Sadly Mitch Mitchell, drummer for Jimi Hendrix, died this week, he was awesome! They were awesome! Whats your favorite Hendrix album?http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
This week i have wanted to pull my hair out on several occasions! Those who know me will be aware that frustration is something i do not handle very well! Anyway we got the iBook fixed at the weekend, my coffee machine is still broken and will probably end up being thrown out and then our internet crashed on sunday night. The hub/modem thing appeared to be faulty. After reporting it on Monday morning we had to go to the dentist in the afternoon where Cherith found out she needed one filling. I, on the other hand knew i had a couple of problems going on in my mouth. One broken tooth and one cracked one has already been diagnosed so when the lovely dentist lady printed the estimate i knew it would be scary!! £600 (thats $1200) for an hours work in just over 6 weeks time, i cannot wait!!...
So the Apple store opened in Belfast this morning and i was to be found in a church full of women! I was setting up a bookstall this morning so missed the opening and to be honest i have too much stuff to do today otherwise we may have nipped down later. We will see it soon!! My cousin Nigel was there early, as was Connor who managed to also get into a couple of other people's photographs, here and here! He has also blogged the news here with some of his pictures. I think i see Andrew Saunderson's little bald head in one of Connors Pics also, can you confirm that sir?? Right, i have work to do so im sure we will have more blog news on this story soon.............http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
I started my new job today! There is not too much to tell right now. I spent most of my day deep in legal info, privacy policy and terms & conditions. I am guessing that would make for a rather uninteresting blog post! I sat on my backside for an awful lot of the day & that was weird and not that good for me but we will work out some kind of routine to keep me from turning into a pie in 6 months. More soon, if you're lucky...............http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, has died aged 46, his publicist has said. The versatile saxophonist died after suffering complications from injuries sustained in a vehicle accident in June on his Virginia farm. Read the full BBC story here. Dave Matthews Band performed on Tuesday night in Los Angeles despite the loss, opening with the song “Bartender” — a song about being near death — with the band visibly upset, some in tears as they played. These guys are a seriously talented band, every member is pure gold. This is sad for the guys.http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
Jade Goody has pulled out of the "Bigg Boss" show in India after a cancer scare, some reports suggest she HAS cervical cancer and some are saying she MAY have it. I am not a fan, i do not follow her career and i was not even aware she had travelled to India to do their version of Big Brother. The thing is, when she speaks the nation usually hears her. The tendency for her to say the stupidest things is incredible, she caused worldwide condemnation 2 years ago when she made racist remarks about a fellow contestant on live tv BUT regardless of all that, this is awful. Our thoughts and prayers go to her in this difficult seasonhttp://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
Don't these folks look lovely? I twittered the story this morning and had to come back to it here. For those of you who are not familiar with the goings on in Houston Texas! Flight Attendant Sharon Brown alleges Victoria Osteen (pictured with husband Joel) threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her in the left breast during an angry outburst over a stain on her first-class seat. Brown claims Victoria Osteen became so upset she tried to get into the cockpit and had to be physically restrained. Read the full story here This is total soap opera stuff!http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
All 3 of you readers probably noticed that i did not do a Big Shout Out Sunday or Memory Lane Monday this week. Why? Well, i forgot in the excitement of having been at the beach yesterday! I will endeavor to make sure they are really great posts next week! Promise! The news has reported tonight that Amy Winehouse has been rushed to hospital with no more news at this stage so il come back to this story tomorrow perhaps. Despite the tragic mess that Amy's life currently is, i hope she is ok.....................Update: Latest from The Daily Mail @11.30pmhttp://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
Motorcyclist Robert Dunlop has died at the age of 47 after suffering severe chest injuries in a crash in Thursday's practice session at the North West 200. Another Northern Ireland rider, Darren Burns, suffered a suspected broken leg and concussion in the accident, but is said to be stable in hospital. The accident happened in the 250cc qualifying session in County Antrim. Dunlop's brother Joey, a legendary figure in British motorcycle circles, died while racing in Estonia in 2000. "Robert was one of our greatest sportsmen and will be sadly missed."http://www.text-link-ads.com/xml_blogger.php?inventory_key=PH203EOCDRY2ZAL1H02V...
