I am a changed man...

I hate it when blogs I enjoy reading don't post new entries regularly (like everyday)...
Although I despise blogs who post 10 times a day (their content is usually weak and plagiarised from some other blog/site)...
I combine both of the above.
I don't blog everyday, but when I do - it's usually short, perverted and full of nonsense (Alexa anyone?)...
I'm going to try and clean up my act though, as if I am ever lucky enough to meet Alexa or Shannyn, how the hell can I
justify the reasoning behind my posting pictures of them on the internet for all to see?
They wont like it one bit and the charming reassuring Irish accent (which is usually a shoe-in) wont mean shit to them.
Once the Irish accent card is gone, then all that's left is me and my personality, and we all know that's no banker...
:s

So, with all of the above in mind - I am going to try and blog in a very civilised fashion...

I really do think buying this bicycle was the best purchase ever. In the entire world. EVER.
Skateboarding is more fun, but I run the risk of getting beat up by scumbags if I go out on my deck because
I look like a sk8er-boi and NOBODY likes Avril Lavigne (especially not scumbags).
Usually about here, I would make a crude comment about Avril Lavigne
and how hot she is, but I'm not going to do that today.
At least on my bike, I pedal like a motherfucker so I'm too fast to be chased by any delinquent.
Which bodes well for me because I can be a total shit to anyone in Burberry within shouting distance and they'll never catch me. Huzzah.

I'm listening to Dev "Lightspeed Champion" Hynes a lot at the moment. He deserves our utmost respect.
This blog is after-all named after his previous bands' amazing single (everyone should be
aware by now that I am a strong believer in the Church of Test Icicles). But his debut solo record is quite something.
Nothing like TI, but is still pretty siiick. I'm looking forward to his gig in April in Crawdaddy, not only to see
this album performed live, but also because I can heckle by repeatedly requesting him to play Circle Square Triangle all night.
Yes, I'll be the loser thrown out by security half-way through the set.

My friends and I always play the "what CD in your collection are you ashamed of" game.
Usually I always win because the entire group (this can sometimes be up to 12 people) collectively agree
that I have too many CDs I should be ashamed of. I'm not embarrassed by any of them though -
although I don't think I would ever be able to bring myself to listen to them in front of real people, with my
shit hair-cut and "emo" piercings, I wouldn't last a second. Even hiding behind this blog, I can't bring myself to tell
strangers over the internet some of these CDs. And if you can't talk to strange internet people then
something is seriously wrong (either that or you just don't want people knowing that you
own 3 Limp Bizkit albums or 3 Lostprophet records). Fuck, that was a typo. I swear.
I really meant to type The Beatles or Led Zep or Jimi Hendrix or any other too-cool-for-school bullshit.


1 very quick thing before I split...

Fresh Cherries From Yakima, my boy Doug is playing his first ever live show
tonight so I want to wish him the very best of luck. You'll be awesome dude, I want to see videos on youtube tomorrow man!


Now that I'm a changed man (for tonight at least) how do I end this entry if I am not allowed to post a picture of Alexa?
Well, we mentioned it above, and for nostalgia reasons (amongst others because you definitely would)...

Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi

Sooper Dooooper Toooosday!!!

Too Obsessed? Never!

Eddie has to walk. We were awful on Saturday. And with Darcy out for the rest of the Six Nations, it's safe to say we are fucked. The Welsh match was brilliant though. James Hook was awesome, he didn't miss one kick and he always found touch. And the French?! The less said about that performance the better, because they are going to punish us next week.

Arctic Monkeys. Legends. I have been listening to them all weekend and you-tubing the fuck out of their videos. I have always been a massive fan but I am slowly but surely turning into an obsessive one. Alex Turner is not content with being in the biggest band on the planet, the selfish little fuck only goes and bags himself the best piece of ass on the planet too! Alexa Chung is scarily attractive. Expect to read a lot more about her from here on out because she deserves at least one post a day on this blog for being hot-as-fuck.

Speaking of Alexa, I sat through an hour of complete and utter E4 bullshit on Sunday morning. It was a special on the outrageously rubbish Nick Cage movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The only reason I sat through it was to see the little 2 minute segments of Alexa every-so-often on the screen. Yes, it has become that obsessive. Although while watching it, I also realised I have a slight crush on someone who I probably shouldn't. Take a bow Helen Mirren.

