It seems like it was never going to arrive but the day of the Radiohead concert finally dawned last Thursday. It had been a long wait since March made somewhat exciting in the final week by the non-arrival of the concert tickets in the post. I made several harassed phone calls to Ticketmaster and found out that the tickets were sent out in April but they never arrived. Luckily the kind people at Ticketmaster agreed to have two tickets waiting for me at their box office/portacabin outside the entrance to the concert. We got to Dublin early in the afternoon and after dropping our bags off we bought tickets for the bus to Marley Park. At that stage hunger had set in so it was off to the nearest suitable establishment for some nourishment. Then we headed back to where the buses were leaving for Marley Park and joined the long long queue for a bus (which moved surprisingly quickly). I love going to concerts and seeing all the different types of people that go to them.

We made it to Marley Park and picked up the tickets shortly before Beck started playing. He started off with ‘Loser’ an excellent choice. I really enjoyed Beck’s performance and the band was great. The music was upbeat and they injected plenty of humour into their performance. The video towards the end of the puppets day out in Dublin culminating in them trashing Radiohead’s dressing room was very funny. After Beck had finished his set there was a bit of a break before Radiohead arrived on stage. Radiohead played for over an hour and a half which was great. I love their first three albums and when they played songs from these it was fantastic. The highlight of the convert was when everyone sang ‘Karma Police’ which is a personal favourite of mine. They played a good encore and even managed to squeeze ‘Creep’ in before the end. I sort of thought that they probably wouldn’t play it but they did a really enthusiastic version of it considering the millions of times that they must have performed it in the past. I was less enthused about their newer music but overall I really enjoyed the concert. If anyone hears that Beck is playing a solo concert in Ireland in the near future let me know!

The Love Island Final was on last night for an hour and a half. They went over lots of old footage to flesh the programme out and for the most part that was enjoyable. In fact it was more enjoyable than listening to the last few contestants telling the camera that they didn't want to win and that it had been an amazing experience. At least Brendan (the man who was given an award for honesty on the Island) was forthcoming enough to say that he wanted to win. In the end I was disappointed that Bianca and Callum won, they were very blah about the whole thing. At least if Kelly and Brendan had won there would have been some real displays of emotion!

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus
French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 - 1960)

Check out the I’ll Pass on Purgatory blog written by Majella who is spending five weeks walking across the Northern coast of Spain!

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

I have to admit that I’ve become a bit addicted to ‘Love Island’ and yes I realise that that is a really sad statement but it’s true. There are a number of reasons for this addiction, firstly I live in four channel land (RTE 1&2, TV3 and TG4) and there is nothing on at the moment, secondly I currently have the concentration span of a gnat and can just about cope with Love Island and thirdly I’ve been sucked into the dementedness of it all. I think Sophie Anderton is coming out of it quite badly. Is she acting or is she truly that self involved? The producers of the programme pulled an evil stunt on Brendan the other night under the guise of a ‘game’ by showing the whole group what he said to Kate about them while he was in the love shack. Although it was kind of funny seeing him run away from the security guards in his white y-fronts after losing his sarong to them, he had every right to feel screwed over by the programme organisers. In fairness most of the rest of the group have slagged off other people on the island over the past few weeks but their utterances did not get a group audience. This stunt had nothing to do with the ‘spirit’ of Love Island which I assume at some point in the past was to get the people together with someone they fancied. There is very little romance in the camp at the moment. Callum is toying with Bianca and Chris & Colleen are getting cosy but neither of these couplings is particularly inspiring. The only chemistry on the programme is between the two presenters, Paddy and Fearne, who have great banter in between the various clips from the house. To be honest they make the whole thing a whole lot more watchable. I’m resigned to the fact that I will have to see it through to the end but at least it is only for another two weeks…

At 20 years of age the will reigns, at 30 the wit, at 40 the judgment.

Benjamin Franklin
US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)

Dwight is a three piece Irish band whose members hail from both Cork and Kerry. They have released an EP called ‘Kill or Cure’ which can be purchased from their website. I’ve gotten kind of addicted to listening to one of their songs ‘Gardening’ which is a great track and one worthy of lots of airplay. The band is currently on tour in South East Asia but is due back to the studio in winter to record their album. The album will be produced by Bret Grieger. In the meantime they will be playing the Bloom Festival in Tralee next Friday (August 18th) with The Immediate, Neosupervital and The Chalets. I’ve seen them play live a couple of times and they are worth checking out.

I went for dinner last night and as much as I love dessert I couldn’t order it because I was so full after the main course. I perused the coffee menu and came upon ‘Affogato’ which was something new for me, so I asked the waitress what it was. She explained that it was a shot of hot espresso coffee with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream in it. What a great idea – combining after dinner coffee with ice-cream! Needless to say it was delicious, unfortunately drinking espresso at half nine at night wasn’t compatible with a good night’s sleep. Apparently “Affogato” means “I’m drowing” in Italian which is pretty apt considering the ice-cream is ‘drowning’ in espresso. You can also add a liqueur such as Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Strega or even Nocell (a walnut liqueur) to your affogato for that extra touch of luxury!

