Flashbacks

Image from weheartit



I am in a very very dark place. I have not left the house since Thursday night and every so often when the nausea dies down I am greeted by hideous memories. The problem with flashbacks, I find, when caused by drinking is, if like me you talk to yourself a lot in your head, and then you think back sometimes you think you said things out loud that you actually only said in your head. Fucking disaster, I can't master the line between getting so drunk that I shirk off my inhibitions as being the person who metaphorically loses her inhibitions by pulling her skirt over her head. Sigh. Seriously new year's resolutions are going to be fantastically abundant in choice this year.



Some things that make me happy at this dark time.


Dan Whitford. Also a resolution to be an 'aloof unavailable ice-queen' the next time I see him. Yummers.









Laurence Fox. Fox by name and nature. Cannot wait for new Lewis season.







Sixteen Candles. A film so amazingly brilliant that it has left me with completely unrealistic romantic expectations.

Like a scene from the great gatsby or similar. I am off now. Prob to vom. I hate myself sometimes.










image via weheartit









mp3 love my way- psychadelic furs
mp3 pretty in pink- psychadelic furs


mp3- Take me over - Cut Copy

mp3 If you Leave OMD



mp3 Tenderness - General Public


mp3 I'll Melt with you- Modern English



Valley Girl Trailer!

RIDEY-BRAIN, a definition.

This weekend saw Kilkenny host the inaugural Kilkenomics festival. Kilkenomics is exactly what you may be thinking it is, an economics festival, in Kilkenny. It may not seem like the most obvious of ideas, but it was pretty cool!!! I got on to my mate Fran who shares an interest in economics with me that dates back to Leaving Cert economics. Not having persevered with Economics after the leaving unlike Fran, I left it up to her to choose a show. Fran chose '23 things they don't tell you about capitalism'. I was like 'whatever' this is obviously the hottest ticket of the festival. I don't really think I was on the same page as Fran as I thought it was '23 things they don't tell you about communism'. I was really confused during the show, I was like seriously when will he start talking more about China and the USSR? Little did I know that Fran had reasons of her own for choosing this gig. Turns out she is a secret fan of this dude. She cited him many times in her essays, and even has a secret 'pet-name' for him. ' RIDEY-BRAIN'. A man who is fanciable because he is a brain. I'm just appalled to be friends with someone who demeans men in such a shallow way.

Anyways, he's not really my type. Afterwards we went to Langtons front bar, and I saw a man walking through the bar, I said to myself, he is totally an older version of the exact type of man I fancy. Really nice face, as he got closer I was thinking he is really familiar. Turned out to be David Mac Williams. I was shocked. Seriously guys, he is a RIDEY-BRAIN!

After the gig we had to high-tail it to Cleeres. I have saved this fortuitous piece of the story until now. When I had gone in to the ticket office to buy the tickts there was a sign saying 5 pairs of free tickets to BUST. THE HUMAN COST! I was like whatever, lads any free tickets left and they were like yes no bother. I had paid no attention to it whatsoever. So we got to Cleeres and Fran went in to keep seats while I got the beers in. I saw a really nice looking lady with lovely green shoes, and I said to myself. She is the woman! Only a woman who is the guest of honour would wear such amazing shoes, low and behold turns out I was right!

If I played for the other team Dearbhail Mc Donald would be my RIDEY-BRAIN. Pauline Mc Glynn was the MC and I have quite a bit of a girlie crush on her too. They were both so eloquent, and not facetious even when discussing such pieces of the proverbial as Sean Dunne, Sean Fitzpatrick et al. Dearbhail has written a book called BUST! Turns out on Friday I had unbeknownst to myself heard an interview with her where she was accused of being obsessed with Michael Lynn, infamous runaway solicitor. Well, the talk was enlightening. It was scary. It made me so angry!!! I cannot wait to read the book. There was some harrowing stories, which I won't even go into, but just the general theme of the festival was the whole discontent of people with the current economic situation. One of my favourite Dearbhail snippets last night was when she likened the Celtic Tiger to a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale.

I'm exhausted thinking about it all.

