Wild Geese and Blow Ins

New website about the Titanic

2007-03-03T15:07:00.000Z

Reading this entry from Keithblog I stumbled upon this fantastic new website dedicated to the Titanic. It is set up by the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. Chockablock with info, photos and newsreels it is an absolutely fantastic resource for the Titanic nut.

Sons of the Desert Convention in Dublin

2007-03-03T14:09:00.000Z

If during the weekend of August 24-27 you encounter a large bunch of strangers in Dublin walking around wearing a Fez – or should I say fezes? - on their head giggling madly, then you will have met the attendees of the 8th European Sons of the Desert convention.

The Sons of the Desert are named after the eponymous comedy film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. This society celebrates life and work of those two comic geniuses and now has a large number of international affiliates.

In the film Stan and Ollie manage to get a weekend away from the nagging wives and attend the “Sons of the Desert” Lodge convention. I hope you don’t need to resort to all those lies and deceptions that they’re up to if you want to join the society’s first European get-together in Ireland.

Start saving now as the costs are €419 per attendee…. though these cover the accomodation as well as all the dinners. More details can be found here.

Dawson’s Lounge

2007-01-02T20:47:00.000Z

I spent the New Year’s Eve weekend as usual in Dublin with a brunch in the Westin and a bunch of cocktails in their Mint Bar.

The night before I finally made it to Dawson’s Lounge. Dawson’s Lounge is located on Dawson Street, just a step away from St Stephen’s Green and around the corner from Grafton Street. It is advertised as Dublin’s smallest pub and I was previously jinxed in always visiting Dublin the few days when they were closed for some private functions. So I was pretty excited to finally find it open.

It sure was worth the wait. I absolutely love pubs with an atmosphere, and this little bar sure was oozing with it. You enter through a very narrow set of stairs that lead down to a little room that is vaguely reminiscent of a private living room and can be considered chockablock once you have a dozen people or so inside. The atmosphere was great and we soon got talking to a bunch of people from all over the place and fell out the door a few hours later to wake up with a severe hangover afterwards.

I always enjoy exploring new pubs in Dublin. True, Temple Bar is overrated and only bearable on some quiet afternoons and needs to be avoided like the plague during the weekends or other busy nights. Nevertheless, Dublin still has a large share of old fashioned pubs that don’t seem to be majorly touched by new trends in bar design. That always comes as a pleasant surprise for me as here in Cork pretty much most of the city centre pubs over the last ten years have been remodelled, modernised and refurbished and often turned into super pubs that bear little resemblance to their older predecessors. Dublin on the other hand still has more than their fair share of relaxing hang outs where you still find time for a chat with the owners or other fellow drinkers.

As nicely developed as Dublin’s pub scene still is, a visit to one of the Porterhouse bars reconfirmed what I long suspected: The Irish brewery scene is pretty much dead. OK, we still have Irish beer, but all the major breweries now belong to foreign companies:

Guinness? Diageo!
Murphys? Heineken!
Beamish & Crawford? Scottish and Newcastle!

Little wonder so that the Porthouse Brewery can now claim to be “Ireland’s largest genuine brewery”.

But let’s not ponder too much on the implications of Globalisation.

Instead I would like to wish you all

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A PROSPEROUS 2007!!!

My resolution for this year: To get this blog updated much more regularly.

Something to look forward to

2007-01-02T20:12:00.000Z

Keith Barry is touring Ireland again and will perform in the Everyman Palace in Cork on January 21.

Can. Not. Wait.

Missing.ie

2006-12-28T17:22:00.000Z

I discovered an Irish blog entry the other day that listed all the missing people in Limerick and encouraged everyone to go and pay Missing.ie a visit. Now I can’t for the life of me remember which blog that was and can’t link to that particular entry. Mea culpa.

Either way, that recommendation is indeed a valid one: There appear to be more and more Irish people missing these days. Joseph Mullaly from Cork is the latest one I am familiar with. I know some people who know him (well, in Ireland you always know someone who knows someone!) and a site like this does provide a great local service.

From the Missing Persons list to date 68 have been found (38 of them deceased). Missing.ie also has a Lost Contact section: 134 of these families have been reunited, some of them after decades. My fiancée herself had a brother that was missing in London for more than 30 years and only in the late 1990s made contact with the family again. He has since passed away. So these are by far not unusual cases.

