Apparently Pitchfork have put up their list of top 50 videos here. I think I'm posting this mainly as a reminder to myself to have a look at them ... but seriously who has the time?
...
Apart from those wasters at Pitchfork obviously!
And in continuing randomness - when cellists go crazy.... Check out those facial expressions!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
What were we to expect?
I suppose realistically we've no-one to blame but ourselves. Went down to Limerick on Saturday for a friend's stag party. Now to be fair the stag was put together at relatively short notice so it being that time of year the chances of getting a restaurant reservation were somewhere between are ya having a laugh and no seriously are ya having a laugh. So we ended up eating in the hotel's restaurant.
Step forward and take a bow ... Jurys Inn
Mother of sweet jesus - there's a reason why I never eat in hotels outside of weddings and occasional christmas parties and even on those occasions you're often well advised to pack a couple of hang sangwiches.
The restaurant in Jurys Inn pretty much encapsulated every reason why hotel restaurants are to be avoided at all costs.
It obviously doesn't help that I've worked full and part-time in various restaurants for the last 12 years - consequently you fall into your natural waiter mode as you silently critique what's being done right and notsoright. First things first there were 2 other tables in the restaurant when we arrived in - a couple and a guy by himself - so here's what you should be thinking.
If you're the manager you should be saying right it's the week before Christmas, the rest of town is hopping and we've got nothing going on here apart from this stag party. Restaurants and hotels are based on the whole notion of goodwill - the pat phrase in these situations is that if a customer is happy with his service he'll tell 2 or 3 of his friends whereas if it's a disaster they'll tell at least 10 of their friends. So knowing all this you'd imagine the manager will say right lets make an effort here and try to get some goodwill going.
If you're the waiter you're thinking right they're drinking, they seem to be good craic, I'm not busy given there's only 3 other customers in the room - lets get these lads served and se how much of a service charge I can get out of them.
Pretty straightforward logic right?
Christ
So here's how it went
food order taken - very straightforward - I think there were 11 sirloins and 1 lamb ordered for mains - key point - make sure you remember who's having the rare steaks, the mediums, the well dones etc... It really isn't that hard.
Starters come out - the staff don't have a clue who's having what, the order's messed up and 2 of the lads are told not so politely by the waiter, no thats not what you ordered, you actually ordered this
I'd say something if we were all demented and couldn't remember what we'd ordered but we were all very compos mentis at that stage
So the lads wait a ridiculously long time for their starters
Meanwhile the waitstaff - there was a few of them - breeze past the table using that careful don't make eyecontact approach that you perfect in waitron school - the fact that this meant the lads had to go to the bar to get drinks just reinforced the impression of this being a meal to forget.
And then the main courses - waiters and someone who looked like a manager bringing steaks out and just shouting at people - "who's having the well done ..." Now personally I think this is a shabby way to appraoch a table but provided you haven't messed up the order it normally works out in the end. It's just a less polished and more inefficient means of serving a table.
As I said provided you haven't messed up the order - well between the waiter and the "chef" it managed to be an unmitiagted disaster - apart from the 2 rare steaks, every one of them was cremated to within an inch of its life. Did anyone come back to check - No.
Unfortunately the consensus from the table was "whats the point in sending them all back and making a scene?" This is a typically Irish approach to poor service.
Personally I'd be reluctant to send my food back but for completely different reasons. I've seen what chefs have done to returned food and kids it ain't pretty.
So that was it - we still gave 10 per cent - why? God alone knows.
Jurys Inn Limerick - what an embarassment - your restaurant embodies the sort of workplace where no-one from the waitstaff to the management gives a shit. I know I shouldn't expect much but every so often, mostly by accident, I've happened upon the occasional hotel restaurant that is a curiously pleasant surprise. But Jurys Inn? The food and the "service" screamed apathy yet you still got your money - you must be so proud.
Step forward and take a bow ... Jurys Inn
Mother of sweet jesus - there's a reason why I never eat in hotels outside of weddings and occasional christmas parties and even on those occasions you're often well advised to pack a couple of hang sangwiches.
The restaurant in Jurys Inn pretty much encapsulated every reason why hotel restaurants are to be avoided at all costs.
It obviously doesn't help that I've worked full and part-time in various restaurants for the last 12 years - consequently you fall into your natural waiter mode as you silently critique what's being done right and notsoright. First things first there were 2 other tables in the restaurant when we arrived in - a couple and a guy by himself - so here's what you should be thinking.