Soundtrack to the post:

onelifestand hot chip

spanish sahara - foals

smalltownboy -bronski beat

blitz digitalism

walkkingthroughthatdoor future islands

The contents of my head

Ok, so firstly. This blog post is long overdue. The reasons are multifaceted but include the following; a general sense of ennui, being quite busy, a sense of forebooding doom which coincided with my 24th birthday and the eventual and not totally unexpected demise of my laptop.

Anyone who knows me knows the story of the laptop. On a dark night in the Winter of 2006, my laptop fell off the bed and onto the floor. The OC series one was in the dvd drive. (This I think is an accurate portrayal of the backdrop of the situation and a symbol of where I was at in my life.) The result was a smashed laptop. The screen was fucked. Now I was sad, sulked and was very mad with the person who caused the event to happen. He shall remain nameless, but not blameless.

I somehow learned to deal with the screen and began to relove my defective laptop. I would get so freakin mad when people came over and were like "Oh Christ". I became so defensive. I would watch films on the thing for frick sake!!!To be fair she never let me down. Four and a half years, countless essays, internet stalking, thousands of mp3's and my Thesis. But all good things must come to an end, and it is without doubt the end of a poignant chapter in my life.

So anyway's I am now working off my mother's laptop which is perfect and has never been used.

I don't know about anyone else, but now I am 24 I am increasingly wanting to feather my nest. I am increasingly drawn towards woman, Bella and Best, obviously I still buy reveal glamour and new! But I'm not going to lie, I have recently bought Real People, surely the lowest of the low when it comes to magazine hierarchy. I have also found some grey hairs which are really stressing me out.

Anyways, I suppose I am also obsessed with become a property owner. This is no doubt a legacy I inherited from my ancestors. Anytime I receive a gift that it remotely housey, I save it in a special shelf in my wardrobe, my modern version of the trousseau for when I have my own house, a version I imagine of every Irish person's 'good room' I don't want to sully these things until I have them in my own precious place. Well. the odds of this happening anytime soon are slim, and I think I should probably use the Fancy Tea Bags my sister bought me as they are Best Before June 2011. I think this date may be a tad optimistic. But seriously, I am becomming increasingly similar to the hope chest freak girl in 'You me and everyone we know'. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415978/. Currently the shelf contains the following;

A salt shaker, an egg separator, and a spatula. These are a themed set. The previously mentioned tea bag set. A fancy kitchen timer. This beautiful Emma Bridgewater mug, various pottery. A massive box of Lindt chocolates which I am keeping for a time when I invite a male back for coffee and petits fours. Obviously I am going to have to buy a coffee maker to make this fantasy come true. Seriously, I am only one step away from going to the Brown Thomas sale for an Alessi bottle opener.

Would like a boy who I can do this with;










Soundtrack to this post:

perfectkiss new order mp3

thieveslike us new order mp3

bizarrelovetriangle new order mp3

waybackhome bag raiders mp3

onlyyou yazoo mp3

Very Sad News

This is a really strange story.

Ou est le swimming pool were playing Pukkelpop over the weekend. After their set, lead singer Charlie Haddon climbed on to a mast in the backstage area and jumped to his death. The Belgian police have confirmed the death as suicide. I find this really sad obviously but also very unusual. I mean, the band were on a massive high, and it seems like such a strange thing to do. I'm sure the facts will come out in the next few days.

Ouestleswimmingpoolthesenewknights





jackson'slaststand



dancethewayifeel

Oldies but Goodies.

I find that I am the type of person who is constantly living in the past. I cannot let things go, for example, every single day since my Leaving Cert I wish I could go back in time and change my CAO choices, but alas c'est impossible. Sometimes, this not being able to let go of things ain't so bad. Like tonight when I came accross some gems on my ipod. Not sure how I took these bad boys off my play list but they're going straight back on!

First up, Hey Champ.



Hey Champ are a trio from Chicago. I first heard them around about the time I was 'writing' my thesis. I was a music guru in those days as I was online 24/7. Anyways, Cold Dust Girl was on repeat in my head for pretty much a month and then I kinda forgot about them. I can be fickle like that, in all matters except for matters of the heart. Har har. Right....
so, here's some Hey Champ....

