Push (Part one of 3)

Push:

Cast

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Murphy : The Girl
Evelyn Murphy :Her Mother
Dr Malcolm Mac Cambridge : Maternity doctor
Sister Michael : Maternity ward Sister / Matron
Alison (Allie) Dowd : Student Nurse
Sargent Philip Hayes : officer of the Garda Síochána (Irish police)
“Nurse” : voice only

Stage layout. Desk positioned so that people on either side of the desk can been seen.

Scene one
Lights down. Darkness.

Lizzie: (Cry of pain)
Malcolm: Push Lizzie, push. I can see the crown.
Lizzie: (gasp) (gasp) Aggghhh
Evelyn: That's right. Deep breaths.
Lizzie: Shut up Mum. Aggghhh
Malcolm: Forceps
Lizzie: (gasp) (gasp) Aggghhh
Malcolm: That's it. We've got... Nurse, get Roberts.
Lizzie: What's wrong.
Malcolm: Just push Lizzie. Again.
Lizzie: Aggghhh
Malcolm: That's it. Nurse!
Evelyn: Is it a boy or a girl
Malcolm: (barking orders) Is the cart ready?
Lizzie: Doctor?
Malcolm: Bugger. Where is Roberts?
Lizzie: What's wrong?
Malcolm: Tube.
Lizzie: (louder) What's wrong? (louder) What's wrong with my baby?
Nurse : O.R. 3 is ready.
Malcolm: We can hook up the monitor there. Move out.
Lizzie: Where are you going? What's wrong? What's wrong with my baby?
Malcolm: Now!
Lizzie: (shouting) What's wrong? Where are you taking my baby?

Fast Lights UP
Lizzie and Evelyn are seated together on one
side of the desk. Lizzie has clearly been crying.
Malcolm is seated on the other side, with Sister
Michael standing to one side.

Malcolm: The technical term is a “warm stillbirth”. We think a kink in the
umbilical tube tightened during birth and cut off his oxygen supply.

Lizzie: His?
Malcolm: Yes, his. He was a boy. Weren't you told earlier?
Evelyn: No.
Lizzie: (quietly) Johnny.
Malcolm: Sorry?
Lizzie: Johnny. If it was a boy we were going to to call him Johnny.
Malcolm: We?
Lizzie: Me and mum. We were going to name him after my Dad.
Evelyn: We lost him when she was little.
Malcolm: I see.
Evelyn: Was he alive at all after the birth?
(beat)
Evelyn: Only I could have sworn I saw him move after he was born.
Sister: It is possible. There are postmortem muscle movements, it is possible after all that he could have died just after birth. However after such an extended period of oxygen deprivation even if he had survived there is a very high probability of extensive brain damage.

(beat)
Malcolm: Unfortunately there is some paper work which has to be dealt with...
Lizzie: (Interrupting) When can I see him?
Malcolm: Sorry?
Lizzie: When can I see him?
Malcolm: Well after the attempts to save the child were called off, there would have been a transfer for a postmortem.

Lizzie: So he's in the morgue.
Sister: We don't actually have such a facility here.
Lizzie: So he's in another hospital?
Malcolm: Er...
Sister: Actually. We don't know where it is.
Evelyn: You've lost it?
Sister: The child was supposed to be transferred, however the body was never received at the other end.

Lizzie: You've lost him?
Sister: Yes. It is possible with something that small that it got mixed up with medical waste.
Evelyn: Waste?
Lizzie: You've dumped my baby!
Malcolm: We understand that it's upsetting...
Lizzie: (Interrupting and building-up) How can you understand. You haven't had a child growing in you for nine months. You haven't felt his every kick and movement inside you. You haven't had part of you grow to be beside you. You haven't had part of you ripped outside of you and take away from you without explanation.
(beat)

Lizzie: (crying) He was part of me. And you took him. And you didn't let me see him. I didn't get a chance to say hello to him let along goodbye. And you've taken that too. You've lost him. No. Dumped him. This is 1984 not the middle ages. You've taken him from me. You've stolen my chance to say goodbye.

(beat)
(Lizzie starts sobbing)
Evelyn: Hush now. Come here.
Evelyn: (To the doctor) I'm going to get a solicitor. This is gross incompetence.

Malcolm: Yes. The details of our solicitor are included in the paperwork here.

