I was talking to a friend the other day, about friendships. Now, I consider myself to be a man (barely) with a very small handful of friends. I always joke that I have 4 friends. Not too far from the truth. Facebook alleges I have 218 friends. That obviously includes all the people I apprently went to primary school with, attended the same High School as, or worked at the same place as. I don't want to disparage any of my Facebook friends but if I were in need of help, there are maybe 10 names on there I would even consider calling. And it is only that many because my mum, sisters and girlfriend are on that list.
I have friends I have not seen in 5 years but who I know would give me the shirt off their back if I needed it, they know who they are, and the main reason I haven't seen them is the fact that they live on opposite sides of the world. They are on my small list of true friends. There are some friends I see sporadically and keep in touch with equally as sporadically, but I know they would come through for me. And I have friends I see on a regular basis who would run a mile if something happened, but I am okay with that. I like to think the right people know they could count on me if they needed me. I don't want to have to list those people, so I won't.
It is a strange thing to be almost 30 and realising that the majority of the friends I have now are likely to be the friends who attend my wedding, birth of my children (one day) and outlive me. I have had friends who I worked with and at the time they were my closest friends, then one of us moved on to employment pastures new and the friendship went with it. Again, I am okay with that, I expect a certain amount of transitory friendships.
I'm not really sure what the point of this blog was tonight, but I hope it made sense? Basically I value the true friends I have, and I hope that whether I see them on a regular basis, whether I haven't seen them since we left America, whether we spent a solid couple of years working together and now bump into each other once in a while or whether I was best man at their wedding, that they know that I value them, and that they can rely on me, like I hope I can rely on them.
Peace out....
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Bloggles
A collection of rants this week…
Why is moving such a pain in the arse? Why is all my good stuff really damn heavy?
Why does everyone in the world decide they are Irish on St. Patrick’s Day?
Why is our cricket team so bad? How stupid are some people?
Why must Drew Carey insert himself into the games on Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Why is Wayne Brady not a massive star?
Who is the woman who becomes the mother in How I Met Your Mother? I want it to be Victoria the cake shop girl!
Why doesn’t someone start a business doing the entire moving process for people? Packing, moving, cleaning up afterwards, phoning round to change the address and stuff on all the bills. I’d pay them!
Why are Apple such bastards? My ipod died on me, and I have now lost all 11000 songs that were on there. Unimpressed! Will be cheaper to buy a new one than have this one repaired. Only had it less than 18 months.
On the other hand, why is the guy who founded apple such a lovely man? I have been watching Dancing With the Stars and he makes me laugh!
Why can’t we make good comedy? Everything I watch is American these days.
Will someone please buy the rights to Ed from Channel 4 and show it! Or at least release it on DVD? I had to download a shoddy version, still genius though!
My next blog may have a theme…suggestions on a postcard.
The Shooter salute for this week goes to Ryan Stiles, for amusing me no end!
Why is moving such a pain in the arse? Why is all my good stuff really damn heavy?
Why does everyone in the world decide they are Irish on St. Patrick’s Day?
Why is our cricket team so bad? How stupid are some people?
Why must Drew Carey insert himself into the games on Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Why is Wayne Brady not a massive star?
Who is the woman who becomes the mother in How I Met Your Mother? I want it to be Victoria the cake shop girl!
Why doesn’t someone start a business doing the entire moving process for people? Packing, moving, cleaning up afterwards, phoning round to change the address and stuff on all the bills. I’d pay them!
Why are Apple such bastards? My ipod died on me, and I have now lost all 11000 songs that were on there. Unimpressed! Will be cheaper to buy a new one than have this one repaired. Only had it less than 18 months.
On the other hand, why is the guy who founded apple such a lovely man? I have been watching Dancing With the Stars and he makes me laugh!
Why can’t we make good comedy? Everything I watch is American these days.
Will someone please buy the rights to Ed from Channel 4 and show it! Or at least release it on DVD? I had to download a shoddy version, still genius though!
My next blog may have a theme…suggestions on a postcard.
The Shooter salute for this week goes to Ryan Stiles, for amusing me no end!
Monday, 23 February 2009
Oscars
So, the Oscars have been and gone for another year. This blog is really to share my thoughts on the happenings at he 81st Academy Awards. I’ll start with two of the only three categories I really cared about this year. Best Actor in a leading role, somewhat predictably has gone to Sean Penn. Now, I don’t massively have anything against Sean Penn, except his self righteous nature, and a propensity to ham it up. I don’t think he deserved and Oscar for Mystic River, and I will own up to having a soft spot for Mickey Rourke winning this year. Yes, I am a wrestling fan and therefore maybe am a little predisposed toward Aronofsky’s film, however I honestly believe Mickey Rourke gave a career redefining performance as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson. Mickey Rourke may have scuppered his own chances by agreeing to be involved in Wrestlemania, but he also isn’t one of the favourites of the Academy. Rourke, by his own admission, has fucked his life up something rotten, and I just think it would have been the right thing to do to reward such a brave choice, pulled off with such aplomb.
