Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.

Date: June 2021

Was in Drogheda this afternoon. Here’s a seagull and fledglings on a roof > @MacDara #image

###

I can’t do that ‘movies you’ve seen at least 10 times’ thing as I don’t really do rewatching. The most I’ve watched any film is maybe five or six times? #aside

###

Finally getting around to spinning my floral-splatter vinyl edition of Botanist’s Ecosystem Version B on Improved Sequence #aside

###

Here’s a thing in my head about BusConnects: it’s also part of a plan to establish Transport for Ireland as a brand over individual operators, much in the way Transport for London is the primary brand (and hub for public transport info) in that city… > @MacDara #aside

###

Day one and @dublinbusnews have failed to integrate the new H Spine routes into their website, as I suspected would happen. How much was spent on BusConnects again? > @MacDara #aside

###

Film review — Greenland

Gerard Butler’s penance for Geostorm. It holds too close to the small-scale family drama for such a cataclysmic premise and its plot beats are laughably predictable, but in a weird way that makes it work better for watching at home. More…

###

My bank sent out a new debit card (it doesn’t expire till July) but in the meantime it’s borked Apple Pay. So consider this a PSA if you bank with ptsb #aside

###

Been busy all week so only just found the lovely note in the latest @atomic_elbow and it’s already made my weekend #aside

###

Curious that with fewer than 3 days to go, there are no timetables on the actual Dublin Bus website for the new H Spine. Doesn’t bode well… > @MacDara #aside

###

Not to worry, it is indeed a factory-fresh Xbox Series X which is currently eating up our bandwidth with downloads > @MacDara #aside

###

Parcel arrived this morning; I haven’t actually opened the box yet so it could be full of rocks for all I know > @MacDara #aside

###

Nearly eight months after launch and I may have finally got my hands on an Xbox Series X. I’ll believe it when I see it, of course #aside

###

Here was me thinking all this time they never put Sherri in the Hall of Fame and she was inducted in 2006? Serious Mandela Effect vibes here #aside

###

Film review — Censor

Excuse me for expecting something a little less by-the-numbers. Censor echoes the pervasive, literal darkness of similarly themed films like Berberian Sound Studio. But in this case, rather than bringing us into the protagonist’s paranoiac experience, the dream-like mood from the outset creates a distancing effect that dulls any effort to disturb and makes it impossible to connect with it on anything more than a superficial level. There’s substance here — the analogy of film censorship with the edits minds can make of memories affected by trauma is worth exploring — but it’s obscured by the style. More…

###

Went to my local Dunnes to buy a plain black T-shirt. D’you think they had any? #aside

###

Dundalk heads: is there any bicycle parking at the Fairways Centre/Hotel? I’d rather bike there than walk #aside

###

Tonight is a night I’m really glad I’m not doing the late subbing shift for the BelTel #aside

###

I can’t be having this humidity #aside

###

“Boris is making a balls of it! Quick! Let’s have the queen do something weird with a sword!” #aside

###

Film review — Old Joy

Yo La Tengo are objectively great, but why would you get them to soundtrack your film when Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is…right there? Anyway, this is a deceptively simple piece that’s ostensibly about two used-to-be-closer friends hanging out on a weekend in the woods. One (Will Oldham) is a free-spirit type who’s found himself cast adrift while the other (Daniel London), and most everyone else he knows, has settled down. It smartly plays on the stereotype of the social misfit who sells out and conforms to society’s expectations — getting a job and a house, starting a family and all that — when it’s really Oldham’s Kurt who is trapped playing his own role and has condemned himself to a lonely, transient existence, while London’s Mark hasn’t so much changed his philosophy as found a different way to express it and be fulfilled. There’s no message of hope or grief to take away from it; it just is what it is. More…

###

Film review — Category III: The Untold Story of Hong Kong Exploitation Cinema

Many years ago, a very good friend of mine burned me some CDs and DVDs of Category III stuff like Ebola Syndrome and Red to Kill but I misplaced the discs in a spring clean and two subsequent moves and I’ve still never seen them. I’ve probably missed my chance now I’ve aged out of my ‘transgressive’ phase, so this is the closest I can get. And it’s fine; passion for the subject and competent talking-head setups count for a lot as the substance is a bit threadbare. I’m also not sure how much anyone not already familiar with the wilder side of Hong Kong cinema will get out of it. For instance, it barely even acknowledges the magnificent Story of Ricky, and constantly references classics like The Boxer’s Omen without bothering to explain why they have the reputations they do. Isn’t that what documentaries like this are for? More…

###

Unearthed a nest of red ants in an old planter the garden, and watched as the ants diligently ferried the eggs to a safer place #aside

###

I share the exasperation of every tweet in this thread > @Sarklor #aside

###

Has any gaming media even reported on this? I know, E3 yadda yadda, but the all-round silence is pretty fishy, y’know? > @MacDara #aside

###

Door-to-door alarm sales millennial asks “Did I wake you?” judging my choice of pyjamas as loungewear. Well excuuuuuse me! #aside

###

There was a solar eclipse this morning and NO ONE TOLD ME??!! #aside

###

So, has Steam said a peep yet about what appears to be a chargeback bug that’s restricted (at least) hundreds of genuine user accounts? #aside

###

Just watched Shingo/Okada and now I care about New Japan again #aside

###

Back from a flying visit to Newry. You could tell who else was over the border to shop as they couldn’t be arsed social distancing #aside

###

Kimchi ramen with broccoli, spring onion and a dash of Chinkiang vinegar? That works for me #aside

###

Still rankling at the notion of any crowds (pandemic, yeah?) but that was some real fashy stuff that went down in Dublin last night #aside

###

A new Palm album would be great right about now. Whatever happened to them, anyway? #aside

###

Four hours to download a 25MB RealVideo file of Sleater-Kinney’s ‘You’re No Rock N Roll Fun’ > @Sosowski #aside

###

Got a box of instant matcha latte in yesterday’s post and is it too soon to put in another order? #aside

###

Literally just a screengrab from Google Maps and I get more likes than I’ve had on anything for a while > @MacDara #aside

###

Buddy Murphy was “not in the creative forecast” for WWE, apparently. I can see him going to AEW and becoming a big feckin’ deal #aside

###

Bee got me the Squid double LP for my birthday. I can’t get over that band name, but the music is brilliant > @MacDara #aside

###