tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194827852012-01-31T11:26:44.098ZA blog that used to be about books and tv shows and stuff like that, but seems to have been taken over by dogs and cats. Warning: May contain spoilers, pictures of people I'm currently crushing on, dogs.Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.comBlogger5671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-33378185757629615132012-01-31T11:26:00.003Z2012-01-31T11:26:44.109Z

Giddy, is the best description of Dara's mood last Wednesday as he took the stage in Vicar St. Downright giddy. Mind you, I think I'd be giddy too if I'd just finished presenting three live television shows on one of my favourite subjects in the world and was selling out most gigs on my current tour. Dara says himself that he knows this show lacks the single idea that has given some of his

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-45814627039876760182012-01-21T18:59:00.000Z2012-01-21T18:59:07.547Z

Thanks to Sinead Mac for digging out this CNN interview with Elmore Leonard for me. It must be a real joy for a writer to see one of their characters realised like this on screen: I've always liked him. He's just one of my favorites. Now when I see him on the screen I can't believe it. He acts exactly the way I write him. He's so laid back and he always has the best line in the scene. He's

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-19849898518229308442012-01-20T10:43:00.001Z2012-01-20T10:43:54.585Z

Thanks to Twitter pal Paul Duane (@punkyscudmonkey) for posting this. I'm parking it here to look at later, and also so that you can look at it later, should you so wish. Ménilmontant (1926) was written, directed, produced, edited and co-photographed in Paris by Dimitri Kirsanoff. And it is, on any terms, a remarkable piece of writing, direction, production, editing and cinematography.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-58451717072296542352012-01-19T19:34:00.001Z2012-01-19T19:45:19.951Z

Some of my friends and acquaintances are organised enough to share their music with each other. I don't do this, for several reasons. It's illegal! And wrong! Right, kids? I operate at a staggering level of laziness and disorganisation. Honestly. You would be amazed. I have never really learned how to upload music. I will never again have to impress/warn off (delete where applicable) a new

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-4249099380771556182012-01-17T14:24:00.000Z2012-01-17T23:48:25.723Z

Excitement abounds in Dublin artsy circles (alright, my Twitter stream, but that's got more people from Dublin's artsy circles in it than I've any right to) because the Lighthouse is reopening. This is good news, of course, but I've never been a Lighthouse person. Even in its original home up on Abbey St., the Lighthouse was never my stomping ground. I've always been a Screen girl. Ever since it

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-69911456898599814352012-01-14T20:04:00.001Z2012-01-14T20:05:05.828Z

Jareth, aged 4 Psst, says the Guardian website's article about the Labyrinth prequel, want to read an article about DAVID BOWIE and LABYRINTH? Look, here's a picture of DAVID BOWIE in LABYRINTH just to prove to you that that's what the article is all about. See? Clicky clicky, all nice now... Ha ha, it's not about David Bowie at all. It's about a graphic novel prequel to Labyrinth, which will

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-5332943295566859832012-01-12T00:14:00.001Z2012-01-12T00:19:43.551Z

It's almost more annoying to watch a film that could have been good, and has flashes of really good things in it, than to watch one that's just crap from start to finish. Because with a film that could have been good, you give it a lot more thought than it maybe deserves, and you see ways in which it could have been improved in order to make it the award-winning triumph its makers maybe hoped it

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-69201756160824859232012-01-11T10:17:00.000Z2012-01-11T10:17:06.370Z

Thanks to Queenie again for supplying the link to the National Film Board of Canada's free online archive. This is an absolute treasure trove of material, some of which will take you back to your childhood when gaps between programmes were filled, not with a tenor singing about car insurance, but with short films from around the world (where "the world" is Canada and Poland). You can also pay

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-78628914418918169642012-01-10T10:44:00.001Z2012-01-10T10:44:15.980Z

My sources (hi, Queenie!) tell me that the National Film Board of Canada is going to put its archive on the Internet for free for everyone to look at. This is very exciting news. In celebration, here is my favourite cartoon in the whole world ever. It is from the National Film Board of Canada.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-57190643700792763262012-01-08T13:55:00.002Z2012-01-08T13:57:42.651Z

There comes a time in everyone's life when they realise they're never going to look like the cover of Low, (at 15, since you didn't ask), but at least there comes a time in everyone's life when they realise they can look at the cover of Low forever if they want.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-14467403685998851302012-01-07T13:58:00.000Z2012-01-07T13:58:36.650Z

Happy new year from Accentmonkey  and Dave the Shoulder Monkey The Christmas holidays saw me stricken with a chest infection, an illness precisely timed to begin on December 25th, at a time when we were sleeping on a blow-up mattress in a room-between-rooms in ComedyB's house in Essex without access to the armoury of medicines and comfort we've built up at home. Two weeks, no sleep, a lot of

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-24773811187014848222012-01-06T22:01:00.001Z2012-01-06T22:02:06.058Z

I spent all of Christmas reading this novel, so thanks a bunch if you're the reviewer who originally caused me to go "ooh, that does look really good, think I'll lift my Holocaust-related-materials embargo for that one." (I do really wish I could find that review, by the way. I was convinced it was in the LRB, but a search of the archive there turns up nothing. It certainly wasn't this Guardian

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-12568138671053774812012-01-03T00:20:00.000Z2012-01-03T00:20:19.258Z

Interesting blog post from a lady I follow on the Google+ about being Benedict Cumberbatch's violin coach for Sherlock. 

