Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!
Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Sunday 27 February 2011
Tuesday 22 February 2011
WTF - General Election 2012 And The End Of The World
I think I might be more terrified than any other time in my life. (Hello, good evening, how are you all doing?)
Apart from the time I saw a man almost drowning in Tramore. That was scary.
And when I read Tyranny by Leslie Fairfield. That's the scariest book I've ever read.
But this isn't a book. This is real life. This will be an extremely long post. Brace yourselves.
Remember back at the end of November, during Alternative Blogging Week, I told you about the EU and IMF's loan of €85 billion to Ireland? And how no one knew what was going to happen? WELL...
At the start of the recession, in 2008, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister, say 'Tee-Shock') Bertie Ahern:
Yeah, he decided to retire and so, the Tànaiste (successor), Brian Cowen:
He became Taoiseach. And of course, you already know from my fully comprehensive guide that the banks were poor, then the government under Mr. Cowen guaranteed the banks... After all of this, and more scandals, the hate for Mr. Cowen was so widespread and unanimous throughout the country that in an attempt to minimize his association with Fianna Fail, his party, he stepped down as party leader. Mr. Cowen is not Taoiseach anymore. In fact, for the past month, we haven't had a Taoiseach. We're having a General Election. Probably should have mentioned that. Sorry.
Polling day is 25th February, in three days and a bit (and before you start getting any ideas, I'm under eighteen, so I don't have a vote) and today, the first canvasser came to our house. (Honestly, it's not like I live in the back of beyond.) He belonged to the political party Fine Gael.
A quick note on Fine Gael - Fine Gael literally means 'Tribe of the Irish'. Was second-largest political party in Ireland, after Fianna Fail (Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen) and is led by Enda Kenny:
Since the election started, he has been a contender. Really, he's grown quite popular with people, because they don't want to vote for Fianna Fail, since it was their (coalition) governments that led Ireland before and during the recession. Fine Gael say the government is full of corruption at the moment (true, unfortunately) and that they're going to make everything better.
But, in my opinion, even if they try, they won't be able to give everyone jobs and make the country prosperous again.
Are you still here? If you are, thank you. Keep reading, I'm not done yet.
When Iceland and Greece went into bankruptcy, they quickly got rid of their corrupt governments and banks, but Fianna Fail still remained in power up until the end of January. There have been no serious protests of any kind. It's actually quite strange, because Irish history is, in a nutshell, seven hundred years of uprisings and rebellions against our English oppressors, in which many heroes have died in vain. Nobody seems to want to do that any more! People are angry about what's happened to them, their standards of living have definitely dropped, and our young people, our assets are emigrating in search of work in Australia or America, and they have so many problems that they've lost faith in our government, in these political parties. But nobody wants to protest or be martyred for the good of Ireland! What on earth has happened?
A few weeks ago, I went to see The Way Back. I saw the Russian gulags in Siberia, and the spread of communism (and yes, we have an Irish Communists Party) in the twentieth century, and as I walked out of the cinema, I was struck with the terrible thought of how lucky I am that, because of blind, blind chance, that doesn't happen in Ireland. And then I thought of Egypt, because that was in the newspapers, and I thought to myself, 'What am I doing to make sure that doesn't happen to Ireland?' And all I came up with was a big, fat NOTHING.
And I know you're thinking, 'Eleanor, why would you think that would happen in Ireland?' I'm getting to that. Hang on a second please.
It was only a blind chance that I was born white, female and Irish, in 1995. I believe it was only a blind chance that Ireland is not a dictatorship, and Egypt was. Yes, I'm aware that there are number of factors that have led to Ireland's democracy, and Egypt having a dictator, but you know what I mean. I said earlier that there have been no serious protests against Fianna Fail and the banks. Yet. It may take years, or six months, but something will crack. And some young, handsome graduate is going to protest about something, students fees maybe, and get himself hurt. And he will die. And that'll be the START.
