Notnem

My Favourite Movies…

1 - Donnie Dark (Directors Cut)

2 - One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest

3 - Shawshank Redemption

4 - The Butterfly Effect

5 - This is Spinal Tap

6 - Back to the Future

7 - Rain Man

8 - Rope (Alfred Hitchcock)

9 - Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi

10 - Sunset of the Spotless Mind

11 - 2002 A Space Odyssey

This was a celebration for Niamh’s (my sister) 18th birthday. As it happens Damien, Chris and Danny were in KL at the time and Aisling (other sister) was there with her friend Kate. The rest of the people are Niamh’s friends from school…

Danny & Kate

Chris and Me

Steve, Damo & Chris

Danny

Megan & Aisling

Megan & Me

Chris & Damo

Chris

Me

Chris

Danny

Damo

Damo & Chris

Aisling & Kate

Me (Just after Megan Soaked me )

Chris after getting splashed

Megan & ME

Damo

Danny

Chris and Me

While reading this please bear in mind that I haven’t read anyting pensiv since college

This is a tale from years ago, a differant decade and a differant time. College education was for *free in Ireland and the massive inflation that in my opinion that has made Ireland so umcompetative had yet to really take hold. It was a time for pounds and pence and noboy had yet figured out what todo with the celtic tiger.

Every summer there is a massive out outflux of Irish students to America and the tale I am about to tell is about one instance in 1998 with two close friends, Noel G and BJ… We were among the first batch of students out of Ireland on the first plane available to us under our visas which were for 3 months work and 1 month holidays.

That summer was one great big party with work time inbetween. We had a room in the Tipperary Inn, Montauk which was awful, but what the heck, we were students and isn’t this supposed to be what we should be doing. While I am sure I am going to return to my time in Montauk again in the course of this blog, the particular tale that I am going to tell is two days before we were due to go home (28 September 98)….

After touring as much of America as possible in 2 weeks (New York - San Francisco - Las Vegas - New York) we arrived back in New York. We were particularily broke and decieded to head back to Montauk for 2 nights hoping to bunk up with somebody and save some money. The first night we slept in a Minivan which is at least something I can say I have done. Faced with a second night in the Minivan we were looking for options… anything.

As it happened Montauk was the scene for a movie that particular summer, Sunburn, and they were looking for extras to “act through the night” in a party scene. As it happens they were very short as most of the people had gone home. This movie starred Cillian Murphy (The recent baddie in Batman Begins) and was directed by Nelson Hume, both of whom now demand acclaim. We were promised food and beer and with nowhere to sleep it seemed to be a good deal.

TBC… I need to get some sleep

The End of Oil

Paul Roberts

Back Cover: The situation is alarming and irrefutable: Within thrity years, even by conservative estimates, we will have burned our way throught most of the oil that is readily available to us. Already, the costly side effects of dependence on fossil fuel are taking their toll. Even as oil-related conflict threatens entire nations, individual consumers are suffering from higher prieces at the gas pump, resing health problems and the grim prospect of long-term environmental damage…

Status: Reading at the moment

The Firm

John Grisham
Back Cover: When Mitch McDeere signed on with Bendini, Lambert & Locke of Memphis, he thought he and his beautiful wife, Abbey, were on their way. The firm leased him a BMW, paid off his school loans, arranged a mortgage, and hired him a decorator. Mitch McDeere should have remembered what his brother Ray - doing fifteen years in a Tennessee jail - already knew. You never get nothing for nothing. Now the FBI has the lowdown on Mitch’s firm and needs his help. Mitch is caught between a rock and a hard place, with no choice - if he wants to liver.

I read this book about 10 years ago and remembered really enjoying it. I recently saw the film for about the 10th time, so I decided to re read it. It didn’t quite live up to what I remembered, but it is still a great read.

Status: Finished

Hotel Babylon

Imogen Edward-Jones

Back Cover: The manager of one of the world’s exclusive hotels gives a grad tour of glitz, glamour, decadence, and debauchery - floor by floor, room by room, in this hilarious and horrifying expose of the ultimate service industry.

Written in the style of a novel which follows the adventures of a hotel receptionist over a 24 hour shift and all the unusual and not so unusual things that go on behind the scenes in a hotel. I really enjoyed this book.

Status: Finished

Batman, Hush Volume Two

Jeph Loeb,  Jim Lee & Scott Williams
This was my first reading of a graphic novel. I really enjoyed it and it is definitely something I will read more over the comming months.

- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress

Ross O’Carroll-Kelly

Back Cover: So there I was, roysh, marrige focked, reputation focked, finances focked - everything completely focked bassically, and we’re talking big time. And it’s all Fionn;s fault. He’s the four-eyed focker who told me that, like, the first time you do it, roysh, you’re fireing blanks. Like an unloaded Uzi - seriously impressive, hard as fock and totally, like, ready for action, but action, but not actually hitting the torget. Well that is a pile of turds for storters. And of course it’s muggins here who ends up with a kid…

Written in Soutside Dublin 4 slang and Northside Dublin slang, it is a good read. I laughed out load several times, although most of those were inside the first 10 pages. I would recommend it.

Status: Finished

- A Series of Unfortunate Events

Lemony Snicket

Back Cover: I’m sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells un unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe…

Basically a childrens book, I decided to read it after my little cousins talking about it so much. I did enjoy it and it was a very easy read.

Status: Finished

First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon

Darren Rovel

Back Cover: Before America even knew what “deep-down body thirst” was, four University of Florida scientists had invented something to quench it.

Remember the Cola Wars, with Coke and Pepsi battling it out year after year for supremacy in the soft drink market? Or what about the Burger Wars, the legendary slugfests between McDonald’s and Burger King?

Then of course, there were the Sports Drink Wars. If you blinked, you might have missed them, because Gatorade has swiftly and decisively fended off every would-be rival. Although a few other brands hold slim market shares, the fact is that Gatorade single-handedly created the sports drink industry 40 years ago and has absolutely ruled it ever since.

Status: Finished

Beer School

Steve Hindy & Tom Potter

Back Cover: A great city should have great beer. New York finally has, thanks to Brooklyn. Steve Hindy and Tom Potter provided it. Beer School explains how they did it: their mistakes as well as their triumphs…

Status: Finished

Long Way Round - The Illustrated Edition

Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman

Back Cover: ‘Surrounding the moments that tugged at our heartstrings, there were times of great wonder. And, every so often, flashes of magic. Like when we were riding at the end of the day and the sun setting in the west, warmed our backs and threw our shadows ahead of us on the road. Just chasing our shadows as we headed east. All the way round the world to get home’

Simply put, an amazing tale of two mates on the road. I loved it.

Status: Finished

Hi Everybody,

I am trying to start using more and more open source software as against using high coast software such as Microsoft Office etc etc.

Open Office 2.0 - Link

A free to use open source complete office suite. Not only does it offer everything that MS office offers, it opens and saves to the usual .doc and .xls file formats.

Firefox 1.5 - Link

I love this browser and as far as I am concerned nothing even comes close. The array of useful extensions that can be downloaded and used are astounding. I love it

KeepPass Password Safe 1.04 - Link

I am only new to this programme… Basically it allows you to keep all those passwords and usernames in one central location.

Thunderbird 1.5 - Link

Thunderbird is the mozilla version of Microsoft Outlook.

Word Press 2.0 - Link

Excellent tool for building a blog. Database driven there isn’t much Word Press 2.0 can do. Thanks for my mate Steve Kinsella who told me about htis programme…

I will add more programmes as I find them…