ARTS & CRAFTS: The Artwork and Illustrations of Roisin Hahessy

There’s something quite special about the work of Roisin Hahessy. No, she’s not the latest voice that you’ll hear blasting out your radio. She’s not the next Hollywood star that will have her own action figure in the coming months. She won’t be presenting any TV shows that you watch when you get in from work. (To best of my knowledge she has no plans to aim for these things, but if she does, fair play to her.)

Quietly, behind the all the white noise of the world that is screamed at us from all angles these days, Roisin Hahessy works quietly bringing into the world, wonderful things from her own imagination.

She’s an Irish artist who has something pretty special going on and a talent which simply knocks me out most of the time with what she comes up with and puts out there.

She has a distinctive style which has to be seen to fully appreciate, because as many words as I write here, there just isn’t enough that could ever do her work justice. That’s the thing with art though – you have to see it, not read it, so I’ll just focus on a few pieces and then leave you to it to check out her stuff.

Her latest project is titled ‘English Idioms and their meanings,’ and for me anyway, they’re simply amazing.

Taking terms that we use in ever day life without thinking too much about them, Roisin has brought them into her world and given us something new from the old. ‘Blue in the face, Bob’s your uncle, hold your horses’ and ‘to kick the bucket’ are some of the idioms she hits on, showing their meaning in her unique way by bringing to life a host of characters that I wish actually existed in the real world. The world she brings to life in her work seems like a lot of fun.

I’ve included a link to her website below – so take your time and have a good look around. There’s easy navigation with the menu on the left of the page. And if you really like what you see, check out her online store – where you can get your hands on cool clocks, bags, pillows, framed and unframed prints and some other pretty cool stuff too.

You can also commission her to do more personal pieces, and take it from me, as I’ve commissioned a piece with Roisin in the past, she’s worth every penny and you won’t be disappointed in how she takes your idea into her world and gives you back something you’ll cherish forever.

http://www.rosha.ie/339249/personal

BOOK: You Are Dead – Peter James

I dunno if it’s the same for most people but my reading history goes a little something like this. From a young age up to about eleven or twelve, books were my thing. Computer games and television? Bah – leave me be for I have some words and amongst them lie the souls of my friends and the adventures I’m about to go with them on. From the artwork on the covers of Road Dahl books I read and re-read a thousand times, to the stories and characters that sucked me into a different world for hours on end, I simply couldn’t get enough of them.
Then something happened and my attention and love of reading seemed to dwindle into the background, being replaced with being outside and either playing football or just being outside and doing pretty much nothing at all. Rarely did I pick up a book during this time and sadly this continued for many years well into adulthood.
Years later I would find myself working abroad for five weeks. Where I was staying had no television and internet seemed to still be but a concept in some faraway place. It was down to this break of technology (a welcome break I’ll add) that led me to a small, English owned bar that was a few minutes down the road from where I was staying. Did I simply turn to drink when technology abandoned me? On occasion – yes I did, I won’t lie, but that’s not the point I’m getting to.
At the front of this bar stood a tall shelf filled with second hand books, all in good condition. It was a mixed bag of genres. The idea behind it was – if you wanted one, you either paid a euro and off you went or traded a book you no longer wanted for one on the shelf.
After scanning what was on offer and feeling the craving of sitting down to a world of words coming over me once more, I settled on a Peter James novel. Having been out of the reading loop since a teenager, I’d never heard of him but something about it caught my eye.
‘Dead Man’s Footsteps’ was the book I took with me that day, book four of Peter James’ Roy Grace series. I don’t know what it was, but this book sparked a flame under the reader in me and once again, I became hooked and have not stopped reading again since. I even mailed him personally a few months later to tell him this story and like the true gent he is, who seems to actively engage with his fans a lot, replied a few hours later thanking me for my mail.
Now, a few years and many books on, Peter James and his latest Roy Grace book has hit out shelves. “You Are Dead,” is the eleventh novel in his award winning crime series – that’s right, I said eleventh. On its release it went straight to the top of the charts and is still sitting happily in the top five, if not top three as I write this.
‘You Are Dead’ opens with Jamie Bell hearing the last terrified words of his fiancée, Logan Somerville from the underground car park beneath their flat before she screams and the line goes dead. The police arrive straight away. Her car is still there and her mobile phone is inside but Logan is nowhere to be found.  The same afternoon, workmen digging in another part of the city unearth the remains of a body. At first, Roy Grace and his team have no reason to believe these events to be linked, but when another woman goes missing and another body surfaces – what at first seemed unrelated seems anything but. Roy Grace is faced with the question, ‘does Brighton have its first serial killer in over eighty years?’
‘You Are Dead,’ is a pure page turner and all of the books in this series are ones that I can’t help but devour over a two or three day period. After reading the fourth book by chance, I went back to the start of the Roy Grace world to read “Dead Simple,” which is a killer read. I’ve read them all at this point and am now one of those eager fans that watch for updates on when the next instalment will be coming down the line.
‘You Are Dead’ is the eleventh book of the series as I’ve said, but if you are into your crime book series and love following great characters over many books and years, then you can’t go wrong with Peter James and his Roy Grace books.
Of course, Peter James is not only known for Roy Grace. He has many ‘standalone’ novels as well that I’ve been working through. If you’re looking for a great read, ‘Perfect People’ is superb and is one you simply won’t want to put down once you’ve started it. Peter’s next standalone (the first one he’s published in a few years away from Roy Grace novels) is titled ‘The House On Cold Hill,’ and is due out in October of 2015.
If you want to check out more on Peter James, http://www.peterjames.com/ is the link to hit.