Hey Champ- Cold Dust Girl mp3


Hey Champ- So American mp3


Hey Champ - Shake mp3

www.myspace.com/heychamp

Then I came across DVAS

DVAS started with two Canadians, and they've picked up a few along the way. They spin tunes in Montreal but it basically could be Paris, they are very very smooth. In fact in 2009 they featured on A Valerie Mix, Valarie and Friends. Two of my faves are remixes, but they have just dropped a new album which I am loving, very summer, very cruising in my car. (When I get someone to take me out...)

DVAS- Ambient Room (Symbol one remix)
mp3

DVAS- Bromance mp3

DVAS- Questions
mp3

DVAS- You're amazing mp3

DVAS- Society mp3

www.myspace.com/DVAS

Quite a chilled offering!!!

What's on my box

I never thought of myself as someone who would settle in on a Sunday night with a cup of tea to watch a spot of telly, but I have to say there have been some excellent shows on offer of late.

Firstly, my number one show is Lewis. I am mad on it. I have a MASSIVE crush on Laurence Fox who plays this Cambridge educated ex priest who is now a detective in Oxford. It's all a bit twee but I loves it. The only problem is everytime I watch it I have a burning desire to go to Oxford and be a student, which lets face it is never going to happen. And Laurence is married to bloody Billie Piper. Bitch. He looks like a Swede too. :(

Seriously, is there anything more attractive than a man with a baby?These pics are a case in point. SWOON!!!

Ok, so secondly The Thick of It. It is fucking hilarious, and I have a total crush on Malcolm Tucker. The Thick of it is currently on RTE 2 late on Thursday nights, and you won't regret spending half an hour with them.

Thirdly, and as much as a shock to me as it may be to you, Sherlock. The final episode will air this Sunday on BBC 1 at 8pm. The dynamic of Benedict Cumerbatch as Sherlock, and Martin Freeman, he of the famous cut away to camera from the Office as Watson is excellent. It's such a suprising combo but they have a great chemistry. It's tongue in cheek references to the duo's house arrangements aside, it really does have excellent stories and acting. Cumerbatch is a chameleon. You'll have seen him in tons of stuff and not realised it's him. Starter for 10, Atonement. etc.

Catch it this Sunday and await the new series sometime later this year.

One Day

David Nicholls came to my attention for a variety of reasons, but mainly through my love of 1. James Mc Evoy and 2. University Challenge. This manifested itself in the film Starter for ten, which then led me to the book, and in turn various other things which he has been involved with Tess of the D'ubervilles etc....

One Day is just an amazing book. I'm always fascinated by male writers who can write fom such an amazing female perspective. e.g Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons. Like the things they know about women fascinates me, like I couldn't write from a male perspective.

Anyways, the book focusses on these two people. Dexter and Emma. Dexter is a rich, posh kid who is studying in Edinburgh, breezes through life, ladies man etc. Emma is a tough northerner, totally bright as a button. So basically Emma is gorge, but completely unaware of it, and turns out Dex and her totally had a thing for each other all these times they were in Edinburgh but it just never happened. So it's like the last night, and they get it on, by get it on they don't actually do the deed.
So the date is 15th July St Swithins day. Every day we revisit them on this date. This is an intersting plot device, my only quibble with this is that especially towards the end of the book it feels a bit rushed. Early on in the book it feels like all the important things coincidently happen on days that we hear about but towards the end massive stuff happens that we only find out through back story. But it's only a minor issue. The story could be set anywhere because you feel like you are there, like Emma might be cycling her bike past you on the ring road. Like you could be Emma or Dexter, because nothing totally extraordinary happens. Neither is a saint. But what draws you in is the knowledge that they should be together, and they can never get it together. Dexter might phone Emma just as she leaves the house, or she gets ready to tell him how she feels just as he gets engaged. But then suddenly in a massive anti climax they are together. And you feel a bit let down by how it happened. No fireworks. But then that's life init? I mean, there aren't explosions in the sky just because you want it to be.

