It's like armageddon...

.... First I find out I could be dead sooner rather than later because I've been eating contaminated pork products (that's it i'm a vegetarian!) and as if my day couldn't get any worse Lenny informs me Be frickin Witched are reforming. Well at least I might not be here to witness the debacle, I only just about survived the fact that boyzone are back ripping off everyone else's songs and trying to pass themselves off as singers (and humans)!

In the wise words of the wicked witch of the west as she was melting (no doubt after too many bits of bacon)... "WHAT A WORLD ,WHAT A WORLD"

...You said it sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My New Look!

Whaddya reckon???

Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon...

...No this is not another "Ode to the 80's" from me, you've had enough of those, for the time being! This is what you might call a confession. Whilst in the big smoke yesterday for the day I did something I'm very ashamed of!
So I hopped off the train and went to get the Luas, so while standing waiting for the Luas for what seemed like the longest 1 minute in history- those "Next train due in" boards are not very accurate- a man approached me and in boken English asked me something, i couldn't understand him at all, not the poor man's fault that's just Geography, so I said "Sorry" and once again he asked me, what I got from the question was "How do I get to the Bus Station", now firstly all I heard was bus so I pointed to the buses behind me and said if you ask the bus driver over there I'm sure he can help you, I honestly didn;t know which bus he should get... in the mean time he had walked away from me but didn't go towards the buses behind, then the penny dropped, he was looking for which Luas he should get to Busaras- it takes me a while! Now instead of going up to this man who had only moved about 6 paces from me I just stood there and didn't offer anymore assistance. Instead he asked another girl who very kindly went to the ticket station with him and helped him get the ticket. And that my friends is why I am a bad person... Why didn't I just approach this man again and say "I get you now, here come this way and I'll help you" but instead I stood there like a lemon!
I am a huge believer in Karma and try to live by the rule "treat others as you would like to be treated" but yesterday I really disappointed myself. I'm not trying in any way to make myself sound like a saint, I know I have my faults and if someone is rude to me I usually wouldn't hold back- when they deserve it! But being nice and helpful to people is usually something that comes quite easily, it's how I was brought up...

Now I know there's some people who are gonna read this and have a rant about me trying to be some sort of do-gooder hippy and to you I say "FUCK RIGHT OFF", it's because of people like you that there's so much negativity in this world (God knows there's an overload of it with certain people). I'm so sick of negative people who spend their days complaining and moaning about every single little detail, for what purpose? To make yourselves sound oh- so- stressed and oh- so- important. Everyone has their problems in their own lives but not everyone feels the need to go around as if they have the weight of the world on their shoulders when they clearly do not! Let's get things in perspective here, you're never as important as you like to think you are and at the end of the day you will always need a little help, just don't piss everyone off so much that nobody will want to help but will be there to gladly watch you fall!
Ahem... ok I kind of went on a little rant there, felt good though! Back to Random Man.
Now unlike (the very hot) Earl I cannot find this random man to make it up to him and take him on whatever bus journey he wants for the next 2 months, while wearing matching aran jumpers and waving shileighlies in the air, as way of apology but Random Man I am sending you good thoughts and well wishes for your journey ahead and may you not encounter unhelpful, self-involved people, as I was yesterday and only meet friendly, helpful, cup- o- tea bearing people!
I'll leave you with this old Irish proverb Random Man...

"HERE'S TO EYES IN YOUR HEADS AND NONE IN YOUR SPUDS"...


...I don't know either, but I'm off to check for eyes in my potatoes!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I HAVEN'T BEEN THIS FRICKEN EXCITED SINCE MY DEMPSEYS DEN FAN CLUB BADGE CAME IN THE POST....
....OH YES IT DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But now they're baaaaack with a new DVD- ZIG AND ZAG THE BEST BITS FROM BACK DEN!
It's all I want for Christmas, oh and maybe a pair of Zig and Zag slippers like I used to have, and the gear bag, and the t-shirt, and the comic, and the album.... Can you tell I was a fan???
I actually have this picture signed by Zig and Zag... jealous?? :D

Misheard Lyrics...

... This weekend can you believe I only just realised in Careless Whisper, George Michael doesn't sing... "Guilty FEELINGS got no rhythm", he says "Guilty FEET have got no rhythm"... it only took me about 14 years to figure it out!!

Coldplay Video Competition!

So Coldplay have a competiton running on www.coldplay.com where they're inviting fans to make their own videos for "Lost"- great track! The most original one wins a VIP trip to see Coldplay with backstage passes etc. I haven't watched many of them but this one definitely caught my eye.... too cute!

