An Ode to the Smiley Echo Woman...

On such a miserable (quelle suprise) rainy, grey afternoon, I feel I have to give a big shout out and wazzzuuuuppp to the Smiley Echo Woman. If you're not familiar, this woman sells Echo's on the Sarsfield road roundabout, usually in the direction from the city going towards Wilton. As I approached this lady today, let's call her "Nell" (she looks like a Nell), well as I drove towards Nell today (obviously in a non threatening manner), I thought surely she's not smiling on a day like today while it's bucketing down on the poor woman! But sure enough, there she was flashing the pearly whites, ready for someone to stick the hand out the window with a euro and 30 cent for d'echo (remember when you'd have change from a euro for the echo). You see Nell has what I like to call a perma-smile, the cynics amongst us may think; "she's botoxed that way", or "she's drunk or even high"... I don't know Nell, and yes it is a slightly manic smile truth be told but I do like to think none of the previous statements are true because in my mind she's a rare breed in the world these days, something of a vestige one might say, Nell is in my mind- Happy!

Happy? I hear you say, what is this strange and unknown feeling I hear you speak of. You see for the Nell the only pressures that exist are getting to the man in the Toyotta Corola before the lights change, or giving the woman in the Cinquicento her change before the lights change, or avoiding the tool in the skanger looking Honda before he ploughs into her... People come and go into Nells life with the flick of a traffic light, some she see's daily others maybe twice as they circle through roaring "how'dya get off this f****n roundabout"... but for everyone alike, she always has a smile... so next time you're passing through the Sarsfield Roundabout give ol Nell a wave, even a wink or maybe a voucher for a face massage (those cheeks must be killing her) and as you sit in your car complaining and roaring abuse at the car 3 in front who can't hear you anyway, take a lesson from Nell... smile ya miserable f****r and don't give yourself a banger!!!

"Oh no you didn't...."

Watched Slumdog Millionaire last night, what a show, definitely worth watching. Original script, visually amazing, great performances, love, love, loved it! Also caught The Wrestler last week, another movie that's gotta be seen. I was a fan of WWF when i was a kid (2 older brothers, I had no choice) but ya don't need to be into wrestling to get this one, it's got a great story and Mickey Rourke rocks it as "The Ram", obviously with his botched face lifts it's hard to find great roles where he gets to show off his acting range, people are quicker to cast him in cartoon-like roles as in Sin City, but this part was definitely written for him, hopefully we'll get to see more of him... Man, he was hot in his day!!

Anywho, was in the kitchen here at work this morning chatting with someone about Slumdog and Lenny happened to be there too but he hadn't seen it so we were obviously speaking in code trying not to give anything away, he just left in the end which made things much easier, our code speaking obviously needs a bit of work, but it made me remember the time someone completely ruined a movie for me by blurting out the end before I'd even seen it.

Let me set the scene---The year was 1996, the place was my old neighbourhood, the movie we were planning to go and see was Seven and the spanner who gave away the ending was Ciara D (for obvious reasons I won't be stating her full name, lawsuits and all that). Ciara was a lovely girl it has to be said but boy did she go down in my estimation after that day*.

<<<Warning the following piece contains a spoiler from the film Seven, so if you haven't seen it, don't read ahead. Then again the movie is over ten years old so why the hell haven't you seen it yet??>>>

I still remember where we were standing, it was outside Lorraine C's house, AmyJ and myself were walking past and met Nicola S, Lorraine C and Ciara D, they had been to the flicks the night before, I was planning on going the next day, we got talking about the movie and all of a sudden Ciara says...
"Oh it's so terrible when it turns out to be Gwyneths head in a box"...

WHAT THE F**K...... everything went into slow motion at that stage and I did feel a little faint, there was silence, I slowly raised my head, Ciara D lowered hers "Did you just ruin the end of the movie for me", I demanded to know. "Yes", she replied, "Sorry". "No, that's not what happens", Nicola S shouted trying to redeem the "Foot so far in Mouth it's coming out my ass" situation we found ourselves in, but the damage had been done, poor Gwyneth had been f****d royally and I couldn't help but feel her pain!**
I did go see the movie though, but the whole way through I was waiting for Gwynnies head to pop out of a box like a frickin jack-in-the-box...... ruined!!

*I would like to state certain emotions may have been added for dramatic effect, Ciara D only went down in my estimation for about a week after this incident... and even though I haven't seen or spoken to her since then, I'm sure she remains a lovely person!!

