Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Guinnesses and hot port with Dan, Eoin, Colum and Angie over at McKevitt's - the walks there & back through nighttime Carlingford

Taking the Enfants Terribles, Joe and Mikey to the cinema (Madagscar 2) in Newry

Talking literature with Bronagh on the bunk bed (after a run around Slieve Foy)

Track of the Day - 25 Dec 08

Way Over Yonder - Carole King - from Tapestry

For Bronagh - listening in the bedroom at Bernadette's with Bronagh, Una and Elizabeth - tears flowing...

Creative Accounting #601

Adem = Coldplay + Damien Rice

TrackOfTheDay

Statuing by Adem from Homesongs (good after a shower when the house is empty & you're contemplating food at Dan's Stonewall Caff)

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading Richard Price's Samiritan - reminded he is one of my favourite writers, writes great dialogue, loves story telling

Watching old sitcoms with Bronagh and the Enfants Terribles

Walking around Dundalk with U - Modern Fashions, the stationery/art shop opposite the Court House, etc.

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Saturday 27th Dec:

Watching D laughing at Vicar of Dibley and Only Fools and Horses

Family walk along Shelling Hill strand in late afternoon sunshine

Hanging with the young cousins (Conor McG, Conor McK, Orla, Meabh, Sean)


Sunday 28th Dec:

Giving D his Stylaphone

Running along the harbour, Carlingford

Watching D and Bronagh together in the sitting room at Ceol na Mara

Best of 2008

[Work in progress]



Film:

The Visitor



Actor:

Michael Fassbinder (Hunger)



Actress:

Tbc



Supporting Actor:

Heath Ledger (Dark Knight)



Supporting Actress:

Marie-Anne Duff (Garage)



Director:

Steve McQueen (Hunger)



Script:

Martin McDonagh - In Bruges



Animation:

Wall-e



LP:

Tbc



Single:

Asa - Jailer



Gig:

Schlomo & various guests (Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank)



Book:

Tbc



Art exhibition:

Francis Bacon (Tate Britain)



Play:

Tbc



Sports event:

Saracens vs Newcastle Falcons

TrackOfTheDay

Look Up - Zero 7 (reading Watchmen - memories of running along the dunes in Rush, Co. Dublin)

Christmas Eve Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging around the foot of the mountain in Carlingford in bright winter sunshine



A spontaneous gathering at Dan's caff in the afternoon with Bronagh making an appearance with her friends Theresa and Peter



(Getting some fresh blood on my ipod thanks to Connor McKevitt and having a music tidy-up session just before) Christmas eve wrapping time, always a quiet contemplative time

Science and Religion

"Science is a good system for understanding materials and material things, but there are plenty of things in life that don't fall into that category. Poetry, music, art, the love I have for my grandchild. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to weigh and measure that, or my relationship with my friends, or with the sunset.



But equally I do want the ideas I formulate about God to be consistent with my knowledge of Science. So I've never needed to believe in impossible things."



Prof. Pauline Rudd, biologist, UCD (Dublin)

Pantheism

What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos

Einstein

Christmas Cracker #3

I just bought the wife a bag for Christmas.
(Hoover's working a treat now.)

Starspots #55

Alexa Chung
Victor Lewis Smith
124 Horseferry Road - last week

Today's Happiness Experiment entry

Jogging around the foot of Slieve Foy in a rare burst of sunshine (listening to The Word podcast)

Talking painting with Bronagh and N

Listening to Blood on the Tracks loud alone in Bernadette's place

Newry - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Reading Alan Moore's Watchmen by the fire

Playing Monopoly with the Enfants Terribles on an old Irish set I bought for 10 euros in the junk shop in Carlingford - dates from the Free State (1921-1937), in great nick

Caff lunch with U in downtown Newry

TrackOfTheDay

You're a Big Girl - Bob Dylan

"Love is so simple
To quote a phrase"

TrackOfTheDay

Lola - the Kinks (alumni of the school down our road [Fortismere, back then Muswell Hill something school], as was The Faces' Rod Stewart) heard in caff in Newry

Christmas Cracker #2

Q. What do you get if you cross a centipede with a parrot? A. A walkie-talkie

Christmas Cracker #1

Q. Why did the scientist fit a knocker to his door?

A. Because he wanted to win the No Bell Prize

Gusto - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching D deliver his nativity play line with great gusto (coached by his mum?)

Watching the Maccabbean fighters in Defiance with the Enfants Terribles

Sorting cashflow for D's new phase

Track of the Day

When Poets Dreamed of Angels - David Sylvian from Secrets of the Beehive

Oz wizardry - Thursday's Happiness Experiment entry

Watching preview of Australia at 20th Century Fox in Soho Square with U

A haircut which is good from the moment you walk out (by Chris at Concrete)

The boy in 'Australia' (Brandon something) - a wonderful presence

The missing ingredient

Q.

"What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?"

Adam Smith, economist (1723-1790)

A. Love

Living in Fear

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived." from Baz Luhrman's Strictly Ballroom - the line is now carried on the logo of his production company - spotted last night at the start of Australia

Thought of School - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

D's excitement at the prospect of his new school - using a saw was a highlight of his trial days there

Talking London history with D as we walked along the Albert Embankment

Moderating animations on 4mations

close to home - yesterday's Happiness Experiment entry

low winter afternoon sun - illuminating purposeful stroll around our high street with N, including coffee from Amici

buying sports gear with N - tracksuit, etc. with style advice from a 12 year old

watching Mama Mia en famille round the fire

Track of the Day

Moonriver performed by Morrissey

Track of the Day (yesterday)

Moonriver performed by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Henry Mancini said of Audrey H: "'Moon River' was written for her. No one else had ever understood it so completely. There have been more than a thousand versions of 'Moon River', but hers is unquestionably the greatest".