Hey Guys,

1. Shawshank Redemption
2. A Beautiful Mind
3. Untouchables
4. Schindler's List
5. Unforgiven
6. Sixth Sense
7. Gladiator
8. Green Mile
9. Silence of the Lambs
10. A Few Good Men

Top Ten Best Fantasy Film

1. Star Wars Trilogy
2. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Star Trek 7 : First Contact
4. Indiana Jones Trilogy
5. Star Trek 2 : Wrath of Kahn
6. Superman Trilogy
7. X-Men 1
8. E.T.
9. Batman 1
10. Ghostbusters

Top Ten Comedy Film

1. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
2. Groundhog Day
3. One flew over the Cuckoos Nest
4. As Good as it Gets
5. Home Alone 1
6. Snatch
7. Mad about Dog
8. Intermission
9. Meet the Parents
10. The Three Amigos

Top Ten Children’s Film

1. Shrek 1
2. Shrek 2
3. Incredibles
4. Toy Story 1
5. Toy Story 2
6. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory
7. Mary Poppins
8. Finding nemo
9. Babe
10. Lion King.

Top Ten Most Recognisable Movie Musical Score

1. Jaws Theme Tune
2. Star Wars Theme Tune
3. Superman Theme Tune
4. The Godfather Theme Tune
5. Indiana Jones Theme Tune
6. Schindler's List Theme Tune
7. Rocky Theme Tune
8. Mary Poppins (supercalifragilisticexpealidocious)
9. Star Trek Theme Tune
10. Titanic Theme Tune

Don't forget to check out my photoblog too!

Alright lads and lassies,

Dying with a sore throat since weekend, probably cos I was walking round Dublin all last week in the freezing cold, with only a shirt and light jacket. With that and the ligament in my shoulder still healing up, I'm like a walking diaster zone! Posted a few funny pics I took last year and linked them below. Anyway gotta head to bed now and try and get rid of sore throat for tomorrow.


I took this picture in Castlegregory in Dingle, County Kerry. It was the toilet specially for the aqua club they have there which is located just off the beach. It was meant to read "no wet suits allowed in toilets" but some egit got the sign wrong....

For more blog pictures, click here.


I thought every pub in Ireland had a few of these usually from the hours of 10pm -3am but not 12:30 pm to 8:30pm surely??

I took this in Killorglin in county kerry. Some young guy had scratched out part of the "d" in food....

For more blog pictures, click here.

Four years ago, America was hit with the massively sucessful American Idol. However, the original version of the show was called Pop Idol in the UK in 1999, where Simon Cowell first came to the public eye by being a cruel, but honest, judge. Before that show, in 1998, there was a really disasterously lame show called "popstars", where a boy or girl band was to be formed by the top five contestants. It was here that Nigel Lithgoe (known only in the british tabloids as "Nasty Nick") became the original judge from hell and lead him to develope and produce the programme which would later be known as pop/american idol. He's some wealthy guy now I'd say.

However, while all of the shows mentioned above may seem like new ideas, they're not. In Europe, there has been a song contest called the "eurovision song contest" which has been in operation since 1956.

The Eurovision Song Contest grew out of an Italian competition, the San Remo Song Festival, meant to foster European unity after World War II. The name "Eurovision" originates from the name given to a network of communication channels—founded in the 1950s—that links state TV stations across Europe. In an effort to scare up programming to justify the network, members thought up the Song Contest and the first was held in Switzerland in 1956. Ireland has won an incredible seven times, twice with entries performed by Johnny Logan - the only artist to have won Eurovision more than once. He won in 1980 and 1987 and he wrote the 1992 winning song, which was performed by Linda Martin. Unsurprisingly, Ireland's record is better than any other country - France, Luxembourg and the UK are the next best, with five victories each, none of which are likely to challenge Ireland's tally just yet. Amazingly, Ireland won four contests in five years during the mid 1990s, with songs performed by Linda Martin (92), Niamh Kavanagh (93), Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan (94), and most recently with Eimear Quinn and 'The Voice' (96). While all secured easy victories at the time, none of the 1990s winners are particularly memorable. Rather, Dana's 'All kinds of everything' from 1970, and Johnny Logan's two songs from 1980 and 1987, 'What's another year' and 'Hold me now', are probably Ireland's best known winners. The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most-watched single events, with at least 300 million TV viewers in Europe.