Evelyn: Don't expect to see anything signed until it's been read through.
Sister: There are discharge forms..
Evelyn: Oh, no. My girl is going to get good postnatal care, And you are going to see to it aren't you.

Lizzie: Mum. I just wanna go home.
Evelyn: Listen to me girl...
Sister: Perhaps we should leave while you discuss this.
Lizzie: Please

(silence while Sister Michael And Malcolm leave)

Lizzie: Mum, I don't want to stay here.
Evelyn: Nonsense. They've messed up already. I'm going to make sure they pay for this.

Lizzie: You've going to leave me with the people you want to sue for malpractice?

{beat}
Evelyn: I see your point.
Lizzie: Did you really see him move?
Evelyn: What?
Lizzie: The baby, you saw him?
Evelyn: A little. They surrounded the child so quickly. It's possible I imagined something.

Lizzie: But you saw him, like you saw me.
Evelyn: Actually when you were born I didn't see you.
Lizzie: What?
Evelyn: It was a cesarean. They knocked you out back then. I didn't see you until the next morning.

Lizzie: So I could have been just some random child.
Evelyn: No dear. I just knew you were mine from the moment I saw you. I wanted to take you in my arms And never let go.

Lizzie: I don't want to stay here.
(beat)
Evelyn: You hang on here a minute and I'll see which one of these gets you out. OK

Lizzie: OK

(Evelyn leaves)

Lizzie: OK? (starts sobbing)

(beat)

sound effect : (knock)
(beat)
(Enter nurse Alison (Allie) Dowd holding paper work)

Allie: Oh sorry, I didn't know there was anyone here.
Lizzie: It's OK. I was just thinking about my Johnny.
Allie: I know
(crossing to put paperwork on desk)
Allie: It's shocking isn't it. Found like that.
Lizzie: Sorry.
Allie: Didn't you hear? He was wrapped in newspaper in the lobby.
Lizzie: What?
Allie: I know. Somehow who ever abandoned him missed the cameras. I mean that's a security risk right there. Anyone could walk out with god knows what.

Lizzie: When was this?
Allie: Last night. We think its was after half ten. I mean he was found at quarter to eleven. And the cleaners finished in there around half past, so it couldn't be any earlier.

Lizzie: And the cleaners would dump him.
Allie: Oh please, who would dump a beautiful little baby like that.
Lizzie: Someone did.
Allie: Yeah, I suppose.
Lizzie: Dumped. Is it possible to see him?
Allie: Um...
Lizzie: What does he look like?
Allie: He's a dote.
Lizzie: Please.
Allie: I suppose it would be alright. I mean ...
(looks at patient bracelet on Lizzie's wrist)
Allie: you're in the maternity right?
Lizzie: Yes.
Allie: Just say you're seeing your own baby.
Lizzie: Yes. My baby.
Allie: Come on I'll show you.

(They leave)
End of scene one.



Update Part 2 was posted on August 17
Part 3 will was posted on September 15

Sorry about the formatting being a little messy, the blog isn't quite as useable as openoffice.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real people and events is coincidental.

Feel free to comment.

Will


Tags fiction writing play stageplay childbirth stillbirth birth malpractice hospital postmortem1984

Can I prog or not?

How can I tell if I'll be any good as a programmer?
Easily, according to a test devised by Saeed Dehnadi and Richard Bornat at Middlesex University's school of computing. In a draft paper they show that it takes only a three-line code example and a multiple-choice test to divide "programming sheep from non-programming goats", adding that it "predicts ability to program with very high accuracy before the subjects have ever seen a program or a programming language".

Ok, I'll stop quoting now.
The idea is based on the fact that in any computer science course, you have the guys and girls who get programming, and those who don't. Programming is an abstraction which not everyone can handle easily.

However I've tried doing the test myself form the draft paper. I can't quite figure out how to mark it.

Now, when is someone going to take this test and make it an online test?

take care,
Will

tags: programming test online test Saeed Dehnadi Richard Bornat Middlesex University

We don't need this fight

Right now I'm looking at the poster of The Santa Clause 3 : Santa vs. Jack Frost.

How low has this idea sunk.

Disney Santa Clause 3
Santa Claus Jack Frost

Enbush bunnies

Playboy is celebrating 31 years in Brazil.

This is a print advert for the anniversary. It's totally work safe. Not everyone gets it.