I do hope that some of those missing will soon be found alive. Of course, there are a number that will quite clearly not have “just” gone missing, but that ended up murdered and I have no doubt that for a good number of those cases there are people out there who know more, but are not willing to talk.

One of the most heart wrenching cases is that of Lisa Dorrian from Co. Down. A murder inquiry has since been launched, though her body has never been found. Her family has set up their own website and launched a YouTube video in the hope that some day they can finally bring some closure to this case and discover what really happened to Lisa.

So do pay Missing.ie a short visit and have a quick glance at the photos. At the worst this may take a minute out of your schedule, at the best you may be able to provide some valuable evidence and help locate somebody’s loved one.

Bearduary, Belfast

2006-12-28T16:23:00.000Z

No New Years Resolution in mind yet? How about growing a beard?

The Bearduary Elders have chosen Belfast to be their venue of choice for their 2007 event. The plan is that on January 01, 2007 you stop shaving and develop a proper beard. You capture the progress and on March 02 at a yet to be determined venue a shaving ceremony will take place and a prize will be handed out to the person with the most creative beard. The number of participants is restricted to only 25, though some places are still available, so check out the rules soon if you’re interested.

But remember: Gentlemen, only!

Now that’s what I call good news for a change!

2006-12-27T15:52:00.000Z

Ryanair loses battle with online critic

Hands up who hasn’t flown with Ryanair yet? Any horror stories to tell? Chances are that once you have repeatedly flown with the airline that doesn’t care, you will come to a point where you are standing raging at Ryanair’s complete lack of customer services and swear that you’ll never use them again.

When things go right, Ryanair is quite possibly the best airline you can imagine, sending you to far away places (sometimes so far that you’re not even in the city you’re thinking you’re flying into) for little money. But if things go wrong, they generally go so seriously wrong that you are left with nothing but a serious attack of Tourette Syndrome.

I, too, have my story (don’t ask: some other time) from a few years back and at the time had planned to set up a web site to make sure everyone can share their own nightmare stories. I also planned that I would only use that airline again when hell freezes over. Needless to say I never set up that web site and after ignoring all their offers for a couple of years ended up eating my words, and have on occasion booked them again when there was no alternative choice available.

Nevertheless I am more than pleased to hear that Ryanair’s plan to shut up Michael Coulston’s criticism of the way they run their business has failed. Coulston had set up Ryanaircampaign.org in order to inform travellers what they can expect when booking flights with that company and also to share contact details for the company that is notoriously reluctant to engage in any kind of customer dialogue.

Following today’s ruling Coulston can continue using his domain name.

Tony Hawks: Round Ireland With a Fridge

2006-12-27T14:46:00.000Z

One of the many books I read in 2007 was Tony Hawks’ ROUND IRELAND WITH A FRIDGE. It’s been recommended to me a good while ago and I’ve been meaning to read this for quite some time, but it was only this year that I picked it up in a second hand book store, the place where I now buy most of my books these days.

Although I knew I was a little bit behind with my reading of this book, it still came as a surprise to me when I noticed that it was first published in 1998. Hell, has it really been that long that his journey was reported on a daily basis in Gerry Ryan’s radio show?

First things first (and entirely for the non-initiated), no, this is not THE Tony Hawk, skater extraordinaire and hero of a million Playstation games, but Tony Hawks, comedian, writer and panelist on UK TV and radio shows such as Have I Got News For You, who has now also developed a very lucrative side line as a travel book writer (PLAYING THE MOLDOVANS AT TENNIS, ONE HIT WONDERLAND as well as his recent A PIANO IN THE PYRENEES).

As it goes with travel books these days it is generally not enough to just go to a country and explore people, culture and countryside. Like other current travel writers, Hawks’ journeys all need to have an outlandish premise, are often based on - alleged? - bets and are clearly inspired by the concept of Experimental Travel. For ROUND IRELAND Hawks decides to hitch a ride around the island with a fridge as a companion.

