If you're an action movie fan, and you're not excited about "The Raid 2", then check this out:
Saturday, 19 April 2014
The Raid
I was surprised to discover that I never blogged about "The Raid" (aka "Serbuan maut" and "The Raid: Redemption").
This was an excellent action/martial arts movie made in Indonesia and featuring Pencak Silat.
The movie stars Iko Uwais who puts in an excellent performance from both the dramatic and martial arts perspectives.
The majority of the cast and crew seem to be Indonesian with the important distinction of the director, Gareth Evans who is Welsh.
The movie was the second collaboration between the two men, the first being "Merantau". The Raid is a huge step up from Merantau - the guys talk in videos available on YouTube about the amount they learned by making the first movie.
In other videos available on YouTube they admit how strongly influenced in making the first movie they were by the success of Ong Bak (the influence is very obvious when watching the movie) and how they wanted to do for silat what the other movie had done for muay thai.
The IMDB ratings reflect the great job they did in going from the first movie to the second: the ratings increased from 6.7 to 7.6.
The Raid is available to watch on Netflix.
The reason I am prompted to mention these movies is that the cleverly named "The Raid 2" is in cinemas now.
I remember blogging some time ago about how much I was looking forward to seeing "Taken 2". Then I had to blog about how awful that sequel was.
Well I haven't been to see The Raid 2 yet, but the IMDB rating is currently an astonishing 8.9! If it stays like that it will be in the IMDB top 10!
So I'm really excitied about going to see it.
Here's a picture of Iko in action from The Raid:
This was an excellent action/martial arts movie made in Indonesia and featuring Pencak Silat.
The movie stars Iko Uwais who puts in an excellent performance from both the dramatic and martial arts perspectives.
The majority of the cast and crew seem to be Indonesian with the important distinction of the director, Gareth Evans who is Welsh.
The movie was the second collaboration between the two men, the first being "Merantau". The Raid is a huge step up from Merantau - the guys talk in videos available on YouTube about the amount they learned by making the first movie.
In other videos available on YouTube they admit how strongly influenced in making the first movie they were by the success of Ong Bak (the influence is very obvious when watching the movie) and how they wanted to do for silat what the other movie had done for muay thai.
The IMDB ratings reflect the great job they did in going from the first movie to the second: the ratings increased from 6.7 to 7.6.
The Raid is available to watch on Netflix.
The reason I am prompted to mention these movies is that the cleverly named "The Raid 2" is in cinemas now.
I remember blogging some time ago about how much I was looking forward to seeing "Taken 2". Then I had to blog about how awful that sequel was.
Well I haven't been to see The Raid 2 yet, but the IMDB rating is currently an astonishing 8.9! If it stays like that it will be in the IMDB top 10!
So I'm really excitied about going to see it.
Here's a picture of Iko in action from The Raid:
Friday, 18 April 2014
Siam Thai, Malahide
We had lunch in Siam Thai in Malahide a few weeks ago. As always, it was very good.
The things that impressed me most (because I was expecting the food, service, etc. to be good) was the quality of the desserts.
All top notch.
Here's a picture of what one of the kids had (and it tastes as good as it looks!):
The things that impressed me most (because I was expecting the food, service, etc. to be good) was the quality of the desserts.
All top notch.
Here's a picture of what one of the kids had (and it tastes as good as it looks!):
Ray 'Arcy
I mentioned Ian Dempsey in a recent post and his long and remarkable contribution to breakfast radio in Ireland. But I also need to pay tribute to his colleagues Ray D'arcy.
Ian broadcasts on Today FM on weekdays from 7 to 9 AM, and he is then followed by Ray who takes over from 9 to midday.
Between them they make an unbeatable pairing.
When I am working from home, it is fair to say that Today FM will be playing in our home up until midday thanks to these two guys.
Ray and his team organised the "Half Million Half Marathon" for LauraLynn, which is Ireland's Children's Hospice, which was run this morning. Ray, Jenny (his wife) and Mairead all ran in the event.
Well done to them all!
Ian broadcasts on Today FM on weekdays from 7 to 9 AM, and he is then followed by Ray who takes over from 9 to midday.
Between them they make an unbeatable pairing.
When I am working from home, it is fair to say that Today FM will be playing in our home up until midday thanks to these two guys.
Ray and his team organised the "Half Million Half Marathon" for LauraLynn, which is Ireland's Children's Hospice, which was run this morning. Ray, Jenny (his wife) and Mairead all ran in the event.
Well done to them all!
Star Trek Continues!
The most exciting thing to happen in the world of Star Trek in the last while (and much more exciting than the movie "reboot") is the appearance of "Star Trek Continues".
The team have made 2 episodes and 3 "vignettes" so far.
They're not bad at all. Very true to the original.
And Vic Mignogna not only puts in an excellent performance as Kirk (he even has his walk!) but he also has credits for writing, directing, producing, and composing additional music! That's some contribution!
Other examples of the team's love for the original series are:
My hat is off to all involved.
You can watch the episodes and find out more information here.
The team have made 2 episodes and 3 "vignettes" so far.
They're not bad at all. Very true to the original.