BOOK: Huey Morgan’s Rebel Heroes

So while waiting for my Jurassic World time slot to come around I decided to kill some time walking around a book store. I was just browsing with ABSOLUTELY no intension of buying anything when a book cover caught my eye, an image of Huey Morgan of Fun Lovin’ Criminals fame looking his F-in Coolest!
A little older now, his hair perfectly styled with the now fashionable trickle of grey in an awesome looking leather jacket, he sits at a table that could easily be in a bar or an old style speakeasy, Bourbon in one hand (could be a whiskey, I’m not there I don’t know), cigarette in the other (not that I deem that sort of thing to be cool), exhaling a breath of smoke with a look on his face that says;
“I’ve got a F**K**G story to tell and your gonna listen”
Now that’s not enough to make you want to buy a book but it sure did get my attention. Curious, I picked it up, done the usual glance and feels before I flicked to the first chapter and read the first sentence – “Rock ‘n’ Roll died with a bang on the 5th of April 1994, when Kurt Cobain blew his head off.”
That really set a tone that Huey was going to be frank, to the point and pull no punches.

I went on to enjoy Jurassic World immensely (see The Recommended review) and after getting home, having some grub and relaxing, I picked up the book and started to read. Huey doesn’t just go straight into talking about the usual suspects. He starts off with the early blues and Jazz musicians who broke not only the musical boundaries of the time, they also crossed the divide of social, racial and sexist blockades within the mid-twenties and thirties and set music on its way to being something more than just background noise to dance too.

Chapter by chapter, the ages and music styles change but one thing that does not change is the passion and honesty that Huey portrays in covering a topic that is obviously close to his heart and shaped his own musical passions. The backbone of the book covers a lot of troubled people who make/made amazing music that we all love but rather than dwell on the troubles, it’s all about the music and social influences to which the music created an audience for their message.

There is a great chapter on the influence of African/American women in music but each chapter provides an insight into some of the circumstances that invoked some of the greatest music and musicians, while also asking will we and can we get back to that level of music ever again?

Although the book has a very positive outlook on the good, the bad and the messed up things that have happened over the years in music history, Huey can’t help himself taking the odd pop at some of the “contrived” music of today. (I just had to stick this in) “I don’t see One Direction being around in ten years. And if they are, we’re all shit out of luck.”