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-6991567536111890432011-12-22T23:50:00.004Z2011-12-22T23:50:41.708Z

From Feminist Ryan Gosling. I have been having a lot of fun on Tumblr lately.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-4598760215807274502011-12-17T18:20:00.002Z2011-12-17T18:20:30.800Z

I found this, while searching around for the significance of Italians with white mice: At this time, Italians frequently roamed the streets of London and other large English towns as organ-grinders. Daryl Ogden, in an article fromStudies in the Novel, mentions this practice: "In the 1820s and 1830s, a relatively large population of Italian 'organ boys' was imported into London. These street

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-7826069494394887312011-12-16T21:39:00.002Z2011-12-16T21:39:47.843Z

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-57537205315459310372011-12-16T15:52:00.001Z2011-12-16T15:53:09.280Z

...but just sometimes, isn't he a little much? There we go. That's better, isn't it?

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-36593169307739327242011-12-13T15:23:00.001Z2011-12-13T15:23:40.446Z

Aw, thanks Paul. You know, that does cheer me up a little bit.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-12174111913580882362011-12-10T11:36:00.001Z2011-12-10T11:39:56.627Z

From the Guardian's My Favourite Film series (which has been most enjoyable). I particularly like this paragraph, which speaks to me about my life: If Star Wars is spiritually akin to Top Gun – Tom Cruise in jackass aviators blasting around in fighter jets – then Star Trek, here in its most dashing manifestation, is The Hunt for Red October: submarines, tactics, cantankerousness. It's a

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-77761942060701521872011-12-04T11:54:00.001Z2011-12-04T14:14:44.713Z

While Mrmonkey continues to devour every available instance of the written word as if he was going to be examined on it the next day, I haven't managed to get my reading legs under me at all this year. In fact, it turns out I only read five books that weren't selections for either Classic Book Club or Modern Book Club, most of which I heard about on Twitter. The only fiction book I heard about

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-74066767420636599902011-11-12T19:13:00.001Z2011-11-12T22:13:45.299Z

Recently, the only fan site I ever visited on a regular basis went under when Dee Dee, the lady (I assume she's a lady, anyway) who ran it decided she just had too much other stuff going on in her life. This is a shame for me, because it means that in order to keep up with what Paul Bettany is doing in his professional life, I have to have a Google alert. (I am aware that I don't have to have one

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-63631014536200116792011-10-28T12:09:00.000+01:002011-10-28T12:09:29.099+01:00

I should post to it more. Here, have this amusing story for a start. Ah, YouTube.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-50832623695237971152011-07-17T11:46:00.002+01:002011-08-06T09:45:38.520+01:00

As some of you may know, I am out of a job. The company where I worked for the last five years has been swallowed whole by the big player in the field and our offices are being closed. This is sad for several reasons. First, because anyone could have told you it was coming from a long time back, and those of us who continued to work there were fully aware that we cut fairly pitiful figures in the

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-66723499341973996722011-06-06T15:44:00.000+01:002011-06-06T15:44:15.755+01:00

Until five years ago, I had never heard of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the big book that tells you what kind of mental illness you've got. Then I became an abstracter in the field of social sciences, and it was mentioned a lot (obviously) in the literature. Then I left abstracting and expected never to hear of it, or most of the other scales or 20-point measurement

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-31699800937446936222011-05-16T13:02:00.000+01:002011-05-16T13:02:01.952+01:00

That's the kind of scare headline that gets people looking at your blog, eh readers? We've had two great examples recently of the razor-sharp reliability and attention to detail that has made the Irish financial and legal sectors the envy of the known world. I had a phone call from my solicitor asking for my address (yes, that's right, my solicitor has my phone number but not my address, despite

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-16822480283020419172011-03-21T21:41:00.001Z2011-03-21T21:46:33.414Z

Not only did I not make it to Classic Book Club this time, because of being in that London, I haven't even finished the book yet. I may have mentioned before that I often struggle to read books in translation, and Stendhal's The Red and the Black is yet another novel in translation that I'm finding it very hard to get to grips with. I have tried to make allowances for the fact that the book is an

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-40414327208879612412011-03-21T19:50:00.000Z2011-03-21T19:50:52.646Z

There's really no excuse for it. Did I mention we had another dog here for a couple of days? He followed me on the beach last Monday. It was a beautiful day and we were having a particularly thirsty walk, so I decided to walk my guys down to the Boyne for a drink and a splash about. I figured there would be people around, but I figured if I kept them on the lead till the last minute, all would

