Transformers - less than meets the eye

Citroen set the bar quite high for this movie!

The special effects were great. The story, not so great. But I did get a strange combined sense of awe and fear as we shared in the young lads first encounter with Bumblebee in stand up robot form. And I do still secretly want a car like that! Quite a stupid statement to put on a blog on the world wide web. Think its time for bed.

Still haven't see The Simpsons but its next on the list.

Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea

I wish I had taken more photos today.

My brother and I, after a hearty lunch at Blue Glass (pricey but delicious), decided to head to Newcastle, Co Down to meet up with Mum, Dad and little sister who had travelled down a little earlier in the day.

I think I found a new appreciation of the placed today. In spite of driving through some torrential rain on the way (you can see it in the distance in the photo below), the wee seaside town seemed to escape most of it and remained sunny. It gave us a chance to see the wonderful Mourne Mountains in all their splendour! I think we will go back soon to the mountains themselves for a good walk.


The new promenade is fantastic. Such an improvement over when I was there last. And when it comes to food ou can even find a few nice bistro style pubs and decent coffee shops. Newcastle has gone an got itself a new suit and wears it so well! Carrickfergus Borough Council take note!!

I also learned today that it was a William Percy French (1854-1920) who wrote 'The Mountains of Mourne' song. Some of the words are etched into a steel memorial to the man so I got a chance to read what it was all about. So for those of you who only know the last line of each verse - here is the rest of the song!

Oh, Mary, this London's a wonderful sight
With people here working by day and by night
They don't sow potatoes, nor barley nor wheat
But there' gangs of them digging for gold in the streets
At least when I asked them that's what I was told
So I just took a hand at this diggin' for gold
But for all that I found there I might as well be
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

I believe that when writin' a wish you expressed
As to how the fine ladies in London were dressed
Well, if you believe me, when asked to a ball
Faith, they don't wear no top to their dresses at all.
Oh, I've seen them myself and you could not in trath
Say if they were bound for a ball or a bath
Don't be startin' them fashions now, Mary Macree,
Where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

I've seen England's king from the top of a bus
And I've never known him, but he means to know us.
And tho' by the Saxon we once were oppressed,
Still I cheered, God forgive me, I cheered with the rest.
And now that he's visited Erin's green shore
We'll be much better friends than we've been heretofore
When we've got all we want, we're as quiet as can be
Where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

You remember young Peter O'Loughlin, of course
Well, now he is here at the head of the force
I met him today, I was crossing the Strand
And he stopped the whole street with a wave of his hand
And there we stood talkin' of days that are gone
While the whole population of London looked on
But for all these great powers he's wishful like me
To be back where the dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea.

There's beautiful girls here, oh, never you mind
With beautiful shapes nature never designed
And lovely complexions all roses and cream
But O'Loughlin remarked with regard to the same
That if at those roses you venture to sip
The colours might all come away on your lip
So I'll wait for the wild rose that's waitin' for me
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

Audi A5

I have long been and Audi fan. Recently they had an advert running for the new A5 (pictured below). As you can tell from the image below it is a beautiful looking car.



To promote the launch of this car, Audi produced a lovely advert with some fantastic music. Do you remember the one with the ribbons/stripes gently forming a hint of the outline of the sleek design? Well, as is the case with a number of adverts I was attracted to the elegant music. I searched for it at the time but the best I could do then was to find it was called Prelude 2, it was composed by Dustin O'Halloran and that it was hoped it was to be released at some stage.

Even though my iTunes alerts let me down I was please to find (rather late!) that the track was released on 4th June. Both the original and advert versions of the track are available from iTunes. I have added the link below.

Dustin O'Halloran, Prelude 2


Enjoy!

Red Mist

As I was uploading my previous post I noticed that my photos, taken with my Nokia N73, had a bit of a red mist on the right hand side. Could this just be a dirty lens or is this a problem with the phone/chip?

