When is politics not political

Stella mentioned on Thursday that the ads for the Trócaire Lenten campaign on gender inequality was ordered off the air because the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland "prohibits advertising directed towards a political end."

I was pissed off. Think on it - here is Trócaire's mission statement:

Trócaire envisages a just world where people’s dignity is ensured, rights are respected and basic needs are met; where there is equity in the sharing of resources and people are free to be the authors of their own development.

How is any of the above not political?

I said to Bob that I'd love to meet the idiot who made the complaint and ask them why? But Bob said that idiots make complaints like this all the time yet why was it upheld this time? He reminded me that this was an election year and we should try and figure out how Trócaire's campaign hurts the government.

On Thursday, Vincent Brown wrote in Village.ie -

The decision of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) to instruct all commercial broadcasters, including Today FM and TV3, to cease broadcasting the Trócaire advertisement on gender equality is incomprehensible.

The television and radio advertisement campaign draws attention to the reality that female babies, irrespective of their origin, their ethnicity, their state of health or otherwise, all share a common disadvantage by reason of their gender. The advertisement also includes a section encouraging members of the public to access the charity's website to donate online or order a Trócaire box.

The website in turn asks individuals to participate in the campaign for gender equality by signing a petition lobbying the Irish Government to enact a specific UN resolution on the issue.

The BCI said in defense of its decision: "Following detailed consideration...it is the commission's initial view that the advertisement is contrary to Section 10(3) of the Radio and Television Act, 1988, which prohibits advertising directed towards a political end."

I contrast RTÉ has decided to broadcast the advertisement. Peter Feeney, head of public affairs with RTÉ, said "RTÉ's view is that we define political ends quite tightly....We would feel this Trócaire advertisement is much more general in nature….. we also try to draw a distinction between national campaigns and international campaigns."

The part I put in bold could well be the key to all this.

Trócaire Director Justin Kilcullen said on Newstalk radio on Sunday morning that it was Today FM who brought the issue of the ad to the BCI.

All very interesting.

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RTÉ have ignored the BCI's ruling. How can they do this?

Also, someone made the point in the same radio show on Newstalk that the BCI have to come down hard on any ad campaign that pursues a political agenda. Otherwise, we could end up with a situation like in the US where powerful vested interests get all the airwaves.

It's complicated.

The best of my generation

The Crucible was inspiring. I loved all of it and it was a timely reminder of how much theatre means to me. It's the only thing I know how to do right. Even so, I'm nowhere near the actor I could be or want to be.

I have the ability but I'm only starting to wake up to how easy it is to be crap. There were times last weekend in The Factory when I was onstage with no lines and no movement. I needed to just hold my place onstage and give my focus to the action. It takes concentration (all acting demands complete concentration all of the time) and if you switch off, well the scene loses your input and is weakened. So I gave it everything... and then gave it too much. I started overacting; drawing the attention back to me. Why? I don't want to answer that to you yet.

Lesson learned. Impetus regained. I wanna be the best I can be. I want to be onstage. I have two months to finish my degree in engineering and then I can get on with getting what I want.

I've sent my profile to the Sligo Arts Office, I'll soon have an Actor blog and I am looking into what opportunities Galway provides in drama (training or doing).

>>> WATCH THIS SPACE >>>

The next six weeks...

... are everything. I have until May 1st to complete my Virtual Lighting Desk. Is this the only way I know to work?

The Crucible

Sligo County Youth Theatre present

The Crucible

by Arthur Miller
The Factory Performance Space, Quay St., Sligo
Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd March at 8pm
€15/12

Valentines for my woman

Florists have it in for me.

Last week, I ordered some flowers to be delivered this morning. They never came. So I went to the shop and asked, very politely - where the hell are the roses?!

The owner and his partner (they're both French) try to tear me a new one - we couldn't find anyone at ze address!

The fucking nerve. So I stood up to the two, gay, French florists and demanded they deliver the flowers! And they did.

--

Reminds me of another run-in I had with flower arrangers (they hate me!) a few years ago in Sligo. I was in FAS at the time and it was a Friday and I had to go home to Mohill for some mass and I had to bring the flowers. So I called in the order from FAS that morning. But when I went in to collect them that evening, they'd only gone and lost the order. There were three men in the shop, the guy who took the order, the guy who lost the order and the boss, who said they never got the order. I was with Pat - this fellow in FAS from Castlebar. Pat rarely said much but when he did, it was always a classic.

So the boss flower arranger got annoyed with me when I told him what I thought. He started going on about the pressure on him in the flower trade and I should cut him some slack and I couldn't believe what I was hearing until Pat said to him -I don't know what you're so annoyed about - pointed to me -he's the one who ordered a bunch of flowers but ended up with a bunch of wankers.

