Things photees

(courtesy of the always snapping Lili

TV-tastic

went out to Fun Laoghaire last night because Aoibhinn was on The Panel and they film out in the Pavillion. The amazing John (Jon?) Simpson was the main guest. Unbelievable guy. Such a legend. Anywhoo, Evil, was of course awesome. You can check it out tonight on RTE 2 - think it's on around 10pm. Also, as it is Monday, I am as usual on TTV on RTE 2 at 8pm. Enjoy!

We Are Scientists tonight. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY. Nobody Move. Nobody Get Hurt.

Rock.

Una

PS: best of luck to all the brilliant people over at Phantom FM. The station goes live on 105.2fm at midday. See y'all at the launch party in The Village tomorrow.

Friday = Carnage

what can we all say, eh? On Friday night, me, Lili and Ian went to see The Things in the Hub. There, we bumped into Donna from the awesome Stagger Lee. When I had a few too many shandys, I persisted in telling her OVER AND OVER how much I loved her band, so I must apologise for that bandaid like behaviour. Listen, we were wrecked. The set was awesome - Jaegertastic. Then Corina arrived, then Burco and Killian (and Anthony says he was there, but I don't remember). Ian got in a fight with someone about a blonde wig he stole. I fell over and bruised my coxyx. We spent what seemed like an eternity hanging outside the Hub talking to Neilo. Burco had to rescue me from an impromptu party I was organising with guys who Killian said looked like Aphex Twin. Lili managed to fall outside Ricks Burgers and not drop her burger. Eventually we ended up in that Indian place near Corina's gaff, bumped into Mark and bought bottles of wine. We got to bed, uh, late.

So that was that.

Una

music news from .... here

1. Republic of Loose release a Special Edition of AAAGH! on Friday 17th November. Release includes a bonus DVD containing live footage of Oxegen plus interviews and B-Sides.

View clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPwlKFqs0IM

They also release the new single "The Idiots" featuring a previously un-released B-Side on the same date.


2. The Sunday Tribune will have the first Damien Rice '9' review this Sunday.


3. Warlords of Pez win the UnaRocks prize for best song titles on their new self-titled album:
- Warlords Are Shit
- Fat Muthafucka From Hell
- Monster Voice
- Bee Bop
- Donald Duck Death Metal (Metal Duck)
- What's Love Got To Do With Swallowing Horse Vomit?
- Clipotty Clop
- Why, Mommy Why?
- Polka Seizure Sausage Relapse
- Total Sex
- O Dracula
- Snowman Made Of Shit
- Barney Schwarzenegger
- Ham & Cheese Music Manifesto
- 3 Week Homosexual Architect's Instructional Video Neddlework Course To Success
- Old Women With Broadband
- World Control


4. The new Groom record (All This Happened, More Or Less) has some nice songs on it. They also send mini bars of chocolate with their press packs, so clearly, they rock.


um, I can't think of anything else.

listening to: Iain Archer - 'Magnetic North'
drinking: super strength lattes from Cafe Sol
eating: fizzy cola jellies. zing.
reading: The Sharper Mind: Mental Aerobics for Brain Training - Fred B Chernow
watching: The new Eyebrowy DVD - 'I Prefer The Early Stuff'

at last... thai photees! (there are more further down, and more to come!)

at last ... Thai photees! - scary hotel in Phuket

Ze Weekend

Friday:
Miss Kittin at the Temple Bar Music Centre was so amazing. The gig was totally sold out, with loads of people left outside. Anthony's set was AWESOME. And Miss Kittin was so good too - really dark. She played Harrowdown Hill near the end and I was so happy because I'd been listening to that song all day so it was really cool to see it played in that context. Everyone was going crazy. People were going mental to get her autograph near the end. I spotted an old mate from school, Tanya, in the crowd waving a record sleeve and got Kittin to sign it. That was my good deed of the day I think. Kittin was so nice too. We got to hang out with her a little bit after the show and she was so sweet and cool. Much love to Anthony and the Remedy crew

Saturday:
now that I'm working Monday to Friday, my life is a little bit different. Saturday's normally meant waking up seconds before I was meant to be in work, panicking, being hungover and running into work hoping that the day wouldn't be too rough. Normally Saturdays are kind of quiet but there have been a few memerable ones in the past year and a half; nearly losing the rag when I got my first front page story, reporting on the Dublin riots, having my ass seriously kicked by Roisin Ingle and the World Cyber Championships, and plenty of long breakfasts and multi-coffee trips. But last Saturday I got up to no work. Chilled out, went down to Meath Street to buy some food, watched X Factor. The general normal things that people do on Saturdays I guess. It's nice to have reclaimed a day for myself.