A lot of famous singers started from eurovision. For example, a young songwriting team, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, wrote one of the songs for Britain’s national Eurovision Contest in 1966, while Celine Dion and ABBA got their big breaks by winning Eurovision. Eurovision's biggest success was in 1994 when the competition was held in Millstreet, Cork, Ireland. The success was surprisingly not from a song entered in the competition itself, but rather from an interlude act that was performed while the votes were being counted. The then unknown interlude act was simply introduced as Riverdance......

Below are videos of the Eurovision live event and the offical studio recordings of the songs.

System Requirements:
Video: Windows Media Player
Audio: Real Player
Click here to download Real Player


Irish Eurovision Song Contest Winners:

1970 Dana: All Kinds of Everything

(Video) (Audio)

1980 Johnny Logan: What’s Another Year

(Video) (Audio)

1987 Johnny Logan: Hold Me Now

(Video) (Audio)

1992 Linda Martin: Why Me?

(Video) (Audio)

1993 Niamh Kavanagh: In Your Eyes

(Video) (Audio)

1994 Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan: Rock and Roll Kids

(Video) (Audio)

1996 Eimear Quinn: The Voice

(Video) (Audio)


Other Notable Songs were:

1990 Liam Reilly: Somewhere in Europe (2nd)

(Video) (Audio)

1997 Marc Roberts: Mysterious Woman (2nd)

(Video) (Audio)

2003 Mickey Harte: We've Got The World Tonight

(Video) (Audio)

1988 Celine Dion: Swiss entry
(Video)

If you want to see the rest of Irelands Eurovison Songs, click here.

Getting back to whether eurovision or American idol is better, the eurovision in recent years has strayed from its original purpose to find the best song and is now becoming more a commericalised stage show than a music competition. This is due to the opening up of the voting system to televoting and the inclusion of a substantial amount of former soviet states. (all of which seem to vote for each other even if the song is rubbish). Due to a combination of the eastern block of Europe having more supporting voting power and preferring more ethnic/theatrical music, rather than popular music, the result is that Ireland and other western European states have not even come close in the last few years in winning the competition. So with that in mind, I would have to say american idol, despite it being over commercialised and being glorified karaoke, is the both the better show to watch and results in better music being produced. I wish eurovision would return to its roots and concentrate more on songs that the almost circus like theatrics that have developed over the last 5 years.

In order to try and adapt to the new direction that the eurovision has taken, Ireland started up its own American Idol type show, called "You're a Star". While this years season doesnt seem to be as good as previous years, its still a good watch nevertheless.
To watch all previous episodes of the show click here
Another good site covering the show can be found here

Anyways, we dont need eurovision to make us a famous music country, we already produced U2!!

Let me know if any of the links dont work.

Howdy Doody from Cork,

Finally back home after a pretty long and intensive 3 day course. I checked out of the hotel at 7am yesterday morning for the course and didn't get back home until 11pm, ready for another early start this morning. When I was driving homefrom the train station last night, on passing the Cork City Garda Station (Police station) I saw that a lot of satellite trucks and live news crews from around the world were gathered on the street and blocking up all the traffic. (in Cork thats a pretty unusual event as its normally a pretty quiet place on the news front). When I eventually made my way through all the traffic and got home, I turned on the tv to check out what was going on.

In what is probably the most dramatic political news story of the last few years, significant members of a political party called Sinn Fein (irish for "ourselves") with ties to the IRA, were arrested in cork on charges of money laundering to the tune of €2.6 million in Northern Ireland bank notes.

Last month, a Bank in Northern Ireland was robbed of €26 million and involvement was infactically denied by the IRA and Sinn Fein. What makes this significant is that if the alligations prove to be true, it will mean that Sinn Fein will lose all credibilty and will probably eventually result in Sinn Fein/IRA being excluded from peace talks in Northern Ireland, causing the peace process to either stall or fall down completely. Hopefully it wont come to that but the signs dont look good at the moment. I really hope the IRA and company don't go back to their old ways and that this will scare them into realising that peace is the only way forward. No one wants an Ireland free from british influence more than me , but I just don't see the sense in what they have done to risk so much for so little.....

