Yes, thats right, i'm back! Apologies for the lack of blog since september, university life keeps my hands pretty full. Its been a fun semester, more work to do, but still alright. I'm back at the ranch in Comber chillin' with the family for the holidays, things move a bit slower here, so plenty of time to blog, hurrah.
Its the day after boxing day and a good day was had. My mum & dad were at a wedding and my sister was having some friends round, so me and Reub (brother) decided to hit the town. We had a wholesome meal at McDonalds (Big Mac Meal, he had Nuggets) then went to movieland to see "Yes Man". The movie was totally awesome, i had a really good time watching it, made me feel happy inside! Jim Carrey is getting old but still makes me laugh, and the girl is quite cool, check it out, 5 stars from ben!
My friends Adam And Laura had their engament party last night at Comber Bowling Club. It seems to be wedding fever at the moment, with 4 of my friends either just married or engaged. Anyway the last time i was in the bowling club was for Adam's 18th and that was quite a party. Things were a bit more chilled this time, but with some excellent party food and i got to talk to a lot of old friends i haven't seem in ages. Dj Karl was back in action and did a good job keeping the party rocking even after the lights got switched on for a while. I hit the dance floor for a limited time only, whipping out some moves to YMCA, 5,6,7,8, and rocked hard to Livin' On A Prayer and Welcome To The Jungle. Good times. Cheers Adam & Laura, hope the wedding goes well!
Went to Belfast yesterday to do a bit of skateboarding with my homie Ben. Haven't skated in so long so was good to cruise around hit some spots. Custom House was closed off for Belsonic, so we headed to Writer's Square and busted some gnarly moves. We then went to find a shop on the outskirts of town, but it had closed down, and on the way back we found a cool ramp someone had built out of scrap on the side of the road. It was amazing and we skated it for ages. Ben jumped on the bus so i headed to the Waterfront for a little while but was politely asked to leave. Good day, glad to be on-board again. (not actual ramp, found it on google)
Went to IKEA for some sweet meatballs and some legs for my desk. That night watched 'No Country For Old Men'. I've had it on my computer for ages but haven't got round to watching it. Anyway its good, cool story and really epic shots, but the ending is a bit of a let down. The cowboy who finds the money is the best, just the way he talks is so badass and he has cool boots. I wish i was a cowboy. Anyway make sure you see this, it got movie of the year and won loads of awards, it ain't that amazing, but still good.
Yes thats right, the party was the most pumping thing in history of the universe!
Saturday night went down a storm. It was the first real party in the new house and we got things off to a good start. We were sitting waiting for people to arrive from 7 and by half 8 we were convinced that no-one would show. At nine the doorbell rang and the party was saved!! We had about 25 people join the festivities and everyone had a great time. It was a "Las Vegas" theme and everyone dressed up nice, the boys in the suits and the ladies had all their showgirl gear on.
DJ Karl had massive speakers set up and a load of disco lights in the kitchen and the tunes were flowing, so before long the whole kitchen was dancing like crazy. The only house party i have ever seen with people dancing, it was crazy! The BBQ totally died and after not much food the poker got underway, We had 2 tables of 6/7 people playing, £10 per person, so there was big money to play for. After 6 hours of play, Steph took home the green, with Chris and Carter coming in behind. I scraped 4th place so sadly, no money for me.
Everyone hit the sack at about half 5, a great night had! Cheers to everyone who made it out, same time next week?
Can't sleep. I'm meeting my chum dean early in the morning so tried to get the head down at a reasonable time, but have been lying awake for the past 2 hours. I hate when you need to sleep and can't. Blogging is the answer, not. I don't even know what to write about.
Having a Las Vegas night at the house tomorrow, it will be our first real party. Should have a BBQ and a big poker tournament and hopefully lots of people. Contemplating wearing my tux, but might just wear a suit, with a fake sideburns/mustache combo.
Got an email telling me about Counting Crows and The Hold Steady coming to Belfast sometime soon. I really like both band's music, but they were a real let down live at Oxegen so I probably won't bother going to see them again. Mastodon are coming too so have to check them out, i have heard some really good things.
This guy is having way more fun than me right now.
Hey all, sorry it's been ages since i posted, was away in france layin' on the beach (post to come).
Anyway, forgot to post what happened after Oxegen! Well, once we got home we all slept in and woke up hungry, so decided to go for some Nandos (its nando-mania in our house at the minute).
We headed down to Victoria Square and had some great chicken and stuff. The new odeon cinema beside was open so we went to have a look. Nothing good was on apart from Wanted, which according to the screen was unavailable. We went in and asked was there any seats and they said yes. "Okay, how much are tickets?", "Free" he said! Wahey! It was the opening night for all the critics to come and have a look round, but a load hadn't showed up so we got some nice VIP seats! Totally brilliant night, and the movie was awesome. Lots of cool stunts, action and funny too, kinda like an superhero movie for big boys. And Angelina Jolie is a fox.
I havn't actually written a blog entry since the night i created it, so hopefully this will get the ball rolling.
