London...

Yep, I'm off to London tomorrow, for five days, into which I intend to cram a lot of culture.

I haven't been to London in a few years, the last time being when I went to see an exhibition of the work of Edward Hopper, perhaps most noted for the piece 'Nighthawks', which was the centrepiece of the exhibit and my main reason for going.

Other than spending the day at the Tate, I didn't do much that visit, so I intend to correct that this time around.

There's an Ian Fleming exhibit at the Imperial War Museum; The National Gallery; The British Museum, etc. The shopping list is small; so far I've only been asked to bring back a bottle of Whitley Neil gin and a Paddington Bear, so I should have plenty of time.

Bag's packed, taxi's ordered, nothing else to do but sleep...

I Love This Joke...

A guy goes on holiday to Europe for six weeks.

It's his first vacation in years and he does all the tourist things, has a great time.

So midway through his trip, he phones home and gets his brother.

"So how's it going?" he asks.

"Well, your cat died," replies the brother.

The guy is shocked.

"That's no way to break news like that," he says. "I was very attached to my cat. You should break bad news like that gently; you should say something like:

'The cat was out on the roof, chasing squirrels, and got stuck. So we called the Fire Department and they came out and tried to save the cat, but the cat got scared and fell off the roof. So we took the cat to the vet and he did everything he could, even operated, but it was too late and the cat died.'

And the brother is very apologetic, and embarrassed, but the guy says not to worry about it.

"So how's everyone else?" the guy asks. "How's Mom?"

And the brother pauses a moment and says -

"Well, Mom was out on the roof, chasing squirrels..."

Holiday Time...

So I'm abandoning my project team and having the temerity, the unmitigated gall, to take a fortnight off, several nights of which will be spent (as has the money) in London.

I haven't been there in a while, so I'm looking forward to renewing old acquaintances and maybe making some new ones.

And on we go...

I Don't Care What Anyone Sez...

This is indeed the best 'Back To Work On Tuesday' song - ever...


Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

Just, like, because, yeah?

I'm thinking of posting this after every Bank Holiday Monday - what d'you think?

Answers, on a postcard, to the usual address...

Want To Be like Me?

Well, I'm not sure that's possible, but you could always try this:


I can't guarantee it'll help, and capes aren't included.

Pardon Me, Excuse Me, Excuse Me, Pardon Me...

I hate Sedna.

It's just a rock in the middle of nowhere. Okay, so it's bigger than Pluto, but then so are at least fifteen other similarly-sized objects that nobody bothers about because YOU HAVEN'T DISCOVERED THEM YET!!!

And some of them have moons.

One has six...

But the point is, it takes nearly a month to get there and back, and internet coverage is, not to put too fine a point on it, 'limited'.

And nothing ever happens there, so it's just a case of two quick orbits and home.

But I'm not bitter.

Meanwhile, my alter ego, Bob, has been involved with a work project that's taken a hell of a lot of time and effort, and needs a holiday badly.

Notwithstanding the offer by Ms P.J., the Urban Recluse, to go wolf-tracking in Romania, I think I need something a little more 'staid', so I'm planning a week in London, sometime between now and the end of the month.

I want to visit the British Museum, and maybe the Ian Fleming exhibit in the Imperial War Museum, stuff like that.

And my national airline's having a seat sale, so I should have a limb or two left to get around with.

But on to the planning...

I Wonder Who Won???

There was supposed to be racing of some sort on Ireland's second national TV channel yesterday afternoon, but the recent monsoons put paid to that.

Instead, some genius at RTE decided to show the 1965 classic 'The Great Race' instead, to be followed at 4:30pm by International Football (Ireland Vs Georgia).

Simple enough, you say?

Yes indeed; until one considers that the movie started at about 2:15pm and has a run time of approximately 160 minutes.

Surprisingly, no-one at RTE seems to have noticed this until about 4:25, with about 40 minutes of movie left and sports coverage due to start in 5.

And sure enough, the movie was pre-empted by a continuity announcer saying '...and there we have to leave The Great Race for the time being, because now it's time for...' etc., as she introduced the football.

The announcement gave the impression that RTE might return to the movie after the match, but the post-match schedule was already pretty full, so I don't think that happened.