Have all those low budget flying opportunities really made us so jaded with the idea of travelling that we now need to have ever more outlandish mottos at hand to encourage us to go abroad? Not too long ago travelling meant hooking up with your mates, going aboard a ship, sailing the oceans and screwing the local lasses before being eaten by cannibals with only you left to survive to tell the story. And a bit more recently going abroad meant living the high life of a jet setter, flying in style to meet the crème de la crème in New York, Rio, Tokyo. Now your social welfare recipient from around the corner sits next to you on your €1 flight to Stockholm (that sets you back another €50 or so more once tax and ever other barely imaginable charge is taken into account), you can’t go anywhere without dropping into the people you’d choose to ignore at home and need to walk a country backwards or with a funny hat on your head to demonstrate to everyone and their mother that you are still an original traveller who is truly interested in exploring another nation.

In case it’s not clear enough, but I still prefer just going up and travelling motto less, so I was initially suspicious when I heard of Hawks’ concept of visiting Eire. I also had alarm bells ringing when I read the blurb stating that this was “one of the most inspirational stories you will ever read”. The last thing the world needs is yet another inspirational/self-help/delusional book on your shelves, yet to my surprise this was indeed a great, very humorous and, yes, inspirational read that I devoured nearly in one go.

Hawks clearly has a storyteller’s knack for detail. You can easily imagine him sitting in a pub with a pint in his hand, telling everyone about his crazy journey around Ireland. Just that you don’t need to await a chance to meet him in a pub, but for the prize of two beers can read his exploits at home. His passion for meeting people comes out of every page in the book and you will for a long time be able to remember some of the characters he encounters. It’s been a while since I last properly got up and actually travelled the length and breadth of this country, but this book stirred up my passion again, so in 2007 I intend to pay every single county a visit again.

Thanks, Tony.

Science Fiction and Fantasy novels set in Ireland

2006-11-26T18:26:00.000Z

Via the Irish Sci-Fi News blog I just discovered this interesting list of Science Fiction and Fantasy novels set in Ireland. Must admit that I haven’t even heard of most of them, but this list sure has peaked my curiosity.

You gotta love YouTube

2006-10-15T13:21:00.000+01:00

Bonane Heritage Park

2006-10-14T17:11:00.000+01:00

Been travelling pretty much non-stop for the last two months, so couldn’t post anything here for love or money. (Hell, that’s my excuse anyway.) During a brief period back in Ireland during that time, I did, however, manage to do a little tour around and discovered Bonane Heritage Park. I had previously never even heard about it and came across it purely by chance when passing through Kenmare.

A little research online showed that this park is a very recent development and only opened to the public in June this year. It is based outside of Bonane, near Kenmare.

It is a community run project and charges a ridiculously low entrance fee of just €2.00… which is pretty much unheard of in this day and age for Ireland and borders at being practically free of charge. The volunteers who are manning the entrance booth all seem to be incredibly eager to help with whatever info you may like to know from them. Their enthusiasm for the project clearly shows and is a real tonic in comparison to some bored and disinterested hired assistants you may find in some of the other better known tourist attractions all around Ireland.

If you can, bring some food for a picnic. At the start of the walk, you can find some benches with beautiful views that will invite you to just while away some time before you approach the proper 3km long circular walk that contains half a dozen archaeological artefacts that give an insight into the life of early settlers: a ring fort (some 1500 years old), a famine ruin, a stone circle and boulder burial, a fulacht fiadh (ancient cooking pit), a bullaun stone (large rock with a carved out basin used for…. no-one knows exactly what) and a standing stone.

Overall, this truly is a little undiscovered secret. A project so new, and yet so old, that it has yet to find its way into Irish guide books. Come on a clear day and you can see for miles over the Bantry/Kenmare countryside. The location is so wonderfully off the beaten track that you can easily get lost on the narrow, unmarked dirt roads that lead to and from the site. Believe me, we did… and loved every minute of it.

Some other Irish MySpace sites worth checking out

2006-08-26T19:44:00.000+01:00

John Spillane is not the only Irish artist represented on MySpace, although he probably has the biggest name value. Some other lesser known musicians worth checking out are The Fallen, Ken Burke, Susan Bluechild and Corkonian Brigade. And then there’s always Cork’s The Craichouse Comedy Club.

Happy Anniversary, GBS

2006-07-30T12:32:00.000+01:00

Just noticed by pure chance that July 26 marked the 150th anniversary of George Bernard Shaw’s birth. Have I been living under a rock or was there very little fanfare about this? Maybe everyone is still beat out from all the recent Beckett celebrations, but I can’t be the only one who would much prefer spending time in a Shaw play than with any of Beckett’s über-boring dramas.

