The above song is probably my favourite track from the new album. The title, Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter, reminds me of this rhyme:

From Sydney Zoo an alligator
Was put on board a flying freighter.
He ate the pilot
And the navigator.
And asked for more with mashed potater

Auditioning for the variety show brought back a lot of memories auditioning for RENT, which was my first major audition, which I was nothing short of terrified for.

Not only was it my first serious audition, but the constant knee pain I was having meant that I was auditioning while in a full-length leg cast. I was quite unsteady on my feet still, which didn’t fill me with confidence for the audition.

It started with the entire group singing Seasons of Love, one of the main group songs of the show. I loved the song and our 25-or-so voices rising in harmony sent goosebumps up my arms. Our singing began very tentative but it grew each time we sang through it.

After that, the individual auditions began. Richie, our director, tapped me on the shoulder and suggested I go first. I immediately began to get nervous but at least I’d get my song over and done with quickly. I was doing “What You Own” (which I’ve talked about before here), a driving rock duet that I loved. I adored riding on the song’s beat and letting it carry me. The words came fast, tumbling out of my mouth faster than I could think.

“What are you doing?” asked our rehearsal pianist, Eoin. I’d worked with him once before and loved his unassuming, affable nature.
““What You Own” ” I answered. Eoin flicked through the pages of his score and frowned.
“I’m not sure I know this one” he said, looking through the song. My heart sank, I hadn’t really prepared anything else.

To make matters worse, ““What You Own”” began funnily, with a spoken bit by Mark, my character, and then a tough opening verse without much piano. I began singing, my voice shaky and feeling as if my inexperience at this was like a big noisy beacon above me. As the familiar chorus began and the piano intensified, I began to ease a bit, falling into the grove of the song easier now. Better yet, Eoin suddenly called out over the piano “Oh! I do know this one!” We finished the song and Richie came over. We went outside and the next person came in to audition. My head was still spinning — it had ended so quickly and I could still feel the adrenaline coursing through me.

At the end of the day, I got the part I auditioned for, and was delighted. Auditions since then have gotten easier and it’s true what they say, that everything comes with experience.

Do you have any audition stories to share?

It got me thinking though: when people read blogs, they have a unique perception of the writer. It’s the same way that people have different perceptions, thoughts and memories of real-life people. My aunt’s relationship to me is different to my best friend’s, which is different again to the one my parents have with me, and so on.

Photo owned by LadyDragonflyCC – Tinsel Time!!!! (cc)

It reminds me of a friend of mine who told me that we have to mourn the fact that someone’s perception of us is gone when they die. No two people have the same perceptions (opinions, memories, jokes, etc.) and this is what’s upsetting when a friend dies.

I guess what this post is about is how these real-life perceptions are no different when applied to an online presence. Aren’t our blogs just an extension of ourselves?

I know that I haven’t even been home a fortnight and I’m already getting nostalgic about my time in America, which is probably lame. Still, I was looking for a photo in my library to show a friend and saw this one. I thought that it summed up my time in America pretty well, if you were limited to one shot.

Hennepin Avenue was one of the main streets that runs through downtown Minneapolis. It is, as the sign suggests, the cultural centre of the city. Moreover, Minneapolis seems to be the more artistic of the Twin Cities, or so the locals told me. The Avenue is home to a handful of theatres, cinemas and general abundance of culture and expression.

Being confined to a wheelchair, as I was for about 5 weeks, severely limits what you can do for fun. Last time I was in America, we would go to the Mall of America, which is the second-biggest mall in America in terms of retail space. However, in 2010, we were staying downtown and had more choice as to what we did.

Between the three of us, we went to the cinema four times, seeing RED, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Social Network twice. Also, we would simply walk down Hennepin. In recent years (never in my lifetime for me, never since having their first child for my parents), we’ve never lived downtown so it was definitely an experience. As tourist-y as it sounds, just walking around the city, soaking up the sheer difference of life outside of the suburban sprawl of Limerick, was a new adventure, and an interest chapter in each of our lives.

That’s a first edition Green man on a wood background that’s currently housed under top security in my aunt and uncle’s house… on the underside of their kitchen table.

So Leonardo Da Vinci’s first recorded work was the “Adoration of Magi“, and Michaelangelo’s was “Pieta“. Shall we have a vote? :)

I remember being in Minnesota for the release of Order of the Phoenix, and actually flying home the day it was released. Harry Potter mania had just begun to grip me, so even though we’d an 11am flight, it was paramount that we stopped at a bookstore beforehand so that I could get my copy to read on the flight. Finding a bookshop that had the book in stock proved difficult (the reason for this became apparent: about every second person was also reading Order of the Phoenix) but we eventually found one.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince found us in France on holidays. Cue the inevitable drive to try and find an English-book-selling bookstore and the debate as to which of us got to read it first. John won, but I distinctly remember unfair tactics being used. Don’t let that boy run for election.