Payed a visit to Punchestown racecourse, down south at the weekend, Oxegen 2008, my first festival. Had a reasonable time, saw some bands, did the thing. Music was good, lots of scumbags harrassing people made things not so fun.
Oxegen is a very mainstream festival with the likes of scouting for girls/sugababes/kooks playing with very few alternative bands. This means that a whole heap of scumbags wearing tracksuits go down with large quantities of beer and just sit at their tents and don't even go and see anybody.
There are some good bands, Rage for example, my reason for going, did headline which was cool and there was a grand total of 1 punk band which was nice. Anyway i will give you my reviews for the acts i saw and some of the fun/not fun that went on in the campsite.
Thursday night
Pulled up in the Karl-mobile on thursday night and trekked over to the campsite to find the other guys who had arrived early to set up tents and get a good spot. Checked out the sites and then just chilled at the tents as there wan't much happening. Later we found the rocking back the clock stage were hells bells were playing.
Hells Bells (AC DC Tribute Act) - Pretty fun, everyone loves acdc and these guys were 1 of 2 bands playing on a little stage on thursday night. They did dress up but when they whipped out 10 minutes guitar solos i got bored, had a pot noodle from centra and went to bed. (BBB)
Friday
Woke up on friday after a horrible night of not much sleep, lots of noise and people tripping over the tent. Had some crisp sandwiches for breakfast (which are amazing) and just hung around until the main arena opened at 5.
God is an Astronaught - These guys were the first band we saw, really good instrumental band, had some freaky satanic images on their screens, but the music was top notch. (BBBB)
Sugababes - This was a lot of fun, everyone was partying, even had a mosh pit going when they played "About You Now".(BBB)
Interpol - Probably good if you are into them, but i'm not so pretty boring. (BB)
Kings of Leon - Put on a good show, i didn't know any of the first 5 songs but they played a few i knew and had the whole place rocking. A very pleasant surprise. (BBBB)
Cat Power - Went to check out cat as kings of leon were finishing, saw the last 5 songs or so. Her voice is just so good and she has a really shy style of performing, but was amazing to watch. Her band were so cool, all just playing some cool jazz, smoking, wearing trilby hats. Must listen to more Cat Power. (BBB)
Have to talk about the cups! They had these special recyclable cups which you had to pay for, but got the money back when you returned them. I found a load of these on the way back from kings of leon, made 30euro in about 20 seconds, SCORE!
Saturday
Damn, had written all this out then lost it all! Oh well, here we go again. Another night of bad sleep, some people thought it would be fun to jump on our tent. Got up and ate some food and headed to the arena.
Bowling For Soup - First band on the main stage, not too many people about but the band were great and everybody had a swell time. Funny Guys. (BBBB)
One Night Only - Really bad posh english schoolboy indie pop, not funny guys. (B)
Scouting For Girls - A rather guilty pleasure of mine, even though all their songs sound the same. This was the one time it rained the whole weekend, so i got use my sweet pink poncho! (BBB)
Newton Faulkner - Surprisingly fun to watch, he even did a cover of "You Spin Me Right Round." "Teardrop" was also killer and the man has some mad guitar skills. (BBB)
The Wombats - Not bad either, had good tunes and seem decent fellows, and they had a giant inflatable wombat too, which was cool. (BBB)
Amy Wino - About a million people came to see if she showed. She did so then everyone left as they remembered she is no good. (B)
Stereophonics - One of the best bands the whole weekend. They just have so many fantastic songs and they know how to rock. They played mostly old stuff and everyone was singing along and having a great time. And they played "Mr. Writer"!(BBBBB)
Feeder - Ran over to see these guys after stereophonics, were pretty fun. Everyone else headed to Pendulum, but i haven't seen feeder and i think they are a great band. They played "High" and the whole place went crazy for "Just a Day," circle pit was a lot of fun. (BBBB)
Seasick Steve - For anyone has never heard/seen seasick steve, please, do it now!! He is this crazy hillbilly who plays the 'Three Stringed, Tranz Wonder' and 'The Mississippi Drum Machine', which is an old guitar whith 3 strings and a wooden box he stomps on with his foot. He had a massive crowd and everyone was going wild. Only stayed for a few songs but had a good time. (BBB)
R.E.M. - Would have liked to have really watched rem, but i ended up seeing them from way at the back, we were trying to find people at the time. They were nowhere to be found so i got some excellent noodles from the noodle bar and sat on the grass and listened. Rem are a really great band and have some excellent tunes. (BBB)
Justice - After rem, there was a debate over Justice or the Prodigy. My friend Scott wanted justice and i had planned to see prodigy, but we settled our differences and decided to see a bit of both. We had managed to lose all our other friends, so had to stick together. Justice were on 15 mins beforehand so headed to them first. This was my first experience of the dance stage, which is indoors, so i kicked off my wellies, took off my coat and had a great time. Justice had a cool stage setup and a really great light show, i even got a kiss from some girl who made me hold her drink! "Genesis" and "D.A.N.C.E." were awesome, but about halfway through the show we left for prodigy. Got outside into the freezing cold and they just started "Firestarter," stayed for about 5 mins then headed back to see justice, prodigy just seemed stale. Came back in to the dance stage, and they played master of puppets to finish!! Awesome time had by all. (BBBBB)
Sunday
Had a blissful sleep with no interruptions and woke early, hungry for ROCK!! Cooked some ration packs for breakfast on my sweet stove thing, i had stew which was good. Ady tried the corn beef hash and went down. I left early to see the subways and managed to lose everyone for about 9 hours! I had a good day though, hanging out, seeing some music, talking to some people, had a great time!