Sunday:
my two wonderful flatmates - Ro and Laney - arrived back from Thailand, tired and full of stories about the week that I hadn't had there. Laney got me a statue of a monkey and Ro got be the best T-shirt ever that says 'HOT TUNA'. Amazing. It was so good to have them back, I was kind of lonely (and messy) in th flat on my ownsome. Anyway, me and Laney went for a pint in Fallons (I think The Tenters has closed down - worst thing EVER). We watched some of the new Eyebrowy DVD, which is just hilarious, check it out.

At the moment, I'm listening to the new Damien Rice record - 9. It's not great to be honest. '9 Crimes' is a nice song, but the rest is just kind of boring. Not really my thing. What I'm loving is the new Warlords of Pez album - so awesome!

Una

at last... Thai photees!

Article of the week

this album review.


Una

Damn you lost luggage, damn you to hell

My bag hasn't arrived yet :(

Because of this I missed Peaches last night :(

Anywhoo, I will have Thai photees soon.

Lili has some cool photos on her blog from HWCH, check them out.


In other news, I got into work this morning and loads of CDs were waiting for me, which was nice. Here are some that I like:


Royseven
The Art of Insincerity
IRL
Oct 20

Max Richter
Songs From Before
Fat Cat Records
Oct 20

Tilly And The Wall
Bottoms of Barrels
Moshi Moshi Records
Oct 20

Johann Johannson
IBM 1404, A User's Manual
4AD
Oct 20

Luna
The Best Of Luna
Beggars Banquet
Oct 20

The Icicle Works
The Icicle Works
Beggars Banquet
Oct 20

Old Crow Medicine Show
Big Iron World
Nettwerk
Oct 20

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names
Rent A Wreck
Yes Boy Ice Cream

The Frank And Walters
A Renewed Interest In Happiness
Fifa Records
Oct 27

The Cake Sale
Oxfam Ireland
Oct 27

Travega
The People
Oct 27

Saint Thomas
There's Only One Of Me
Yes Boy Ice Cream
Oct 30

Beirut
The Gulag Orkestar & The Lon Gisland EP
4AD
Nov 3

Mogwai
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait Soundtrack
3 Nov


Others that I like:

The Ruby Tailights
Dressing Up

Hot Club De Paris
Drop It Til It Pops

The Datsuns
Smoke & Mirrors

Messiah J & The Expert
Now This I Have To Hear

Albert Hammond Jr
Yours To Keep

Still Unravished
A Tribute To The June Brides

Phew!

24ish hours, 3 flights, one taxi, two lightening storms, 6 hour stop over in Bangkok, four hour stop over in Amsterdam, one set of lost luggage (thanks Aer Lingus), four bottles of water, two cans of beer, one pack of Thai Mentos, four airports, one Burger King meal, two helpings of pork noodles, 9 coffees, one set of mysteriously itchy legs, two smelly socks, six times zones and 17 cigarettes later I am home.

See ya at Peaches - I'll be wearing a tan.

Una

Monkey!

Last night, we let a restaurant because it was shit and walked down the road to go to another one. A few metres down, there was a guy standing on the path with a baby monkey. It was small and fluffy - the cutest thing I have EVER seen. AND HE LET ME HOLD IT. And it wrapped it's little monkey hands around my neck. Possibly the best moment of my life!

Unfortunately, he wouldn't let me keep it :( But I am SERIOUSLY considering getting a monkey now. They are so awesome.

