Sunday Round-Up #16

Awh, it’s our sweet sixteenth!

My abstract distraction this week is :

Alright, I went to yet another gig.

Friend of mine had a spare ticket to Built To Spill, and asked me if I wanted to go. I’ve given them the song of the week on here a while back, and while I haven’t listened to them all that much, I did really like the stuff I had of theirs. So I went.

You can read a full report on this post here, which goes into better detail about the whole thing.

The support act were incredible, and there was a brilliant moment when the lead singer from Built To Spill got up dancing in the centre of the room during the support act’s show. Doing really cheesy and funny dance moves, and then everyone joined in. It was like a movie or something - brilliant!

Got an aul’ signature too, which is becoming quite a common occurence for me these days.

Something that made me laugh this week :

I saw this video a while back, but stumbled across it again this week. I couldn’t believe how funny it was. It’s an old clip of Russell Brand doing a sketch as this complete weirdo.

I showed this to some friends that aren’t big fans of Ol’ Russ and even they found it hilarious.

I love how in-character he is in it, using perfect phrases and language to suit the guy he’s playing. For example, something going wrong - “Oh jeepers creepers”, and when asking someone for a loan of their jeans - “Borrow us your jeans!”. There’s much more but I’d rather not spoil it.

The clip is shown during an interview with Russell and Matt, and starts at around 6.10 minutes.

Oh I need this dun’ I? I really chuffin’ need this! CHUFF IT!

Curses on :

I have lots of college work due.

Basically, four weeks ago we had a seminar where we were given assignments. Four weeks (one of which was a “reading week”) later, and I’m only starting. Worst of all, I might have to make a presentation to the rest of the group with my partner. Thing is, my partner texted me last week to let me know he’s changed courses. So I’ll be all on my lonesome.

What the fuck am I doing typing this up? I have shit to do.

I’m pleased with :

The new Football Manager is out. I’m considering bringing my laptop into lectures and playing this game the whole time. It’s perfect to play on the sly.

Also, had a good night of gambling on Thursday. Before going out on a class night out thing, I logged onto Paddy Power to check out what matches were on that night.

Juventus were playing, so I stuck a fiver on them.

I then stuck some money on a treble, Tranmere, Galatasaray and CFR Cluj all to win. Not the usual sort of teams I bet on. They all won. And we watched the last team win just before leaving to go out, so I was in an instantly good mood.

A pointless anecdote from this week :

There I was, waiting for the bus. I then see a group of four middle aged women walking out of a park, in in their walking gear. They had those little pedometer (I can’t help but read that as pedo-meter) things on their hips.

I thought to myself, “Awh, look at those little old dears, still caring about their appearance, probably because nobody else does, but still, fair play to them. Keeping fit and all that.”

When they left the park they walked into McDonald’s.

Reminded me of that picture I saw online once, of a newspaper clipping. It showed a pregnant women who was apparently concerned and kicking up a fuss about some environmental thing affecting her unborn child. She was smoking a cigarette in the photograph.

Great guy/gal of this week :

Any employee of XMusic.

This is Ireland’s largest music instrument store. Me and a friend went out there on Tuesday to check it out. It’s feckin’ huge.

We were used to the little music shops in town where it’s all cramped and you have to ask permission to try out an instrument and they come over and set it all up. And they’re usually dickheads about it all.

We went into XMusic and were amazed. It reminded me of when you’re a child and you get brought into Smyths or Toymaster or something and the mere sight of so many toys in one place gets you all excited.

After browsing for a while I decided on the bass guitars I wanted to try out. We went up and asked if we could try them out. Waiting for a response like “Yeah just give me a minute and I’ll be with you”.

But no. They replied, in an utterly casual tone “Yeah sure, try out whatever you want”. My friend asked if it was alright if he tried out a certain amp. “Whatever you want on whatever you want”.

Again, the child in a toy store comes to mind. It was like telling a child he could go play with any toy he wanted. Or telling him he was going to the Late Late Toy Show and getting one of everything.

I had to reach up and precariously take down a bass worth €1800.

Their website is still under construction but you can check out the temporary version here.

I’ll be heading out there again soon for sure.

XMusic staff <3

Product/Service I like this week :

Tiger beer. I tried this for the first time this week.

We were in a Japanese restaurant. I had a tutorial to go to soon, so instead of buying food, I bought a beer. It was pretty expensive, especially for someone who’s used to the whole 6 cans for €7 lark. But it was worth it. Lovely taste. In some ways it was almost too nice, like I wasn’t drinking beer at all.

A quote :

“ No use to shout at them to pay attention. If the situations, the materials, the problems before the child do not interest him, his attention will slip off to what does interest him, and no amount of exhortation of threats will bring it back.“

-John Holt.

I drift off a lot in lectures.

Favourite song this week :

Sleep - by Godspeed You! Black Emporer

This isn’t really one of GYBE’s most famous songs, but it’s always stood out to me. I think it’s the speech at the start that grabs me. This band often has speeches like that in their songs.

The full song is over 23 minutes long, but this youtube video will only give you the first ten minutes, which will be long enough for you to find out if this band is the sort of thing you enjoy. They’re post-rock, similar to the likes of Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky, both of whom have been on here before.

Enjoy.

Now I gotta go read all about the historical context of organisation and management. That’ll be a right fucking laugh won’t it?

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