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-18253147734172121592011-02-05T12:24:00.000Z2011-02-05T12:24:19.110Z

Some time in the next couple of weeks I have to go to the vet with Trixie and get her boosters done. I've never had to do this with a foster before, because I've never had a foster dog for a whole year before. I just don't understand why nobody wants this wee girl. I want her. I love her. But she should move on for a whole host of reasons, only one of which is a selfish reason on my part. Yes,

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-42093930561639631172011-02-03T12:44:00.001Z2011-02-03T12:47:51.231Z

On today's walk, Cody found the most unpleasant shit I have yet encountered on a dog walk and smeared it all over himself when we were only about two minutes from the car at the start of an hour's walk. He was so pleased with how badly he stank. I was very annoyed. I immediately expressed my annoyance by calling him a "fucking shitty bastard" in a very growly displeased voice, and clipping him

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-64934657888952753862011-01-23T12:02:00.000Z2011-01-23T12:02:02.063Z

Here's an interesting article in the New York Times (linked from the front page of Chortle) about a new, even more stripped-down, even more assembly-line approach to comedy production, courtesy of the good folks at Country Music Television. Working Class - new CMT sitcom (photo from NYT) Looking at the positive side of this style of production, it could break a whole new raft of really tight,

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-60942028572947602552011-01-17T12:34:00.001Z2011-01-23T11:29:39.114Z

Instead, this from Channel 4.  Look, I know why they've dropped the Daily Show from More 4. I know it's because the ratings aren't high enough for what they've been paying for it (which slightly makes me wonder why they don't just put it on the more prominent Channel 4 station instead of continuing to tuck it away on More 4, but whatevs). That doesn't stop me feeling irritated when I read

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-12966198807300498552011-01-04T12:20:00.000Z2011-01-04T12:20:54.857Z

I met the most awful man today. He was walking his dog off the lead and so was I, and when I saw him in the distance he had all the hallmarks of trouble: unsteady on his feet, flat cap, one dog, walking stick. I always put our guys on the lead when I see people like that, so I leashed up all five dogs and started to walk towards my car. The man leashed up his dog and continued to stand right

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-64888921763763768572011-01-03T17:41:00.000Z2011-01-03T17:41:11.834Z

We read this in Ian's Classic Book Club recently, and although I read it years ago, I was glad of the chance to go back and read it again. People's memories of it are so bound up in the movie versions that even I had forgotten that there are no villagers wielding torches, there is no fear of fire, and that the monster is articulate and well-spoken throughout most of the book. Okay, so the book

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-37445989733126679662010-12-31T18:27:00.000Z2010-12-31T18:27:05.045Z

1. The Kindle Just as I inherited Mrmonkey's iPhone when he switched to a Nexus, I inherited his Kindle when he moved to the iPad. I had my reservations at first, and honestly found it difficult to concentrate on the first book I read on the device; I was too wrapped up in the novelty of reading an ebook to pay proper attention to the book sometimes. This wore off though, and although I can't see

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-26502910192005604652010-12-21T13:06:00.000Z2010-12-21T13:06:19.040Z

But I'm listening to people on the radio saying that people should be made to wear winter tyres on their cars because councils and local authorities can't be expected to clear the roads. It should be the law, people are saying. Maybe it should. But it is currently the law that you have to have working headlights on your car, and people don't bother obeying that. And that you should observe the

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-13258518350352550022010-12-19T10:47:00.000Z2010-12-19T10:47:47.515Z

Strictly Come Dancing is over for another year, and not before time too. I have loved this show since halfway through the first season when I discovered that, far from being yet another reality show in which "celebrities" bicker with one another over stupid tasks, it was actually a show that celebrated improvement, cooperation, and partnerships. It has always had lovely little character arcs,

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-79140780467176334562010-11-29T23:44:00.000Z2010-11-29T23:44:21.183Z

I did. After I posted the first chapter, some people said they wanted to read it, so I'm posting the rest of it here. But let's be very clear about this: I wrote this at a gallop in thirty days, and I've only skimmed it since then to correct spellings where I could. I can't guarantee that the action is consistent or that the characters retain their proper names all the way through, or that it

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-86621405501183250132010-11-28T10:47:00.001Z2010-11-28T10:58:40.513Z

Hannah Pool has an article in today's Observer on a topic that fascinates me: the breaking up of friendships. I don't have a lot to add to what she says here, really. I've tried both of the "techniques" for breaking up with friends that she describes and agree that neither of them is pleasant. I've also had them done to me. Not so much the slow one, because if I call you a couple of times and you

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-57657338447122298762010-11-03T09:42:00.000Z2010-11-03T09:42:43.154Z

Perhaps unwisely, I've set myself an extra challenge for this year's Nanowrimo. Rather than writing the requisite 50,000 words and have to listen to people tell me that that's "not really a novel, is it?" I've decided to try and write a full 80,000 words, so that people will have to resort to admitting they didn't read it, or that they just didn't like it. More action/adventure/romance this year