If you're the manager you should be saying right it's the week before Christmas, the rest of town is hopping and we've got nothing going on here apart from this stag party. Restaurants and hotels are based on the whole notion of goodwill - the pat phrase in these situations is that if a customer is happy with his service he'll tell 2 or 3 of his friends whereas if it's a disaster they'll tell at least 10 of their friends. So knowing all this you'd imagine the manager will say right lets make an effort here and try to get some goodwill going.
If you're the waiter you're thinking right they're drinking, they seem to be good craic, I'm not busy given there's only 3 other customers in the room - lets get these lads served and se how much of a service charge I can get out of them.
Pretty straightforward logic right?
Christ
So here's how it went
food order taken - very straightforward - I think there were 11 sirloins and 1 lamb ordered for mains - key point - make sure you remember who's having the rare steaks, the mediums, the well dones etc... It really isn't that hard.
Starters come out - the staff don't have a clue who's having what, the order's messed up and 2 of the lads are told not so politely by the waiter, no thats not what you ordered, you actually ordered this
I'd say something if we were all demented and couldn't remember what we'd ordered but we were all very compos mentis at that stage
So the lads wait a ridiculously long time for their starters
Meanwhile the waitstaff - there was a few of them - breeze past the table using that careful don't make eyecontact approach that you perfect in waitron school - the fact that this meant the lads had to go to the bar to get drinks just reinforced the impression of this being a meal to forget.
And then the main courses - waiters and someone who looked like a manager bringing steaks out and just shouting at people - "who's having the well done ..." Now personally I think this is a shabby way to appraoch a table but provided you haven't messed up the order it normally works out in the end. It's just a less polished and more inefficient means of serving a table.
As I said provided you haven't messed up the order - well between the waiter and the "chef" it managed to be an unmitiagted disaster - apart from the 2 rare steaks, every one of them was cremated to within an inch of its life. Did anyone come back to check - No.
Unfortunately the consensus from the table was "whats the point in sending them all back and making a scene?" This is a typically Irish approach to poor service.
Personally I'd be reluctant to send my food back but for completely different reasons. I've seen what chefs have done to returned food and kids it ain't pretty.
So that was it - we still gave 10 per cent - why? God alone knows.
Jurys Inn Limerick - what an embarassment - your restaurant embodies the sort of workplace where no-one from the waitstaff to the management gives a shit. I know I shouldn't expect much but every so often, mostly by accident, I've happened upon the occasional hotel restaurant that is a curiously pleasant surprise. But Jurys Inn? The food and the "service" screamed apathy yet you still got your money - you must be so proud.
Friday, December 14, 2007
It's the small things in life that keep me happy
Two things...
First - imagine my surprise when I picked up this morning's Ticket in the Irish Times and the first line of the the readers review of the year quotes some guy called "Colin" raving about the Feist gig in Tripod...
Woohoo!! I've made the print media, my year is complete!!
Thanks Jim!
Second thing - I went to see Cathy Davey at the Button Factory on Wednesday night and oh sweet mother of jaysus that girl is on form. What a shaggin voice. As with the Feist gig, it's so strange to hear an act live where the performer's voice is as good if not even better than the recorded version you're so used to.
Anyone who's heard Snow Patrol live will be familiar with the wonders that post production can work on someone's voice - no offence Mr Lightbody!
Anyway twas my first time in the new version of the old Temple Bar Music Centre and I have to say the place looks a lot better - I'm not entirely sure about opening the venue up to the bar as this just increases the chances of the Whelans syndrome creeping in (every muppet yapping at the bar gets to ruin your best efforts to enjoy the gig) but to be honest it didn't seem to make much of a difference - the entire crowd were talking anyway. It was a decidedly mixed crowd and I'd be interested to know how many of them were there purely on the back of her radio play with Reuben.
Anyhoo Ms Davey is beyond sweet - I'd heard that on the tour of Something Ilk she'd suffered from acute stage fright but if she did there was no evidence of it on Wednesday night. There still seems to be a certain shyness there but given that she's bolstered by the best Irish album of the year (I haven't heard Adrian Crowley's album yet!) her confidence just kicked in when the songs took off.
And what a set! She started relatively softly - I think I only counted 2 songs from Something Ilk which just shows the strength of Tales of Silversleeve.
