Never meet your heroes

It's a little bit ridiculous, I know. With all the sorrow in the world, nothing has left me feeling quite so sad, quite so down as the new Indiana Jones movie.

It's not that it's a terrible movie (it's heaps better then The Mummy), it's just that in comparison to what came before....

And you have to compare. Or at least I do. Because what was the point of returning to Indy after how well The Last Crusade wrapped things up? The only reason that this was worth doing was if the main players had something worth saying, a story that just had to be told. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls is not a good story; it feels more like an indulgence on the part of Spielberg, Lucas and Ford.

And I've no problem with that. But I just wish they'd had the class to leave us wanting more.

Why am I so sad about this? Well, I love Indy. That theme tune gets me straight to the heart. When I first heard a trailer (I turned my eyes away), Trish had to calm me down.

And I am so disappointed with Spielberg. I'm not surprised with Lucas, that lad's been living in a galaxy far far away for sometime now. But I thought with Spielberg on board, that there might have been some restraint.

The CGI, the CGI, the damn CGI. It's worse it's getting. The difference between a CGI heavy movie like this and one without like The Bourne Supremacy is the difference heavy metal and punk. I know which I prefer.

I'm rambling now.

What was missing? A good story. Good action pieces. A sense of peril. There was nothing exciting (because you know watching it that it's all bluescreen).

And it was too ridiculous. I know that sounds like a silly thing to say about an Indiana Jones movie but it's true. With the earlier movies, there was enough restraint, just enough to keep everything barely credible. But not with this.

---

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's unfair to expect anything as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark but all I know is that today I feel like morning the death of the greatest, the coolest, the only action hero that there ever was.

A great Irishman

We only realised just as he was to step down as President in 1990 what a public servant this man truly was. And even years later, he wouldn't speak about those phone calls to the Áras as it would bring controversy to the office of President. A great man.

Berties sets the date

Bertie Ahern will stand down as Taoiseach on May 6th 2008.

Of the past four Taoisigh, three have resigned with unanswered questions to say the least. That is not good for Ireland.

Bertie did wonderful things for this country; the Good Friday agreement may well not have happened without him (his dedication was phenomenal considering that his mother died on the run up to the signing of the agreement); his work on social partnership; his successful pragmatic approach to government of consensus; his work on the EU treaty.

But there is no doubt that the man's credibility is seriously damaged. His inability to clearly explain his finances when he was Minister for Finance and his ongoing obstruction of the Mahon tribunal left many questions for many people.

---

I don't believe that he was corrupt in the way that Haughey was (Mahon's findings might change my mind though) but here are some undisputable facts:

• He accepted financial contributions (or "dig-outs" as he calls them) from businessmen for his personal use.
• He brought a High-Court challenge against the Mahon tribunal to limit its inquiries into his Dáil statements.

Why do I pick out these two facts? Because here are two important Dáil statements made by Bertie Ahern:

1. "Financial contributions to politicians should be made for strictly political purposes, be clearly accounted for and given with no other motive than the good government of this country and support for the democratic system as a whole." May 28th, 1998.
2. "It is also unacceptable that in the case of Mr Haughey full co-operation was withheld from the tribunal, forcing it to undertake lengthy, painstaking and costly research to establish facts, which could have been established almost at once with his full co-operation. It is unacceptable that in a manner hitherto concealed from the public a taoiseach should be personally supported to the tune of £1.3 million." September 10th, 1997.

Bertie needed to go.

Dinner and the future

I just have time for a few words. I want to talk about the future. The future of this blog to be precise. I hope to start posting again with a vengeance; I've loads of interesting things that I want to discuss, I just need to find the time to sit down and type. So, cliché alert, watch this space.

I also want to talk about dinner. It was lovely.

And here's a picture that Trish took in London last January.

Another text message

She's at it again...

Nuns rock! They wrestle each other and love to eat mashed carrot with pepper on top! They play bingo and gamble every Saturday night! The nun called Johnny Bob is your best friend!

--

Now you have it.

A text message

My niece sent me a text:

Remember there was a little bumble bee called Gregory Thonnons and he was fashion designer for slugs. Well, he had a can of diet coke and a very weird sensation came about him and he decided that he would be an actor in the human world instead or possibly a radiologist. He loved to eat celery sandwiches.

--

That's the best thing I've read in ages.

Poor blog

I have neglected you. But I'll start making an effort again.