brother. Essentially, everybody who began a music career through Pop Idol, X-Factor etc. will be put in the Big Brother house. They will be joined there by all boy bands, girl bands etc. types. Every week the public get to evict an individual or a group (Income raised from voting will go to charity). The last individual or group standing gets to continue their career. All losers must go back to a life of anonymity on penalty of death.

I’m a Reality TV show host/judge, Get me out of here!! Anybody who has every been a judge or host of a reality TV show i.e. Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Linda Martin, Sharon Ozbourne, Ray D’Arcy (sorry, no exceptions), Davina McCall, Ant & Dec etc are all put onto the actual Skull Island from King Kong. The animals of the island get to decide who leaves the show each week. Last one remaining gets to continue their career.

Celebrity Tough-Love Island Has anybody ever seen the film Battle Royale? For those of you who haven’t, essentially it’s a Japanese movie where a group of teenagers are given various weapons, put on an island and told the last one alive can leave. This show would cross this format with Celebrity Love Island. Anybody famous who cannot explain why they are famous on anything worthwhile e.g Paris Hilton, Callum Best, Fran Cosgrave etc. will be put on an island in the middle of the pacific. Once there Battle Royale commences. It is hoped the eventual winner will have learnt a lesson or two about being famous for nothing and actually begin to contribute to society in some tangible way.

TV Soap X-Factor This will be a truly global show as all current soaps from every country will compete to find the one soap that will be allowed to continue. Each week cast members from each show will perform 3 skits; dramatic, comedic and another category of their choice. Public vote will remove the cast of one soap every week (Income raised from voting will go to charity). The winning show will be broadcast at 1pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday only. There will not be an omnibus edition on Sundays.

Strictly Come Jousting Editors of glossy magazines and celebrities who sell pictures of their new born babies or their wedding to them will compete in the medieval discipline of jousting. As both groups are present because of celebrity they will be refused protective clothing so all the world gets the picture perfect image of their face during the contest. As risk of injury is quiet high, the only guarantee is that at least one person will leave the show each week.

Big Brother Imagine a show that accurately recreates the world of George Orwell’s 1984. This show will do just that and is open to all non-famous people from across the world wishing to be on TV and become famous. A city will be purpose built on one of the channel islands (which one will depend on the number of contestants). Once there the contestants will work for the party all the while at the mercy of the Big Brother and the thought police. Room 101 will become the new diary room. The last remaining person will be offered the chance to do the talk-show circuit.

As much as I hate reality TV I'd be willing to put up with that lot, I promise. I might even make an effort to watch some of them. Once the shows are finished, the only reality show that will be allowed to continue in the future will be the new and improved Big Brother.

After that, finally, I might be able to regain control of TV at home.

Yours truly,

Tuathal

Psycholgy of Liberals and Conservatives.

Interesting piece on the psychology of conservatives and liberals. I guess I fall into the libertarian slot as I am messy and like jazz but hate abstract art. (Hat tip Green la girl)

Award Season

Other than the claim by the Stonecutters in an episode of 'The Simpsons' that they rig the Oscars there is a more concrete method of speculating as to who will receive Oscar nominations in the next few weeks than joining a secret organisation. The Oscar nomination system works that professionals nominate their peers so that actors nominate actors, directors nominate directors and so forth before they vote as a group for the ultimate winners. So looking at the nominations of the respective guilds - Directors, Actors, Writers - is a key indicator of who will receive Academy Award nominations. Members of each category can vote for Best Picture so equally the movies that appear most frequently in the Guild nominations are likely to be those contending for the top prize in March. To date the strongest players in all categories are 'Borat', 'The Devil Wears Prada', 'The Departed', 'The Queen', 'Little Miss Sunshine' (already released), 'The Last King of Scotland' (released today the 12th), 'Babel', 'Dreamgirls', 'Blood Diamond' and 'Notes on a Scandal' (yet to be released).

Slow here

Sorry it has been a bit slow from me here the last while been busy with work, life and Irishelection.com. But you can keep track of my writings on irish Election here.

