Category: Recommended

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General Movies Recommended

Weekend Roundup

Had a fairly busy weekend which started with football on Friday and finished with “Red Eye” last night. I’m conscious of this blog just descending into lists of things I’m doing but I promise I’ll be back to better posts soon.

  • Friday: There was a disappointing crowd for football as its been for the past few weeks. We had 9 this week which isn’t all that bad considering we only had 6 the week before. EDIT: The photos are now up on Flickr.
  • Saturday I went out to see if I could sort out my cousin’s PC. They don’t live close to a major town so wired broadband isn’t there yet. Some company called ilDana are providing satellite broadband in the area but the service is crap. He was getting no ADSL signal from the antenna at all. He rang his neighbour and he had the same issue. 😯 Basically it meant that I couldn’t do the work I needed to on the PC. 👿 Plus they don’t provide weekend support. WTF? Saturday night I went to see Des Bishop in Vicar St. I went with a crowd I know from his web site and it was a great laugh. We got free tickets which was a bonus and they were front and centre on the balcony. His new show focuses on the experiences he’s had in living in disadvantaged communities around the country. Basically he’d go into an area for a few weeks and do comedy workshops with the locals who would then put on a show at the end of it. The TV series is due to start in January but the stand up material he got from it was very funny. :mrgreen:
  • Sunday: I woke up at about 11.25 with my phone ringing. It was Mark who wanted to go down to the pub to watch the Manchester United vs Liverpool game on tele. I reluctantly got out of bed and was in the pub a half hour later. It turned out to be a rubbish game with only 4 shots on target. 🙄 It was confounded by the fact that Roy Keane broke a small bone in his foot and is now set to miss Ireland’s crucial World Cup qualifying game against Switzerland. 👿
    Last night I went to see Red Eye with Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams. No, I didn’t go with them, they are in it. 🙂 It was an enjoyable thriller and had some genuinely scary moments. Overall I’d give it a 6.5 out of ten.
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Music Recommended

Editors gig

Editors Went to see Editors last night in Whelans. Apparently the gig was sold out for ages beforehand so I dropped Kate, a friend of mine who works in concert promotion, an email and she got myself and Dave on the guestlist. These guys are on the up and up and their debut album, Back Room, has been on my iRiver for a couple of weeks now. The venue itself is quite small with perhaps 200 people able to stand in it. We got in quite early so stood at the front of the stage.

Editors Channel One were the support band and they had a great 80s style sound combining synths and strings to great effect. They played about 7 songs and then the stage was set up for Editors. Dave was the one who insisted we go to the gig in the first place and he knew a hell of a lot more about the band then I did. They started their set with Lights, a great track and one which got the crowd going straight away. Standout tracks from the night included Blood, Fingers in the Factories, Open Your Arms, All Sparks and my favourite track Bullets. Fantastic gig, these guys are gonna be big.

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Movies Recommended

The 40 Year Old Virgin

The 40 Year Old Virgin Was really looking forward to this one and I wasn’t disappointed. Most people won’t be familiar with Steve Carell who has had smaller parts in a number of Brat Pack comedies over the past couple of years. This is his first major role and he also produces the film.

The story is pretty self explanatory in that Steve plays Andy Stitzer, a bit of a geek who collects action figures and works at an electronics store. The film tracks his attempts to get laid and it manages to balance the funny set pieces with lighter material based around a burgeoning romance. There were some real belly laugh moments and if you don’t come out of the cinema smiling then there’s something seriously wrong with you. Best comedy of the year so far. 🙂

Tony’s Verdict: 8/10

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Movies Recommended

Wedding Crashers

Wedding Crashers Haven’t done a review in ages so here goes. I’ve been looking forward to this film since I heard about it as I’m a big fan of Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson. The film itself isn’t as gag-to-gag as Old School or Anchorman but the story is endearing in a way the storylines in these films normally aren’t. 🙂 Rachel McAdams is fantastic looking along with Isla Fisher so even if you aren’t interested in the story, at least there’s good eye candy. Some of the sequences in the film literally had me busting a gut. Look out for the dining table incident along with the “midnight visit”. Definitely going to pick this one up on DVD as soon as it comes out.

Tony’s Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis: John Beckwith and Jeremy Klein, a pair of committed womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air, find themselves at odds with one another when John meets and falls for Claire Clearly.

Categories
General Music Recommended

Live 8

Well the Live 8 gig has just finished in Hyde Park. I watched most of it from the start at 2pm and have to say it was a fantastic event. My favourite performers were (in no particular order):

  • Robbie Williams: really gets the crowd going and needs to start touring again. Fantastic.
  • Snow Patrol: was nice to see the lad forget the lyrics. Showed what a huge event it really is and these people are human.
  • The Killers: appropriate song for the occasion and a good performance.
  • The Who: I’m not a big fan but they were fantastic for their age.
  • Pink Floyd: Back together after 21 years and a tribute to the sound of their generation. Legend.
  • U2: Really kicked things off well with Paul McCartney and Beautiful Day really suited the occasion.
  • Sting: always liked his stuff.
  • Coldplay: Love their song ‘What If?’ from the new album and it was a kicking rendition.

I think Snoop Dogg was a bit of a bleeding eejit. He keep wanting the crowd to chant his name but they’re not there to see him. They’re there to add their voice to millions around the world calling for increased aid, fair trade and debt cancellation. Muppet.

Hopefully the gigs will make a difference on Wednesday but it doesn’t look like there’ll be much movement on fair trade and bringing down the barriers. I hope to God I’m wrong and that the world leaders will step up and listen to their people.