Tuesday, September 30, 2008

HAPPINESS IS...

Thursday, September 18, 2008

I knew that Arts degree would stand to me...



link for larger image





"the sorts of people we think will be good for the job are:

Arts, Architecture and Humanities students : No real reason, well actually i suppose there is, Its just were going to be working with somebody for hours on end its quite nice to talk about stuff were interested in as well."



If only all job advertisements were like the above.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Ear to the sounds...



Yesterday i discovered the "music" of Quinn Kiesow. National Public Radio asked musicians to send in the their " musical takes on the California dream" so obviously enough they received lots of songs which mentioned California and dreams and whatnot. The eventual winner of the competition was Kiesow whose "song" ( that's the last of the commas) is unique in that it was composed entirely of sounds of urban Los Angeles, from squeaking bus brakes and clicking skateboards to clacking shoes. Sound montage as musical tune. Theres some spoken word thrown in also as Kiesow gives us a running commentary over the sounds, truth be told i found this a little irritating but i guess it does play a part in the overall experience.

The track is titled Los Angeles and apparently Kiesow spent 80 hours in the studio putting it together. After the Los Angeles track he decided to point his microphone toward Europe and has since made tracks called " Madrid" and "Barcelona" . You can have a listen to the track here..




If he ever decided to make an Irish song I'm pretty sure it would only really have one sound, that sound being rain.



It seems like we in Ireland have been living under a perpetual rain cloud. Irish people are quite familiar with rain but there has been a hell a lot of it over these last few months. And yet we still complain. Though i do wonder whether i really dislike the bad weather as much as all that.

Have we just been conditioned to dislike it or is abhorrence of bad weather inherent in humans.?

I'm not about to lose myself in some philosophical discourse but as weather goes bad weather ain't all that bad in my books. I have trouble with choices and decision making from time to time. I find myself getting flustered if confronted with too many choices and possibilities. I'm not overly fond of buffets and self service i prefer menus and table service. I like things being simplified a little. I find all you can eat buffets a bitter sweet experience. When it rains it simplifies things a little. Theres is no choice i will have to wear a jacket. Its to windy outside i cannot go surf or go jog, two choices have been eliminated thanks to the help of unsavoury weather. I can now read a book or watch a film or do whatever else indoors without worrying that I'm missing out on some better experiences and opportunities outside. And everybody else is indoors also for it is far too nasty outside .

Isn't that nice ,isn't that comforting.

So all in all I'm not a basher of bad weather . It has its uses and i haven't even talked of the actual aesthetic beauty of a dark grey rain laden cloud hovering over above us in the sky. I think that the climate here in North West Ireland seems similar to that of the Pacific Northwest in America. Rain and mist feature prominently in both places. Gus Van Sants latest film Paranoid Park is set in Portland, Oregon. I really like the movie , its one of the best I've seen in the last year. Its got rain in there too, quite a bit actually and when its not raining it looks like it just has or is just about too. The movie looks greats, just like bad weather. I love the opening credits, a minute or so into these and i knew i was going to enjoy the film. So for your viewing pleasure...


Saturday, September 13, 2008

Is this REALLY the end of the blog?.
Of course not you little worry warts.
Is it just a regular blog then?
NO it is not!
Could it hasten the end of the blog?
Yes that is extremely likely.
If so then how exactly?
If i was to tell you that then that would actually hasten the whole process even more.
Are you talking nonsense?
Yes i think i am.
So have we wasted our time in coming here?
I should hope not for that is not the aim of EotB.
So what is your aim?

My aim is to entertain your brain!