This book is written by a music man (although I have this image in my mind of Huey just sittin’ there telling the story and someone else writing it all down) talking about the people who influenced the people who influenced him, with the odd personal story thrown in like meeting his hero Joe Strummer and crossing paths with Barry White and Prince.

While adding a few names to my ‘must check that out list’ this book was a really enjoyable read and without a doubt  is “on the one”

The Smartlink Fire Alarm System by Ei Electronics

Since asked to contribute to this blog I have been looking at things a little differently. As a result, a product I have been using for about 5 or 6 years caught my eye today.

For the past fifteen years I have worked within the fire alarm industry, installing and maintaining fire alarm system within commercial buildings of a wide variety and have always been disappointed with the smoke detector options for the home. Most people I hope would have at least one working smoke detector in their home if not two. Normally, these would be commonly placed in the landing or in the hall which is good…but is it good enough?

If a fire does start (touch wood it doesn’t), there will need to be a lot of smoke (especially if doors are closed) before either of those units alert you, and then, depending on your home layout and sound proofing will they wake you? Now I’m not trying to scare anyone, more just raising awareness of the situation.

Thankfully the innovation of technology is here to save the day. There is a range of options out there to detect smoke within the home but the product I am championing here is the only one of it’s type I have encountered. In saying that I hope there are more available.

The product in question is ‘The Smartlink Fire Alarm System by Ei Electronics.’

What is this?

It is basically a number of 9v battery [commonly known as the square one, even though it is rectangle] operated smoke/heat detectors that connect wirelessly with each other to give you a fire safety system within your home.

Why is it different?

The bog standard smoke alarm unit will only operate as an individual unit, but with a Smartlink system, when a single unit detects an alarm it will sound as normal and then the added advantage kicks in. The unit in alarm will also transmit a signal to the other units within the home activating all units giving a full sounding alarm around the house, giving you a quicker response to the possibility of a fire and a quick response is key.

There are two types of detectors:

1) Smoke Detectors: these should be placed in all the main rooms of the house, so your Living Room, Dining Room & Bedrooms.

2) Heat Detector: these should be installed in the Kitchen. If you have a Kitchen/Dining room in one, it would be advised to only install the Heat Detector within the kitchen area.

The radio interlink is very easy to install and set up once each unit is fitted in the required rooms. Best to place them as central as possible within the room using 3M small picture hanging strips, about 3 per detector, so there’s no need for screws or any of that crap.

When the battery is installed, press the button located in the centre of the unit for approx. 3 seconds. This initiates the radio link auto learn. A light will flash and this then gives you approx. 10 minutes or so to activate all the other units. This is all very clearly and well explain in the user manual that comes with each product. When you’re all set up, press the test button on any unit and the house should get very noisy!

Oh… one other thing. Make sure you change the batteries when needed. The battery life, if you buy a decent one and don’t cheap out, should last up to 18 months. Now that I say that, it’s been awhile since I changed mine, I might wanna look at that….. and please try resist the urge to stick your tongue between the connections for the tingle, I know that’s what you where thinking!!!

These units are available in all good hardware stores. They are a little more expensive than the standard unit but you get what you pay for and with this product you get a very stable and effective fire alarm system that will operate throughout your home and I can not recommend them enough.

The twin pack of smoke detectors is approx. 35 euro and the Heat detector approx. 20 euro (retailer dependent of course).

                  

FOOD: The Meeting House Bar & Restaurant – Dublin, Ireland

From the moment you walk into the Meeting House Bar & Restaurant, the jester’s lounge pop art style decor offers a chilled and relax atmosphere yet still produces a vibrant tone for the style and tastes of the food and drink to come.

The welcoming and friendly staff help this to be a chilled spot for spending your well earned dosh to treat yourself, boasting a small but intelligent and well cooked menu of Asian tapas fusion style food that really leaves a Moorish feeling on the taste buds.