Think Egypt, Libya. The fighting and rioting in Ireland will be on international news, as the death tolls rise. Maybe you'll see videos on Facebook or YouTube of protesters being shot in the middle of Grafton Street. Maybe I'll be in one of those videos. And then, eventually, America will step in, as it does, and bring in the big guns. And those guns will be really, really, really big. And this just won't be happening in Ireland, oh no. This will be happening all over the world. Total devastation. And then the superpowers, like America, will move in with their terribly big guns and they'll think they're trying to help. But they won't. And then, the people in those superpowers will start to get mad, and the superpowers and the terribly big guns will move out and try to sort out things at home, but it won't work. Third World War. And you'll have countries like Ireland and Libya destroyed, and the superpowers imploding, and the world will end. In, you've guessed it, 2012.
You may not believe me, and that's fine. You may like to telephone the HSE and recommend me for counselling. I would prefer if you didn't do that. But yes, I do believe this will happen. And it terrifies me. But imagine how terrified I'll be when I have to barricade my doors during a siege, wondering when I'll next get to eat. I'm not saying this is all certain. The only thing I know that's certain is that Ireland's next Taoiseach will be white and male.
Again.
And now, to ask myself the same question that I asked myself after seeing The Way Back:
What am I doing to make sure that Ireland survives all of this, to prevent the end of the world?
Nothing.
And it really, really depresses me.
But anyway.
You can just take all of this with a pinch of salt, if you want.
Eleanor Roscuro
Apart from the time I saw a man almost drowning in Tramore. That was scary.
And when I read Tyranny by Leslie Fairfield. That's the scariest book I've ever read.
But this isn't a book. This is real life. This will be an extremely long post. Brace yourselves.
Remember back at the end of November, during Alternative Blogging Week, I told you about the EU and IMF's loan of €85 billion to Ireland? And how no one knew what was going to happen? WELL...
At the start of the recession, in 2008, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister, say 'Tee-Shock') Bertie Ahern:
Yeah, he decided to retire and so, the Tànaiste (successor), Brian Cowen:
He became Taoiseach. And of course, you already know from my fully comprehensive guide that the banks were poor, then the government under Mr. Cowen guaranteed the banks... After all of this, and more scandals, the hate for Mr. Cowen was so widespread and unanimous throughout the country that in an attempt to minimize his association with Fianna Fail, his party, he stepped down as party leader. Mr. Cowen is not Taoiseach anymore. In fact, for the past month, we haven't had a Taoiseach. We're having a General Election. Probably should have mentioned that. Sorry.
Polling day is 25th February, in three days and a bit (and before you start getting any ideas, I'm under eighteen, so I don't have a vote) and today, the first canvasser came to our house. (Honestly, it's not like I live in the back of beyond.) He belonged to the political party Fine Gael.
A quick note on Fine Gael - Fine Gael literally means 'Tribe of the Irish'. Was second-largest political party in Ireland, after Fianna Fail (Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen) and is led by Enda Kenny:
Since the election started, he has been a contender. Really, he's grown quite popular with people, because they don't want to vote for Fianna Fail, since it was their (coalition) governments that led Ireland before and during the recession. Fine Gael say the government is full of corruption at the moment (true, unfortunately) and that they're going to make everything better.
But, in my opinion, even if they try, they won't be able to give everyone jobs and make the country prosperous again.
Are you still here? If you are, thank you. Keep reading, I'm not done yet.
When Iceland and Greece went into bankruptcy, they quickly got rid of their corrupt governments and banks, but Fianna Fail still remained in power up until the end of January. There have been no serious protests of any kind. It's actually quite strange, because Irish history is, in a nutshell, seven hundred years of uprisings and rebellions against our English oppressors, in which many heroes have died in vain. Nobody seems to want to do that any more! People are angry about what's happened to them, their standards of living have definitely dropped, and our young people, our assets are emigrating in search of work in Australia or America, and they have so many problems that they've lost faith in our government, in these political parties. But nobody wants to protest or be martyred for the good of Ireland! What on earth has happened?
