NiallOK’s Blog

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Here’s a more “newsy” blog post than normal…

I’ve made it no secret that if I were an American, I’d vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election. The main reasons for this are that America needs a change of administration, and John McCain looks like bringing just more of the same. Plus, while McCain may have a young and vibrant running mate in Sarah Palin - she doesn’t appear to have proven herself capable or deserving of the role of Vice President (or President for that matter), and McCain is old and seemingly out of touch, while Barack seems a lot more down-to-earth, street wise and ’savvy’ than his opposition.

As I’ve said to an American friend of mine on I-don’t-know-how-many occasions, while America has learned and adapted a lot of things from us Europeans over the decades, it’s a pity that those things don’t include the single transferable vote system of proportional representation in a multi-party democracy, and that the political landscape in the US seems destined to be forever dominated by the two goliaths that exist there.

Anyway - back to Obama, and after vocally praising him on numerous occasions recently and being rumoured to be planning to appear at the Democratic National Conference in support of Obama, the man who can’t pronounce his own name - former US Secretary of State for the current (Bush/Cheney) administration, Colin Powell finally crossed parties today and came on national television to publicly endorse the Democratic candidate and promise him his vote in November.

“He has both style and substance. He has met the standard of being a successful president - being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation, coming onto the world [and] American stage, and for that reason I’ll be voting for Senator Barack Obama”

This is definitely a big bonus for the Democrats, a very strong voice in Obama’s favour, and just one more positive step on Obama and Biden’s way to the White House.

The golf is on… 

In fact, the big golf event of the year, The 2008 Ryder Cup is taking place this weekend and is basically taking over the telly at home (my dad’s a big golf fan) and in work (pub). Right now the score is USA 5½ - Europe 2½ (but apparently, Europe have had a great start to their day). What amuses me though is the great sense of pomposity and grandeur that accompanies the tournament - particularly in the TV presentation of the event.

If you’re watching it on Sky Sports you may know what I mean when I specifically pick out their break-bumpers (the short RBS sponsorship clips that feature between the programme and the actual ad break) - which mention ‘classic’ moments or statistics from golfing history to the accompaniment of some incredibly over-dramatic and grandiose music - the same kind of music that accompanies the slo-mo replays of the more ‘iconic’ moments of the day.

It’s the kind of grand and majestic music that would almost make you think these guys must be superheros or something - and yeah, while we all know Tiger Woods can walk on water (see video), I now like to imagine that Padraig Harrington can fly, Nick Faldo has X-Ray vision and Miguel Angel Jimenez can shoot lightning bolts from his arse…

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Won this from The Ray D’Arcy Show last week… it arrived in the post today.

It’s the (famous!) O’Neill’s Odd-1-Out Hoodie! My street-cred will totally shoot up now!

I took part in the quiz on the day when they were looking for people who named after someone famous. (My confirmation name is “Phillip” after, erm… this guy…)

Microsoft have come up with a follow-up to their first Gates & Seinfeld TV ad.

This time the lads are ‘connecting’ with people (by moving into their house and taking over the daughter’s pink bedroom)…