Love this picture so much, it's almost a physical love.

Diary of a (War)crack Addict. #2

First of let me just say the reason it's taken me over 2 weeks to post another 'Diary of a (War)crack Addict' is because of the 174678 patches I've had to download. Everytime I open WoW I was told I need to download a patch. These patches were to get me from what I think was version 3.0something of the game to the current 3.2 version. However at about version 3.1.0something, after numerous 9 hour patches, it decided that that would do and I'd actually be allowed to play the game.
I went to Blizzard's EU website and upgraded my account to the Burning Crusade expansion. (Thanks very much again to Remi Rockit for her being her usual helpful self.) Having two new races available to me I chose the 'baddie' of the two new options, the blood elf.

P.I.M.P

The above chap is my Mage Blood Elf. He is currently at level 4 after a few embarrassing deaths to some Tenders and a fence post (well at least that's how it looked from my angle.)
As I said in the first edition of this 'Diary' this was not going to be a record of what happens in the game, more my take on the games effect on my social life, sleeping pattern, general health etc. I just stopped playing for the night and it's 5.30am I've spent the last 4 days dosed with a horrible prick of a cold which I've still to fully recover from and I've a very busy 2 weeks ahead including a wedding and a comedy show. Soooo, all in all, WoW has so far only become a minor hindrance in my plan to fix my sleep pattern to one which is somewhat sociable in GMT.

On that note I shall go to World of Dreamcraft.


I mean bed; I shall go to bed.


Knight!


I mean night; night!

Quick question folks.

Who took this picture??

Ireland's Eye: Ensuring the survival of Irish stereotypes...

...one, lonely, old potato farmer at a time.

Next, they'll be making out we've a fondness for the drink!

Wotcha gonna do brutha?

I'm going to enjoy my tea from an awesome Hulk Hogan mug is what!

Suspicious eh?

This is a screen grab I took a day or two before going to Oxegen so apologies for it being delayed. It's the Last.Fm homepage and it shows who most users are listening to. Now, as you can clearly see Mr. Michael Jackson is (was) the top most played artist or the day or whatever time period they base their numbers from. This is of course understandable as he had died the week previous, and it was sort of a big deal.
However, the little red bit on the artists' picture says 'On Tour' and is displayed if a band or singer is, obviously enough, on tour. Now, as can be seen from above MJ is currently touring, despite, well, 'pining for the fjords'.
This does however confirm the rumours that MJ shall be touring in the form of the infamous Thriller zombie.

Oxegen 2009 - The Good, The Bad and The Muddy.

Oxegen 2009 was my fourth consecutive Oxegen festival. In order to avoid a huge wall of text I'm going to review it in bullet points under three headings.

The Good

• Getting to the campsite and setting up in good weather.
  
• AC/DC tribute band Hells Bells playing the Thursday night stage.
• The Xbox Live stage in the Blue Campsite.
• Niall Gaffney's childlike excitement towards returning to Oxegen.
  
• "I'm sorry, I thought this was America"
  
• "I like your schtyle!"
• "So basically, we're lucking for trouble."
  
• Having an awesomely warm and dry tent.
• Having awesomely warm and dry tent mates!
• 'Free' stuff.
• Pendulum playing Master Of Puppets.
• Charming some free Ben & Jerry's
  
• Good nights of sleep.
• Showering.
  
• Meeting people from all over the place especially Tyrone (Sean, Shauna and Hannah) and Belfast (Sophia, Meabh and of course Max)
  
• Trip into Naas and associated 'free' bowl and salt shaker.
  
• Chancey Tent.
• The relationship between Ken and Ferghal.
  
• Getting recognised by a random Londoner as 'David Reilly the Comedian!!'
• Seeing my friend Jon Hozier-Byrne's brother Andrew play the IMRO Stage.
• Seeing The Killers play songs from Hot Fuss.
• The random sunny intervals.
• Not having to worry about tents or bags on Sunday.
• Mud fights.
• Learning how to make the Blood symbol.
• The guy in the horse mask doing the 'look'.
  
• Experiencing Of Montreal's show.
• Toplessness.
• Dancing to Song 2 in my boxers with Conor.
• Meeting Conor and Ken just as the "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhh!" from Sabotage by The Beastie Boys kicked in during The Bloody Beetroots.
• Niall's return from Naas Hospital.
  
