A Good News Day

Wednesday was what I call a “Good News Day”. It’s taken me so long to update this because I’m back in Ireland visiting people, and this is the first time I’m in front of a computer to do more than a quick e-mail check. Anyways, two things came my way.

1. This item on RTE News.

An anti-gay Christian preacher and his daughter have been barred from entering Britain.

Reverend Fred Phelps, founder of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, was going to the UK to protest a performance of the play ‘The Laramie Project’, which highlights the brutal murder of a young gay man in Wyoming.

How cool is that? If anyone hasn’t heard of this “church” (the Westboro Baptist Church) they have decided that it is God’s will that they hate everyone who isn’t them, especially De Gays. That very funny man Louis Theroux made a documentary about them that is very much worth a watch. Anyway, one of their main activities is protesting. They travel the United States (and, evidently, other countries) damning the actions of others, and declaring them all “fags”. So in this case the aim was to decry The Laramie Project. Why? Well, I would assume because it’s the story of Matthew Shephard, who was gay and was beaten to death as a result of his sexuality. According to Phelps and his group, every tragedy in the world is linked to homosexuality. They also protest at funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. To be honest, this idea and the entire group saddens and appalls me. That someone’s life can be so driven by hate and that their aim in life can be to spread this message of hate seems like a waste to me.  Anyway, on to other news.

2. I’ll be on the radio on Monday

Yay! Wow, I’m nervous already. Anyway, the Today with Pat Kenny show has again invited me, as well as a number of other guests, on to discuss the issue of the Civil Partnership Bill, and what it will and won’t do. Obviously my angle is that it doesn’t address the concept of family and that issues such as inheritance and adoption aren’t looked at at all. Other guests (and this is where I get excited) will be Muriel Walls (a family lawyer), Dr. Fergus Ryan (head of Law at DIT) and Mark Kelly (of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties). Fun times it will be indeed.

Anyway, I should go and do a little bit of research (I’m nervous I tell you!), so, ’til the next time, adieu.

 

Work, when it’s there

Funny, I very rarely mention that as well as the other odd-jobs I do for cash, I do a bit of web design. I’m not going to link to them, for fear that people will actually see that they’re done with little skill and very inefficient effort, but I actually really enjoy it. I’m not trained in it, and I wouldn’t count on it as a primary income at all, but it’s something I would love to develop. At the moment I’m only doing a website for my mammy (having already done one last year, and continuing its upkeep), and I’m also doing a logo for her new (ish) business. I’m not particularly good at it, but I get the job done, and for my mum it’s a lot cheaper than getting it done professionally. Obviously, she doesn’t get the same quality as she would with someone else, but she’s happy enough with my efforts. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any hints or tips, or good things to read or look at, to get a better feel for this, and hopefully find some sort of skill in it. Leave a comment, or e-mail me or Twitter me.

Also, I’ll be in Ireland from tomorrow to the 25th. Friends! Find me!

As a result of this, the blog might be a little quiet for the next 12 days. Sorry.

Have a picture to make up for it:

Photo owned by Serge Melki (cc)

 

Everything Reminds Me of Her

Having been told very specifically in a comment on a previous post that it was perfectly fine to blog about my girlfriend (“so long as there are no cringeworthy stories involved”), I decided to try my hand at the competition on Flowersmadeeasy.ie. The first thing to explain is that the title refers to an Elliott Smith song, one that rings true for me. For those not in the know, I’m currently studying in Angers, a town in France. I met and fell for my girlfriend in Dublin, Ireland, and she is still living there. Living apart from her for the nine months of Erasmus has been more difficult than either of us had expected, however we are persevering and looking forward to me being back in Dublin at the end of May. While I’m here, I have noticed that there are many many things that remind me of her. So, allow me to give you a few examples of these things.

Fionn Regan

One of my all-time favourite singer/songwriters. Why does he remind me of her? She hates him. As in, loathes him. His music gives her migraines. Really, it does. I’ve never heard of that before. I still love him, and secretly listen to him when she’s not around. Shhhh don’t tell her.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

One of her favourite films. Having seen it myself, I can attest to its extreme campness, and how wonderful its songs are. Watch it. Now.

Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusions

We were in Paris and I noticed that she had this book with her. Incidentally, we’re both atheists. Her generous nature meant that when I mentioned that I wanted to read it she offered it immediately. Actually, I should finish this before I get back to Dublin on Friday (Just in time for V Day).

