as we forgive those who tresspass against us...

This is footage from St. Patricks Cathedral in Melbourne. The Dean of St. Patrick's, Rev. Geoff Baron was secretly filmed while abusing and taunting a group of skateboarding teenagers (Skateboarding teenagers? I'm on the priest's side already!) who had gathered at the cathedral. It seems that they'd caused a bit of bother previously and he'd tried, unsccessfully, to get them off the property. It's an ugly scene and you sense it's the actions of a man at his wit's end.

It seems the priest has been suspended since the footage showed up on youtube (it happened over a year ago) and his future is uncertain. Strange that whoever had the footage sat on it for a year and put it online rather than, I dunno, reporting him to the authorities. Once again, you have to wonder about how this stuff is filmed. Can't help thinking it's some kind of a set-up. Is it a co-incidence they've got a concealed camera recording for the whole time? Now, it's not like me to start defending priests, but maybe this guy deserves a fair hearing before he's hung out to dry. Although if he turns out to be a complete nutter I'm retracting that.

And on a lighter note, isn't it refreshing to read about an abusive priest but it doesn't turn out to be that kind of abuse?!

Collateral Damage

Well this isn't a very good start, is it? Having revealed my plans to do the Amsterdam marathon in October, I got up on Tuesday morning, went to the park and managed to tear the medial collateral ligament in my right knee. I've been to physio with it a couple of times since and all indications are that it will heal up in the next 7-10 days but by then I'll be two weeks off training and presumably not as fit as I was this week. It's a Grade I tear so it's not too bad at all. Certainly it could have been a lot worse. With Amsterdam just 12 weeks away it's a bit of a worry but I've been assured I'll come back stronger than before. That seems a little hard to believe but I'll wait and see.

Either way, at the moment, all I can do is put my feet up, get lots of rest and wait for it to heal. So, with that in mind, anyone for beer and pizza?!

I know what I saw...

A few months ago one of the radiators in the bedroom upstairs sprung a leak. It was a bit of a mess for a while but there was no major damage done. Seems a bit silly to mention it now with all the reports coming in from the UK about floods and water damage. Anyway, everything dried out in time but the ceiling in the living room was badly stained. Repeated attempts to paint over it have been in vain (or at least they were the last time I tried, which was about 3 months ago) as the stain just keeps reappearing when the paint drys. Anyway I was sitting at home the other night looking at the pattern of the stain and, as is the way with abstract shapes that you look at for too long, I began to see a familiar face in the dirty brown streaks.. No, it wasn't Jesus or Mary. That'd be too obvious. Tell me I'm mad but doesn't this look like Garth Hudson from The Band in about 1976?


What do you mean you don't know what Garth Hudson looked like in 1976?

What do you mean you don't know who Garth Hudson is? Get yourselves a copy of The Last Waltz!

Actually, maybe it's Charlie Manson. Or Jason Patric in that terrible film where he had a beard. Not sure what it was called. Jennifer Jason Leigh was in it.

I really should paint that ceiling..

Cars and Girls

That comment at the end of the last entry earlier sent me back to listen to Prefab Sprout tonight. Specifically their terrific record 'From Langley Park to Memphis' which includes The King of Rock and Roll, I Remember That and, best of all, Cars and Girls.

"Brucie dreams life's a highway, too many roads bypass my way"

I remember when this came out in the summer of '88 I didn't get what he was singing about at all. I had just seen Springsteen for the first time (but not the last) and didn't really understand the lyric apart from thinking that it wasn't very complimentary. Later I came to realise that the things Paddy was singing about were the same things Springsteen was - uncertainty, loss, love, dreams, faith, etc.

"But look at us now, quit driving, some things hurt more much more than cars and girls.
Just look at us now, start counting, what adds up the way it did when we were young?"

Anyway it's a great song and Prefab Sprout were, are, and will remain, a fantastic band. I always loved the sleeve artwork from the single too. Guess that's not what he had in mind when he wrote 'I'm on Fire'..

