The view from my hotel room
The above may be a lie.
Faro-start of the holidays
The book was much better than the film
Just saw some reviews for the films “One day”and “Final destination 5”
“One day” got 2 stars while “Final destination” received 3.
I had no intention of reading “One day” or seeing the film of the same name.
But, at least all those superior beings can repeat their mantra:
“The book is so much better than the film”
Me in holiday mode in Faro,Portugal
Faro-start of the holidays
The flight with ryanair was bright yellow and stressful. Ryanair push you to the limit in every way, forcing you to put everything into one bag, cramp you into tiny seats and play incessant music and advertisements.
An hour into the flight, they play an audio of an alcohol beverage being poured. Yep, you’d need one after that. But, there’s more to come-an painful, ear popping and aggressive land on the runway and you’re free from the clutches of ryanair, for another while. The heat hit us the second we got off the plane in Faro. Faro is the place where all the Sun worshippers fly into before leaving swiftly for random beach resorts. But, not us, we were staying in Faro for the night. We like being different.
The city of Faro is actually very cute, situated on a harbour surrounded by nice cafes and shops. We found a Fish restaurant quickly enough, I ordered a grilled chicken, Simon got the sardines and Marion got the Sea Bream. It was all really good, alongside a healthy glass of white wine, I was relaxed and in holiday mode. As we walked back to our hotel, the streets were busy with night goers. I didn’t sleep well, there were two pillow options-really, really hard or really, really soft. Unlike, Goldilocks, there was no middle option so I plumped(no pun intended) for the soft one. It was uncomfortable and the air conditioning kept me cool but awake.
Breakfast was adequate, salty ham, crusty bread and 2 types of juice that had no juice in them and tasted the same as each other. Paulo Tullio, your job is safe. We checked out, the little man in the hotel took our cases. We found a nice cafe bar, by the Marina and had proper black coffee, not those silly, watered down ones that we get back home. Thick, heavy and powerful. Life is good.
Onto Lisbon later today on the train but before that we are off to visit a Jewish Cemetery and a Chapel of Bones. There’s a joke there somewhere but I’ll let you make it.
Hello Goodmorning: Mama don’t take no shit.
I’m hip, I’m cool, I’m with it.
I’ve noticed how cool it is recently to be a DJ. It used to be totally uncool when I was a teenager. A sweaty man in charge of the “Erection Section/slow set was not attractive.
But, now a DJ is everything you have to be in life. If you are a DJ, you are cool.
Fact.
. 
There are some rules you must adhere to though.
1. You should be utterly serious about your new “passion” and keep a seriously cool pose while “mixing it up”.
It takes a lot of concentration to listen to music, look at the turntable and look cool.
2. Do not look happy or make v signs/thumbs-up.
These will wreck the image you’re trying to create.
3. Try to be famous and have a talent for something else.
Sarah Harding has gone one better, she is engaged to a DJ. Simply by posing with him, she automatically has “street credit”.
Obama doesn’t quite get it somehow.
But, I’ve decided to take it even further, being a DJ is so last season. I’ve spent a long time thinking about this, planning the right moment, wearing the right clothes and I’ve came up with….Drum roll….
I’ll be a drummer!
In a hard rock band.
And I’ll wear a flowery vest top.
I’ll look serious but cool.
I’ll let my roots grow out to show how “serious” I am about being a drummer.
What ya think?
Nostalgia is back?
Nostalgia. It’s everywhere, especially in the form of sweet shops. they seem to be popping up everywhere. We have a new one in Carlow and a little 8 year old took to the Tubridy Show last week to tell everyone about her new “Pop-up” shop, guess what it was?
Yes, a sweet shop with all those nostalgic sweeties for you to buy.
One thing I get nostalgic about is my time in university-U.C.D-the best college ever. I shared a house with some great girls, 7 of us up on North Avenue, Mount Merrion. How lucky were we? £34 a week! A 10 minute walk to the stuent bar..sorry, lectures and the majority of us are still great friends. don’t think there is anything sinister about the fact I said “the majority of are great friends” but some of the girlies disappeared. Stephanie Burke aka Burpie and Fionnuala aka dry soup eater extraordinaire, where are you now?
