iTunes and Vista in cahoots!

Right so, I was going to blog about my week, but then iTunes descides not recognise my external hard drive. And now because of that I have to reinstall iTunes, then put in the neighbourhood of 15000 songs back onto my iPod.

Also, because my OS is Windows Vista, I'm just going to go ahead and assume that it had something to do with iTunes rebelling. Roll on Windows 7!

Like/Dislike 1

New Feature!

I Like: My epic bed. Whoever made this quilt and these pillows is respnsible for any morning classes I miss.

I Dislike: Being called Dave. Yep. Don't like it at all. Davey, Daithí and of course David are all good, just not Dave please.

Back To Life, Back To Reality.

One week over, eleven more to go!

My first week back, and it was quite a successful one. First major thing is that I have around ten hours less than I did last semester. I cannot explain how much of a relief that is, as now I can actually hang out with people rather than being stuck in labs until six in the evening.

I still have no internet in my house in Dublin. Well technically I do, but we won't talk about that. Wink wink, nudge nudge and all that. So for this reason, for the forseeable future all of my posts will be at the weekend, or if I can 'borrrow' internet for long enough, there may be the occasional post.

Also I bought my first adult mode of transport, a scooter.

Yes, those are flashing lights along the side of it, and no I will not give you a ride on it. This bad boy cuts a whole FIVE minutes off my journey from my house to Baggot St. I'm still getting the hang of going fast on it because I was not fortunate enough to own one as a child. So to make up for not being a child with a scooter, I'm being an 18 year old acting as 'a child with a scooter'! And my God is it fun! Apologies if I almost hit anyone on the footpaths of Dublin over the last week, I have no way of alerting people that I want to pass by, being too shy to shout or raise my voice! (Yet,somehow, not shy enough to zip about town at night on a flashing red scooter) Unfortunately I seem to have a penchant for crashing, only when others are around. It was in one of these crashes(while scooting down a corridor) that I crashed I broke the flashing LEDs. /sigh

Myself and my housemates were crippled with an electricity bill of over €500, but hopefully that's all been sorted. Talk about criminal! But let us not get onto the topic of criminals and our house...


Not a whole pile else happened over the week. I did go see The Wrestler, but I'll deal with that separately. My sleep patterns aren't (as) screwed up anymore, and I've been sleeping a lot better, which is nice. For me at least!

'TNA! TNA! TNA!' - A Review.

On Friday last (the 16th) I attended a TNA house show. TNA stands for Total Non-Stop Action and it is a proffessional wrestling company for those who don't know. A house show is just a show run, usually in a different town every night, just for a live audience; in other words not for the television.
TNA's reputation as both the 'second company' and of it's general product differs greatly from mark to mark. ( A mark is a wrestling fan). While they have some great talent, the storylines can be very weak. But that does not conscern me for the moment. I'm going to concentrate on the Dublin house show.
The National Stadium on South Circular Road was filled to capacity, and the crowd were buzzing. To add more incentive to the crowd, the loudest fans would be brought backstage throughout the night. Alas, I was not chosen! /sigh
Rather than going through a blow by blow account of each match, this will do:

• Alex Shelly Retained his X Division Championship in a Triple Threat
  against Doug Williams and Eric Young


• Beautiful People beat ODB and Taylor Wilde


• Samoa Joe pinned Sheik Abdul Bashir


• Abyss and Matt Morgan lost to Team 3D in a Dublin Street Fight.


• Beer Money beat Lethal Consequences in Tag Team Action


• Kurt Angle got the win over AJ Styles in a great main event

I'll stick some photos up during the week. I know most people diss pro wrestling, but if anyone is ever offered the chance to go to a WWE or TNA show, jump at it! The atmosphere and fun are worth the entrance price.

We then popped to Whelans to get our grove on to Ian I Brow to finish a fun night.


Score:

8/10

Recently Relative Playlist 2

My top 3 songs that I listened to in Rome.

