Renting a car in Ireland is a pit full of daggers. You think it's easy - go into a website select a car and date and get a quote. You think, fine this will cost me 39Euros. Then by mere accident you mouse falls on the terms and conditions and happy Fido happens to hit the mouse button and you start reading.

• A 25 Euro surcharge applies if you pick it up from the airport
• A 25 Euro surcharge applies if you pick it from the city center
• Excess waiver surcharge

Sorry, but from where am I supposed to pick up the car if the only locations available in Dublin are the city center and the airport. Shall I go to Galway and pick it up from there maybe it turns cheaper traveling to the other side of Ireland to avoid a 25 Euro surcharge.

I spent 2 hours looking for a 6-seater van to rent for a day. 1 and a half hours were spent searching the web, trying to understand terms and conditions and computing an accounting exam exercise. The other half hour was spent phoning each company and getting a quote directly from customer service.

The moral of the story – don't bother with the web there are too many hidden factors, to make life easier just phone and ask for a quote. However, if there is a web offer and the calculated price is much cheaper than the one the customer service officer quotes it would be a good idea to ask the agent why his quote is higher than the one on the web, maybe there's a discount.

P.S. From the 4+ companies I tried out to rent the 6-seater for 1 day from the airport Avis was the cheapest.

In these last two years I always wrote something about the Eurovision (see 2004 and 2005) but this year I hoped that I'd get away with avoiding the subject. (Un)fortunately I couldn't resist the temptation and here I am writing about the European Song Festival another year.

For starters this year I only watched the Eurovision. Unlike my impressions here in Ireland people can't care less about the festival, in fact it was a chore in itself finding a pub that was showing it on TV. I watched the show with a festival-ultra in soccer lingo, but even with her insistent requests and charming attempts at convincing the bar-man we didn't get very far enough to listen to any songs except the Irish one and my country's song.

Being the fanatic that she is my friend made it her personal mission to convince all the people within a 10 meter radius to vote for our song. I laughed my heart out watching her conjuring every type of excuse why they should vote for our song. Apart from listening to 2 songs, and laughing out loud I have a recollection that I felt a certain urge to lend my body to the Ukrainian singer which was probably the best element of the Eurovision.

All the work and propaganda served for nothing because our country came last and we didn't even get a single point from Ireland. Actually the only point we got was from Albania probably as recognition for our charity work towards them.

At the end Finland won the Eurovision for the first time with the hard-rock group called Lordi. I only have to say that if for nothing else it was a recognition that rock still lives on, although I feel obliged to ask people who don't usually listen to this type of music and liked the song, to experiment further there's much more to it than Lordi. (Drop a mail for guided tour into this musical world.)

I know some of you are dying to see where I'm living ... well here's a snippet to whet your appetite.

While waiting for the Da Vinci Code, which is generating a big controversy in my ex-conservative country, I've watched the following movies recently.

Inside Man (Review) – This Spike Lee picture is a police thriller about a gang of robbers who break into Manhattan Chase dressed as painters and take people in the bank as hostages. The whole film is the usual battle of wits between the gang leader (Clive Owen) and Danzel Washington as the detective on scene. The plot is not bad but nothing particularly brilliant that makes the film worth watching in a cinema. 2.5/5

Be Cool (Review) – With John Travolta, Uma Turman and more guest stars (what is the proper word for them?) than you can shake a stick at this must have been an excellent film but it's definitely the worst film I've watched this year. It's all about getting a music talent from nothing to music superstar while dodging past different gangsters who vainly try to be somewhere between though and funny but end up being pathetic. 1/5

Family Stone (Review) – It's not quite the season for this Christmas time romantic comedy which stars Sarah Jessica Parker as Meradith an uptight girlfriend that goes for Christmas period to meet her boyfriend's (Dermot Mulroney) family. The story is all about Meredith trying to integrate into the liberal open minded family who haven't yet got to terms with accepting this new addition to their family. Family Stone is an easy going romantic comedy with the usual clichés and predictable plot. 3/5

If you every played bullshit bingo then you must check out this bullshit generator for more bingo sheets.

Although A short history of tractors in Ukrainian sounds like a very intellectual book this is the winner of the Bollinger everyman prize for comic fiction. The promise for a good comedy book kicks of from the very first paragraph:-

This introduction to a story about two conflicting sisters who struggle to overcome their differences to attempt to save their father from the voluptuous big breasted blond who'll stop at nothing to obtain a resident VISA for the UK. Interspersed in the story are some extracts from the life work of the father about the evolution of tractors and their relevance in the development of Ukraine.