The irony is that The Great Race has a built-in intermission anyway, which RTE could have taken advantage of, had they given the matter any thought.

Push the button, Max...

It'd Be Funny If It Wasn't True...

Yesterday was my mother's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!).

As a dutiful son, I went in search of a birthday card at Eason's, Dublin's largest bookseller/stationer, whose card dept. is on the first floor. As I got off the escalator, imagine my shock when the first display turned out to be Christmas cards!

Unbelievable!

I mean, I know the summer's been bad and all, but we haven't had snow yet, and the kids have only been back in school a week - it's just wrong.

At this time of year, Eason's, like many stationers, make their money from third-level students preparing for the college year as well as from book sales, magazines, etc. Nobody's going to be buying Christmas cards at this time of year, so if anything, they're only wasting space with the floor displays.

And calling it 'Gift Ideas' instead of 'Christmas Greetings' isn't fooling anybody.

I've just kicked off an email to the store's general enquiries address (sales@easons.com) but I'm not expecting much in response.

I just sometimes despair, y'know?

Is everything just about money?

Doesn't anything retain it's original meaning anymore?

I don't know; the cynical answers to those two questions would of course be 'Yes' and 'No'. But I've gone beyond cynical at this point - now I'm just angry.

Angry at companies who pull this kind of stunt and consistently get away with it; angry at legislators who let them, angry at consumers who don't seem to want to do anything about it.

But most of all I'm angry at myself, because I don't usually get angry, especially over stupid stuff like this...

Damn it all.

I Need A Holiday - Again...

It's been a horrible summer - miserable weather, work, not winning the lottery, work, having to expand my patrol sector to include Sedna...

I mean, Sedna! Not even Pluto, but some rock billions of miles from the back end of nowhere that some stupid scientist discovered by accident. And all because the Patrol Magistrate got pissed when I tried to explain that - look, there's no way to put 'Uranus' into a sentence without someone getting a laugh out of it, but suffice it to say that he misinterpreted my assertion that I didn't feel the need to patrol there and, well...

Anyway, it's been almost a year since my last holiday, and I have 16 - count 'em! - 16 days to use before the end of December.

The question is, where to go?

Further research is indicated...

Need To Extend The Trophy Room...

...because this blog has been honoured with this award:


And not once, but twice - by Chris over at Exquisitely Bored in Nacogdoches and by triple-recipient (!) Becca at No Smoking In The Skullcave. The Skullcave is of course home to a veritable plethora of pop-culture pinatas, Becca's own delightful artwork and the weekly Movie Quote Quiz, which I have indeed been fortunate enough to win once or thrice.

And check out Chris's site for his striking and evocative photography of small-town America - well, mostly Texas - as well as his appreciation for certain movies of Frank Sinatra. Also has a thing for Orion Slave Girls, but then, don't we all? I remember the first time I met Rina - I was returning from a patrol out by the Betelgeuse sector when...

But I digress.

As usual, in accepting this award there are duties and obligations to be considered, including the publishment of the rules.

These are they:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) To show these rules.

But now to the awards - here goes:

To PJ - Urban Recluse, Bronte procrastinatrix and nemesis of JD;

To Tom the Dog, pop-culturist, who knows what I like;

To the curiously-named Me Against Them over at, er, Me Against Them, a commentary-free collection of cartoons and images guaranteed to raise smiles and eyebrows;

To Mr C. Parker, operator of the Starlet Showcase - self-explanatory once you get there;

And finally, to Bai Ling (yes, indeed), who says Hello.

Congratulations to you all - the jury's off to bed now...

What I Thought Of Clone Wars...

Okay, let's try for positive:

The animated Anakin was less wooden than Hayden Christensen...

The minimal involvement of C-3PO made it almost worth the price of admission...

Christopher Lee and Samuel L. Jackson lent gravitas and cool, respectively...

No evidence of Jar-Jar...

Aside from that, what it lacked in story in made up for in animation. Okay, it was stylised, but I liked it - it was never going to be Pixar-quality, but it didn't suck.

Oh, hell - who'm I kidding?

Baby Hutts and annoying Padawans?

Could have been worse - there could have been singing...