1. Kevin Rudolf ft. Lil Wayne - Let It Rock



2. Iglu & Hartly - Violent And Young



3. People in Planes – Light for the Deadvine

As always my Last.fm profile can be found at http://www.last.fm/user/son-of-santa

(My) Roman Holiday [a.k.a The Italian Blog a.k.a The Blogfather]

I spent 3 nights in Rome, from Sunday 11Th to Wednesday 14Th. Unfortunately the weather didn't feel like like giving me a change from the rain I'm used to, and I ended up getting quite soaked. But alas, that meant new shoes so I won out in the end!
I arrived early on Sunday afternoon with my Dad. The hotel we were staying in was about 300 metres from the main train station, so it was very convenient. The hotel was a bit of a surprise however. The entire hotel was just one floor of a 6 story building. The floor below it was apartments and above it was another hotel, named Fawlty Towers! Our hotel room was tiny, with about 10 inches between both beds.


After we checked in, we checked out (see what I did there?) the Colosseum. Decided to get a group tour, which unfortunately contained some rather annoying Australian chaps. The tour was good, and the tour guide was full of witty banter and virgin jokes at the expense of a pair of American girls. It was cool (if you're into Romans) to see the underground layout of rooms and tunnels that held the lions and other animals that were fought. The only animals there these days are the many stray cats living among the ruins.


From the Colosseum, we went to the Spanish Steps. They were just like I remembered from 'Sabrina Goes To Rome'. In fact quite a lot of my knowledge of the Eternal City came from this movie...eh, I mean Gladiator. Yeah, Gladiator, with all it's fighting and manliness and complete lack of magical romance...eh. After walking up and inevitably down the steps we continued to the Trevi Fountain, which is as it sounds, a fountain. Quite a large, ornate one at that. It should be noted that on this day, it was sunny and dry. Oh, how things changed!

Went to the Vatican City the next day, and witnessed one of the greater abuses within the Catholic Church. And that my friends, is nuns cutting queues! Any queue at all, nuns felt they could just walk to the front; the queue to St. Peter's Basilica, to the Vatican Museum, to the cupola of St. Peter's, even the gents toilets to show that they could! The Vatican was, as you can imagine, quite time consuming, yet nonetheless was interesting. Even got to see old JP2's (John Paul II) grave! After the Vatican I got a coffee. Nowt special about that I know, but remember that scene in 'Sabrina Goes To Rome' where she has a really strong cup of coffee, well it was like that except with out Melissa Joan Hart. For the record, best coffee in the world is in Italy.

One thing that amazed me were, what i named, the Umbreller Sellers. These were guys who, at the first drop of rain, would appear on every street and sell umbrellas to people. These chaps were everywhere, up like 6 to a street. It was if they spent all day, everyday watching the weather on tv, and at the first hint of rain, would arm themselves with umbrellas and take to the streets. And, my God, would they not take no for an answer. Almost like they were reformed rapists who were trying to put they're penchant of ignoring 'no' to a slightly more socially accepted hobby.


The last thing that struck me about the trip, were the eclectic bunch of vagrants that hung around the Termini train station at night. There were the type that shouted, who smelled, there was even one chap who attempted to sing opera. But the most memorable was the woman, covered in make up, who sat in the same seat every night with a box of chocolates. Almost like she had once waited there for her lover, who upon meeting her, presented her with a box of chocolates and then shot her in the face with Homer Simpson's makeup shotgun! And since that day she has wandered the train station in search of someone to love her. By searching, I mean flirting with whoever is behind here in the queue in the station grocery store to buy her the chocolates she brings to the till.

Now, on that note I shall sign off on this post; just one more little thing to provide a giggle to the reader. When we checked in at the hotel, the receptionist asked if we wanted a twin or double room...

Italian Preparation.

I'm off to Rome on Sunday for a few days. In order to be able to communicate with local italians, I've decided to do the smart thing, and learn some key phrases that I feel will be useful. Feel free to use these if you ever find yourself in Italy.

• Mi scusi signore, ma un gran pezzo di grasso è scesa dal tuo capello, nel mio caffè - Excuse me mister, but a large piece of grease has fallen from your hair, into my coffee.


• Auguro a visitare il suo famoso campanile di pizza. - I wish to visit your famous Tower of Pizza


• Potrebbe, per favore, mi mostri la strada verso la casa di Mario? O la casa di Luigi? - Could you show me the way to Mario's house? Or Luigi's?