However it says more about the beauty industry than it does about Playboy. It aslo is something which costume designers need to keep in mind for period movies and productions.

take care,
Will

Tags : Brazil Playboy 1975 2006 beauty industry

For the want of a screw I reached tipping point

I'll start with the happy ending.
My PC at home is working.

I'll continue with the apology.
It's Windows XP and not Ubuntu (but it does SUSE on occasion).

And this has nothing to do with Malcolm Gladwell.

Shortly before moving house I got a PC. A work colleague (I hate the term coworker) and hardcore gamer needed to sell his machine. Or rather his wife wouldn't let him have another PC. Me, I'm now on 4.

Any suggestions for the good use of old PCs?

Anyway, it took me almost a year to get around to using the PC.
I crashed after 10 minutes. Actually that's a bit general. Sometimes it lasted 30 minutes, sometimes 45 minutes.
I always got an "out of range" error message.

Having worked in tech support I know the most likely cause of the error.
The bloody thing had been moved an tossed about a little during the house move. Most likely there is a loose cable. (Do you expect a hardcore gamer to not play any less than 3 hours at a time? Me neither.)

So, naturally, it took me a few months to get the thing opened up.
Cables were fine, but, when checking the cable on a hard disc, it moved. The screws holding the hard disc in place created a pivot point.
I looks like my errors were due to the way a hard disc works; mechanically.

Platters in the discs spin, and an mechanical arm moves across the surface of the disc and read or write the surface magnetically. Think of how a vinyl record player works. However the arm should never touch the surface of the disc.
Now imaging this taking place on a see-saw. The arm reaches out, and tips the see-saw over. This is a problem. A sudden movement can cause the arm to touch the disc. The disc "parks". The arm swings back and the plates stop spinning for a while because the sudden motion is picked up as a failure condition. This is all done in the hardware, and requires a full de-powering to un-park. This is not a reboot. This is turn off the PC, and wait for a capacitor to discharge.
In the meantime, the operating system has suddenly lost, well, itself. Not everything in memory stays in memory. Stuff gets written to the hard disk so it can cope with new stuff. So the operating system looses it's memory. And Grocks.

I put in an extra screw to stop remove the pivot point... And the machine is now happy for hours on end.

This however means that I can do a few things at home. Namely write and review. I'll explain later.

However I need to get something like SpinRite to make sure there are no physical errors on the disc. Which should trigger another post.

Take care,
Will

Technorati Tags: disc harddisc disk harddisk hardware pc error

To ork a cow

I hate the term coworker (it should be co-worker), and the people who ork cows (that’s O.R.C. or the Office of Regulatory Compliance) are, in this country, mostly in Teagasc or at least in an Bord Bia)

I'm having a tangental day...

This was going to go in to another post but I did a quick search on ORK to discovered that no one hade defined the work.

I would like to get the work "ork" in the dictionary as a verb. To ork something should be "to regulate something for compliance".

In theory this means that a workorker is your boss.

For the record, "ork" is in the dictionary, as a noun.
"Alternative spelling for Orc"

Technorati Tags: cow ork teagasc coworker

I think I've found her

It just goes to show it's not what yo know, it how.
Or who bothers to read you and comment...

Damien Mulley suggested that this might be Laura.

thanks
Will

Technorati Tags: blogs blogger Cork assist

laura, who are you?

David McWilliams is well know in Ireland as the tosser who invented the term "Celtic Tiger".
He posted on his blog about city populations falling and transport routes after the Irish cencus indicates the population of Cork (city) is going down.

I'm reproducing a comment by "laura" to the article in full here because it's very Cork centric, and mostly accurate.

laura, 7/25/2006
Firstly while it appears correct on paper that the
populations are falling in Cork and Limerick cities, in
reality what has happened is that city boundaries have not
been updated to account for growth outside very narrow
boundaries. A good example of this is in Cork, where land
sitting right beside the north ring road on one side of the
road is Mayfield (city) and the other side is "Barrnavarra"
(county). Its in some ways a degree of subtle postcode
snobbery that suits the residents (and it also, no doubt,
suits the local city council who have maybe half a mile
less of housing estates to maintain). Yet this is less
than half an hours walk to the city centre and does not
reflect the pattern of growth around the city! If so-
called hinterland area growth was taken into account in
Cork (and probably also in Limerick), in fact the city
population would not be falling.

