Fringe Festival - Three Men Talking About Things They Kinda Know About

This is my first post on the Fringe Festival which will happen in Dublin between 10th - 25th September, and what better event to start with than this one!  In 'Three Men Talking About Things They Kinda Know About', we are treated to the 3 Kings of what's happening now on the Dublin Scene.

Colm Keegan of Nighthawks, Stephen James Smith of The Glór Sessions  & Kalle Ryan of Brownbread Mixtape

Here's a brief glimpse of the madness you will hear on the night,via the Fringe Festival site.

Admit it. our heads are totally wrecked. And we kinda want to talk about it.  All of the things that shaped us and brought us to this moment; our families, the pure chance of falling in love, the randomness of absolutely everything, we kinda want to talk about that too. We’re all unique, but our experiences overlap. With each other. With everyone. With you. This is a nonfiction spoken word show about the universal truths that fuck us all up - Three men. Different histories. Same shit.

• Company: Kalle Ryan, Stephen James Smith & Colm Keegan
• Venue: The International Bar
• Date/Time: Mon 19 September 2011 7:00 pm / Tue 20th September 2011 7:00 pm / Wed 21st September 2011 7:00 pm / Thu 22nd September 2011 7:00 pm / Fri 23rd September 2011 7:00 pm / Sat 24th September 2011 5:30 pm
• Duration 60 mins

Link to booking this event HERE

Caught in Amber - Pic & Poem

The image below was taken by my photographic daughter and I liked it even when it was just a tiny icon on her computer screen.  I wanted to write something about it from the get go, but couldn't think of anything initially, however this is what I finally came up with. 

(By the way on my PC the image is Amber)

Caught in Amber

A room and bed discarded

bereft of all but memory

of how her breath filled air

and jasmine drifted under sheets.

Amber lights and passing street sounds

infuse and murmur

fragments lingering

of something past.

A place where normality no more exists

but trapped in time

caught by faintest recall
of how her hair spread as wild grass across the pillow

the warmth of skin

and ache

the ancient truth

that wills her back.

Sebastian Barry/Jimmy Deenihan @ The Centre

Now I know it feels like this blog has turned into a mini version of the Irish Writers' Centres website, but considering the wonderful author Sebastian Barry will be reading there this evening,I figured this is not an event to be missed.  So darn blast, I just have to tell you all about it.  All the details are below.  I have no doubt it will be a great night.  I plan on going in myself, so maybe, I might see some of you there!

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, TD, will visit the Irish Writers' Centre this evening Wednesday 20 July at 7.00 pm to unveil a plaque acknowledging the financial support of his Department and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Centre.

The dual celebration will include a special guest reading by Sebastian Barry. It will continue with readings from selected writers and writing groups who have been using the Centre on a regular basis over the past couple of years. A reception before and afterwards will ensure that this is going to be an extremely enjoyable occasion, and everyone is invited to join us for this celebration.

How Times Have Changed, Or Have They? - Burnt Toast

Ah sure there is nothing like burning stuff to set your day off just right.  Managed to burn toast under the grill this morning, setting off mega loud fire alarm, simultaneous buzzing, bells, and god knows what else. 

It took me ages to work out how to disable the alarm panel, teenage son slept through the whole thing - go figure!!!

But of course, if I had have had some beer in, all would have been well!

Happy Tuesday!

(Head still hurts)

When you were small - Memories!

Time to take another trip backwards!  I'm thinking maybe today's post might be a bit trickier than previous ones.  After all, it's fairly easy to remember your first love, first best friend, most memorable toy - but this one took me a while to work out, so maybe it will be difficult for you too.  The funny thing is, once I worked it out, I couldn't understand why I had such difficulty with it in the first place.

Anyhow (fav crutch word), when you think about childhood, if you could only hold onto ONE childhood memory, which one would it be?  Tough - you must agree.

