Metro Herald, Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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‘My partner died and his parents wouldn’t let me go to his funeral’

HAS GRAND THEFT AUTO FINALLY MET ITS MATCH? pAGE 3

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Serkis act: Actor Andy on making a monkey of himself in Planet Of The Apes

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cannibal nurse put teen on Menu

top executive on €2m fraud charge

A FORMER senior executive at Vodafone Ireland is to stand trial on charges of stealing almost €2million from the company over four years.

Niall Barron, 40, former head of corporate financial services at the telecoms company, was arrested by detectives from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation in Dublin city centre yesterday morning.

Detective Garda Stephen Niland told Judge Denis McLoughlin at Dublin District Court that the accused, who has an address at Ard na Cuan in Wexford town, made no reply to any of the charges.

It is alleged the offences occurred at Vodafone’s HQ in Leopardstown in Co Dublin from 2003 until 2007.

Barron faces 42 charges in total, including one charge of attempted theft and two for attempted deception. The

by toM tuite

ROAD RAGE: Israelis take cover on the side of a road as a siren sounds warning of incoming rockets outside the northern Gaza Strip. An Egypt-backed ceasefire plan unravelled yesterday, reopening the possibility of Israel launching a ground offensive in Gaza ReuteRs

remaining counts are split between theft of various sums totalling €1,983,000 from the company, and deception by inducing Vodafone to make payments to named business entities, for his own gain.

Det Gda Niland told Judge McLoughlin that the DPP has directed ‘trial on indictment’ meaning the case is to go forward for trial at the Circuit Court at a later stage. There was no objection to bail and defence solicitor Dara Robinson told Judge McLoughlin that his client had already surrendered his passport and was consenting to a seven-week adjournment.

Judge McLoughlin remanded Barron on bail pending the preparation of a book of evidence and ordered him to appear in court in September.

42 charges from 2003 to 2007

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Anita Brookner, novelist, 86; Stewart Copeland, musician (The Police), 62; Michael Flatley, dancer, 56; Will Ferrell, actor, 47; Corey Feldman, actor, 43; Adam Scott, golfer, 34; Gareth Bale, footballer, 25 (pictured).

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

Will €380m gamble on a video game pay off?

Fighting chance: Players in sci-fi shooter Destiny can co-operate

IS it worth it? Yes. Bungie took a big risk allowing people to play Destiny so long before its release – but you can see where the money has gone.

The best part is the social element. Helping another player out is a great feeling, with zero faffing about. For now, some enemies It is set don’t put up quite the fight you’d want, but Destiny is living up to the hype.

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by DAVID JENKINS

IT COST more to make than Avatar and The Dark Knight Rises.

But, unlike the latest Hollywood blockbuster, all the action here takes place on the small screen.

Xbox and PlayStation ownDestiny ers are eagerly awaiting the will have a release of Destiny, which Halo franchise, will need to to paint on a blank canvas and create has cost a record €380milsell 15million copies to break freely in an environment unbound by lion to produce. lifespan rules or expectations. even. Destiny is set in a The online first-person ‘Destiny is an answer to our post-apocalyptic Earth shooter is expected to be the The game features the own daydreams about an but players can explore year’s biggest-selling title after its action-packed adventure the solar system, where they release in September. voice It is thought publisher Activision, encounter robots, aliens and of Game Of Thrones that takes place in a fanciful, dynamic landscape.’ behind the Call Of Duty series, and de- wizards. Bungie’s David actor Peter PlayStation owners who veloper Bungie, which created the Dague said: ‘It was liberating Dinklage

10-year

Intrepid drive to Mongolia in a Micra ON FRIDAY, three Irishmen will be taking on a Herculean task by trundling through 18 countries and mountainous ranges for the Mongolia Charity Rally in aid of the Fr Peter McVerry Trust.

Squeezed into a 15-yearold Nissan Micra, 25-yearold friends Paddy Thunder, Lorcan Smith and Diarmaid Keane will travel 15,000km from Dublin to Mongolia during the epic pancontinental expedition.

According to Diarmaid, it’s a journey which will see hundreds of participants compete not for first place, but for the accolade of ‘making it’, in a competition where close to 30 per cent of teams don’t.

Perhaps surprisingly, it’s also the reason they have chosen a trusty Nissan, a vehicle which apparently has the best record of reaching the finish line in the ancient city of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The rally will see the men travel through countries like Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia – where they will have to make do with only the bare essentials, often camping in barren desert regions.

Visit twitter.com/ micramanagement.

years in the future and players can create their own character

pre-ordered can play a ‘beta’ version tomorrow, with the Xbox test next Wednesday.

Industry analysts believe Destiny will be a success. ‘It’s a huge risk any time you embark on a new journey.

‘There is no recipe for success when it comes to Destiny,’ said Dague.

Drive: The lads and the Micra

METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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Councils ask public if tax should drop

The new junior ministers

DUBLIN City Council is asking householders in the city if they would like to pay more or less property tax next year.

Local authorities have the power to vary their property tax by 15 per cent next year. Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown yesterday followed Fingal’s decision to decrease the tax, and Dublin City Council has decided to put the matter to public consultation.

The feedback will form part of a report to be presented by city manager Owen Keegan to the city council on September 22.

The closing date for submissions is 4.30pm on August 13.

Visit dublincity.ie for details.

FINE GAEL Chief Whip, Paul Kehoe Finance, Simon Harris Euro Affairs, Dara Murphy Education, Damien English Food, Tom Hayes Gaeltacht and Natural Resources, Joe McHugh Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring Housing, Paudie Coffey Diaspora, Jimmy Deenihan

‘Cowardly’ killers get life in jail THE father of murdered man Roy Collins has described his son’s killers as ‘cowardly evil men devoid of any standards of mercy or humanity’.

Wayne Dundon, 35, of Lenihan Avenue, Limerick, and Nathan Killeen, 23, of Hyde Road, were both jailed for life at the Special Criminal Court yesterday after being found guilty of Mr Collins’ murder in April 2009.

Earlier the court had heard Roy Collins was targeted after his father, Steve, had given evidence in a previous court case which ended in a ten-year sentence for Dundon. The Collins family had to leave the country after the murder.

Car sales up despite rise in insurance THE cost of car insurance has increased seven per cent, a survey by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry has found.

The Second Quarter Motor Industry Review for 2014 found that despite consumers paying higher insurance premiums the industry is continuing to bounce back after the downturn.

New car sales were up by 23 per cent in the first half of the year, more than all of 2013’s figures. Dublin had the lowest increase in car sales (14 per cent) while Leitrim had the highest (51 per cent).

The Exchequer has benefitted by more than €629million in taxes from car sales this year.

Harris, just 27, lands plum post in finance THE youngest member of the Dáil has been appointed to the most high-profile role in the junior ministerial ranks.

Simon Harris, 27, is the new Minister of State at the Department of Finance, with responsibility for the OPW, public procurement and international banking, including the IFSC. The Wicklow politician, who unsuccessfully stood for a European seat in the recent elections, replaces Brian Hayes, who was elected an MEP. Mr Harris is one of 11 new junior ministers announced by Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday. Four of the 15 names

by jOAnnE AHERn were announced on Friday, including chief whip Paul Kehoe, Kathleen Lynch in the Department of Health, Jimmy Deenihan in the newly-created position of junior minister for the diaspora at the Department of the Taoiseach and Ged Nash as the super junior minister for business and employment.

Labour TDs Joe Costello and Ciaran Cannon, as well as Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd, John Perry and Dinny McGinley, have been dropped.

Meanwhile, Dublin Labour TD Kevin

Humphreys is the new junior minister for Social Protection. This reshuffle sees just two women junior ministers, joining four female senior ministers.

Meanwhile, Mr Kenny has said new junior minister for Gaeltacht affairs, Joe McHugh, is to take a refresher course in Irish. However, Fianna Fáil’s Éamon Ó Cuív said the appointment of a junior minister for the Gaeltacht who does not have fluent Irish is ‘a slap in the face’ for thousands of Irish speakers.

The newly-appointed senior minister in that department, Heather Humphreys, does not speak fluent Irish either.

Hearing told three options given to Brooks promoter were rejected THREE different options were rejected during the failed negotiations between Dublin City Council and music promoters Aiken over the staging of Garth Brooks’ comeback concerts at Croke Park.

An Oireachtas committee hearing was told Dublin City Council chiefs were willing to look at compromises on three separate occasions after initially blocking the five sold-out shows.

On the eve of the local authority dashing plans for the five-night extravaganza, council chief executive Owen Keegan said he even stepped in to offer Brooks a four-night run.

And as late as Monday, Mr Keegan, who was legally bound to stand by the original decision to allow three concerts, offered to bend the rules and allow the council to act as a co-promoter if Brooks would agree to

play three gigs at Croke Park and two elsewhere in the capital.

The third idea was for two matinees and three night-time shows over the weekend, put forward by Aiken.

‘In all three cases, while the council demonstrated a willingness to be flexible, there was absolutely no budge from the other side,’ Mr Keegan said.

Mr Keegan remains adamant that the original decision to grant a licence for only the Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the end of July was balanced.

He said there were serious concerns about the impact of limited access for residents, illegal parking, anti-social behaviour and noise.

Council chiefs suggested that more thorough verification processes should now be put in place while the practice of selling tickets first before licensing a show is under scrutiny.

‘Absolutely no budge from the other side’

Flexible: Owen Keegan

LABOUR Super-Junior for Business and Employment, Ged Nash Health, Kathleen Lynch Social Protection, Kevin Humphreys Equality, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin Foreign Affairs, Sean Sherlock Rural Affairs, Ann Phelan

Joy: New junior ministers Phelan and Hayes

Oops, hotel does it again over apology A DUBLIN hotel has provoked further ire over its unconventional apology for a misjudged Garth Brooks Facebook status.

The Charleville Lodge Hotel on the North Circular Road apologised for getting people’s hopes up after posting online that the superstar’s controversial gigs were to go ahead.

The status received a number of likes and shares, but following Brooks’ statement that the gigs were cancelled, the hotel said sorry, but misguidedly added ‘Oops’ to their posted apology.

In a statement, management later said: ‘We thought the “Oops” comment would be a light-hearted way of diffusing the escalating hate mail. It looks like it exacerbated it.’

However, the hotel ended the statement on a distinctly unapologetic note, urging people writing false, bad reviews to ‘get a life’, which appears to have made the situation worse.

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A TRADE union has welcomed the new whistleblower-protection rules which came into effect yesterday.

Impact said the Protected Disclosures Act gives workplace whistleblowers protections against victimisation or discrimination, including unfair dismissal.

Impact’s Bernard Harbor said: ‘The ability to prevent bad employers from sacking staff in genuine cases of whistleblowing is a particularly important development for workers and everyone who genuinely wants to

Picture: ePA

soldier ‘bought €10,000 grass for dying wife’ by jEssicA MAgEE stopped the car, the driver seemed very nervous and there was a strong smell of cannabis herb. There was a knuckleduster and a can of pepper spray in the car, which he said were for self-protection when he worked as a taxi driver.

When gardaí found a vacuum-packed bag containing cannabis herb in a shopping bag in the car boot, Flood said: ‘It’s only grass, I was trying to dump it, I can’t tell you where it came from’.

Flood said he initially lied to the gardaí that he was moving the drugs to pay off a debt because he didn’t want to implicate his dying wife in his arrest.

He said that after doing some research online, he made a few calls and got a parcel delivered. When the parcel arrived it seemed to be worth about €5,000, and he told the dealer he couldn’t afford it and was returning the parcel when he was arrested.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring heard that if Flood gets a prison sentence he will be immediately discharged from the army.

She remanded him on continuing bail for sentencing in July next year.

we’re giving our 21% have dumped logins to hackers someone by text AN IRISH security firm has warned hackers are asking for passwords – and we’re giving them out.