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-25218295561058422442010-10-14T18:08:00.000+01:002010-10-14T18:08:44.683+01:00

This is by no means a definitive list. 1) "Boutique" hotels where the towel hooks in the bathroom don't actually hold up your towels, you can't make yourself a cup of coffee in your room, and instead of giving you a ballpoint pen on the desk they give you a pencil in a fancy iron pencil holder, but no pencil sharpener. 2) When my company refers to its website as its homepage. (It took me months

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-85089986458222868742010-10-12T21:35:00.000+01:002010-10-12T21:35:26.307+01:00

On Friday, October 1st, Mrmonkey and I left our house in cheery spirits ready for our two-week trip to Seattle and San Francisco. Not a holiday (as I'm slightly weary of explaining to people now), this is a necessary work trip for the monkey and I'm just tagging along because I can because all my work happens by magic laptop now, so it doesn't matter where in the world I am as long as I have an

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-72932606221185804062010-08-08T10:46:00.000+01:002010-08-08T10:46:31.595+01:00

I moved from my (posssibly greatest ever) job of abstracting articles from periodicals like The Economist and CQ Weekly--and hey, let's not forget Russian Social Science Review--to writing marketing copy almost a year ago. During that year, I have slipped back into my old ways of essentially not really picking up much about the world beyond what I hear on Radio 4 or see on The Daily Show. Apart

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-57877307005663975122010-07-29T23:16:00.000+01:002010-07-29T23:16:57.439+01:00

What else would we be doing on a Sunday afternoon anyway, David O'Doherty asks us all, other than sitting in a temporary mosque in a garden in Dublin listening to some comedy? What indeed. David O'Doherty is the ideal man to host a gig like this. He points out himself that his credentials are impeccable, given that he often does readings for children in libraries, and they mainly take place

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-54729091098249201182010-07-27T09:25:00.000+01:002010-07-27T09:25:04.470+01:00

The Carlsberg Comedy Carnival has just finished its fourth run, and I pronounce it a success. Sure, none of the gigs I attended on Sunday were sold out (how does Emo Phillips not sell out? What is wrong with people?) but Saturday was chockers, and everyone seemed to be in very good spirits. The festival's two main selling points for comedians, as far as I can see, are that it's just before

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-36618396218819236652010-07-20T12:43:00.000+01:002010-07-20T12:43:53.229+01:00

For about a year now, I've been walking a dog belonging to some neighbours of mine. This happened by chance: I was walking my own dogs on the beach one day and I met a woman and a friendly, extremely fat labrador. We got talking, and her dog was nice, and she asked me if I ever looked after other people's dogs, and it turned out that her foster parents were looking for someone to look after the

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-3921353333723691532010-07-17T10:22:00.000+01:002010-07-17T10:22:36.125+01:00

If you are not a fat woman, you have no idea what it's like trying to buy fat-woman clothes. I'm not going to bore you with a discussion of whether or not it's sensible for Evans to sell skirts that are almost wider than they are long, nor will I get into a debate about whether fat women should really wear sleeveless t-shirts. I'm not even going to whine on about how Anne Harvey appear to think

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-38300565231395182452010-06-03T15:43:00.001+01:002010-06-03T17:41:53.806+01:00

One of the things I genuinely love about Evelyn Cusack is that she will tell you when there's going to be good drying out, so you can get loads of washing done before the good drying goes away. When we moved into this house, I felt like a real homeowner for the very first time because mrmonkey put up a washing line for me, and I have been using it on every Evelyn-approved day ever since. For me,

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-66535264787327671002010-05-20T09:16:00.001+01:002010-05-20T09:20:20.684+01:00

Remember this picture? That's me and Widger, the smallest one of the box of the puppies. So called because he liked to sleep all the time, cried if anyone woke him up, and was (still is) my favourite of them all. Well, here is Widger this morning, almost exactly four weeks after I got him: Yes, that's quite a difference. In fact, the two pups we have left here are edging up on being the same

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-66420705572623419472010-05-15T11:13:00.000+01:002010-05-15T11:13:41.255+01:00

The puppies are going to Sweden in a few weeks, as soon as they get their vaccinations. Because everything goes to Sweden eventually. I've said I won't be driving them to the airport. I can't take a repeat of my upset over Woody. Here are some puppy pictures to be going on with.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-34111559557893611052010-05-15T11:00:00.000+01:002010-05-15T11:00:30.259+01:00

Experts tell you things all the time, but sometimes you just don't believe them, so you carry on doing things the way you did before, even though that's the opposite of what they've told you to do. You don't believe, for example, that because you've been eating certain things your whole life in a certain way that you can never change and develop new tastes. You also don't believe that it is

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-48597478337432434992010-04-29T00:42:00.000+01:002010-04-29T00:42:09.426+01:00