How was Andy Johnson's goal disallowed? I don't understand the off-side rule anymore. The linesman got that horribly wrong. And everyone (apart from the scummy Liverpool fans) want to see Everton do well and take 4th place, so they need these points. Staying on the subject of football, the Observer's centre spread piece on Ronaldo was great. His frantics off the pitch are as colourful as his performances on it. Hookers every night. Them selling their stories to the press saying he was an arrogant cock. It kinda makes you wonder if it's like the scenes in American Psycho (the movie) when Bateman is looking at his own body when he is fucking the escorts. Or when one of them moves on the bed when they are sleeping and he tells her not to touch his watch. These stories are strikingly similar to one other Trafford Legend, Sir George Best.

The Observer Sport Monthly gave Brian Ashton manager of the month. Bet they wish they hadn't already gone to print when the English game finished on Saturday evening. The OSM introduced me to Torah Bright also. She is this hot 21 year old Australian snowboarder who has ignited my interest in snowboarding. ;) So yeah, I was quite impressed with the Observer on Sunday, especially the feature with everyone's favourite bad motherfucker Jack Nicholson.



Happy Birthday Zoe...
xx


P.S. Go Giants!!!!

Get out of here January...

Just rounding up some nonsense stories to kill of this week...

So Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) will be making an appearance on the Alex Turner*** (Arctic Monkeys) / Miles Kane (The Rascals) / James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco) new musical project later in the year...

Defoe has joined back up with Harry Redknapp at Pompey (Good move for Defoe). Benjani move has gone stale and sounds a little dodgy...

Stories coming out of Jérôme Kerviel's question by the filth is proving veeeeeery interesting. Société Générale have twice declined their Executive Chairman Daniel Bouton's resignation. This story gets better and better...

Roman Totale has introduced me to this 12". It is incredible...

The amount of shit-hottt gigs in May will floor you. Some of them haven't been announced yet - but believe me, they will floor you...

Why did Dev Hynes turn his back on the beautiful music he made with Test Iclces and start writing folk instead? The lad is a ledge though, especially since he covered a bunch of Indie songs from 2001-2004 alongside Alex Turner in London the other week. I quite like Dev's guitar playing on cover of the quite spectacular anthem from the Von Bondies - C'mon C'mon! Look in here and select some fun videos...

The Orphanage is a Spanish Horror/Ghost story which looks freakin' awesome. Check out the official website and then go see it during the Jameson film festival...

Laterssssss...

***His missus is fucking ridiculously hot.
Here is a picture of Alexa for you to enjoy over the weekend...



I'll stop perving form here on out.

Domino will never sign a better band...

There's actually awards for doing this?

I'll level with you, I don't follow this blog malarky much.
Probably because I don't understand how so many blogs are popular considering the proprietor just cuts & pastes stories they have seen on the internet into their own blog. Not very original. However, I was happy to see a bunch of my favourite people get nominated for awards...

French Major who creeped in through the back-door because he is shacked up with an Irish lass....sneaky French fucker. ;)

Red (French's missus) who got nominated for lots. This pleases me as I get a lot of laughs from her blog (even when I am not supposed to).

Obscure Remix got nominated for a few too. His music taste (and knowledge) is second to none. He combines good tunes with dry humour, it's just a shame he's a shit drummer.

James Carroll is da-man when it comes to exchanging rumours & spreading gossip. I've said it a million times before but who would have thought someone from Tipperary would have gotten this far in life?

Nialler being nominated shouldn't really surprise anyone. He is a national landmark on t'internet. I can't wait for the next time he has to do visuals at a Nokia sponsored event.


Also, a lot of you seem to think that this is a music blog.
It initially was intended to be a blog of musical treats, but that idea deteriorated quite rapidly.
Now whenever I recommend an artist/act/band, it is usually because there is a girl in it who I think is hot.
So don't come here looking for music, you'll only be disappointed.

Run the little fucker down...

It's been one week...

One week since my last cigarette...
I actually feel quite good...
I don't miss those beautiful bastards one bit...
I figured there was only one real way I was going to stay off the ciggies...
And that was by buying a bicycle (christ I love how alliteration comes together so brilliantly)...
I cycled my arse off last night on my swanky new bike...