Anywhoo, these days we are in Ao Nang. It's so beautiful and has a really wide bay unlike Phi Phi, so it looks really vast and piratey. Tomorrow we are going sea kayaking and snorkelling (I keep picking the tours that have the most pictures of monkeys in the brochure.)

Actually, tomorrow is my last day, now that I think of it. Flying from Krabi to Bangkok Saturday night and then Bangkok to Amsterdam on Sunday morning, then Amsterdam to Dublin, just in time for some Hard Working Class Heroes action.

Una

Too much rum rum in my tum tum

Last night, the unimaginable happened. Una drank too much rum. You see, it was raining yesterday, so we decided to have a 'house' party (we're staying in these awesome villa thingys that stick out from the jungley mountain side and at night you can hear frogs, boars, monkeys and other mystery nature items). So we went for dinner and then I went into the shop to buy some Singa beer and instead bought these 'bucket' things they sell on the islands. It's basically a bucket, a little bigger than a sand castle one with a bottle of rum and a can of soft drink and a bottle of the leathal red bull concoction that has had me coke-like awake at night. So I bought it. The shop dude filled it with ice and off I went.

Over a couple of hours and various drinking games later, my bucket was completely empty and I was in the bathroom revisiting my penang chicken curry while Tadhg lay in bed offering NO ASSISTANCE AT ALL (crappest fake boyfriend ever.)

So this morning I feel a bit dodge. It's still raining :( and we're leaving Phi Phi to go to Ao Nang where I am DETERMINED to find monkeys to play with. Wish me luck!

Una

PS: a dedicated NME for Ireland? Interesting.

Hard Working Class Heroes Festival

don't really have much time to say anything about this festival except that it's on this weekend, it's awesome, cheap and you should all go. There's more on the site www.hwch.net

I'm home on Sunday afternoon, so I'll see y'all at Peaches in the Temple Bar Music Centre that night and the afterparty.

Una

Ko Phi Phi

We arrived here two days ago. It is honestly the most beautiful place I've ever seen. The water is so clear, there are tropical fish swimming around you in the see. I love it here. Great rum too :)

Una

bye bye Chiangmai

We had the best day yesterday (leaving aside the near-death experiences of Jane-o, Kev, Ro and Johnny B whose raft flipped over in a grade four rapid - they were eventually rescued with ropes and are safe and well apart from cuts and bruises). Went elephant treking through the jungle for about an hour or so and then went mountain biking for 10km. Of course, I nearly DIED with the exersion - high altitude + hangover + incredibly difficult jungle terrain = not happy bunny. So a few of us flaked out two thirds of the way, and only Kev, Jim Jim and Tadhg made it to the end.

White water rafting was so amazing. Luckily the company we trained with were really good. 4 people had died on the river that season so far. Eeek. They told us this after, otherwise I would have been a teeny bit nervous. Anyway, TEAM AMAZING (ie me, Laney, Jim Jim and Tadhg) were awesome, and we got through every rapid (two were grade 4, and the most extreme in the world is grade 5) without fucking up and beat all of the rafts to the finish. The scenary was just unbelievable. When we weren't concentrating on not dying, looking around was the best part - just being smack bang in the middle of a jungle rafting down a river. So cool. Anyway, big dissapointment on the monkey front. Saw NONE. There's a monkey centre you can go to here, but I think it's practically a zoo where they make them go on motobikes and type out Shakespear or some shit, so I won't be going there. SO WANT TO SEE MONKEYS THOUGH :(

Last night we went back into Chiangmai and had yumsies dinner and drank 80,000,000 margaritas.

Today, we fly to Bangkok and get a connecting flight to Phuket for some island hopping fun.

Rock.

Una

One (more) night in Bangkok

greetings from Thailand! What an awesome place. We got in yesterday morning and are having a total blast.

Everyone over here is wearing yellow in support of the king following the military coup. It's bizarre, as if everyone is going to the same random football match or something. Anyway, I bought one of the yellow tshirts too. (Along with Birkenstocks for 4 euro, mwoahaha)

We've just moved from our first hotel to the Ko San road, which is cooler. Staying here for one night and then taking the overnight train to Chiang Mai for our jungle trek.

Rock on.

Una