If you've never met me, you'll perhaps be unaware of the fact (but unsurprised to learn) that I am a person of fatness. And not, like, regular muffin-top fatness, but actual proper fatness. Long story short, I'm embarked on the process of doing something about it, for what I swear is going to be the last time. Three weeks into this current effort and everything is going fine, except that my

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-89886802169646411372010-04-21T12:03:00.000+01:002010-04-21T12:03:40.162+01:00

As you can see, we still have the puppies. In the last day or so, though, they've come on hugely in the independence stakes. They're playing with each other a lot more and are a lot less dependent on cuddling up to a human for comfort. This is good news, because it means I don't have to wait for them to be fast asleep in order to leave them and go off to do other things, such as showering and

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-70954296519202342132010-04-18T09:46:00.002+01:002010-04-18T09:47:58.695+01:00

We now have four puppies. When the rescue was originally contacted about the wee yokes, they were told that the puppies were between eight and ten weeks old, which is a good age to start separating them. So one of the other volunteers agreed to take one, and I would take the others. But the mistake was discovered and rectified, and now we have all the puppies together with us. They're visibly

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-71921799417791659182010-04-17T08:58:00.000+01:002010-04-17T08:58:26.443+01:00

More puppy pictures! Here's littlest pup calling the others back to bed because he's sleepy now. Here's biggest pup investigating her middle brother. Here's littlest pup all asleep. And here's biggest pup stridin' out.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-86498395621958607942010-04-16T17:49:00.000+01:002010-04-16T17:49:49.447+01:00

So much for today's plans. My intention was to make the most of my manager's absence from work today (I am going to work tomorrow instead) to do my supermarket shopping and visit my friend in the hospital. She has had some fairly serious oral surgery and is going to be in hospital for at least a week, so I wanted to go. I was all set. Walk the dogs, come home, have a shower, take the bus to

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-21286304135505553082010-03-25T08:44:00.000Z2010-03-25T08:44:57.982Z

New dog Trixie has some typical terrier traits. She doesn't like cats much (which makes her a bit of a stressful presence round these parts in the evenings, when cats and dogs usually come together to flop around the living room and snooze) and she likes to dig A BIG HOLE. Yesterday she found an existing big hole while we were having our usual mid-walk rest up on Wet Bum Point near the golf

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-54067725320344120592010-03-03T17:46:00.000Z2010-03-03T17:46:06.456Z

It's been a busy week here at Waggy Towers. First, Rollo went home. His real name is Sammy, and he lives on a small farm. Sadly his owner has gone into a nursing home, and the family are trying to make plans for his future, but while they do, he's a bit all over the place. Poor Sammy. As I was giving him back, I told them that we'd be able to find him a home if they needed us, but they want to

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-48056568521015988992010-02-24T16:59:00.001Z2010-02-25T14:32:05.013Z

Today I went and collected the new foster dog. He doesn't have a name. He was picked up with no collar on, and is friendly with people and other animals. He's very much an outside dog, though. He keeps trying to cock his leg in the house and he walked into the patio doors not long after he arrived. But I've had him up to the vet and he seems fine. He can hear and see and walk, all of which is a

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-35682356557593727612010-02-24T00:05:00.001Z2010-02-24T00:11:50.267Z

It turns out, right, that if you're planning on catching a ferry at 2am on a Saturday and following that up with a 6.5 hour drive across and down a good chunk of England, then the very best thing you can do on the Thursday night is to go out and see some comedy, then go drinking till three in the morning. It is also important that you get no nap on the Friday at all, so that your driving ozzyssey

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-13471801579989425312010-02-23T22:40:00.001Z2010-02-23T22:59:45.830Z

At the very beginning of the year, some people in England who know ComedyB because they have a comedy family member of their own contacted me because they'd seen Ozzie's windy day picture online. They wanted to give her a home. They filled out the adoption form for our rescue and everyone agreed they seemed like a great home. If only they weren't in England, said everyone. We don't rehome

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-1290851354359079812010-02-15T14:17:00.003Z2010-02-15T14:25:19.579Z

Here he is.Bobby was surrendered to the rescue just before Christmas, his lovely home with his nice Eastern European owner pulled out from under him because of the recession. His owner had to go home and couldn't afford to take the dog with him. So Bobby went to a local foster, where he's been for the last two months.We've been minding him over the weekend while his regular fosters are away. He's

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-22071625309420835372010-02-12T13:33:00.002Z2010-02-12T13:37:09.334Z

Last night I was picking up a few necessities in Tesco when I ran into the woman from this blog post. Remember her?Well, we looked each other up and down very quickly, and of course had a judgemental look over each other's baskets to see what the other one was buying. I had milk and juice and toothpaste and eggs in mine: normal stuff. My arch nemesis, on the other hand, was clutching an enormous

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-80874674439494177152010-01-21T16:18:00.001Z2010-01-21T16:19:16.312Z