However, I did notice when I moved to Cork ex-Dublin, via
London, in 2002, how much of the city was derelict. Almost
everything east of south mall with a handful of exceptions
was empty and/or derelict. There were numerous derelict
sites even around South Mall, and two hotels and a
guesthouse (brand new) closed their doors between 2002 and
2004 on Morrisons island, leaving the street totally
derelict were it not for the College of Commerce and School
of Music. This is supposedly in the midst of a "boom."

Many of the sites are now building sites and some are
apartment blocks (usually section 50, and many of them as
much as 2-4 miles from the nearest 3rd level college, which
is puzzling as it indicates to me that they were built for
the short term benefit of tax breaks rather than as genuine
long term student accomodation).

Public transport needs - as much thanks to pathetic
management in CIE as much as trade unions who are stuck in
the 19th century - outside (and even sometimes inside) the
cities are certainly not booming. The incredible thing I
find is that routes that were abolished (such as the much
lamented number 60 in north Dublin) are now suddenly sorely
missed, as the missing passengers are now pouring into new
housing estates that have no public transport, and are
nearly 2 miles from the nearest amenities of any sort.

We are building 24-hour bus lanes for services which are
only 15-18 hr services - why? Where are the 24 hr buses?

At the same time employers are demanding "flexibility" from
the workers which demands people work from as early as 6am
up to as late as 1am - with no transportation provided -
often as a simple condition of employment. In Cork you see
people parked 1-2 miles outside the city walking in to save
parking money as they drive in from 20-30 miles away. I
see people in my job driving to work and paying 5 euro a
day (for admittedly very cheap parking for a city centre
location) on salaries as little as 17k pa rather than
sitting on the dole in Mallow or Youghal.

But most of the jobs aren't in the city. They are in
Raheen in Limerick, Eastgate, Carraigtohill, the airport,
Bishopstown and Ballincollig in Cork. In Dublin they are
in Sandyford, Cherrywood, Swords and Blanchardstown. Its
also much easier to drive to Swords from Drogheda or Ardee
than from Whitehall or Drumcondra: why would anybody live
in the city when the development is all on the edge? In
Cork the guy who moves from his 17k a year job in the city
centre can get and extra 1k per year at least for every
miles outwards - 4 miles east of the city he'll get 21k a
year and free parking, 10 miles west and he'll get 28k,
better t&cs AND free parking. We are developing edge
cities that are going to leave a denuded centre which
inevitably will be filled up with rent subsidised tenants
and those who cannot afford to get out.


tags Ireland Cork population
employment


update : this might be Laura

Story hunting

"Literature is news that stays news." - Ezra Pound

Ezra is almost right. Sometimes it's taking an idea being talked about in the news to its outer edge. Sometimes done in a hope that such an action won't happen. Sometimes in a hope that it will. Sometimes under the suspicion that it actually has.

Or sometimes making connections which didn't take place at the time.

I've been talking about writing a play for some time. I call it the "snatched baby" play. I actually did name it "Push" but it appears that there is an opera of the same name in production in London.

The idea came from a film. A film which was never made.
Friends of mine came up with an completely complicated idea involving selling souls, and being a soul agent. The idea was "am I going mad or is it really happening". One person is saying X, while another is saying Y where Y = -X. Or close to the opposite.
Last time I checked, it hadn't happened, but that was a few months ago.

While the idea of a soul agent appeals, heir story was far too surreal for me.

My idea is simpler. A woman gives birth. It's a still-birth. However she is convinced that the baby has been taken from her.
I have done some research on this (The Chemist's wife is a midwife), and it turns out that truth is stranger and more tragic than fiction.

I will post that story, but the point of this is... I'm going to write the play here.
The first draft at least.
Scene by scene, without going back. Sort of Dickens like.
The final version will be a bit tidied-up (medical terms confirmed, turns of phrases tweaked, scenes altered), but this is where the first draft will live.

The play is meant for the stage. This means that is has to be possible to perform this without special effects and quick scene changes (and preferably minimal set changes between scenes).

Is it a stupid idea to try?
Will

It's getting hot in here

We have the weather now (and just watch me jinx this)

How about a nice fan to cool down?