Anyway, no time to write much, so here is a list of Project Gutenberg’s free GBS downloads or cut to the chase and read Pygmalion, his most famous drama, or Arms and the Ma n, my personal favourite. Also have a look at Wickipedia’s Shaw entry. Of course, Shaw is at least as quotable as Oscar Wilde, so make sure to memorise some of these.

Reservoir Dogs Star to film in Cork

2006-07-28T18:54:00.000+01:00

According to the "Cork Independent" Reservoir Dogs star Michael Madsen (Mr Blonde) is due to film Strength and Honour in and around Cork together with, ahem, Richard Chamberlain. (Didn’t know he is still around filming.) Written and directed by Mark Mahon from Rochestown, this film will be shot in areas such as the Mardyke, Rochestown Road. Browne’s Mills and Kinsale’s Oyster Creek Bar. Casting will commence in mid-August so expect a couple of local faces to pop up in this production.

Judging from the IMDB info this appears to be Mahon’s first film and it’s quite an achievement to see that he managed to get such an illustrious cast for a Cork shooting. In 2005 he, however, appears to have won the Action on Film award for “Best Screenplay Unproduced” for Freedom Within the Heart, a film that is now in development for 2007. He also appeared as an actor in a US short movie (Pals), so does have some kind of Hollywood credential that may have made it easier to get this project off the ground.

I have been a Madsen fan for quite some time so will probably do some star spotting when it comes closer to the production date. You never know: He may even show up at the Cork Film Fest, although I doubt it: Given that the film is just in pre-production it will definitely not be ready for this year’s schedule and will probably be an old hat for 2007.

John Spillane on MySpace

2006-07-25T08:05:00.000+01:00

I joined MySpace a few days ago to find out what the hell this is all on about. So far I can say: Very little. I just don’t get the fascination for viewing poorly designed personal pages for the off chance – very off chance from the looks of it - to maybe meet some interesting people.

It does seem to be an OK hangout if you’re into music. One of my favourite bands, Zombina and the Skeletones, is on it, so that’s the one consolation I got so far.

I was surprised to see that John Spillane is actually on it as well. Spillane is something of a Cork hero. Admittedly few have heard of him even outside of his native city, but here at least he has his loyal fan base. I can’t say that I really take to him. His songs are very personal and there is a distinct ring to them that have them stand out from the crowd, but his extreme Cork accent makes most of the songs borderline annoying or at least ecstatically comical. Sometimes I wish he would stick to writing songs and having others sing them.

Ah well, check out his site and judge for yourself.

Screenclick.com

2006-05-08T20:56:00.000+01:00

I watched Boy Eats Girl (just like all my other rental movies) courtesy of Screenclick.com.

They’re the Irish equivalent of Netflix. For €19.99 per month you can rent as many movies as you like by creating a wish list of 25 films that you can rate from 1 (most interested in watching) until 25 (least interested in renting). They will send you the two highest rated movies that they currently have in their inventory out to your home address which you can then keep and watch for as long as you like. Once you’re done with them you freepost them back out to Screenclick and two more movies will come your way. If you’re really fast (and An Post is not letting you down) you can probably rent up to 16 movies a month that way for a relatively low fee, although I probably average only around eight. (My fault, not theirs.)

Screenclick has quite a good choice of movies available: If you’re into the latest blockbusters (which I am not) then they have pretty much everything that is out right now. If you’re into World and Cult Cinema (which I am) then they have a decent, but not perfect selection. The first film I looked for was Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and of course that was not available, but I have since had a steady stream of other Asian and general horror movies been sent my way.

Oh, and their web site seems to be acting up with my Firefox connection and I always need to log into Internet Explorer for them, but – hey – no-one’s perfect.

Overall they’re a great bunch and an excellent opportunity to watch tons of movies cheaply and at your own leisure.

Boy Eats Girl

2006-05-08T20:26:00.000+01:00

From all the film industries around the world, Ireland is probably one of the countries least associated with Zombie movies, yet over the last couple of years there have been a small number of locally produced examples of that genre.