Eset Ireland has been following a surge of phishing email scams, which redirect users to faked banking, PayPal, iTunes and Microsoft account sites to harvest their login details.

A spokesman for Eset said people still use unsecure passwords like ‘12345’ or ‘password’, and cybercriminals are pretending to be legitimate services and asking for their details. Eset warned web users to change passwords regularly and not to click on links in suspicious emails.

up to five years’ pay for sacked whistleblowers

PANDAs PARTy wiTH cub cAkEs: Giant panda cub twins Mei Huan and Mei Lun celebrate their first birthday with specially-prepared ice cakes, flavoured with bamboo, bananas and vanilla, at Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, US

AN ARMY corporal who told gardaí he bought cannabis to ease the pain of his dying wife will be sentenced next year.

Damian Flood, 39, was caught with €9,814 worth of cannabis herb near Rathfarnham on March 15 last year.

The widowed father-of-two initially told gardaí he was moving the drugs to pay off a debt of €40,000. However, he later confessed to buying the drugs after online research showed him juiced cannabis added to food could relieve pain.

Flood told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he wanted to ease the suffering of his wife, who was terminally ill with breast cancer. She died five months later, on August 26, 2013.

Flood, of Scribblestown Avenue, Finglas, apologised to the court, saying he was ‘embarrassed’ even to be there. ‘It was a moment of madness,’ he said.

The court heard Flood has served 18 years with the Defence Forces, including several overseas postings, including a mission in Kosovo, and is three years from retirement.

Det Garda Colin Tighe told the court gardaí became suspicious when they saw a car driving erratically. When they

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

MORE than a fifth of Irish people have dumped someone by text, a shameful survey has revealed.

Men are twice as likely as women to behave badly during a break-up, and April is one of the most shaky for lovers, while snuggle bunnies wait it out through winter as October has fewest break-ups.

Electric Ireland’s poll to coincide with the Break Up With Your Bill drive, found one in three have unfriended an ex, three in ten have unfollowed a former lover on Twitter and women were more likely to crop their ex out of profile pictures.

tackle illegal practices at work.’

The new law, introduced by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, provides a framework of protections for people who are victimised, or threatened with victimisation, for revealing illegal practices in the workplace. But workers must meet proper criteria to ensure that their revelations are ‘protected disclosures’ under the law.

The penalty for unfair dismissal in such cases has been increased to five years’ pay – from two years.

METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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7 years for stashing drugs Trust fights nuclear plan AN ALCOHOLIC has been given a seven-year sentence after being caught with five different types of drugs worth nearly €500,000.

Brian O’Connor, 57, of Tyrconnell Road, Inchicore, was getting €200 a week to hold the drugs in his apartment, all of which he would spend in the pub he lived over.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of drugs for sale or supply at his home in 2012.

Switch: Marvel’s new Thor

Meet Thor, the goddess of thunder COMIC book fans were left thunderstruck yesterday at the news Thor has become a woman. The god of thunder will be female when the new series is released in October, Marvel Comics has announced.

First seen in 1962, the hammerwielding character is currently played by Chris Hemsworth on the big screen. Marvel editor Wil Moss said: ‘The inscription on Thor’s hammer reads ‘‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if HE be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’’

Well it’s time to update that inscription.’ Writer Jason Aaron added: ‘This is not She-Thor, this is not Lady Thor, this is not Thorita. This is Thor.’

Large bill looms for dress buyer A CHILDREN’S dress made entirely from loom bands has sold at auction for €200,000.

The multi-coloured outfit – fashioned from loops of elastic which can be linked to create a chain mail effect – was snapped up on eBay. The looms have been banned from many schools as teachers fear they are the cause of rows between pupils. The winner of the dress will have to pay an extra €10 in postage, the eBay vendor said.

Health fears for children revealed

Gardaí spotted O’Connor giving a package to someone which contained €137,580 worth of heroin. In a raid on his apartment the next day they found cannabis herb, cannabis resin, ecstasy tablets, piperazine tablets and heroin worth a total of €360,168.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring imposed the seven-year term and suspended the final three years in light of O’Connor’s co-operation with gardaí after his arrest.

people beforehand, as required by the European Commission’s environmental impact assessment directive.

The UK government says this was not necessary because nuclear accidents are not sufficiently likely because of the robustness of the UK regulatory regime.

Counsel for the UK has suggested the appropriate course of action was a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

AN TAISCE has launched a fight to take its case over a new nuclear power station on the west coast of England to Europe.

The country’s national trust is contesting the legality of a decision by the UK’s Energy Secretary to grant development consent for the Hinkley Point project in Somerset – 240km from Ireland.

Lawyers for An Taisce say there was a failure to undertake ‘transboundary consultation’ with the Irish

‘Cannibal nurse put girl of 14 on the menu’

Accused: Dale Bolinger cycles near his Canterbury home in March last year Picture: SteVe FiNN

‘I’ve got the cleaver. I’d want your body afterwards for food...’

A NURSE with a cannibalism fetish plotted to meet a 14-year-old girl to behead, cook and eat her after having sex, a court has heard.

Dale Bolinger is alleged to have contacted the youngster online where he boasted of having already eaten a 39-year-old woman and a girl of five.

He said he took the child from her alcoholic mother, adding: ‘Tried her alive but not great, could only taste the blood so I snapped her neck and cut her up and ate her over about three weeks. Used her bones to make stock and have only run out about six months ago.’

The 57-year-old bought an axe the day before he was due to meet ‘Eva’, telling her: ‘I’ll eat everything from your feet to your face. You’ll be completely consumed.’

But the girl, who lived in Germany, did not show up for their meeting at Ashford International train station.

Bolinger, whose online name was meatmarketman, was arrested in Feb-

OBESITY and mental health are the two biggest problems facing children on the island of Ireland. A study by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which has opened its Irish office in Belfast, showed nine in ten paediatricians were worried about weight problems among youngsters, while six in ten said they were treating more children with anxiety and depression and who are self-harming.

by DOMINIC YEATMAN ruary last year after an FBI tip-off.

Bolinger, from Canterbury, denies sexual grooming but admits assaulting a woman by putting a cleaning fluid-soaked cloth over her mouth in 2010.

Bollinger was arrested at his home in Kent after a transatlantic investigation of internet postings about the killing and eating of women.

The jury at Canterbury crown court heard extracts of his alleged conversation with Eva, posted on the Dark Fetish Network.

In one exchange Bolinger asks her whether she wants to be beheaded.

Eva replies: ‘I need a man, real one to do it.’

Bolinger: ‘I’ve got the cleaver and the experience. Really want to do it? I would want to have your body afterwards for food.’

Eva: ‘I don’t know why I want this but since I was 12 I need it.’

Bolinger: ‘I’ll show you my cleaver and chopping block if you want.’ Eva: ‘Yes.’ Bolinger: ‘And this is my preferred pose for you as I slice your head off.’

Bolinger describes his plan to take the teenager back to his house, strip her, and tie her hands behind her back.

He adds: ‘Get you to kneel over the wodden (sic) block and remove your head...you’ll be gone before anyone knows.’

When she agrees to his plan he writes: ‘Girl back on the menu!

‘As for cooking you, I don’t like waste and I’ll eat everything from your feet to your face.

‘Roasts, sausages even your offal.

I’ve a great recipe for Haggis and Black (blood) pudding. You’ll be completely consumed.

‘Get over here as soon as you want and I’ll deal with your gorgeous firm young and above all edible body.’

When Eva confesses she is 14, Bolinger replies: ‘OK, younger than I thought but I’m still hungry for your meat... You’ll do fine.’

Bolinger asks how she will get to England. Eva replies: ‘I think by train through the Channel.’

‘Great, I can meet you at Ashford International train station and take you home to kill you, it can be that easy,’ Bolinger responds.

The trial continues.

Irish law ‘treating raped women as vessels’

Hearing: Frances Fitzgerald

A UN HUMAN Rights Committee has heavily criticised how women who have been raped and want an abortion are treated in this country.

As Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald appeared before the committee in Geneva, chairman Nigel Rodley said he was sorry the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill did not extend to the right to health of women.

He said: ‘To suggest that, regardless of the health consequences of a pregnancy, a person must continue it at the risk of criminal penalty is difficult to understand.

‘Even more so regarding rape when the person doesn’t bear responsibility and is by the law clearly treated as a vessel and nothing more.’

Mr Rodley said the recognition of the primary right to life of the woman, an

existing human being, has to prevail over that of the unborn child, and he ‘can’t understand by what belief system the priority would be given to the latter rather than the former’.

Minister Fitzgerald pointed out that the Bill enacted last year gives clarity on when women can avail of an abortion and conceded that polls taken indicated a ‘changing view’ by the public on the availability of abortion.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

cup betting ring busted

‘Top Triad’ faces trial after raid at Caesars

by DAniEL Binns

A HIGH-STAKES poker player has been arrested following a crackdown on an illegal World Cup gambling ring in Las Vegas.

Suspected Triad member Wei Seng ‘Paul’ Phua was held along with his son, Darren Wai Kit Phua, 22, and six others over the alleged scheme set up in suites at Caesars Palace.

His arrest comes less than a month after he was held on similar charges in the east Asian gambling capital of Macau.

FBI agents said he is ‘known by law enforcement to be a high-ranking member of the 14K Triad’ and that he flew to Nevada on his private €30million Gulfstream jet to restart operations on US soil.

‘This is a sophisticated, intelligent individual’ They said undercover officers infiltrated the operation following a tip-off from hotel staff who reported multiple monitors and large TV screens tuned to World Cup games in the luxury accommodation.

However, Mr Phua Snr’s lawyer, David Chesnoff, denied his client was involved in organised crime.

He added: ‘This is a very sophisticated, intelligent individual who wants to defend himself.’

Judge Bill Hoffman ordered Mr Phua Snr to post €1.3million bail and use his private jet as collateral.

He was tagged and ordered to stay with a Las Vegas doctor and poker fan until a preliminary hearing on August 4. No pleas were entered.

TRiuMpHAnT gERMAns RETuRn TO HEROEs’ wELcOME THOUSANDS of football fans lined the streets eets of Berlin yesterday y y to greet gr the all-conquering onquering Ger German team who returned from Brazil with the nation’s fourth World Cup. up Midfield maestro Mario Götze, e, whose superb volley in the final against Argentina proved pr to be the winner, tweeted from the open-top bus parade: ‘Wow, what’s going on here ... AMAZING!’ The procession finished on the ‘fan mile’ at the Brandenburg Gate picture: ap WuNDerBar »paGe 24

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METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Platform

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Some ‘blue-sky thinking’ is needed in the debate over the future of the Poolbeg incinerator chimneys, says LukE HOLOHAn

A

with coming home. They are a LL that is new is not welcome reference point viewed beautiful and all that is from both the air and ferries ramshackle is not arriving in from the tempestuous useless.

Irish Sea. It’s something that In 2010, the high-rise landmarks should be remembered when the were retired. The area has since ESB and Dublin City Council been in a state of isolation and inevitably come together to mull disrepair. And now they face being over the future of two of Dublin’s pulled down. most recognisable, and yet You wouldn’t ostracise your peripheral, residents. grandparents just because they’re The candy-striped smokestacks not as able anymore – and we which poke from the Poolbeg shouldn’t do away with, or forget Peninsula above the rooftops and about, a part of Dublin that still has the horizon are, without question, potential and a story to tell. the most imposing and iconic Agreed, nostalgia can be a comfort features of the Dublin skyline.

These cylindrical masses of bricks blanket cloaking practicality. From the ESB’s business perspective, the and mortar are a monument to a towers in their current guise are site rich in history. The Pigeon utterly useless and represent nothing House precinct, made up of more than a hole in which money is obsolete remains like the Pigeon thrown to keep them upright.