The link is for an old Guinness advert, which I suspect ran in the UK only. However Guinness ought to put together a few promotional fans. Take cheap ones and repaint them...

I'd like one... I might get some sleep that way.

take care,
Will

All stand for the gay national anthem..

I have no doubt that these clips are going to be pulled from YouTube soon for copyright reasons so see them now.

The point of the TV show "I've got a secret" is to guess the "secret" of the guest.
Sometimes they have celebrity guests... this time it's Martha Wash.
You know here stuff even if you've never seen her.
She was the voice of Black Box's "Everybody Everybody", the voice of C+C Music factory's "Gonna make you sweat" and my favourite, "Keep on Jumpin'" in a duet with Jocelyn_Brown.

However, she is also one half of the "Weather Girls" who did "It's Raining Men".

I'll link to the I've Got a Secret clip (be warned of the panels reactions). But I'm embedding the live version of "It's Raining Men".

Jerri Halliwell did a cover of it a few years ago. That video showed a lot of flesh.
Somehow here, her voice is sexier than Ms. Halliwell ever was, and this campy live clip is better than a carefully put together video.

Will

Get a job, go to jail?

On Tuesday July 18, Damien Mulley posted Online Gambling Site developer jobs in Ireland.

On Tuesday July 18, David Carruthers, the British chief executive of BetonSports, was arrested at Dallas airport on Sunday night (he was changing planes from the UK to the Carribean), shares in online betting groups with exposure to the US have dived. Executives are understood to be seeking legal advice about whether they should avoid trips to the US.

On Tuesday July 11, the online gambling laws in the USA changed.

Guests at an annual online gaming conference in Las Vegas next week were due to include a "who's who" of online betting. It's been cancelled.

It's somewhat similar to European and Russian scientists working on encryption technologies being warned not to attend or present at US conferences for fear of arrest.

The scary thing is that given the US legal interpretation of their wire fraud laws, in theory an online bet between two non-US agents can pass through a server in the US. This transaction is sufficient for the US Federal legal teams to claim jurisdiction.
Sounds silly? Google for "the Nat West Three".

be warned,
Will

Still having found what I'm bouncing for?

What that Timmy?
Skippy is in Kinsale?

Yes a male kangaroo (called Sidney not Skippy) broke loose from a circus somewhere near Kinsale.

I wonder if he'll make it to Fota and all the mini kangaroo (Okay, wallabies)

Will

Raising more than money

Some people like to take their life in to their own hands.
And rub.
Some people in London plan to do just this, and (according to The Guardian (work safe) raise money for safe sex groups in a sponsored Masturbate-a-thon (probably not work safe if you think about it).
And Channel 4 intent to broadcast it as part of their late night programming.

It's the stats that are scary...
"Prizes will be on offer for those who clock up the most orgasms and those who can masturbate the longest - the current record, according to the organisers, is a chafing eight-and-a-half hours."

So if you meet someone walking like John Wayne with bandaged hands after August 6th, you'll know why.

Play safe,
Will

Turn Mercury

Well Turn have called it a day.

The day they chose was the day that the Mercury Music Prize for 2006 was announced.
They weren't nominated.
Actually, no Irish act was.

The nominations are...

Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not;
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan Ballad Of The Broken Seas;
Editors The Back Room;
Guillemots Through The Windowpane;
Richard Hawley Coles Corner;
Hot Chip The Warning;
Muse Black Holes And Revelations;
Zoe Rahman Melting Pot;
Lou Rhodes Beloved One
Scritti Politti White Bread, Black Beer;
Sway This Is My Demo;
and
Thom Yorke The Eraser.

My money would be on either Muse or Thom Yorke. But I think the likes of Lou Rhodes or Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan are more likely.

Since this is a prize gien by the music industry which ignored them for so long... The Arctic Monkeys are not going to win.

take care,
Will


update : for some reason RSS readers seem to have trouble with the "and sign" I was using. Oh well, the content is the same.

I'm not the only one

According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt
"So, yes we are IDIOTS — and please WRITE THAT DOWN"

nice to know it's not just me.

take care,
Will

Two tribes

It's the asides in training courses that are the most interesting...

apparently there a two tribes in programming, namely

.NET and Java (and it's family)

Or to put in another way, Microsoft and Sun.

This is clearly false... there is always a third way, but the lines drawn between The Cathedral and the Bazaar seem to have reached 50-50.