On each visit I have been splendidly delighted with the new and repeat dishes, from the interesting flavours of the Mini Asian Burgers to the Burmese Pork Ribs that just leaves you wanting more and more and more, literally! But on the last visit I had the Beef Noodle Soup which just blew my taste buds a new one, succulent tender beef in a broth of pak choi, ginger, chilli, lime and what ever else was in there, each taste was deliciously different.

As for the bar it has your usual selection of Wines, Prosecco, Champagne and Beers (draught, bottled and crafted) so you won’t be at a miss to wash down the food but when you are out to treat yourself, it always helps when a place comes into it’s own with an impressive cocktail menu boasting a very tasty ‘Barrel Aged Old Fashioned’.

In a city full of great places to dine out The Meeting House fits right in.

Essex Street East, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin

http://www.themeetinghousedublin.com/

 

 

FOOD: My Meat Wagon, Smithfield, Dublin, Ireland

There’s a little something special tucked away in the corners of Smithfield, a place in Dublin city that has changed a lot since I grew up around the corner from it on Church Street.

When I was young, my mum would send me around the corner to Smithfield to get some fruit and veg from the markets. On Sundays I’d watch as horses came from all directions making their way there as they did every week.

All of this is now gone and what was once the place around the corner in my childhood is now somewhere very different.

The horses are in far away fields and the markets that used to be filled with all kinds of fruit and veg and amazing smells have been replaced by high rise apartment blocks and supermarkets/cafes.

Progress is good however and sadly as misused as the Smithfield Space seems to be most the time, there are little gems to be found there like ‘My Meat Wagon’.

It quietly goes about its business not really imposing itself on anyone, not shouting about what it is and not ‘all up in your face’ about how good they actually are.

My Meat Wagon is really, REALLY good, really tasty and there’s a good selection of crafty brews to help you wash down the delicious options on the menu.

So…onto the food.

It’s all about the meat here, (name kinda gives you that clue) so if this doesn’t float your boat, maybe it’s not the best place for you dine. If it is – then you’re in for a treat.

Served three ways, you can get your meat in a box, on bread or on a board. The box and bread options are a little more sensible eating portions, but if you’re really in the mood for splashing out and having a really full belly, then the board is probably the best option for you.

When the menu is placed in your hand, you’re simply faced with three options. Cow, pig or bird. Pick your meat and then pick what you want to come in or on. Having tasted all three options, they are all delicious and having gone here a number of times, the quality is consistent and it has never been disappointing.

If you’re the kind of person that likes a little something on the side, fret not food lover, My Meat Wagon has you covered with a range of sides to choose from. There’s fresh, crunchy coleslaw, fries, mash that’s close to being godly, beans, sausage and corn.

It’s a simple menu – kept to a few great items that they do amazingly well. The pork is slow cooked to perfection, the beef is tender and out of this world and the Chicken is delicious and juicy. There’s no need for anything more here, they have what they do down to a T.

Price wise it’s also pretty good. You’ll get a box with two sides or the meat in bread with one side for around the €12/€13 mark. If you’re hungrier, the bigger option of the board will set you back around the €16/€17 region. The sides are priced at €3.95, so all in, whatever option you go for, you’ll get a very good feed for around €20.

My Meat Wagon is well worth a visit and sure while you’re there, catch a flick in the Lighthouse cinema, because that’s worth a visit too.

mymeatwagon.ie

BOOK SHOPS: The €3 bookshop, Dalkey

There’s a little place out in Dalkey, tucked away into the old tram yard there and it’s called the €3 bookshop. It is exactly what it says it is.

Each book, no matter if there’s a thousand pages or a hundred, a special edition or a normal paperback, is €3. But, if you’re like me, it’ll be rare that you’ll pick up just one book here so they also have the four books for €10 option and that’s pretty good value really.

I stumbled across the shop on facebook one Friday evening and the following day I drove out there to check it out.

Sure enough, I came out with eight books and twenty euro less in my wallet – but I’m an avid reader, so this wasn’t really a bad thing for me. From the outside it looks like a small enough little space but once inside, you quickly find the back room where there are shelves and shelves of books to look through and contemplate buying.

