Daily Diary - Wall Tumour

This has been on my friends wall for a long time now. I couldn't rightly determine when I first noticed it, but it's been creeping slowly down the wall for a while now. At first I thought it was a rounded stone sticking out from the wall. After closer examination, it would appear to be a pocket of water behind the paint. I've christened it the 'Wall Tumour'. When poked it jiggles slightly, which disgusts me a bit. With the onset of the snowy weather it has developed a crack visible at the left hand side (see photo). It is a curiosity I've been non-scientifically monitoring and thought needed some attention now as it might not be with us much longer.

Daily Diary - Snow in Sligo

Had to leave the car in to get a new battery so went walking with my camera and got some nice snaps of Sligo. :)

Daily Diary - Snow on the Golf Course

Had loads of fun sliding round the golf course on a bodyboard. Loads of people out and about. Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Fergal was using his new camera and I am now jealous of it, the quality of the video is class. He also beat me in some races. Fun day.

Daily Diary - It's Kwissmass!

As I left the gym today it started to snow. Driving home in the dark I couldn't help but think of Chris Rea's song 'Driving home for Christmas'. Lovely.

Daily Diary - Early Morning College

Had to drop my sister off to college at 8 this morning. The only upside of getting out of bed that early was there was no traffic on the road. Getting icy though. Brrrr.

Daily Diary - Egg Nog

This is the egg I had in my egg nog. I know that there is a well known drink in America called Egg Nog but this is different, I think. Pour a pint of milk into your container, one egg, two spoons of chocolate powder and two spoons of sugar. BLEND. Mmmmmm.

Daily Diary - Skateography

I took this skating out of Strandhill on the new road surface.

Daily Diary - Enlightenment & Agricultiural Wholesale Goods

Went to the NCF Co-op with my dad today, we were getting a new light fixture for the kitchen. Of all the things they sell there, this Buddha statue caught my eye. There he was, sitting in the garden ornament section, surrounded by little bird and frog figurines laughing away to himself. I didn't see any crucifixes for sale there. There's a thought, what would you rather have in your shrubbery? A jolly looking fat man having the craic or a gaunt man, splattered with blood, wearing a crown made of thorns, nailed to a grim looking cross section of wood? NCF were right in choosing Buddhism as the religion of its chain of shops. And our gardens are all the cheerier for it.

Daily Diary - Down the Lane

I went for a drive down a quiet lane way in front of my house. There are some derelict houses which a farmer uses for his cattle. This is his bicycle. And I assume his pallet. He probably doesn't use the bathtub. When I was driving back up the lane I spotted a man cutting down trees in a well concealed place a few feet from the road. Gave him a wave but he was having none of it.

Daily Diary - Horse

I went out to take some photos with Fergal today. He bought a new camera and wanted to try it out. We went down to Strandhill National School and skated a bit on the basketball court. It was a nice clear evening. There was two horses in the field by the school. I rubbed one and took a picture of this one. I always get nervous when rubbing horses cos they could take the hand off ya if they wanted. They have teeth like Joe Dolan.

Daily Diary

I'll be taking a photo every day from now on and writing a little bit about the photo. It's an attempt to form a sort of diary for a while. Hopefully I can get some nice moments captured. A wee bit of Winter!

Karl Pilkington

I have decided to write about my new favourite person in the world. Karl Pilkington. I suppose the term ‘unconventional celebrity’ might describe his niche in the world of entertainment. Ricky Gervais describes him as the funniest man in Britain today and I have to agree. While his musings and humour may not be the most cutting edge or trendy, the quips and attitude are presented in a refreshing way. Pilkington is a joe soap. He openly talks about his fears and short comings as a person. In a society which has considerable power to pressurise people into being open minded society friendly twitterers and facebookers, Karl is a televised beacon of hope. He talks about how he hates parties, which, face it, you’re not meant to. This basic ignorance of a pretty strong social taboo is a great example of the irreverence with which he treats the seven exotic locales he visits throughout the course of his travel show, ‘An Idiot Abroad’.

The format of the show is quite basic. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant send Karl to visit the Seven Wonders of the World. They believe he is a ‘moron’ and fully trust in his ability to make compelling viewing while away. They keep in fairly frequent contact with him throughout his journeys and we are let in on the phone calls as they happen. Poor old Pilkington is their plaything as they repeatedly set him up with comical situations obviously at odds with his personality. Everything is aimed at getting him out of his comfort zone. The show is one of the funniest I have ever seen. It departs from the type of observation that brushes over flaws in the locale. Pilkington says it as he sees it. Hats off to him, he’s brilliant at what he does.