It was a difficult decision trying to decide if I should spend my money on either a new mode of transport or upgrade to a cooler & faster skateboard.
I was going to opt for the latter because my deck is pretty dead right now...
But then I thought about it...
Cycling will get me fit and make me want to stay off the smokes...
Whereas people look much-much cooler skateboarding and smoking at the same time...
So with that in mind, I went for the rothar...
She is a peach. I haven't named her yet though.
I'm thinking Mary-Kate (because she is hotter than Ashley Olsen)...

So if you are driving a car in or around the city centre in Dublin...
Keep an eye out for a cocky cyclist who will be tearing it up on the streets...
You may just want to run him down...

2008's first Cult Icon...

The Jérôme Kerviel story is my current obsession right now...
How this well-to-do trader beat the system to accumulate losses of €4.9 billion is staggering...
Was it all him trying to get that extra bonus?
Was Société Générale losses so bad that they needed a scape-goat?
Or did Kerviel just want to show everyone the extent to which the current French financial market is in?
The more I learn about these equity derivatives, the more fascinated I am by this ludicrous scandal...
It seems every hour there is another new breaking news interruption to this story...
The blue-collar folk in France see him as a hero. A man who stood up to the greedy rich pigs of their nation.
I have to agree with them.
At the tail-end of 2007, he had actually made a profit of €1.5 billion for SocGen...
But to cover up this paper-trail he had left behind him (as the profit he made was still done illegally), he actually started making deliberately bad bets against the current market so he could balance his winnings out...
Obviously he wasn't expecting the stock market to collapse so badly at the start of last week (at this point SocGen were only down €1.5 billion)...
But by Wednesday, it had risen to its current & startling figure...
He is in police custody now, so no doubt we will hear more stories throughout the week...
But right now, all I have to say is Vive le Jérôme Kerviel...!

Late on the bandwagon...

More often than not now, music I initially slag off as being shit - I end up loving 2 months down the line...
I'm going to have to learn to keep my mouth shut and not be so dismissive & music-nazi like in future...
I'm generally very aggressive when I talk about a band or a song that I despise...
So it is quite embarrassing to turn around a little while later and talk about how much I actually now love said band...
In July/August 2007 James Carroller spoke to me about an artist who he said he liked and was tipping to be huge...
This was loooooong before she even released a single, was topping polls or winning awards...
I said I wasn't into her, thought she was so-so, sounded like everything else yaddayaddayadda...
4/5 months on and my piss-poor initial judgement is farcical...
Because right now - I am completely enthralled by Adele...
This young lady has bundles and bundles and BUNdles of talent, something which we should all be very jealous of (she's got really fucking amazing eyes too***)...
I watch live performances of her and I am blown away by that voice, that charm, that endearing charisma...
Very rarely do I walk away from meeting an artist with a very good lasting impression of them...
But Miss Adkins is right up there alongside Saul Williams as one of the better people to work/spend time with...
She is playing an intimate show in Crawdaddy on Sunday March 2nd before coming back in early Summer with a proper full-on 9 piece band to play a bigger venue...
I would recommend everyone to go to the intimate show as at will be one of those special gigs we all read so much about and wish we were at and then secretly tell people that we were actually at the gig...

Adele's Myspace...

This was a less cynical & more enthusiastic post (which is quite rare for me these days)...
Ergo - I'll have to end it on a high note...

What.
A.
Fucking.
Song.

Hometown Glory (live)...


***It's becoming obligatory now for me to name off the physical features I like most in each girl I post about.
I'm a little too callow nowadays I must admit.
;)

Do things come in 3's...?

Is that really true?
If one good thing happens, does it have a domino effect and a couple more good'uns come rolling?
Because if it is truly legit then I cannot fookin' wait to see what nombre trois will be...



1. Glassjaw live in Tripod May 12th 2008...
One of my favourite bands of all time who I sing about non-stop will be here in May...
You need to see this band live, it'll be insane.
Back as a 4-piece with a new album to boot.
Daryl Palumbo is a GOD and stands shoulder to shoulder alongside some of my fave people ever.
Lyrically, he has mastered his craft, but the way he emphasizes the tone of every single syllable is incredible.
This should be down as the number 1 show for you to see in an already packed-full-of-awesome-gigs this May!



