Next Irish President

Was flicking around PaddyPower earlier to see if they have any odds on the Cardinal resigning.

Couldn't find anything, but the race for the next President is quite interesting. Brian Crowley MEP is the favourite. Don't know much about the guy at all, as to what he's done in politics etc, so can't say anything nasty.

Coming up fast on the stand side (as the racing commentators would put it) is Senator David Norris, at 9/2. Think there have been recent mutterings about him being very interested in the post.

It would make sense for him if things get any worse and the senate gets abolished. Not sure who would back him - Labour, perhaps? He would certainly have my vote, if only to liven up the dreary presidential office a bit, and spare us the often-cringeworthy, bland soundbites of the current incumbent.

Here is my Top 5 'Maybe' list and my 'F*ck No, - over my dead body' list (there are actually odds available on all of these people):

Maybes:
Senator Norris (9/2)
Maura Geohegan Quinn (50/1)
Michael McDowell  (40/1)
Geraldine Kennedy (80/1)
Peter Sutherland (50/1)

F*ck No!
Bertie Ahern (5/1)
Mary O'Rourke (12/1)
John Hume (25/1)
Gerry Adams (50/1)
Louis Walsh (250/1)

'Oaths of Secrecy' - the Cardinal sins

Couldn't believe the sh*te Sean Brady was coming out with on radio this morning. The typical Catholic Church attitude; 'I've done nothing wrong - things were different in those days - blah, blah...'

Imagine being an abused pre-teen or teenager in those dark days and being called in by this prick and his cronies to be interviewed/interrogated (apparently with no parental supervision) about the "allegations", and being asked to sign an 'Oath of Secrecy'. The mind just boggles...

To compound matters, on Pat Kenny this morning, some didactic Catholic academic, Monsignor Maurice Dooley, former Professor of Canon Law, opined that Cardinal Brady had no obligation, at the time, to report anything to the Gardaí or the RUC. He was directly contradicted by a legal expert, but still droned on with his doctrinal spiel about Canon vs Civil law.

These people defie all belief, but think this and similar stories are going to run for a while...

To be honest, I'm half-hoping that Brady doesn't resign (although I think it's inevitable).  It would just lead to another weepfest from this sad creature:-
http://bosanovasweetshop.blogspot.com/2009/12/great-fun-entirely.html

Theme from 'van der Valk'

A ridiculous premise - an English-language, Dutch detective TV show shot in the UK, with exteriors done in Amsterdam and starring that curly red-haired guy from Hitchkock's 'Frenzy' movie. The Simon Park orchestra provide the legendary theme tune.

Apparently this tune can solve (or at least alleviate) chronic depression....  More likely to induce melancholy - me-thinks, although it is pretty sublime!

The end of the Jefferson Airplane

Was meaning to post on what I thought was the last great tune by the Airplane, but, typically, it was removed from YouTube in the last 30 minutes...
Anyhoo this predates it - the title tune from the Airplane's final album - Marty Balin does the honours on lead vocals - he jumped ship shortly afterwards, as Paul Kantner had wrested the leadership of the Airplane from him.

Grace Slick and Paul Kantner were an item at that time and struggled on for a couple more albums as 'The Jefferson Starship' (I think Marty owned the original name on the Airplane). 

Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady were pissed off and had started doing their own thing by that stage and also jumped ship after a year with the Jefferson Starship.

Grace must have been wise enough to put her name on the 'Starship' brand, as she had a couple of number ones in the 80's under that name....

So will have to make do with the Airplane doing 'Volunteers' - one of the most frustrated and angry political tunes of that time:-


Note: one piece of the video montage is not for the faint-hearted...

Cosmic Slop - fashion never dies

This is the probably the last post I make on Funkadelic (I promise!), but this has to be seen to be believed. Michael Hampton's hat is simply extraordinary.

Think I will get one for future job interviews. The hat would be ideal for Paddy's day also.

Didn't realise Gary Shider had such a great voice - maybe I was always distracted by his diaper/nappy, but he is really reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield on this.

Anyhoo, what is really staggering about this is how they seem to switch between 'Soul', 'Funk' and 'Hard Rock' at the drop of a hat (no pun intended)

As usual George Clinton shows up at the end, emerging with a young lady from a wigwam, wearing an outfit that only a female presenter of the late TV3 'Play TV' show would be seen dead in.  It's all good though...

Here is a promo clip for the same song (think a lot of LSD had been consumed by all):-

Play TV is kaput

Yippy-yippy yay yay yey. Play TV is no more:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_TV_Ireland

Think it was just a matter of time before it was put out of its misery... 

Witless presenters, dubious or unsolvable games and frankly corrupt practises, preying on pensioners and those who probably couldn't really afford the couple of Euros to call a line, with a 0.00001% chance of getting through to the studio.