I didn't get the flowers but I laughed all the way home.

Bigger than rugby

From today's Irish Independent. (I'd use the report from the Times if they were to bother doing one!)

Leitrim score historic victory over Offaly

Leitrim 0-11

Offaly 0-10

LEITRIM caused the shock of the day when they deservedly defeated hot favourites Offaly in their Div 2A clash at Cloone yesterday.

The return of Fintan McBrien to the Leitrim attack aided by Ciarán Duignan and Michael Foley proved a handful for the Offaly defence and Leitrim raced into an early lead.

Offaly stayed in touch through the impressive Niall McNamee but Leitrim deservedly led 0-8 to 0-5 at half-time.

Immediately on the resumption, Ciarán Duignan point from play put Leitrim further ahead but it proved to be a wake-up call for the Offaly men as they rallied strongly to save the game.

The game was level until Leitrim hero Shane Foley grabbed the winning point two minutes into extra time.

SCORERS - Leitrim: C Duignan 0-5 (3f), M Foley (1f), C Kennedy, F McBrien 0-2 each, S Foley 0-1. Offaly: N McNamee 0-8 (2f), C McManus, PJ Ward (1f), S Ryan 0-1 each.

LEITRIM - N Gill; B McWeeney, J McKeon (capt), D Reynolds; C Kennedy, B Prior, S Foley; M Duignan, G McCloskey, C Regan; M Foley, B Brennan; F McBrien, C Duignan, J Glancy. Subs: D Beck for B Brennan, D Brennan for F McBrien, S Canning for G McCloskey.

OFFALY - K Meehan; G Rafferty, J Quinn, N Grennan; K Slattery, S Sullivan, E Byrne; C McManus, K Hogan; S Brady, PJ Ward, A McNamee (capt), T Deehan, N Coughlan, N McNamee. Subs: S Ryan for K Hogan, P McConway for E Byrne, K Casey for T Deehan, J Coughlan for PJ Ward, J Reynolds for S Brady.

REF - M Sludden (Tyrone)

AAAAAAAAAADRRRRRRIAAAAAAANNNNN!!!

I went to see Rocky Balboa a couple of weeks ago. An awful stupid film; way too sentimental. Also, it's nothing new - just a rehash of the original.

I loved it. From the very start, when that music played, I was just grinning. Why did I love it? It's got great heart, that's why. Well done Sylvester Stallone, you deserve the Oscar again!

--

Saturday morning, before I saw Rocky, myself and herself are just getting up. We're listening the movie show on Lyric. They'd said that they'd be discussing Rocky soon. After a bit, they played an iconic piece of music from the eighties. I hopped out of bed, grabbed my gown (with a hood and all) and started shadow boxing on the bed. Trish came out of the en suite, looks at me for a second and says - you know that's the music to Magnum PI, right?

--

Walking into town, I told Bob this story in front of Trish and she says - I never said that!

Me - doesn't matter; it's funny.
Trish - but I wouldn't know the music to Magnum.
Me - look, you don't let the truth in the way of a good story.
Trish - it's not even that funny-
Me - well, of course it isn't now after you ruining it!
Trish - you're an eejit.
Bob - oh, I forgot something in the house, I'll catch up with you.

Heart

She's amazing. She makes me laugh whenever I think of her. She's mad, crazier than me even. She's beautiful. She's smart, a scientist, don't ya know. She eats lots. She's decent, thinks about everyone else. She's cool. She's odd, her laugh makes me laugh. She's hot. She's mine, I still don't believe it at times. She's from Mayo!

Spielberg

How did these geeks give us Indy?






When I saw this shot on the website, I actually felt a shiver down my spine.

German engineering

Here's a photo of a fine specimen of a man from the Lidl website. I showed it to Bob who wondered how he got his hands down there....

Paris Report #2

Well, the rest of the visit to Paris was just what we wanted. It was chilled out and the city just looked stunning. One beautiful memory is walking arm-in-arm around the winding streets of Saint Severin at night, looking for a jazz club. The Christmas lights, the crisp cold night, the Mayo woman on my arm, the tiny streets, the peace and quiet... I knew at the time that I would cherish this forever.

On our last night, Cormac drove us through the city and we were blown away by the lights.

Thanks Cormac for putting us up and putting up with us. Next stop... Lyon!

Paris report #1

Trish and I arrived in Paris today. The bauld Crossan picked us up at Beauvais and we've had a lovely, chilled-out Sunday. We've had dinner, cooked by Cormac and Yoshimi and I've left pastries behind in a bakery. In fact, we weren't in Paris five minutes and I was wandering around the streets with a baguette.