House Fort and harbour, has an In their eyes, we probably don’t industrial past that goes back as far even want them anymore – after all, as the start of the 18th century. a motion put forward to have them Once known as the Green Patch, listed in 2010 was rejected. an early landing spot for ships But surely we can find a suitable unloading in the brackish waters of alternative to bringing in the the Liffey’s estuary, it is here that wrecking ball. Giving hope that a the city’s maritime tradition blends positive solution can be with military past, and found, Dún Laoghaire hopefully, one day, a designer Michael Ó cultural, vibrant Mara has proposed future.

Just think of the building a ‘Dublin Interestingly, the sky-high benefits Sky Bridge’ Underwater between the towers Archaeological that could come to rival the London Unit of Heritage with a little Eye or even the lists a number of Sydney Opera vessels which investment House. shipwrecked upon its I agree. Not necessarily shores, the Belle Kate about the concept of a sky and the Argo, and it holds bridge. But more that repurposing strong connections to the ill-fated (‘upcycling’ to some) is the way 1798 rebellion. forward.

Since the 1970s, these chimneys Last year, a Commonagepuffed their plumes like two commissioned project called haggard old sirens beckoning Landing Place brought contempovisitors and weary expatriates rary art installations by Sven across the bay and into the city.

Anderson, Aoife Desmond, Fiona Beautiful is not a word that could McDonald and Ema Nik Thomas to be ascribed to them. But these twin the site. towers, one in fact slightly shorter For one weekend, through sound, than the other, are synonymous film and performance art, the event highlighted the area’s diverse background and architecture.

Although a small project, it Twin displayed, with very little money, towers: how we could revive a pulse in the Could former energy plant.

Poolbeg This weekend, Battersea Power some day Station, a similar industrial rival the landmark in London, will host London hundreds of outdoor movie-goers Eye? for sold-out showings of The Big Lebowski and Easy Rider to herald in a new era. In need of desperate repair the station will soon be redeveloped, maintaining its iconic towers. What a shame it would be if we couldn’t follow suit. Just think of the sky-high benefits that could come with a little investment.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

Screen gazers crave simplicity MOST people admit they are ‘constantly’ looking at a screen and crave a simpler life.

Six in ten people quizzed for the Ipsos Mori Global Trends study agreed with the statement ‘I am constantly looking at screens these days’, and the same number said they wished their lives were simpler.

Three in four (77 per cent) believe the world is ‘changing too fast’, while two in three (64 per cent) said

they believe people led happier lives ‘in the old days when they had fewer problems to cope with’.

Just under half of those surveyed feel ‘overwhelmed’ by the choices they have and the same number said they feel under pressure to ‘make money’. However materialism is not seen as the path to happiness by most – with 61 per cent disagreeing with the sentence ‘I measure my success by the things I own’.

Vision of the future: Google’s smart contact lens

Google lens a an eye to war on diabetes A SMART contact lens that can monitor the glucose levels in the eye is a step closer to reality as Google has announced a partnership with Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to develop it.

The technology giant first unveiled the concept in January, which works using tiny sensors and microchips fitted into contact lenses that can then measure and read the amount of glucose in tears, before sending the information to a mobile device so diabetics can manage their condition.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said: ‘Our dream is to use the latest technology in the miniaturisation of electronics to help improve the quality of life for millions of people. We are very excited to work with Novartis to make this dream come true.’

The move will see Novartis’ eye care division, Alcon, which develops contact lenses, work with Google on making

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The announcement is the latest in a string of futuristic projects Google has undertaken recently, including Google Glass, a wearable headset with its own range of apps that work within the wearer’s field of vision, while it has also begun trialling driverless cars.

All of these projects come from the Google X lab, the company’s infamous creative space where staff are encouraged to come up with ‘moonshot’ ideas for new ventures.

Neither company has placed a time frame on the development of the lenses, with Novartis stressing that there were no guarantees a commercial product would ever be launched, and that more development was needed on both sides.

Perry plots track to happiness IF TURNING a year older makes you sad, play some Katy Perry, left, as you blow out your candles. Her track Birthday is ‘scientifically proven’ to make us happy, experts say. Its major chords, up-tempo rhythm and seductive lyrics make it a better bet to lift the mood than any other recent chart hit, claim the Dutch researchers, who worked with Spotify. The saddest song is OneRepublic’s I Need.

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10 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

★

★

★★ ★ ★

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I kissed Gaga’s man and she didn’t mind It seems Lady Gaga is not the jealous type after striking up a friendship with an actress who’s been snogging her boyfriend. Sophia Bush, 32, locks lips with Taylor Kinney, 33, in new cop show Chicago PD but got a warm reception when her co-star introduced her to Gaga, 28. ‘She’s the loveliest human being and so welcoming,’ former One Tree Hill star Bush told Digital Spy.

Snog: Bush, left, and Kinney, above with Gaga instagram

Over-the-split charlie’s found his spark Charlie Simpson reveals he fell out of love with the music business during Busted’s bitter split and that making his second solo album has been ‘difficult’. ‘I grew very disillusioned with the environment I was in. I met the Fightstar guys and found sanctuary in that away from all this crazy stuff

going on,’ he told Guilty Pleasures. Fresh from his Kenyan-themed wedding, the 29-yearold said of Long Road Home: ‘I got writer’s block half-way through.

The pressure was getting to me. I had to put my guitar down and take two months out. I found my whole spark again when I came back.’

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GUETTA LAWYER, DAVID DJ’s ex-wife could claim half his fortune, as she owns his brands

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AVID Guetta’s divorce has hit a sour note after it was revealed he could lose much of his €22million fortune to his ex-wife.

As the DJ looks to divide up assets acquired during his 22-year marriage to Cathy, sources claim she owns many of his money-making brands.

‘He’s the rock star, she’s the business mogul,’ said an insider.

Another source added: ‘Cathy owns all of the business names, and music [rights], including their F*** Me I’m Famous brand of dance par-

ties and popular compilation albums.’

The French-born Titanium hitmaker may just be regretting signing over the rights to those ventures to Cathy, 47, the source said.

‘Even though their divorce is finalised, things are not good,’ the insider added.

Guetta, 46, and Cathy’s divorce was finalised in March but it’s being reported she could take at least half of his fortune as they split their assets.

If the rumours are true, expect Guetta to host even more of his fa-

Final whistle: Butler and the blonde Pictures: sPlash

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mous club nights in Ibiza, where standard tickets sell for €50 each and drinks cost as much as €18 a pop.

The couple have two children, son Tim, ten, and six-year-old daughter Angie.

The reason behind their break-up is a mystery and comes just two years after they renewed their vows in Ibiza to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.

In another blow, Guetta was forced to cancel a 15,000 sell-out gig in Madrid at the weekend following a row with promoters.

Germany weren’t the only ones who scor during the World Cup final. Star guest ed Gerard Butler was caught in a passionate emb race with a mystery woman. The 44-year-old Scot tish actor didn’t care who was cheering him on as he appeared to pucker up to the blonde after the gam e in Sunday. Beowulf star Butler seemed very Rio on comfortable with his female compan ion they chatted on a balcony before he pull as ed her in for a hug. He was spotted last mon th enjoying the rides at Disneyland, Calif ornia, with TV producer Carmella Casinelli.

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Cameron Diaz is finally ready to show the world her bottom now that she’s in her 40s. The 41-year-old stripped off for her first nude scene in her role opposite Jason Segel in their new X-Rated movie, Sex Tape. ‘I’m not really naked – it’s just my butt!’ she told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘It’s not an objectification. If I had done it another time, if I was a young girl who was taking off my clothes to be sexy in a movie— that never felt right to me,’ she added.

Rihanna deletes Palestine tweet

Scarlett keeps mum about baby bump

★

Rihanna sparked controversy among her fans by tweeting #FreePalestine. The 26year-old deleted the post after a backlash from Twitter followers.

Nicole: Just say no to a blowfish

★

Nicole Scherzinger says the strangest thing she’s ever eaten is – blowfish semen. It’s a delicacy in Tokyo but she warns: ‘Don’t do it when you’re drunk.’

★

Lily Allen has banned the internet in her home for fear of her daughters reading her excessive Twitter rants. The 29-year-old said she was worried about what daughters, Ethel, two, and 18-month-old Marnie would think.

Scarlett Johansson is yet to confirm her pregnancy but there’s no denying a baby is on the way after she was spotted carrying a sizeable bump.

The 29-year-old tried her best to disguise her growing belly under a red and black patterned smock top as she left her apartment in New York City on Monday.

In May, Pete Yorn, who Johansson worked with on Break Up, confirmed she is ‘very pregnant.’ This will be her first child with fiancé Romain Dauriac.

Is IT K R IsTE n & A n n E ... O R K Ev In & A n Dy ?

Hollywood sirens Anne Hathaway and Kristen Stewart ‘did a Conchita’ and donned facial hair for a music video. The pair – along with fellow actress Brie Larson – went drag for US singer-songwriter Jenny Lewis’s new tune. The ladies wear unflattering tracksuits and face fuzz before slipping into white feminine suits for the track Just One Of The Guys.

12 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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60 seconds Mailbox

organisers contacted me and when I was asked to come over from the US for a post-screening talk I jumped at it. I’ve always wanted to visit Ireland and, with the gay marriage referendum on the horizon, I thought it was the perfect opportunity.

How did the documentary come about? After Tom died I

Quick pic PARTY ON, GARTH: Looks like there’s hope yet for Garth Brooks fans. Gareth O’Connor sent us this picture of The Purty Loft in Dún Laoghaire but added that it’s actually a tribute act. Wonder if they’re playing three nights or five…

Send your photos to pictures@ metroherald.ie with ‘Quick pic’ as the subject and we will print the best each day in the paper

Have any responses to the film stood out? People have

“

How important has the internet been in disseminating your story? It’s almost

impossible to gauge. Without YouTube, I’d never have gotten my short film out there and without the

Shane Bitney Crone will attend a screening of Bridegroom tonight at the Wood Quay Venue as part of The Liberties Festival. See www. libertiesfestival.com. Bridegroom is also available to watch on Netflix

Facebook.com/ metroherald

@metrohnews #metromailbox

internet we’d never have been able to fund it through Kickstarter. For a film about LGBT rights to receive so much financial backing was amazing. Netflix, which has since brought Bridegroom to the world, allows people to watch gay-themed movies and documentaries in the comfort of their own home. So many people, particularly if they’re struggling with their sexuality, may not feel comfortable heading to a movie theatre to see a film like this.

posted a video on YouTube to mark come up to me and said that seeing his first anniversary called It Could the movie made them rethink Happen To You. It was a mini suicide and that it saved their lives. documentary of sorts, recounting It’s hard to comprehend, but I can’t our relationship and the predicaimagine a more powerful validation ment I found myself in after his than that. That sharing our story death. Despite the fact that we’d could have such an impact is hard been going out for six years and to fathom. When someone passes had a house and a business away so young, it’ll never make together, I discovered I had no legal sense, but the positive influence of rights. I was only able to see him in the film has helped me in many the hospital thanks to the ways to deal with the kindness of a nurse and tragedy. was ostracised by Tom’s conservative also had I think this isn’t You’ve family, who some A-list prevented me from really about being support along coming to his gay or straight, it’s the way... We’ve funeral. The video been lucky in that went viral and about being Oprah Winfrey was a clocked up millions fan and picked human of hits. One of those Bridegroom up for her who saw it was director TV network. It was also Linda Bloodworth Thomason incredible to have the support of who approached me about expandBill Clinton, who introduced the ing it into a film. It became the film when it premiered at the most-funded documentary in the Tribeca Film Festival. We live in an history of the crowd-funding age where celebrity influence is website Kickstarter. huge and given that the subject of Were you reticent about gay marriage is so divisive, it’s important that people with such making the documentary? sway have chosen to get on board.

