- Finished my work project up Friday afternoon just before heading to the Fest. I completed the bits I needed to do on Thursday and left the completion to the 'minions' (a term I've decided I prefer over 'interns'). They didn't let me down.
- Irish Fest Zombie outlook: all signs still point to 'safe'. Further monitoring of the situation is necessary.
19 August 2006
A few words on the Fest
- It drizzled for the first hour or so I was at Irish Fest yesterday. In general, I didn't mind. I got a beer and walked around. Lather, rinse, repeat for that hour or so. Great start to the day! The only downside was that my original plan was to get a drink, a little something to eat and find a place off to the side a bit so I could do a little writing while feeding off the energy of the crowd. Perhaps I'll get a chance to do so today.
- Got the joy of hearing the closing announcements for another year in a row. I know they are all official and polite 'please assist our security by heading for the exits' type speech. In my head I hear a heavily accented voice going 'Would ye please leave already? We love ya but go and come back tomorrow whilst ye? We've gotta clean up after you lot now.'
- Got an Irish Fest hat that mimics the Guinness style. I've very happy about that and the Pogues CD I found: a best of collection as well as a live concert from 2001. Woo-hoo!
- The Fest reopens at noon which is, like, now. So I'll get there later this afternoon I suppose. KTNE won't be there until sevenish anyway. I've been asked to be present for the viewing of some dancing earlier than that so I suppose I'll be there sooner than later.
- Got the joy of hearing the closing announcements for another year in a row. I know they are all official and polite 'please assist our security by heading for the exits' type speech. In my head I hear a heavily accented voice going 'Would ye please leave already? We love ya but go and come back tomorrow whilst ye? We've gotta clean up after you lot now.'
- Got an Irish Fest hat that mimics the Guinness style. I've very happy about that and the Pogues CD I found: a best of collection as well as a live concert from 2001. Woo-hoo!
- The Fest reopens at noon which is, like, now. So I'll get there later this afternoon I suppose. KTNE won't be there until sevenish anyway. I've been asked to be present for the viewing of some dancing earlier than that so I suppose I'll be there sooner than later.
15 August 2006
Nearly there
Irish Fest is this weekend and with it comes the end of my busy period. For the last month and a half (or so) I've been out of town three weekends and had all sorts of things to attend. Irish Fest is the last of that run. Luckily it brings together a number of things I love: relaxing, good music and beer. This should be fun as long as there are no zombies.
I took Friday off to be able to enjoy more of the Fest than I normally do this year. So what happens? I get a project at work that's due by the weekend. So I'll have to have it done by Thursday before I leave.
I can do that. For beer, oh I can really do that...
(ps. it's really good beer. and really good music. and really good... relaxing. You should go too.)
I took Friday off to be able to enjoy more of the Fest than I normally do this year. So what happens? I get a project at work that's due by the weekend. So I'll have to have it done by Thursday before I leave.
I can do that. For beer, oh I can really do that...
(ps. it's really good beer. and really good music. and really good... relaxing. You should go too.)
13 August 2006
Deconstruction is more fun than Construction
Black ooze bled from the machine, dripping down onto the pock-marked pavement. The grease quickly mixed with the dust and disappeared from sight as the machine continued to drive a groove in the pavement. I held on to the jackhammer for dear life, not wanting it to perforate my person, merely the patio.
The cement patio at the rear of my parents' house has been cracked since they bought it. It only really started to look bad in the last couple years. This year my Dad decided it was time to do something about it. Friday he borrowed a jackhammer from a friend of ours. Yesterday we worked on tearing up the slab. We finally figured out how to utilize it properly about fifteen minutes before the owner of said jackhammer showed up to assist. He blitzed through it like butter. We had been much less effective but were still able to tear it up and start dragging it away. It was tiring work and I am quite sore from assisting.
We haven't started on the replacement slab yet. It was obvious as we destroyed the previous slab that it had not been generated properly. It was uneven, had air pockets and was attached to the house, all of which nearly guaranteed it would crack. Laying the replacement will be tricker work than removing the damaged one.
Criticism is the same way. It's easier to rip apart a movie or a book we don't care for than it is to create one of our own. This is not to say that people shouldn't have opinions on things, we should, or that we shouldn't be demanding of the quality of our entertainment, we should. Some people don't seem to love anything rather than deconstructing things, taking them apart to see only the flaws, and explaining why your opinion is dumb. Some of these people, somehow, even get paid to not enjoy things and then explain to us why we shouldn't enjoy them either.
Some people can do. Some people can't do but can teach others how to do. Those who can't do and can't teach, write manuals to explain how to do. The people that can't even do that criticize the way the manuals are written.
Do yourself a favour: find someone whose opinion you agree with on movies, tv shows etc. It might be a friend or a writer on a web site or a blogger, someone who shares their opinion out of the joy of doing so, not because they went to film school twenty years ago, flunked out and became a critic instead. You've got a better chance of getting a reasonable opinion on things that way.
The cement patio at the rear of my parents' house has been cracked since they bought it. It only really started to look bad in the last couple years. This year my Dad decided it was time to do something about it. Friday he borrowed a jackhammer from a friend of ours. Yesterday we worked on tearing up the slab. We finally figured out how to utilize it properly about fifteen minutes before the owner of said jackhammer showed up to assist. He blitzed through it like butter. We had been much less effective but were still able to tear it up and start dragging it away. It was tiring work and I am quite sore from assisting.
We haven't started on the replacement slab yet. It was obvious as we destroyed the previous slab that it had not been generated properly. It was uneven, had air pockets and was attached to the house, all of which nearly guaranteed it would crack. Laying the replacement will be tricker work than removing the damaged one.
Criticism is the same way. It's easier to rip apart a movie or a book we don't care for than it is to create one of our own. This is not to say that people shouldn't have opinions on things, we should, or that we shouldn't be demanding of the quality of our entertainment, we should. Some people don't seem to love anything rather than deconstructing things, taking them apart to see only the flaws, and explaining why your opinion is dumb. Some of these people, somehow, even get paid to not enjoy things and then explain to us why we shouldn't enjoy them either.
Some people can do. Some people can't do but can teach others how to do. Those who can't do and can't teach, write manuals to explain how to do. The people that can't even do that criticize the way the manuals are written.
Do yourself a favour: find someone whose opinion you agree with on movies, tv shows etc. It might be a friend or a writer on a web site or a blogger, someone who shares their opinion out of the joy of doing so, not because they went to film school twenty years ago, flunked out and became a critic instead. You've got a better chance of getting a reasonable opinion on things that way.
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