UNREAL!!!!!!!

As promised...

A quick round up of the past few weeks...

... Duck* Burn After Reading (brilliant)* Dyed hair* Cleaned out car (finally)* Met Bosco* Met up with an old friend* Stopped going to the gym* Gave up eating after 9pm* Read "Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life" (highly recommend)* Made new friends, Cian, Alma, Laura H, Lara D, Jenny, Alan* Laughed so hard I spat my drink out all over my kitchen* RIP BUD* Had a good cry cause life just sucks ass sometimes* Duck finished* Went back to gym* Started eating again after 9pm* Eventually got around to cleaning out a box full of old memories* Found very funny old letters from friends* Lost 2 tops (They've gone where the socks go!)* Treated myself to new expensive dress* Felt guilty for spending so much on said dress* Got over it* Danced like a lunatic around my sitting room for the full length of two songs on VH1 (it was a challenge- I won)* Got such a fright I burst into tears* Began my research into different religions* Saw someone from the past who makes me sick* Got very angry* Remembered Karma and smiled* Got drunk* Cried again* Had a lie in* Watched "Into the Wild"* Got very effected by it* dreamt about it* Had a different dream that made me happy and sad* Still trying to figure it out* New found liking for the Killers* Bought Elbows latest album (love it)* Bought Roisin Murphys latest album (again love it)* Still hate the pussycat dolls music* Had an argument* Apologised* Faced a fear* Met up with dear friends* Pondered on what it must be like to be French (nice)* Thought about Christmas presents* Finished my swimming lessons (horraaaayyy)* Got a cold* Still have a permenant toothache* Discovered how to make a mean vegetable lasagne* Obama became president (woop woop)* Felt huge relief that Dubya is gone* Wondered where the hell most of the year went*

BILL HAVERCHUCK RULES!!!

...SHAKE IT, YOU WON'T BREAK IT!

Slight Panic...

...while on air this morning and discussing "favourite words", in between songs I was online doing some research on peoples favourite words and came across this clip of celebrities favourite "swear" words! I had a listen to it on the "cue" button which allows you to hear something without it going out on air, then there was the moment where my heart stopped for a split second as I thought OH MY GOD what if I haven't cued the fader and this is going out on air... Scary moment, made me say most of the words featured in this clip... It didn't go out on air- Thank F***!!

*WARNING- THIS CLIP CONTAINS A S**T LOAD OF BAD LANGUAGE* (that's my responsible adult bit done)!

I have to say...

... as much as it may vex many people as we all know at this stage Johnny Borrell is a bit of a twat (or so the story goes!), but Wire to Wire is a really good song. I'm a big fan of lyrics and while some people go by the tune of a song, no matter how good the melody a song has to have good lyrics for me to be impressed (No I'm not a poet myself, just fussy)... and I know I know certain people will have a problem with me saying this but the lyrics are pretty damn good. Of course Johnny Borrell was a bit of a wank on Johnathan Ross last night getting completely "lost" in his performance but I'm just gonna have to say it... I really like that song!!

Ahh Whaddya gonna do!!!!!!!!!!

I'm absolutely lovin....

...FRIENDLY FIRES! This is their brand new single "Paris", love it! Savage video too.
Saw them on Jools Holland last night, Tom Jones was on the same bill, the singer pretty much put Tom Jone's hip shaking to shame... Tom was giving him major evils!!!

PPI Winners 2008

Hooorraaayyy for us! We won 6 Awards at this years Radio Awards:
Best Breakfast Programme: The Red Rooster with KC & Lenny

Sports Coverage: The Big Red Bench


On-Air Competition- TNT


Silver went to Transmission for Musical Talent Program
Bronze went to RedFM Heroes for Innovation
Bronze went to The Red Rooster for Entertainment Inserts.

Well Done to everyone involved and everyone shortlisted, sometimes it feels like all your hard work is in vain but a nod every now and again to say "well done- you're doing good" makes all the difference!!



And then we partied....


Ahhhh what fun was had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Retro!

So every now and then Nuala (RedFM Receptionist) and myself will have a "Remember this..." moment! Basically we find hilarious clips of naff Tv shows we used to love as kids and send them back and forth to one another (clearly while we're on a ten min break from work!?!). Yet for some reason they never look as impressive now as they did then... like this...



MANIMAL... it used to be one of my faves and I used to just live for the moments when he morphed into an animal, but now I'm kinda disillusioned, maybe some things are better left as memories.