This is a topic that "comes out" every once in a while, often in the most ridiculous fashion, this instance is no exception! Luciano Moggi, former managing director of a top Italian football team delivered his rant on Italian t.v., saying this; "There are no gays in football. I don't know if players are against having them in their team but I definitely am. In the teams where I worked there were never any. I never wanted to have a homosexual player and I still wouldn't sign one. I'm old school but I know the ambience of football and a gay wouldn't be able to survive within it. A homosexual cannot do the job of a footballer. The football world is not designed for them, it's a special atmosphere, one in which you stand naked under the showers."Does he realize that by saying the "special...
Everyone’s favourite unelected legislator has had an idea.
I can't drive. I've just never bothered to learn. So lets say I get my licence next month and I drive to my girlfriend's parents in south Down. Alastair Ross will be very upset if I leave for Belfast much after 8pm. Who is he to have an opinion on what time I drive home at? What right does the state have to extend the fairly reasonable restrictions on driving to such an extent? He also wants to ban me from driving my girlfriends sister anywhere for the first year. Total ban on alcohol, perhaps, but the reason zero tolerance on this doesn't work, is that small amounts of blood alcohol are (as far as I remember) naturally occurring!
Lisburn man/Larne MLA Alastair Ross really has let it go to his head. If he wants a...
OK, so Peter Robinson is going to be confirmed as the new leader of the DUP on Thursday after being selected by the party's MLAs yesterday. Nothing unexpected there. I've been waiting for the day when Paisley would finally step down and I suppose what happens next should, in theory, be interesting. So why am I so bored by it?
Peter Robinson impressed me (a little) at Finance and I've always thought he came across as much more pragmatic and sensible than his former sensei. He has a reputation as a good strategist, and it's his brains that many credit with the DUP's surpassing of the Ulster Unionists as the most popular party among unionist voters (that and keeping Paisley out of the way anyway).
He's also spoken a lot about cutting down on waste and absenteeism and sickness in the civil...
This really pissed me off. I heard on Radio 5's Drive programme in the car on the way home from work today that Prince Harry has been in Afghanistan, fighting on the front line, for 10 weeks. The media knew this and said nothing. Obviously this was necessary to protect Harry and the other soldiers working with him from becoming walking bullseyes for the Taliban.
There were complaints about the media doing a deal with the government to keep this secret. The deal was they get fairly up-close and personal to Harry in exchange for not reporting it until after he's back home. I'm not one to praise the media very often, but the fact that the whole of the British media kept this secret, I think, demonstrates that they do actually have the ability to recognise that there are one or two things...
The Patten Commission was not a pleasant experience for Unionists. The abandonment of the historic name and symbols of the RUC GC was needless, insensitive, and damaging to Unionist confidence in the political process of the time. While this was not the only negative experience to come out of Patten, what we can say is a great many of the recommendations (PDF) in the report were good ones that have improved the already high standard of policing in Northern Ireland. One of these proposals, detailed at pages 62 and 63 of the Patten report, was the civilianisation of many tasks that were being undertaken by fully trained Police Officers. Police Officers are expensive to train and retain, this training is extensive and produces an excellent public servant for the betterment of the...
Was taking my usual tour around the local press this morning when a headline drew my attention (the blur was added by myself, it's not your eyes playing tricks)...Could the Department of Environment have a plan to beat the climate change which threatens the Giant's Causeway? Are they planning to put some of those excess army Chinooks to good use by air lifting it into the Mournes?Well, the short answer is no. The real answer has more to do with Ian 'walking disaster' Junior's mate (or not) Seymour Sweeney. The minister Arlene Foster wants to distance herself from the aforementioned's application for the UNESCO World Heritage site - I think most would agree, that's quite a sensible...
