My first time, as I recall, drinking Guinness, was when I was thirteen or fourteen. We we're on a cruise from Finland to Sweden with my mother and stepfather. They had an evil scheme to deploy me back to Sweden because I had behaved worse than most people of my age. There was an idea to soften me up for the trip that could be the end of me. We were in a bar, and as I used to look a lot older then I really were, we drank all evening and perhaps small part of the night with my stepfather. At that time I didn't know Guinness was really a stout, not a lager. Not that it mattered at all. Next day my mouth tasted like old cream.
Years later I learned the beauty of the Irish brewermanship. I did a very long career in bars as a paid worker and as a paying customer. During this path I collided with an old forgotten friend, which I wasn't that fond of. I used to work in a big beerhouse where they had 120 different brands of beer for sale and one of those brands was Guinness. As a first step working there I had to learn how to serve this black beast. Officially Guinness is supposed to be filled up to three fourths of the pint's size and take a 119,5 second break and then pour rest of it in the pint. My interest grew during the work hours. I tasted it again and the black beast was turned into a black beauty.
It's 27th of september and today at 17:59 we'll all drink one for Arthur. Just in case, we could make it again on 28th. Arthur Guinness' real birthday is still a mystery, but historians seem to very certain that he was born on dates between fall of 1724 and early 1725. So if we'll really want to celebrate the guy who gave us the black stuff, we should drink one every day. Just in case.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Spiderman's almost amazing reboot
When it comes to superhero stories, I'm a real fan. Specifically Marvel syndicate's Spiderman and X-men have been my favorites since I was a child. I remember how I connected to unbreakable and self-healing Wolverine and the nerdy, but loud-mouthed Peter Parker alias Spiderman.
I think I've seen most of the Marvel universe's movie adaptions, even the infamous The Punisher (rated 5.3/10 on IMDB) starring Dolph Lundgren, the Swedish megastar of late 80's and early 90's. Punisher's only connection to comics were characters with a same name, which can not be regarded as a plus for an antihero, who brutally kills mobsters without mercy, and seems to be enjoying justice as a revenge only served with as much as pain as a man can inflict on another.
Marvel has had it share of excellent characters, story arcs and stories shining on the silver screen as well as adaptations which have brought shame to the makers and is solely the main reason I hate big production companies which turn things that should be loved to things that get despised. And in some cases I don't believe the producers are so much interested in artistic integrity as they are of money.
For me, Sam Raimi's Spiderman trilogy should have gotten it's fourth installment produced and I wasn't very happy with the idea of a new Spiderman reboot - specially so soon. But that was just prejudice on my part.
Last weekend I went to see the movie's 3D version. My only disappointment was that the movie didn't let me hate it and rant about it all over the internet, which is my true ranting arena. I could say Andrew Garfield is somehow missing a bit of Tobey Maguire's silent charisma, but he still does a magnificent job as a sarcastic wise guy superhero and a shy but scientifically unique young boy with hormones splashing through his body while he also has to deal with tragic childhood and surviving teens.
*Here starts spoilers* (if you're not familiar with Spiderman comics in full - you might just want to stop here)
With the new Spiderman movie you get introduced to many of the original things that differentiated in Raimi's trilogy. First of all, this time Gwen Stacy is introduced as Peter Parker's first teenage love. Second of all, Spiderman doesn't have a mutation to web. Instead he works on a webbing machine attached to his hands, just like in the original comics. It might have seem like an easier way to explain Spiderman's webbing ability instead of portraiting the process of Peter Parker getting the idea for webcannons.
Also it might have been seen as a great groundshaking idea to introduce Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) as the greatest love of Spiderman-Parker, but for someone else it might have felt like the necessary nuisance to keep the story short in a sense that the Spiderman story has been continuing for decades with a big family of characters, which would have been easier to be introduced in a tv-series lasting for several seasons.
I think I've seen most of the Marvel universe's movie adaptions, even the infamous The Punisher (rated 5.3/10 on IMDB) starring Dolph Lundgren, the Swedish megastar of late 80's and early 90's. Punisher's only connection to comics were characters with a same name, which can not be regarded as a plus for an antihero, who brutally kills mobsters without mercy, and seems to be enjoying justice as a revenge only served with as much as pain as a man can inflict on another.
Marvel has had it share of excellent characters, story arcs and stories shining on the silver screen as well as adaptations which have brought shame to the makers and is solely the main reason I hate big production companies which turn things that should be loved to things that get despised. And in some cases I don't believe the producers are so much interested in artistic integrity as they are of money.
For me, Sam Raimi's Spiderman trilogy should have gotten it's fourth installment produced and I wasn't very happy with the idea of a new Spiderman reboot - specially so soon. But that was just prejudice on my part.