There was something else brilliant about the Mount Merrion/Stillorgan area. No, not the 80s shopping centre or O’ Dwyer’s Pub.
The best thing about Stillorgan that I still dream about is a chip shop. Not just any chip shop. This was C.Aprille’s of Stillorgan.
They make chips the other ship shops can only dream about making. Super thick, slightly crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. We would walk down to Stillorgan and buy a big bag with a tub of the best garlic mayo and walk back home. God, life was simple.
But, all is not lost. you can still avail of these chips. C. Aprile’s is still in business! Don’t get confused by the one in Portabello. Not the same. Get your self down to Stillorgan and bag yourself a bag of the “Best chips in Ireland awarded by Rozz”
As I was saying nostalgia is everywhere, usually nostalgia takes a year, maybe a few decades to come back. That’s what makes it truly nostalgic, doesn’t it?
Not in Carlow.
I was out walking through the area of Askea (The wannabe D4 of Carlow) last week and came across a new chip shop. It’s Billy Bunter’s, it closed down about a year or 2 ago and it did bloody good chips too. We were slightly disappointed when it closed down but about a million other chip shops seemed to open and we forgot about it.
You can imagine my joy when I saw that Billy Bunter’s was back, baby!
With a big, colourful and boasting sign saying” Billy Bunter’s is back!”
It’s not nostalgic.
They have good chips but it’s no C.Aprile’s.
Portugal:Holidays soon!
We are off to Portugal next week and as usual there will be much travel blogging! We are flying to Faro and catching a train to Lisbon and then Porto with our usual travel buddies, Marion and Terry.
Cannot.wait.
Horrible, horrible film…horrible bosses
I am getting quite down about the lack of good summer films. Apart from “Bridesmaids”, I haven’t seen one film that I can recommend this summer.
Harry Potter was the same as the other 6 but with a stupid ending that should have been taken out. Putting Emma Watson in a Burberry mac does not make her look 19 years older.
Horrible Bosses had unbelievable potential. we have all complained over bad bosses at some point. The first 5 minutes were pretty clever. The 3 bosses ranked in brilliance, from the funniest/most convincing-Kevin Spacey and followed by Jennifer Anniston to Colin Farrell.
Colin Farrell was not funny. In the film, he has a comb over, spends his work day taking naughty things and doing naughtier things in his office. Shock. Horror.
He’s Irish too, you know?
Oh, yes, well then, he has to be funny.
Jennifer Anniston plays a nymphomaniac. Say it again.
See, it doesn’t work. She is Rachel from friends. Nice girl. Typecast. Her own fault.
Kevin Spacey was funny, to begin with. The “Gam-Gam” scene is quite funny.
But, that was it. Once, the interesting aspects of the horrible bosses were dispensed with, the film falls into madness(and not the funny kind) involving the 3 main characters, desperately trying to be the main characters in “the Hangover.”
It doesn’t work. It’s not funny. The Hangover wasn’t that funny, to begin with so why emulate it?
I mentioned the general cr$%ness of this film on twitter and was told that the film “was to a certain taste”
I agree. Anyone who likes this film has a “no sense of humour” taste. Go click here and watch the short preview, everything that could be perceived as “funny” is there for you. http://rozz.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/horrible-bosses.jpg
Don’t say I’m not good to you, just saved you €9 and a bag of pick and mix. You owe me big.
The Killing on Channel 4
I am constantly proclaiming that I don’t really watch that much tv but looking at my recent posts, you wouldn’t say that!
The Killing is an American version of some Danish crime-mystery-Twin Peaks type TV affair. Apparently, the Danish was much better, darker and the lead character wore better, wooly jumpers. Bloody women. Has to always be about the clothes…
The Killing that i am transfixed by is the American one showing on Channel 4, we are up to episode 4 out of 13 and is rather excellent. It covers a 20 day investigation into a murder of a teenager girl.
Let me warn you that is slow beyond slow but worthwhile. Each character is interesting. Each episode ends with another piece to the puzzle.
The channel 4 website is being awfully sociable and interactive at http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-killing You can vote on you think the killer is and even debate the merits of Linden’s jumpers.
Go catch up at channel four.