Although I know this is a totally crap entry, i feel like even if i was writing a brilliant entry it still wouldn't do justice to the book. So just fuck off and get the book............

or check out the site!
http://www.oneday-twopeople.com/home.htm

Child or Ride?

Lads,

You know the way if you have a vision impairment, and you're all like oh check out that tottaly blonde hottie over there on the bike, i'd say he's German... then as you get up close and power walking past with fucking earphones falling out of ears so keep stopping to put them in and it's pissin off big time, but i'm like it's grand now cause i'll give this fella the eye and I get up to him, and it's a child. A child on a bike and I AM MORTO. The moral of this story is I need to start wearing my glasses. Like, I'd totally wear my glasses if they made me look like woman in the pic above.

Sigh,

So my sister has her baby this morning, cue the biggest sigh of relief ever because she had actually the most awful time during the pregnancy and the hormones were like poisoining her and i am in work this morning, and she literally just popped him out. Seriously 3 hours and he's out. In fairness she was due a break but I am just so grateful to whoever in the universe made this happen, and I cannot wait to see baby Ethan who is apparently blonde. Swoon!!!!!

This is a beautiful song, which I always imagine in my head when i travel like on a train or bus, but especially a train. so i'm staring out the window thinking, my mr darcy will show up and we will have passionate arguments you know, misunderstandings, but will reconcille in the end, not before i see his sweet massive gaf. I'm kinda on the mc darco train because i was watching the mormon pride and prejudice version last night. now, Loreto girls of 2004 were the biggest darco fans in the history of english students. there was a certain 6 fiacra contingent to whom every man will face the darcy test.

Yummers.

Arsenal- Estupendo.
mp3

Sweden!

*UPDATE!!! Who would have guessed that my blog had some readers, but alas it has, links removed on request :(*

I think i may be in love with Sweden. How can one be in love with a country you may ask. Well as I have mentioned in a previous post, I have a thing for tall blonds. I think I could do worse than move to Sweden, a country where every man is tall and blond. Yum!!! While I consider this, I will convey some things which are also great about Sweden.

1. Robyn.
I had TOTALLY forgot about Robyn. I had completely wiped her from my short term memory, this was until I saw her video for Dancing on my own. This woman knows heartbreak. As someone who has to dance on her own, (and this is not a lewd reference to Billy Idol's classic song for singletons and solo lovers (dancing with myself)) I just love her lyrics and beats. Plus she's on Modular, pretty much the greatest label to walk the earth...


Robyn Dancing on my own Falke remix ocelet remix
OK so it's been a long time since we heard much from this Swedish duo, but interesting fact, The Knife won a Grammy award as best pop group of the year 2003, but they boycotted the ceremony by sending two representatives of the Guerilla Girls, with the number 50 written on their costumes, as a protest against male dominance in the music industry. The Guerilla Girls are hitting Kilkenny next week as part of the Arts festival.

http://www.kilkennyarts.ie/events/details/visual-art-strand-2-guerrilla-girls/





So, I genuinely love ABBA. This may be a tenuous link, but here is Hung down, Presets style.... Presets reworking Hung up by Madonna which sampled Abba's Gimme Gimme Gimme. This is kinda what I wrote my Masters Thesis on actually, you can find it in Trinity Law Library "There is nothing new under the sun". God I'm a geek.

Weekend Freebies!

*UPDATE*
Links removed on request :(

So my Friday got off to a great start. I finally took the bull by the horns and called the tax people... by tax people I mean the tax office or whatever. So I end up getting the possible soundest guy I have ever spoken to on the phone. Not only does he sort out all my tax affairs, but I think tries to chat me up by asking me about hurling- obviously he hadn't a clue what he was getting himself into as I am Kilkenny's worst fan, I genuinely couldn't tell you how many on a row we are going for or whatever, but back to the point at hand, he tells me he is giving me my emergency tax back, plus a little extra, €150 I had no idea I was due...

It was Henniken invasion in Kilkenny this weekend...

Next up I head down to the left bank for a free gig, the Delorentos. They are a band I almost saw live so many times, but just never got around to seeing. Which is sad because when I lived in Dublin they pretty much played Whelans/UCD/Trinity every week. I forgot that I really like them. Well not only were they playing free but we got free henniken too. Now I don't really like Henniken, but I really like free stuff.