The Subways - These guys were first on the second stage, so there wasn't too many about. The band put on a great show, loads of energy, but the crowd wasn't really up for it, which was a real shame. Nearer the end things livened up a bit, i was right up the front, got some great shots. Billy Subway threw in a stage dive to finish things off nicely and there was even a few shouts of "Take It Off!" to Charlotte. Not the best songs in the world, but very fun all the same. (BBBB)
The Hold Steady - I had just got into these guys about a week for oxegen and their albums are really great. They were in one of the tents and had pretty awful sound, you could hardly hear the vocals. They played a few songs a knew, but i got stuck by the curse of the dump, which needed my full attention. After a rather lengthy visit to the porta-loo i came back to see the last song. There was this guy watching them who was definately famous, he was sitting right at the very side of the tent, wearing all black, sunglasses and a trilby. I didn't even notice him the whole gig, he looked like one of the rolling stones or someone, anyway, when i turned around again he was gone, very stealthy! (BB)
Fighting With Wire - FWW were playing in the small circus tent reserved for little bands, but they had a good crowd. It felt like home with all the familiar faces, i even spotted ole' Johnny Black from LaFaro doing some fine guitar tuning. Played a good set and everyone was loving it, "Everyone Needs A Nemesis" went down a treat. (BBBB)
In Case Of Fire - Only caught the last 1.5 songs which was a shame, really can't wait for some decent recorded material. They had pretty good energy and even finished with a little but of nirvana-mania, dropping guitars and falling over drum kits. (BBB)
The Kooks - What you would expect really, no surprises, band seemed a bit bored. Crowd enjoyed it. (BBB)
Kate Nash - Was so amazing!!! She had a great "under the sea" theme, was really good live, and she is kinda hot. Her band were quite cool, lots of instrument swapping and she had these cool skeleton dancers come out for one song. Finished with "Foundations" and "Merry Happy," really was a fantastic set. (BBBBB)
The Fratellis - Bit the same as the kooks, not really too exciting but they were quite "rock" heavy and have some decent songs. They didn't play "Creeping Up The Backstairs" which was a shame, and i missed "Mistress Mable" which is good as it sucks. (BBB)
Flogging Molly - Oh writing this really does bring tears of joy to my face, best band of the weekend hands down. Played quite a lot of songs from new album "Float" but were totally killer. The whole crowd was crazy and we had a great time, jumping along to banjos, accordians and tin whistles. Dave King is a fantastic frontman and they are really good live, bags of energy. When they played "Drunken Lullabies" i went for a spot of crowd-surfing and had a great time, was up for ages! When i came back down a ran to find my friend Ady and shouted, "Did you see me up?" But all he heard was "UP!" and so with the help of another guy he lifted me up and threw me back on top of the crowd for another go. It was pure comedy. (BBBBB)
Rage Against The Machine - This was the main reason of the trip to Oxegen, the rest of the line-up was weak, but we were all looking forward to this. I don't know if i had over -hyped them, or i got totally destroyed watching Flogging Molly, or i was just so tired, but Rage were slightly disappointing. An air-raid siren came on and the star banner started to rise and everyone went nuts. They came out and rocked the place, didn't say much, just killed. We were in a bad spot and kept moving around to try and get a better view, and i was trying to enjoy it as best i could, but just wasn't having a great time. They finished with "Killing In The Name Of" and everyone had a blast. Good show, shame i didn't enjoy it so much. (BBB)
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We then decided to leave that night to avoid any final night "fun". I suppose that is really lame, considering i'm 19, but everyone was wrecked and couldn't put up with another night of hassle. Jumped in the van/car combo and after nearly staying awake for the journey home we were back home! Next year, Reading & Leeds?
Well, i woke up today in 57 malone avenue! Wahey! It is my new house for the year and i got the keys on tuesday. Moving in with my bros Mark, Karl, Ady, Matt and Chris (in order of room numbers). Its cool, just a massive old house, thats kinda crap and dirty, but i like it. Its like 5 mins walk from my lectures, and it has a killer garden/alley combo. I took my mum to see it yesterday and she totally hates it, but i suppose thats what mums are for.
Anyway last night we found a Monopoly game that the old tennants left, and i love monopoly! The game started slow but eventually everyone got bankrupped or bored and after about 4 hours, i won! Wahey!
Watched "I Am Legend" about an hour ago, wasn't bad. Big Will is pretty much entertainment king, no matter what he does. My sister got it for me, but she and my brother has spilled the whole story and pretty much told me everything that happens, so i kinda knew what was coming. Still, it makes me appreciate my dog a bit more.
Currently Listening to: Stereophonics - Pass the Buck