The final installment of the books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows found us at home. John and Patrick were there as well as some of the Auctomatic team. All of us ended up going to Eason’s in Limerick for the midnight release and going to Eddie Rockets afterwards (Patrick and John -and more recently, yours truly- have always been fans of going to Eddie Rockets at all hours).

The last Harry Potter book was really the first one where mania truly set in — we bought 4 copies of the seventh book (none of these debates as to who’d read it first) and the day following the release, the Collison house was unusually quiet as tired bodies sprawled out on couches in the sitting room, the still air only broken by the occasional laugh at a joke on the page. We were each at different stages of the book; for instance, I caved and read the first 10 chapters when they were leaked online the day before the official release, so I was ahead of John, who hadn’t read the leaked pages.

No other book series has really had such an all-ages audience or a subculture of midnight openings while dressed in full-costume. No series has been so universal, in short.

What are your thoughts on Harry Potter releases? Any funny stories?

Photo owned by .Taxidermy (cc)

_______

Béibhinn Irish Cummins and Tommy Collison caught up with DCU’s President Brian Mac Craith in what he told us was his first ever interview after com- ing into office during the first week of CTYI: Session 2.

Over the precious 15 minutes afforded to us, we grilled the President on such issues such as his opinions on CTYI (his son’s a TA!), his thoughts on DCU and what the future holds.

We began by asking the obvious question – “what do you think of CTYI?”.

“It’s fantastic!” he laughs, telling us how it gives the kids a chance to develop a broad range of skills and also serves as introduction to college life (something some students had already picked up on). “Cliff Bernstein” he tells us, in what is almost a conspiratorial whisper, referring to the famed manager of Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and an AWESOME beard, “is a big fan of the program”.

When asked to describe an average day as President of DCU, he tells us how he starts his day at 8 (later than us — no fair!) and spends his day in meetings, “making connections and alliances”.
We then brought him on to the subject of DCU – “it’s the best” he
jokes, smiling. “We’re punching above our weight” he tells us, now serious. “Nobody works closer with the industry and enterprise sectors”. He goes on to explain how DCU is a modern and dynamic university and shall continue to be.

Oddly, the President refused to voice his opinion on college fees – an area his predecessor was quite outspoken about. He offered this comment: “we’re saying to the government: ‘the cuts have to stop’.”
“What challenges does DCU face?” we asked. He stopped to think about this one, before continuing “well, they’re [challenges faced] are not unique to us [DCU]. There’s the resource problem as well as the fact that the jobs we’ll have in 2015 don’t exist at the moment”, he went onto say, echoing California-based technology investor Paul Graham’s thoughts, that “…there are other jobs you can’t learn about, because no one is doing them yet. Most of the work I’ve done in the last ten years didn’t exist when I was in high school.”

To finish on a light note, we asked the President about his inauguration, specifically the music which received much acclaim. “I thoroughly enjoyed it” he told us brightly. Our time was then up. We took a few photographs and shook hands once again as he left us with this promise:

“We will continue to support CTYI”

I think we speak on behalf of all students that CTYIziens* everywhere will be hold-ing Professor McCraith to that promise.

_______

* CTYIziens — Affectionate title CTYI attendees give themselves, modeled on the word ‘citizen’.

I’m trying to balance writing this quickly to make sure I don’t forget anything important with making sure I’ve thought this post through to make sure that everything is correct.

I suppose we’ll start with a brief explanation of CTYI – it’s a 3 week residential (commuting is an option) course. You stay in the Larkfield Apartments, made up of two bedrooms, a kitchenette (no cooking appliances supplied save for a toaster and a kettle) and a bathroom. You take meals in the DCU canteen beside the Henry Grattan building and do activities in either the nearby buildings or the park adjacent to the sports building.

7.30 – Morning Call, must be awake at this time.
8.15 – Breakfast.
9.00 – Classes begin.
10:30 – 15 minute break. Brought to Spar nearby before returning to class.
12.00 – Lunch in the canteen.
13.00 – Classes resume.
15.00 – Classes finish. Go to quad and sign up for activity.
17.00 – Activities finish. Have RA (Residential Assistant) meeting and dinner. Free time otherwise.
18.30 – Study period.
20.30 – Study finishes, social time begins.
22:00 – Social time finishes. Must be in rooms.
22:30 – Lights out.