The stock is updated quite regularly. It’s a mix of good quality second hand paperbacks and they stock everything from kids books, fiction, non-fiction and crime and also used DVD’s which are included in the pricing deal.

I was there yesterday and Dalkey was buzzing because of the book festival that’s on this weekend. I picked up another eight books. A Lee Child – Jack Reacher novel, the three hunger games books, the fault in our stars by John Green and a few others. Had I went to a bigger, more known shop that starts with the letter ‘E’ for example – I would have been over €80 down, rather than just €20.

If you’re into reading, then this little shop is worth checking out. It’s not the place you go to for a specific book however – it’s a mix and match kinda place, and you never know what you might stumble across on their shelves. Go in with no agenda and come out with some books ya weren’t expecting to.

Dalkey itself is a gorgeous little village and on a sunny day, grabbing a coffee and a few good, cheap books won’t be the worst few hours you could spend doing something.

FUN STUFF: LEGO – THE BATMAN TUMBLER

 It’s amazing the silly things you’ll buy yourself as a thirty three year old man. I’ve bought my fair share of silly things over the years. For example I own an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar. Can I play either of these? I absolutely cannot!

I have far too many Lord Of The Rings action figures which are currently clogging up my parent’s attic and boxes of comics in other people’s attics and sheds.

The latest addition to my silly adult purchases as I desperately try to ignore the age I’m at was the Lego Batman Tumbler. YEAH BABY!

And I have no regrets. At a retail price of around €199.00 it’s a pretty daft thing to spend money on as an adult, but through some careful voucher use, I picked mine up for about €40 – which is alright by me.

Of course, I still had the self doubt as I stood there in the shop looking up at it on the shelf. Originally I had a Star Wars star destroyer in my hands and I was all set to walk out the door with it, until the Tumbler was pointed out to me my girlfriend. The star destroyer was put back on the shelf because all that looked like to me then was a very large, hard to build, grey triangle. I left the shop with nothing that day, only to return about a month later, caving in and just buying the Batman Tumbler.

When I got it home, I opened the box and there was 15 or 16 separate bags and in each bag was a million, trillion wonderful little Lego bricks that needed building.

I got to work. The first night my girlfriend fell asleep on the sofa as I built away. The second night, when I got back to it, Jurassic Park had just started on the television. I poured myself a drink and it was like Christmas Day for me. I was very happy.

Again, my girlfriend fell asleep on the sofa as I built my masterpiece.

By the third day I was still only on the fourth or fifth bag and running the risk of being left by my girlfriend as I hadn’t paid any real attention to her since opening the giant Lego box, so I did a small bit and then made sure to get on the sofa before she fell asleep again.

Due to having to go to stupid work and do stupid things that didn’t involve me playing with Lego, it took me the rest of the week and even a day or two of the following week to complete it.

And it…is…stunning!

If you have a Batman/ Lego fan in your life – then this is the ultimate gift for them. The detail is outstanding. The cockpit alone takes a good few hours to get just right, the jets on the back to the tyres are all bang on perfect and it just looks f**king amazing and exactly like it does in the movies – except – IT’S LEGO – which makes it a little extra amazing in fairness.

Join me – be silly– get one!

We don’t have to be adults all the time do we?

MOVIES: Jurassic World

 You’ll be hard pushed to find a bigger Jurassic Park fan than myself. Of all the things that pop in and out of our lives as we grow older, how our tastes and interests change with whatever is going on around us or who we are hanging out with, Dinosaurs have always stayed with me. There’s something spectacular about them, something dreamlike, and although they walked the earth millions of years ago, when I really stop to think about them, I find it hard for me to grasp that these creatures were actually real things and not something that just came out of the mind of Michael Crichton or mad people that just found some bones and put them together whatever way they felt like it.