It was even commented on at ministerial level recently.  Think that was what really put the pressure on  TV3 execs to end it, although it was obviously on its last legs - 30 EUR prize money on some games etc...

Anyhoo, everybody involved in that sham/scam should hang their heads in shame...

LIDL's and Dogs with Bras

Earlier in the week, I was out shopping in LIDLs. I had brought the family dog along for a healthy walk - she belongs to one of my sisters who has temporarily moved back to the main family home while she (the sister, not the dog) does a FAS course in Dun Laoghaire.

The puppy is extremely loveable, placid and intelligent, so I had no qualms in leaving her outside for 3 minutes while I did a quick shop.  She was well secured - attached by her lead to an iron pillar in the exterior shopping trolley part of the store.

When I got out, I was berated by an elderly lady for 'abandoning' such a beautiful creature, who 'may have been kidnapped! (surely dogknapped would be a better description)'.

I really had to bite my tongue to not tell her 'For f*ck's sake - it's a dog, not Madelaine McCann!'.

Am getting to like LIDL's now - was probably too much of snob to go there previously (or maybe cos I didn't speak Polish), but they really do what they say on the tin.  They sell all kinds of cheap sh*t. Would not be surprised if they even sell upper-body support garments for animals.

Anyhoo, back to the dog - she constantly pines for my sister, when she is not around.  Things came to a head the other night when she grabbed one of the sister's bras from a radiator and seemed to be using it as a comforter. I couldn't get her to release it and was eventually half-tempted to make her wear it, and send a photo to:
Bras! On! Dogs!

That would have thought her a lesson.

Carly Simon - Who Exactly was So Vain?

The poor man/woman's Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon has been doing the rounds recently refusing to speculate as to the identity of the anonymous international playboy she once romanced, referenced in her tune 'You're so Vain'.  She seems to do this every couple of years whenever she has an album to promote, even though the song is 38 years old by now.

Here's a possible top 5 list of suspects:-

Father Michael Cleary:- always irresistable to any woman, and a man who socialised regularly with superstars like Joe Dolan, Dickie Rock and Twink in the early 70's.

Mick Jagger:- One of the usual suspects as to whom the song may be about.  Jagger sang background vocals on the original, but was allegedly more interested in both David and/or Angie Bowie at the time. Plus he was dating a Nicaraguan super-model, so probably wouldn't have had much need to throw his hat at Carly.

Warren Beatty:-  The king of all men-sluts has allegedly bedded over 12,000 women, none of whom he liked more than his own reflection. Most likely suspect!

James Taylor:- Carly's husband of the day. Can't really see how he can be viewed as vain. Skinny, dull, self-absorbed, droning folk-rock singer would be more descriptive.

David Geffen:- This is the suggestion that Carly is currently not denying, although it's highly unlikely - think Geffen is well known to prefer men.

Anyhoo, seriously, if Paddy Power ever opens a book on the true identity, I'd put my money on David Crosby. Just a guess though, as I guess Ms. Simon based it on an amalgamation of guys, and it's probable that all of them possessed Apricot-coloured scarves back in 1972.

You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and...

You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
You're so vain, I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't You?

eBay Purchases

I love eBay - it takes a lot of the boredom out of trawling around high street shops for best priced books, DVDs, electronics and quality clothes.The big pains are:

1. Buying clothing when the advertised size turns out to be 3 levels away, in reality, e.g. a Medium sized shirt turns out to be an XXL large once it arrives. I've lost count of how many times I've had to drop stuff like this off at the council clothing recycle centres. I'm dubious about those places anyway, as I strongly suspect that some of the collectors help themselves to the best stuff.

Still, it's a better option than filling up one of those plastic bags that frequently come through the letterbox asking for any old quality clothes for some really vague charity (in aid of Ukrainian Breast Cancer support etc., with no VAT or Charity Reg. Number referenced and an 085 mobile number). 

2. Back to eBay - another peeve is when you buy something that needs to be signed for and your doorbell rings at 7:30 am with a DHL man looking for an electronic signature.

In these instances, to their credit, they are normally polite to a fault and don't comment on the fact that you are semi-naked and looking like you've been dragged through many hedges backwards or have been snorting coke into the early hours...  I guess they get used to it.

Sometimes though it's easy to go a bit wild on eBay. I had bought myself an xmas present, which arrived today. After 20 minutes unpacking it, I realised it was an Indian Sitar, which I remember purchasing as the price seemed pretty cheapo and I was probably in the Chardonnay-induced xmas spirit at the time.

Anyhoo - the seller was kind enough to provide me with an instructional  CD advising how to learn to tune and play it.  I am going to do my best.

If all else fails, at least it has decorative qualities or I can use it to hit burglars with.  If I can figure it out, I will probably need to return to eBay to get a Nehru hat and garment, in order to look the real deal!