Now this is a presenter thinking on his feet. I can't believe Leno couldn't come up with a single riposte to any of Kimmel's remarks here.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-41199852947914753772010-01-21T11:38:00.002Z2010-01-21T12:49:55.121Z

British people seem to have gone a bit mad lately about television, especially the BBC, and what should or shouldn't be on it. People don't want to have to pay the salaries of Jonathan Ross or Frankie Boyle. They don't want subscription channels to get their precious sporting events. Even the comedian and New Statesman columnist Mark Watson, himself on the receiving end of "we shouldn't have to

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-39595003462585631212010-01-10T15:26:00.003Z2010-01-10T15:57:22.388Z

Okay, the first two weeks look like being a bit crap. Mrmonkey will be away, visiting the mothership and renewing his acquaintance with the endless ad breaks of U.S. television, and I will be here on my own.But then will come the first gigs of spring, peeping out of the calendar like bright crocuses and acting like beacons to steer me through the rocky weeks of the mister's absence.On February

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-59192999744745706752010-01-08T19:53:00.003Z2010-01-08T20:44:34.200Z

Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe (yes, that is his name) has decreed that our schools will remain closed until next Thursday. This is partly because of burst pipes, knackered heating systems, and the fact that many of our schools are in prefabs, which you couldn't possibly expect salaried members of the teachers' union, sorry, the precious children to use in this weather. Also, nobody can get

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-78857311468715566092009-12-30T13:18:00.003Z2009-12-30T13:30:47.728Z

It's very windy out and about here today. In this photo, Ozzie is not shaking or moving her head at all. That's the wind, that is.Looks like the weather will turn icy again tomorrow, so it's time to order my Yak Trax so that at least the dogs don't pull me off my feet when we're walking.Did you have a lovely Christmas? I did. I seem to have cornered the market in Burt's Bees lip salve, though, so

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-51892172242916264372009-12-22T18:24:00.002Z2009-12-22T18:34:52.946Z

Well, now they have changed.To get the new year off to a rollicking start (all the extra two seconds of it, or whatever it was we actually got today), Lulu gashed the pad of her paw on a piece of glass or something on the beach. Not the part of her paw she actually walks on, more the ankle bit. But she sliced that pad pretty good. So off to the vet on the frozen road we went, where she got

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-79214275588358259232009-12-21T21:50:00.003Z2009-12-21T22:11:04.210Z

Today is the winter solstice. Which means that tomorrow is the new year, astronomically speaking. And astronomically speaking is good enough for me.While out walking the dogs today--I saw the sun come up at about 8.45 and was out again when it got dark at about 16.30--I had that feeling you get when you are at the very bottom, or the very middle, of a very long tunnel. You feel stifled, and then

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-83543846603367691532009-12-15T15:00:00.003Z2009-12-15T15:04:54.394Z

We recently spent over €4,000 on a new heating system for our house. It's a very clever system that adjusts itself in line with the temperature outside and can be set to heat just your water or just your radiators and no water, whichever you prefer. However, it turns out that you can't just turn it ON when it's cold out. You have to fiddle with the settings to reprogramme its start and stop times

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-73390084889159958522009-12-15T14:46:00.003Z2009-12-15T15:00:10.774Z

As I believe they say in the publishing trade.I've decided to actually try to produce a workable second draft of my book. If you read any of it, I would like you to tell me what you thought of it, if that's not too much trouble. One thing you did like and one thing you didn't like will be sufficient. Also, if you didn't finish it, when did you stop reading and why? And if you did finish it, did

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-51992904186500545302009-12-03T22:57:00.003Z2009-12-04T15:40:07.057Z

So, Google Docs doesn't allow me to upload the whole novel in one go. Stupid, huh?Here is a link to the first part of the novel. And here is a link to the second part of the novel.I don't know if this will work. If it doesn't work, I am sorry.Usual Disclaimer: Please remember that this is a first draft that was written in 30 days.Personally I think it lacks the charm of my previous nanowrimo

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-29835186133834232492009-12-01T15:52:00.002Z2009-12-01T15:54:58.531Z

Here's how sad I am. I finally found a website where I can buy a proper deck-scrub broom, so I can wash my kitchen floor properly instead of just sweeping and mopping it.And I am excited about this, because I have been looking for one for months.And that is the story of how sad I am.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-31930813161955363832009-11-30T14:03:00.002Z2009-11-30T15:14:21.006Z

Look, I did NanoWriMo and I won!I don't like this year's novel as much as I like the one I wrote a few years ago, but it was still fun to do it.In April I'm going to do Script Frenzy. I am resolved.So now I have some extra time on my hands. I really should do something useful with it. Yes. Something useful. I will get right on that, Taoiseach. I certainly won't, for example, spend my time

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-76682688901927792292009-11-18T14:01:00.004Z2009-11-18T19:58:46.470Z

I had big plans tonight. Oh yes. I was going to go into Dublin and meet people in the pub, something I haven't done for months. Honestly, months. My own animals are all packed off to kennels, I am going to Glasgow tomorrow, and I have a full day's work ahead of me.Then I got a text about an older dog someone found in our estate. The woman who found it picked it up off the road outside the estate

