The "random musings than don't warrant their own post" post. #2

Rightio, it has been over a month since my last entry, but unlike most other times I've had a valid reason, which I'll mention at the end. But first some smaller things that don't warrant a full post of their own.

• I did my 100th comedy gig of 2010. I did my first of the year on January 21st and having kept record of everyone since. I did in the region of 25 gigs in 2009, so I'm very pleased with reaching 100 this year. Thanks to anyone who gave me a gig or came to support; it's greatly appreciated.
• I performed in The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Glasgow one was one of the best I've done and it was a huge deal to me as it's where Stewart Lee, my favourite comedian, recorded some of his DVDs. Probably no big deal to most, but I'm a bit of a sap.
• I'm actually keeping on top of all my college work, for the first since I started 3rd level education in 2007. So a large part of the reason I've not posted more is to do with the fact that I'm doing my college work which I find interesting and sort of enjoy doing. IADT > UCD.
• I saw The Social Network, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but the highlight of the movie to me was the soundtrack, by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. I really hope the two work together on further soundtracks as this on is stellar.
• The reason I didn't post anything over during October was that my parents told me they were getting divorced, so I was a little shaken and preoccupied with that. Material to follow.

So yeah, thats the last month in a nutshell.

Dublin and Its C U Next Tuesdays.

I like living in Dublin. There's generally always something to do or somehwhere to go. There are times however that the city infuriates me. I'm just home from a night out with friends after Chairman LMAO's comedy club, that I run with some friends, and as I walked home the pubs and clubs were slowly emptying out onto the street. As I walked down Baggot St. a well dressed man in his late forties, proudly announces to two ladies with him,

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Nostaglic Smiles #1

Those of you who've seen my recent stand up sets or heard me on various radio stations in the past will know that I've a huge love for the Power Ranger series, especially the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. In the last week the original Blue Ranger came out to the world, so while reading about this online, I ended up just watching different Power Rangers videos.



That video brings back so many memories of waking up at 8.30 every Saturday morning when I was little and just sitting in my pyjamas watching ITV's childrens' programming all morning.

Also, how convenient is it that Alpha has a button to summon "teenagers with attitude"? :)

You want a weird dream, well try this...

I found this piece saved in my drafts from last March:

Ok, so this is not going to be the most well written or coherent piece, more a loose stream of consciousness of what I can remember.

Here goes!

So I was on a Dublin Bus, in Cavan, parked at the bus station. I was talking to my friends Marcus and Adam on the upper deck of the bus. There was also two chaps there who looked liked grizzled war veterans. So Marcus and Adam left the bus. I keep talking to these two chaps about Rocky and Rambo. Then the bus starts to get shot at. So we casually sit down on the ground. After a few minutes we lie under all the seats. Eventually Danni Minogue has enough and says she's leaving to save herself.

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Stairway to what now?!

TNA recently announced that Rob Van Dam and Abyss would compete in a "Stairway To Janice" match.

I know now that "Janice" is Abyss's plank with nails in it but regardless I did have a go at making the poster for that week's episode of Impact based on my initial thoughts.

I may have taken it a tad too literal.

Anyway, TNA marketing division, call me!


(For readers who aren't wrestling fans, I promise the next post will be about something other than wrasslin')

Forget West Virginia, this is the best wrestling promotion in the WORLD!

[NOTE: Some Firefox users don't seem to be able to see the video below but just click "Read More.." and it'll appear. Apologies. d]

Behold, ladies and gentlemen, a video that will entertain everyone, be they wrestling fans or not:



If you watched the video, and I can only presume you have if you're reading this, you will understand what I meant in this post's title when I said Mountain State Wrestling is not just the best wrestling promotion in West Virginia, but the world.

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I really want to be On The Road.

I recently finished reading Jack Kerouac's On The Road on the flight home Spain a few weeks ago. Ever since finishing it I've practically thought about nothing but road trips and travelling around with just a rucksack and an enthusiasm for the unknown.

A few days after I got home from Spain, I was to go to a good friend of mine's 21st birthday on Clare Island, off the west coast of Ireland. I was so excited. Myself, Jon and Conor set off on a Glen Coco Experience roadtrip from Dublin, with Jon driving. As I had only ever gone to Clare Island from Cavan before with Mum driving, we weren't too sure on which roads to take so of course we consulted the source of all knowledge, Google. Google told us which roads to take and how long it would take to get there. I was suspect of the 3.5 hours it told us it'd take to drive west across the country seeing as it takes that long to get from Cavan to Mayo. Regardless, I knew it would be closer to 3.5 hours (in the region of 5 I predicted) than to the few weeks it took Mr. Kerouac and Co. to get across the USA. This just reminded me of how depressingly small Ireland is.

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Holy Nostalgic Email Batman!

