Ennio Morricone, 3 Arena - Dublin

Awhile back I wrote about getting tickets for Ennio Morricone who was due to play on December 12th.  Unfortunately, the concert was cancelled and then rescheduled for now.  It felt like forever for the new date to come but finally the day was upon us!

Ciaran had to travel to Limerick during the day and I was afraid he wouldn't be back in time.  I felt it would be too rushed and put too much pressure on him so I didn't book a restaurant but instead made arrangements to cook at home before the concert.

He got home from Limerick in plenty of time but went for asleep at 4.30pm and then I made dinner for about 5.30pm.

We got a taxi at about 6.30pm as I was afraid the traffic would be bad at the venue.  Traffic was fine because we had left so early - we were inside by before 7pm for the 8pm show.

I brought my Tommy Bahama flask with me because Ciaran tried to convince me that there would be no vodka for sale, only wine and beer.  We hadn't been to this venue since it was called the Point.  Of course it has had a major overhaul since then and has been through two name changes from the O2 to the 3 Arena.  

When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised by the venue.  It is superb and had full bars and a range of concession stands.  There was even a prosecco concession where you could get a glass of prosecco for €7.  I just bought a bottle of Ccoke Zero for my vodka.  During the interval, I had a drink from the bar.  I didn't want to get another vodka as they only had Absolut (bleugh) so I had a Malibu & Diet Coke (1980 called - they want their drink back!)

When we entered the seating area, Ciaran asked me to guess the capacity (he had already googled) - I said about 20,000 which wasn't a bad guess because it actually holds 23,000.

The show began just after 8pm with the choir walking on to stage (possibly about 70 singers) followed by the orchestra (by my count there was about 80 musicians).  Then the maestro himself walked on the the stage (very jauntily for an 86 year old) and with a quick bow the music began.  

Do you know Ennio Morricone?  I would imagine you are familiar with many of his pieces from films including "The Mission", "The Untouchables" and "Once upon a time in America" and of course "The Good the Bad and the Ugly".

All of the songs were amazing but I especially liked Come Maddelena and Abolisson.  My favourite, however, was Here's to you  which was sang as the first encore - the crescendo that it builds up to is sensational and to see it live was breath taking. 

I think that Gabriel's Oboe from The Mission holds a special place in many Irish people's hearts as it was used in an Aer Lingus ad (the National Airline) in the 1980's at a time of high emigration in Ireland......the music is very poignant.

Inherent Vice - Dazed & Confused

Last Sunday we went to see "Inherent Vice".  We intended going to the 1.30pm showing in Cineworld but Ciaran took the dog for a walk a short while before we were due to go.  By chance he met a friend in the village and they went for a cup of coffee together.

This meant that we only arrived at the cinema at 1.25pm.  The line for tickets was long and there were only 2 people servicing the queue.  I hate being late in to a film - I love playing "Guess the trailer game" (which I ALWAYS win, I should add!) so I checked what time the film was starting in the Savoy Cinema which was only a short walk away.

It was starting at 2.10pm so we left Cineworld and headed to the Savoy.  But guess what?!  They showed no trailers!!!!  I was not happy!  Then to add to that the film was not as good as we had thought it would be.  Let's just say the below pic from Gracia magazine pretty much sums it up!  And at one point I just about fell asleep except for the fact that Ciaran nudged me to wake up  :-(

Have you seen this film - what did you think of it?

In other items of note a friend posted a link on Facebook to these amazing looking pastries.  OMG!! Sticky buns with bacon!!!  

What do you think???

The Key Notes' Barbershop version of Ireland's Call on the Right Hook

On my drive home from work each day I tend to listen to George Hook on The Right Hook.  


Today he had The Key Notes on his show and they did this awesome rendition of Ireland's Call.  

Do you Yik Yak?

A big interest of mine is Social Media and Digital Media.  I'm always interested to hear about new social media and to get in and use it at the start before it takes off (or dies as can happen!)

A colleague of mine told me about Yik Yik and I thought it sounded intriguing.  Here is a fairly good explanation of what it is and how it is used. 

For me I like to use it to share good solid local information eg. Starbucks are selling off their Christmas stock for 50% off or that cinema tickets are only €5 on a Tuesday night in Rathmines Omniplex.....and indeed these are the types of "yaks" that have garnered me the most upvotes and "yakarma".  

Typically attracting college students there is surprisingly not so much rubbish to wade through to spend a bit of time on the app hanging out and passing the time! Hugely popular in the USA, I think it is beginning to take off in Ireland in particular areas near to universities and student hangouts.

The success of Yik Yak in my view will very much depend on the type of user it attracts going forward and of course whether is can monetize itself and how it will do so.  Big questions hang over it at this point, I think.

Let me know if you try and let me me know what you think.  Personally I think it can be hit and miss depending on where you live.  I live about 2 miles away from a large university so Yik Yak is fairly active in my area.

Blue Sky View!

This is the glass skylight to he birch ply wood clad room at the top of our house.

During the year the glass skylight got extremely dirty.  From time to time Ciaran and I climbed out on to the house roof and with a long pole we attempted to clean the skylight.

When we arrived back from Abu Dhabi over Christmas I noticed that the glass skylight was spotlessly clean.  We reckon that the freezing temperatures (below minus 4) froze water on the roof and took the dirt with it when it melted and ran off.

The skylight allows for a lovely view of the sky and this room is one of my favourite places to go when it is raining heavily.  It is relaxing to lie on the ground and look up at the rain battering the house!

Mobile Dog Groomer

I've found a new groomer!

Oh wow - the Mobile Groomer has just left our house.  It was beyond convenient.  There is no wasting time dropping Bones to the groomer and then having to go off and do something for the few hours that it takes for him to be groomed.  

With Little Paws mobile groomer they come to you and you can hand him over and then do something useful like clean your house!

And they were quick.  His full groom took just over an hour to do.

And the best part was that they were €5 cheaper then the place I used to go to.  Win win!

Mespil Road changes

Bones was fast asleep as I left for work this morning.  He was scratching his ear in the middle of the night so Ciaran put the cone on him to stop.

As I drove to work I saw that Thunders Bakery is now in the location where Starbucks used to be on Mespil Road.

I was also sorry to see the flower shop is now closed - I had mentioned it on my blog before :-(