When Linda first came to me with the suggestion I wasn’t sure about it, because the story was so raw and What do you say to readers who are undecided as to how so personal. But I thought, given the response to the short YouTube to vote in next year’s samevideo had been so positive, a sex marriage referendum? documentary might have a similar Try to put yourself in someone impact, but on a much larger scale. else’s shoes and to understand that It’s been incredible to see how the LGBT community doesn’t want much the film has resonated with special rights – we just want the so many people, not just in the same rights. I think this isn’t really United States, but right across the about being straight or gay; it’s globe, including in Ireland. I think about being human and to experithat speaks volumes about the ence love is the greatest gift life has universal message of the film, to offer us. It should be something which is not about being straight or that should be celebrated, not gay, but about something as feared.

Daragh Reddin fundamental as love.

Text: ‘Mail’ to 53131*

*Please include a name and location. Emails with attachments cannot be received. Texts cost €0.30 per message + standard network charges. SP. Oxygen8 Communications, 4th Floor, Malt House North, Grand Canal Quay, D2. Customer service number 0818286606

When SHAnE biTnEy cROnE’S partner Tom Bridegroom passed away suddenly at 26, Tom’s parents prevented Shane from attending their son’s funeral. His story is told in Bridegroom

Bridegroom is being screened tonight as part of the Liberties Festival. How did you get involved? The

Email: mail@metroherald.ie

Who looks after horses’ welfare?

i

Am heartbroken to read Louise Ray’s story about the horse on Parliament Street.

I noticed the horses on Stephen’s Green at the beginning of the summer standing in direct heat for long periods of time with no water or food.

I contacted the DSPCA asking who, if anyone, carries out spot checks and they told me to contact the Carriage Office, Dublin Castle.

I wrote to them a letter in early June and have had no response yet.

Can anyone shed any light on who makes sure these working horses are treated humanely?

CW ■ Further to the letter from Louise Ray in relation to the cruel treatment of horses, I was crossing Parliament Street last week when a

horse and carriage turned the corner from the quays, making an illegal left turn and also going through a red light.

Luckily, I was able to scamper out of the way, I shudder to think what would have happened if an elderly person had been crossing Ann, Rush the road.

■ Regarding the recent Garth Brooks debacle, only an eejit would build a house without planning permission, as you can be forced to tear it down.

This was no different. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail, so the promoters have a lot to answer for over the concerts.

Having said that it is shameful that a resolution could not have been found with say, the surplus of concerts over the agreed number

held in Croker this year, triggering an equivalent reduction in the number to be held next year.

Everybody has lost out now so there are lessons to be learned – expensive ones!

Killian Brennan ■ I see that Angela merkel was swanning off to the World Cup in Rio, when we thought she was working. Does she not know that our economy collapsed and we need a few billion from the Germans to fix up a few problems?

A Leavy ■ I have noticed this summer how popular nude swimming and sunbathing is becoming on Irish beaches. So we’re finally moving on with the rest of the world.

Sean, Dalkey

yEH big RiDE

gOOD On yA

● Just to give my sympathies to your Brazilian delivery personnel in Dublin on the recent World Cup. You do a great job in all sorts of weather.

Joe

● To the beardy man in a black T-shirt catching some sun outside Tesco on Talbot Street early yesterday morning. You are awesome! TeaToGo

● Thanks to the guy who offered me his seat the other night on a packed Dart. I had just given mine to a little old lady, and your gesture was much appreciated by this weary traveller.

yOuR RuSH-HOuR cRuSH

● To the hot guy in sunnies and suit on 6pm Dart to Blackrock. Wink next time. Gal in the boots

Backpacker girl

RAnDOM AcTS Of kinDnESS

in the know, on the go

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

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Carnage: Rescue workers pull a survivor from the wreckage at Park Pobedy, Moscow Pictures: twitter/ePA

21 DEAD AfTER METRO TRAin DERAiLMEnT

AT LEAST 21 commuters died yesterday after an underground train derailed at the height of rush hour in Moscow. A further 50 were said to be in a serious condition following the accident near Park Pobedy station, which investigators believe may have been caused by a fault in one of the carriages. One survivor said: ‘It’s a miracle we got out. I thought it was the end.’

More deaths World feared after truce falters

digest

Wildfire survivors share €315million

AuSTRALiA: Survivors of one of the deadliest ever wildfires are to share €315million in a record settlement. More than 5,000 people took part in a class action against electricity company SP AusNet after flames tore through Victoria and killed 119 people in 2009. The fire was started by a power line conductor, which the company say was hit by lightning.

Lead plaintiff Carol Matthews said yesterday: ‘There is so much pain that is still very real but today there is also a sense of justice.’

by SHAROn MARRiS A CEASEFIRE plan for the conflict in Gaza unravelled yesterday, after Hamas rejected the proposals.

Violence speedily resumed, as Arab militants fired scores of rockets deep into Israel.

A man delivering food to soldiers at the Erez Crossing with Gaza died when he was struck by a mortar – the first Israeli death since fighting erupted a week ago.

The attacks were met with more than a dozen air strikes.

The truce was proposed by Egypt – but Osama Hamdan, aide to the Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, said it was ‘not acceptable’.

During the past eight days of fighting, 192 Palestinians have been killed, with four Israelis hurt. This is the third round of violence in just five years.

Israel consented to the ceasefire, which would have involved a 12-hour de-escalation period. Once both sides

Grief: A four-year-old girl is mourned agreed to halt the violence, they would have met for long-term talks in Cairo.

The rejection by Hamas reopens the possibility of Israeli troops launching a ground offensive in Gaza.

An Israeli official confirmed prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ‘directed the military to act with intensity against terror targets in Gaza’.

In Vienna, John Kerry, US secretary of state, said: ‘I cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of Hamas.’

What’s the wurst that can happen?

GERMAny: Makers of the nation’s most famous dish have been fined €338million for price-fixing. A total of 21 sausage-makers and 33 individuals were implicated after the federal cartel office ruled they had fixed prices since 2003. The companies involved include Nestlé subsidiary Herta. The authorities were tipped off by an anonymous informant. Andreas Mundt, of the cartel office, said the fines were necessary owing to the ‘number of firms involved and billions made.’

AMERiCA: Elvis impersonator Joseph Hall stretches his limbs as he gets ready to gyrate his hips and curl his lip at an Elvis festival. Thirty artists took part in the Las Vegas tribute show to The King Picture: AP

Son of slaves is world’s oldest bRAziL: A pack-a-day smoker has become the oldest person ever documented after finally getting a birth certificate at the age of 126. Jose Aguinelo dos Santos (pictured), whose parents were African slaves, was born on July 7, 1888. Experts arrived at the year after asking him about his early memories. It is hoped carbon dating can be used to confirm his age.

and finally... inDiA: Got a police complaint? Talk to the machine. A ‘hole-in-the-wall’ unit has been installed where members of the public can record worries about police corruption and other crimes. The taped complaints are forwarded to the superintendent in charge of Gujarat city of Ahmedabad.

14 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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television

★ Must see

jodie marsh: bullied TV3, 10PM Glamour model Jodie Marsh, who revealed last year that she was bullied at school, heads Stateside for this documentary which casts a light on the effects of bullying, including shootings on school campuses.

She meets David Kachadourian (pictured with Marsh), a teacher at Success Tech Academy, where he was one of four people shot by bullied student Asa Coon who went on a rampage with knives and two revolvers. Since then, nearly every US state has adopted anti-bullying laws.

NeW oN

Available to rent/buy now

ghghghghgh

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DEMAn D 300: rise of an empire

Completely unnecessary sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300. Again, rippling torsos, swords and bloodshed are to the fore – this time though with Aussie TV actor Sullivan Stapleton (below) as the lead, Athenian general Themistokles. Eva Green plays his Persian nemesis Artemesia.

Factual operation cloud lab: secrets of the skies BBC2, 8pm

Hop aboard one of the world’s largest airships as it cruises over America, a base for experiments trying to determine what drives our weather. Measuring clouds sounds like a fool’s game but that’s what meteorologist Felicity Aston is up to, while ex-paratrooper Andy Torbet parachutes into a cloud to examine the forces that keep them afloat.

testing britain’s worst drivers: crash course UTV, 9pm

under the skin

Scarlett Johansson, of all people, trawls the streets of Glasgow for prey in Jonathan Glazer’s acclaimed low-budget sci-fi horror flick. Scar-Jo plays a peckish alien who lures unsuspecting Glaswegians into her transit van where depravity ensues. Expertly crafted with unsettling moments.

It’s questionable whether Jason and Laura, the guinea pigs here, are Britain’s worst drivers. But they are typical of the reckless road-using that accounts for many accidents.

Jason ignores red lights and likes speeding, while Laura uses her mobile at the wheel.

It’s high time this pair were taught a lesson.

★

Drama silicon valley

Sky Atlantic, 9pm

We’re skating a fine line here – this sharp techie satire could just as easily be in the Fun category because, on the surface, it’s a smart-talking comedy. But there’s a clever Social Network element to the story of super nerd Richard (Thomas Middleditch, above) and the battle that breaks out for his revolutionary compression algorithm (you have to go with the IT-speak flow). It’s called Pied Piper and Richard finds himself uneasily calling the tune as the big players try to buy him off.

Fun talk to the animals BBC1, 8pm

Lucy Cooke is the Dr Dolittle equivalent in this enjoyable science-lite canter through the mysteries of animal communication. Mongooses, hippos and chimps are among the beastly vocabularies Cooke tries to interpret with the help of scientists who think they’ve finally cracked the code. The rest of us, however, will need subtitles.

the mimic C4, 10pm

Terry Mynott returns as Martin Hurdle in this downbeat comedy about a man who lives his life through mimicry while struggling to make his own voice heard. Having bolted in fright while on the verge of his big TV break, Martin is now down on his luck. Which means, at least, he gets to do a passable Morgan Freeman as Bilbo Baggins down at the dole office.

★

Film evan almighty

RTÉ1, 9.35pm

Steve Carrell leads a stellar cast, including Morgan Freeman and Lauren Graham, as he reprises his role as newsanchor evan Baxter in this sequel to Jim Carrey’s biblical comedy. evan relocates with his family after being elected to the US Congress, but before he’s had a chance to unpack, God (Freeman, who else?) tells him a huge flood is coming and he’d better build an ark pronto. Things get a little awkward when planks of wood and pairs of animals begin to appear.

Soaps coronation street TV3, 7.30pm

Dark rings under the eyes, five o’clock shadow, an angry assignation with a nervous man in the shadows… but enough about Carla on a night out. It all goes very Within These Walls tonight as Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne), banged up and desperate, reads his jobsworth solicitor the riot act. It feels wrong to admit it, but we’re hoping for a scandalous miscarriage of justice as this case pans out.

‘Cracking up victim’ is by far Peter’s best look.

fair city RTÉ1, 8pm

It’s all love triangles down Carrigstown way as Michael warns Niamh to stay away from him, Katy is glad to hear Laura’s date didn’t go too well and Louise tries to smooth things over with Decco, but he’s having none of it.

Meanwhile, Christy gets some tough love from Carol as she tries to get him face up to his health problems.

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c i g a m y Monke Andy Serkis makes an ape of himself

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

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16 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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features@metroherald.ie to advertise, call 01 7055010

I treated Caesar as a human WETA DigiTAl

Pioneering actor Andy Serkis shares his tips on playing the ape to James Day

M

an may have derived from apes but andy Serkis wasn’t standing for any monkey business when he returned as alpha chimp Caesar in Dawn Of The Planet Of The apes.

‘I approach Caesar as a human in ape skin,’ he says. ‘It’s different to playing King Kong where I went all out to emulate a silverback gorilla. Caesar is a specific character – he’s the recipient of enhanced intelligence coursing around his veins.’