... but then there's the beauties that are still as good today as they ever were. I need to point out for the record I am not old enough to remember the original airing of this series but I lived for the re-runs on a Thurs night on Sky... for some reason my family used to clear out when it came on, I never knew why, they were missing some of the best TV ever... EPILOGUE!!



... ROCKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Family

Anyone been watching the new Channel 4 Documentary "The Family" on Wednesday nights. I'm hooked on it and only last night while watching them go through the daily fights, tears, hugs and laughs I figured out why I am so addicted. It's like looking back in time at my own family when we were growing up. I always thought nobody fought like me and my brothers, ya know the odd dig here and there that started off as a laugh but inevitably ended up with me roaring crying and my brothers trying to quieten me down by promising endless presents, so my parents wouldn't find out, but this lot are just the same.

They call each other by roaring from wherever they are in the house, they fight over who's turn it is to wash up, the parents worry that their daughter is going out to clubs too much, she refuses to stop, the Dad can't understand his kids, the kids can't understand their Dad, the parents are fighting a never-ending battle to get the kids to tidy their room and when the parents are out World War III breaks out at home.

On the other side of it, they support each other to the last, for all his giving out the Dad loves his kids unconditionally and is happiest when he's helping them out, the Mother loves kisses and cuddles from her kids and is like a big kid herself at times, the kids look out for one another and the best and worst times they have are when they're all together!!

How very normal!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkqMadH3Skk

The Countdown is on...

... Less than 2 weeks to go to the PPI Radio Awards, where RedFM have been nominated for 9 awards, I myself am up for 2 which is unbelievably exciting, 1 for my Heroes documentary on The Clash and the other for my Station Imaging (my sensible 9-5 job here at Red), now the only question is...WHAT THE FRICK am I gonna wear...eeek!!

Langerland

I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining RTE was last night! It went from "How Low Can you Go- Work Experience" straight into Langerland TV. H.L.C.Y.G has it's moments, the only funny one is Baz but he's funny enough for all 3 of them, just once they don't ever get him to present a show like (the embarrasing) "Failte Towers" again. But then Langerland TV came on... it's genius, last night's episode "Top Ten What have the Gardai ever done for us" had me rolling around the place laughing. It's not up on the website yet www.langerlandtv.com but instead check out "Irish Music Throught the Ages"... too funny. As soon as I can get my hands on the Gardai one I'll post it straight up!


Irish Music Through The Ages from LANGERLAND on Vimeo.

Oasis or Blur??

Ah the big question of the 90's... for me it was close but Blur won out in the end. Check out this hilarious clip of Oasis getting a Brit Award in '96, hamming it up and giving two fingers to Blur...



What's the equivalent of the "great debate", these days??? Bebo or Facebook?? Oxygen or Electric Picnic? Miley Cyrus or Billy Ray Cyrus?? Daddy or Chips???

Either way none will be quite as entertaining as watching the two greatest bands of the 90's battle it out... friendships were ruined because of it!!

So pretty...

...

The Greatest Video of All Time???

Duran Duran's Rio has just topped an MTV poll as the Greatest Video of All Time... beating Michael Jackson's Thriller... something just doesn't add up with this!! Decide for yourself...



And how did this little beauty go unnoticed...just for the guitarist alone this should be in there...

Aidan Quinn and Me

The Utterly beautiful Aidan Quinn was on the Red Rooster with KC and Lenny this week, he had a special message for me too... check out the show this Sat morning from 7-10am to hear it.

I'm weak!!!

Me Jollies....