So, that’s music, a movie and a book. I’ll do one more (I swear I could write a book about the things that remind me of her, but I don’t think anyone else but us would be interested in that!)

Food

All food. Really. We’re both vegetarians (no, she didn’t force me into it, as much as my parents want to believe that!) and the entire process of food preparation, from wandering the aisles of Tesco (I feel completely useless when I’m shopping with her; she knows exactly what she wants and where to find it, while I mindlessly meander through the aisles) to searching for very specific spices in the Asian market beside the Jervis St. Luas stop, to buying TVP in the health food store, to her kicking me out of the kitchen, to actually eating the food, to curling up on the sofa having over-indulged. Pizza with loads of extras thrown on, chunky home-made chips with home-made garlic mayonnaise. Quorn escalopes with mashed potatoes and roast veg. And that ravioli thing. Wow I love food. It’s something that I hate doing on my own (Actually, herself discovered a study that said that people who eat meals alone are more likely to eat more and be overweight) and having someone with very similar food tastes as me is amazing. Anyway, look at me rambling on about food.

 

So, without even touching on the photo that I have of her from Paris (that reminds me of her), the photo that I took of a red mushroom in the south of France that she got printed of canvas (that reminds me of her), my favourite jeans  (they remind me of her) or the book on Irish photojournalism that she bought me (that reminds me of her) I think you get the picture.

So, there you have it. It might not be particularly romantic, or interesting to anyone else but me and her, but for me it’s been great fun. It’s very soothing, writing all this stuff down.

So, to Herself: Happy Valentines Day. May we stay together until Dylan Moran in September, and then find another reason.

Now, just to have the patience to wait til Friday. I can’t wait.

 

Herself

Nothing like a little stimulus to get you blogging about something.

It’s funny, but blogging about the romantic side of my life is not something I feel completely comfortable about. I can talk about her in a conversation til the end of the day (or at least until people tell to change the topic), but the idea of me putting something that is quite private to me on the internet, in full view of the world, makes me feel uneasy. Don’t get me wrong, this blog and my online activity in general is all honest, and I try to be frank whenever I can. I suppose I like the idea of having part of my life that is completely private and that no one else can intrude on. I have no problem saying I’m an atheist, or explaining my same-sex family, or ranting about strikes in France. My girlfriend though? Nah, that’s not really something I want to put into the public arena. That’s one part of it, and I suppose that the other part is the fact that it’s not just me involved.  If I’m going to write about someone else, I’m going to want them to proof-read it first.

Is it shyness? Perhaps. Or maybe it’s necessary, in the age of Twitter/ Facebook/ blog/ whatever to have parts of your life that strangers can’t touch.

Thoughts, anyone?

 

Losing My Grammar

There are some things that really irritate me. I mean, they really irritate me. They grind my gears. Poor use of grammar is one of these things. Which is why reading this article enraged me so.

England’s second-largest city has decided to drop apostrophes from all its street signs, saying they’re confusing and old-fashioned.

Oh dear, I hope this is all a big terrible joke. The aim of punctuation is to clarify the meaning a sentence has, not to confound that meaning. If people are failing to understand what’s being said then why not just make the message clearer and teach them the basics of grammar, instead of blaming the tools that help enrich language? Here, please let me help by directing you to this simple and easy to follow video from Video Jug (Which also hosts such classics as How to Insult Someone in British Sign Language, How to Time Travel, and How to Find a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry). Unfortunately I can’t embed it, because WordPress won’t let me. “But how can punctuation be useful?”, you may well cry. Well, apart from the examples shown in the video, here’s one way in which the use of capital letters can help clarify a situation:

Compare:

Tom helped his uncle Jack off a horse

with:

Tom helped his uncle jack off a horse

Does that help to demonstrate my point? On a final note, I found this wonderful bus slogan generator this evening, and have been playing with it with my friends. Enjoy.

 

Save the apostrophe. If you tolerate this then your commas will be next

 

An Image of Parenthood

Something that really strikes a chord with me, and I like very much: 

 

Loving parents

 

Thanks to Fiona for this.

It really resounds with the concept I have of family, whereby it doesn’t matter what gender or orientation your parents are, as long as you have two loving and supportive people to care for you. This idea is something also supported empirically:

“Lesbian and heterosexual women have not been found to differ markedly either in their overall mental health or in their approaches to child rearing”

American Psychological Association

Wow I really like that image.