2. It's been almost a year to the day the last time I saw this girl. She came over for the best gig of 2007 (Brand New in Tripod) where we got to hang out with our hero Jesse Lacey and I will get to see her again soon (pretty much exactly one year on).
I was in love with this girl for the best part of 2 whole years so I am pretty excited at the prospect of seeing her again.
Nikki has turned into a professional journalist now though...
So I'll have to keep my trap shut and not get too drunk around her...
Nikki is allowed two pictures to be posted of her because I have never met a prettier girl in my life (yup, she is more attractive than Shannyn Sossamon which I'll admit right now)...




So what can number 3 be?
Havant & Waterloo beating Liverpool in the FA Cup?
Gerrard getting stretchered off with a broken leg?
Mourinho becoming the next Ireland manager?
Ireland winning the 6 Nations?
All of the really shit bands in the world dying?
Finding lots of money and being able to afford new music equipment?
Chris Morris becoming my best friend?
Spending a week in Montauk for free?
Canada only being a 30 minute journey away?
Dylan Moran taking up a residency in my living room?


Endless possibilities.

A Vaudeville Genius...

Buster Keaton - the greatest actor, writer & director of all time.
I watch at least one of his movie everyday now - it's a ritual I haven't been able to break away from.

Phew....!

I thought I was going to miss Broken Social Scene live this year because Sunset Rubdown is playing on the same night in Dublin (May 20th)...
However, I forgot about the fan-fucking-tastic ATP Festival the weekend before both dates...

So I will be hitting this up on Friday May 16th...

I want to be in their Scene...

Courtesy of the good Dr. James Carroll over on his blog...
The mighty Broken Social Scene set up shop on our shores come May 20th...

I think this will be my 7th time to see them live...
A feat only Muse can rival...

So who (and by who I mean eye-candy) will be part of their tour set up...?
As we all know, Kevin "Princess" Drew only takes girls on tour whom he has fucked or can fuck...
Does that mean that Feist will be part of this scene to keep an eye on him?

Hotter-than-hot Lisa Lobsinger has left altogether to pursue magic with her own fine band Reverie Sound Revue...
Hainsey is finishing up the brand new Metric record so she wont be game...
Will Amy Millan still be touring with Stars by then?
Miss CBC Radio 3 Julie Penner usually tours all the time with the Scenesters...

Even though I have seen it so many times, I still get excited when I hear "It's All Gonna Break"...

"You all want the lovely music to save your lives..."


Cause = Time

Maya Arulpragasam...

There's no point to this post really...
I have nothing of any real worth to say...
Other than God-Bless Yousef at Mongrel Magazine for taking this picture...

Bits and Pieces...

Jim Dubh, where the hell is your blog? Who else can I find who's an El Ten Eleven fan...? Update me bro...

Sunset Rubdown is playing Crawdaddy in May. Spencer Krug - You are a legend...

My mate Chris is paranoid that his ferociously hot girlfriend is cheating on him. So he has hired an investigator to check out the situation. Jack & myself find this fucking hilarious.
1. Chris is only 23.
2. He hasn't even been with her that long.
3. Most of us think she's a cunt.
4. Chris is a little too sensitive and insecure.
5. It's bloody funny as hell though.

I have stumbled across a couple of blogs that entertain me to no end. One is called College Call Girl, which you really don't need any explanations on what it's about. The other is from a cute little Irish American girl called Baby Sinead. Mostly about sex, music, photography, alcohol, porn, art, her cat - it's very witty and funny (and Sinead is hot).

I have tried to switch from drinking Guinness to JD & Coke but it's just not happening...

Last night I came home fairly late (about 3am) and learned So Real by Jeff Buckley on guitar. Someone mentioned over on Jim's blog about Jeff being overrated. Gah - totally disagree.

I get ID'd for cigarettes every single day now. There's no way I look younger than 18.

I have discovered nice little parts of Dublin which I actually don't mind.