Last weekend I went to see the movie's 3D version. My only disappointment was that the movie didn't let me hate it and rant about it all over the internet, which is my true ranting arena. I could say Andrew Garfield is somehow missing a bit of Tobey Maguire's silent charisma, but he still does a magnificent job as a sarcastic wise guy superhero and a shy but scientifically unique young boy with hormones splashing through his body while he also has to deal with tragic childhood and surviving teens.
*Here starts spoilers* (if you're not familiar with Spiderman comics in full - you might just want to stop here)
With the new Spiderman movie you get introduced to many of the original things that differentiated in Raimi's trilogy. First of all, this time Gwen Stacy is introduced as Peter Parker's first teenage love. Second of all, Spiderman doesn't have a mutation to web. Instead he works on a webbing machine attached to his hands, just like in the original comics. It might have seem like an easier way to explain Spiderman's webbing ability instead of portraiting the process of Peter Parker getting the idea for webcannons.
Also it might have been seen as a great groundshaking idea to introduce Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) as the greatest love of Spiderman-Parker, but for someone else it might have felt like the necessary nuisance to keep the story short in a sense that the Spiderman story has been continuing for decades with a big family of characters, which would have been easier to be introduced in a tv-series lasting for several seasons.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
One Bell for the cards
Unlike in so many other developed countries, Ireland has next to none regulations concerning poker. It's almost a national sport. There are cash games, tournaments and freerolls in every district of Dublin.
I've been now twice in The Bell (Blanchardstown), where they organize a bar tournament of 40+3. First time I came last and the second time third. So there's my baseline so far. I can get through the bubble and I also have the amazing ability to finish just before the second last.
I found the place through Dublin Poker Nights. They seem to be handling a few tournaments on weekly basis. I haven't made sure that the information on the site is valid, but that's on my checklist.
I've been now twice in The Bell (Blanchardstown), where they organize a bar tournament of 40+3. First time I came last and the second time third. So there's my baseline so far. I can get through the bubble and I also have the amazing ability to finish just before the second last.
I found the place through Dublin Poker Nights. They seem to be handling a few tournaments on weekly basis. I haven't made sure that the information on the site is valid, but that's on my checklist.
Amy and Bono in heaven
When Amy Winehouse died, she went to heaven, which is a subject that some people might feel strongly about. For being raised in a jew family for instance might be a distinguishing characteristics for some to believe that there's no heaven for likes of her. Also doing an airfield full of drugs before turning 30 could be another distinctive reason for other's to believe that Amy is going to be given lots of reasons why she cannot enter tonight at the gates of heaven. Some people have a very strong belief that her not being a suitable role model for children and teenagers is reason enough to ban her from heaven and hell altogether. Anyways, she went to heaven cause of the popular belief that god is an all-loving man, who doesn't give a rat's bottom about how mortal people like to mix their beliefs and politics together.
In heaven, there is a special place for rockstars, and Amy for being one was naturally accepted to this 24h party people's club. That's the club where there's literally a band playing the best of rock and all the other genres as well 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and everything is free, there's no queues to the bar, no sexually transmitted diseases (or any other diseases), beer cold as hell, err, cold as heaven, no injuries for falling down intentionally or unintentionally. Place which could be by many indicators defined as the Greatest Invention of God.
At the heaven's heavenly rockstar club, Amy was given a tour by St. Peter and Jesus themselves. "When we looked at your record, we thought that this would be your final resting place so to speak."
Everything seemed swell. There we're beer that didn't make you sick for days and a lots of famous rock stars. "There's John Lennon", said St. Peter to Amy. "He is still preaching about Utopia, but that's allright here in heaven." "Oh, Kurt Cobain", said Amy. "Live and well so to speak", replied Jesus knowingly, "and there's Jimi Hendrix, Wolfgang Mozart, Elvis Presley, of course, and Freddie Mercury."
"Oh, but who is that?", asked Amy. There was a man in a black suit rounded by the elite of the heavenly rockstar groupies. Man was wearing sunglasses which reminded a bit of honeybee's eyes. "I didn't know that Bono was dead", said Amy.
"He is not. That's just my dad, the god almighty, thinking that he is Bono", said Jesus and went back to his room.
In heaven, there is a special place for rockstars, and Amy for being one was naturally accepted to this 24h party people's club. That's the club where there's literally a band playing the best of rock and all the other genres as well 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and everything is free, there's no queues to the bar, no sexually transmitted diseases (or any other diseases), beer cold as hell, err, cold as heaven, no injuries for falling down intentionally or unintentionally. Place which could be by many indicators defined as the Greatest Invention of God.