**I would also like to say I in no way think having your head chopped off could compare to finding out the end of a movie before seeing it, I also have no desire to find out!!

:D

Here's William Shatner's take on it from the MTV Awards that year!

Nice Sentiment!

"Rosa sat so Martin could walk...

Martin walked, so Obama could run...

Obama is running so our children can fly!"

What a historical day yesterday was, I of course watched the events live like most of the world and did feel quite emotional, I know for me personally it's a case of looking at Obama and what he has acheived, restores my faith in a world where we can acheive anything we put our mind to, nothing is impossible. I think this quote says it all :

"This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

Obviously the world had come a long way since then but this has to be the ultimate 2 fingers to such ignorance and such a strong feeling of a changed world, for the better. Of course he's not going to solve the world's problems, I mean we all know by now he delivers great speeches but now it's time to back the words up with actions and seen as I'm an Irish citizen it obviously won't have much effect on me but couldn't our government take example from Obama's speech:

"And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."

Yet when our government and the banks f*** up it's us taxpayers who are paying for it. I can't see a day when we can trust our government but as Obama just proved...anything's possible...we live in hope!!

By the way, I also watched some footage of Barack and Michelle Obama watching the parade to celebrate his inauguration last night on CNN... and how down to earth they both seemed. At one stage Michelle kicked off her Jimmy Choos, which lets face it must of been killing her, they danced along to the music, she jumped around excitedly and waved like a lunatic when a group she's involved with passed by, he even gave her a little nudge with his hip at one stage and they both giggled... can you imagine any other president being so comfortable within their own skin and being so "human" for want of a better description... very cool!

Child Bride!!

Here are the lil terrors I just spoke about on-air- Doesn't look like they're too bothered about how much trouble they're in at home!!

Child elopers' Africa plan foiled

The three were trying to travel without passports or money

Two German children - aged five and six - have been stopped by police from eloping to Africa to tie the knot in the sun, reports say.

The budding lovebirds, identified as Mika and Anna-Lena, packed bathing costumes, sunglasses and a lilo and headed for the airport.

They even had the presence of mind to invite along an official witness - Anna-Lena's seven-year-old sister.

The three got as far as Hanover railway station before police intervened.

The young couple were "very much in love" and had decided to get married in Africa "where it is warm", police spokesman Holger Jureczko told the AFP news agency.

Sun-seekers

The idea for the getaway wedding was born as the children's families celebrated New Year's eve together and Mika regaled the two girls with stories of a recent holiday to Italy.

They can still put their plan into action at a later date Holger Jureczko Hanover police spokesman

The following morning, as their parents slept, the intrepid trio walked 1km (0.6 miles) to the local tram station at Langenhagen, where they hopped aboard a tram for Hanover central station.

But the group aroused the suspicion of a guard as they waited for a train to the airport, and police were called in.

Officers persuaded the children they would not get far without tickets and money, but consoled them with a free tour of the police station, where they were shortly picked up by relieved parents.

Although any marriage plans have been put on hold for now, police did not altogether rule out the possibility of an African wedding.

"They can still put their plan into action at a later date," AFP quoted the spokesman as saying.

Report from BBC.

Love these...

Yes, I know we've all got this email before but it is hilarious and deserves to be blogged about!

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer
At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't DisguiseYour Voice. !

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions,
Switch to Espresso.

5. On all your cheque stubs, write ' For Marijuana'

6. Skip down the street Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.

7. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat,with a serious face.

8. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.

9. Sing Along At The Opera.

10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.

11. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'

12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Car Park, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'

13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity
14. PICK UP A BOX OF C*NDOMS AT THE PHARMACY, GO TO THE COUNTER AND ASK WHERE THE FITTING ROOM IS.

Life in Technicolor...

... So Coldplay has released Life in Technicolor as an extended vocal version! I have to say Life in Technicolor 1 which featured on the Viva La Vida album hit me the minute I heard the album, besides the fact it's the first track (!?!?) I loved it the minute I heard it, I mean it was a "goosebumps" moment, so when i heard the version with vocals added I did think "Why do that to such a beautiful piece of music, it doesn't need any vocals and then I had the thought "Oh no, everyones gonna know about this track now". Isn't it funny how when ya love a track you get all precious about it, even though I obviously don't own it, I didn't want to share it with everyone! Anywho, here's the original, seen as everyone knows about it now I may aswell post it :D :D

Heineken Ad...

... Cheers Paul!