• The Frothy Gashes were the band of the weekend. Followed by The Bloody Beetroots or Of Montreal.

The Bad

• The rain.
• Sunburn.
• The toilets.
• Niall refracturing his leg.
  
• Over abundance of chavs, knackers, scumbags, skangers, scobes, spidies, pillheads etc.
• Festival virgins shouting "It's Oxegen!!" whenever anyone did anything sensible like sleep.
• Sleeping on a rock.
• Getting soaked going to the Schuh Welly Exchange only to find it to be closed.
• Being three minutes from meeting Maximo Park but being too pissed off about the Schuh tent to wait.
• Ladyhawke getting sick. (Swine Flu or the good AIDS I reckon)
  
• The Game cancelling (Shot no doubt)
• People losing phones and cameras.
• Overcrowded tents.
• Knackbags acting the prick during The Gaslight Anthem waiting for The Game.
• Getting headbutted at Pendulum.
• Scumbags moshing. They don't know how to. If someone falls down, you let them up, not swing kicks at them.
• Hearing The Killers play songs from their second and third album.
• Not meeting more Tweeple or friends from Kilkenny or Dublin.
• Dropping medication on the Dance Hall's floor and having to take it anyway.
• Missing some great bands due to clashes or weather; Mars Volta, Regina Spektor, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Digitalism to name a few.
• Not being able to find my tent, regardless of time of day.
• Being chased by a security guard for peeing on a fence while trying to put it away without peeing on myself or catching myself in the zip.
• Foals not playing Hummer.
  
• Constantly being asked for 'yokes', pills or E's.

The Muddy

• Anto Lynch
• Conor Kelly
• Brendan McKiernan
  
• Emma Finch
  
• Ferghal Hand
• Hannah Tyrone
  
• James Henry
  
• Joseph O'Sullivan
  
• Ken Ryan
  
• Leanne Brady
  
• Louise O'Malley
• Lucy Doyle
  
• Marcus Sheridan
  
• Maxine Clarke
• May Belfast
  
• Niall Gaffney
• Niall Murray
  
• Oisin Henry
  
• Oisin McDonnell
  
• Rob Hand
  
• Robbie Kane
• Sam Moore
  
• Sarah Reilly
  
• Sean Tyrone
  
• Shauna Tyrone
  
• Sophia Connolly
  
• Sorcha Almond-Murray
• Tereas Cronin
  
• Me :)

All in all, it was an enjoyable year. Out of the four I've been to, I'd rank it in third place ahead of 2007, and behind 2006 and 2008.Will I go back next year? Can't say for sure, but no doubt, like every year, I'll change my mind 418 times before next July.

Diary of a (War)crack Addict. #1

I used to make fun of my friend Eamon for playing the MMORPG World of Warcraft. However due to my status as an unemployed and unpaid comedian I started to become a little interested in WoW. One day I received an email from Eamon containing a '10-day free trial'. I decided to download the trial but when I went to play it I misread something a thought the trial didn't work. Seeing this as a sign I concluded that I wouldn't try it again.
How wrong I was.

After my friend Jane tweeted asking for people to play WoW with her I decided I'd give it another go, this time at least I'd have someone to help me start it off so I'd know what to do. So I set about creating a character named Daithí. He is a Tauren Druid, as I'm sure you could all tell from the picture below.

Awesome, no?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I've pretty much been hooked since!

I originally planned on not buying the game after my trial expired.
But like most thing I decide not to buy, I bought it. But I didn't just buy the game, I bought the World of Warcraft Battle Chest which contains the game, and expansion pack and two guides, all for the humble price of €18.

So, the aim of my 'Diary of a (War)crack Addict' posts will not be to document how I'm doing and needless boring any readers, but will rather to document the effect WoW may possible take on different aspects of my life, be it social, health, mental or what have you. And of course, if I encounter any proper nerdy losers (pot/kettle anyone?) while playing I will be sure to mention* them here.


*read = make jokes at their expense

Be sure to read part two of Diary of a (War)crack Addict here!

Laugh Out Loud at Anseo 2: Electric Boogaloo.

My stand up comedy appearance at Anseo on Camden St. Dublin on June 29th.