I remember watching Donnie Darko for the first time (about two hours before watching it for the second time). It was on DVD after the initial spate of interest in the movie. Being that I am as superficial as Paris Hilton at a Beauty Pageant, I don’t tend to rush out and watch these arty movies, especially when they are described as oh-my-god-you-have-to-see-this-movie-it’s -so-weird-and-really-great-oh-my-god. But we were down in cork at there was a special offer in HMV or Virgin or Tower or whatever it is they have down there. We bought a bunch of €3.99 DVD’s, one of which was this off the wall semi-sci-fi drama with Jake Gyllenhaal.

I was immediately disappointed. Disappointed that I hadn’t bought it sooner, disappointed that I didn’t believe the hype, disappointed that I didn’t take the time to see it in the cinema. Well, as part of the Cinemagic’s Festival of Film and Television for (and by) Young People, I have the opportunity to see it on the big screen in Cineworld.

I have no intention of giving any credit to Darragh Doyle, who has provided tickets for the Tuesday 29th showing of Donnie Darko in Cineworld Cinema on Parnell Street. Nor do I plan on thanking him for giving me the opportunity to share a number of tickets with readers of this blog.

If you would like to join me to see this wonderful movie, please drop me a mail or leave a comment requesting tickets. They’re free!!! The film starts at 6.30pm on Tuesday 29th April and I would love to drag people into Keating’s Church, the bar on Mary’s Street, for drinks and chattery afterwards.

Donnie Darko

Set in the small town of Middlesex, USA at the end of the Reagan era, it tells the story of a disturbed teenager, Donnie, who has visions of Frank, a man in a fake-fur suit and rabbit mask.

Frank leads Donnie to commit crimes while he is sleepwalking and tells him that the end of the world is fast approaching.

At school Donnie makes friends with new girl, Gretchen, who is trying to escape her abusive father. Together they try to understand Donnie’s neurosis, however both their futures are changed forever when Donnie, following Frank’s instructions, takes drastic actions against local self-help guru Jim Cunningham.

A series of events are set in motion that are only disrupted further by Donnie’s traveling back in time.

Cinemagic

Please check out Cinemagic’s website or Darragh Doyle’s blog for further information about this great festival.

I love this show!!

The plan to head to Donegal on Friday evening after work was slightly delayed. We hit the road at 8.15 Saturday morning.

Picking up a friend of mine, Gary, in Dublin, we met the rest of the gang beside Tesco in Letterkenny. Wrecked tired, hungry and thirsty, having traveled 232 kilometers, we just wanted to sit. The prospect of running around in the mud, carrying heavy guns and dodging bullets did not sound particularly appealing. But we pulled ourselves together (Mary and I needed a pint before being able to pull ourselves together, naturally) and headed towards The Old Foundry to risk our lives, to dare to be bold, to step once more into the breach, to……okay, it’s just paintballing, but it hurts!

I was surprised they allowed us to do it, as our group consisted of just six people (a certain blogger and another member of our group, Niamh, were too chicken to be shot repeatedly and endure pain and bruising – wimps).

The day was broken into a number of missions or objectives, and we were broken into two teams (they wouldn’t allow boys vs girls – is that some sort of sexism?). Our team, Mary, Lottie and myself, took on Stella, Gary and Nicky. The first mission, Capture The Flag, was triumphantly won by our team. My genius girlfriend legged it for the flag and took cover before the enemy had even left their base.

After we gained a 2-0 lead, our Nazi-esque opposition clawed back to 2-1, forcing us to pull out all the stops and regain our 2 game lead. It’s fair to say, at 3-1, our near saintly side was feeling confident, and their satanic, evil and fairly ugly side were dejected and lost. How then, HOW could we let them get those last two games to make the day a draw? Grrr argh!

We finished the painball with a free-for-all which was undoubtedly the most barbarous part of the day. Pellets flew in every direction. There was no triage – everyone had to die!! With only Mary and myself left standing, the result was inevitable. I strode confidently in her direction as I heard her screams and cries. She was out of bullets, her gun spouted gas and nothing more, the small bale of hay was not sufficient cover, as I demanded her surrender and claimed victory as king of all! The small amount of guilt I felt at reducing Mary to tears quickly subsided as I accepted my crown.