Personal highlights - Reuben and Sing For Your Supper were stormers but that was to be expected. The encore was superb with the eerie All of You being sung oh so quietly against some sort of trellis decorated with fairy lights ("check it out!" if you were there you'll know what I'm on about!) and the perfect closing song was Rubbish Ocean - phenomenal.
But the absolutelycompletelydefinitelynodoubtaboutithighlight had to be a certain Donna Summer song - everyone just had this stupid smile on their faces as the bould Ms Davey launched into I Feel Love - happy days!!
By the way the story about the gardai stopping the van on the way back from Limerick was priceless - more for its telling than anything else!
Cathy Davey, Final Fantasy, Okkervill River AND Dan Deacon ....
Carlsberg don't do Christmas gigathons but if they did...
First - imagine my surprise when I picked up this morning's Ticket in the Irish Times and the first line of the the readers review of the year quotes some guy called "Colin" raving about the Feist gig in Tripod...
Woohoo!! I've made the print media, my year is complete!!
Thanks Jim!
Second thing - I went to see Cathy Davey at the Button Factory on Wednesday night and oh sweet mother of jaysus that girl is on form. What a shaggin voice. As with the Feist gig, it's so strange to hear an act live where the performer's voice is as good if not even better than the recorded version you're so used to.
Anyone who's heard Snow Patrol live will be familiar with the wonders that post production can work on someone's voice - no offence Mr Lightbody!
Anyway twas my first time in the new version of the old Temple Bar Music Centre and I have to say the place looks a lot better - I'm not entirely sure about opening the venue up to the bar as this just increases the chances of the Whelans syndrome creeping in (every muppet yapping at the bar gets to ruin your best efforts to enjoy the gig) but to be honest it didn't seem to make much of a difference - the entire crowd were talking anyway. It was a decidedly mixed crowd and I'd be interested to know how many of them were there purely on the back of her radio play with Reuben.
Anyhoo Ms Davey is beyond sweet - I'd heard that on the tour of Something Ilk she'd suffered from acute stage fright but if she did there was no evidence of it on Wednesday night. There still seems to be a certain shyness there but given that she's bolstered by the best Irish album of the year (I haven't heard Adrian Crowley's album yet!) her confidence just kicked in when the songs took off.
And what a set! She started relatively softly - I think I only counted 2 songs from Something Ilk which just shows the strength of Tales of Silversleeve.
Personal highlights - Reuben and Sing For Your Supper were stormers but that was to be expected. The encore was superb with the eerie All of You being sung oh so quietly against some sort of trellis decorated with fairy lights ("check it out!" if you were there you'll know what I'm on about!) and the perfect closing song was Rubbish Ocean - phenomenal.
But the absolutelycompletelydefinitelynodoubtaboutithighlight had to be a certain Donna Summer song - everyone just had this stupid smile on their faces as the bould Ms Davey launched into I Feel Love - happy days!!
By the way the story about the gardai stopping the van on the way back from Limerick was priceless - more for its telling than anything else!
Cathy Davey, Final Fantasy, Okkervill River AND Dan Deacon ....
Carlsberg don't do Christmas gigathons but if they did...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Final Fantasy at Vicar Street
Ow my head - goddamn Guinness really isn't agreeing with me these days.
So Final Fantasy - I think this was the third gig in as many weeks where I went to a gig with only a bare familiarity with the music that was going to be played. I'd heard maybe 2 or 3 songs by Pallett and having missed him at the Picnic I honestly didn't know what to expect.
First things first, that young fella is ridiculously talented - not having any musical ability in me bones, it was amazing to watch him just build up layers of looping melodies to the extent that it seemed as if he had an entire string section playing around him.
I have to say that I'm a complete geek when it comes to the doohickeys that musicians use at gigs so seeing Pallett switch pedals at a rate of knots as he weaved the various melodies together was fascinating to watch.
In terms of the gig itself I felt that there was a definite lull about halfway through the set. I was amazed by how quiet the crowd was throughout – bordering on the reverential. The problem was that as the set dipped in the middle, I felt that the rapturous applause was based more on the crowd’s adulation of Pallett and his abilities rather than on the quality of the songs.
Having said that, given that this was my first time seeing him play I was blown away by the whole thing - the guy's clearly some kind of genius..... Bastard
Right I'm crawling back under the nearest rock with this poxy hangover
PS I missed the first support act but the second crowd, Miracle Fortress were superb – multiple percussionists ROCK!!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Sweeeeeeet
And this is one of the many reasons why I love BoingBoing!