I'm currently lying in bed with a horrible headache (Is that the Waaahmbulance I hear?) and deleting old emails from my hotmail inbox. After setting the sort option to dates in ascending order (I think) I found this email from one of my best friends Niamh that I'd forgotten existed (the email, not Niamh) and it made me smile so much. It's dated "08 September 2006 10:20:53" and this what Niamho had to say:

"ye so im really bored in ecdl right now so i thought i write a message to
people, and yous are the lucky people....... theres no point t dis msg....
im just bored, nd im gettin my picture taken for the school foto which is
gay, gay, FAG, gay, gay.... u get it. oh and im kinda hoping itl be next
class coz i have a geog test nd i didnt get time t study for that coz i did
EVERYTHING i could do so just i didnt have to study........... BLAH. so here
i am, am i here? i am here, its amazin wot you can do with them 3 words isnt
it?? ye so im gonna go now,
goin

goin






gone!!!"

Being 16 was so much fun and was one of the best times of my life.

I must pointed out that Niamh's spelling and grammar has improved. Somewhat. ;)

Chairman LMAO's Comedy Blah Blah presents "UCD Vs. Trinity"

On April 23rd, myself and a few friends organised a UCD vs. Trinity stand up "competition" at Chairman LMAO's Comedy Blah Blah (the club I run with Jon and Conor)

It was an absolutely fantastic night, and without a doubt my favourite gig that I've ever been a part of. We organised awards to add more fun to the night.

The comedians on the night were:

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Scanger Rap

A good friend of mine and fellow comedian Shane Browne has uploaded a recording of his latest hilarious song onto YouTube.



After watching that, be sure to look up his fantastic other song, The Celtic Tiger Song.

WWE Wrestlemania Revenge Tour Show.

I'm just home from the WWE Wrestlemania Revenge Tour house show featuring the Raw roster in The O2 in Dublin. The last time I was at a pro wrestling show was last January I attended the TNA house show in Dublin. Just to get it out of the way, and as before, I won't waste the time of any non wrestling fan reading by go to a huge detail on the matches other than results:

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StreetDance 3D: A Review.

Visually impressive? Check. Minorities speaking in broken English? Check. Plot devoid of originality? Check! No, it's not Avatar, (well it could be,just not on this occasion) it's Streetdance 3D, the latest film to jump on the street dancing bandwagon (See: Step Up, Step Up 2: The Streets) except unlike the others, this is set on the mean streets of London. And by mean streets, I mean a fancy ballet academy. Streetdance is a gritty, dramatic and realistic social commentary in which two groups of youths from contrasting upbringings must put their differences aside in order to win the most hallowed and prestigious UK Street Dance Final. Serious shit, I know!

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Chatroulette; A Hindsight Review.

Chatroulette is one of the latest internet crazes. It's a lot like Omegle, in the sense that you're connected with a random stranger, but on CR your webcam and mics are connected too. Sounds like a fantastic idea alright, and it is to an extent, up until you realise that a vast majority of the users are guys wanking, looking for girls to flash them.
If you can get past seeing a numerous fwapping guys for a second at a time, some fun can be had on CR. This is a conversation I had with a guy on CR about 3 weeks ago, when the user numbers were somewhere between 3000 and 7000 (these days it just says there are ">20000 users").
To set the scene; it was about 4am GMT, I had my "The Dark Knight" Batman mask, the Joker's mask he wears during the bank robbery scene and my Ash Ketchum hat beside me.

(I'm wearing my Batman mask when it starts)

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Rules Don't Stop

Rules Don't Stop is the latest single from my favourite band We Are Scientists. It is the first single from their upcoming album, Barbara. The song got it's first radio play two days ago on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show and as of about 10 minutes ago, it's been available to listen to on their Myspace page. Needless to say, I love it but for those of you who aren't familiar with Keith and Chris, or as big a fan and need convincing, check it out now. 

Oxegen 2010 Lineup - Initial Thoughts.

Those of you who know me, know that I adore the Oxegen festival and go every year. Should I go this year, it will be my fifth Oxegen. The lineup was announced this past week and it's garnered very mixed reactions. I've no problem as such with the acts themselves, however my only fear is that Jay-Z and, more prominently, Eminem will attract quite large numbers of scumbags. While I adore both acts and do look forward to seeing them, after experiencing the dodgey types who were there last year for the The Game( who pulled out as it happened) I am weary. Of course I'm not saying all the people going to see those acts will be troublesome, it's just that there'll inevitably be a few who'll cause hassle.


Ok, so that's the parent in me's message done, on to the rest of the lineup.

This is a list from the Oxegen site of the confirmed acts so far:

Eminem, Muse, Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas, Kasabian, The Prodigy, Florence and the Machine, Paolo Nutini, Faithless, Stereophonics, David Guetta, Vampire Weekend, Mumford and Sons, John Mayer, Hot Chip, Calvin Harris, Newton Faulkner, Gossip, The Temper Trap, Empire of the Sun, Goldfrapp, La Roux, Wolfmother, Rise Against, The Coral, Broken Social Scene, Ellie Goulding, Two Door Cinema Club, Arkansas, Armand Van Helden, Steve Angello, Simian Mobile Disco, Erol Alkan, Steve Aoki, A-Trak and Aeroplane.