I added some more Dublin pictures onto buzznet, Click here to see.

Click here for more,


Greetings from the secondary capital of Ireland :P
(we all know cork is the real capital),

Well, my second day in dublin is over and done with. Pretty tired now, had to get up at 7 am this morning for work and was at a training course all day, which was pretty intensive. Finished around 5pm so I went into the city centre for a walk round to see the shops etc. All the shops here close at about 6pm on a weekday, so I just went to a few places to take some pictures afterwards.

Click here for my pictures of Dublin

Back at hotel now and I'm bout ready to sleep until the next millenium.
Up again in morning at 7 am, for another day of the training course but at least the breakfast in the hotel is brilliant :) Looking forward to going back to Cork tomorrow though...

Laterz,
Noel

Helloha from Dublin,

Went up to Dublin today on all expenses paid, first class, trip. Staying in a 5 star hotel for the next few days. Its some brilliant service, I can tell ya, totally not used to it. Amazing to see the mixture of Rich people and business people in the hotel, the business people being mostly ok while the rich people being so full of shite! I dunno would I pay all that extra money for a few extra creature comforts if it were coming out of my own pocket plus I kinda like the people in normal hotels better. Gotta love multi national companies though!

Check out my hotel room by clicking here.

Today was the first time this year that the sun has been shining all day and its actually been pretty hot for a change.

Heading to bed now, cos I have to be up at 7 am.

Laterz
Noel

Apologies to all the people who have left comments yesterday and today. I have been messing around trying to learn HTML etc. and I lost the comments.

I always thought of HTML as some complicated computer language that only people with 4 years worth of college could understand, im amazed how easy it is so far? (you IT guys are so full of bull, i always knew it!) In just two days, I have added a new voting section, a new Haloscan commenting section which now includes trackback and attached links to my fav sites.

I also discovered a cool blog written by a guy called Des Bishop today. He's an Irish American comedian and is really really popular over here in Ireland at the moment, mainly through his ability to make us laugh at all the dumb things irish people do, without insulting us while hes doin it. How americans havent picked him up yet is beyond me, but i guess USA's loss is our gain, as hes genuinely funny and, above all else, a really down to earth kinda guy. (note how im sucking up incase he might read this) Nah seriously, his american family are originally from a town called Midleton in Cork, Ireland and if theres one thing the irish are good for, its sticking up for one of our own!) I've no doubt that he'll be big in states at some point, so check out his blog here.

Cork City (pop. 240,000) may be far smaller than Dublin, but to a Corkman there isn't even the remotest possibility for comparison; Cork is simply superior. Any native corkonian will tell you that his beloved Cork provides all the conveniences of a big city but retains its small-town, leisurely pace of life. There's a thriving arts culture in Cork, where you'll find the Crawford Art Gallery, the most important gallery outside the capital, and the refurbished Cork Opera House, packing sell-out seasons and this year cork has been chosen to be the european capital of culture

For some reason unclear to the rest of the people in ireland, Cork people refer to their city as the real capital. Whether our claim is legitimate or not, we're certainly the most colourful and "unique" folk you're unlikely to ever encounter, and this is reflected in the amount of slang language that has developed here.

We are known for our particularly dry sense of humor. Cork slang is so rich, and so particular to Cork, that it makes even other Irish feel out of the loop. While it's said that kissing the Blarney Stone (at nearby Blarney Castle) gives Corkonians their gift of the gab, in truth, most Corkonians have never kissed it. I always have to laugh when I see all the american tourists getting off the buses in blarney, dressed from head to toe in green tracksuits to show thier "irishness" and shouting at the top of thier voices: O MY GOD WE'RE IN BLAAAARNEY, ARE YOU IIIIRISH! In reality we're looking at them with amazement and amusement. (if there is one sure way of recognising a tourist in ireland its if they are dressed up in green)

You will survive in Cork unnoticed if you're an irish person by placing either the word "boy" or the meaningless word "la" at the end of each sentence. Peppering sentences with "like" or "Like eh" can also help. For example, two corkonians might be overheard saying:"Like eh, did you see the match on the telly last night boy?" To which the reply would come:"I did la." Foreigners outside ireland trying to imititate us could be interpreted one of two ways, as a insult or being funny, so its usually best not to risk it!

