I've things to say but I don't feel like saying them, stuff to post but it's a struggle today - call it a hangover I suppose. Last night was supposed to be about a few quite ones, some socializing to keep up a Thursday night tradition. Save the big drink for Friday and the Shane MacGowan gig. It wouldn't be right to be too sober for that - songs written the under the caress of Whiskey and Gin are meant to be delivered and listened to under the same conditions. ..but that's tonight. Last night, 2 o clock in the morning, CP's nightclub; two bottles of beer in hand, the place was packed - as the man crudely put it "shaking with box, from ceiling to floor" and I am asking myself, 'what the fuck am I doing here?' Music is really really shit and I'm in no mood to be making shite-talk to pretty young ladies. No offence like but just not into it last night. I tried, found myself making smalltalk with a really lovely looking girl, against her initial judgment I'm sure, but we conversed easily. Couldn't bring it to the next level though, didn't really try I guess. Didn't give a shit in fact. Some other time it would have been easier... So last night I knew I'd be wrecked this morning and I wasn't wrong. Plus I got drenched on the walk home. Do I sound negative? I don't mean to but while we are at it:-

"The Sum of All Fears":- I saw this the other night. It's an awful, awful movie. It has bad acting, bad plot, really poor pacing and stupid story inconsistencies. For a supposed thriller it doesn't thrill for even one second. The whole thing was probably rewritten or maybe even reedited for the post-9/11 market... but that's no excuse.

Now for some positivity:-

Springsteen's new album "The Rising" is brilliant. Believe the reviews. I had expected that it wouldn't live up to the hype but it's been on heavy rotation in my place all week and I have to say it is a seriously impressive album. It's a work of real craft and a genuinely personal response to the ubiquitous 9/11. And the single 'The Rising', gets my vote for single of the year so far.

Starting to feel better already....

America's new Mc'Carthyism - from this week's Sunday Business Post.

The Integrator:- Integrate your function on-line without going through all the messy stuff......now that's sure to make your day!

From Archie McPhee's online store:- Nunzilla. "This fire-breathing wind-up sister trudges straight out of a Catholic-school student's nightmare like a determined disciplinary force, with green eyes blazing and sparks flying from her mouth..."

Ireland is placed at no. 23 in the 2002 World corruption perceptions index published yesterday. Better than virtually all African and South American countries but worse than most of the rest of the EU (Greece and France are below us). Not surprisingly the trend is downward - Ireland was rated 18th last year. Finland tops the chart for the third year in a row.

A good Irish history site thats new to me:- www.thewildgeese.com -- The Epic History and Heritage of the Irish.

Hard to believe but there's a law in Florida which requires mothers who wish to put their baby up for adoption, to publish details of their sexual history in ads in the local papers. The law applies equally to teenage rape victims. If they cannot conclusively identify the name and address of the child's father then they must publish names and descriptions of all men they have slept with. So while striving to protect the rights of the father and the child, the mother is getting shat upon - where have we heard that before?

An example of a recession-proof industry:- Traffic to Adult Web sites have risen 5% from year-ago levels.

70,000 Aussie's claimed to belong to the "Jedi" religion in last year's census. The forces of the dark side in the form of the Australian Government may strike back with fines of $1,000 each.

A flash game of dubious taste:- Big J's birth game. Any resemblance to Jordan the model is purely coincidental.

As I discovered a couple of years ago when I was called for jury duty in Westport (about 50 miles away from where I live), Irish courts do not pay milage or expenses to jurors. At least in the U.S, jurors get $40 a day plus mileage. which initially, was not enough for computer consultant David Williamson. A court summons soon shortened his gallop.

Ireland's top lovely girls competition (I hate that word - pageant) concludes tomorrow. I like the look of the Cork girleen. Paddy Power is giving odds of 7-1 on her to take the crown. As they say on their website "personality genuinely does count but boggers tend not to win".

With the weather being good and a high tide in Galway this evening at 8:30 I'm thinking of taking down the rod and reel and heading off to Spiddal tonight for a bit of fishing. While checking up on fishing reports on the web I came across this interesting story about the first forays into big game fishing in Ireland. Check out the pictures of the monster tuna caught off Donegal. I'll be happy with something a wee bit smaller.

Thomas Pynchon paper dolls.

Now what could this headline be about? - 4,500-mile wild goose chase leads trackers to a chilling end.

New music of the Week: Tift Merritt's debut album "Bramble Rose". She has a voice to rival Emmylou Harris' or Shelby Lynnes, a band which takes its country music cues from 'Let it Bleed' and a set of songs that fit into the classic country template and do not disappoint. The real deal as they say. George Graham has a typically restrained and to the point review (including audio samples) here.

Last night I managed to avoid prostituting myself for some misconceived cheapo TV show hosted by a minor D-list celebrity. There I was in the Quays enjoying a pint with the lads when we were interrupted by a girl who claimed to be looking for a 'date' for next week. It turned out that she was being filmed for the "Ask Anna" (or is it "Help"?) show. Anna, of course, was helping her to find love. Suffice to say we declined her offer, at which point she asked if we would be so good as to move to an area in full view of the camera and pretend to be chatting her up. We were happy where we were and she wasn't the type of girl that immediately inspired feelings of attraction and desire (although I'm sure she has a lovely personality) so we stayed put and sent her on her way. All this while, Anna Nolan herself was sitting nearby looking as anonymous, unglamorous and bored as she looked during her long internment in the Big Brother house. Ten minutes later, another lady who I gathered was the producer of the thing sauntered over and pleaded with us again to do the chat up routine for Missy No Mates. Apparently the place was full of tourists so good looking (?) Irish lads were at a premium. But none of us had any desire to look like a bunch of sad tits on nationwide tv and no money or free drink was on offer, so it was not to be. I hope they have fun extracting what they can from their 3 hours of brilliant footage.

The U.S state department has released previously classified documents relating to Argentina's "dirty war" during the period of military rule there between 1976-1983. In that time, possibly as many as 30,000 people disappeared in the crackdown on leftist groups and political opponents. Some of the correspondence indicates that the U.S. government could have done much more to pressure the Argentine leaders over their record of human rights violations. 19 years on, we can only hope that lessons have been learned, and that sometime in the future, children will have no need to write letters like this.

Ever wonder what the guy who does the voiceover for all the movie trailers looks like? Well, here he is, featuring in the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld's new movie no less. Via Fimoculous.

Dromore Co. Tyrone is the source of the first Irish gold being mined in modern times. If you have a few hundred quid to spare you can buy jewellery made with it from www.galantás.com.