0 + 2 = 1

Just watch it… superb

… until we realised that would irritate him more. A sad day, comedian George Carlin has died.

Probably the most logical piece I’ve seen written on the referendum result is from Der Spiegel.

Ireland shot down the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum held on Thursday. Already, EU politicians are branding the Irish as ingrates. But it is exactly that kind of arrogance which helped lead to the Irish “no” in the first place

which pretty much in one line sums up an awful lot of feeling. Forget about the arguments on abortion, militarisation and the other far out conspiracy theories - the electorate is a lot more savy about these arguments than the politicians seem to be giving us credit for.

The arrogance that crept through is quite simply staggering, our own politicians attitude of “do as your betters tell you”, which carried through until the last week of the campaign, will cast a long shadow over any future referendums, however French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner intervention on the Monday prior to the vote with his comment of

“They have benefited more than others. It would be very, very awkward if we were not able to count on the Irish, who have often counted on Europe.”

was the ultimate in arrogant comment, and had, in my opinion, more of an impact on the vote than one thousand Coir posters. Der Speigel sums this up perfectly

Kouchner’s comments assume that anyone who is pro-Europe must necessarily be in favor of the Lisbon Treaty.

As Kouchner well knows not everything is not as black and white as your either with us or against us. The disappointing, and frightening, issue out of all of this is that much was made out of the Irish veto by the Yes side during the campaign. On using our ultimate veto it appears we are being be told, “nah, we don’t like your answer so we will find a way to ignore it”.

Ultimately if Ireland is to be held up as a pariah the major nations, and France in particular, need to reflect on themselves. This is best summed up in The Economist

Ireland now faces a fight to remain at the heart of Europe, amid calls for its marginalisation. That would be outrageous hypocrisy, of course: Ireland only had to vote on the Lisbon treaty because the French and Dutch had already voted no to the constitution. But the EU has been wounded today: do not be surprised if some of its leaders lash out.

The ultimate question that now needs to be asked is whether the EU is a community of nation states, or a federation of states? It is a question that I feel most politicians will choose not to answer.

[ my music : Lykke Li - Youth Novels ]

As seen via a couple of sources, Andy Gills article Why I hate Coldplay is worth reading, for a chuckle at least…

There’s no real sense of grappling with the social or political causes of the problems, just a bland emotional poultice applied to the wound. They’ve become the sonic security-blanket for millions of fans, their tracks sweeping by with the epic solemnity of state funerals, their huge, heartbreaking chord changes sucker-punching you with emotional logic while sapping any anger or political engagement – in the existential sense – that you might otherwise experience………………..

Its the word of the year… and Tom Waits is playing Dublin this year, just the date isn’t announced yet.

Gigs time again….

Bunch of good stuff coming up for those interested. May looks like its going to be particularly nuts, and two decisions have been quite hard, skipping Battles in favour of Trail of Dead and the superb Glassjaw have given way to A Hawk and a Hacksaw. Anyway the listing thus far

• Chrome Hoof _{[ myspace ]} @ Whelans - March 28th
  This is rescheduled from the gig I mentioned before, original tickets are still valid.

• The Breeders @ Vicar St - April 7th
• The Ravonettes _{[ myspace ]} @ Whelans - April 11th
• Foals _{[ myspace} @ Academy - April 20th
  Rescheduled from the earlier gig in Whelans

• Ulrich Schnauss _{[ myspace ]} @ The Button Factory, May 2nd
• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds _{[ Just go buy Dig, Lazarus, Dig ]} @ Dublin Castle, May 3rd
• Deerhunter _{[ myspace ]} @ Whelans, May 8th
• iLikeTRAINS _{[ myspace ]} @ Tripod - May 10th
• A Hawk and a Hacksaw _{[ Myspace ]} @ Crawdaddy, 11 May
• The National _{[ myspace ]} @ The Olympia, May 14th
• …Trail of Dead _{[ myspace ]} @ Academy, May 15th
• Ladytron _{[ myspace ]} @ Tripod, May 16th
• Animal Collective _{[ Animal Collective ]} @ Tripod, May 19th

There a few other possibles that I’m still debating…. so more to come. On a different note, no dates announced for Ireland yet, but Bob Mould is touring the UK in May, so maybe (fingers crossed). His new album, District Lines, is one of the best things I have heard this year, and is probably the best thing he has done since his Sugar days and Copper Blue - I’d go as far as to say its the best thing since Candy Apple Grey.

Just noticed that Denmarks finest, the fantastic Raveonettes are playing Whenlans on April 11th - well worth checking out. Two clips from youtube for you.

Interesting, if brief, story in todays Sunday Business Post on the revenue commissioners use of social networking sites.

Evert Bopp, a Dutch technology entrepreneur based in Tipperary, told The Sunday Business Post that he was surprised when a Revenue official produced printouts of his profile from several social networking websites during a recent audit.

Bopp said he received a letter several weeks ago from the Revenue Commissioners, announcing an audit. When a Revenue officer arrived to conduct the audit last Tuesday, he asked Bopp about information he had posted on his Facebook, LinkedIn and Xing profile pages, detailing his current business interests.