The book is very well written and while it has its funny and emotional moments it's not as funny as I thought it would be. 3/5

On Tuesday I went to my second concert in Dublin by the Dresden Dolls who played a sold out gig at Temple Bar music center. I learnt about the Dresden Dolls purely by chance after browsing a music list and wondering what could a song called 'Coin Operated Boy' offer. It was one of those love at first sight music moments with this weird gothic/indie outfit who has nothing to do with Germany (they are actually from Boston). For the uninitiated the Dresden Dolls are a duo formed by Amanda who vigorously plays the piano and Brian who plays the drums.

The doors opened at 7.30 and at around 8 the guest band, Chuzzle started playing. All I can say is that they played a very short set (30 minutes) and that they're going to play somewhere next Friday.

At 9 o'clock sharp the duo stormed on the stage throwing two bouquets of flowers and immediately started playing their first track from their brand new album, Yes Virginia, called Sex Changes. The easy going character of the duo was evident in the relaxed clothes they were wearing for the concert. Amanda was wearing an oversized "The Who" shirt and a horizontal stripped white and black suspended tights, while Brian was boasting his flat chest and some fishnet tights all girls where trying to look at. During the second track Amanda had a hilarious accident when her stool broke down and she toppled on the floor. (See Video here) It was so funny that even she burst out laughing and showed us exactly the bits and pieces that used to form the poor stool.

The rest of the gig went on without any further crises and I had a hell of a time. They played a mixture of old and new songs amongst them, Dirty Business, Half Jack, Coin Operated Boy, Back stabber … In the middle of the show I was taken aback by an uncharacteristic Dolls drumming sequence and this soon turned into amazement when I realised that they were playing nothing less than Black Sabbath's – War Pigs. Can you imagine that, a Dresden Dolls version of War Pigs? I'm not a fan of cover versions but I think this would have pleased Ozzy himself. The interlude continued with another 'much older' anti-war song and yet another cover which I can't remember.

I think best part of the show was the feeling Amanda and Brian have for their music and each other and their down to earth authentic nature. After about an hour Amanda said that they were reaching the end but as she soon surrendered to the desires of the crowed who didn't have chance to finish the sentence to start booing. This was only the first time that she was lured back by the crowd cause after the end of the show and the throwing of the drumsticks the crowd got so loud and claimed so hard that she couldn't stand the backstage so she came out and gave a solo bis. Brian must have felt lonely too without his love so he followed for a final song which ended a fantastic concert.

Wysiwyg – The name of the blog suggests two things; first it's has something to do with the apparatus that's bringing you this text, and secondly it's written by a sincere person (what you see is what you get). The layout is neat and a gives the author another piece of work to add to her portfolio as a web developer. The first post I read pointed me to Dublin Journey Planner, a brilliant mapping tool by the Dublin Transportation office which shows you the route between two streets, the time it takes to walk or cycle, and the amount of calories you'll burn.

Twenty Major – This was one of my first Irish blogs and lately Twenty Major has posted some kick-ass posts Fuck off we're not stupid and I will scratch my balls if I want to that will probably get like-minded visitors to hit his RSS feed. Twenty also likes posting observations about current Irish events which are just enough to keep in touch with the hot topics here.

Inphotos – One of the best Irish themed photoblogs I've came across.

They say that in Dublin you're never far away from a pub and they're very right, but I might add you're never too far from a shopping center either. Shopping centers seem to spawn out of nothing here and most areas have their own shopping centers. Ours comes complete with cinema, theatre, multitude of shops, restaurants, bowling etc. General purpose shops are good when you're in a hurry but if you're looking for better value and more selection then it's better to seek specialized shops that cater for your niche.

• Madina – (Moore Street, the food market street) for Indian spices and Middle East and food. It also imports bulk food like 20kg basmati rice sacks, and it has its own deli.
• Celtic Signs (St. Stephen's Green Shopping center) – for Celtic themed jewelry
• Cycleways (Parnell Street in front of Aldi) and Cycle Logic (Quays) – Cycling shops. You can try Halfords for a general purpose alternative
• Forbidden Place (Quays opposite Cycle Logic) for Manga, Comics, MTG, Fantasy and TV figurines, Posters etc.

Old readers of the blog might remember me complaining about my old job – actually the blog started out from an old job misfortune – and might be wondering what I'm up to at work. I've now got a new job which after the first month I can claim to be satisfied with. Now that I'm working in a private company with less bureaucracy to get sacked my work related blog entries will be sparse and far in between, probably non-existent. I just wanted to make a personal note for my own future benefit to remind myself that I'm happy at the job, it's challenging and I feel respected by my peers.