Movie Review: "The Pursuit of Happyness"

That ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ is a story of survival against the odds is an understatement. From the off the central family are struggling financially and emotionally to stay afloat before the characters lives descend further into destitution and debt. Even the outcome of any resolution is not shown on screen. Comparable to ‘Cinderella Man’, in that it tells the story of a man desperately trying to survive and provide, there is an extra facet to our protagonist Chris Gardner (Will Smith) in that he has never brought his potential to bear. He has never entered ‘the boxing ring’ and in attempting to do so now any stability around him crumbles and he strives to maintain the trust of his son. At every turning point or turn up in fortune a further obstacle appears. Smith, a revelation, free from the need to impersonate a well know character or fill out a cardboard action star convinces as a man with limitless resilience. Even though the story has a message often churned through film, the determination of Gardner and Smith’s portrayal of this cannot but inspire and earn the audiences respect even when watching the doldrums of life he has his son experience. As with true to life movies such as ‘Walk the Line’, the story is linear and can at times seem episodic and indeed is shot with no particularly unique style. However the performances of the central pair (real life father and son), our instinctive desire to achieve our goals and a great story of redemption ultimately deliver a really enjoyable movie.

Iraqi Blog in Ireland

Interesting Blog here from an Iraqi living in Ireland. Latif Yahia used to be a body double for one of Saddam's Son's and has written about it. Now he lives in Ireland. He takes issue with McDowell here.

Blog Awards Time

Nominations are open. Here Emm I will not vote for myself but if anyone want to nominate me, thuthal or CK. hint Hint hint. Well maybe I will :)

Tv of my youth II

I saw this on another blog but can't rememeber where it was sorry for not adding a hat tip. Anyway. Captain Planet in Belfast.

Ocen Girl

Duck Tails

TinTin

For a bonus point who were the twin detectives in Tintin

Blair

Tony Blair has received alot of criticism today for saying that science not restricting people is what will solve climate change. Many people have said that improvements will only do so much.

This reminds me of reading a quote from a futurologist in the 1850s. Who predicted that by 1950 the streets of New York would be 6 foot deep in horse shit.

Insure.ie

Damien details the joys of customer service with insure.ie.

Chilli Salad and Teriyaki Chops.

I have not done a food post in a while so here is what I did for dinner tonight.

First I marinade the lamb chops for about 20 minutes. In some mint, honey, 2 chopped garlic cloves, salt, pepper and Teriyaki marinade which I picked up in my local Chinese supermarket. Then I a fried this on a low heat with some mushrooms.

This was served with some lettuce and tomatoes that were tossed in a salad dressing made with. Sesame Sead oil, white wine vinegar, soy sauce, chilli pepper relish, salt and black pepper.

Apocalyptic Cinema

I had planned on writing a review of Mel Gibsons's 'Apocalypto' and praising it for being an electrifying movie, the most authentic movie I have seen in a while and at its core a great chase movie. So too I'm sure there is Christian symbolism, blood letting of our impurities and a metaphor for us being slavishly dragged to the city. However my trip to the cinema proved more post worthy. I stood open mouthed as a young boy, certainly less than 10, approached me as I entered the cinema foyer and asked me to buy him a ticket for 'Employee of the Month'. In case you are lucky enough to have escaped the cleavage laden publicity, 'Employee of the Month' is a comedy vehicle aimed at continuing Jessica Simpsons assault on our senses. I'm aware the girl may have a singing voice, has commanded concert audiences and is not entirely unattractive but so too I am aware that she is part of a media whore collective that drop albums, turn up at premieres and launch perfumes all so as to distract us from the talentless vacuums they are. So this young boy who had decided that instead of James Bond, Denzel Washington and the spate of animated movies out this Christmas he wanted to see this schlock (I say this confidently even though I am of the policy no one sets out to make a bad movie) stood brazenly in front of me confounding me- why not cigarettes, why not alcohol?- anything but two hours of drivel, the type of film whose only uniquness is that it is insulting to toilet humour and whose only assets will be placed firmly centre screen as often as possible. I realise this boy may have needs and possibly friends to impress but I firmly said no, progressing onto the excellent 'Apocalypto' knowing I had done society a service.