A few weeks ago, I went to see The Way Back. I saw the Russian gulags in Siberia, and the spread of communism (and yes, we have an Irish Communists Party) in the twentieth century, and as I walked out of the cinema, I was struck with the terrible thought of how lucky I am that, because of blind, blind chance, that doesn't happen in Ireland. And then I thought of Egypt, because that was in the newspapers, and I thought to myself, 'What am I doing to make sure that doesn't happen to Ireland?' And all I came up with was a big, fat NOTHING.
And I know you're thinking, 'Eleanor, why would you think that would happen in Ireland?' I'm getting to that. Hang on a second please.
It was only a blind chance that I was born white, female and Irish, in 1995. I believe it was only a blind chance that Ireland is not a dictatorship, and Egypt was. Yes, I'm aware that there are number of factors that have led to Ireland's democracy, and Egypt having a dictator, but you know what I mean. I said earlier that there have been no serious protests against Fianna Fail and the banks. Yet. It may take years, or six months, but something will crack. And some young, handsome graduate is going to protest about something, students fees maybe, and get himself hurt. And he will die. And that'll be the START.
Think Egypt, Libya. The fighting and rioting in Ireland will be on international news, as the death tolls rise. Maybe you'll see videos on Facebook or YouTube of protesters being shot in the middle of Grafton Street. Maybe I'll be in one of those videos. And then, eventually, America will step in, as it does, and bring in the big guns. And those guns will be really, really, really big. And this just won't be happening in Ireland, oh no. This will be happening all over the world. Total devastation. And then the superpowers, like America, will move in with their terribly big guns and they'll think they're trying to help. But they won't. And then, the people in those superpowers will start to get mad, and the superpowers and the terribly big guns will move out and try to sort out things at home, but it won't work. Third World War. And you'll have countries like Ireland and Libya destroyed, and the superpowers imploding, and the world will end. In, you've guessed it, 2012.
You may not believe me, and that's fine. You may like to telephone the HSE and recommend me for counselling. I would prefer if you didn't do that. But yes, I do believe this will happen. And it terrifies me. But imagine how terrified I'll be when I have to barricade my doors during a siege, wondering when I'll next get to eat. I'm not saying this is all certain. The only thing I know that's certain is that Ireland's next Taoiseach will be white and male.
Again.
And now, to ask myself the same question that I asked myself after seeing The Way Back:
What am I doing to make sure that Ireland survives all of this, to prevent the end of the world?
Nothing.
And it really, really depresses me.
But anyway.
You can just take all of this with a pinch of salt, if you want.
Eleanor Roscuro
Sunday 20 February 2011
Quote of The Week #43
By the end of the first scene of the King's Speech I was in ABSOLUTE BITS, something which continued throughout the film, and I think I've finally worked out why.
I have one helluva lot of sympathy for the trials and tribulations of King George VI.
I know that a stammer is a medically diagnosed condition and a much more obtrusive impediment than shyness but the barriers, the feeling always inadequate, the inability to speak because you know whatever comes out of your mind will be wrong wrong wrong.
That makes me sound self-pitying and horrendously whiny. But everyone has their thing, don't they? Even when you know it's stupid, there's something there holding you back and it is, genuinely, like someone has built a brick wall around you and there is literally no way of even moving a centimetre because...well because you can't can't can't.
Emma Crighton
Oh, and a small note... Quote of the Week will be back next time this week. Sorry for changing my mind...
I have one helluva lot of sympathy for the trials and tribulations of King George VI.
I know that a stammer is a medically diagnosed condition and a much more obtrusive impediment than shyness but the barriers, the feeling always inadequate, the inability to speak because you know whatever comes out of your mind will be wrong wrong wrong.
That makes me sound self-pitying and horrendously whiny. But everyone has their thing, don't they? Even when you know it's stupid, there's something there holding you back and it is, genuinely, like someone has built a brick wall around you and there is literally no way of even moving a centimetre because...well because you can't can't can't.
Emma Crighton
Oh, and a small note... Quote of the Week will be back next time this week. Sorry for changing my mind...