Twenty two years ago my big brother took me to Jurassic Park, a fond memory that has also stayed with me. From the opening scenes of ‘SHOOOOTTTTAAAHHH, when they’re transporting a raptor, to the first time Sam Neill’s character Alan Grant sees a dinosaur herd slowly moving across the landscape I was hooked and my little ten year old brain nearly exploded right then and there in my skull. I left the cinema when the movie ended with my plastic, special edition Jurassic Park Coca Cola cup and baseball cap and the smile lasted on my face for probably a week or two. Of course, during the following week or two, I had convinced pretty much every other person in my life to take me to the movie again. If memory serves me right, my little eyes saw Jurassic Park somewhere in the region of fifteen to twenty times in the cinema. Obviously, every book, magazine, poster and toy was soon added to the mix until my bedroom looked like a…well a bedroom of a ten year old kid that really f**king loved the movie and dinosaurs. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the original since then and on the rare occasion that I come across someone that has never seen it – I tend to find myself screaming in their faces and calling them names that aren’t too pleasant or flattering.

So, you can imagine my excitement when word started getting out about a new movie, to be titled Jurassic World. I watched one very early trailer and left it at that, and for the last few weeks whenever anything appeared on the television about, I’d scream at the screen and frantically try to change the channel so I wouldn’t see too much. The last time I acted like this about a movie was for the Lord Of The Rings.

So, successfully having avoided any further trailers until its release, I sat down in my seat in screen one of the Savoy Cinema in Dublin. The lights went down when the time was right and the screen lit up and the music started.

I smiled like that ten year old kid all over again from start to finish.

Simply put – Jurassic World is AWESOME!

The story is as follows. Jurassic World is the theme park John Hammond always dreamed of in the first movie and is a fully functioning and successful theme park with real live dinosaurs that has been happily going about its business for ten years or so. But, because humans are such easily bored creatures, sales are down and the park needs to do something to get people’s interest back. So what do they do? They create a new dinosaur, Indominus Rex – and he’s a bit of an asshole to be fair.

The new dinosaur is alive and well and fully grown and just when everything seems to be going well for the park, Indo Rexy kicks off and started messing everything up and so follows an hour and half of absolute nail biting, awesome dino versus dino, dino vers man, dog versus parrot action. No wait – there was no dogs or parrots. Forget that one.

I won’t go into any more of the story here as I don’t want to give too much away. But I will say that the Raptors are stunning in this instalment. I know there were a lot of worried people out there when they saw clips of Chris Pratt’s character being able to train and control them – but don’t worry about that– just trust me – they make it work.

There’s also some really nice throw backs to the original throughout, so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

Bottom line is, if you’re a fan of the Jurassic Park movies – this one will not let you down and will quickly jump up the ranks as one of the best ones yet. Well, it did for me anyway. And even if you’re not a huge fan, there’s a whole lot in Jurassic World that will entertain and excite you – unless you’re a soulless, dead inside un-entertain-able jerk that just doesn’t like dinosaurs! If that’s the case – why the hell have you even read this to the end?

MUSIC: Matador by Gaz Coombes

On the 30th of January I bought a music album, physically entered a shop, picked it up, old school or maybe even retro in the age of instant digital download. There was a sense of excitement as I got into the car and put it straight into the CD player and turned up the volume.

The first song “Buffalo” only helped to up the feeling as the album delivered on the promise immediately. The album was “Matador” by Gaz Coombes, formerly of Supergrass, his second solo album release and one where he has really found a sound that suits him.

Gaz Coombes delivers a collection of songs that are not afraid to fluctuate the sound and tone going from soulful vocals to smashing symbols in an instance (Buffalo), easy listening to upbeat and back (20/20, The English Ruse, Detroit), even songs that feel like he was just experimenting with but to great results (Needles Eye, Oscillate), while also at times keeping it simple but vocally outstanding (The Girl who fell to earth, Matador). But the real strength in this album is the strong and powerful lyrics that really resonate and hit home… well that’s my opinion anyway.

To this day, with half the year gone this album remains my musical highlight of 2015. It gets my vote for Album of the year!

So I will sign off with one of my favourite lyrics from the album,

“First you cry, then you laugh

You’re like a circle, cut in half”