Currently reading Robert Sullivan’s book ‘Cross Country’. Coincidentally, David Byrne has a blog post about driving to L.A., complete with musings on architecture and many photos, here.
Archive for September, 2007
27
Sep
While standing in Mount Jerome cemetery in Harold’s Cross yesterday, waiting for the hearse to arrive, I stumbled upon the gravestone of William Wilde and his wife Speranza, the father and mother of Oscar Wilde. The sun was sharp and clear, and the day was wintry but bright, and the skeletal trees shook with the violence of the wind. Mount Jerome is a beautiful cemetery, one that at some time in the past would have had a view of the Dublin mountains, but now the vista is disturbed somewhat by the redbrick terraced apartments that line the south wall of the grounds. The graveyard houses much of Dublin’s upper crust: doctors, Sirs this and that. Founded in 1830, it only began to allow Catholic burials there in 1920. Yesterday the place had a distinct Joycean air – but perhaps I was just kidding myself: in spirit, and in reality, Mount Jerome belongs to the Victorians. It has much of the weather beaten, decaying charm of Pere Lachaise in Paris, and stands on a hill shielded from the view of the main road.
14
Sep
“With the price of oil escalating, and the threat of global terrorism, the world is in urgent need of a viable alternative to oil,” Dr Christian Koch told reporters in Kleinhartmannsdorf. “So when I announced that I had developed a method to produce fuel from waste meterial, I had expected positive coverage of my pioneering technique. But instead, the headline in the Bild newspaper last Wednesday was ‘German inventor can turn cats into fuel – for a tank he needs 20 cats,’ and ever since I’ve been receiving hate mail from animal rights campaigners.
“It’s true that my technique could turn dead cats into organic diesel fuel, but so far I’ve never used a single one. Okay, the odd toad or two may have jumped into my patented KDV 500 machine, and perhaps a couple of rabbits, but I mostly produce my fuel from waste products such as paper, plastic, and textiles, with only a few animals thrown in. If I did use cats, each cadaver would produce about 2.5 litres of fuel, so yes, I would need about 20 cats to fill up my car’s tank. But that’s a theoretical calculation, and I wish to make it clear that I’ve never actually used so much as a single kitten.”
From this week’s Private Eye spotted in Deutsche Welle, 18/9/2005 by David Painter
04
Sep
Lorcan’s appearance on the Tom Green show, where he discusses British comedy with Scott Thompson, can be seen online at Lorcan’s site here.
03
Sep
The air outside has been thick with the smell of hops from the Guinness brewery since last night. It must mean I’m back in Dublin, after my travels to London, Paris and West Cork. And it’s September, which means: back to the PhD.
Last Monday’s Irishman’s Diary, about my trip to Groucho Marx’s house on the Upper East Side of Manhattan is available here.