So I'm back from my Jollies and what a Jolly time I had!! A friend of mine Fr.O'Rourke had said to me I could use his caravan at any time I wanted so myself and 2 friends headed off. We got there and nearly freaked out when we saw the size of the caravan, it was more like a camper van. Fr.O'Rourkes last place was tiny, we had just got settled when out of the bathroom walked a man, starkers... what fright we got... as it turns out we were in the wrong Van, after a quick chat with the police (nudey clearly over-reacted) we found the right van and it was as small as we had remembered. After many hours of being cramped up in what can only be described as a matchbox we got some unexpected company. Thats the problem with Fr. O'Rourke he promises the Van to just about everyone. So after going for a quick walk of the area (took all of 2 mins) Fr.Noel Furlong and the St.Luke's Youth Group had arrived and were singing up a storm in the sardine can. Jesus, they were ridiculous, they must of gone on singing for about 10 hours straight, right throughout the night they went on singing, well I say they, I actually mean Fr.Noel. Janine Reilly, Jerry Field and Tony Lynch pretty much collapsed in heap like me and the gang, But there's no shutting up Noel Furlong, he's like the duracell bunny on speed. 6 in the morning and he's going on about the Fr.Fitzgibbon cup and how Fr.Fitzgibbon looked like a cup! Eventually we'd had enough and had to abandon the trip but not before we walked in on that nudey guys wife in the loo and when she started screaming he came running, in the nip again, we managed to get into the car to make a getaway but he jumped on the bonnet and held on for about 6 miles down the road, we managed to shake him off, literally! But he of course had the last word when he punctured our tyres with a broken bottle, so we had no choice but to start walking, we managed to hitch a ride from Tom, an old fried from our village. Tom's not the full shilling to say the least and we should of known when he was driving a sewage truck that this wasn't going to turn out well. After waiting for him to open the door, Tom acciddentaly hit the wrong button and instead released a load of sewage all over us. So with the holiday ruined, no car and covered in shite we eventually got home... Next year, I'm staying in a hotel!!!

Holiday snaps:

-Fr. O'Rourkes crappy van, at least it was bigger than last years!


-The Magic Road (scary place- lost Fr.Jack here, he went to a better place!)


-St.Kevin's Stump-More of St.Kevin's Stump (it was great)!

-Noel, the big headwreck!!
-Scary nudey guy, very angry man!
-Tom (On a good day!) Just before he sprayed us in shite, the big b*****ks!


-Getting sprayed in shite!!!

At least we're home and washed now, FunLand is coming to town next weekend, can't wait to see the spider baby :D :D

I'm baaaaaacccckkkkk!!

Miss me???
As promised Sat morning on the show, here are my top 10 favourite Anthems of all time. I could of listed another hundred to be honest but I'm sure that would just get boring!

CAROLINE’S ANTHEMS SOUNDTRACK (in no particular order)

The Cure- Just Like Heaven
The Clash- Stay Free
The Lemonheads- Bit Part
Pearl Jam- Daughter
Blur- End of a Century
The Isley Brothers- This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak For You)
Pulp- Do You Remember the First Time?
Bananarama- It Ain’t What you Do It’s The Way That You Do It
Thunderclap Newman- Something in the Air
A-Ha- The Sun Always Shines on TV


Saturday morning on the show I had a very self indulgent moment and because you guys have had your anthems played for the past 2 weeks on the station I decided to have my moment, and played A-Ha, "The Sun Always Shines on TV", it was 3 mins of heaven and a lot of you agreed, I got many texts applauding such a cheesy choice, see, your music taste is as dodgy as mine... if ya missed it, here it is again, this time with lots of nudey models included!!



Truth be told, the video kinda scared me a lil but the image of Morten Harkett always eased the pain... oh it was true love with Morty and me, he just didn't know it!!

For a list of many other RedFM DJ's favourite Anthems check out www.redfm.ie, go to the Catch page and you'll find them there!!

Over and Out!

I'm on hols for the week so the fab Laura will be looking after the Weekend Rooster for me this weekend. She'll have all the usual bits with some of her lovely self thrown in to the mix. I'll be back next weekend. Have a great week xx

All by myself....

... I DID IT, I finally swam all by myself. So it was only about 4 strokes but hey it's a start. My third swimming lesson and I'm nearly there. It all went quite smoothly this week apart from an incident involving a rope (dividing the lanes) and me being tangled up in said rope! But I quickly got out of it, spat out the litre of water I inhaled and was on my merry way. I have to admit though it is a terrifying feeling not having the security of the floats but to quote one of my fave self-help books "Feel the fear and do it anyway"... and I did.

Next fear to face- straw cowboy hats...
... No I can't do it, just too tacky!!!

Before Sex and the City...

... before nobody put "Baby in the Corner" in Dirty Dancing and before many of you were even born... Sarah Jessica Parker starred in my favourite movie of the 80's. WARNING: This clip contains leg warmers, big hair and men in tight pants! But it's dang good!! From 1985, Ladies and Gentlemen please enjoy "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", the movie!



... and yes, my friend and I did know every line, every song and every dance move in this movie...And I did want Sarah Jessica's pink outfit. Don't judge me!!

Another one bites the dust...

...Another weekend, another engagement. One of my closest friends has just got engaged, I'm so delighted for herself and her boyfriend (or fiance now). They're great together, she made a big move to be with him, they bought the house and the dog so it was only a matter of time. My other closest friend (I have 6- go me!) is expecting her second child, again I am so delighted for her and it's obviously the right time for them.