The Delorentos came on all guns blazing. I was a little bit morto for them, as I knew most of the crowd, and suspected they may not have known many, if any songs. It didn't really matter as the crowd in the left bank gave them a brilliant reception. I had totally forgot what a solid band these guys are. They were amazing, and I'm not a big guitar fan as anyone who knows me will already know. 'Leave me alone' sent shivers up my spine, as Ronan sung the refrain, "It's a little too late for us" I was ready to hunt down the bitch who had fucked him over. They came back to do one more tune and played 'Stop' which had the crowd go off.

http://www.delorentos.net/

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Maeve and I met these promo girls who offered us free shots in Morrisons, amazingly we declined the freebies, because we had a date with Alex Metric.


Now, as I have already mentioned I love free stuff, and thanks Henniken for bringing somone so undoubtadely cool as Alex Metric to Kilkenny, but what the fuck were you thinking of bringing him to Matt the Millers. I mean this is the type of place that The All Ireland talent show people play? I was totally morto for him, thankfully he just did his shit...

Here are two of Alex's most prolific remixes,


plus one of his own from his new solo style project, this is a total dancefloor filler, and totally on repeat in my head.....

PS. Alex is a total hottie.

So Saturday Henniken treated us to Jape, which I am not even going to comment on because I really don't rate them....

What I will mention is me going up to a complete randomner thinking he was my friend Eoin, giving him the friendly pinch... he was not.... but props to randomner, for a full 10 seconds of being friendly, (while a look of total fear overcame his face) obviously thinking he did know me from somewhere.... gah!!!

I am also totally not going to comment on not getting tickets to 2 Many dj's even though I am a genuine fan and everyone I knew who won tickets couldn't name a tune or had no idea they were Soulwax, brothers, from Belgium, or do an awesome cover of Dolly Parton's 9 to 5.

I have seen these dudes twice, one at elec piccy with my friend Annie from youngblondes, and another at the now defunct Spirit, again with Annie. these guys put on an awesome show, and it is very looooooooooooong.

Swimming, Swimming, Swimming!

Given that I have an bronze all Ireland swimming medal (1996 u10 Girls Relay team), it would seem churlish of me to not give swimming another go.

As I either commit to something fully, or not at all, I have now become quite the water baby. My only qualm with swimming is the preparation involved.... Anyways, listen to this and you will get an unmoderated glimpse into my life..

This Maccabbes songs actually captures the sights, sounds and smells and perils of Leisure Centres! Unfortunately, mine does not have a wave machine....

Maccabbes-Latchmere mp3

Going Nowhere?

Do you ever feel like you are stagnant? Well that's pretty much how I have felt for quite some time. I am literally stuck in a rut.

cut copy going nowhere
mp3


I feel like I have achieved so little and it makes me sick when I see all these people my age like doing all this crazy shiz. Miami Horror, younger than me is an obvious example...

Anyways, so Cut copy's front man Dan has not only been working on a new cut copy album, graphic desigining, http://www.alter.com.au/, dropping amazing remixes, but now he has a very exciting sideline project with Joel from Riot in Belgium. I knew I was going to like this song... but I didn't reckon on so much. It makes me feel like I am in Berlin's hippest new club, it's dark and smoky and there are stars on the ceiling.... i'm not really sure why, that's just how I roll bitches!
voltage-all night (radio edit)mp3

Do you have a type?

I think that I only have one type. Tall, gangly blonde. This is reinforced by the fact that I recently saw one of my favourite men, to be honest my favourite man.
I handled the enormity of the situation very well. As in, I didn't repeat what happened the last time. i.e tell him I loved him and wanted to move to Melbourne. To be honest I'm lucky he didn't ask me to leave the venue. Maybe this is the type of thing he hears all the time? Who knows.
Anyways. My favourite cut copy song, at the minute- Far Away, maybe it's because Dan said in an interview it was about an 'ex girlfriend', and I can cling to the ex bit.



FarAway mp3