A photograph of mine has been printed in today’s copy of The Ticket, the entertainment section of The Irish Times!...
It's the battle for supremacy in the High-definition optical disc market. In the blue corner it's Sony's Blu-ray disc. In the opposite corner (although also in blue - using the same laser wavelength of 405 nanoeters) it's Toshiba's HD-DVD. HD DVD looks set to become the Betamax of the 21st century. In North America four of the six largest film studios including Warner, Sony and Fox have put their weight behind Blu-ray. But for those of us in Europe it isn't that easy.In Europe 75% of independent produces (including the BBC's 2Entertain, Pathé and Studio Canal) have put their support behind the - flagging - HD-DVD. Here in the UK European independent produces account for 30% of all disc sales.At the end of last year Germany's largest market research institute Gesellschaft für...
Just in case you were wondering what Belgium's been up to. The linguistically divided pseudo-nation has been without a government for 192 days. King Albert II put would-be-ex-Prime Minster Verhofstadt in charge until two Dutch-speaking and three French-speaking parties agreed to form am interim administration. • Belgium forms emergency government - Al...
Thanks to the help of my good friend, Andy, I have a nice new website for you to marvel at, with an updated portfolio.
Check it out at www.philokanephotography.com
Stay tuned for more updates over the next few weeks.
Copyright Phil O’Kane © 2006-2007This feed is indended for personal use only. If you are not reading it in your feed reader please let me know....
So here’s the score.
Given that we’re about to go headlong into recording a new album of entirely new material we’re going to make almost all our back catalogue available for FREE Download via here.
The Mailing List Box is up there, on the left above the links column - just stick in your address, answer the confirmation email and wait on your codes!
This will include tracks from Manufacturing Dissent, including Bored Wi Belfast, Frontline, I Can’t Explain etc. Tracks from Here, It’s the Tin Pot Operation and a host of Live Studio and gig recordings some of the songs which will never be available on a full release. EVEN some demo versions of the tracks selected for the new album, Human Resources such as can be heard on www.myspace.com/tinpotoperation
The...
News has reached the TPO camp that Italian folk-punks “Martino Vergano and the Rosenkrantz” are to record a cover of Blackeye.
The Rosenkrantz are great guys who we’ve had the pleasure of sharing a stage with in Belfast and Derry and it’s great news that they are planning to cover our track. Word is it will be a very different version to the current single release (available on itunes dontcha know) but we’re busting to hear the results.
Should be a cracker.
In other gig news the TPO will be playing support to the Brian James Gang (Ex The Damned) in an early gig at Lavery’s Bunker on Friday 26th October. Hope to see you there.
Martino Vergnano and The Rosenkrantz Myspace...
That is, according to a study by three doctors in KS Hegde Medical Academy in Mangalore, India. The study asks: “Are lung cancers triggered by stopping smoking?”
So basically they took 312 lung cancer patients they treated during a four-year period of which 182 recently quit. They had all been smoking for more than 25 years. Theres more to it I’m sure, but the bottom line is 58% of patients had quit yet they still got lung cancer.
“A biological mechanism that protects smokers against cancer, that gets exercised and strengthened by years of diligent, heavy smoking. As in habitual marathon running, the body becomes accustomed to suffering grievous damage, and develops habitual ways to fix up whatever breaks down. The smoker’s body becomes a sort of lean,...
Heard this on BBC Newsnight - during Never Mind the Buzzcocks I lost my remote control - that pails into insignificance when you hear what the RAF lost... During a training exercise the RAF lost one of their practice bombs. They think it might be somewhere over Northumberland and north east Scotland or possibly in the sea, specifically in and around the North Sea. Although stressing it was not a real bomb a spokesperson from RAF Lossiemouth said "if the practice bomb survived the fall, we would stress it is highly unlikely to represent a significant danger to the public." Should you see a 76 centimetre long dark blue device, call your local police station. These practice bombs are generally made from concrete and contain a small fuse which gives off smoke when it hits a target. So if your...