And Vic Mignogna not only puts in an excellent performance as Kirk (he even has his walk!) but he also has credits for writing, directing, producing, and composing additional music! That's some contribution!
Other examples of the team's love for the original series are:
- James Dohan's son Chris takes on the role of Mr. Scott
- Michael Forest reprises his original role as Apollo
My hat is off to all involved.
You can watch the episodes and find out more information here.
Scratch Competition Finals
I mentioned in my last post how proud I am of my son who got his junior black belt in karate.
Well this time I need to mention my daughter Ellen who got through to the finals of the 2014 Scratch competition!
This seems to be the fourth year that this competition has been run.
Apparently there were almost 1000 entries from all over Ireland and 5 are going through to the finals in each of 5 categories.
In CoderDojo Malahide we encouraged the kids to enter the competition and I'm delighted to say that we have a second finalist: Joshua Murray who is in the 4th year to 6th year category.
Ellen's entry can be seen here and Joshua's here.
Well done Ellen, Joshua, and CoderDojo Malahide!
More details of the competition and the finalists are available here. The finals will be held on the 2nd of May.
Well this time I need to mention my daughter Ellen who got through to the finals of the 2014 Scratch competition!
This seems to be the fourth year that this competition has been run.
Apparently there were almost 1000 entries from all over Ireland and 5 are going through to the finals in each of 5 categories.
In CoderDojo Malahide we encouraged the kids to enter the competition and I'm delighted to say that we have a second finalist: Joshua Murray who is in the 4th year to 6th year category.
Ellen's entry can be seen here and Joshua's here.
Well done Ellen, Joshua, and CoderDojo Malahide!
More details of the competition and the finalists are available here. The finals will be held on the 2nd of May.
Thursday, 17 April 2014
Junior Black Belt
I have been a fan of the martial arts since I was a kid. But, to be honest, I have spent MUCH more time watching martial arts movies than learning the martial arts.
Can you imagine how proud I was therefore the day my son Andrew got his junior black belt! (kids under 12 can only get junior belts with the Irish Kenpo Karate Union)
Here's a picture of him striking a pose shortly after he got the new belt:
Can you imagine how proud I was therefore the day my son Andrew got his junior black belt! (kids under 12 can only get junior belts with the Irish Kenpo Karate Union)
Here's a picture of him striking a pose shortly after he got the new belt:
Rugby Fever
In my last posting I mentioned Brian O'Driscoll's last 2 games for Ireland.
I took this photo from an upstairs window after the second last of those games.
It's hard to see but the kids on the green have abandoned their usual soccer and are playing rugby!
Amazing.
I took this photo from an upstairs window after the second last of those games.
It's hard to see but the kids on the green have abandoned their usual soccer and are playing rugby!
Amazing.
The fantastic Brian O'Driscoll
The outstanding person I want to mention in this second posting is Brian O'Driscoll aka BOD aka "Captain Fantastic"!
Brian has been a fantastic servant of Irish rugby for many, many years and has and continues to be a fantastic servant of Leinster rugby.
IMHO he is the greatest Irish rugby player of all time.
IMHO he is the greatest Irish sports person of all time.
It was fantastic to see him bow out of Irish international rugby with:
Here's a picture of the great man taken after the game:
Brian has been a fantastic servant of Irish rugby for many, many years and has and continues to be a fantastic servant of Leinster rugby.
IMHO he is the greatest Irish rugby player of all time.
IMHO he is the greatest Irish sports person of all time.
It was fantastic to see him bow out of Irish international rugby with:
- A win over Italy in his second last match where he scored 3 tries and was awarded man of the match (followed by a very nice tribute to the man)
- A win over France in France (for only the second time in 42 years) where he was again made man of the match
- The winning of the Six Nations Championship!
Here's a picture of the great man taken after the game:
The Fantastic Ian Dempsey
In this blog posting and the next I want to salute two great servants of Ireland.
The first is the fantastic radio DJ Ian Dempsey (known as "Iano" to all and sundry).
I was switched on to Ian's fabulous breakfast show by my wife. She's a huge fan.
What impresses me most is how "up" he is every morning.
And then (back in October of last year) Today FM had a "This is your life"-type celebration to mark 25 years of Ian presenting the breakfast show (more).
How anyone can present a breakfast show for 25 years, and still be so cheerful, is a mystery to me.
So hats off to Iano.
You can listed to the tribute program here.
One thing which he wife said which really stuck me was that she remarked that it was nice to see Ian being honoured when he spends so much of his time making the people around him look good. Very valid point I think.
And here's a picture of Ian and his family on the day:
The first is the fantastic radio DJ Ian Dempsey (known as "Iano" to all and sundry).
I was switched on to Ian's fabulous breakfast show by my wife. She's a huge fan.
What impresses me most is how "up" he is every morning.
And then (back in October of last year) Today FM had a "This is your life"-type celebration to mark 25 years of Ian presenting the breakfast show (more).
How anyone can present a breakfast show for 25 years, and still be so cheerful, is a mystery to me.
So hats off to Iano.
You can listed to the tribute program here.
One thing which he wife said which really stuck me was that she remarked that it was nice to see Ian being honoured when he spends so much of his time making the people around him look good. Very valid point I think.
And here's a picture of Ian and his family on the day:
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