So Gay Mitchell is the Fine Gael candidate running for a four-year term to hang out in the Phoenix Park. He was on the UL campus yesterday. He was of course easily seen with a horde of suits and supporters trailing behind him. It was the first time I ever heard of the man. I’m a firm believer that news will find me if it’s important.

Anyway, he shook my hand and delivered a one-liner that gave the gist of “running” and “President”. One of the young canvassers thrust a pamphlet at me with the spiel on it. I felt a little used and greasy after the short exchange but that’s neither here nor there.

Let’s a take a look at this pamphlet with his aims, goals and all that jazz. As an English major I have a deep respect for language and anyone else with a lick of sense will see the gaping inconsistencies. The spiel and obligatory social links will also not help the fact that it’s printed on the same paper quality as fake Pokémon cards.

In case you can’t make out the text on the image, I’ve typed out the text below it with some commentary.

Text from the pamphlet

About Gay
Born in Dublin(,) the second youngest of nine children, his father died when he was five years old. To make ends meet, Gay’s mother would go out to work at 4 a.m. cleaning offices – she was an inspiration. (One of my friends commented that this reads like an X-Factor sob story.) Gay went to night-school, college and university. (Isn’t college and university the same thing or is it a hint of elitism?) He became a youth leader (What’s a youth leader? What do they do?) and from community involvement (From where? I’ve never heard of this guy before and his childhood background is not relative to my concerns.) entered politics. He has been elected 4 times as a Councillor (Where? What?), 8 times as a T.D. (TD) and MEP. He has held many prominent public offices. (Now we get to a part I should need know more about, but wait, we’ve already run out of space for this paragraph. From what I can see, he did have a hard childhood but I cannot see how all of this background information will help me make a decision to vote for him. Let’s roll onto The Presidency paragraph, *drum roll*)

The Presidency

The President is a one-person institution. (Wait, what? As opposed to a one person-empire or a one-person comedy show?) An experienced person can make the office work for the whole community. (A one-person community?) We are at a critical crossroads, (over-used cliché) the direction we take now will be decisive for all of us and for generations to come. (We? Us? Generations?) Gay Mitchell has the energy and experience (I just know about his background from age five to when he finished college/university) to help lead our country in the right direction. We will be proud at home, respected abroad. (As opposed to already being one of the black sheep of the EU. That final sentence kinda tapered off at the end of the paragraph.)

Ireland(missing apostrophe)s Recovery

Gay believes in a framework for recovery based on four pillars: protecting rights, taking responsibilities, encouraging enterprise and creating social justice. (Is that also the role of your political party? Also, creating social justice? Huh?) We can be great again on an economic level – we’re already on our way. (to screwing ourselves over again, right?) By following these four intertwined principles we can be happier too, that is what the Proclamation spoke of: “prosperity and happiness” (A little bit of patriotism). By 2016(,) we can be a really inclusive society.(Inclusion? Where the hell did curveball come from? This final line really infuriated me. Completely inconsistent and meandering.

Almost a month ago, I was introduced to The Vampire Diaries TV series. I have to be honest, I was expecting it to be a freak-of-the-week affair like so many other TV shows since Buffy The Vampire Slayer hit the screen. Or I was expecting it to be like Gossip Girl (I only watch it for Chuck Bass and even then it’s few and far between).

But I was wrong. Very wrong.

I’ve no shame in saying I watched both seasons of The Vampire Diaries over a period of a few days, let’s just say very power naps are not something to be ridiculed. Now I’m the biggest squeeing fan-girl in the corner. I am, as I suspect many others out are also, rooting for a Damon – Elena relationship.

In terms of writing, everything is so well thought out. Many of the plot points within the series are suggested or hinted throughout but were not revealed until it was required. Watching every episode is like watching a horror film each time, so much can happen, there’s lots of tension and it’s a series that when you watch it the second or third time you come at it from a completely different perspective (Stefan was always holier-than-thou) and context.