• Sono qui per vedere il papa. Digli David è qui.. - I am here to see the Pope. Tell him David is here.


• Che cosa significa che io non possa vederlo? - What do you mean I can not see him?


• Ti è dirgli che si tratta di me? Qual è il problema? - Did you tell him that it is me? What is the problem?


• Non sto lasciando poi! - Then I'm not leaving!


• No! Se volete farmi uscire dalla Popemobile, si dovrà rimuovere me! - No! If you want me to get out of the Popemobile, you will have to remove me!


• Andate via, è stupido svizzera Pansy! - Go away, you stupid Swiss pansy!


• Aiuto! Aiuto! Mi viene aggredito! - Help! Help! I'm being attacked!


• Non colpevole, il vostro onore. - Not guilty, your honour.

So there we have a few choice phrases that should help to accommodate a wide variety of situations. I hope they help anyone who travels to Rome in the future and hopefully they serve me well over the next few days!

Ciao!

Film Review: Lord of The Rings Trilogy

I will be reviewing the LoTR trilogy as one film as I have just watched them all in one sitting. Purists do regard it as one long film, and I will not argue with that as it did feel as if it was all one 10 and a half hour film. The time was in no way a problem, it really did fly by. This is a credit to both Jackson and of course one J.R.R Tolkien for capturing the viewers imagination.

In my opinion, these films gave rise to the popularity of the word 'epic' in film and casual speak, and it's no wonder really, as it perfectly describes the trilogy. There is not a single moment of any of the trilogy that I did not enjoy. It'd had been years since I had seen any of them, and it was fun seeing all the little things I'd missed first time round. Seeing Brett McKenzie from Flight of The Conchords in the first and third films was great, and spotting the Ent in Return of The King dousing his flaming head in a giant wave provided a good giggle.

I'd like to apologise to Boromir and Sean Bean because when I first saw the Fellowship of the Ring, I thought the character was a bit of a prick (pardon me!) for trying to steal the ring. But on this viewing I relaise it was a moment of weakness form an otherwise honourable character. He also deserves the title of 'tough c*nt' for fighting of Uruk-hai while having 3 or 4 arrows sticking out of his chest! Fair fucks to him!

I really don't think I can properly describe just how much I enjoyed this film. When I try to think of words for it I just feel a rush of adrenaline thinking of the battles and a feeling of attachment to all of the character. Well there is one word I suppose...



EPIC!



Score:
30 / 10


Bonus Youtube video : HERE!

Film Review: Reeker 2 or No Man's Land: Rise of The Reeker

Reeker 2 is obviously the sequel to Reeker, a 2006 horror film, which I quite enjoyed.

A quick summary of Reeker from wikipedia:

When a lonely highway is inexplicably closed, five students sharing a ride to a party in the desert find themselves trapped at an empty motel. Refusing to let the new circumstances interfere with their fun, they settle in only to be interrupted by odd, haunting visions of severely mutilated travelers. The gruesome sightings may explain the sudden abandonment of the motel and diner, but the appearance of the retiree with a missing wife confirms their worst fears. He too has seen the dying people - victims of a killer, one that has likely taken his wife - a killer trailing a dark force of decay and rot.

Reeker 2 starts off explaining the origin of the Reeker from the first film. A brutal serial killer, plagued by 'voices', is caught and sentenced to death in a gas chamber. As he dies we see that the voices were Death and had been telling him who to kill. Cut to present day, where the cop who arrested the killer, who became Reeker, is an elderly cop with his cop son. The diner they are eating in becomes the centre of a shootout and hostage situation. Now from here, the movie follows the EXACT plot as the first one. There was no effort put into to changing the stroy around. The deaths aren't even particularly gruesome or funny to compensate for the weak plot.
My advice is to watch Reeker, then pretend there is no sequel and just forget you read this review. Just trying to save you all some time!

Score:


2 / 10

UPDATE! New Resolution.

Quick update on my New Year's Resolutions.

I'm am going to start to play my guitar again. I haven't played properly in months for fear of embarrassing myself in my house of awesome guitar players.

First new song to learn will be Cute Is What We Aim For's version of Coyote Shivers' "Sugar High".

Updates on my guitar progress, and progress in achieving all my other objectives will be posted in the future.