As you can see, it’s pretty regimental without much free time. Now, one could observe that the course is responsible for 200-odd teens and that strict discipline is required to keep everything running smoothly (which it did, well done) and you’d be correct, in my opinion. That’s why I fully co-operated with it all the time. Away from everyone though, I found myself despising my lack of independence and choice. There were times when I just wanted to drop everything and sit and read or chat with friends, something CTYI just couldn’t afford. I knew this and understood this controlling atmosphere, but that doesn’t stop me disliking it. It’s not that CTYI is a prison camp or Big Brother, it’s just that coming from the level of independence I enjoy in life into CTYI is a big difference and a big shock.

Of course, CTYI had its amazing moments: the course I did -Journalism- was phenomenal. Andrew Payne, who works as a communications consultant, taught the class and brought the 16 of us through all major aspects of journalism. From memory, we covered:

• Differences between tabloids and broadsheets.
• How headlines change an article.
• How the internet is affecting traditional journalism.
• Interviewing techniques and famous examples of same.
• Different types of features and how they differed from main articles.
• How the editing process works.
• Investigative reporting.
• The ethics of journalism.
• Tabloid methods of reporting (phone-tapping, the Fake Sheik etc.)
• Waiting to report out of respect versus being the first with a story.
• The line between the public’s right to be informed and a private individual’s right to privacy. We debated its existence to an extent.

We also watched All The President’s Men, Frost/Nixon, Sicko, Out-foxed, State of Play and Shattered Glass. All deal with journalists at work and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

The social aspect of the course was phenomenal too – I mean, not only do you have a group of youths of similar maturity and intelligence in DCU together, but don’t forget 15 other people are also interested in journalism so hanging out with them was also a blast. That is where CTYI really excels — why people love it so much and miss it and call coming there ‘going home’. I think the maturity is truly shown in how the students interact with the RAs (Residential Assistants – college students who act as big-brother/sister figures and make sure you’re enjoying yourself) – students found themselves talking just as easily to the RAs as the students.

I think the problems I had with CTYI (even calling them problems is unfair, though – these were definitely ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ issues). I’m fiercely independent who enjoys being able to make his own decisions and navigate his own life – CTYI just wasn’t my thing, is all.

Why not?

I was late to the party. The lovers of CTYI all share similar circumstances – they all started around age 13-14 and have been doing it for three/four/five years. For CTYI to rock your world, you need that. You can’t just do it for one year and expect to be as emotionally attached to the place as the ‘five year freaks’ :)

Is CTYI fantastic? Hell yes. Colm O’Reilly and the staff have created a unique phenomenal atmosphere which is fantastic. I found myself getting closer to the people I was already close to and getting close to entirely new people.

CTYI is a great course that I’d have no reservations sending my kids though – just send early to get maximum benefit.

He lived just like his character too – he enjoyed living in exotic locations (he wrote his books in a home in Jamaica), was a heavy smoker and drinker (also a throwback to 007, although these would be toned down in the films).

Fleming served in the British Navy in World War II (which Bond did too).

He instigated a plan named Operation Ruthless to obtain a German Naval Enigma documentation by crashing a captured German aeroplane into the English Channel, where the British crew, dressed in Luftwaffe uniforms, could be rescued by a German patrol boat. The “survivors” would then kill the German crew, and hijack the ship thus obtaining the Enigma secrets. Much to the annoyance of Alan Turing and Peter Twinn at Bletchley Park, it never actually happened. His niece Lucy Fleming in “The Bond Correspondence” on BBC Radio Four on 24 May 2008, stated that the reason given was that an official at the Royal Air Force pointed out that if they were to drop a downed Heinkel bomber in the English Channel, it would sink rather than float.

He also conceived of a plan to use British occultist Aleister Crowley to trick Rudolf Hess into attempting to contact a fake cell of anti-Churchill Englishmen in Britain, but this plan was not used because Rudolf Hess had flown to Scotland in an attempt to broker peace behind Hitler’s back. Anthony Masters’ book The Man Who Was M: The Life of Charles Henry Maxwell Knight asserts Fleming conceived the plan that lured Hess into flying to Scotland, in May 1941, to negotiate Anglo–German peace with Churchill, and resulted in Hess’s capture: this claim has no other source.

Fleming also formulated Operation Goldeneye, a plan to maintain communication with Gibraltar as well as a plan of defence in the unlikely event that Spain joined the Axis Powers and, together with Germany, invaded the Mediterranean colony.