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-65713258521399921042009-11-17T09:53:00.003Z2009-11-17T10:21:34.614Z

After only a year of living with us, Jane died. She was sick for a long time. Months, really. It turned out that she was FIV+ and possibly had been for ever? Who knows. Estimates about the prevalance of FIV in outdoor and feral cats vary wildly, and there's every chance that she picked it up during the years she basically lived as an outside cat.In any case, I now have to decide whether or not to

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-43911235889026827892009-11-04T12:26:00.002Z2009-11-04T12:37:16.885Z

Despite my five cats, I think of myself as primarily a dog person. This is because I think of myself as being largely sloppy, sprawly, mucky, and willing to eat just about anything if it's served in a bowl and someone makes yum yum noises while they pass it over.However, the nice lady in Laois from whom we adopted Lorelai aka Rory aka Smidger Fee aka The Smidge contacted me yesterday to say that

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-65828165331088892202009-11-01T20:12:00.002Z2009-11-01T20:14:49.643Z

Day one and I've got over 2,000 words written. Maybe I'll make it this year. First couple of pages are a bit boring though, so I might not bother posting them. If I write something exciting I'll post it.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-18276590093289627112009-10-27T11:38:00.001Z2009-10-27T11:45:09.076Z

I mean, what the FUCK? WHAT?What the fuck is wrong with people?Um, that is all.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-14643338895006466312009-10-18T20:15:00.002+01:002009-10-18T20:17:41.784+01:00

Oh, and did I mention that Blakey thinks that Lulu is her mother? Well, she does. Lulu has to bat her away when she tries to suckle, but she is happy enough to let her curl up beside her and sleep.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-69631064439132718712009-10-18T14:35:00.002+01:002009-10-18T14:47:56.045+01:00

To Markree Castle in Sligo.The plan was originally to go to Cuba, but that turned out to be very expensive and a massive hassle, so we decided to have a cheapish reading week in Ireland, which wouldn't involve flights or luggage allowance or any of that crap. Markree, as a bonus, let us bring the dogs, so we didn't even need to worry about that. Just chuck everyone in the car and off we go.From

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-80593035550608754082009-10-18T14:24:00.003+01:002009-10-18T14:35:02.603+01:00

Things have been busy here on Waltons' Mountain. Life news in brief:*Ozzie is doing better, thanks. She has stopped losing weight and actually might be putting it on a little. This is great news, because it means we've found the problem and it is treatable, which means that when she has her weight up to normal, we can start looking for a home for her.*We have a new kitten. She is called Blakey.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-68447451811803827832009-08-25T13:59:00.003+01:002009-08-25T14:12:27.394+01:00

We have a new canine house guest at the moment. Her name is Ozzie. She was originally picked up by our rescue at about ten weeks old, abandoned in a box in Drogheda, covered in fleas and totally underfed. She has been fostered by a single family since then, and did actually go to a new home after she was spayed a couple of months ago, but it didn't work out (the property just wasn't secure enough

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-30152166271771800572009-08-13T17:18:00.001+01:002009-08-13T17:18:47.359+01:00

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-58561997809751731822009-08-11T18:01:00.005+01:002009-08-11T18:08:27.343+01:00

Everything's dark. Gloomy. It's the lousy tail end of a piss-poor summer in the weather arena.We had to cancel a weekend away in England in July, and we've had to cancel our trip to Cuba in November. We've had minor dog complications. I've been eating crap and getting far less exercise than I should.To top it all off, I've moved to a new position in our company, which takes me away from the world

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-42271579035032281862009-07-26T09:39:00.002+01:002009-07-26T09:55:01.423+01:00

So it is official. Arlene Phillips is being dropped from Strictly Come Dancing in favour of Aleisha Dixon. This raises several problems for me as a telly consumer, a woman, and a fan of SCD.Ever since Aleisha Dixon started to do well on the show, even before she won, the BBC began pushing her, grooming her for something more. A core of telly types appear to think she is the British Beyonce. Bruce

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-64464504920413292982009-07-24T20:36:00.003+01:002009-07-24T20:58:17.586+01:00

You would? Okay.Early in 2009, I got a call from Drogheda Animal Rescue (the organization I sometimes volunteer for) asking me if I would help out with fostering two little old Jack Russell ladies. Lucky, 14, and Princess, 17, had been brought by their owner to the vet to be put to sleep because the owner had got a new cocker spaniel and the Jack Russells, who lived exclusively in the back garden

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-38275765423941460472009-07-12T19:10:00.002+01:002009-07-12T19:18:11.147+01:00

Some time ago, a documentary maker called Jemima Harrison made a show called Pedigree Dogs Exposed, which basically scared the bejesus out of everyone who cares about dogs, because it pointed out how eugenics in the dog-breeding business have turned some of your favourite breeds into barely functional freaks that suffer from every health problem you can possibly imagine.As a direct result of