At the heaven's heavenly rockstar club, Amy was given a tour by St. Peter and Jesus themselves. "When we looked at your record, we thought that this would be your final resting place so to speak."
Everything seemed swell. There we're beer that didn't make you sick for days and a lots of famous rock stars. "There's John Lennon", said St. Peter to Amy. "He is still preaching about Utopia, but that's allright here in heaven." "Oh, Kurt Cobain", said Amy. "Live and well so to speak", replied Jesus knowingly, "and there's Jimi Hendrix, Wolfgang Mozart, Elvis Presley, of course, and Freddie Mercury."
"Oh, but who is that?", asked Amy. There was a man in a black suit rounded by the elite of the heavenly rockstar groupies. Man was wearing sunglasses which reminded a bit of honeybee's eyes. "I didn't know that Bono was dead", said Amy.
"He is not. That's just my dad, the god almighty, thinking that he is Bono", said Jesus and went back to his room.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Local not-so-proud
Every city, town and metropolis has their own distinctive landmarks of a sort, where to plan meetings. In Dublin centre, they have this thing called The Spire and for 4 million euroes Dublin got their share of local people sharing their opinions. International public may be aware of the statue as the tallest sculpture in the world, but locals sometimes define it as "The Needle Statue Of The Drug Capital Of The World", "Far From Grand", "Just The Needle" and they also use some other names that you shouldn't use for someone or something you like.
If you want to make international comparisons, you should take The Eiffel Tower as a competition. Eiffel Tower was meant to be the highest building in the world and stay that way forever. The Spire had similar meanings when they started building the tallest sculpture in the world in a city of documented history close to 2000 years.
Also Eiffel Tower is a world famous building with top engineering involved. The Spire may have some of that. Considering that 21st century's engineering is prone to be hidden away from plain sight, The Spire may have had just wrong timing. It has a mass dampener to counteract the sway and the stainless steel is modified to reflect light smoothly, but you cannot actually see the technology. Oh, and The Spire had something to do polishing the central too.
O'Connell street, where the Spire is located, had trees old as century harvested, local shops were prohibited to use plastic signs (more like anything regarded as a cheap looking) to attract customers and the traffic lanes we're simplified.
The Spire was sold to the great public as a self-cleaning sculpture, but for some reason it has 200 000 euro maintenance budget. But it is not unusual that politicians may redefine the meaning of words. The Spire was self-cleaning before it was built and afterwards it was just illogical to believe the stainless steel tourist attraction would clean itself (quote is from nowpublic.com's article "Cleaning The World's Tallest Sculpture Is An Expensive Process").
If you want to make international comparisons, you should take The Eiffel Tower as a competition. Eiffel Tower was meant to be the highest building in the world and stay that way forever. The Spire had similar meanings when they started building the tallest sculpture in the world in a city of documented history close to 2000 years.
Also Eiffel Tower is a world famous building with top engineering involved. The Spire may have some of that. Considering that 21st century's engineering is prone to be hidden away from plain sight, The Spire may have had just wrong timing. It has a mass dampener to counteract the sway and the stainless steel is modified to reflect light smoothly, but you cannot actually see the technology. Oh, and The Spire had something to do polishing the central too.
O'Connell street, where the Spire is located, had trees old as century harvested, local shops were prohibited to use plastic signs (more like anything regarded as a cheap looking) to attract customers and the traffic lanes we're simplified.
The Spire was sold to the great public as a self-cleaning sculpture, but for some reason it has 200 000 euro maintenance budget. But it is not unusual that politicians may redefine the meaning of words. The Spire was self-cleaning before it was built and afterwards it was just illogical to believe the stainless steel tourist attraction would clean itself (quote is from nowpublic.com's article "Cleaning The World's Tallest Sculpture Is An Expensive Process").
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Foggy water
People take personal hygiene very seriously in Ireland. Sometimes people take a shower a three times a day: one when going to work, one when coming back from work and sometimes one at home. If it's a day off, or a person is otherwise not connected to work life, going out can be labeled as taking shower.
There are three types of rain in Ireland: fog, rain and water. Latter is when rain comes horizontally against a person's face and wearing an umbrella is more like a joke than actually useful accessory.
There are three types of rain in Ireland: fog, rain and water. Latter is when rain comes horizontally against a person's face and wearing an umbrella is more like a joke than actually useful accessory.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
How to get a PPS number
One of the main issues of living (or at least working) in Ireland, is attaining a PPS number. Number is a personal number for Tax office to calculate person's taxes. Number is also needed if a person wants to get a pension later on as well as all the other social security and health related issues.