The other interesting thing is that in South America, Flash based GUI programming is a standard course in schools.

So it looks like the browser will indeed be taking over from the hard disc.

Take care,
Will

Your jumper is a pain

I've actually been listening to "Ta Douleur" (Your Pain) by Camille. It's due for release on July 17 (in the UK, I'm assuming July 14 in Ireland).

It sort of sticks in your head.

However I liked it before I saw the sureal video that goes with it.



All together now... "where's me jumper!"

Will

Drink-drive advert idea number 1

Cast:
"John" Male 30's
"Matt" Male 50-60's
"Mary" Female 50-60's


Start (no music - just realistic effects)
Close up of hand "John" ringing doorbell

pull (or cut) back to see John step back from door.
Bandage on cheek. Leg in some type of cast with crutch.

Door opens.

Cut to mid-close up of "Mary"
Clearly recently been crying. Face changes to anger on seeing "John"

Mary : "You... You..."
Runs towards him hitting him ineffectually.
Mary : "It's all your fault"

"John" is taking it.

"Matt" runs out of the house towards the pair and hold "Mary" back.
She turns and starts sobbing on "Matt"'s chest.

Matt (to John) : "Go. Just go."

John turns and walsk away and the pair go back to the house...

Fade to black... visual don't drink and drive slogan...

Ends.



One of the main problems about the non-effectivness of the Irish road safery campagain is that it's preachy.
Sometimes (often) they aim for shock.

How about trying emotion?

Put together a soap opera with the same central characters. Make people care, and attitudes just might change with it.

Will

Glorious Failure

Simon McGarr blogged about all the Glorious Failures that out great leadership have had this year.

(In fairness they worked hard over the years to get to this level of failure). Ending with the refrain ...
"If you are an ambitious lawyer, Civil Servant, Garda Officer, Planning Official or Army officer you will understand that your future prospects will depend on loyalty to the Executive’s wishes rather than the nation’s need." ... "I’m looking for ways to act to effect change."

Well someone with the talent could do something like Mark Fiore.

Satire is an effective way of killing the thinking. Just make sure you offer a "why don't you.." as well.

have fun,
poke fun,
Will

Remember now, baa means no!

According to The Observer, there is a new manly trend. Men are becoming men, and sheep are getting nervous. This is the thesis of Professor Harvey Mansfield and Manliness.

"Advertisers know what appeals to millions of consumers, and what appeals now is not caring and sharing metrosexuality, but raw old-fashioned manhood." ... "In literature the hot new trend is Fratire, a male alternative to chick lit that celebrates drinking and sex."

I'm not saying that things are getting Gor-like, but this manlniess trend ('The word masculinity is more about the body and physical differences') has been slowly building for some time.

When someone like Yves Staint Laurent starts using kickboxing champions in their advertising, you just know that the view of men in the advertising world has changed. This means that the culturally percieved view is changing.

Or to put it simply.
Beckham is out.
Rooney is in.

Sort of makes a change from the fight club. No random stopming or headbutting. (OK, ignore Rooney on this).

Am I wrong?
Will

World of Arrggg-craft

"Pirates of the Caribbean Online" will become a reality next year when Disney Online reveals an original story set within the mythology of the "Pirates" film trilogy.

It's a couple of hundred years too late, but could Grace O'Malley be sailing with Jack Sparrow under her.

I don't exactly not get MMOG games. Friends of mine use it to stay in contact (as opposed to the social network software, this is socal pillage and attack software).

There are of course Star Wars and Star Trek versions, but I'm not sure that a couple of thousand ships on crowded waters will be that much fun.

But then again, what do I know.

Will

With 30,000 millionaires in the country...

can I have a fiver?

In practice it's closer to paper millionaires. A decade of house price inflation has catapulted Ireland into second place in the global wealth league, according to a new report from Bank of Ireland Private Banking.

Houses are a little difficult to shift at the moment, but not that hard.
it seem that there is a direct correlation between expensive land and the number of millionaires.

Who'd have guessed?

"Bank of Ireland says that even when the value of principal private residences is excluded, Ireland now has 30,000 millionaires. It estimates 300 of these have more than €30m each, while 2,700 people have between €5m and €30m apiece."

Any chance of a couple of hundred thou?

Will

I'll be all the props for these men

I don't know where Damien Mulley found it but here is improv using human props... to the extreme.

