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"I'm sick of love"
I've just seen one of the most bizarre TV commercials imaginable. Bob Dylan... being used to sale ladies' underwear, (specifically Victoria's Secret.) But not just his music. He actually starred in the ad! (Either that or a most convincing look-a-like.) Could he really have sold his soul to the devil, or as the ads would have you believe, an angel? The mind boggles.
It's just not cricket
If, like me, you appreciate that cricket is not just a sport but rather a way of life, (and one that is greatly superior to popular western culture), you will find this article from The Independent both insightful and depressing. (Thanks to Dad for pointing me to it.)
Sticking with things that aren't cricket, the Northern Ireland football team extended their rich vein of scoring form to two games in a row. Furthermore, they actually recorded a victory for the first time since October 2001. They beat Estonia 0-1. Go here for the trusty BBC online match report.
"...the smell of your fresh-cut grass"
Mmm. My favourite smell. I saw them cutting the grass on the baseball field outside my room today. Unfortunately I didn't actually smell it, but I look forward to doing so soon. Spring is here.
For sale: Bertie
It'll be a heart-wrenching goodbye, but I've had to advertise Bertie for sale at Autotrader.com. We'll remember the good times, and we've got one final fling to come - Easter in Chicago. I hope we can find him a good home. I appreciate your thoughts at this difficult time.
Six Nations Rugby
Back in Novemember you may remember that it pained me greatly to congratulate England on winning the World Cup. Well, I take a measure of pleasure in congratulating France on beating them yesterday to take the Grand Slam. Of course it would have been nice for Ireland to finish in first place rather than second, but beating England at Twickenham en route to our first Triple Crown in 19 years is significant consolation.
"We didn't start the fire"
2:30am this morning. Fire alarm. So what else is new? As always I toyed with the idea of ignoring it, and, as always, I decided I better not. Really I'm not that much of a rebel at heart. But I certainly wasn't going to impose my vigilence on still-sleeping roommate, Sean. Not, that is, until I opened the door and smelled smoke. Anyway, we went out to the hallway and quite disturbingly couldn't see the far end due to thick, nasty smoke. Luckily we could just go the other direction to the front door of the building, but for a second it was pretty scary.
Before long the Fire Department had the situation under control and Campus Safety Services (our joke of a "police" service) as well as University Heights Police Department (who seemed only slightly more professional) were on the scene. They were soon taking statements and telling us that it was arson. How they justified jumping to that conclusion so quickly and then announcing it to all of us is a mystery. It seems that someone had set fire to some posters (actually, a lot of posters and notices) stuck to a door... two rooms down from my own! (I mean a ridiculous amount of paper was stuck to this door. It was a bit of a running joke on our floor to pin every notice on campus to Joe and Jeremy's door.) So anyway we got back into the building about 4:30 and I admit I had some trouble getting back to sleep. The damage didn't look too severe actually, which makes me worry about the amount of smoke that would be generated by a large fire. There is a picture of a distressed Joe and his distressed door here.
So I can add this to my list of "things that only happen to other people" that have now happened to me. In conclusion: Thumbs up on Monday! (That means YOU, mum and dad. Get a new smoke alarm. I don't care if it goes off every time you burn the toast!)
(From your web host, PNC Arson.)
Peet in da gettho
In much less dramatic news, yesterday afternoon I visited a public elementary school in a less affluent part of Ceveland to tell them about how great Northern Ireland is. Much as I decry my ability to communicate effectively with children, it was actually fun. And I can say with confidence that it is the first time I have ever been in a room of people where the most common first name is Mercedes. (Also present were Porsche, Ford and... Oldsmobile? I jest.)
The Passion of The Christ
So last night I finally got round to seeing The Passion. I know plenty has already been said and written about it, by people much better qualified than me to comment, but here's my two cents.
Firstly on the accuracy, apart from a few creative pieces of dialogue and incidental embellishments everything seemed to follow the Gospel accounts pretty well. Additionally I think Gibson must have made a conscious effort not to include anything which would alienate the Protestant churches, which was appreciated. But these are technicalities. What I really want to talk about is the impact of the film. Its graphic portrayal of the violence perpetrated against Jesus has been widely reported. In days gone by I was known to be highly squeamish, but more latterly I've developed an ability to stomach just about anything on screen, yet I would venture to say that no one who believes in the facts of The Passion could watch it unflinchingly or without turning away. I'm inclined to think that perhaps they overdid the violence just a little, but there's no harm in that. It gets the message across most vehemently. The truth of the Gospel is not as comfortable as many Sunday morning services would have us believe.
One mental image I have always shied away from is that of nails being driven through the hands and feet of my Lord. Here there is no escaping it. In an interesting quirk, I read that the only appearrance Mel Gibson made in the film was as the hands which hammered the nails to the cross. Actually I see this as more than a quirk. It acts as an important reminder that each of us are responsible when too often the temptation is to condemn "the Jews" or Pilate or whoever.
In sum, it was a challenge to pick up my cross, which if truth be told, has been gathering a little moss. I'm dismayed by the very fact that it has taken a greatly hyped movie for me to actually bother writing anything of spiritual significance on this my supposed journal.
Go see it.
(I don't have somewhere you can post comments, but if you have any responses to this or any post please email me.)
UPDATE: I just noticed the cross/moss rhyme in the first sentence of the last real paragraph. I assure you it was unintentional.
Elliott Smith Tribute in Belfast
I see from Sweet Adeline that there is going to be an Elliott Smith tribute concert at the Waterfront on 6th May. I'll be sorry to miss it. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.
