Sorry I’ve been crap at blogging lately. I’ll try to be better. Here’s a short one to keep things ticking over… recommendations always appreciated.
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:
Yuck – ‘Yuck’
Very taken by Yuck’s album… like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, it’s totally derivative but the songs are GREAT. Bits of the Pixies, Pavement, Sonic Youth… and a great name for a band, too.
CURRENTLY READING:
Jonathan Safran Foer – ‘Eating Animals’
Only about halfway through, but it’s very good so far. This guy wrote one of my favourite books in recent memory, but this is a non-fiction account of how and why he decided to become vegetarian when his son was born. It’s not preachy in the slightest, but let’s just say that some of the cold hard facts about the ins and outs of the meat industry makes me extra-glad I’m a veggie.
CURRENTLY LOOKING FORWARD TO:
Primavera Sound 2011 – can’t bloody wait. Belle & Sebastian, PJ Harvey, Interpol, Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes,
Also:
Going to see Spamalot for the first time. Should be good!
Also:
The new series of The Apprentice started last week on BBC. Goodbye, life.
CURRENTLY WANTING:
Morrissey – ‘Very Best of’ on vinyl
€29.99 on vinyl in Tower Records! €29.99!! *weeps* Come to me, payday.
CURRENTLY WATCHING:
Game of Thrones [HBO series]
My boyfriend is in the midst of the series of books that this new HBO series is based upon, and says despite the premise (it’s set on the fictional continent of Westeros in medieval times, with a lot of gory head-choppings, mythical demons, fancy suits of armour, incest, bonking and inter-dynasty politics), it’s not something that a World of Warcraft obsessive would watch. With the added fact of Aidan Gillen starring, that’s good enough for me. Just three episodes in and it’s simmering quite nicely. Christ, even Sean Bean is good.
What’s on your radar? What’s currently floating your TV/musical/comedy/film boat?
Anthea McTeirnan
Croí na Duibhlinn
Aoife Barry
Aoife McLysaght
Arlene Hunt
Attracta McCarthy-McKenna
clairehennessy
Ann Cronin
Amanda Brown
Eleanor Fitzsimons
Edel Coffey
Anna Carey
Lauren Murphy
Jennie Ridyard
Jude Leavy
Hazel Katherine Larkin
Léan Ní Chuilleanáin
Leigh
Lisa McInerney
Laura Slattery
Maman Poulet
Megan McGurk
Clare Kleinedler
Molly
Rosita Boland
Catherine Crichton
Sinéad Gleeson
sarahefranklin
siobhandowling
Susan Daly
theantiroom
Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Love watching The Apprentice even though the format is on its last legs
I miss Baggs the Brand 
I bought tickets to see Paramore at Rock in Summer in Warsaw in July 4, my absolute favourite band on the planet, got the t-shirt ready
Neon Trees are pretty amazing too and they have a really stylish drummer too. I can see why Thirty Seconds to Mars picked them for support. Maybe it’s just me but the US is producing all of the best rock bands these days.
I am readind “Dubliners” by James Joyce, Tony Cascarino’s autobio “Full Time” and “A Week in December”by Sebastian Faulks, nice mix it of styles.
‘The Shadow Line’ (BBC 2, Thursdays, repeat Sundays) is sort of John le Carré meets Jake Arnott with a sprinkling of Pinter and a dash of Scorsese. It could be ridiculous, it might yet be, but right now it’s my only appt-to-view. Just finished Helen Simpson’s sharp, disturbing, politically plugged-in story collection ‘In-Flight Entertainment’; a present from my daughter, it’s great to be introduced to a writer with a backlist to look forward to.
Does the Helen Simpson collection include a story called something like ‘Diary of an Interesting Year’? I read it in the New Yorker a year or two ago and it gave me actual nightmares for about a week. V powerful stuff – I’ve been meaning to read more of her work ever since.
It does, Anna, and I know what you mean about the nightmares. Mind you, there is some wickedly funny stuff as well.
Love Game of Thrones, or Game of Boobs, as my husband calls it.
This week’s episode was fantastic! So much backstabbing and treachery.
Ooh I’ve read Helen Simpson a few times in Granta, think she is brilliant, must get my hands on a collection.
Love this quirky post! It’s made me realise that I’m doing absolutely nothing…! Must retrieve my mind from the recycle bin.
Reading: Gillespie & I by Jane Harris (in the bath) and Some Prefer Nettles by Tanizaki (in bed).
Looking forward to: Black Swan on dvd because I am the only person in the land who didn’t see it at the cinema.
Listening to: Peig Sayers. I’m telling you. I bought a book about her (Labharfad le Cach / I Will Speak to You All, ed. Bo Almqvist / Padraig O Healai) with two cd’s of her speaking, drawn from the RTE and BBC radio archives. It’s fascinating.
Eating: anything cocoay from Natasha’s Living Food
Can I join in?
Reading: Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From The Goon Squad – mainly on my phone, I got the iPad app but barely use that, while I always have my phone on me. Books in app form, who’d have thought it; Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun – bought it for my dad’s birthday as he quite liked What Is The What. I like that Eggers has been able to prove himself a capable writer outside the whole meta po-mo stuff (which I loved, don’t get me wrong) – maybe the concept is questionable, as in WITW, but I find the writing itself is ; Aidan Higgins’ Balcony of Europe – I picked it up last year and started it but never finished it, so I’m trying again. It’s by my bed, but I don’t read there nearly as often as I should.
Listening to: where do I begin? 00s prog house, Gang Gang Dance, Objekt, Midland, Vessel, Jackmaster, Pursuit Grooves, SertOne, and then always coming back to 90s rap and Boards of Canada. I can’t quit either of those.
Watching: The Apprentice, obviously.
Going back to apps – I saw the Black Swan DVD the other day and noticed it comes with a digital version for your phone/tablet/whatever. Crikey. I don’t think I’ll buy it just yet, watching it three times in the space of a week when it came out left me a little burned out. I tried to watch it again on a plane in March but just wasn’t interested.
I didn’t finish a sentence – the writing in Zeitoun is refreshingly clear and direct.
Reading: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.
Looking forward to: A summer holiday…roll on July 5th. Also looking forward to reading Bossypants by Tina Fey, might save it for the holiday.
Listening to: RTE Radio 1.
Doing: I took up running in March and have become a little bit addicted. So much so that I have signed up for the mini marathon for the first time ever. I’m nervous and excited! But it is for a good cause and will hopefully be good fun on the day too.
Eating: Anything gluten, dairy and sugar free that I can get my hands on or make myself.