If you have not seen it, go watch it from the start otherwise you’ll be lost. The first few episodes are setting up everything so give it some time. Plus there’s lots of killing by a certain vampire named Damon…

This trailer doesn’t do the series justice but if I picked another one it would just give it all away.

The screenings of the films for the festival are on a first come, first served basis. Apart from Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, Panda! Go Panda! and Sherlock Hound, all the other films are rated for 18+.

Saturday
11.00: Opening  by Mr. Jimmy Murakami – screening of two short films
12.30: Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva – suitable for children
14.10: Cosplay session
15.00: Eden of the East (Episodes 1-2) – 18 yrs +
16.00: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episodes1-2) – 18 yrs +
17.00: Gurren Lagann (Episodes 1-2) – 18 yrs +
18.00: Ouran High Host Club (Episodes 1-2) – 18 yrs+

Sunday 14 August 2011
13.00: Panda! Go Panda! – suitable for children
14.10: Sherlock Hound (English) (Episodes 1-2) – suitable for children
15.00: Escaflowne (Episodes 1-2) – 18 yrs +
16.00: Soul Eater (Episodes 1-2) 18yrs +

I doubt I’ll tag along to this but it’s worth taking along a brood of little ones to indoctrinate.

You can find out more at the Japanese Embassy website.

I’m happy to say that I’ll be resuming to consistent blogging as I fixed whatever problem I made with hosting. I bet it was those damn gators again.

So in true style to celebrate the zombification of the blog, it’s kitteh time.

Rory Kinnear (Hamlet).

Last Sunday evening, we headed along to Hamlet in St. James Cavalier Cultural Centre in Valetta. Little did we know until just before the performance that the Hamlet we would see was a production by National Theatre Live. It’s an initiative to bring the best of British theatre broadcast live in cinemas across the world. On the night we viewed Hamlet, sixteen other countries we watching live and another four were almost live.

Just before the play began, it was fun to people watch as the camera’s zoomed around the British theatre, catching people unawares and wrapped up in jackets, suits and scarves.

It was a brilliant portrayal by Rory Kinnear. He injected a copious amount of sardonic wit and dramatic flare into Hamlet. We believed he saw his father’s ghostly image and we believed he truly loved Ophelia, even if it was a little too late. And to a degree we all knew he was losing his grip on reality.

The climax of the play led to major characters dropping like flies only within moments of each other. Drowning, drinking poisoned wine and cut with a poisoned rapier demonstrate the imagination and variety of ways an enemy can be dispatched. The flattest points of the play were the scenes excluding Hamlet as I felt it ran on for too long. Throughly enjoyable and a great production of Shakespeare’s work.

Also on the NTL future schedule is Frankenstein directed by Danny Boyle and King Lear, both of which sound promising.

Via KittehRoulette.

Boo. Hiss.

I had hoped to tune into the live broadcast of the 2011 Irish Budget but it doesn’t kick off until 15.45 GMT, which is 16.45 in Malta. There’s no way I’ll be able to hang around a McDonald’s for hours to wait to view it. So I’ll be relying on the politico tweeters for updates on #budget11.

I’ll be watching it, will you?

For myself, I knew the state of the country was in an exceptionally percarious position when a French student said, ‘I hear Ireland isn’t doing so well this week.’ (Well, *that’s* an understatement.) The perception of Ireland from the outside seems to be that the country is a ticking time bomb getting ready to take everyone in Europe down with them.

When Cowen and Lenihan annouced the intervention of the IMF and the European Union, the Maltese newspapers weren’t far behind in questioning Ireland’s ability to handle the  capital injection. The real fear is other European countries may be forced to drain the fairly scant treasury that’ll be left after Ireland and Greece.

I’d love to be back home, tucked in bed and glued to an episode of Vinnie Brown, gnashing up the politics of the day. As an alternative, I rely on Twitter heavily and of course Suzy’s blog to see how the boys back home are putting the fat into the fire.

Via The Rejecter.