Moving house inevitably involves a certain amount of stumbling over things you’d forgotten you had or memories that had escaped your mind. Been having quite a few of those today including:
Tag Archives: memories
Go see His & Hers
It’s getting quite a lot of coverage since being released last weekend but I enjoyed it so much I think it’s worth another wee push. I was lucky enough to see a preview of it a few months back in the Lighthouse cinema in Smithfield which I think might be just the place to try see it yourself being more cosy and intimate.
His & Hers is a documentary that follows the life of an Irish woman in the midlands from toddler to pensioner but told through the eyes of over 70 different ladies. It’s a really interesting concept for a movie provoking all sorts of questions while being beautifully shot and edited. A film with so many different characters must have been a major challenge to piece together coherently but it is done so excellently and the film flows seamlessly as a complete narrative.
The movie has been receiving a fantastic reaction both nationally internationally, most notably picking up an award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. It’s funny, entertaining, moving and something that most Irish people will identify with – after all, between the lot of us we’ve all surely had a grandmother, a mother, a sister or a daughter at some stage of our lives.
It’s on nationwide release since last week. You can find out more about where to catch it here and meet the cast of 70 fun and fascinating ladies here. Thanks to Element Pictures for the chance to see it. Enjoy 
Jack L – ten years on
So I’m going up to Vicar St later to hear Jack L belt out some tunes with the backing of a band and a gospel choir. It should be mega.
I also just realised this morning that it’s 10 years to the date since the first Jack L gig I went to.
Before you brand me a nut/stalker/psycho fan (well, not the bad sort) I remember by association with another event. It was for my best buddy’s 15th birthday celebration. Shame I haven’t a similar excuse for the 40-odd other times I went to hear him crooning after that
I’m reeling a little at the thought of it being so long since that occasion. It’s significant in so many strange ways, like the fact that it’s responsible for me getting into the business of designing and building websites (my first was a fan community website), made me fall in love with live music and allowed me to meet some brilliant people some of whom I still call friends today. He introduced me to the music of Jacques Brel, Sinatra, Jeff Buckley and made me feel a little less ridiculous about getting up and singing in public, something I got plenty of slagging for while still in school.
It’s been a good ten. Where does the time go?!
Festive Fix #2 – Christmas wouldn’t be the same without…
It’s the season of top 5 lists more than ever this year as we crawl to the end of a decade. Here’s my list of the things that are essential to my Christmas:
- David Parkes’ Christmas Hits on repeat (cassette version too for a nice old school crackle)
- Fixing the Christmas tree lights
- Myself and the sisters wearing Santa hats *all* the time
- Drinks and chats at my Nana’s before midnight mass on Christmas eve
- The annual Christmas day swim fundraiser for the RNLI after morning mass in New Quay
The first one on that list is particularly close to my heart. It was an RTE production of the classic Christmas songs along with a cracking ‘disco’ medley at either end. The cassette has been wheeled out and left in the stereo every Christmas for as far back as I can remember and has been the sound I associate with being at home in Clare for the festive season.
I had a look online last week to see if perchance it ever came out on CD or there was still some way of getting a copy of it as I’m sure the cassette is bound to wear through sooner rather than later. To my delight and surprise it’s available on iTunes for €8.99! You can even get the individual medleys on their own if that’s your pleasure. Can’t believe it was released in 1992 – where the heck do the years go? I was still writing letters to Santa then!
Happy disco dancing
Sunday song: Waterloo Sunset
I’m not sure what it is exactly about this song that makes me associate it with lazy Sunday afternoons. Maybe it’s the nostalgic vibes of Sunday radio or imagery of the seaside and watching sunsets reminding me of home.
Whatever it is, it’s one of my Sunday songs and I love it.