I was first introduced to Portishead by accident about 9 years ago, by a friend of mine at the time, Peter. It was via an unlikely artist, Tom Jones. Knowing that I was (am) a big Divine Comedy fan, Peter pointed me at Tom Jones’ album, Reload, which included a track with Neil Hannon, a cover of Portishead’s All Mine. The album also included a cover of Motherless Child with Portishead. I immediately ran out to buy Portishead’s two albums, Dummy and Portishead (it’s possible my memory is a little iffy on this – I think it more likely that I copied the albums from my friend, but let’s not dwell on that).

On the 25th of April, the band, consisting of Beth Gibbons, Geoff Barrows and Adrian Utley, will release their third album, ingeniously titled Third. Ten years after the release of their self-titled second album, this is one of the most eagerly anticipated albums in recent years.

So, I sit here, excitedly listening to the new album and I am not disappointed. Often, a build up and an elevated air of anticipation can lead to a monumental let down (see Damien Rice’s 9), but Third is a wonderful piece of musical engineering.

From the word go, we are sucked back into a musical landscape which only this band can create. The first track, Silence, is an epic adventure that begins so slight and builds to a cheeky finish that had me checking my iPod batteries. This track gives us a mere tease of Gibbons’ vocals which are as stark as ever.

There are maybe only two tracks that feel as though they were written minutes after the release of their second album, but this is not wholy a bad thing – Machine Gun is an excellent tune but it seems to contrast with the rich freshness and modern edge of Third. (On third and fourth listening, this ‘negative’ point fizzles away – I cannot find fault with this album).

Hunter is a track that paints a picture. It feels like listening to two tracks at once. Perhaps we are, through the music, hearing the points of view of the hunted and the hunter. Superb! Equally, The Rip is a ripping track (sorry!). It’s shows some growth in Gibbons’ vocals, where we hear a more romantic, slight sound (don’t worry – the edge is still very evident). A slow starter, the synth sound hypnotises and pulls us along to a sleepy ending. Portishead’s version of a lullaby maybe?

Plastic and We Carry On show the band’s love of percussion. The helicopter blades of the drum beat in Plastic are just as important to the track as the seething vocals, while the rhythm of We Carry On makes me want to march (but I’m very tired, so I don’t think I will).

The biggest surprise on the album comes in the form of the ukelele led Deep Water. I wonder if this was a track they made to amuse themselves, but was too good to be left off the album? The harmonies are silly, the melody unoriginal, but somehow this sounds great. It’s a bit of light relief after the heavy We Carry On.

Machine Gun is old style Portishead. Explosive drum and bass beats, almost metalic, mixed with Gibbons’ piercing vocals. Did they head down to the local steelworks to record this one? Perhaps, but the result is brilliant.

Small is a truly beautiful track, just beautiful. It’s looking to be my favourite track on the album. The sensual sound of Gibbons’ voice carries this song through the first minute or so before being joined by a long, deep organ sound. The synthesised, almost 70’s sound, makes me wonder if this is what The Doors might sound like had Morrison stuck around a while longer. This track quickly becomes as anthemic as the second album’s All Mine.

Magic Doors is a hectic mix of vocals and drum beats in disarray. It’s a tough listen, more suited to a late night and a few beers. There’s a rawness to it that sounds like it may have been lifted from Dummy, their debut album. The closing track, Threads, too sounds like vintage Portishead, though it is one of the strongest tracks on the album. Sweeping synthesised sounds, almost whale-like, help this tune crescendo into a big foghorn finish, perfectly closing the album.

I’ve listened to it in full four times now and a few tracks more than that. As much as I enjoyed their debut, Dummy, and adored the follow up, Portishead, Third is likely to be my favourite Portishead album. Haunting, moody, intelligent and modern, this will be big and rightly so.

Notes:

The Official Website of Portishead

Third’s MySpace Page

Beth Gibbons’ MySpace Page

Geoff Barrow’s MySpace Page

Portishead on Wikipedia

Does this sum up relationships?

It’s a funny video but only for cynics, I think.

From RunawayBox.

Okay, it’s less a planet, more a peninsula, but Gibraltar is a strange place. At the southern tip of Spain, this British colony is more quintessentially English than England itself. There’s Fox and Hound pubs, mushy peas and toffy accents. It’s almost possible not to notice the gorgeous weather and the heavily guarded entrance-by-airstrip. Oh, and did I mention the monkeys?

The Rock of Gibraltar is home to hundreds of Barbary Apes, and while the humans and the animals can generally live in harmony with each other, a revolution is stirring. According to reports in the Daily Telegraph, a pack of 25 macaques have staged an uprising and are terrorising tourists and townies alike. They have been breaking into hotel rooms, vandalising property and stealing from passersby. Apparently they are running riot on the beach.