But what I want to know is... how come when I tell people, example my Mother, Aunt etc my friends good news, they get this look of pity, which is clearly directed at me and my lack of engagement and baby-on-the-way!

Can I just state here and now just because my friends are engaged and having babies does not mean that I automatically feel like doing the same, in fact I can think of nothing I want less at this moment in my life. Bring back the days when my mother was warning me "not to walk in that door pregnant or with a musician", (oops), well 1 out of 2 ain't bad!

But once ya pass the 25 mark all of a sudden you're a big freak for not being preggers or having a rock the size of ur head on ur left hand. Don't get me wrong, some day I will want these things, just not today. I have an amazing boyfriend (who is not Marilyn Manson as the photo may indicate) who I can definitely see myself with forever more but at the moment we like working all the hours god gave us, well"like" is a strong word but it's good to have the choice, we like having time to work on our goals in life and doing what we've always wanted. We like the fact that if we feel like blowing our savings on holidays, guitars, top-hats (oh yes I did!!)...... we can!

We like being able to stay in bed on Sunday until 4pm, get up, get food and get back into bed for the evening (to watch DVD's, oh behave!) Basically at the moment we like our life together! Now don't get me wrong I can't wait for the weddings and christenings that are all to come very soon, but I just know every second person will be greeting me with "You're Next"... "Lady,unless you're talking about the line for the toilet, karaoke or bar F**K RIGHT OFF", shall be my response. Either that or next time we're all at a funeral I'll make sure to return the favour and greet them with "You're Next"... see how they like it.



But on that note Congrats Val and Amy xx!!

Here's to the crazy ones...

The fact that it is an advert for Apple kind of ruins this, but if you leave that part out it's actually a really inspiring piece, so if you're feeling the pressure of the daily grind and need a bit of motivation, check this out:



and someone who should of also been included:

Swimming lesson- Part ll

So last night I had my 2nd swimming lesson and lets just say it didn't go quite as smoothly as the first. Leaving a wk in between lessons is prob not the best idea anyway but hey, thems the breaks. I thought I may have forgotten everything I learned the previous week but once again kitted out in my ultra flattering (!?!?!) swimming gear, (I replaced the black swimming cap which made my Roy Orbison look complete to a nice pink one... i now look like Moby), I took the plunge. The first problem last night was that Aqua Aerobics had taken over "my" lane (and lets just state they could of used the bigger lane, what? the moves were big!)so I was stuck in the main area of the pool with what looked like, people training for flippin Olympic Gold. But I reckon they, at seeing the learner, (ya can't miss me, I'll be the one with the illuminious yellow tube around me) struggling to even keep my head above water, got some kick out of gliding past me at speed- f*****s!! As we all learned from last week I already have a problem with my direction, and having someone flying past you and creating serious waves doesn't help, so once again last night I spent most of the time banging into the wall. And when learning the breast stroke and having to move my legs like a frog, having a wall in the way proves pretty painful. But I'm going way ahead. First off we practised my breathing under water, this is bloody hard. I ended up swallowing so much water I honestly thought I was gonna start sinking. When I thought I had this down, Lisa (my instructor) introduced some arm movements (she may be trying to kill me!). Now I'm a woman so multi-tasking is second nature to me but this was taking the p**s. Kick my legs, exhale into the water and move my right arm up and around, while holding onto the board with my left hand. Works in theory. In reality, I kicked my legs and took off, exhaled into the water, moved my arm in the swimming motion but everytime I moved my arm my legs automatically stopped working, I started panicking, swallowed a load of water and crashed into the wall!!

Also at this point I had just noticed a steam room full of people right in front of me which I had failed to notice before, no doubt having a great laugh at my expense and taking bets on whether I would actually come out of this lesson alive. Eventually I did find some sort of co-ordination (divine guidance) and either stopped swallowing water or had swallowed so much clorine it had cut off my sense of taste completely- (note to self, check can Chlorine kill)

At this point we moved on to the breast stroke , which I managed to master quite quickly even ditching the hand board and working both arms and legs (ok so I had the yellow tube around me). Once again my instructor was full of praise, which at this point I'm starting to think may be a confidence building ploy as opposed to actual truth- and now that I think about it that steam room was awfully full by the end of my lesson- word must have gotten out- "roll up, roll up, watch the freak in the water, crash, flail and ingest her weight in water".


If I see someone selling popcorn next week I'm quitting!!