The Beginning Stages of... uh, the weekend

First things first - I feel the need to tag this post with two more songs, for reasons that may become clearer later. And also, I realise that 'Why You'd Want...' makes the opposite point to the one I'm going to, but I like it. Anyway...Artist`: Hard Fi Album: Stars of CCTV Song: Living for the WeekendArtist: They Might Be Giants Album:Flood Song:Your Racist FriendWhoever the Patron Saint of Lost Ideas is, he's not listening to me. The Best Post In The World^TM I refered to the other day still escapes my caffeine addled mind. Alas...One of the few perks of my commute is that I have to - nay, get to pass through the city on the way to and from work. Most of the time I'm in too much of a rush to appreciate it - I tend to be cutting it fine to make connecting trains and trams at the best of times - but this morning reminded me of how nice the city can be.Now, there are plenty of cities that, for my money, have a lot more going for them. I'd give my right arm (don't get too excited - I'm very left-handed) to spend more time in London or Chicago and after a while would probably have to be dragged by the ears away from either one. There's also plenty of things wrong with this place - everything's overpriced, the streets are dirtier than you'd think, the public transport is awful and politically, I believe we recently beat out Italy for 'Most Corrupt Government'. But this place is also under-rated.We have some awesome bars (The Gin Palace, Whelan's, The Porterhouse and The Bull & Castle are my favourites), some unexpectedly great food and one of the best places (IMHO) to see a big concert (Slane Castle, not technically in Dublin, but still...)If you couldn't have fun spending a chilly Saturday wandering from Road Records up to Chapters Bookstore by way of the Temple Bar Food Market (don't forget to buy a hotdog!) then we can no longer be friends. I'm going to have to spend another Saturday this way soon. It's been too long.I think you need to do these kinds of things every once in a while to fall back in love with a city. Plenty of people claim, while horrifically drunk, that they love this place, but more often than not they will express that love by leaving a vomity glaze on Grafton Street. And maybe love means never having to say "Damn, I got some on my shoes!" Or maybe not.Briefly serious note. If anyone's been paying attention to 'Celebrity Big Brother' in the UK, then you'll know about the big racism row. Basically Jade Goody (a former Big Brother contestant who now hawks her own perfume brand), Danielle Lloyd (former Miss Great Britain) and others have made racially insensitive remarks to another housemate, Indian actress Shilpa Shetty. The debate rages between the producers and media as to whether or not they were being 'overtly racist' or just plain rude.Here's what gets me - A Sky News commentator on the topic yesterday said that the public vote to evict one of the housemates "will speak volumes about the state of Britain today." Now, I'm not British but...Seriously?Whatever happens in the public vote, I would be seriously offended as a Briton if it determined to the world that Jade freakin' Goody spoke for me either way. Does nobody remember her from before the makeover? This was a woman who was renowned for her ignorance (not to mention being less than easy on the eye). Even if she does somehow win (which seems unlikely), I would hope that even Big Brother's core demographic - whoever that may be - would at least be embarrassed to be mentioned in the same sentence as Jade Goody under the circumstances.Okay, rant over.This, for me, is shaping up to be one of the all-time great weekends. VH1 are showing 'Heavy - The Story of Metal' from tonight, I've got hockey tickets (Belfast Giants vs. Hull Stingrays) for tomorrow night and '24' starts on Sunday. It's taken an absurd amount of willpower (I didn't think I had it in me) not to look for episode synopses on-line. I'm giddy over this.Anyway, I have to go to a meeting now, so I'm signing off. Until later...