Film Review: Attack Girls Swim Team Vs. The Unliving Dead

Where to begin eh?

Well it's a Japanese zombie movie set in a large girls school, (the school is large, not a school for larger girls), which appears to have around ten students and three teachers. As the title suggests the film involves the school swim team and newcomer to the school, Aki. When the students and teachers are injected with what they think is an vaccine shot, they turn into slightly-more-intelligent-than-run-of-the-mill zombies.
It is then up to Aki and her team mates to rid the school of the zombies. Oh yeah, one more thing, there is a LOT of schoolgirl boobage! A lot! Now to that add some weird hypno-sex and lesbian sex scene and you've got yourself one of the best 'so bad it's awesome' horror films, in my opinion. This is a real WTFlipFlop?? movie, that just gets more ridiculous with every minute, with the climax to the final battle leaving me in a state of stunned silence. So if you like cheesy zombie flicks, an unhealthy use of fake blood, bad prosthetics and have a fetish for Asian schoolgirls, well my friend, this is the movie for you!

Score = WonderfullyTerribleInTheMostAmazingWay / 10

Recently Relative Playlist 1.

This is my first Recently Relative Playlist.
They will be playlists of songs related to something that is going on at the moment.
This one is to do with this news story, and the fact that the accused is my landlady.

Enjoy!

1. Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen


2. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer


3. AFI - Miss Murder

As always my Last.fm profile can be found at http://www.last.fm/user/son-of-santa

Resolutions/Plans

Resolutions.

1. Become more committed and determined to projects.
2. Start to do some actual work at college.
3. Get a job.

Plans

1. To buy, build and maintain my own domain name and site.
2. Save enough money to buy an Eee PC.
3. Clearout my room, get a new desk and wardrobe.
4. Set up an office style set-up, which instead will be used for gaming, internet and designing.

These are all something I really want to acheive so a metaphorical poke in the ribs everyso often would be much appreciated. :)

New Year, New Blog, New Objectives.

Hello and welcome to Web of Thoughts, my new blog for 2009 and possibly beyond.

For those you who followed my last blog, System.out.println("Ponders");, I have got rid of it, and this new one shall be different* (*read: sane).

This blog serves two purposes:

1: A mini review site of movie, games, albums, stuff etc that I encounter. This will hopefully be done in a funny style and may well help me with my fledgling stand up comedy career.

2: And also to establish my goals for the year, and to provide written evidence of them so people can bug me about them so I try to accomplish them.


So here's to 2009, what will hopefully be a productive year!:)

Stand Up Comedy

Started doing stand up in February 2009, entering the UCD Stands Up competition, reaching the final and coming third. Since then I've gigged all over Dublin and the rest of Ireland.

Below is a list of places I've gigged.

• Lonegans Bar, Montrose Hotel
  
• Toners, Baggot St.
• UCD DramSoc
• Twisted Pepper
• UCD Comedy Society
• Kilkenny Fringe Festival
• Mish Mash, The International
• Leitrim Laughs, Carrick-On-Shannon
• UCD Literary and Historical Society
  
• IADT (supporting Karl Spain)
• Trinity College, Dublin
• Dublin Institute of Technology
• UCD Student Centre
• UCD Student Club (w/Neil Delamere)
• Bewleys Cafe Theatre
• The Underground, Dame St.
• The Pint, Eden Quay
• Laugh Out Loud, Anseo, Camden St.
• Regular guest on Trinity FM and Belfield FM    
• Featured on Dublin City FM and RTÉ's Nationwide            
• TV3 News once interviewed me about downloading music when I was younger, but that's not entirely relevant.

[Photograph is courtesy of Lisa Burke Photography]

About

Glad you asked, ever present, hypothetical reader! I came up with "The Roger-Moore Algorithm" purely by accident. I was sitting in my Data Structures and Algorithm II exam in May 2009 looking back over my answers. I realised that while answering a question on the Boyer–Moore string search algorithm I had written "...the Roger-Moore algorithm...". Needless to say I corrected my mistake but I was sort of impressed at this occurrence of my brain's innate ability to not pay attention when necessary so I decided I'd use the name somewhere so I changed the name of my blog to "The Roger-Moore Algorithm".