I remember Billy Connolly telling a story about taking his kids to Scotland and how they went to wonderful places, they saw the salmon leap, they had a picnic next to a castle, and he made up stories about Kings and Queens, they did lots of wonderful things, so much so, that by the end of the holidays, he felt pretty confident when he asked them which part was the most memorable.  He was convinced it would be either the salmon or the magic castle, but children are never easy creatures to predict.  'Sesame Street', they told him.  You see, they had one of those mini screens in the back of the car, and as they would drive from one wonderful place to the next, they would watch 'Sesame Street' on it!

Which kinda leads me to my answer.  Now as none of my family read my blog, I am probably pretty safe saying this, but it wasn't a wonderful Christmas memory, or an endearing family moment, or even an act of human kindness or tenderness, it was the Washing Yard.

Okay there you have it, if I could hold onto ONLY ONE childhood memory, it would be the Washing Yard - Why you might ask, or not, but sure I'll tell you anyhow.

I grew up in what were called flats, run down buildings sort of thing.  This meant we had no back or front garden, nor did we have much else either, but we did have a washing yard.  The washing yard was a brilliant place - there would be rows and rows of washing lines full of laundry, the sheets were the best because you could run through them and pretend you were flying.  Plus it had tall poles to hold up the lines, which you could swing around and climb.  Now the washing yard was out the back bedroom window where I slept, and the window was one of those with 3 window panes across.  My brother, sister and I would sit in front of the window and each of us got our own window pane, I know, sad but true.  Anyhow (told you it was my fav crutch word), we would look out the window, and when it snowed we'd pretend we were traveling through galaxies, or at night we would try to guess which window would light up next, because obviously, everyone living in the flats had windows which backed onto the washing yard, and like Christmas lights, at night each of them would switch on and off. 

Often, especially at night you would hear noises from the washing yard as families might fight, a Dad coming home drunk and raising all hell around him, or even worse the banshee wailing.  In the morning, the place filled up with seagulls, millions of them, or so it appeared to me as a child, and again the washing yard took on a whole new image.  I suppose what I'm saying is that more than anything, the washing yard fuelled my imagination, whether from listening to stories from each of the windows, or seagulls, or running through sheets, it sparked off so many things which made my childhood extra special.  My brother ended up becoming a Professor of Physics & Astronomy, which in my opinion was connected to the galaxies we travelled through together.

Gosh this is turning into a long post.  Anyhow, here's a poem I wrote earlier as they say, called 'The Washing Yard'.  I hope you enjoy it, and please, if you can work out which childhood memory you would choose to hold on to, then let us know!

The Washing Yard

Rows of dance on washing lines

Beneath one hundred sheets a child could fly

Curl metal bars and catch blue sky.

Turn snowstorms into a Milky Way

Laugh and play too young to know

As children blow at Jinny Joe.

And as the night light fills its sky

Banshees wail and babies cry.

Strange voices haunt the Washing Yard

Windows switching on and off

Each pane a different story told

A zillion words bound metal poles.

Then in morn all night sounds forced to hide

When from its sky come seagulls high.

Hoards of birds create such clatter

Swoon and squawk discarded matter.

Magic, to a young child's eye

As adults watch their lives pass by.

Buried in some human tomb

A child's joy,

In an adult's gloom.

Movie 'The Guard' - Review

'The Guard' it one of those films which come along every now and then and it gives you more than you bargained for.  I had no doubt that I would enjoy this film, a brief look at the promo clips and straight off I got the sense that I would be introduced to a great character by way of Sergeant Gerry Boyle played by the wonderful Brendan Gleeson.

I expected great characters, I expected great humour, a fast and engaging storyline, and I was not disappointed.  What I didn’t expect was the amazing mix of light and dark, wit and sarcasm, low life, reality, sharp, fast, emotionally engaging, perfectly balanced mix, which waltzed with racism, drugs, hard hitting reality, on the edge characters with more than the usual surface level of personality dished out to achieve a good movie, no, no, what I got were characters on many levels, layers that made each of them whole, real, alongside the raw but exciting mix of great script writing, every word, line, every event, each member of the cast, mixed together in an utterly marvellous evening’s entertainment.