Set ten years on from Rise Of The Planet Of The apes, the film sees mankind almost wiped out by simian flu, while a clan of evolving apes led by Caesar is encamped in woodland on the edge of San Francisco, dangerously close to a human colony.

‘We had a number of Double life: Andy Serkis wears a weeks prior to performance capture suit to create Caesar, filming called the alpha monkey “ape camp”,’ says Serkis.

It’s my directorial debut. The I can’t say anything about it ‘It involved us script by Callie Klovis is much because I’ll be taken to a galaxy improvising closer to Rudyard Kipling’s far, far away and beaten up but to be Lord Of The performance capture and he’s just capture on location and setting up version.

It’s going to be darker I’m too tall to be playing Yoda.

Rings trilogy remarkable as Koba,’ says Serkis. instead of in a studio like a the hierarchy than you’d expect and a rite of I’ve always loved Chewbacca, in 2001.

‘It was a great part and he bit it off because the quadruof the apes and passage following Mowgli’s how amazingly sympathetic ‘It has and chewed it out. It was physical technology is there.’ ped and a way of us journey with a mixture of he is and his great partnership progressed and we really had a go at each other Serkis stresses more apecommunicating. performance capture and with Hans like. hugely since but there was a great level of trust. playing a chimp isn’t ‘Caesar was live action then,’ says Serkis, Toby didn’t need any guidance ‘Caesar merely a case of aping taught sign inching forward on from me – he was a natural.’ doesn’t do this around. ‘When actors start language as a baby his Knightsbridge Serkis says ‘99 per cent’ of so much in this using performance and there is now a hotel suite sofa. ‘With movie because he’s become filming took place in the forests of capture they think community of 2,000 apes, some The Lord Of The Rings, more human and has an almost Vancouver and on the decimated it’s all about lots using sign language, some with city streets of new Orleans, chosen my performance was statesman-like regality to the way of movement their own vocalisations and some filmed and then to double as a post-apocalyptic he holds himself.’ but actually it human language.’ the animators San Francisco.

However, when it came to savage comes down Perfecting the portrayal of We’re inextricably linked but hand-matched ‘The ape community was built scenes with human-hating bonobo, to the closemonkeys required an evolution in it’s bittersweet because it’s been my expressions. next to a disused theme up, stillness, Koba, played by Wrath Of Hollywood technology. The cast On King Kong, park reclaimed by The Titans’ Toby Kebbell, and of a huge journey since 1999 with used a special effects technique we used facial nature after internalising the pair certainly acted great movies and experiences, called performance capture to capture for the Hurricane the emotion. like apes. plus New Zealand is my second realistically mimic chimps. first time. now Katrina,’ We used arm ‘Toby is a great home. I can’t see Peter Jackson Serkis has been the prime we’re shooting the actor. It was his he says. extensions to rushing into Tolkien’s The candidate for these roles since It’s coming after the Jungle Book. performance actors allow the ‘Equally, first time using playing Gollum in the first of the Silmarillion straight away We’re imagining George Orwell the house but who knows? for 2014 – what would his political Caesar targets be? We want a broad goes back appeal without losing its punch. to is how It’s very much about corporate it was left greed – you could describe it in the original star Wars hollywood uses it to replicate eadweard muybridge uses motion capture aftermath as The Wolf Of Wall stop-motion photography in becomes performance movies – and extras in Gladiator, create Jar Jar of the disaster.

Street for kids the 19th century to ‘film’ capture on serkis and A-ha’s take on Binks in star Wars episode I and You can tell it running horses.

Jackson’s king kong in 2005. me video. the panned Final Fantasy: the isn’t computerspirits Within in 2001. generated.’

James Cameron uses an entire In 1915, max Fleischer sinbad: In fact, Serkis says the film would invents the rotoscope, in performance capture cast in Beyond the In 2001 Andy serkis bursts on to survive without CGI and a version which a camera projects a 2009’s Avatar. veil of mists the scene as Gollum in peter showing the cast prancing about in single frame on to an easel becomes the Jackson’s the lord of the Rings performance capture suits may be so animators trace them.

In 2011, serkis’s performance as first motion thanks to a lycra and ping-pong included on the DVD. It seems only Rotoscoping is used in Disney’s Caesar in Rise of the planet of capture film in 2000. ball suit, and a cough and a voice fair something remains primitive.

On JunGLE BOOk

On sTAR wARs Vii

On GOLLuM

On AniMAL fARM

MOTiOn cApTuRE the key Developments

snow White And the seven Dwarfs and Alice In Wonderland, the

Actors are covered in tiny dots to mark their movements.

inspired by his cat bringing up fur balls.

the Apes is deemed so realistic there are calls for an oscar.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes is out Friday.

tv

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

The one in The Hundred Eliza Taylor thought she was pigeonholed in soapland before The 100 came along, writes Keith Watson

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t’s hard to think of anyone having wilderness years when they’re only 24 but Eliza taylor sounds genuine when she says she was starting to think her best acting days were behind her.

Known to millions in Ireland and Australia as Neighbours’ earthy teen bride Janae timmins, taylor’s work dried up when she took the decision to leave the show.

‘I was in Neighbours from the age of 14 to 18 and every actor lives in fear of being typecast,’ she says.

‘I know I did. But after I left, it was hard. No one could see me as anybody other than a Neighbours character. so I ended up working in a bar and teaching drama to kids. I really couldn’t catch a break.’

Her last chance saloon was taking herself off to Los Angeles to try her luck in Hollywood’s infamous casting season and even that turned sour – she had her credit card skimmed by a taxi driver – until an eleventh-hour call to head the cast of teen apocalypse tV drama the 100 turned her world around.

‘I had no money left and I was headed back to Australia to teach drama when I got the call to say

FESTiVAL FiT Colm giles of Castlepalooza-bound indie outfit ghost Estates on his festival highs and lows Acts you’re most keen on catching at Castlepalooza this year... Definitely The Funeral Suits and Sisters.

Haven’t seen either in a while and we’re dying to hear their new stuff.

The celebrity you’d most enjoy having a natter with as you pitch your tent in the rain... Gruff Rhys, without a doubt. The man is a living legend.

17

The most gawd-awful/hair-raising/eye-watering festival experience… It would have to be seeing a young lady emerging from a collapsed Portaloo at Oxegen – it was a good few years back. Need I say more?

Celebrity you’d happily share a sleeping bag with...

Gruff Rhys, again. Don’t know if the feeling would be mutual on his part though...

Ideal pre-dawn playlist for a campsite shindig…

Seasons (Waiting On You) by Future Islands; I Was A Man by Jape; Give Him A Great Big Kiss

by The Shangri-Las; GMF by John Grant; Reflektor

by Arcade Fire; Love Like A Sunset by Phoenix: I Only Have Eyes For You by The Flamingos.

Most memorable festival moment... Pulp at Electric Picnic in 2011. Probably one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. I was in heaven from start to finish.

Best festival survival tip… Don’t sleep. Not one wink.

All the while keeping on a healthy diet of Buckfast.

That will get you through it.

The festival act that most surprised you... Erasure at Electric Picnic 2009 were one of the biggest surprises.

They were amazing.

Ghost Estates Perform at Castlepalooza, Charleville Castle, Co Offaly, Aug 1 to Aug 3. www.castlepalooza.com

I’d been given the part in the 100,’ says taylor, still scarcely able to believe her luck. ‘Which was completely out of left field, because I’d been trying for movies, really. I hadn’t been going for tV. I thought it was some kind of teen movie.’

In the 100, which is just into its first season on E4 but has already been renewed for a second run in the Us, taylor plays feisty, assertive – some might say bossy – Clarke Griffin, part of a group of wayward teenagers sent down to a postnuclear planet Earth from a space station run by an adult society riven by divisions. the idea is to see if the planet has become habitable once again, so they are, in effect, teen lambs sent to the slaughter. Down on Earth, however, two groups quickly emerge. One is intent on anarchy and

cutting ties with the adults circling above, while the other – including Clarke – take the longer view about the survival of the human race. ‘there’s an ecological message to it,’ says taylor. ‘these kids are left to deal with the mess of a world they find themselves in. But the story is equally about them having to deal with simple realities and the messy stuff that life throws at you. It all gets pretty Lord Of the Flies when they are left to sort themselves out.’

Well, Lord Of the Flies with lovely hair and vests by Gap, but you take her point. she agrees the confident Clarke is a world away from the ditzy, rebellious Janae, who was one of Neighbours’ most memorable teenage characters, and whose under-age marriage to Boyd Hoyland (Kyal Marsh) was her most controversial storyline.

‘Clarke’s quite a difficult character to understand and to like, that was one of the things that really pleased me about the part. to try and get inside her head. And it’s great to be playing a teenager again… I think I can still get away with it.’

The 100 is on E4 on Mondays at 9pm.

gig SARAH JAROSz It really is difficult to believe that Americana mavin Sarah Jarosz is only 23 years old. Listening to her just-released third album, Build Me Up From Bones, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Grammy-nominated Texan native had spent at least half a lifetime honing her songwriting chops and perfecting her singular ‘newgrass’ sound. In fact, Build Me Up is only Jarosz’s third solo album – she signed her first record deal at sweet 16 – and in the US it has already won her fawning reviews from the likes of Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

The praise has been no less effusive on this side of the Atlantic, even if Jarosz has yet to win the fanbase her sophisticated blend of alt-folk and old-timey Appalachia deserves. Although the LP contains covers of Bob Dylan and Joanne Newsom, it’s her own compositions, including the genre-defyingly brilliant Fuel The Fire, that really impresses.

Jarosz has already been likened to the venerable Gillian Welch and on the basis of this album, it’s certainly a credible comparison.

Tomorrow night she plays the bijou environs of the first floor stage in Whelan’s alongside touring buddies Alex Hargreaves (fiddle) and Nathaniel Smith (cello) – should she pass this way again, expect Jarosz to play a considerably more capacious venue.

Daragh Reddin Tomorrow, Whelan’s, 25 Wexford Street D2, 8pm, €22. Tel: 1890 200 078. www.whelanslive.com

18 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

D

Disaster has struck! World famous skyracer Dusty Crophopper has a busted gearbox. But fear not – ROSS MCDONAGH is on the case in California

I

’m standing in ‘There Are Killers Among Us’ National Park talking to a guy who has just admitted right to my face that he intentionally started forest fires here. I don’t know what surprises me more – the fact they would name a park that or that the arsonist I’m talking to is actually employed as a park ranger here.

Of course, the park is more commonly known by its miwok Indian translation, Yosemite. (The ‘killers’ bit was a boast of how many bears the tribe offed.)

And of course, the park ranger who is admitting setting fire to the place knows exactly what he’s doing.

‘We fought against fires for decades,’ he says. ‘It’s only relatively recently we discovered fire can actually be quite good for a forest, and, in some cases, absolutely crucial for its survival. Fire is cleansing.’

The ‘duff layer’ he points out – dead wood, grass, moss, lichen, etc., that carpets the forest floor – needs to be cleared away to allow new stuff to grow, and allow sunlight and moisture to reach the soil.

It’s amazing any sunlight breaches the floor at all, so gargantuan are the famous giant sequoias that guard it.

It’s difficult to describe their sheer size to someone who hasn’t stood beneath one. When you say ‘tree’ to someone, you generally think of something you can climb, yet you won’t even dare to imagine scaling one of these things, so absurd is the thought. They have a presence, rather than just being present.

However big they are, they are still

T

He reason I’m in the park is made of wood, which I was always for Disney’s latest film, told does not get on well with fire – Planes: Fire And Rescue, surely the fire can damage the trees? which is set here (well, in a ‘Not so,’ says the ranger, inviting fictionalised version called me to touch the immense creature.

