For the new Barenaked Ladies video, the band asked a bunch of Youtube celebrities to record a video of themselves performing the song. The results are so very, very cute.
I’m familiar with most of these celebrities but I’ve never seen “Where the hell is Matt” before. So I hunted it down, and let me tell you, it brought a tear to this weary old face.
Pancake Tuesday, boys and girls. A magical time of year. You can eat as much as you want, but because they’re only pancakes, you don’t look like such a savage. In school, we used to brag about how many we ate. Since I didn’t get any pancakes last year, I’m going to make up for it this year by gorging myself until I’ve got pancake batter coming out my ears.
Pancakes
100g flour
2 Eggs
200ml milk, mixed with 75ml water
Sift flour into a mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it
Whisk well
Slowly add the milk and water, whisking as you go
Cook in a pan over a medium heat
Toppings
Sugar and lemon juice. It is vitally important that the juice be from a plastic lemon. Otherwise it may as well be any other day of the week because it’s just not Pancake Tuesday with plastic lemon.
Nutella. Nothing else. Okay, maybe ice cream. You’ll be bouncing off the walls for days.
Bacon and maple syrup. Friend in work gave me a bottle of maple syrup from Canada, since all I seem to be able to find in Dublin is maple-flavoured Golden Syrup.
Blueberries. Awesome when they’re dropped into the batter as it cooks in the pan.
Well, it was only a matter of time before I did something about the Matrix, wasn’t it? Quintessential nerd movie that has already been endlessly picked apart. Well, what’s one more?
Colour plays an important role in the Matrix movies. The tinting is as much a part of the mise-en-scene* as the set and props, giving the viewer subtle clues as to the nature of the setting. Scenes taking place within the matrix are tinted green, scenes taking place on board the ships in the ‘real world’ are tinted blue and Scenes taking place within “zion” are tinted brown. he truly hardcore Matrix nerds have used these “clues” as part of some obsessively detailed theories regarding the underlying meaning of the Matrix movies.
But we’ll do no such thing here.
Holy shit. Did I really just say “mise-en-scene”? Shoot me now.
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Finally got around to checking out Stew Station, which opened up next to the Namaste Indian on North King Street, right around the corner from where I live. Like the sign on the door says, they specialise in stews and other soup-based dishes, and the menu seems to change regularly. The restaurant seems to be chasing the Gruel dollar - a very relaxed, homey atmosphere with straightforward, uncomplicated food. But it seems a little out-of-place on North King Street, like it should be closer to the Epicurean Food Hall. But no matter! With development in Smithfield finally starting to bear some fruit (a Thomas Read that has yet to be even half-full, the opening of the Light House Cinema soon), maybe Stew Station is just a little early to the party.
Anyway, since we live so close, I got the food to take away. I got the tomato soup with meatball for myself and a beef and vegetable for H. Reasonable value too: EUR7 for a hearty meal (EUR7.50 if you eat in). The stews were tasty. Comforting, but didn’t feel entirely healthy. But then again, that could have been the massive dollop of carby, starchy, delicious, creamy mash that came with the meal.
Now all they need to do is change their opening times (7pm weekdays, 6pm weekends) to handle the post-pub crowd and serve Coddle, and Zaytoon will be displaced as my favourite drunk meal.
So, after months of agonising over where H. would be posted for work, the big news finally arrived yesterday.
They’re sending her to Rome.
Well, me and H… I think we’ve got something special. Something I don’t want to give up, y’know? So I’m going with her. I’m leaving my job, my apartment, my friends and family, and going to live in Rome for the next three years.
Now, let me make it clear, I’m fully committed to this and I’m delighted she got Holy See and not Vilnius (or, God forbid, Addis fucking Abbaba), but my brain is still reeling from the shock of it all and I’m having trouble trying to understand exactly what this means. I tried to get my head around it yesterday but instead ended up staring at a wall and muttering “fuck… fuck…” for twenty minutes instead.
What am I going to do there? No idea. The pessimist in me is looking on this as my life being turned upside down for a few years and panicing at the enormity of it all. The optimist, however, is seeing this as the great etch-a-sketch of my life being given a good shaking. Erase, start again. So I’m completely open to suggestions for what I could do with my new life. I’m roughly halfway between “Ride around on a Vespa saying “ciao” for a living” and “Do a TEFL course and teach English”. But you’re a bright, creative bunch. Any other suggestions?
When are we going? Again, no idea. A few people got posted yesterday, so HR was understandably swamped and managed to duck out before H. could grill them for details. Hopefully it won’t be too soon. We need to sort out a going-away party.
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