The use of information from Linked In is particularly interesting, Facebook generally contains silliness, Linked In has a lot more information.

When Newstalk first came on the radio scene in Ireland it was a breath of fresh air. Personally I really enjoyed David McWilliams breakfast show, in depth, lively and informed - and in its cancellation several years ago the first signs of where Newstalk was heading where shown.

There are a couple of quality shows on Newstalk, their sports coverage in particular has kept my radio tuned to 106 for quite a long time, and despite her complete lack of impartiality Karen Coleman’s The Wide Angle is excellent. She may be impartial, but she is well informed which goes a long way in a debate. Talking History, Culture Shock and Down to Business are always excellent and informative, unfortunately they are all niche programs for which one slot a week is suffice.

The downsides have gradually been growing. The breakfast show with the smug arrogant duo of Byrne and Gilroy, followed by Joe Duffy’s bitter twin sister Brenda Power has been an annoyance over the last two years, but a trade off that I was almost willing to make for the sake of the good programming which the station provides. I started to move towards a tipping point when Power started this ridiculous habit of ringing government departments and state bodies live on air - I’m no fan of the civil service, but her actions are those of a tabloid menace, and have no place in any reasonable journalism.

Powers actions have been reported in The Phoenix among others, as causing much consternation within the civil service, with several departments apparently considering blacklisting Newstalk because of the repeated calls. From anecdotal conversations I’ve had with some people recently this line of action by the state looks to be expanding, and in fairness who can blame them.

Normally I am cynical when a state body refuses to comment on something, but there is a difference between being allowed to comment, and being ambushed live on air with highly detailed issues related to a single case. The other prevailing line in the advertising for Powers program is her promise to put your questions to Mary Harney. Are people really naive enough to believe that Newstalk is willing to put these questions for any reason other than to increasing ratings?

My tipping point has however arrived. Newstalks planed day of programming for tomorrow, the Health Famine, is enough to convince me to never listen to Newstalk again. This is tabloid media at its absolute worst, aiming for a lowest common denominator that even Rupert Murdochs most vile publications cannot get to. If this is where Denis O’Brien is going to allow his media interests to go the Irish public needs to worry. The Irish Independent is not exactly a shining example of quality journalism, but its a hell of a lot better than this.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been watching a daily broadcast from a site called Political Lunch. It comes out around five in the evening here, and is a nice quick wrap up of various aspects of the US Presidential campaign. You can subscribe to the channel on youtube, or watch on the main site.

While it doesn’t appear to be biased in either direction, and what information I can find on the hosts appears to be partisan, as with anything related to the American election take it with a slight pinch of salt if one candidate appears to be getting favorable coverage. It is a nice diversion from main stream commentary.

[ my music : Marmoset - Florist Fired ]

I hoped to be writing a review, but for some reason last nights Black Acid gig was cancelled - anyone know why? Not to worry, its Los Campesinos on Monday.

Not sure when they finally put up some tunes, but Black Acid is Richard Fearless of Death in Vegas fame’s new project. Check them out over on myspace.

They are playing Tripod tomorrow night (7th). Its sleazy psychedelic rock - just really good. Personally I was going on nothing more than the Death In Vegas link, and a level of trust in what Richard Fearless does. Quite happy that I am now ;).

[ my music : The Magnetic Fields - Distortion ]

… some day, some day, some day, dominion. The good folks at Dominion have had a brief crisis recently due to a change of venue. However all has been resolved and they are moving to a new venue on the 16th. In all honesty is years since I’ve headed along, but if your in anyway interested in seeing a goth/industrial/ebm club of any sort survive in Dublin try to head along over the next few weeks, I know I will.

Just after the Iowa primary I referred to the less discussed Iowa result, John McCain’s 13.1% showing in a state that he barely campaigned in, and what it signaled for the upcoming presidential nomination campaign. At the time I wrote

Do I think McCain will get the nomination, at the moment no, but I think if he did he is a shoe in for president. Like Obama McCains biggest problem is his own party rather than the larger electorate. The switch may have begun on the Democratic side, lets hope its coming for the Republicans.

But it looks like the switch has begun in earnest with the result in Florida. Dick Morris had a nice analysis of this in yesterdays New York Post - Out of Florida: The Front-Runner, where McCains status is best summed up as

Being the front-runner in the Republican primary is no small matter. The GOP believes in following the leader. The absence of a designated heir-apparent has been evident throughout the party’s 2008 contest. Now that McCain is the front-runner, the legitimist voters in the primary will likely move toward him. Giuliani’s expected endorsement of McCain will only exemplify this trend and hasten it along.

Role on Tuesday, its going to be interesting. For the sake of change I really hope we see McCain v’s Obama in the presidential contest - it would be good for the world.

[ my music : Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend ]

So I mentioned Vampire Weekend last summer as one of the better bands I’d come across. Anyway their debut album was released on Tuesday (you can pick it up over on eMusic), and is well worth a listen. But as a teaser…

I see that they are playing a few gigs in the UK at the end of February, be nice to get them to Dublin as well.