Piston Peak). It’s a sequel to Planes, It’s… surprisingly soft, spongey, a spin-off from Cars. almost – the perfect protection The film is expectedly gorgeous to against a purging fire. The bark look at, has plenty of giggles (‘Hey absorbs a huge amount of water, sugar rims, you just fall out of a rendering it quite flame resistant.

B-17? Cos you’re the bomb!/Ugh! – Another use of the fire is it opens Pick-up trucks!’), a great cast the Sequoia’s acorns, which are not (including erik estrada – who plays the enormous pine cones lying about a police helicopter in the lol-erific which continuously fool everybody, TV show CHoPs) and kids, of but rather these almost-comically course, will love it. tiny little rock-hard nuts.

But the part that might strike a ‘Another mistake people commonly chord with accompanying adults is make with Sequoia acorns,’ he tells the set-up: world famous me, ‘is assuming the roots go skyracer Dusty deep.’ It’s a natural Crophopper has a assumption for the dodgy gearbox, and world’s largest trees.

But the roots of the Of course, the park his doctor tells him he can’t race Sequoia are ranger who is anymore. Literally, actually quite shallow – to make admitting setting fire he is too old for this s**t. up for that, they do to the place knows ‘Whereas the first stretch out very far Planes was beautiful horizontally, much exactly what he’s and a really sweet to the chagrin of doing movie, this one is a little people who sneak the bit grittier, dare I say, The acorns home, plant them in empire Strikes Back of Planes what they think is a safe films,’ laughs comedian Dane Cook distance from the house only to have (pictured), who lends his voice to the surface-skimming roots upend Dusty. the house foundations.

‘What’s so cool about these movies The ranger makes an interesting is how we see ourselves in a lot of point: if aliens arrived on this planet these characters; how many people tomorrow, who would they assume have had a situation, a health scare at was in charge? The noble (and any age, where they look and say fireproof) sentinels who have stood “Jeez, OK, if I can’t overcome this, here for thousands of years, or the delicate little perishable bags of meat what’s my purpose?”’

Dane’s normal style of humour is running around between their feet?

“

Five films to see at the cinema

1 2 3

Boyhood Watch a child grow up before your very eyes in this mesmerising coming-of-age drama from director Richard Linklater, starring Patricia Arquette and ethan Hawke.

Begin Again Keira Knightley (right) and Mark Ruffalo make sweet music in this New York-set dramedy. Watch out for fun turns from James Corden and CeeLo Green.

Cold In July Taut indie thriller starring Dexter’s Michael C Hall as a mild-mulleted family man who gets dirtied by manslaughter, cop conspiracies and Don ‘Miami Vice’ Johnson.

usually a little more vulgar than you would normally see in a Disney film, so he was in some ways a surprise choice for the role, but he insists it wasn’t a struggle for him to keep his mind out of the gutter and the movie family-friendly.

And speaking of the gutter, Dane confirms to me he is actually of Irish descent.

‘I finally got to go to Ireland and do a show there at the Point several years back, it was great,’ he recalls. ‘Not only was it (adopts predictably terrible Oirish accent) “luvley”, but the people over there were just so welcoming.

I look forward to going back and maybe not having to do a show and spend some time?

‘I got to fulfil one of my dad’s last wishes before he passed away which was to play golf in Ireland, he was a big golfer. I took him out for 18 holes – it was the perfect father-son moment.’

I’m still skeptical about his heritage – Cook doesn’t sound very Irish?

‘I have been doing my research and I found that my family name was – I still gotta figure out

4

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of A Window And Disappeared What the title says. A quirky Swedish tale, a bit like Forest Gump as reimagined by the Coen Brothers, that adapts the multi-million-selling novel.

5

How To Train Your Dragon 2 A welcome return for the popular animated franchise.

Cate Blanchett joins the voice cast while Jay Baruchel returns as young Viking hero Hiccup.

where this happened, Cook came later, the Cooks were up in Prince edward Island up in Canada – but I’m an O’Hagan. That’s all I know so far,’ he insists. ‘Is that a good group?’

I can’t think of any famous ones off-hand besides newsreader Una. I Google it later and find O’Hagan supposedly means ‘little flamboyant fire from the sun’, and famous O’Hagans include ‘journalist and butcher’ Bill O’Hagan, who according to Wikipedia was ‘known for his virtuosity in the making of top-quality sausages’.

I really, really regret not having this information before the interview.

@rossvsross

Fire in Babylon: Bab Yosemite Na National Park in California ((above) is the setting ffor the latest kids’ anima animation Planes starring US ac actor Dane Cook (left)

Looking ahead Joe

Nicolas Cage (right) is back in the game with this gritty American indie about a hot-headed guy in the Deep South who befriends a local boy (the talented Tye Sheridan).

body matters

D

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

features@metroherald.ie to advertise, call 01 7055010

My fight with amnesia

O

ne day in 2002 David Stuart MacLean came to on a station platform in India with no idea where he was.

He looked for his passport. Then he realised that even if he did have a passport, he wouldn’t have recognised his own name. ‘This is when I panicked,’ he writes in his memoir, The Answer To The Riddle Is Me. ‘I couldn’t remember anything past waking up.’

MacLean, then 28 and in India on a Fulbright scholarship, had had a catastrophic reaction to Lariam, the anti-malaria drug now known by its generic name, mefloquine. That morning in India, a police officer took pity on him but assumed MacLean was out of his mind on heroin.

Only later, when MacLean was hospitalised and his parents had arrived from Ohio, did it become clear that his symptoms were the consequence of a legal drug rather than an illegal one. That was the point at which MacLean’s problems really began.

Today MacLean is a twitchy, articulate, drily funny 40-year-old who, on a practical level, has clearly recovered from what happened but on an emotional one hasn’t at all.

His excellent book is his account of the day his self shattered into a thousand pieces and his attempts over the subsequent years to stick what he could back together.

It has been a long, terrifying journey into absence, hallucination and panic. He couldn’t remember his girlfriend, Anne, although he pretended he could. He had no idea if some people he encountered were people he couldn’t recall or had never known.

He looked at old pictures of himself and couldn’t recognise the David gurning back. He knew his parents but not the name of his sister.

‘There’s that Fred Flintstone myth of amnesia: you get conked on the head once and everything goes; you get conked again and it all comes back,’ he says.

‘But it’s not like that at all. I now have a filament of anxiety inserted into every moment of misremembering. I no longer know what I don’t know. I don’t have that communal memory, that code of friendship with people you’ve known for years that reinforces who you are.’

MacLean counts himself lucky. Some people who suffer a psychotic reaction to Lariam kill themselves. At times, MacLean thought about doing the

LARIAM ALERT

HEATHER EIDSON PHOTOGRAPHY

David Stuart MacLean woke up in India with no idea who he was. He tells Claire Allfree about his terrifying ordeal

19

Mefloquine hydrochloride, better known by brand name Lariam, was developed by the US Army after Vietnam and approved for commercial use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1989.

It immediately appealed to people travelling to malarial countries because you only need to take it once a week, rather than once a day.

Nowadays, it is only used by a minority of travellers.

Lariam has long been known to cause side effects such as ringing in the ears, depression and hallucinations.

Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has received more than 2,000 accounts of ‘adverse’ reactions to the drug, while a 1992 World Health report declared there were known ‘serious neurological psychiatric adverse events’ attributed to it.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence, however, reportedly continues to prescribe it to an estimated 2,500 British soldiers a year despite growing criticism, including from members of a Commons Defence Select Committee in 2013.

Shattered self: David Stuart MacLean is angry the anti-malaria drug Lariam continues to be available same. He was sick with self-loathing (he developed a consuming paranoia about how appallingly he had treated people he had loved) and at times felt totally alone.

‘It sounds glib but it was my dog Sally who saved me,’ he says. ‘I had some dear friends but no one knew how bad it was. Trauma individuates us. It pressure-seals a part of your personality away from everyone else.’

Lariam is still prescribed in the UK, although most GPs are likely to offer their patients less risky alterna-

tives. The US Army banned its use late last year after it was linked to the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a US soldier but it is still prescribed by the British military.

I

n his book, MacLean notes that Lariam has been given to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an area not prone to malaria, in a tactic that has been called ‘pharmaceutical waterboarding’. He suggests suspicious suicides at the detainee camp may be linked to the fact inmates were given five times the recommended weekly dose.

MacLean is angry about what he calls the toothlessness of the US’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which approved the drug on

the basis of an observational study.

‘The FDA has just put a black box warning on the drug advising that some of the physical effects – vertigo, tinnitus – could be permanent,’ he says. ‘I think people will soon realise that the psychological effects – anxiety attacks, depression, insomnia – are permanent too.’

He has often wondered whether there was something in his neurological make-up that made him respond the way he did. But the question tends to lead him into an existential death spiral.

‘Is my personality complicit in what happened to me?’ he ponders.

‘And if I were a different person maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

But then does that make me little

more than a collection of firing neuro chemicals? Aarrgh!’

MacLean teaches creative writing and has the innate gift of articulating scenarios that defy description. His memoir, which is as much about the unstable nature of identity as it is memory, is jagged, queasy and full of brain-jolting images.

He describes himself in hospital as ‘drifting in a place as unremarkable and viscous as wood glue’. Later, back home, he talks about sitting outside ‘begging the stars not to move’.

He clawed his way back to stability and sanity through a mix of counselling, determination and the support of his family, and has since married and appears settled. But he concedes there is no ending, no point at which he can say he has fully recovered.

‘I was very keen for the memoir not to come to an end that makes it seem as though I was fine,’ he says.

‘Instead, I’m more aware of how unsafe I am at every moment – how unsafe everyone is.’

The Answer To The Riddle Is Me (Short Books) is out now.

20 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

puzzles

METROSCOPE

by Patrick Arundell

NEMI by Lise

Aries Mar 21 – Apr 20

Jupiter relocates into your sunniest sector. The average transit of this planet is 12 months and over the next year it can help you to strut your stuff. It can also trick us into believing luck will happen without too much effort but best results will come from hard work.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 70

Although you can continue to be focused on key goals, the realisation is going to dawn quickly that the best way to accelerate towards these is going to be through building positive links with others.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 76

scorpio Oct 24 – Nov 22

For your forecast, call 15609 114 71

For your forecast, call 15609 114 77

Chances are you’re going to encounter someone sooner than you think who’ll turn out to be a major influence in a positive way. This may be someone who holds a position of seniority or a decision-maker.

Gemini May 22 – Jun 21

sagittarius Nov 23 – Dec 21

For your forecast, call 15609 114 72

For your forecast, call 15609 114 78

Your word and thought power are your greatest gifts but they’re set to have a massive injection of extra power from here. If you have a natural love of entering competitions and free prize draws or networking, you could enjoy good fortune.

cancer Jun 22 – Jul 23

If you’ve invested in your personal creativity over the past year, the next year can see you reap a dividend.

This could come about in some kind of practical, even financially beneficial way, or it could just see you develop a healthier sense of yourself.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 73

Leo Jul 24 – Aug 23

You can have one of the most dazzling personalities of the Zodiac.

Now that’s not to say that you always feel in top form, or that you always feel adored as much as you would like. But all that is set to change now when you will be supported by Jupiter.

PEARLs BEFORE swINE

– Oct 23

Taurus Apr 21 – May 21

In the coming year, the area that could see you find new levels of contentment can be around family life. This might see you plan a new addition, beautify your abode or move to somewhere more idyllic.

METROKU Easy, Moderate and Challenging. For solutions, visit Metro.co.uk/metroku

Libra Sep 24

For your forecast, call 15609 114 74

Virgo Aug 24 – Sep 23

The next twelve months can see you focused much more on the quality rather than quantity of your social circle. In fact, this can be a year of discovery. Although you are essentially a practical person, a lot of new influences and a spiritual person can enter your world.