Never mind. I, and many others, appreciate you Mickey Rourke!
The second category I cared about was Best Supporting Actor. In this category, the Academy at least got it right. Many thousands of words have been written to praise Ledger’s performance, and I don’t want to dwell. In a film filled with stars, and giant explosions, and in a genre very rarely recognised, Heath Ledger pulled off one of the great performances of our times. His Joker was unnerving, vulnerable, memorable and a true sociopath. It is hard to create a character who is so overtly close to the edge, without actually going over it. It is a fitting tribute to a cracking actor.
The final category I cared about is the one I always care about, Best original Screenplay. I do feel in this category that the best script doesn’t always win. For my money ‘In Bruges’ was the best script I have heard in a long time, Foul, funny, and full of heart. It was a script I would love to have written, full of memorable characters, great lines and a genuinely moving ending. It was a very un-Hollywood film. Where else but a Colin Farrell film could you hear lines such as ‘Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf’? For that line alone it should have won. But still, it got my vote!
These are the regular injustices that happen at the Oscars. But yet every year I get my hopes up that they will pick the right films, performances and scripts. At least this year they got one of them right. Roll on next years award season.
For Mickey Rourke, Heath Ledger and ‘In Bruges’, I offer a new feature of the blog…the Shooter Salute.
Never mind. I, and many others, appreciate you Mickey Rourke!
The second category I cared about was Best Supporting Actor. In this category, the Academy at least got it right. Many thousands of words have been written to praise Ledger’s performance, and I don’t want to dwell. In a film filled with stars, and giant explosions, and in a genre very rarely recognised, Heath Ledger pulled off one of the great performances of our times. His Joker was unnerving, vulnerable, memorable and a true sociopath. It is hard to create a character who is so overtly close to the edge, without actually going over it. It is a fitting tribute to a cracking actor.
The final category I cared about is the one I always care about, Best original Screenplay. I do feel in this category that the best script doesn’t always win. For my money ‘In Bruges’ was the best script I have heard in a long time, Foul, funny, and full of heart. It was a script I would love to have written, full of memorable characters, great lines and a genuinely moving ending. It was a very un-Hollywood film. Where else but a Colin Farrell film could you hear lines such as ‘Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf’? For that line alone it should have won. But still, it got my vote!
These are the regular injustices that happen at the Oscars. But yet every year I get my hopes up that they will pick the right films, performances and scripts. At least this year they got one of them right. Roll on next years award season.
For Mickey Rourke, Heath Ledger and ‘In Bruges’, I offer a new feature of the blog…the Shooter Salute.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Stupidity...
Okay, so I’m fairly certain I’m not the first person write about how stupid customers are, but I have my own twopence worth of rant to have!
Now, I run a shop, selling toys, gifts, games and random things. In the window are such items as Sticklebricks, Etch-A-Sketch and Emu puppets. However, this still leads people to come in and ask us for things. We are keeping a running tally…currently the list includes but is not limited to:
Wills
Lightbulbs
Paper Tablecloths
Doilies
There are many others but these struck me as the most ridiculous. Seriously, who sees a giant poster in the window saying ‘Retro’ in big dayglo multicolours, and thinks ‘I wonder if they will arrange my last living wishes’? What bit of your brain is misfiring? Seriously, I can’t think of any place less likely to deal with grieving relatives than us. What the hell is wrong with you people? For a will, go to a lawyer! For lightbulbs go to a hardware shop. For toys and random things, come and see me!
Now, I run a shop, selling toys, gifts, games and random things. In the window are such items as Sticklebricks, Etch-A-Sketch and Emu puppets. However, this still leads people to come in and ask us for things. We are keeping a running tally…currently the list includes but is not limited to:
Wills
Lightbulbs
Paper Tablecloths
Doilies
There are many others but these struck me as the most ridiculous. Seriously, who sees a giant poster in the window saying ‘Retro’ in big dayglo multicolours, and thinks ‘I wonder if they will arrange my last living wishes’? What bit of your brain is misfiring? Seriously, I can’t think of any place less likely to deal with grieving relatives than us. What the hell is wrong with you people? For a will, go to a lawyer! For lightbulbs go to a hardware shop. For toys and random things, come and see me!
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