Possible Interruption
Twoeshoes has warned me that some of my pictures may temporarily disappear sometime this week as he is transferring stuff to a new server... or some other technical thing like that which sails right over my head. So "please acept my apologise."
"Stories from the city, stories from the sea"
The photos from Spring Break are up, with fairly extensive commentary on the trip. I might get some more at a later date from other people's cameras, but there should be more than enough here to tide you over in the meantime.
Paddy Trivia
I have some belated St. Patrick trivia for you, from this web site. (I have to admit to stealing the idea from Debs Erwin.)
...was not Irish. He was a British Celt, first enslaved in Ireland as a teen, later a missionary to Ireland.
...was not necessarily the first missionary to Ireland.
No one knows his birth or death date. 17 March is traditionally considered to be one of the two, but there is no documentation for this.
The only documents about Patrick are his Confession and a letter he wrote to Coroticus.
There were never snakes---or other reptiles---in Ireland for Patrick to chase out.
Patrick predates the Roman Catholic Church, and was considered a ``saint'' before the Roman church created its canon (list) of saints (and added him to it).
Boy boy boy
Ever wonder what an Iain Archer video would be like? No, me neither, but he's made one for the (allegedly) upcoming single, Boy boy boy. I'm not convinced it's the greatest video ever, but it's a damned good song. Check it out here, or visit his website.
3441 miles later...
...we're all still alive. Even Bertie! We truly had the most incredible trip. It'll take me a while to get all the photos up, and I'm not even going to attempt to relay all that happened, but hopefullty the photo comments will give you the gist of it. I'll also include other anecdotes, etc as and when they come back to me. For now I'll just say that as we came back into Ohio on the last leg of the trip we saw a shooting star - a first for me - and it was like God winking at us to remind us that He'd been looking out for us every step of the way. A pretty incredible end to an unbelievable 10 days.
To whet your appetite I've included our proposed itinerary here (and, of course, in the Deli.) We didn't stick to it rigidly, but believe it or not we actually managed to squeeze in more destinations rather than fewer. I would certainly have posted the itinerary before we set out except that I hadn't told my parents all the places we planned to go! I'm sure they would have been worried about the state of the car, and to be honest, I was worried too. (Did I tell you that the new alternator died a few days before we set out? Thankfully we got it replaced under warranty from the autoparts shop, but still had to pay for labour.) But Bertie is a car for the big occasion. He pulls out all the stops when it really matters. I'm trying to think of a sportsperson to compare him to in this way, but drawing a blank. You get the picture.
Happy St. Paddy's Day
Speaking of big sporting events, what better way to celebrate our Patron Saint than with a Six Nations victory at Twickenham! I'm sure this isn't news to any of you, unless you've been living in a world even further removed from international rugby than New Orleans was, but I couldn't let it slip by without a mention. (Manchester United's recent dismal form, on the other hand, is another matter altogether :-(
DMC on WJCU
Today the boy McNair recorded a few songs for the John Carroll radio station. I haven't heard the finished versions yet but maybe I'll get exclusive rights to host the mp3s?? (If Twoshoes lets me steal more of his webspace that is ;-) If you're in the Cleveland area tune to 88.7 FM on Thursday from 1:30pm for superstar DJ, Bobby Maxwell's show.
Traffic
I've now had over 1500 hits on the site which I guess is a lot in relative terms. It seems like a lot. Most of them were probably me checking stuff, but still, thanks very much to those who do visit regularly. I hope you continue to enjoy it. (Or maybe you're still waiting for something good for the first time!)
"I haven't gone away, y'know!"
...at least, not quite yet. I leave to get Dave from the airport in about an hour, so for the first time in a while I actually have some free time to kill. He's flying in from Cincinnati, which is exactly where we are planning to drive back to tonight. I'll look out for Butch and Snatch, although they are probably very busy at the minute covering the NCAA College Basketball.
"I believe in a thing called.... bizarre cover versions?"
Click here for a unique version of Radiohead's Street Spirit.
One of the greatest tales of our generation
Click here for a deeply moving Flash animation about the brotherly love between two Italian plumbers. This also features a Radiohead track, Pyramid Song.
Capital Idea
I told you I'd get around to using capital letters one of these days. And I think I like them.
Auto Show
On Sunday I was at the Cleveland Auto Show which was a lot of fun, but I forgot my flippin' camera. Ragin', was I. I'm totally in love with minivans now though. I'm such a "soccer mom!"
the new rulers of the world
i recently finished reading a book with the above title by australian investigative journalist john pilger. kind of like a stupid white men, only for people with brains. more brains than me, i hasten to add. anyway, i think it should be compulsory reading for all britons and americans. and australians too for that matter. mind you, it's difficult to muster up much politically motivated righteous anger against australians. we generally just hate them for being so damned good at cricket.
spring break
ok so we're not going to cancun, miami, south padre or any other such centres of mtv-infected revellry/debauchery, but all being well we, that is, myself, mr. mcnair, andrew lawrence and bertie, will be heading to new orleans via memphis. the plan is to leave on thursday evening. i'm guessing internet access will, at best, be limited, so for now i bid you adieu. wish us well! (btw, i apologise for the lack of updates and emails lately. things have been pretty hectic and they aren't showing any signs of letting up after the break either.)
dmc.com
speaking of mr. mcnair, his new website is open for business at www.davidmcnair.co.uk. (well, not strictly business, per se. i guess it would qualify as a non-profit organization.)