Cristiano Ronaldo

I entered 'Ass' on Google and this is what I got.

Cristiano Ronaldo does my head in. He looks like the spokesperson for being greasy. Now I know women the world over fancy the pants off of him, and that generally justifies anything a man does, but really, he is most likely the vainest entity on the planet. I wonder how many thoughts go through his head that feature himself and his appearance. I reckon if you saw him knocking about in Bangkok you’d think he was a ladyboy.

Fair City

Look upon the face of pure evil.

Had a chance viewing of RTE’s daily cringe fest ‘Fair City’. They’ve only gone and written the devil incarnate into the script. Susanne (she’s the one who looks as miserable as a hanging platform left out in a bad rainstorm) has flipped. The sheer malevolence of her character now so badly tips the balance of the show it’s like a roll call in a nursery that consists of Sean, Sarah, Johnny, Ruth, Joseph Fritzel, Graham, Ron and so on. Every thing else has been relegated to mere sideshow while a titanic flame breathing Susanne rampages through Carrickstown giving any husband within range a wild beating. Her character now embodies every aspect of some of the worst psychopaths ever to grace the planet. To look into Susanne’s eyes is to gaze into two infinite voids of swirling malice. Did Fair City get a new tear away rogue screenwriter? A writer who cares not for conventional characters and bland plotlines, but one who swaggers into the workplace with unkempt hair and a bad attitude armed with a taste only for harrowing trauma. For a show that usually appears under the definition of bland in the dictionary, it now plays home to this one-woman wave of husband bashing not seen on Irish television before. Forgiving the unbalancing of the show, it is a step in the right direction, which also sheds some light on a much-ignored side of life for some men. For this Fair City deserves some applause. Maybe now we can have another titanic rampaging character. But what ignored facet of daily life would they bring to light? Erectile dysfunction? Snow Blindness in Cats? And maybe instead of breathing flame like Susanne, they could have radioactive breath and laser vision this time. A shoddy plotline involving Sellafield might sort that.

I.M.F.

There was a lot of fuss this week about IMF and the country losing the run of itself (literally). I really cannot see why everyone is getting their knickers in a twist. The gormless idiots that slowly ran the countries financial side into the ground are now being dictated to by some slick group called the ‘International Monetary Fund’. This might limit their idiotic leadership decisions in the future. Any group who are allowed to have the word International in their title are sure to be good at what they do. Lets hope they sort the place out because our lot sure bloody can’t.

I appreciate that some people are in a rage about the country losing its true independence. If I’m being honest I think the notion of patriotism is for morons. It’s basically having the conviction that your country is the greatest because you happened to be born in it. Someone I know said that the government today is lucky the leaders of the rebellion in 1916 aren’t still around. I’m not so sure; they’d be about 130 by now. And Michael Davitt only had one arm. I don’t know about you but I think I’d fancy my chances against a one armed 130 year old. That said, if they were around today they’d be exactly the same as today’s leaders; swanky, spoiled fat cats. Politicians are a product of their time and society. It’s no wonder that the group that took power during the countries most luxurious era weren’t hungry enough to ensure future prosperity. Maybe our lot would be better suited to the rebellion era. I know Brian Cowen would be handy in a fight, sure isn’t he a big mullucker from Offaly as broad as he’s tall? If they needed a heavy weapons guy, I’m sure they could give Willie O’Dea a call.

The Beautiful Games Ugly Enemy

The Beautiful Game

Football has been known as the beautiful game for decades but that title is about to slip. Something I've noticed since I started playing the game thirteen years ago is a tangible change in the attitude of neutrals to the game itself. Before, if asked about football people said they might not watch it due to it not suiting their interests or that they weren't raised in a household that encouraged them to play it. Now when asked, people more often than not respond with a disdain for it due to the players being 'poofs' or 'cheats'.