So you guessed it, I liked it, I liked it in bucket loads, because it not only entertained the audience, it held it , tested it, flirting with PC issues, war, drugs, prostitution, death, love, corruption, people on the margins, and some downright fucked up bad guys, and delivered it all in an utterly wonderful, hilarious, dark comedy that in my opinion, was an utter triumph.

Do yourself a favour, go see this movie!

Review & Brief Story Intro  -  Vue Cinema Liffey Valley

Gleeson is veteran Officer Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a bit of a rogue cop who marches by the beat of his own drum. When a drug smuggling ring headed by Liam Cunningham and Mark Strong's criminals sets up shop on Boyle's turf, the FBI send Cheadle's decorated agent to oversee the investigation. While not getting off to a great start - Boyle raises his hand during a briefing to ask the FBI Agent if he is "from the hood" - the two men soon come to share a mutual respect, and team up to investigate the case.

Brendan Gleeson embodies Gerry Boyle so completely perfectly that you won't be able to fathom anyone else playing the man after you leave the cinema. Like a great tennis player, his performance instantly raises the game of those around him and the Howth native gives arguably the best performance of the year so far. Cheadle and Strong have far less to do, but both men obviously understood the tone of the script and deliver solid supporting performances, while Cunningham is great as the quintessential Dublin gang boss.

Why I use favourites on Twitter!

A couple of weeks back I did a post on 'Twitter Lists' and it proved to be very popular.  At the time I was really amazed at how many people didn't use 'Lists', because I know I could not survive Twitter without them - Check it out HERE

The way I look on Twitter is, it is something that in order to maximise it's value without it eating into tons of your day, you have to use as many available functions designed to help manage your time. 

Which is why along with 'Twitter Lists', I use 'Favourites'.

Here are some of my reasons:-

1.
They are a great means of storing information which you know you will want to come back to and review.  For example, if you see details of a competition you are interested in, just store it in favourites, then check out the details nearer the deadline dates etc.

2.
As I said above, they make for better time management - let's suppose you see a tweet with a link that you are interested in reading, but you're rushing out the door - just pop it in favourites and you can check it out at your leisure later on.

3.
Same goes for links to blog post that are too long to read on the spot - put them in favourites, then review and leave your blog comment later when you have a longer period of time available to enjoy them.

4.
They are also a good place to keep great advice - for example tips on writing, tools which you will read and reread to improve your writing skills, or whatever pieces of information are helpful to further your own aims and ambitions.

5.
If you have a blog, they are also a great place to store ideas - A fab image, a brill quote, a discussion topic which you might want to feature on a future blog post - pop them in favs, and they are there waiting for you to pick up whenever you are ready.

Everyone will have their own reasons for keeping favourites, above are a few of mine.  Important to remember however, is that favourites are a bit like clothes hanging in a wardrobe, they are there waiting for you, but you must make regular checks to make sure they are still things you need/want, or you will end up with unnecessary bulk gathering dust.

Do a regular check of your favourites, and whenever you are finished with one, just click 'unfavourite' and like magic it is gone. 

Add your own reason/comment regarding favourites below - you know I always love to hear your thoughts.

Who will take the title of Sock Number 120???

Okay, 2day is the day U could be the 120th Sock

@120 Socks! 

These opportunities only happen once - so if you fancy following this blog -

Thought for the Weekend - Helen Keller

'Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.'

-Helen Keller-

How Times Have Changed - Speechless

As I will be busy being inspired today (no giggles) - I thought this Vintage Advertising might be a good one to feature on account of the fact that it left me rather speechless, not a common occurrence as many of you might have guessed. 

Your thought and comments - very much appreciated as always!