Attaining the PPS number is basically really simple process with right documents. You need to have a valid identification like a passport or a driver's license (of course, this seems to be mandatory in every developed country) and a proof of address. The latter one is a bit trickier process. What substitutes for a proof of address is a matter of opinion, but a rental agreement, a letter from a landlord or a room mate, a some kind of utility bill (electricity, gas, garbage disposal) or a letter from your employer is kind of proof, and so valid, but these letters are put into consideration. You also need some easy to use leisure products like portable videogames, mp3 device, a book, a paper or your yoga mat. I'll come back to that later.
So your morning starts 9:25 at Kings inn street social welfare office. There are loads of people with lots of concerns awaiting with you and when the door opens at 9:30 they will all run upstairs for reasons unknown to man. Theory of Collective Intelligence might give us a hint of this behaviour. But your main concern is to avoid letting your instincts to push in and to stay downstairs. There's a perfectly normal desk calling for you on the first level and when this happens, you can let your instincts finally go loose. Use your muscles to achieve the desk and you will encounter two well behaving customer representatives ready to give you a ticket number as soon as you tell them that you're here for the PPS number and you have your ID and forementioned proof of address readily at your hand.
Now comes the hard part of using leisure products. Time usually seems to be in bullet time (see references from Matrix or any other action movie made in the next five years after the original matrix) when you're waiting. Hopefully you understand how to use your leisure products or that you at least have that special happy place located somewhere in your brain, where you can go anytime when a moment calls for it.
After almost using all of your leisure products, your number is up and you will have to locate yourself in a appropriate small booth. Process from there on is supported by two lovely officials which will give you two small papers to be filled out. If you get into any sort of trouble because of lack of understanding, the officials will help you anyway they can, or if the situation asks for it, you will be appointed to guardian, who will take care of you until you are suit to satisfy your basic needs on your own.
The first letter is about your personal details, like your name and a place of birth, mother's maiden name, etc. As stated before, if you can't fill out these for any various reason, there really should be somebody to take care of you. You might label me as a supporter of sustainable equality, for I think that is a good thing. The second letter is all about security questions which will be used if you need to be in contact later on about your PPS number.
After you are done, you will receive a letter delivered to your home address stating your PPS number in five days. You can also call the Head Office of PPS numbers the following day. Here you will need to recall your security questions, because that is the way you are identified from now on - ALL THE TIME.
Attaining the PPS number is basically really simple process with right documents. You need to have a valid identification like a passport or a driver's license (of course, this seems to be mandatory in every developed country) and a proof of address. The latter one is a bit trickier process. What substitutes for a proof of address is a matter of opinion, but a rental agreement, a letter from a landlord or a room mate, a some kind of utility bill (electricity, gas, garbage disposal) or a letter from your employer is kind of proof, and so valid, but these letters are put into consideration. You also need some easy to use leisure products like portable videogames, mp3 device, a book, a paper or your yoga mat. I'll come back to that later.
So your morning starts 9:25 at Kings inn street social welfare office. There are loads of people with lots of concerns awaiting with you and when the door opens at 9:30 they will all run upstairs for reasons unknown to man. Theory of Collective Intelligence might give us a hint of this behaviour. But your main concern is to avoid letting your instincts to push in and to stay downstairs. There's a perfectly normal desk calling for you on the first level and when this happens, you can let your instincts finally go loose. Use your muscles to achieve the desk and you will encounter two well behaving customer representatives ready to give you a ticket number as soon as you tell them that you're here for the PPS number and you have your ID and forementioned proof of address readily at your hand.
Now comes the hard part of using leisure products. Time usually seems to be in bullet time (see references from Matrix or any other action movie made in the next five years after the original matrix) when you're waiting. Hopefully you understand how to use your leisure products or that you at least have that special happy place located somewhere in your brain, where you can go anytime when a moment calls for it.
After almost using all of your leisure products, your number is up and you will have to locate yourself in a appropriate small booth. Process from there on is supported by two lovely officials which will give you two small papers to be filled out. If you get into any sort of trouble because of lack of understanding, the officials will help you anyway they can, or if the situation asks for it, you will be appointed to guardian, who will take care of you until you are suit to satisfy your basic needs on your own.
The first letter is about your personal details, like your name and a place of birth, mother's maiden name, etc. As stated before, if you can't fill out these for any various reason, there really should be somebody to take care of you. You might label me as a supporter of sustainable equality, for I think that is a good thing. The second letter is all about security questions which will be used if you need to be in contact later on about your PPS number.
After you are done, you will receive a letter delivered to your home address stating your PPS number in five days. You can also call the Head Office of PPS numbers the following day. Here you will need to recall your security questions, because that is the way you are identified from now on - ALL THE TIME.
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