As an avid football enthusiast this pains me. The game is beautiful, it combines people from all backgrounds and all physical conditions. Unlike most sports, it provides a level playing field for participators where hard work at training will pay off despite size and strength. The games biggest strength is that its format is adaptable. The number of players on a team can fluctuate, from Wednesday night five-a-sides to Sunday morning eleven-a-sides and everything in between. It is in no way restricted to needing a standardised setting. Any environment is a potential pitch. The game is both rural and urban. People play on manicured grass in some parts of the planet, while unfortunate children play amidst rubble in war zones. A person can play on their own as long as they have a ball. It truly is an ever adapting game which is a major advantage it has over most other sports. But for all footballs merits, its world image is plummeting. What are the means of its demise? One reason; cheating. And the reasons behind these unwanted traits of the game? There's only one; money.

Football is a victim of its own popularity. With ever increasing amounts of money being poured into the game, a new type of pressure has surfaced. There is a cut throat element to the game now. Multi-million euro bonuses hang on a full time whistle. Every pass, interception, shot and tackle matters a hundred fold. This high pressure environment means managers jobs hang on ever thinning threads. This in turns leads to more pressure being heaped on the players shoulders. The pressure they feel translates to a culture of cheating.

This type of 'gamesmanship' needs to stop

If you switch on the television during coverage of any football match and watch for any stretch of play, you will more often than not witness a form of 'gamesmanship' (which is of course a nicer way of saying 'cheating'). To fully understand the place cheating has in the game, I will look at the highest echelon of the sport. This is generally accepted to be the pinnacle and most up to date area of any institution or organisation. However, it is here that cheating has been introduced to the game and it is in danger of trickling down to the grass roots game, where kids learn to play. The problem with the professional game lies in the fact that money is the driving force, whereas in the nonprofessional game, winning is the driving force. I have played in enough unorganised and organised games on surfaces from grass to tarmac to concrete to wood to astroturf to know that cheating isn't part of the fabric of the game at the regular particpants level. However, there is the danger that it will filter down and become fabric of it.

Interestingly, the culprits for the demise of the games reputation are not teams, but individuals. This is straight away at odds with the team mentality of the sport. If you asked any casual football fan to name the top cheats to have operated in the game over the last decade and they would most likely name Cristiano Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Nani, and Gilardinho. A few of these players are victims of Youtube. In a matter of seconds you can watch Rivaldo feign injury when a football hits him, a move which tarnished a fantastic playing career forever. You can also catch Gilardinhos embarrassing dive against Celtic.

Footballs reputation is being left in tatters by these individuals. The great majority of those who partake in the sport at a professional level play fair and adhere to the rules. But for this group of barefaced cheats, the worldwide view of the sport would not be in the middle of a nose dive. It certainly doesn't help that some of the notable individuals are regularly playing in the most recognisable teams in the world. These players have a massive influence on the direction young fans decide to take when they play the sport. Their actions need to be severely penalised.

David Beckham is known more for his sponsors than his playing career

The only method of wiping this behavior from the game is to attack these players where it hurts them most. Their reputations. After all, it is their reputation that earns them lucrative endorsements from companies offering them more and more obscene amounts of money. If their acts of sporting success are held up to the glare of the media so too should their acts of sporting cowardice. This will specifically diminish their standing in society if not the sport. Stringent punishments need to be swiftly introduced.

An encouraging sign that the beginning of this may be in sight was the actions of the Italian Football Association in the last few weeks. Milos Krasic, a well known winger who was recently signed by Juventus performed a carbon copy of Gilardinhos dive in the opponents box. He was slapped with a two game ban. Of course his manager came straight out saying he didn't mean to cheat the other team, to which everyone else in the world rolled their eyes so hard they were in danger of getting dizzy. It is a very promising move by a massive football association. Hopefully the end is in sight.

The move of suffering from a phantom injury has become sickeningly widespread. Just last week in Manchester Uniteds match against Tottenham Hotspur there was a confusing goal awarded to United in the second half. The aforementioned Nani was involved. As he was lying on the ground looking for a foul, the Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, brushed him on the side and said something to him in disgust. Just after Gomes' hand made contact, Nani erupted in convulsions the like of which I hope never to experience. As to whether this was an attempt at getting either another player booked or a penalty the scarier thing was yet to come. While watching the highlights on Match of the Day, the pundits did not mention this playacting once. Not even a passing remark. Is it so common now as to not even warrant a mention? If so then it is a very sad day for football. It is these acts of idiocy that threaten footballs worldwide reputation.

Whether the game will survive is not the worry, the issue is that it will not be appreciated for what it is. That its worldwide standing is decided by the actions of a few famous players, who themselves make up less than .001% of the people that play the game worldwide, is a sad thing.