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Apostrophe - Where Social Warfare Meets Social Media
So next week, I'll be going along to see a play in Kilkenny. It's called Scratcher, by The Devious Theatre Company. It looks like this:
Don't worry, they don't look that menacing in real life. Although...
But anyway.
According to Devious, 'Scratcher is a dark, satirical comedy set in a social welfare office on a gloomy Tuesday morning as 6 unemployed people slowly begin to transform into a revolutionary outfit bent on holding the country hostage. Signing on has never been so fun. This is social warfare.' That sounds fun! It's written and directed by John Morton, and starring Alan Butler, Annette O'Shea, John Morton, Ross Costigan, David Thompson, Ken McGuire, and Amy Dunne.
It's being performed in Dublin as part of THEATREclub's theatre festival The Theatre Machine Turns You On: Volume 2 on Thursday 17th February, (yes, the day after tomorrow) at the Project Arts Centre, and in Kilkenny from 22-26 February at the Arts Office, No. 76 John Street. You should come. I'm going. It's going to be great.
Oh, and they've released a nice little promo video for their Scratcher performance in Dublin. It's basically a checklist of everything they're bringing with them. Y'know, guns and stuff. Lots of guns. And as we all know, guns = excitement and fun! And violence. But mostly fun. Chances are I could get arrested for this sort of talk... ah well.
So... you should come. Yep. Besides, it's on in the mid-term, and you'll probably have nothing else to do. No offence.
Oh, and just so you know... (Scratcher plugging ends here, so if you're not interested in anything else, then you might need to broaden your horizons a bit, and you might like to click here for Devious Theatre. It's a lovely website.) Anyway, just so you know, I feel that Apostrophe will, slowly but surely become a this-is-what-I'm-doing blog, a lot of which I have been reading recently, rather than a this-is-how-I-think-and-feel-about-things blog. Of course, it'll still be a blog where I feel and think about things, I can't not do that. I'll just be talking more about what I do be doing with my life. And this is my bridging sentence to my next paragraph.
Here we are. On the topic of posting... Usually, my aim is to post something in between every Quote of the Week, but, and I don't want to seem whiny, but it's a lot of pressure, and if I have nothing to post about, I start posting silly 'fillers', which are basically rubbish. You and Apostrophe (Yes, I'm referring to Apostrophe as an actual living being) deserve better. So on 20th February, I will be posting Quote of the Week #43, my last. I'll be posting more than one quote, so if anyone wants to say something good in the comments, go ahead.
Eleanor Roscuro
Don't worry, they don't look that menacing in real life. Although...
But anyway.
According to Devious, 'Scratcher is a dark, satirical comedy set in a social welfare office on a gloomy Tuesday morning as 6 unemployed people slowly begin to transform into a revolutionary outfit bent on holding the country hostage. Signing on has never been so fun. This is social warfare.' That sounds fun! It's written and directed by John Morton, and starring Alan Butler, Annette O'Shea, John Morton, Ross Costigan, David Thompson, Ken McGuire, and Amy Dunne.
It's being performed in Dublin as part of THEATREclub's theatre festival The Theatre Machine Turns You On: Volume 2 on Thursday 17th February, (yes, the day after tomorrow) at the Project Arts Centre, and in Kilkenny from 22-26 February at the Arts Office, No. 76 John Street. You should come. I'm going. It's going to be great.
Oh, and they've released a nice little promo video for their Scratcher performance in Dublin. It's basically a checklist of everything they're bringing with them. Y'know, guns and stuff. Lots of guns. And as we all know, guns = excitement and fun! And violence. But mostly fun. Chances are I could get arrested for this sort of talk... ah well.
So... you should come. Yep. Besides, it's on in the mid-term, and you'll probably have nothing else to do. No offence.