The response from Ernesto Britto, Gib’s tourism minister: “Kill, kill, kill”! Okay, I admit he didn’t quite put it like that, but there are plans afoot to cull the rioting faction and Ernesto defends the decision saying, “children are frightened. People cannot leave their windows open for fear of the monkeys stealing. Apes can bite and contact with them runs the risk of salmonella or hepatitis”. I don’t recall that being in the tour brochure when I visited last year.

I do understand the fear though:

Yes, that is me in the video, cowering away from the tiny baby monkey. But what you don’t see is his fat furious father off camera, heading my direction.

I’m sure there is a better way to deal with this problem that culling, but I’m no animal rights activist and if it has to be, then it has to be. It just seems somewhat excessive. Anyone else any opinions on that?

Do you know who this is?

She was the love interest, Trillian, from Garth Jenning’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; she acted opposite Will Ferrell in the hillarious Elf; she played William’s sister in Almost Famous; her sister, Emily, is the star of the TV show Bones.

So, I was surprised to hear Zooey Deshanel deliver an album with the quality of Volume One with the band She & Him, a two piece with M. Ward. It’s soft pop set, with some nice easy listening tunes such as Sentimental Heart and Swing Low Sweet Chariot.

While one or two tracks sound like they may have been add-on’s to Ringo Star’s 90’s album, Vertical Man (which is not entirely a bad thing), much of the album, particularly I Thought I Saw Your Face Today, sounds as though Deschanel has communicated with the dead to channel Karen Carpenter, mixing the cheerful melody with heartbreaking vocals. Her voice is gripping.

At other times, She & Him fits nicely into the recent trend in favour of jazzier, 50’s and 60’s RnB grooves, á la the edgy Amy Winehouse or the softer Duffy. The duo are not going to ask us ‘what kind of fuckery is this‘ – they are ‘nicer’ than Winehouse and this in itself is quite refreshing. Their soulful cover of the old Smoky Robinson hit (there was a great cover by The Beatles), You Really Gotta Hold On Me, is beautiful and was the first track that I immediately went back to play again.

There is a strong Country and Western influence in Deschanel’s voice at times, which goes against her somewhat. It feels forced on tracks like Black Hole and Got Me, which makes me think she isn’t entirely behind every track on the album. The opposite can be said of Take It Back which is a haunting tune which could fit just as neatly on an Ute Lemper album, recalling the smoky cabaret scenes of wartime Europe.

This album is not going to tear up the charts, there’s too much variety in the tracks (is this a bad thing?), but with songs like Sentimental Heart and Take It Back, it may do very well on the download market.

Please check out the duo’s MySpace page, where you can hear a number of tracks from the album, Volume One.

I really look forward to each weeks’ Postsecrets. Some of them are hillarious, some are shockingly heartbreaking, some thoughtprovoking, some are just plain strange. It’s fun to read about the quirks and foibles of all these different people (I guess it’s reassuring to know that we all have our own odd sides).

Sometimes you look at one of the postcards, maybe give it a smirk and then move on to the next, only to come back to it and see something more in it.

This week there was one like that for me:

I smiled when reading it and clicked on to the next site. I came back to it a little while later and thought about who may have sent this card in. Are they depressed over lost youth? Are they so down that even Looney Tunes can’t perk them up? Do they spend their days faking a big Bugs Bunny smile, while aching on the inside? Or maybe they just made the whole thing up so they could appear on the Postsecret site(cynic alert)?

Whatever the reason, it gave me pause and made me think.

That’s all folks!

I have just started to watch Battlestar Galactica on the recommendation of many people, most recently Lette. It seems to be everywhere I look at the moment, due to the start of the new series. Anthony has been twittering about it, Bock is giving up his political commentary to devote his time to it, Sarah Carey of GUBU is in a similar situation to me, Alexia is already talking about a prequel, even Will Wheton‘s life goes on hold for BSG!!

So, how have I missed this show? I’m a sci-fi fan, I watch far too much TV, and yet, I have let this incredible show slide by.

I never had any fond and fleeting memories of the original 70’s show. I knew of its existence, but didn’t know much about it. When the ‘re-imagined’ show began, I watched a half an episode one evening and didn’t understand what was going on (Gaius Baltar was in two places at the same time and having a bunch of conversations at once – it was too much for me). It is only now when the excitement over the new series became infectious that I wanted to find out what I was missing.

