So it would appear that war is just about to break out without the backing of the UN. I’m a little all over the place to have been keeping up on it, but it appears that the US and UK have just decided to go it alone and alienate the rest of the world. I wonder what the UN will do. I hope that in the vote in the UK parliment within the next hour or so that the government is defeated on the motion.
Heading out for a while now, I have to buy more chipsticks 🙂
Gah, there are times I hate the interwebnet, I just lost a post.
This afternoon I went to Croke Park to watch the All Ireland Club Championships in Hurley and Gaelic football. Birr and Nemo Rangers took the titles respectively. The hurley wasn’t great but the football was a good match.
This evening I went into the Porterhouse to have a pint. Being St. Patricks Day, I had to go somewhere and it seemed like a good choice. It was indeed, I met a nice cute Irish girl.
Walking on a beach with only moonlight to guide you is a wonderful experience. It can be wonderful on it’s own, but it is better shared.
Um, other than that, I have just been wandering around Dublin and not doing much. I had a pretty good morning this morning. The interwebnet helped to greatly improve it. It shall hopefully do the same tomorrow morning.
I’ve been chatting with a friend and commenting on another friends blog. It would appear they need even more help. *sigh* Well, I guess it’s the same as everything else, it is plainly obvious to everyone, but never obvious when your involved. I guess I’m one to talk but *shrug* And to take a trick from someone else’s book, full credit really should be given.
Just because it goes without saying, it does not mean that it is not worth saying
Irish girls are easily the prettiest in the world.
Today I went for a walk along the beach, then I had dinner in Bewleys and followed that with a pint in Messrs. Maguires.
Man I miss this place.
I have just got tickets to see Radiohead two nights running in Dublin in the middle of May. Tickets for two nights and flights to Dublin have cost me £110 pounds. I haven’t got it, I can’t afford it but as usual I’ve booked it anyway.
Fucking A.
***
There is something really tribal about drums.
So I have just been down the pub with my dad. I think the ramifications of the coversation will be with me for a long long time.
Right, I am in Dublin and all is good. No airport problems, everything was ontime and all was good.
Some quick stuff:
– my blog entries are not half as subtle as I sometimes think.
– work just got interesting as all fuck and I am wondering how the next few weeks will play out.
– I love being right.
– she did have a really nice smile and she was really nice. However I have, as you well know my eye on someone else.
– I love this city.
– I miss broadband, dialup sucks.
Sleep now. I’m really tired, work has been taking too much over the past few days and I intend to enjoy this break.
India v New Zealand: the NZ innings.
I have the urge to go and get high as a kite and watch some cricket. Go read this now before the Guardian kills it.
The electric interwebnet is just so very awesome. Alongside the Sigur Ros gig (see last post), today the power of torrent has brought me the latest episode of Angel and the complete first 16 issues of Mircleman. I hate reading comics on a computer, but seen as this is legendary work by Alan Moore which is out of print I shall make an expcetion.
I am no where near ready to go to Dublin tomorrow. I have nothing packed. I guess I shall quickly throw some clothes into a bag and that will do for the weekend. Gah, still might go for the half day tomorrow, we shall see how it all goes. But I really have to decide now…fuck it too late really. I should pack a small bag and go. *sigh* Sleep now while some lovely music downloads overnight.
I left work shortly after eight tonight. Not in the best of moods. I had been meant to go and see a friend’s band play and they were due on stage at eight, the other side of town. But there were issues in work which just had to be resolved today full stop. So I stayed and they were, I hope resolved.
A few minutes later I was walking down the street heading towards the bus station pretty much grinning like a loon. Let’s rewind a little and start at the start.
This morning, we had an ‘All Hands’ in work. Quite simply an off-site talking to for everyone in the company. So headed straight to that. It was ok, some of it was quite interesting, some of it was boring and some of it was well fucking impressive. Anyway after that was over we all walked back to the office. It was about 20 minutes away. Got there around 12:30 and unlocked my machine. The transfer I had started of the Sigur Ros gig was still going. About two minutes later it finished. It may have taken close on 20 hours, but I had 1.1 GB of pure uncompressed, close to soundboard quality wavs sitting on my hard drive. Later that afternoon I had a double cd set of the gig ready to go.
I walked out the front door at work and I pressed play. As the first track begins (and we are talking close on a four minute lead in here), it just hit me. Completely. I actually shivered with anticipation. As I typed that, I got ‘shivere’ typed out, then the vocals being on viðrar vel til loftárása and I stopped. It wasn’t that I stopped, I couldn’t type any more. My eyelids came down and there was only the music. Anyways so I’m walking down the street and let me tell you this, there is almost nothing that matches the high music can give you. Drink doesn’t even qualify and drugs don’t even come close.
Listening back I noticed something which I was, I am sure doing myself at the time. Your out at a gig and a song ends. You clap, you cheer etc etc. You just do, sometimes just because it’s polite. It’s so very different listening to this. Normally there will be clapping and cheering even before the song ends, you know it’s coming to and end and you show your appreciation. Not at this gig. The songs don’t end, they either go out in a blaze of glory like you wouldn’t believe or they wind down and fade out. The songs that fade out, you hear every single last note. There is silence, people are barely breathing and then the song stops. The last note is drawn out and let go. The breathing stops. There is a moment, just a moment but a moment of complete silence. It says everything you need to know about the performance just seen. The audience is breathless and then with no build-up at all, no lone person starting everyone off, there is clapping and cheering.
Another thing I note. Jónsi Birgisson vocals are simply stunning. I don’t have the words to do them justice. When you can barely hear them over the music and the drums are going strong and loud, there is not a single more powerful sound. They come through above everything else and cannot help but reach into you.
There was a note with the downloaded files asking that no-one re-encode them to MP3 or anything like that so as to keep the high quality. Initially I scoffed at this and intended to convert them to MP3. Now, there is no chance in hell of that happening. I don’t want to loose a single piece of the quality. I have to send some packages to people (no really I do) and I might just have to include copies of these cds in there.
I’d like to throw about a big thank you and major kudos to eighteen seconds before sunrise.
I’m downloading the Sigur Ros gig I saw in Hammersmith last month. It’s taking along time. I hope to come into work in the morning and find it all here waiting for me.
I am listening some older live stuff of theirs and it is so very awesome. Almost painfully beautiful.