And it's colours they were fine

The Causeway Coastline that is. I spent most of the 12th July with Dermo and Debbie. We travelled to Portstewart with the aim of doing a spot of fishing. But we didn't do much until we got to Portballintrae, and the fish didn't really do much at all. They must take the 'July Fornight' off too. Everyone we spoke to had similar luck but for me the day was not wasted. It was great to just be out in the open, breath the sea air and feast my eyes on some of our quite spectacular countryside and coast.

Sharp Suits & the Federer Express

An alternative title to this post may have been 'Suit you Sir' but I opted for the above as it tied my two trains of thought together.

I wore my suit to work today. This is something I should probably do more often but my unwillingness to splash out on several new suits means that the one I have has to be worn on stategic occasions. Today was one such occasion.

As I was to meet with one of our larger clients I thought I would put a bit of effort in and wear my newest shirt and tie combo along with my trousers and jacket. Incidentally, the meeting went well!

My suit remained on until I got home tonight. That wasn't before I had to do a spot of grocery shopping in Tesco. When paying for the goods the girl serving me looked at me, then presumably taking note of the suit sat up straight, put on an extra wide smile and seemed to make a point of enthusiastically greeting me at the till. She also followed the till procedure to the letter. Referring to me as 'Sir' she helped pack my food and ensured I had my Clubcard before gushing a good bye before I left. I almost looked back half expecting a scene like the end of the Beverly Hill Billies were they stand at the doorway and wave continuously while the credits roll.

So did she treat me differently because I had suit? Did she think that I was a mystery shopper or a senior Tesco employee? Before any Tesco executives grow concerned I should say that the service in Tesco is usually of a very high standard (sometimes it is awful too though!) but this time I got a definite sense that she looked at me, did a quick calculation and then decided to be particularly thorough with her till routine.

Maybe it is the image of the thing. Does the wearing of a suit automatically attract different people and/or cause others to behave differently towards you?

Which leads me to Roger Federer. Although I liked Raphael Nadal and thought he played a blinder in yesterdays Wimbledon final I was glad to see Federer win. I was pleased he equalled Borg's record and to do so in such a thrilling encounter with his closest rival.

But what was the deal with that white suit?

I mean, he stepped into Centre Court looking like a cross between a James Bond movie and a Martini advert - not like a serious sportsman. I guess it could have been a tactic to cause the young Nadal to teeter. The poor guy probably spent most of the first set stifling a snigger! But that couldn't be the reason because he then put it on at the end of the match - over he five set scented body. It as a case of sublime tennis to rediculous dress sense.

Anyway, who am I to criticise the five time Wimbledon Champion. Someone who plays like that gets to wear what he likes I suppose.

Me, I'm just stuck with the same old suit and can only hope that someone thinks I have done something good enough to warrent the wearing of it!

Dance Tonight

Everybody gonna dance tonight!

My brother bought a mandolin. It is an Osark 2250 and if you sat with it for 10 mins you could learn to play a Paul McCartney song! Its that one from the iPod advert from his new album. All you need to know is G, C, D and Fmaj7 (I think), put them in the right order and you are set.

But, and this is the slight frustration, Sir Paul detunes his mandolin by a tone so when he plays the G formation it is actually an F and so on. It means you can't sing and play along to the track while learning it.

So far I can strum it ok but my brother was getting down to REM's Losing My Religion earlier. It sounded cool!

Does your Dog(fish) bite?

Well, yes, actually!

Dermo and I went down to Port Muck on Friday night to do a spot of fishing. I had never done it before so began by casting the line into a few rocks. But by the time we waited for some German's to leave the good spot I seemed to be doing ok.

I must say I'm not too good when it comes to worms, cutting up fish and all manner of stuff for bait. I'm also not great with the fish themselves!

But I got my first catch! As I reeled it in there was a point when I thought I simply managed to hook into another rock but as it turned out it was a dog fish. They are strong little fellas - apparently related to the shark family. As Dermo removed the hook (I wasn't for touching it) it squirmed and wrapped itself in a circle! Anyway, the pic isn't of my fish but of of one another fisherman got but you can see what I mean.



It was a lovely evening. The sunset that sillouetted some other fisherman on a rock was complimented by an equally lovely moon rise.