I’ve been a bit of a Batman fan since I was a kid. They used to show re-runs of the old 1960’s Batman TV series, which starred Adam West and Burt Ward, late on a Saturday morning. The old show had a lot going for it – a cheesy script, over the top outfits, the bat signal, the bat car and the batcave, as well as lots of gadgets and special effects that looked hilarious. My favourite thing about the old show was the fight scenes when words like ‘POW’ and ‘WHAM’ would pop up on the screen to signify the ferociousness of the onscreen fighting and they also looked like comic book style sound effects. The 1960’s TV series was very colourful with psychedelic costumes and an endless line-up of mad villains. The show had a pompous sounding narrator that uttered the immortal lines – ‘same bat time, same bat channel’ at the end of each show making sure that viewers tuned in next week to find out how the dynamic duo would escape from the clutches of another evil villian.

Batman (1989) – In 1989 Tim Burton brought out an excellent Batman movie and kick started a new wave of Batman films. I loved this film when I went to see it. Michael Keaton played Bruce Wayne/Batman, Jack Nicholson played the Joker and Kim Basinger played Vicki Vale, the love interest. The film’s dark tone is closer to the original comics than the 1960’s TV series which was very camp. Michael Keaton is an unlikely choice for Batman but does an excellent job as the mysteries hero that may or may not be slightly unbalanced. Jack Nicholson is great as the Joker and brings a lot of colour to the film.

Batman Returns (1992) –
Michael Keaton reprised his role of Batman in Tim Burton’s second Batman film ‘Batman Returns’. Again the film is dark like its predecessor but this time there are two villains instead of one. Michelle Pfeiffer takes on the role of Catwoman and Danny De Vito plays the Penguin. Both do an excellent job especially De Vito as the Penguin. Although the characters in the film were good the script wasn’t great and I didn’t like this film as much as Burton’s previous offering.

Batman Forever (1995) –
Joel Schumacher directed the third Batman film and Val Kilmer took on the role of Batman. This film was more colourful and lighter than the previous two Burton films. There was two villains – The Riddler, played by Jim Carey, and Two face, played by Tommy Lee Jones. The film also starred Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian and Chris O’Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin. I was disappointed with this film. There is too much going on with lots of colour and flashy scenes but ultimately it’s an empty sort of film. Val Kilmer was ok as Batman but I preferred Keaton.

Batman and Robin (1997) – Joel Schumacher returned as director for the fourth film in the series but Val Kilmer was replaced by George Clooney as Batman. This film was even more colourful and sillier than the last Schumacher film. The costumes were even crazier too – why did the Batman suit have protruding nipples? The script was truly awful, I found myself predicting lines while watching the film in the cinema. Again I think that the film was too crowded with character with two villains and Batgirl being added to the mix. The villains, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy, were played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman while Batgirl was played by Alicia Silverstone. Although George Clooney looked great in black there wasn’t much he could do with the script and Chris O’Donnell was as annoying as ever.

Batman Begins (2005) – Christopher Nolan took over directing duties from Joel Schumacher for the fifth Batman film which was a blessing considering the last two films that had been made. Overall I enjoyed this film a lot, Christian Bale worked well as Batman and I loved the casting of Michael Caine as Alfred. Cillian Murphy was extremely creepy as the villain Scarecrow. Apparently he actually auditioned for the part of Batman and when he didn’t get it he was asked to audition for the part of the Scarecrow. I don’t think that Katie Holmes added much to the film, she didn’t really seem to suit the part. Gary Oldman was good as Jim Gordon and I loved Morgan Freeman’s part as Lucius Fox. The start of the film was a bit long and it took a while for it to get going but I loved the action and all the bat gear. I cheered as each new bat gadget was introduced. This film was a return to form and a more believable and watchable Batman than the last few Joel Schumacher films.

The Dark Knight - Summer 2008 (tbc)

It was announced recently that there will be a follow up to last year’s blockbuster ‘Batman Begins’. Christopher Nolan is set to direct his second batman film entitled ‘The Dark Knight’. The script is written by Jonathon Nolan and is based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer. Christian Bale will resume his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Heath Ledger has been cast as the Joker. It will be interesting to see how the Joker character is handled this time. Will he be camp and funny or dark and menacing? It should be a very watchable film with Bale and Ledger facing off against each other.

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

Superman Returns – I was kind of curious about this film. I never really watched the original Superman films unless you count seeing snatches of them on TV over the years. My memories of Superman come from the TV series ‘Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman’. I enjoyed the film although I thought that Brandon Routh looked a bit computer generated and had a freakish resemblance to the original Superman, Christopher Reeve. Also what was the deal with the single curl that fell over his forehead when he was Superman but magically disappeared when he was Clark? Every time I saw it the rhyme ‘there was a little, who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead…’ ran through my head which was a wee bit distracting. I guess I’ll just have to blame my own demented train of thought for that, anyway if they make another Superman film (which I hope they do) then my advice would be to ditch the curl.

The Lake House – I was expecting this to be awful. It always sends a chill down my spine when they ‘reunite’ two actors in a romcom more than ten years after they have starred in a success film together. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock starred in Speed back in 1994 and then Keanu Reeves had the good sense not to sign up to Speed 2. This film wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, although it is better if you don’t dwell on the whole time travel/time separation issue. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock worked well together and the story was told in an appealing way plus I liked the cute dog that they shared. Keanu Reeves and a cute dog in the film what more could you ask for?

The Break Up – This film is not a typical feel good romantic comedy basically because it isn’t very romantic or funny. The story shows the break up of a couple that are living together and while there is the odd laugh it’s actually kind of sad. At times I wanted to bang their heads together and at other times I didn’t really care what happened to the main characters. If you are looking for a romantic comedy, look elsewhere.