Last week, I bought the new series of House and a boxset of the first three series of BSG (including the mini-series) and I have been engrossed in it since then. I am currently half way through the third series and my interest hasn’t wained even slightly. The only negative thing is the freaky BSG dreams I had on Sunday night. I may be OD-ing a little on Adama and his crew.

I love Lost, I think it’s a great show. It’s different and while it may be full of typical Hollywood hunks and beauties, it doesn’t generally conform to the typical US TV Show standards.

The ppls that gave us Weebl and Bob have asked the question, what if JJ Abrams wrote the show like everybody else in the US media? Would this be the opening titles of Lost?

Do you remember this?

There have been some brilliant ads over the years, but this one is so funny and simple – I love it.

I listened to Ken’s 49th Sound System Podcast over the weekend and I’m pleased to say Some Man Darren Byrne™ got another mention. I don’t think I’ll become famous for my mentions on Ross and Ken’s podcasts, but it’s sufficiently feeding my easily inflated ego all the same. The past two weeks podcasts, numbers 48 and 49, have seen Ken flying solo. Ross is apparently deeply engrossed in finishing his thesis. So, good luck to Ross and we look forward to your return.

So, Mr McGuire is left to hold the fort on his own and, while all the information is there and the strong song choices are there, he seems a little reluctant to let himself go and be a bit silly. Let yourself go a bit mad, Ken – we don’t mind.

The pair have great chemistry (nothing funny) and I look forward to the return of Ken’s compadre.

The 49th show featured:

• Myp Et Jeep – ‘Each Man For Himself’
• Jimmy Behan – ‘Box Of Broken Things’
• Aortal – ‘Failure’
• The Most Serene Republic – ‘Present Of Future End’

Next week’s 50th is quite the milestone and a big congratulations to the lads at Kilkenny Music for keeping a quality podcast running for so long. They also have their 20th One Take Session, the podcast of “an open music night showcasing some of the finest raw talent on the Irish music scene”. Be nice and drop them a line podcast@kilkennymusic.com.

Previous Podcast Posts:

The Sound System Podcast#46 from Kilkenny Music

Kilkenny Music

Apparently CERN, the organisation that are credited with ‘inventing’ the Interweb, have developed the next stage in Web evolution which can reach speeds in excess of 10,000 times faster than current broadband speeds. Hundreds of thousands of gamers will be able to interact simultaneously and seamlessly in vivid online environments, far greater than we can today. This all sounds wonderful…doesn’t it?

Maybe it’s just my paranoia mixed with a far too active movie watching life, but this sounds like the start of Skynet:

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said.

The power of the grid will become apparent this summer after what scientists at Cern have termed their “red button” day – the switching-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator built to probe the origin of the universe. The grid will be activated at the same time to capture the data it generates.

Surely we should stop Skynet now before the Terminators come back to get us? Where’s Sarah Connor? Protect her baby! Save us all! Judgement Day is here!

Ahem, well, better to be safe than sorry!

Following on from my self-pity post, I have had a mentally messed up weekend, which I have only emerged from today.

I suspect (as I have no evidence other than how I felt), that my drink was spiked or otherwise tampered with a few nights ago. I had had a few drinks and I know that that could explain some of what happened to me, but to collapse on a street corner, to break down in tears on the phone for no apparent reason, to feel ‘high’ and have the shakes and heart palpitations – I don’t see how I can blame that on a few drinks. It was something I have never experienced before and have no interest in going through again.

Lottie, as you may know, has been in the midst of exams for the past few weeks, so to have me ringing her in bits, desperate for help, cannot be at all helpful. I am so guilty for that, I sincerely am. But that guilt does not compare with the fear that I felt on Saturday, when looking back over what could have happened, what might have been. I have heard many horror stories, far worse than anything I went through, and that has played over my mind all weekend. I just don’t understand why anyone would put anything in my drink. It’s so fucked up. It was suggested today that someone may have been attempting to rob me. Maybe, but no one tried to take anything from me and I was in no fit state to defend myself if anyone had tried.

So, while I don’t see myself having a night out in a bar anytime soon (or at least not without surrounding myself with people I trust), I will certainly be very careful about keeping a close eye on my drink. And I would urge anyone who reads this to be equally vigilant.

Has anyone else experienced this? Have you heard of anyone who went through this…or worse? It’s truly horrible to feel that helpless.

Really feeling like crap today – I’ll expand on it later…maybe.

In the meantime, this is a great song!