With Jupiter on the march, the happy news is that it will be occupying a location over the next year that can help to bring out the best of your natural talents. Your love of history, knowledge, different cultures, music, and travel are all enhanced.

capricorn Dec 22 – Jan 20

Your natural talent for marshalling your resources is given a boost now and whether you are a global tycoon or selling stuff on eBay, this is your chance to improve your lot. Property can also see you do well.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 79

Aquarius Jan 21 – Feb 19

You can be one of the kindest members of the zodiac, but sometimes find intimacy more challenging. Now you are entering a celestial window of opportunity that lasts for a year, which can see you blossom and develop much more confidence.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 80

Pisces Feb 20 – Mar 20

When you love something, you can have a tendency to ‘love’ it to extremes. This is something you may need to try and counter. It’s not that you should pulverise your passions but everything in moderation will help to keep you in a state of equilibrium.

For your forecast, call 15609 114 81

DOWN 2 Fat (5) 3 Obedient (7) 4 Sadness (6) 5 Fire-arm (5) 6 Upstart (7) 7 Dimension (11) 8 Poverty (11) 14 Goblet (7) 16 Half-drunk (7) 17 Sermonise (6) 19 Live (5) 21 Symptoms (5)

Yesterday’s Solutions Across: 1 Gratuity; 5 Dear; 9 Also; 10 Arrogant; 11 Major; 12 Tripper; 13 Head over heels; 18 Arcadian; 19 Pick; 20 Travail; 21 Meant; 22 Nick; 23 Assisted.

Down: 2 Release; 3 Two-fold; 4 Turn the tables; 6 Example; 7 Returns; 8 Polish; 13 Hearten; 14 Archaic; 15 Ordeal; 16 Express; 17 License.

Astrology calls cost 1.27 euros per min from a BT landline. Live Services cost 2.40 euros per minute. Calls from mobiles/other networks may cost more. Callers must be 18 or over to use this service and have the bill payers permission. For entertainment purposes only. All calls are recorded. PhonePayPlus regulated(ComReg in ROI) UK SP: StreamLive Ltd, NR7 0HR, 08700 234 567. ROI SP:Moveda, 1 Courtyard Business Park, Orchard Lane, Blackrock, Co Dublin, 0818 241 398

ENIGMA An adjective today.

Let’s see: Arid, dry, or moisture-free.

Four syllables.

But spelling’s sneaky: Watch out for that middle ‘cc’. wHO AM I? A singer and songwriter, I was born in Warracknabeal, Australia in 1957. I formed a band called The Boys Next Door, which became The Birthday

Party. My backing band is called The Bad Seeds. wHO, wHAT, wHERE & wHEN? WHO… wrote the play on which Debussy based his opera Pelléas et Mélisande?

WHAT… is a hoatzin?

WHERE… in Ireland were both Braveheart and 1980 WW2 movie The Big Red One filmed?

WHEN… did Oliver Cromwell arrive in Ireland?

SCRIBBLE BOX

ACROSS 1 Not easily described (11) 9 Voter (7) 10 Power (5) 11 Ledge (5) 12 Gorge (7) 13 Remember (6) 15 Quantity (6) 18 Wind (7) 20 Overturn (5) 22 Sound (5) 23 In brisk time (7) 24 Riches (11)

QuIz

crossword No. 1013 See next edition for solutions

QUIZ ANSWERS: ENIGMA: Desiccated. WHO AM I? Nick Cave. WHO, WHAT, WHERE & WHEN? Maurice Maeterlinck; A tropical bird; Trim Castle, Co Meath; 1649.

QUIcK cROsswORd

For your forecast, call 15609 114 75

For a live one-to-one consultation with one of my gifted psychics, call 15809 113 68 or 1800 719 688 to book using credit card

D

Meath boss confident Royals ready to face Dublin

Boss Mick o’DowD insists Meath are better prepared for this year’s Leinster football final.

The Royal county kept pace with Dublin last year for almost an hour, trailing by just two points with 57 minutes on the clock before being slipping to a seven-point defeat.

Dublin have since won the Allireland title and retained their Allianz League crown, though o’Dowd believes his Meath team have improved too. ‘i think the depth of our squad has improved for sure,’ said

o’Dowd. ‘we would have spent a lot of time throughout the o’Byrne cup and the league in developing our squad. with the way long-term injuries have hit us, we’ve had to do more work in that area but it’s meant more opportunities for players. we’d be happy overall that we are better prepared this year.

‘But as everyone knows when you’re playing Dublin, there are battles all over the field. You can’t just hope to be winning two, three,

Prepared: Mick O’Dowd

gaa leinster final

four or five. You have to win an awful lot of them and win them over the course of the entire game. That’s the challenge.’ whatever happens on sunday, o’Dowd is delighted to have got Meath fans excited again after a difficult decade or so.

‘There’s a buzz around the county again,’ claimed the skryne man and ex-forward.

‘Expectations have risen as our performances have risen. Now it comes to Meath/Dublin and Meath people always love this game. it’s close to the heart.’

Emerging talent: Cormac Costello is one of the frightening number of forward options available to Jim Gavin, but Ciarán Whelan argues this abundance of quality is only seen from ten to 15 pictuRe: inpho

by pAUL kEANE Given that Dublin substitutes have kicked 4-35 in their last eight Championship games, it’s tempting to suggest Dublin’s B team is the second best in ireland right now.

Ciaran Whelan goes along with the argument but only to a point. the midfielder who once carried the hopes of the county on his broad shoulders accepts that their forward options are indeed chilling. it is reflected in the big tallies they keep putting up and the giant winning margins they consistently enjoy in Championship football – averaging out at 14 points under Jim Gavin.

‘They’re quite limited in their resources’ But Whelan draws the line at suggestions that they have like-forlike replacements in the defence and midfield areas, something Leinster final opponents Meath will surely have homed in on. ‘the funny thing about all this talk about Dublin’s strength in depth is that it’s only really from ten to 15,’ claimed Whelan. ‘if they lose one or two players from two to nine, it changes the whole dynamic of the team.

Dubs strength in depth not shared with the defence ‘this theory about these players that are coming through, the reality is that it’s really important for Dublin that the guys there from two to nine stay fit.

‘Like, Ger Brennan is out injured, he’s been out for a considerable amount of time. they’re quite limited with their resources in the back line.

‘Macauley is crucial in terms of the link up play that he brings and the pace he injects on the ground. that is a concern, going forward, that they’ve got

to keep all those guys fit and healthy.’ even with those minor question marks that he has raised, Whelan still believes Dublin will overpower rivals Meath for the third time in a row.

‘Dublin just have to ensure they get their match-ups right, they have to identify Meath’s

strengths, they have to know that Stephen Bray is a serious operator if he is left in space, one on one,’ continued Whelan. ‘they have to watch Graham Reilly breaking off the middle and be conscious that Paddy O’Rourke’s kick outs can land on the half-forward line and that, if they break the wrong side for Dublin, they could be in trouble.

‘So i think Dublin have to nullify some of Meath’s strengths but i think if they do, and if they are focused, i struggle to see where Meath can get at them.’

You legend: Dublin great Whelan was at Croke Park yesterday to help launch the Bord Gáis Energy Legends Tour at the stadium. See www.Crokepark.ie

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD

21

spORT DigEsT British victory just the start for Lewis FORMULA ONE Lewis

Hamilton feels his British Grand Prix victory has provided him with ‘a fresh start’ heading into the second half of the campaign.

Hamilton (pictured), who trails Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by just four points going into this weekend’s race at Hockenheim, said: ‘I feel like I’ve been on the back foot all year, only briefly leading the championship despite taking the wins I’ve had. It’s going to be a really close battle between us.’

O’Loughlin wins Ennis Junior stage cycLiNg Michael O’Loughlin of Team

Ireland lay down a marker last night, taking the stage victory of the Junior Tour of Ireland in Ennis, Co Clare, writes David Thomas. O’Loughlin had a winning margin of ten seconds on the Kildysart Road – on the outskirts of the town – ahead of Cael Coen from Castlebar Cycling Club, with Dylan O’Brien of Munster completing the podium places for the 6.2kilometer time trial. The defending champion Eddy Dunbar and favourite for the event was placed sixth, 20 seconds in arrears of the winning time of nine minutes ten seconds. The 81 competitors will set out today on the 116kilometers from Ennis.

Cancellara exits to focus on Worlds cycLiNg Fabian Cancellara announced his withdrawal from the Tour de France on the race’s first rest day yesterday, becoming the latest big name to exit, albeit the Swiss did so voluntarily. Unlike previous winners Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck and 25-time stage winner Mark Cavendish – all of whom crashed out – Cancellara chose to abandon the race prior to the Alps and Pyrenees in order to prepare for September’s Road World Championships in Spain. Cancellara said: ‘I have another big goal at the end of this season: the World Championships. It’s not a secret that I’d like to be in my best shape there, so it’s important that I take some rest.’

Cancellara was fifth over the stage five cobbles, a day he began as one of the stage favourites. His departure, and that of Schleck and Danny van Poppel, leaves Trek with six remaining riders.

Tindall calls it a day RUgby UNiON Mike Tindall has

become the last member of England’s 2003 World Cup-winning team to retire.

The 35-year-old centre was player coach at Gloucester last season but has not been offered a new deal. ‘After 17 years it’s time to retire from rugby,’ Tindall wrote on Twitter.

22 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Louis Oosthuizen

On THE spOT Winner of The Open at St Andrews in 2010, the tractor-loving South African will be hoping to brush off a niggling back injury and add a second Claret Jug to his collection at Hoylake this week.

Age: 31. ProfessionAl wins: 12.

Honours: 2010 Open winner, 2012 Masters runner-up n You had to pull out of the Travellers Championship last month. How is the back now?

The back is doing okay. It has been a recurring injury since last year’s Open. But I’ve got a great team of specialists to help manage things. n How do you feel about your game this year?

I feel like I have been hitting a good ball and posting solid rounds at big events. My last round at the US Open and a strong showing at The Masters certainly gave me confidence. n It’s been four years since your victory at St Andrews. How much would it mean to win it again at Royal Liverpool?

Of course I would love to get my hands on the Claret Jug again! Links golf is always a unique challenge but I feel I could win another Open. n How do you feel Hoylake suits your game?

I didn’t make the cut in 2006 so was obviously disappointed. The course strategy depends a lot on the weather but I have the consistency to work the ball around the course with the creativity to win. n I interviewed Gary Player recently who told me you have arguably the best swing in the game but

‘With my backhoe, I can take my kids for a ride in an awesome digger’ your outside interests, like your farm, sometimes get in the way of your golf. Is that fair comment?

It’s nice to get a compliment from Gary! There’s always been a perception my priorities are my family, my farm and golf – in that order. But I am always 100 per cent focused on the course. I am passionate about many things outside of golf but this doesn’t detract from my desire to win. I am competitive whether it’s to win The Open or creating the best BBQ sauce! n How is the farm?

It’s fantastic and is deep in South African bush. My brother runs it as I am on the road with the family, but we try to get back for the summer in January and February. It’s 150 acres and we breed cattle. n You traded a car you won at the Volvo Champions event last year for an excavator that was on offer for a hole in one, didn’t you? Has it come in useful?

The backhoe is brilliant. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have had a play, dug a few bunkers, but more importantly it has been essential for removing stumps. And I can take the kids for a ride in an awesome digger.

Louis Oosthuizen gave this interview as part of his work as an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz, patron of the Open championship.

See more at www.facebook.com/MercedesBenzGolf

inTERviEw: DAniEL JOnEs

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TigER TAkEs A LOOk bAck TO THE fuTuRE

On course: Woods gets a feel for Hoylake yesterday

TigER WoodS admits he returns to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs a changed man and facing a very different course, but confident he could still produce the same result.

Woods, who has just returned from a three-month injury layoff, insists his game is in good shape going into a tournament where winning is his only acceptable outcome. ‘it’s getting better,’ he said.