Oh, and just so you know... (Scratcher plugging ends here, so if you're not interested in anything else, then you might need to broaden your horizons a bit, and you might like to click here for Devious Theatre. It's a lovely website.) Anyway, just so you know, I feel that Apostrophe will, slowly but surely become a this-is-what-I'm-doing blog, a lot of which I have been reading recently, rather than a this-is-how-I-think-and-feel-about-things blog. Of course, it'll still be a blog where I feel and think about things, I can't not do that. I'll just be talking more about what I do be doing with my life. And this is my bridging sentence to my next paragraph.
Here we are. On the topic of posting... Usually, my aim is to post something in between every Quote of the Week, but, and I don't want to seem whiny, but it's a lot of pressure, and if I have nothing to post about, I start posting silly 'fillers', which are basically rubbish. You and Apostrophe (Yes, I'm referring to Apostrophe as an actual living being) deserve better. So on 20th February, I will be posting Quote of the Week #43, my last. I'll be posting more than one quote, so if anyone wants to say something good in the comments, go ahead.
Eleanor Roscuro
Sunday 13 February 2011
Quote of the Week #42
I want my bedroom to be two rooms, one that’s where the work space is, with all my books and CDs and instruments in, and the other that is pretty much exactly this photograph. I’m tired of having to sleep in a room that’s so full of activity all the time. I don’t want a computer in my bedroom any more. I want it to be silent and magical.
Tom Milsom
Tom Milsom
Sunday 6 February 2011
STUFF I BE DOIN WI ME LIFE WOT
 |
| Yeah... I'm hungry. |
Hello.
You may not have realised this yet, but I don't spend all my time on the internet with you. This is what I've been doing with myself this past while. Don't worry, it's all terribly interesting.
1. Being Nostalgic And Kicking Myself: A few weeks ago, I re-read the Roald Dahl books, all of them. I used to read them all the time when I was younger - Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox... But as I was re-reading them recently, I started to notice... things. Things like all the alliteration Dahl used. All the time, with every single character in every single book, everyone is crying 'Great galumphing galizzers!' and it gets very repetitive. And the heroes and heroines, the children, THEY'RE ALL THE SAME. Seriously, there's nothing to distinguish them from each other, which is annoying. And I was reading and noticing these things, and other things too, but I didn't want to notice them. I am older now, and I ruined the Roald Dahl books for me, and it's all my fault. And after realising this I went off and sulked, like the baby I am.
2. Addiction #56: So Tom Milsom joined Tumblr. Yes, you read me correctly. Tom Milsom is now on Tumblr. Amazing, isn't it? Go and join him on his odyssey! (Yes. I did just make a terrible pun, or whatever that was. You're welcome.)
3. Becoming Trendy - Part #375: So a few days ago I came across a new post by Miss Vintage Vixen who I secretly but not very secretly adore, and it was a post about this band. This wonderful band. Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars. It's just...
You know? And the song is relatively simple, almost the same thing over and over again, but when that thing is so good, it doesn't really matter.
4. J'adore l'animation! This film probably won't be screening in my local omniplex, but it will stand the test of time better than whatever CGI 2011 is going to give us. It's called Le Vie un Chat. It's so pretty, and it's a shame that people here aren't buzzing about it. But still. Plus, I want to know more about the life of the cat.
5. Embracing the Force: So yesterday I was drinking some tea and I was shown this ad. There's not really much I can say that hasn't already been said (but still, that could be applied to almost everything, couldn't it? Why am I saying it?) Anyway, this is one of the best examples of child acting I've ever seen. Whatever he does again, his face should not be shown. It just makes it that much better.
Also - what's the Superbowl?
Eleanor Roscuro
Quote of The Week #41
You didn't ask permission. You didn't think about the consequences. You didn't care about the person I was with and their family, you didn't care about anything, you just cared about yourself and a grubby little cheque, and that's not right... have a bit of respect, or human decency.
Ryan Tubridy, displeased with the paparazzi who "hid behind bushes and trees" to take photos of his romantic stroll with girlfriend Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin at Powerscourt Waterfall.
Ryan Tubridy, displeased with the paparazzi who "hid behind bushes and trees" to take photos of his romantic stroll with girlfriend Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin at Powerscourt Waterfall.
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