The amount of spam I receive is getting into silly figures. The latest one to amuse me is from a Billie Vanessa, with the subject of the email being the quite genius "blonde toying pussiy about five"...They spelt everything correct apart from pussy?!?! The email itself obviously contained a link, but just above the link was this: "Hello, cutie loves cock." Hahahah, brilliant!

Some fucker nearly ran me over yesterday. I was on my skateboard crossing the road and he sped up to try and nick me. He had gold jewellery and a burberry cap on though, so I kept the obscenities to a minimum in case him and his mates brought me onto the northside to take my kneecaps. Knackers.

The girl who I was going to make a mixed CD for all of those many moons ago rejected my ass like a motherfucker. I can't even go and get a coffee in the place she works part-time now because it's too fucking embarrassing. I really liked the coffee from there too.

I'm hungry and in need of a coffee, a cigarette and The Guardian Newspaper.

Man Stroke Woman...

This was possibly one of the funniest sketch shows the BBC has ever done...
Very clever sketches which had no studio audience or laugh track (very rare for any show which followed a similar format)...
Produced by Ash Atalla (the man behind The Office fame), it features a shitload of really cool actors...
But there is one in particular who is one of the finest comedy actors around at the minute...

Yup, of course I am biased because I'm a huge Nick Frost fan...
Spaced was the shit...
Danger! 50,000 Volts was the shit...
Shaun of the Dead was the shit...
Hot Fuzz was the shit...
But Man Stroke Woman was comedy gold...

My favourite character of Nick's was Uncle Jack, who was constantly pissed up or on pills and made his 12 year old nephew come along for the ride...
You should definitely pick this up on DVD from Tower Records because it's hilarious...
Watch some clips on YouTube and then make up your mind about it, but I guarantee you'll love it...
There is too many amazing clips to show you, but I'll settle for just the Uncle Jack ones...



Uncle Jack drunk and driving with his nephew:



Uncle Jack on pills with his nephew:



Uncle Jack at a strip club with his nephew:

Up and Down Up and Down Up and...

I don't think I should be a blogger...
I don't post nearly as much as I should.
Also, I originally intended for this to be a music blog...
What the hell happened there?

All of the beautiful things I was speaking about pre New Years have turned slightly wrong...
My skateboard is just about keeping itself in one piece, she'll have to be retired soon...
I'm not happy because good decks are fucking expensive...
My abstaining from alcohol lasted a whole day or two I think...
My coffee and cigarettes intake has increased dramatically...
The camera is away getting fixed, so photography is on a time-out...
And my writing, Christ, it is lacking of imagination and remains totally desolate...

January blues are hitting home like a motherfucker...

And when you are at your lowest point, something beautiful happens...
It cannot be described, it's a feeling of jubilation, triumph, exhilaration, ecstasy, euphoria, bliss...
What is unfolding before your eyes is in slow motion...
Yes, you guessed it - WE THRASHED THE GEORDIE SCUM 6-0!

I don't pity those fucks at all...
Bring back Keegan and then throw in Shearer for the hell of it...
It wont change the fact that you're a mid-table team at best...
"They'll bring back the glory days to the North East!"...
Haha, there was never any glory days in Newcastle...
Tenth in the league isn't actually bad for a team like Newcastle...
And with the dirty Scousers drawing at the Boro and Birmingham holding Arsenal at the Emirates, well January Blues no longer became part of my vocabulary...

So here we go, United's six goals against Newcasle, including Ronaldo's first hat-trick for us...



And just for comedy value, the legendary rant from Keegan...
"He's got to go to Middlesborough and get something from them"...!
Yeah Keegan, we went there and got a 3-0 win you cunt...

Tobias Is Queen Mary.

This guy right here not only has a fan-fookin-tastic blog, but he also knows a thing or two about how to make someone a damn good mixed CD of bands...
Mr. Obscure has just introduced me to a bunch of artists I had never even heard of before...

Slowdive...
Rollerskate Skinny...
Notwist...
Jeniferever...
Jaga Jazzist...
Dosh...
Cougar...
Colder...
Christopher Willits...
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone...
Autolux...

Should I be embarrassed that I didn't know any of the above until tonight...
Or is his music taste just that esoteric...?
A rhetorical question really, considering the name he goes by.

Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to go through most - if not - all of them yet...
Because I am obsessedOBsessedOBSESSED with Wolf Parade...
And dare I say it....
Dare I say it...
Dare I say it...
Dare I say it...
Dare I say it...
Dare I say it................
..........
.........
........
.......
......
.....
....
...
..
.
They are better than my beloved Interpol...

Not so long ago, myself & Obscure had a heated debate over a pint about the best debut album released since the turn of the millennium...
I argued ferociously how Turn On The Bight Lights is the best debut hands down...
Obscure disagreed. I asked him to give me three debut albums better than it.
He didn't have to name three. He named just one.
Apologies To The Queen Mary didn't mean anything to me then because it wasn't TOTBL.
I now know why he only needed to choose the one album.

I'm hooked and can't stop listening to it.

This is such a cool video...
This is such a beautiful song...
But lyrically, it's a damn masterpiece...

Wolf Parade - Modern World...



P.S. Whoever knows where the title of this blog entry comes from - you're a fucking legend!!!

Wolf Parade

Right now I am obsessed with Wolf Parade...
And all associated bands of Wolf Parade:

Sunset Rubdown...
Atlas Strategic...
Handsome Furs...
Swan Lake...
Frog Eyes...
Johnny and the Moon...
Hot Hot Heat...
Fifths of Seven...
Islands...

Surely we can start a game called Six Degrees of Spencer Krug...?

I don't know if I like Spencer or Dan's vocals more in WP...
The song below is swinging it in Dan's direction though...

Cracking tune:

Wolf Parade - It's A Curse...
Download Meeeeee!

2008 reasons why 2008 will rock...

Yeah.Fucking.Right.
Fat chance of me posting that many reasons.
I'll list as many as I can before I get bored/hungry/tired...
Which will probably be after the 15th...

***Floria Sigismondi's first feature-length film will be out (March)...

***Manchester United will do the Treble (May)...!

***Tokyo Police Club's debut album will be released (May)...

***Shannyn Sossamon's band Warpaint will be touring, so I may get to sleep with her (Anywhere, Anytime!)...

***China will fuck up the American's pride more than ever when they beat them in the medal's table at the Olympics (August)...!

***Ana Ivanovic, the best new reason to follow Tennis. Hot-as-fuuuuuck (All year, but mainly Wimbledon)...

***Fresh Cherries From Yakima becoming the best new artist of 2008 (June)...

***Lewis Hamilton VS Fernando Alonso Part II (All formula 1 Season)...

***Singapore will host the first ever night-time Formula 1 race (September 28)...

***QPR spending more money than Chelsea while still playing in the Championship (the entirety of 2008)...

***Glassjaw coming back as a 4-piece and releasing a mammoth album (May hopefully)...

***Our Brother The Native becoming the finest band out of America in recent years (March)...

***Nathalie Portman & Scarlett Johansson will be starring in The Other Boleyn Girl (No fucking idea when. Not arsed about the actual movie. Just staring at them in it)...

***Liquid Football, my Fantasy Football team, climbs the table and finishes in the top 3 (May)...

***A Tale of Two Sisters & The Eye both becoming laughing stocks because the Americans are shit at remakes (Summer)...

***The Kills releasing a stomper of an album and also catching Alison Mosshart live (March)...

***Bret Easton Ellis will be writing the sequel to Less Than Zero (Late 2008)...

***Lunar Park, Ellis's terrifying novel being made into a movie (Late 2008 once again)...

***Tartan Asia Extreme will be releasing the third installment of the Three Extremes franchise (Summer)...

***City & Colour releasing an astonishing follow-up to his debut Sometimes (February)...

***Hopefully at least one of the girls in my Top 11 Of 2007 List will fall in love with me (I'll wait all year if I have to)...

***Dylan Moran touring it up (Unconfirmed Summer-time)...

***American Presidential Campaign turning extremely dirty (today straight through to November)...

***Yours truly will become a fluent-in-French freelance Photographer who travels the world on his skateboard (Keep dreaming Pete)...


I'm slightly bored now with this. I may add more every so often...
Oh no, wait, one more:

***Yours truly will also become an international presenter on CBC Radio 3 (Ummm, August maybe?)...


Here is the reason why we are all going to be fans of Tennis in 2008...