6 mins of time well spent.

Will

To Buy what noone has bought before...

Christies are auctioning off a whole bunch of props and costumes for the Star Treck Franchise (its all in flash). Stuff from The Next Generation, Voyager and the movies (I assume that DS9 is in there somewhere but...)

The sale itself is in October (5 -7 ) and the collection is touring, due to visit London in August. Now, if only I had a couple of thousand to spare.

And I suspect Bubble Brothers should be interested in the "Chateau Picard" wine bottles.

take care,
Will

Dialing under the infulence

I which I thought of this phone. It contains a small breathalyzer, if you're over the limit, it warns you; and if you have a blood alcohol level over .08, the phone will not let you dial certain people in your phone book.

Now that's a marketable feature!

Will

On your bike

I did the Tour de Munster two years ago. Last year work stopped me. This year I just didn't want to do it (and it turned out that my timing was right!). It is a bit late for me to get on the bike for the session but... I'd actually like to do the first stage now.

Cycling legend Seán Kelly today launched the 6th edition of the "Tour de Munster" Charity Cycle which kicks off on Thursday August 17th when a team of 'leisure' cyclists (a whole bunch are from Freescale where the training session start) will commence a demanding and challenging four-day 600km charity cycle which will take them through all the counties of Munster with all funds raised going directly to the TV3 Baby Max Wings of Love Fund.

Seán will complete the first stage of the Tour which will take the cyclists from Cork into County Waterford for a big climb at the Vee and through Tipperary and Limerick to Killaloe, Co. Clare. On day two the cyclists will go through Clare and North Kerry to Castlegregory. Day three will see them face more big climbs over the Conor Pass and Molls Gap as they make their way via Dingle, Killarney and Kenmare to Lauragh on the Beara Peninsula. Day four will start with a tough climb over the Healy Pass and finish in Cork city.

Since its launch in March 2004, the TV3 Baby Max Wings of Love Fund has raised over €400,000 for badly needed and life saving equipment to be placed in paediatric wards around Ireland. The success to date of the campaign is founded on the energy and interest of many and TV3 is delighted with the support it received from the 2005 Tour de Munster which raised almost €60,000 for the Fund.

Participants in the 2006 Tour de Munster will collect individual sponsorship
and the tour will be accompanied by volunteers who hope to leverage the
event with collections in the cities, towns and villages along the route.
Freescale Semiconductor is providing title sponsorship and engineers from the multi-national’s Cork Design Centre will be amongst those participating in the cycle. Centre manager Dave Redmond is a very keen cyclist and will be among those honoured to cycle with Seán Kelly.

The future of the mix tape?

I first heard the David Ford "I don't care what you call me" a while back. "Eff_Gee" calls it a "missive", but I'm not going to mention the site just yet. Anyway... the embedded YouTube bit below is the audio track over the England world cup footage, including "the stomp".

Is something like this the future of the mix tape. Instead of the tracklist being your heart-felt code, it's the combination of audio and visuals posted on the net.



Something similar (almost the same footage) using, acording to Popjustice "the worst track on the new Pet Shop Boys album"...



On a related note, Andrew Brown is glad that "we" (he's English) are out of the world cup due to the unendurable reverse Diana effect which would have hit the country.

All flames in that direction please.

take care,
Will

Bye Bye Park

I talked about it not raining yup I jinxed it. It rained Thursday night.

On Friday night... one of the masts broke. Considering that the play opens on a ship, it's sort of important, even if it's only used in the first 10 mins of the play. The people "exciting" the sail (ship in a storm hence the Tempest) put the sail in the pond and left (always look like it's meant to happen).

Also I found out that Denis Tuohy was rather busier than his IMBD profile suggests.

Saturday, rounded the corner of the garners yard to find a large table prepared with food and flowers (still in the pots, borrowed from the growing areas the garnders use). It's a nice way to send us off.

Show went well (we finally got all the timing right) and the partying began.

Sunday... lying down a lot...

I'd like to say I'll miss the park, but I won't. Being forced to be in a place means you usually don't want to see it for some time afterwards. I expect the memories to get rosey some time next month.

take care,
Will

ouch

Pressure low.
Thunder due.
Head thumping.

expect a proper wrap-up of the Tempest when the weather (and my head) improves)