Rock and a hard place

Came across this album cover earlier on the fantastic LP cover lover site. Hours of fun to be had there. Dickie was originally from Cabra. Back in the days when men were men and nobody looked twice if you hung around street corners in a purple roll-up sweater. I heard him being interviewed recently on Eamon Dunphy's radio show and he went to great efforts to make the distinction that he's from Cabra West (that'll be the newer part of the 'bra - i'm not sure if Fabra has made it that far) as opposed to older Cabra where this blog lives. In his day everyone looked out for everyone etc., etc., and he seems to have developed a healthy chip on his shoulder about it all. "Ah jaysis - them were the days and all but inanyways...." All the same, I can't imagine he's brought his fancy wheels around the old neighbourhood lately..


Here's a more recent album cover from the great man. I say recent, it looks like about 1974. More songs about cars and girls.. Dickie taught Springsteen everything he knows!

Dutch courage?

I don't know at what point this year I was transformed from being a low-energy layabout who spends most of his time in front of the tv into a low-energy layabout who climbs mountains at the weekend and takes up jogging (when not spending time in front of the tv) but something happened and now I'm boring everyone with tales of jogging shoes and breathing exercises. It could be a general dissatisfaction with turning 35 (any day now) and not really having much to say for myself or a desire to return to some level of fitness (as if there was ever much of a level to return to) that brought it all on. Steve thinks I might have been bitten by a radioactive spider but I think that was somebody else.

Whatever it was, I now run several times a week and have been amazed to find that I've been getting better at it. From gasping after 2 minutes the first time I went out and needing to walk for long periods between runs to catch my breath, I can now run about 3km up Chesterfield Avenue without stopping, then take a short break and do it again in the opposite direction. I'm hoping that in the next week or so I'll increase that to 4km and so on..



I'd better because tonight I registered to do a half marathon in Amsterdam in October. October 21st in fact, which is less than 3 months away. I make it 13 weeks from yesterday. One week for each mile! Shit - that's not much time is it? The good thing is that if I cancel before September I can get most of the money back. The bad news is that I don't want to cancel and really want to do this thing. Is this my mid-life crisis already? Couldn't I have just gotten my ear pierced and a 21 year old girlfriend? Don't answer that.

Prior to last month I couldn't run a tap, never mind a half marathon. On the plus side, I've never been to Amsterdam so it should be nice to see what it's like over there.

Anyway, with 13 weeks to go, I'll be popping up an update once in a while. The good thing is that I've thought of lots of bad puns that I can use for titles relating to running and Amsterdam. Should keeop me amused for a while.

Alternatively, knowing me, I'll never speak of it again...

Simple Twist of Cate

This is the first clip from the new Dylan biopic, I'm Not There. As far as I can tell, it features several different actors portraying Bob at different times in his life. This clip, obviously, is mid 60s period Bob. I think the guy in the car with him is meant to be Lennon. At least I think some of the dialogue is from that awful clip of Bob and Lennon in the limo from Eat the Document. Look it up yourself - it's mortifying. Two of the greatest artists and supposed spokesmen for their generation and they can barely string a sentence together. Actually - here it is. I think Lennon might come out of it a little bit better than Bob.

I don't really know much more about the film. It's written and directed by Todd Haynes, the guy who made Velvet Goldmine, that terrible film about an adrogynous, cross dressing, drug addicted 70s rock star that bore no resemblance to David Bowie whatsoever. At all. No sir. But then he also made Far From Heaven more recently so he's not all bad.. And Richard Gere is going to be one of the Bobs! How bad can it be? Plus the poster is great.


And finally I can't really put up a Bob clip without including this:

Fabradecabra

An article in the Sunday property supplements some time ago revealed that one of the ways to tell if an area is on the up is if there is an influx of confirmed bachelors buying property in the neighbourhood (Confirmed Bachelor meaning you know what, as opposed to me, also a confirmed bachelor). The idea being, I suppose, that if the gay community were bringing the pink euro to an area, then said area must be ripe for re-assessment and an upgrade to the desireable location section of the listings page. Of course this was back when people were buying houses in Dublin. Anyway - it worked for Stonybatter so bring it on.. Used to be you didn't walk down Manor Street alone. Now it's got new restaurants, wine bars and a little shop selling olives, chorizo and paninis! If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me!

