It's a pity how work gets in the way of blogging but unfortunately I'm so swamped at the moment I've decided to go on hiatus for a while.

Mr. Cat says have a meery beery Christmas! 

Remember the subservient chicken? Here's a subservient bar girl. It's hard enough to get a drink off her though.

Oh look. Crane lifting stupidity makes no.2 on daypop. This happened a few months ago in Roundstone - a very picturesque village not too far from here. I guess we should be thankful nobody was hurt but I'm sure there were a lot of red faces around town that day.

I didn't realise they played Hurling in Turkey... I guess you learn something new every day.

In common with Brendan, I got the new Bob Dylan memoir late last week. It's a superb read indeed; surprising in the amount of detail he recounts - I suspect Dylan must have been an avid journal keeper all his life. He possess a very acute visual/verbal sense - which is also reflected in the lyrics of his best songs - his use of words, reconditioned cliches in many cases - to describe scenes and visions outside of any clear narrative.

The book is far better that I had expected. The chapter on 'Oh Mercy' alone is worth the cover price; his account of his search for new inspiration, the way he works to reveal the source of power within the songs, the realities of the recording process, the enthusiasm and reverence and taste he shows for music - it's a superb insight into the creative workings of a great artist. Plus, he comes across as an eminently likeable and sensitive individual. Who would have thought it?

Second Hand Songs - A cover songs database.

Somebody taking the piss here?

A massive gallery of David Lynch movie posters.

Online Encyclopedia NationMaster.com has a quite strange entry for Tuam.

Kerry for President, Mayo for Sam.

The big match is on Sunday. Tickets are as scarce as hens teeth. None have come my way so it looks like I'll watch the game in one of Castlebar's friendly drinkin' establishments. Up Mayo!

A tree. 

Quite entertaining. What would you do if you found someone's digital camera memory card? Post the photos on the web and write a blog around them of course...

The Rock & Roll Hall of Shame.

Into classic cameras? How about the Rolleiflex MiniDigi?

The UK National Trust has preserved a photo studio as it was 50 years ago.

Memory card survives explosion that destroys the camera - and records the moment of impact.

Can you name a guitar heroine?

I've been pretty much out of touch with what Mark E. Smith and the Fall have been doing since about 1989 so I went to their gig in the Roisin largely out of a sense of historical curiosity. But, bloody hell if it wasn't one of the very best concerts I've ever been at. Maybe they only played for little over an hour but the band had the crowd in such a frenzy from the word go that by the time they had sauntered off the stage the audience seemed too knackered to even attempt anything more than the most whimpering calls for an encore. But an encore did come, and while I was distracted by a face-off between a nutcase and a bowsie that was threatening to erupt into fullscale flailing, I could only wonder if The Fall were always this good and why had I written Mark E Smith and his merry crew off for a full decade and a half just because his songs used to give me a pain in the head. How can somebody that looks like a resident of a Salford doss house manage to summon a force that is more funk, more indie, more downright uncompromising rock n'roll than just about anything else being produced today? And while my tinnitus and I recover, here's the Fall Video Repository to amuse yourselves with (check out the videos from The Knitting Factory NY from April this year for a flavour of what was on show in Galway).

PS: Fans review the gig.

If you live near Galway, keep your eye's peeled for this chap. There's a cool $1 million reward on his head and he's already been spotted around here.