Having said all that, Fleming wrote an endearing children’s novel, the name of which still conjures images of happy nostalgia among many children and adults alike. Published in 1964, it was adapted into a film in ’68. Being able to watch it through (without hiding behind the couch when the Childcatcher) came on became something of a ‘right of passage’ for many children. I recently read some of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and I was blown away by the simplicity of the opening, while being absolutely wonderfully witty at the same time.

Most motor cars are conglomerations (this is a long word for ‘bundles’) of steel and wire and rubber and plastic and electricity and oil and petrol and water and the toffee papers you pushed down the crack in the back seats last Sunday. Smoke comes out of the back of them and horns squawk out of the front and they have white lights like big eyes in front and red lights behind, and that’s about that! Just motor cars. Tin boxes on wheels for running about in. But some motorcars – mine for instance and perhaps yours are different! If you like them and understand them, if you’re kind to them and don’t scratch their paint or slam their doors. If you fill them up and top them up and pump them up when they need it; if you keep them clean and polished and out of the rain and snow as much as possible you will find – you might find that they become almost like persons. More than just ordinary persons – MAGICAL persons. You don’t believe me? Alright then, you just read about this car I’m going to tell you about, I believe you can guess its name already? Sorry, her name, I should say, and then see if you don’t agree with me, that all motor cars aren’t just conglomerations of machinery and fuel….

Best. Book. Opening. Ever.

***

All the children’s tales begin with “Long, long ago” or in the Irish Storyteller way “In my father’s time”, so maybe its appropriate that I start some reminiscences about my childhood and my parents in this way.

Yesterday morning “I took a notion” to do some gardening/outdoor work. I have to admit, though, that what I mean by this is not what my father would have called gardening. Nevertheless, I think that if he were still around, he’d approve. It was just a general tidy up outside – sweeping paths, raking stones on the driveway, collecting leaves and pulling grass that grows on the paths (but strangely, is prevented from growing in the lawns by winter frost).

But in his case, gardening was about vegetables. He dug and re-dug the plots allocated to the different vegetables with steady determined ease. It’s not accidental that quite a few of the photos we have of him are with spade in hand.
Why spade? He used both spade and fork for digging. The fork, if the ground had been recently tilled and the “going was easy” but I do remember a lot of use of spade also, probably due to heavy soils which would compact quickly between growing seasons. Also, grasses and weeds – which don’t seem constrained to growing seasons – crept in, requiring the cutting action of the spade to break the ground.
And of course he was a good judge of a spade. I found it intriguing to listen to men used to gardening speak of the qualities of a spade. Lightness of course came high on the list, but also the length and thickness of handle, not to mention size and shape of base which in turn affects the weight of the soil lifted.

In fact, I saw and experienced evidence of the same phenomenon with pitchforks. (For the uninitiated, this is a two pronged fork – or “two grained” as we used to say – used in “saving” hay. Once when I asked one of my sons to bring me the four grained fork from the shed, he asked “why, what other kind of fork is there?” and I, amused, had to explain about the hay fork.)
Making hay the traditional way requires a lot of manpower since, due to the vagaries of Irish weather, time was always of the essence. A “meitheal” of men would come together from neighbouring farms and set about “saving the hay” a term which itself expresses the urgency of the task in hand. When the men would return to work after a break for tea or sandwiches and pick up their forks again, they would do so carefully, picking “their own”. Often it might actually be their own, which they brought with them, but even if not, they would have begun the day measuring the the feel of it – especially its weight and the thickness of the handle – before claiming theirs for the day. I’ve even seen men restart work only to stop, look down and say “this isn’t my fork” and go looking for the “thief” who had theirs.

But back to my father and his spade. It was long handled. None of this modern short ‘D’ top handle… I’ve never quite figured out how one could use this latter short spade for any length of time since it involves bending the back continually. Of equal or even greater importance was the flattened protector part of the base where the foot pressed to drive it into the ground. If this wasn’t flat enough it would hurt the foot, or damage valuable footwear.

I was commenting to Tommy recently how my Dad tried hard but failed to get me interested in vegetable gardening. While I did help him periodically, in particular if anything interesting was being sown, the bug never really bit me and in my mid fifties now, it seems I’m permanently immune. At least to that particular variety of gardening bug. However, alas, a different strain has taken hold and I have found myself looking forward to the simple jobs in the yard and garden and, unlike many people for whom trimming hedges and maintaining lawns is a necessary evil, I actually enjoy it.

Tommy and I were pondering whether it’s an age related condition… “late onset gardening bug”, or the likes but most importantly, he also feels quite immune at this stage of his life. We’ll just have to see how he is in forty years… perhaps medical advances will protect him, but if not, he’ll feel that invisible hand drag him out, and then before you know it, he’ll be reminiscing – “in my father’s time”.