Anyway Cabra (where I live), historically a rough and ready working class neighbourhood (ah jaysis but everyone looks out for each other. no, really) has recently seen an influx of these aforementioned confirmed bachelors. So much so, in fact, that one of the papers took to referring to it as Fabra. The only reason I'm saying all this is that last week, I received an early birthday present from a dear friend.


Thanks Lola - I love it! And no, I didn't wear it putting out the bins last week..

What? For running?

I've been doing a bit of jogging in the past few weeks and decided on Friday to get some new ruuning shoes. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get assistance from the slack-jawed boys and girls that work (or, to put it another way, stand around and get paid) in sports shops in Dublin. Actually, they're not sports shops, are they? That was my first mistake. They're hoodie and tracksuit shops. Anyway, I asked for some assistance in selecting a good pair of running shoes. You'd swear I'd asked for help in splitting the atom or inventing a new energy source. Having asked the young man in uniform if he knew what would be a good choice for a novice jogger, his reponse was: "What? For running, like?" I guess most people buy 'runners' to wear with their confirmation tracksuit or to court..

I don't mean to put anyone down. I don't blame the kids - it's the management of these shops that need to explain themselves. Why would you put people out there who clearly aren't prepared for dealing with customers. In the end I went home, did a bit of research online, went back and picked up these fellas (with the assistance, in fairness, of a helpful young indian lad). They're fantastic. Of course they aren't going to help me with stamina or breathing but they're shiny and new. And they'll look good when I'm being rushed to hospital!

Well, nobody's perfect..

Saw a reference to this in the Irish Times today and thought I'd post it..

It begins: Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies.

And ends: He never married.

And he seemed like such a catch.

George Melly died this week too. Now that, by contrast, was a debauched, wreckless life very well lived..

REM in Dublin

I went to see REM in the Olympia last night. It was a pretty decent show - the last of their 'rehearsal' shows this week featuring mostly new songs and obscure old ones. None of the hits. Funny thing about them was that you couldn't really tell the new songs form the old ones. I don't think anyone could ever accuse REM of evolving. The template hasn't changed for 25 years. Essentially they've got 2 songs. The ones with the catchy chorus and Mike Mills harmonising in the background (those would also be known as the popular ones), and the other one which is mostly Peter Buck banging away on a Rickenbacker while Stipey shouts about The Man and generally makes a bit of a racket. Sometimes they can overlap a little but it mostly comes down to those two.

Still it was nice to see them and it was a good night out. As usual there were a lot of people talking through the whole thing. One guy behnd told his friend that 'going to see REM is a life experience - like going to a wedding'. No, I don't know what he meant either..

But perhaps the most exciting thing about the show was the ticket (above). Remember when concert tickets were differnet for every show? These people do. In the days before generic ticketmaster printouts. Also in the day before you were charged extra for the tickets being run through a laser printer. How come we were never charged for design and print costs of tickets 15 years ago but now that they're automatically printed there's a charge. Did someone say rip-off?

A couple of things..

I'm not going to bang on about that Diana concert yesterday. Clearly it's fairly critic-proof. However everybody needs to see this terrible P Diddy performance from the show. Or as Jamie Oliver said, Mister P. Diddy. Anyway, this is just shocking. What's he on about? More importantly, what's he on?!!

Ricky Gervais' bit was a mess too. Did he really go out there not knowing how long he'd be onstage? It was a little bit funny and a little bit embarrassing. That's the 2nd time I've seen him doing his funny dance at a charity concert. He must be starting to think that despite the awards and tv shows and live tours, the silly dance is what they'll show on tv when he dies. He's going to have to try to get away from that but I'm not sure recreating it in front of huge worldwide audiences is the way to go about it. A bit of a shocker that a comedian couldn't entertain a crowd for 4 minutes. I guess he's not that kind of comedian. Still - he's rich and I'm not, so he wins.

Finally another thing that tickled me was one of the prince's comments at the start about 'if our mother was here, she'd be first on her feet to clap and sing along'. But wait, surely if their mother was there, there'd be no need for anyone else to be! Perhaps I'm simplifying things.

Anyway, it was all rubbish but it's hard not to be taken in when the rubbish is this good. It's Donny! It's Jason! It's, em, somebody else.. I dare you not to sing along.