Freedom

For all the talk from the Americans about bringing freedom to Iraq they are failing in possibly the most important aspect of Freedom. That of the right to self-determination.

Over the Christmas period I started to watch Aljazeera and I have to say I have been impressed. It gives you a view of the middle east that you don’t here. Where you get the westernised version of the truth. Now this is not just an attack against the fox news’s of this world and their Bush is great approach but also the so called liberal media that approach the subject from lets prove Bush is Hitler view point. This came from an altogether approach. An approach that we don’t see much over here. So it is very original to me anyway. But also it is not what you might think.

I watched a recent documentary on the channel. Called Witness Return to Kirkuk. (You can watch a shorter version here from PBS). Basically it followed a Kurdish journalist who fled Iraq years ago after being tortured by Saddam’s hench men at the age of 14. In one scene he was getting the grave of his parents fixed up. When the guy who came to fix the graves arrived he realised that it was the guy who had given him up to the “police” all those years. Ago. After asking him. Why did you give me up? The guy retold of how he to had been tortured. And was told the only way it would stop was if he gave the other guy in. Anyone that doubt’s Saddam’s regimes brutality should watch this.

The attitude of the Kurdish people towards Bush and Blair was on the whole positive. One old women even wished a statute be erected in honour of the them (there is something to make the Galway Alliance against War angry) . But the one problem they had with them was the fact that they did not support their wish to be an independent nation.

He called the oil underneath Kirkuk as a curse. Saying that it only ever brought them misery and they had seen very little of the money or jobs it generated. Indeed it was posed if they had no oil. Would they be independent? Even though they have more oil under the city then in Texas. Fuel shortages are rife. One scene outside a petrol station should tensions rise as one person bribed a police officer to skip the queue for fuel. The black market in petrol was also rife and there was a shortage of Gas.

This to me has always been the Americans biggest fuckup in Iraq. People were meant to believe that after Saddam was gone. Things would get better. But in fact they got worse. In the ensuing chaos of the first few weeks of war America lost the war. Wars like this are one by winning the hearts and minds. Hard to do when the hearts and minds are struggling to survive. The first order of Business should have been the rapid repair of electricity, oil and food distribution. The CIA estimates that in 2005 Iraq exported 1,420,000 barrels of oil a day. None of this should have left the country. The Americans were thinking to far ahead. They were thinking of improving the countries image abroad by making them an oil exporter again.. The priority for the Americans should have been to make sure people were 100% better off under the new administration then. Even some of the Kurds the coalitions main allies doubt this. Imagine the people who don’t support the coalition are saying. The American’s had to insure that every Iraqi had more food, more gas, more medicine then they had prior to the invasion. That should have been a priority above all else. Suffer the little children is great propaganda for the insurgents.

I wonder are the Americans looking at this the wrong way round. They seem to think by crushing the insurgency that underlining poverty and injustice in the country will solve itself. Without realising that the poverty and injustice is in itself a cause of the insurgency. And that it can not be left unsolved and the insurgency defeated.

The Kurds themselves find themselves in a catch 22 situation. Not one of their own making but one of America’s making. Turkey is a great ally of America. But they do not want to see a Kurdish state, less the 15 million Kurds in Turkey want to join. Not wanting to anger Turkey they are not going to budge on Kurdistan. To suit political expediency the very freedom Bush says he is intent on bringing to Iraq. Is going to be denied to their biggest friends there? It seems the neo-con’s are not dissimilar to their arch enemy of the Realists Kissinger.

The journalist in the documentary said he feared that Iraq would turn into Yugoslavia. A bitter ethnic conflict that will rip the nation apart with the blood of the Iraqi people. I fear that to. Iraq is a country made up by the League of Nations not the people of the region. I am afraid it will take a blood civil war for the world to see that nations are determined by people not lines in the sand.

Israel Simplfied

Rebels kill dozens in multiple attacks in India While this happens Israel again dominates the agenda with people loving to take their cheap shots. Here is one from Chris Gaskin.

Perhaps it is time for people to stand up and realise that the biggest destabilising influence in the Middle East has been and will always be Israel.