Apparently a website called somethingawful run a regular photshopping contest and this week its photoshopping pop-up books. I have to agree with them, this one is bleedin deadly as the natives would say around these parts!
Here's the link for the rest of them
Savage!
Apparently a website called somethingawful run a regular photshopping contest and this week its photoshopping pop-up books. I have to agree with them, this one is bleedin deadly as the natives would say around these parts!
Here's the link for the rest of them
Savage!
Menomena at the Sugar Club
Tickets on sale at 9am peoples. Seriously this band have released one of the albums of the year, get ye're credit cards out!
*edit*
Woohoo!! - got mine - here's a taste of whats to come!
*edit*
Woohoo!! - got mine - here's a taste of whats to come!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Rachel O'Reilly, Madeline McCann, Kevin Doyle and Katy French
What's the connection kids?
In a discussion recently with one of my classes, we got talking about the blatant cynicism of the media - primarily we were talking about the tabloid media but the broadsheets came in for it aswell.
It all began with a conversation about Joe O'Reilly's conviction for the murder of his wife and the highly debatable "standards" displayed by the Irish media in relation to the case. I remember reading an article in the Tribune a couple of months ago which stated that the sales figures for a particular paper - the Herald lets not beat about the bush here - rocketed every time Rachel O'Reilly's face was printed on the cover.
The Herald (naturally) maintained that all they were doing was seeking to keep Ms O'Reilly's face and her memory alive in the public consciousness so the Gardai wouldn't be allowed forget about her and so the murderer would be brought to justice.
The fact that sales for the paper spiked every time her time her image was featured was obviously just an incidental benefit. Of course they never noticed.
And then you have Madeline McCann - whatever you think about the McCann's efforts to keep their daughter's face in the media spotlight the fact remains that surely, as with the O'Reilly case, this one was a no-brainer for the British and Irish media. In terms of cynical exploitation it doesn't get any better.
The whole case takes on a sort of chicken and egg quality - did the media only become obsessed with the case because of the public interest or did the public fixation only arise because of the media's obsessive approach to the case? (Rhetorical question)
I saw a headline recently on one of the sunday tabloids which (along with the obligatory photo) simply read "We Know She's Alive!" followed by an article where the paper lazily rehashed the McCann's claims that they believed that their child was still alive
Again - I'm sure that the guaranteed jump in sales figures for the respective papers bore no correlation whatsoever to the editorial decisons to run yet another photograph of the child on their papers.
As if
And finally onto Kevin Doyle and Katy French. As far as I could see, for the last three days every single tabloid and the Independent (which lets be honest is a tabloid by any other name) have run photos of Ms French. What interested me today was the photograph on the front of the Examiner - some young fella who I wouldn't recognise from adam.
It turns out that the kid on the front of the Examiner was one of the lads from Waterford who had been rushed to hospital after a 21st birthday party two weeks ago. He died at 12.30 this morning.
Cocaine has been linked to his death as it has been to Ms French's current condition.
He got one photo - she's had god knows how many and I'm sure there'll be more tomorrow.
But I'm sure it's nothing to do with the sales figures.
God forbid
In a discussion recently with one of my classes, we got talking about the blatant cynicism of the media - primarily we were talking about the tabloid media but the broadsheets came in for it aswell.
It all began with a conversation about Joe O'Reilly's conviction for the murder of his wife and the highly debatable "standards" displayed by the Irish media in relation to the case. I remember reading an article in the Tribune a couple of months ago which stated that the sales figures for a particular paper - the Herald lets not beat about the bush here - rocketed every time Rachel O'Reilly's face was printed on the cover.
The Herald (naturally) maintained that all they were doing was seeking to keep Ms O'Reilly's face and her memory alive in the public consciousness so the Gardai wouldn't be allowed forget about her and so the murderer would be brought to justice.
The fact that sales for the paper spiked every time her time her image was featured was obviously just an incidental benefit. Of course they never noticed.
And then you have Madeline McCann - whatever you think about the McCann's efforts to keep their daughter's face in the media spotlight the fact remains that surely, as with the O'Reilly case, this one was a no-brainer for the British and Irish media. In terms of cynical exploitation it doesn't get any better.