The following are the most common slang phrases in cork:
C'mere = Excuse me

I will,yeah = no

What's the story fella? = How are you?

how's the form? =How are you?

how's it hanging? = How are you?

You would yeah =You wouldn't dare

Here la = here you are

there la =it's over there/look over there

State a him la = He looks bad

Ah/awe) now sham = thats good

I claim ya = I would really like to engage in a fight with you.

Pure = very

Like = this word is used at least once in every Cork sentence.

Like eh = Used as a hesitation at the start of a sentence.

Nawful =terrible

Bate = beat uphave a lash off =have a go

Lash into hash =Smoke cannibas

Be wide = be careful

Be dog wide = be extra careful

How bad bhoy = good

Bhoy = man/person.

Brasser/stella/tramp/trollup = prostitute

Jammy Rag = tampon

Wan/bure = female

Young wan = female child

Fella/fein/ feeno/your man = male/guy

Small fella = Male child

Mam, ole laid, ole wan = mother

Sham-feen = macho or hard-man

Snout/gonker/snoz = nose

Gowl(Ghoul) = Stupid person

Gimp = idiot

Shades/law/blue bottles/pigs =Garda

Pig stie = Garda station

Gatch = walk

Gammy =deformed

Jag/doing a line/jaggin/meetin a wan/with = going out with

Gatt/gattin/on the tear/on the piss = drink/drinking

Reef/reefin/mangle = beat up/beating up

Lamp/skanse/la = look

Droppin/Waz = need to go to the toilet/restroom

Wah /Whacker = not a nice person

Norrie = Person from Northside of the Cork City.

If you want a small dose of cork humour and experience what must seem like an almost foreign to people outside ireland click here

All day today on sky news (UK's sister channel of Fox news), all that is being covered is Prince Charles' engagement to Camilla Parker Bowles. Its really hilarious to see all the seemingly "close and personal friends" of the couple (most of whom have only met them briefly once) coming on tv to put their two cents in and discuss, in vivid detail, everything there is to know about the couples private lives. I don’t mind being interested, as it is genuinely news worthy but for near 12 hours straight they have covered little else. I just can’t get my head round the fact people in UK seemingly have nothing better to do than just wanting to know every single minute little thing about another person’s life. Are their own lives so boring that they want to live someone else’s?

We see this voyeuristic fascination, manifesting itself almost on a weekly basis in the upsurge of new reality TV programs in the UK and US such as big brother etc. Why is the rest of the world seemingly more interested in other investigating other people’s lives rather than more important news worthy things going on around them? It’s becoming more and more clear that countries that are big into reality TV are becoming less secure and confident in themselves and want to feel part of a community.

A year ago in Ireland, RTE television tired a few versions of reality TV type programs. The majority of the people just found shows like the dire "Celebrity farm", "Treasure Island" and "Cabin Fever" to be totally unentertaining and boring. One by one each show was killed off and producers couldn’t figure out why Irish people didn’t love the shows as much as the rest of world did. Why are the Irish seemingly not caught up in the same reality TV whirlwind as the rest of the world? I'd like to think that we don’t have the necessity of reality TV to feel like we are part of community because we are already part of a real one and therefore can see the TV program for the crap that it is but I admit it could also just be that Ireland hasnt enough celebrities to make it entertaining enough?!. In Ireland, its very unusual if you can go anywhere in the country without bumping into someone you know. Sometimes it feels like everyone seemingly knows everyone here, even though its 3 mill population. It can really go against you especially on nights out!! But for the most part its pretty cool to be able to go into the city and be sure you’ll bump into someone you know. I’m not saying Ireland is perfect cos we sure as hell have other big faults but we do seem to have a good balance between being friendly and interested in others while not feeling the need to judge or know more.

I must admit it’s a bit ironic that I'm putting all this on a blog, where the very concept is to let other people read stuff bout you. My answer to that is while it is ok to have an interest in other people, to me it’s not ok to try and live someone else life which is what the majority of reality TV tries to do...