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-88826535680036364632009-07-02T12:23:00.004+01:002009-07-02T12:39:02.408+01:00

Last night some of the local kids (yes, the ones I'm always complaining about) brought a little dog to our door. They were accompanied by a parent this time, the first time I've ever met one of their parents.They had found a little female jack russell wandering around the estate and she seemed lost and tired. Crucially, the kids didn't recognize her, and they know every dog in the neighbourhood.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-14501836162596889872009-07-01T18:55:00.001+01:002009-07-01T18:56:29.270+01:00

According to the BBC:"As we work to carry out Michael's instructions to safeguard both the future of his children as well as the remarkable legacy he left us as an artist, we ask that all matters involving his estate be handled with the dignity and the respect that Michael and his family deserve."So, none at all then.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-1390102612775569422009-06-23T16:30:00.003+01:002009-06-23T16:53:52.439+01:00

A few weeks ago Lulu became lame in one of her front legs. This necessitated a visit to the vet to ensure that she was fit for the Great Camping Trip to Derbyshire. Sadly, the vet recommended that she be left behind, in kennels, for rest, medication, and no exercise for two whole weeks. The vet suspected elbow dysplasia.For a dog owner, the idea of dysplasia is bad news. It can mean years of

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-15375633987430117132009-06-16T22:40:00.003+01:002009-06-16T22:55:26.346+01:00

Summer is the time for serious reading. Partly because the days are long and you can get away with switching on your, frankly, inadequate bedside lighting later and later, and partly because there's nothing on the telly.I really want to read something amazing right now. I really want to read something that I love as much as I loved The Time Traveller's Wife, or Oscar and Lucinda, or Ahab's Wife.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-15106020179841031122009-05-31T19:50:00.002+01:002009-05-31T19:59:08.207+01:00

I never saw Once before. It's very pleasant, except for the fact that Glen Hansard is a Grafton St. busker in it. I hate Grafton St. buskers. I never liked them much, even when I was younger and just used to traipse around Grafton St. for fun. But as I got older and often had serious business to transact on the street, they became a positive nuisance.In particular, I remember going for some

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-59689270570754165412009-05-31T07:59:00.003+01:002009-05-31T08:21:57.384+01:00

One of the things I love about The Office is that the characters in it who go out with each other actually like one another and have things in common. Just like real life! In most other sitcoms I have seen, not only are the friends constantly trying to fuck each other over in a way that makes you wonder how they ever became friends at all, but the couples have NOTHING in common. In fact in most

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-4789721043091336452009-05-20T10:56:00.003+01:002009-05-20T11:07:03.844+01:00

So, having busted his ass and spent a fortune on getting elected as our local TD, why is Thomas Byrne now trying to get out of national government and into Europe?To date, I've had approximately 14 pieces of election literature put through my door (including one from the terrifying-looking Joanne Finnegan, who is running as an independent now, instead of as a Sinn Fein candidate, as if we might

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-40642116704737991112009-05-18T21:48:00.002+01:002009-05-18T22:13:17.627+01:00

So, after looking forward to Star Trek for months and months and months, myself and Mister Monkey snuck out the other week to go and see it. Well, it kind of felt like sneaking out because we probably should have gone into the city centre to see friends, and because we drove for an hour each way to get to Liffey Valley, which contains Ireland's biggest cinema screen.It was completely worth the

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-51987893125272631242009-05-12T08:14:00.001+01:002009-05-12T08:14:58.555+01:00

Of course I knew no good could come of it.

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-78824124943175514182009-05-08T10:11:00.003+01:002009-05-08T10:21:14.859+01:00

On Tuesday we got our first bull terrier foster, a staffie cross called Kaya. Despite the protestations of the nice lady from the rescue about her lovely personality, I was initially apprehensive about her coming here. I am, I'll admit, a teeny bit nervous about bull breeds and their reputation and their physical strength. I was slightly concerned that she would accidentally hurt one of the other

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-6968938627280400772009-05-04T21:08:00.003+01:002009-05-04T21:31:02.669+01:00

Chuck has, over the course of its second series, transformed from being a mildly enjoyable show that contained a few pleasant geeky elements to being one of our very favourite shows here at the Monkey House. Everything about it is fun, light-hearted, just smart enough to be unpredictable, and incredibly geeky.It's also built up quite a following on the blogs and so on.Nevertheless, NBC have

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19482785.post-69988826655128013782009-04-07T19:41:00.004+01:002009-04-07T19:52:09.379+01:00

...for new Star Trek.From trekmovie.com via the AV Club:Tonight Paramount pulled off one of the coolest stunts in fan history. Promoted as just a 10 minute preview of the new Star Trek to show along with The Wrath of Khan, tonight fans in Austin, TX were actually shown the entire new Star Trek movie. The event included surprise guests, including the original Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy. And then

Trish Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13829647858169418092noreply@blogger.com1