Ever Been In A Riot?

Yesterday's events in Dublin were somewhat unusual. Indymedia has some exciting pictures of the action, although they have taken the strange decision to block out the faces of random people. More here.

Because I am a bit stupid, I went looking for the riot in the afternoon so that I could take some pictures of it. Everything seemed to be over by then, although O'Connell Street did look well bashed up. But that's what it always looks like. I noticed that someone had chucked a chair through the Progressive Democrats' offices on Sth Frederick Street.

Overheard remark: "Laying into the Guards is fine, but buring cars - that's out of order".

Here are some pretty scary pictures of rioters laying into some Chinese guy on Westland Row for no obvious reason: http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~z/today/ (thanks to Paul for this one)

Don't talk, just kiss

Does anyone else in the world typically refer to Republican Sinn Féin as The Freds (because their initials are the same as popular band Right Said Fred)? Or is it just me?

Comics Roundup 23/2/2006

This is actually several weeks worth, because IR slackass.

100 Bullets # 69 by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso has sadly become so complicated that I can't really follow what's going on anymore. The fractured time sequence does not help either. And is this the second or third time that a character has had bullets pumped into them only for them to show up a few issues later going "Wow. that was a close call"?

Loveless #3 by Brian Azzarello & Marcelo Frusin: with a lot of of my regular titles folding I am flailing around for new things to buy. This is an ongoing western series, written by Azzarello and drawn by some other geezer. Azzarello has done western before, in the wonderfully bizarre "Diablo" limited series (about a Dublin country band who keep it real). Sadly, this title seems like it's already crossed the Azzarello event horizon and is barely comprehensible to a casual reader. Whatever happened to those "in previous issues" things you used to get at the start of comics?

DMZ #3 by Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchelli: Another try-out. There was a lot of buzz about this title before it started, but it seems a bit so what to me. The premise appears to be that some kind of WARRE has broken out in the USA, and New York is now divided up like Beirut or Mogadishu. Makes you think. But not enough to buy again.

Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy by Joe Kubert. At last, a good comic, with a cute puppy. Easy Company finally learn the somewhat hare-brained purpose of their mission, but things still rock along in an excitingly grim manner. I am really curious as to how Kubert will extract the squad from Latvia, not known for its accessibility to American forces in 1943.

In the lap of the Gods

I've been thinking about lapdancing again. One of the great things that's happened here recently is the opening of a Stringfellow's here in our great city. For too long we Dubliners have had to put up with inferior local lapdancing businesses; now at last we have something conforming to the very highest international norms. However, I gather that not so many people have been going to the club as expected. My suspicion is that this is down to poor advertising, and I feel that what Mr Stringfellow needs to do to get more punters is to utilise the power of the wireless. I am thinking of something with memorable jingles reminiscent of such classics as the radio ads for Northside Shopping Centre, Bargain Town, or the late lamented Nite Owls.

Anyway, I have helpfully come up with the words for this jingle, and hereby make it available to Mr Stringfellow at no charge. It is the least I can do to advance the cause of lapdancing in this country. So here are the words:

"If you want to see some ladies in the nip
Then come to
STRING-FELL-OW'S"

Try it at home, and see what kind of catchy tune you can come up with.

Here is a picture of Mr Stringfellow:

And look, here is John Stringfellow, pioneer of air travel:

Sun City

Periodically people ask me why my beloved is so engaged with the struggle for Palestinian freedom, as though there is something childish about being involved in political activity.

Perhaps this might help, an article by a journalist who has worked in both apartheid era South Africa and Israel-Palestine. It is a long and detailed article drawing close comparisons between white South Africa and the Israeli regime.

In other news, the Israelis are demolishing a Palestinian graveyard to build a Museum of Tolerance.

Forthcoming Attractions

Here are some things I am writing about for the next issue of Frank's APA, which means you will get to read about them here in a couple of months time.

"March of the Penguins" (film): Have you heard about how the King of Norway has made this Penguin an officer in his army, and keeps promoting him and giving him medals? What makest this even wierder is that the Penguin is not even in a Norwegian zoo.

"The Ipcress File" (film): Swirly light brainwash.

Zodiac Mindwarp & the Love Reaction "The Very Best Of" (album): Sometime Bill Drummond associate Z takes a break from copraphi1ia to release an essentially lame metal album redeemed by comedically sexist lyrics.

Steppenwolf "Born To Be Wild - the Best Of" (album): Heavy Metal Thunder.

"TEH LAND OF TEH DEAD" (DVD): Romero's latest zombfest suffers from being a bit low on relentless zombie assault action. Asia Argento is pretty hot, though.

Belle & Sebastian, (gig and album): Now that B&S no longer sound like themselves, maybe the hataz will start to like them.

Prison Love (gig): Drop not thy cleansing tallowe - here be sodomytes.

"Grizzly Man" (film): Grizzly Bears are very fierce.

RTE Living Music festival (musical event): John Kelly is ill-served by his frequently reproduced photographs.

Just say no

More here.

Subjects for future inquiry: The political economy of Morris

This is largely triggered by a pub conversation with my old friend and quaffing partner Eoghan Barry. Basically – English people generally hate Morris dancing. Yet there is a general wuv for the folk culture of other countries, especially ones that can be thought of as “backward” or pre-modern. Why is the Other’s folk culture lauded while England’s own is hated? I contend that this is to do with imperialist and racist mindsets that assert a dualistic relationship between a modern and technological Us and a primitive and unmediated Them. They have folk culture, we have shiny futurism. We love their natural sense of rhythm and primitive culture, but we revel in our modernity and technological advancement as signifiers of our superiority.

In professing to like Morris dancing, we people of the Other are putting the English in their pre-modern place.

Dirty Three – The Village

Inuit Bikini Scarlet Carwash records my life, but not contemporanaeously. Thus it was a while ago that I went to this concert. You know the Dirty Three, they are these three Australian guys who never wash and (unlike so many of their countrymen) they also make music together. It has been a while since they last played here, possibly because Warren Ellis has been busy with the comics and playing with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. In the meantime he has grown a beard oddly reminiscent of that of cockfarming Irish journalist John Waters. Fortunately he did not see fit to entertain us with gibberings about how feminists have taken over the world and enslaved men.

So yeah, the music… more of the same really, if you are familiar with the Dirty Three. Ellis plays fiddle, some other guy plays guitar, and the band’s powerhouse plays drums. The whole thing has an air of Appalachians go Jazz to it, a process aided by the sudden appearance of support act Josh Pearson, who joined them on banjo. Mr Pearson has the kind of beard not seen since the death of Stonewall Jackson, and boasts an austere manner to match. I was sorry to have arrived too late to have caught his act.

You are never alone with the Dirty Three, they say, and indeed the place was a bit crowded. Afterwards we repaired to Devitts for pints, and Dave’s friend Jan (yeah?) regaled us with anecdotes about this guy who used to eat raw white pudding while talking about what he had seen on Jalfrezi TV the night before. You had to be there, and it is the worse for you that you were not. Jan was from near Trim. Co. Meath, so we asked her for the inside track on Jimmy Ben-nett and "Fatal Deviation".

Where Europe leads, others follow

The USA is to develop its own rubbish monoglot version of the Eurovision song contest.

They seem to be trying to turn it into a reality TV show.

Nul points.