. You know what we could also say the biggest destabilising influence on the island of Ireland has been and will always be the Provisional IRA. I don't think he would agree that the Northern Ireland conflict can be defined in such simplistic terms yet the Middle East seemingly can? I don't think so.

Drugs

Why argue in favour of drug legalisation when penn and teller already have.

TV of my Youth

James Bond Jr

Around the twist,p>

And Mike and Angelo

I can't find woof though

USA vs EU

Interesting graph here comparing US income vs European. Not entirely what it covers. Whether EU 15 or the EU 25. (or EU 27 as it is now). But it is interesting. Seemingly it does include in the graph such things as medical expenses. It would be interesting to see this broke down per country. From Back Talk Blog

Does a death toll make a war wrong.

Much of the talk about the Iraq war has always centred around the death toll. And using this figure to justify whether the war is right or not. Should we be doing this?

Say for instance that in 1939 Germany did not invade Poland but did start killing 6 million jews. Should we have stopped Germany? Of course we should have. But what about if we knew that the War that would be waged to stop this would take the lives of 7 million people. What would we do? What would you do? Would we lose 7 million lives to save 6 million? If you take it as fact that the holocaust was a terrible tragedy that had to be stopped no matter what the cost. Then it is the moral purpose of a war not that actually death toll that matters.

Also take the legality of the War. Legality of War seems to come from UN security council approval. If in 1939 the UN was in place would Stalin have vetoed UN action against Germany? Secure with his pact? Thus making the declaration of War by England illegal?

Now of course there is differences between Hitler invading Poland and Saddam being generally bad. And indeed invading another country is also different. But then again is there much difference between subjecting a foreign nations people to subjecting your own people to your own brand of despotism. Also considering that many legitimate UN operations have been stopped for one members own reasons i.e. Kosovo. Does the legality matter more then actual rightness of the situation.

The debate on Iraq at the moment seems to stem from those two questions, the death toll or the legality. But do either of those two things matter in determining whether the conflict was right or not. Sure they point to deficiencies in the planning and poor diplomacy at the beginning of the war. But I don’t think either say any thing about whether the war is right or not.

For instance if the war went to plan and only 100 or so died would that make the war right. If the UN approved would it make the war instantly right. I don’t think it would matter.

What do you think. Is right, right regardless. And was disposing Saddam right. And is the debate going in the wrong direction

Water

There is an interesting piece of research coming out of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Ulster. One of the major issues in the world today is the lack of clean water. Kevin McGuigan of the RCSI. Is working on a technique to purify water by wait for it. Leaving the water out in the Sun. Basically the UV rays in combination with heat from the sun kill the bacteria in the water making it safe. They are still researching to find out if it can be used to kill hehepatitis and dysentry etc. However there is some bacteria that are more resistant to this "solar disinfection".

However a group from the UU have discovered that a chemical titania found in whitewash can be used to breakdown these more resistant bacteria into something killable. This material can be painted onto sheets and placed in bottles and acts as aphotocatalyst under ultraviolet light. Thus it is believed that with the 2 techniques combined can produce a dirt cheap, effective water cleaning system. That has the potential to save hundreds of Millions of lives. More here.

Outsmarting the Irish

After having dug to a depth of 1000 feet last year, Scottish scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 1000 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Scots, in the weeks that followed, English scientists dug to a depth of 2000 feet and shortly after headlines in the UK newspapers read; English archaeologists have found traces of 2000 year old fibre-optic cable and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech digital communications network a thousand years earlier than the Scots.

One week later, Irish newspapers reported the following:

After digging as deep as 5000 feet in a County Mayo bog, Irish scientists have found absolutely nothing. They, therefore, have concluded that 5000 years ago, Ireland's inhabitants were already using wireless technology.

Spaced

Any one who knows me knows I am a big fan of spaced. And if you did not you do now. Here is my personal favourite episode from season 2. You can check them all out here. They are well worth a look.

The paintball one is also very good.

Village Now blogging

This is something I just noticed there that Village Magazine's blog is now up and running. All be it fairly quiet.

Steamer