The whole case takes on a sort of chicken and egg quality - did the media only become obsessed with the case because of the public interest or did the public fixation only arise because of the media's obsessive approach to the case? (Rhetorical question)
I saw a headline recently on one of the sunday tabloids which (along with the obligatory photo) simply read "We Know She's Alive!" followed by an article where the paper lazily rehashed the McCann's claims that they believed that their child was still alive
Again - I'm sure that the guaranteed jump in sales figures for the respective papers bore no correlation whatsoever to the editorial decisons to run yet another photograph of the child on their papers.
As if
And finally onto Kevin Doyle and Katy French. As far as I could see, for the last three days every single tabloid and the Independent (which lets be honest is a tabloid by any other name) have run photos of Ms French. What interested me today was the photograph on the front of the Examiner - some young fella who I wouldn't recognise from adam.
It turns out that the kid on the front of the Examiner was one of the lads from Waterford who had been rushed to hospital after a 21st birthday party two weeks ago. He died at 12.30 this morning.
Cocaine has been linked to his death as it has been to Ms French's current condition.
He got one photo - she's had god knows how many and I'm sure there'll be more tomorrow.
But I'm sure it's nothing to do with the sales figures.
God forbid
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Thank you Dan Deacon....
.... for redeeming a poxy weekend. Without wallowing too much lets just say this
watching Munster getting beaten at home by Leinster was poxy enough
watching Munster getting beaten at home by Leinster in the lashing pissing monsoon that was Musgrave Park on Friday night was beyond poxy
coming back from Cork to discover that some CUNT(S) had robbed my bike just about pushed me over the edge (it had been one of those weeks anyway!)
So thank you Dan Deacon for providing me with one of the most enjoyable gigs I've ever had the good luck to attend, what a laugh lads!
I swear to god you can take your po-faced uber earnest indie kids and stick em where the sun don't shine cause I can't remember the last time I was at a gig where the performer was obviously enjoying himself so much.
It was weird because this was the first time I'd gone to the gig purely on the basis of recommendations (god bless the blogosphere!) I literally hadn't heard even one song of his but it was so worth it - when he started setting his desk up on the floor I was wondering how much of a gimmick this was but it worked so well - the entire crowd just gravitated towards this most unlikely looking of djs and his illuminated skull.
The craic was only savage, myself and boggsy were both behaving ourselves with work in the morning but you just couldn't help but get caught up in the music. The melodies were so simple but so addictive - so many highlights - the dance off in the middle of the floor, the entire crowd getting down on their haunches humming along with him, seeing the entire room "having a stretch" before we got going but the undeniable highlight was when the hymn sheets were handed out for Wham City and the whole room kicked off singing - absolutely sublime. We left the room smiling from ear to ear like total kids!
Thanks Dan - you're a total ligind!!
Fair play to Whelans and Foggy Notions - keep gigs like this coming lads
watching Munster getting beaten at home by Leinster was poxy enough
watching Munster getting beaten at home by Leinster in the lashing pissing monsoon that was Musgrave Park on Friday night was beyond poxy
coming back from Cork to discover that some CUNT(S) had robbed my bike just about pushed me over the edge (it had been one of those weeks anyway!)
So thank you Dan Deacon for providing me with one of the most enjoyable gigs I've ever had the good luck to attend, what a laugh lads!
I swear to god you can take your po-faced uber earnest indie kids and stick em where the sun don't shine cause I can't remember the last time I was at a gig where the performer was obviously enjoying himself so much.
It was weird because this was the first time I'd gone to the gig purely on the basis of recommendations (god bless the blogosphere!) I literally hadn't heard even one song of his but it was so worth it - when he started setting his desk up on the floor I was wondering how much of a gimmick this was but it worked so well - the entire crowd just gravitated towards this most unlikely looking of djs and his illuminated skull.
The craic was only savage, myself and boggsy were both behaving ourselves with work in the morning but you just couldn't help but get caught up in the music. The melodies were so simple but so addictive - so many highlights - the dance off in the middle of the floor, the entire crowd getting down on their haunches humming along with him, seeing the entire room "having a stretch" before we got going but the undeniable highlight was when the hymn sheets were handed out for Wham City and the whole room kicked off singing - absolutely sublime. We left the room smiling from ear to ear like total kids!
Thanks Dan - you're a total ligind!!
Fair play to Whelans and Foggy Notions - keep gigs like this coming lads
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