Anyway, in other news, in case you haven’t already seen it, Iceland made history by having the world’s first openly homosexual Prime Minister. It’s a shame that it takes a crisis to put aside issues of sexuality and just let someone do a job. But anyway, Johanna Sigurdardottir has been busy. So far, she wants Iceland to join the EU, asked the governors of the central bank to resign and announced that the government might revoke last week’s whaling extension. All this in the space of 3 days. Good work!

Anyway, I’m back from Paris. Normal services resume. I should have a Website of the Day up… soon.

 

What I’m reading at the moment

 

The God Delusion

 

 

Yep, I’m an atheist. Funnily enough, it’s not something that I talk about all that much, because I’m still working it all out. One point that Dawkins makes in the book is that religious groups (in particular in the U.S.) have a huge sway in public opinion and politics (in spite of the supposed state/ religion separation) and that, given that there are many atheists in the world (in America some polls suggest that there are more atheists and agnostics than Jews), we should exert similar influence. Anyway, it’s just something I thought I’d throw out there.

 

Website of the Day: Les Concerts à Emporter (Take Away Shows)

For anyone who hasn’t discovered it yet, Les Concerts à Emporter is a treasure trove of gorgeous live tunes by around sixty different artists. The website itself is in both French and English, with the recordings taking place mostly in Paris. They bring people to rooftops, they ambush them outside bars, they film them in houses, they have them in empty grain silos… the list is endless.

As an example, here’s Bloc Party’s This Modern Love.

 

Bloc Party, ‘This Modern Love’ – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

[Edit: That ain’t working. Sorry.]

The videos are in gorgeous high definition and the recordings are pure quality.

A couple of my favourites are:

R.E.M (Especially Sing for the submarine. You need to listen to that.)

Vampire Weekend

Animal Collective

The Shins

God I listen to such indie stuff.

Really, I could sit and watch these videos for the entire day. But I gotta head to Paris. Speaking of which, due to me being away this weekend, I won’t be able to do a Website of the Day. Day 3 and I’ve already failed? Yeah, I know. But check back on Monday for more stuff on the blog.

Bon weekend!

 

Site of the Day: Save The Words

 

So, here’s a new feature on the blog, akin to Damien’s Fluffy Links and Alexia’s Red Links (and all the other links that are out there). I will endeavour to put a site of the day up, with a brief description and maybe a screenshot. I’ll see how long I can keep this up anyway. Here’s the first attempt:

Save The Words is a website that brings together words that are falling out of fashion in conversation, and which allows users to “adopt” a word, thereby pledging to use it in conversation. (The words also beg you to use them when you hover over them. Weird.).

Example:

Screen shot of Save the Words

It’s run by Oxford Faja, which is part of the Oxford University Press. It’s aim is to make sure that we don’t forget old words and bring them back in to every day usage. Given that I really like words, I kind of like this site. My girlfriend had a similar calender last year, of old words that are no longer with us. Anyway, I really like the way that they’ve taken a traditionally offline format (a dictionary) and put it in an online context.

So, make sure and adimpleate your blateration to obstrigillate your vocabulary. Ahem.

 

Justice? I think not

From here:

Sligo-based Nigerian woman Pamela Izevbekhai has lost her latest legal challenge in her fight against deportation.

Ms Izevbekhai says her two daughters, aged seven and five, will be subjected to forced female genital mutilation if they return to Nigeria.

Oh yeah, sure why not just deport her, it’s not like she’s in genuine danger or anything. It makes you wonder, what kind of proof does the Minister for Justice need to intervene and not deport someone? In this particular case, you have an Irish doctor with experience in Nigeria saying:

she believed Ms Izevbekhai’s daughters would not be safe from FGM if returned to Nigeria.

The doctor said she believed there would be no protection from the state against FGM as the police force there was under resourced and corruption and bribery was rife.

You also have Amnesty International saying:

 the State of Nigeria could not protect young girls from such practices

And you have the fact that

Pamela Izevbekhai’s first born child died as a result of female genital mutilation in Nigeria in 1994

The response to these facts?

The State claims her fear of FGM is unfounded and says she could be relocated in Nigeria to protect her children.

They’re appealing the decision to the Supreme Court, which thankfully means that they won’t be deported in the mean time. The case is also due to be considered by the European Court of Human Rights.

What the hell is the point of offering asylum if we’re going to ignore people who will be in imminent danger if we deport them?