‘Playing at Congressional [at the Quicken Loans national, where he missed the cut] was a big boost to me.

‘The fact i was able to go at it that hard and hit it like that with no pain. i’m only going to get stronger, which is great.

did you know?

Tiger’s best finish in 2014 is tied 25th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in March

by DEREk DEnT NortherN Ireland’s Graeme McDowell is desperate to get his hands on the Claret Jug to prove he is not a one-hit wonder, no matter what it costs.

‘I’d give my left arm for the Claret Jug. I would, actually. that would be the end of my career, but it would be a nice way to go,’ McDowell joked yesterday. the 34-year-old from Portrush, which is expected to stage the open in 2019, won the US open at Pebble Beach in 2010 and was joint second at olympic Club in 2012 before securing his best

‘I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder’ open finish of joint fifth a month later at royal Lytham. he also led after an opening 66 the last time the open was staged at hoylake in 2006 – before fading to 61st – and goes into the 2014 event buoyed by defending his French open title at Le Golf National a fortnight ago.

‘I feel like I’m ready to kick on to the next chapter in my career now and compete and win more majors,’ McDowell said.

‘i’ve been in circumstances like this before. in 2008 i had knee surgery right after the Masters. i teed it up at the US open and won.

‘This is a different course than what we played in 2006,’ Woods said. ‘it was hot then, the ball was flying. it was very dusty. now we’re making ball marks on the greens.’

Woods, whose father Earl died in May 2006, added: ‘i’ve gone through a lot, the loss of a parent and having two kids.

Life is very different. That was a very emotional week [in 2006]. i came here and felt at peace. i felt calm out there. ‘on Sunday i felt my dad was with me on that one round.’

McDowell ‘more ready than ever’ to win a Major ‘I certainly don’t want to be a one-hit wonder and I’ve learned a lot over the last few years since my US open victory. ‘this is my kind of golf course and I want to give myself as many opportunities as I can to win majors. Winning regular tournaments is hard enough, winning majors is something different.

‘I’d love a Claret Jug. Probably that and the green jacket are probably neck and neck, but the Claret Jug is probably the one that I feel like I have the game to win as opposed to the Masters.’

McDowell insists he would not view his career as a failure if he

McDowell: Wants the Claret Jug

did not win another major, but added: ‘I’m more motivated than ever to win major championships.

‘I have the tools to hang around for 72 holes and perhaps get the job done. I feel like I’m more ready than I’ve ever been to win another major.’

It is therefore just as well that McDowell feels hoylake is the course on the open rota which suits his game the best. ‘this golf course forces you into little areas. It’s well bunkered, you have to be disciplined off the tee and find fairways and rely on good iron play.’

O’Brien: ‘There’s no reason to think we can’t beat Legia’ Avoiding any sense of inferiority and bringing their ‘A’ game to the Pepsi Arena tonight is what St. Patrick’s Athletic captain ger o’Brien is hoping can catch Legia Warsaw cold, writes Paul Buttner.

With a turnover of €50million, a squad containing 17 internationals and a crowd of up to 15,000 roaring them on, Legia are undoubtedly a level or two above St. Pat’s. o’Brien, though, has been in this position before. ‘it’s going to be really tough as they are a good side, but you can’t come here with an inferiority complex,’ said the rightback (pictured).

legia warsaw v st pat’s ath ‘i’ve played in enough European games to know there is obviously a big difference. But some teams you can give too much respect to. We’re here with a game-plan and hoping to get a positive result to take them back to dublin.’

After the best week ever for League of ireland clubs in Europe, with dundalk, Sligo Rovers and derry City all cruising through in the Europa League, o’Brien agrees St. Pat’s drew the short straw by way of getting the toughest

tie. But the 30-year-old is quick to point out that it could have been worse.

‘We got a good journey, it was direct, which helps with preparation. When we saw who we could have got, we’re not travelling too far,’ said o’Brien.

‘We’d be relatively similar,’ added o’Brien in Legia. ‘They got to the Europa League group stages last year. But their ambition is obviously to get to the Champions League group stage, so the pressure is all on them.

‘We saw drogheda going to dynamo Kiev a few years ago and they were the width of a post away from knocking them out. We’ll need to be at our best and get a little bit of luck. There is no reason to think that we can’t do it.’

football champions league

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Ronny relief as Mcgregor caps a perfect debut qUALiFiER, 1ST LEg

Kr reyKJAVIK ....................0 ceLtIc ..................................1

by FRASER RORiSON CALLUM McGREGOR kick-started his Celtic career by grabbing the winner on his competitive debut.

New boss Ronny Deila handed the 21-year-old his first start for the club in the first leg of their Champions League second round qualifier against KR Reykjavik – and McGregor repaid him by hitting a late winner.

Nigeria defender Efe Ambrose missed all of Celtic’s pre-season due to World Cup duty but Deila handed him a starting berth alongside Virgil van Dijk at the heart of the Parkhead rearguard while Charlie Mulgrew took over as captain from Scott Brown, who missed out with a hamstring injury.

Celtic started the game brightly and played some nice football but failed to carve out any clear-cut opportunities. Kris Commons came closest to opening the scoring when he hit the bar with a volley from outside the area after eight minutes.

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first with Celtic on top while creating only half-chances during the opening stages.

Commons forced a save from keeper Stefan Magnusson before Leigh Griffiths hit the bar with a curling shot.

The visitors should have taken the lead on 76 minutes when Commons’ long-range effort was parried by Magnusson who then saved McGregor’s follow-up before substitute Teemu Pukki hit the post from six yards.

McGregor finally broke the deadlock on 83 minutes when he attacked down the right before cutting inside and hitting a left-footed strike that beat Magnusson at the near post to the relief of new boss Deila.

MicH ADO AbOUT NOTHiNg

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 METRO HERALD 23

TRANSFER TALK

blues head Khedira hunt cheLseA are favourites to sign real Madrid’s sami Khedira (left) after rivals Arsenal refused to meet the German World cup winner’s £150,000a-week wage demands. chelsea, who completed the £32million signing of Atletico Madrid striker Diego costa yesterday, are less likely to baulk at the player’s salary wishes and boss Jose Mourinho, who worked with Khedira during his time at Madrid, is expected to meet with the 27-year-old later this week.

ONTHEgRApEViNE u ArsenAl are targeting teenage southampton right-back Calum Chambers. u Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert wants to sign swansea midfielder Ki sung-yueng. u Antonio lunA’s short spell at Villa Park could be over, with a move to italian side Verona on the cards for the 23-year-old leftback, who only joined last summer from sevilla. u MAnchester city have been given a July 21 deadline to sign centre-back Mehdi Benatia by his club roma.

£20m Price tag of Filipe luis, the

Atletico Madrid left-back on the brink of joining Chelsea after flying to london for a medical. the Brazilian is said to have agreed a four-year deal u CrystAl Palace are understood to have had a bid of £8million accepted by tottenham for iceland midfielder Gylfi sigurdsson (pictured).

Harry in for Rio late winner: Callum McGregor celebrates giving Celtic the lead versus Kr reykjavik

Vidal not forcing decision over United

MAnchester United target Arturo Vidal has napoli president Aurelio De said he is in laurentiis says negotiations no rush to quit Juventus with swansea over Michu after being linked with a are ‘well under way’ £35million move to old but no agreement has trafford. the 27-year-old been reached midfielder, left, who impressed for chile during

the World cup, is believed to be on new United boss Louis van Gaal’s transfer wishlist. United are desperate to rebuild their squad after last season’s woeful campaign under David Moyes but Juve’s valuation of Vidal has led to something of a cooling-off from the Premier League outfit. ‘I’m not

thinking of where I’m going to go, I want to take advantage of my holidays with the people I love,’ Vidal said. ‘right now I’m thinking of other things. Afterwards, when I arrive in Italy, I’ll see. ‘I’m already at a great team, Juventus, so I will be just as calm if the Manchester United

QPr boss harry redknapp is confident of securing a deal for rio Ferdinand. the 35-year-old defender, who was released by Manchester United last month, has been in Brazil working as a tV pundit. ‘he arrives back today so I am going to meet him and hopefully we can get it sorted,’ said redknapp. ‘he wants to come and play at QPr now, so hopefully we can get it [a deal] done.’

3 year deal for lukas Jutkiewicz,

signed by Premier league newboys Burnley from Middlesbrough for £2.25million yesterday

SPORT

24 METRO HERALD Wednesday, July 16, 2014

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Celtic keep their cool to clinch late winner in Iceland

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Fix-it Friday McIlroy wants to turn his second-day thing around

by DEREk DEnT Two-Time major winner Rory mcilroy has outlined his plans to combat his debilitating second-day syndrome, as the Northern irishman seems to have developed a habit of being great on the course on Thursday and poor on Friday.

Last week at the Scottish open he carded a course-record 64 on the first day at Royal Aberdeen, but followed up with a 78.

A repeat at Royal Liverpool this week would be disastrous to his hopes of winning the Claret Jug, as the weather is expected to take a turn for the worse on Friday. ‘it’s one (problem) that i’d like to try to stop this week. i think it is,’ said mcilroy, whose first-round scoring average of just under 68 leads the P G A To u r, but his s e c o n d round average is almost five shots worse. ‘it’s more i just got it into my head and i may be putting

bAsT THE EMpEROR OF bERLin WorlD Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger holds the trophy aloft as an estimated 400,000 Germany fans turn out at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to welcome Joachim low’s squad back home.

a bit too much pressure on myself, going out on Fridays and trying to back up a score. ‘i have no problem shooting a low one on Thursday, there should be no reason i have any problem shooting a low one on Friday. Hopefully this week i can start to turn that secondround thing around and start shooting some better scores. ‘it just seems like i’ve just been caught out this year by a bad stretch of holes every tournament.’

Although mcilroy may talk about trying to keep a tight rein on things, he is still reluctant to play an entirely conservative game. while Tiger woods will again employ the no-driver tactic which took him to victory on this course in 2006 mcilroy will continue to look to blast it out there on some of the longer holes. ‘He (woods) played the course the way he felt comfortable playing the course and he obviously has the talent and was good enough to be able to make it work,’ mcilroy said.

thE opEN «prEviEW –

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That Friday feeling: McIlroy wants to start shooting better scores

Only Dubs slip-up will give Meath win, says Whelan

Whelan: Sees Dublin victory

DuBlIn legend Ciaran Whelan says Meath’s only hope of leinster final glory is if the holders ‘aren’t prepared or don’t play to their ability’.

Jim Gavin’s Dublin are big favourites to retain their provincial title and complete leg three of a potential six in the AllIreland title race.

Old rivals Meath would love nothing better than to spoil that plan and are an improving side under manager Mick O’Dowd.

But Whelan claimed Dublin may have ‘gone up a gear’ themselves since winning the All-Ireland and can’t see them being caught this weekend.

In further motivation for the

‘You don’t want to take a heavy beating’ Royals, he suggested that losing a tight game may be a good outcome for them.

‘If Meath are to lose on Sunday

it’s about how they lose really,’ said Whelan. ‘Psychologically, you don’t want to take a heavy beating from the Dubs, no team does.

‘It doesn’t do you any good moving forward. I’m not for a minute suggesting that it’s done and dusted but I think Meath really have to put it up to Dublin and ask a lot of questions. That would benefit Dublin in the long run as well.

‘I just think that the second-half is where the challenge is going to

be, when Meath players begin to fatigue and Dublin begin to inject that extra pace in their game.’

Summing up his opinion on the third final in a row between the sides, Whelan plumped for the Dubs.

‘Meath will get bodies behind the ball and try and stay in the game as much as they can and hope that Dublin aren’t prepared or don’t play to their ability,’ he said.

« vital DUBS DEFENCE – p21