From that list the acts I definitely plan on seeing are Rise Against, Mumford and Sons, Hot Chip, Steve Aoki, Broken Social Scene, Vampire Weekend, Eminem and Jay-Z.

I'm going to presume that Florence and The Machine will be on the O2 Stage, or whatever it's called this year, on Saturday or Sunday night after playing the fantastic but frankly tiny Red Bull Stage last year.

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Comedian: Year One.

February 18th 2009. I performed stand up comedy for the first time ever. Not only was this the first time I'd done stand up, but it was also the first time I'd spoken to more than maybe 10 people at once. Terrifying, to say the least. After qualifying for the final of the UCD Stands Up competition, I was so happy and on such a buzz. Such was the amazingness, I implore everyone to try stand up, even just once.

Receiving generous applause from the amazing turnout of Cavan friends. :)

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Yellow Submarine tea thing!

I was just shown this! It's a Yellow Submarine that you put tea leaves in and it acts like a tea bag of sorts. I've no idea where to get it but if anyone finds one please get me it!

The "random musings than don't warrant their own post" post. #1

Apologies for the lack of action on here lately. College has been a bit of a mindfuck and I've had to get myself organised so as not to eff up my life. I've not done a whole pile as of late so this is just a collection of little things.

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Reterospective; The Top Five Cultural Phenomena of the Last Decade.

Note from David: This is a guest article contributed by a close friend of mine and comedy savant , Jon Hozier-Byrne, pictured here working his magic.

It’s 2010, we are now officially in the ‘Teenies’, and what a decade the last ten years has been. This is the decade that brought us the internet, the instantaneous access of all people to all the world’s collective knowledge, and My Chemical Romance. It was the decade of Live 8, which was like Live Aid, only Freddy Mercury was dead and instead we had Coldplay. We changed the world that day, through Coldplay’s dulcid tones, and now there’s no more famine or racism or whatever that was about. Something about people clicking their fingers, I don’t really remember. Anyway, Africa was saved and now we have Barack Obama. So, here’s the top five Cultural Phenomena of the Last Decade, the top five things that will define us in the minds of our children, and in the minds of future robot historians.

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Riverside, muthafucka!

On New Years Day I posted "Riverside" by Sydney Sampson. Here's where the vocal sample came from. It's from the 1992 film "Juice" starring Omar Epps (Eric Foreman in "House") and Tupac "2Pac" Shakur (not Eric Foreman in "House").



Altogether now, "Riverside, muthafucka!"

Resolutions for 2010.

Firstly here's what I said at the beginning of 2009 and how I did:

Resolutions.

1. Become more committed and determined to projects. - Seems grammatically incorrect but anyway, I guess so. Start doing comedy and it's the only thing I've been passionate about.

2. Start to do some actual work at college. - I started busting my ass towards the end of semester two and got my GPA up but then semester one of 3rd year has been a disaster.
3. Get a job. - No, I did try but to no avail, but I guess if this comedy thing works out this might actually be achieved.

Plans
1. To buy, build and maintain my own domain name and site. - Yups!

2. Save enough money to buy an Eee PC. - Got a Samsung netbook for Christmas.
3. Clear out my room, get a new desk and wardrobe. - Eh, about that...
4. Set up an office style set-up, which instead will be used for gaming, Internet and designing. - Not as permanent a set up as I would have liked.

Now for my resolutions for 2010;

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Modeling for the University Observer.

Just remembered I had a virtual copy of the issue of the UCD University Observer that I modeled t-shirts in months so I thought I'd post them, just out of thanks to my friend Sean McGovern who is the fashion editor at the paper. It was loads of fun to do and I'd love to do it again. (Hint, hint Sean.)

Happy New Year!

Had a good giggle out last night in Cavan with my besties. It was the first time I've ever seen a DJ only play music from the last decade; get with the times...

Also, is it just me or when people say "Happy New Year! Have a good one!" does it give the impression they're wishing you well for the year as if they won't see you until next year?

Bad jokes aside, my friend Eamon and I absolutely lost our shit when we got our request played.





I'll do a resolutions blog later but for now I've some sleep to catch up on.

Happy New Years chums!

The Last Decade.

The last decade was very important for me, probably more so than any other decade in my life, for the following reasons;

• Finished primary school.
• Started secondary school.
• Puberty happened. (Some would argue it's ongoing)
• Made some amazing friends I know I'll have for life.
• Discovered the world of music, something that has shaped who I am.
• Finding the wonders of the internet.
• Became somewhat social.
• Did the Leaving Cert. and finished secondary school.
• Love of comics reignited.
• Fell in love with movies.
• First job, working with the HSE.
• Moved to Dublin to study in UCD.
• Developed some confidence.
• Started doing stand up comedy, the first activity I've ever felt passionate for.
• I turned 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19; each being a stand out age for their own reason.
• Visited France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and England.