We've caught mass in Notre Dame! (The old man would be impressed.) Had coffee and a cigar in a cafe and now we're digging into more grub.

Paris at Christmas is a sight to see.

Trish says hi.

They tried to string me up... FOUR times

But I survived, almost.

Plus ca Change was my first play since Frank Pig Says Hello. This is the best bunch of Drama Society heads that I've ever worked with. The first time under Bob and also a good chance for Niall to strangle me - something he's wanted to do since he became my project supervisor, twenty odd years ago.




























































































Bob - Lucky, very lucky not to get cut....

Ghost horses?

I sent Tom Dunne an email.

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Tom,

I'm a bit of a Radiohead fan and one song that always brings a smile to my face (not often you can say that about a Radiohead song) is "You And Whose Army?" from Amnesiac .

It's a great singalong number if you're odd and it's one I love listening to on my headphones as I walk around Sligo town, singing out loud.

There was one line in the song I was unsure off and since I'm thinking of blasting out "Whose Army" at Open Mic soon, I thought I'd look up the lyrics online. Imagine my shock to find out that I've been singing the end of the song all wrong?!

Instead of repeating "you and whose army?" like I thought, it goes:

You forget so easily
We ride tonight
We ride tonight
Ghost horses
Ghost horses
Ghost horses
We ride tonight
We ride tonight
Ghost horses
Ghost horses
Ghost horses..

Who? What? Where? Whole different song now. In fact, it's even better.

Anyways, just thought I'd let you know what's been happening with me.

Your listener,
John The Bad.

Burn

New piece on 269 called Burn.

Wonder why they got rid off Mailbag....

I left the following on someone's voice mail in RTE about ten minutes ago.


"Hi. I've a question. Why am I not watching Kill Bill? I mean it was on half an hour ago but now I'm seeing that it's raining in Scandinavia. I guess what I really wanna know is, why did you put the news and weather in the middle of Tarantino's 4th film? And not only did you put it in the middle of the movie, you put it in the middle of the massive fight scene! In the middle of the fight scene! You know, the whole film has been building up to this fight scene, and you put the news and weather in the middle of it!

The weather's finished. I'm now watching an ad for a film with Michael Caine. I see, it's on tomorrow night. I guess you're gonna stick the news into it too. Ok, the trailer's finished. Hang on.. yup... you guessed it... ads! Well well well. You know this is why I don't watch TV. I get out videos. I also download stuff. Do you want to know what's happening on Lost? I'm up to date with ABC. Anyway, please stop putting ads in the middle of Tarantino movies or I'll said Uma Thurman over to stick a samurai sword up your-." Beeeeeeeep.

Blood on the stage

Here's the poster for the new show. We're on in the college Black Box on Wednesday... just read the poster, ok?

--

Today, while we were rehearsing, we started to throw each other across the space or as Bob said, "fuck him over there."

At one stage, brave Colum Enright cut his foot and we ended up with his blood on the Black Box floor. The man soldiered on.

Blood on the stage - we're getting closer to the Raincoats all the time.

And it stoned me to my soul

Martin Stone is coming to get ya!

U-24/7

Wow. One moment of doubt and my faith is back as strong as ever.

I haven't got all U2's singles and B-sides. What I do have, I ripped and put the mp3s into a folder ages ago. I went back to it the other day and added some new mp3s and tidied it up and I've been listening to it ever since. That's 46 songs or approximately 3 hours and 20 minutes of U2.

Listening to singles and b-sides is a cool thing to do. You get to hear where the band started and where they are now. You get to hear the single releases of the greatest band in the world (TM: U2) and you get to hear stuff you'd normally miss - like Willie Nelson singing a song that U2 wrote for him called "Slow Dancing."

I guess they still matter.

21

At some stage today, Bob will make his way back out to the Venue in Strandhill and find his head. Until then, we have no pictures from last night.

Allow me to say that Ellen's 21st Glam Rocking Kickass Party was fantastic! What a night?! The get-up of everyone; brilliant outfits. Alan - I'll never look at you the same way again. Cathy's cross-dressing. Playing gay-chicken with Brian (actually, I don't wanna think about that). Pat riding Bosco up the arse. Ellen's speech - shuuut uup. Some gobshite dancing on his own at the start before Duck and Trish saved him. Trish's dyed hair. My wig. Duck... Duck... DUCK! DUCK BELONGS ON STAGE.

Ellen! I want you to have a 21st every Saturday.

Kung fu mudafucka!