I watched Enda Hughes’ The Eliminator about ten years ago at the Cork Film Festival and was absolutely wow’ed over it. This was a fast, tasteless, over the top and utterly hilarious piece of Trash Cinema in the vein of Peter Jackson’s Braindead. I stumbled out of the late night show – probably also due to the amount of sponsored Murphy’s I had drunk that night - and proclaimed to everyone who wanted to listen (and a good few who didn’t) that I had seen the future of horror and its name was Enda Murphy.

Of course I was proven wrong and little was heard from him again although I did manage to catch his short movie Flying Saucer Rock’n’Roll a year later, a black and white Sci Fi comedy in the style of Ed Wood featuring Ardal O’Hanlan.

I have since tried to get in touch with the distributors of those films, but never even received an answer. None of Hughes’ films appear to have been released on video or DVD, yet those are films that cry out for a discovery and if there was any justice in the world the director should now be rich and famous with a bevy full of buxom blondes at his side.

Next came Dead Meat (2004) directed by Conor McMahon. I haven’t watched that movie yet, but it sounds promising: Shot when the mad cow disease was still very much in everyone’s mind, we see a new strain of it causing people to turn into flesh eating zombies. The guys behind Dublin’s Horrorthon festival (which one of these days I just have to visit) were also involved in the creation of that film.

And now there’s Boy Eats Girl, the most mainstream Irish zombie movie so far.

It has made the news as being the last movie to date to be banned by the Irish censor, however, upon appeal was granted a 15A certificate (anyone under 15 needs to be accompanied by an adult) which kinda demonstrates the lunacy of film bans: One moment everyone in the State needs to be protected by the images and no-one is allowed to see it, the next you can bring your kid brother with you provided you’re over 18.

Comedienne Deirdre O’Kane plays it straight. Her character is an art curator for the local church and by chance discovers a hidden vault with ancient documents about voodoo and instructions about resurrecting the dead. Her son, Nathan, has a crush on pop singer and failed Hollywood actress Samantha Mumbo (The Time Machine remake). When he mistakenly assumes that she is doing the dirt with the local slime ball, he gets drunk and accidentally hangs himself (as one does). Mum comes to the rescue and resurrects him, but fails to notice that one page of the voodoo ritual is missing. As a result Nathan develops this unhealthy taste for flesh and soon his entire school class has turned into zombies while his mother is frantically trying to find the missing instructions that can return him to a human state.

This is a strange little film. On the one hand it is quite clearly aimed at a mainstream audience: Apart from featuring a very popular wholesome teenage pop idol you can also find a number of other familiar faces in it. The characters would not have been out of place in an early evening soap opera (yes, they’re that annoying) and worst of all the film has a happy ending which is very unusual for a movie about the most nihilistic of monsters. On the other hand there are moments of all out gore in it that you would generally not expect in similar, more light-hearted productions. Although it takes some time to kick in, when Boy Eats Girl delivers, it does deliver gore in bucketfuls. There is one particular scene with Samantha Mumbo driving an industrial harvester of sorts, mowing down dozens of zombies that would not have been out of place in Braindead. (Hmm, that's the second time I am referencing that movie. What gives?) In actual fact I think it was probably that scene alone that resulted in an initial ban of the movie.

It’s far from being an excellent zombie movie. Hell, it’s far from being an excellent movie no matter what genre, but it is short (just a little over 80 minutes) and entertaining enough so that it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Something to watch when you have little time at hand and don’t know what else to do. With its zombie/comedy approach it is similar to Shaun of the Dead, a much better movie.

Derek Landy, the author of the screenplay, has in the meantime struck pay dirt by signing a three book contract with Harper Collins that will net him 1.45 Million Euro for a series Fantasy children’s books.

Now where is the DVD for The Eliminator?
----
Check out the trailer!

Looks like the film is currently only available for Region 2.

The Lee Swim

2006-05-06T11:42:00.000+01:00

The Lee Swim was an annual swimming event through Cork City from 1914 until 1942. Due to the worsening water quality it was then moved to Monkstown and discontinued in 1987. Last year, during Cork’s reign as European Capital of Culture and as a sign of confidence into the new drainage system, the swim was relaunched and drew 110 swimmers and crowds of more than 5000.

This year, on July 22, the swim will again take place. I am very tempted to participate, but must admit that I am not that confident about the water quality. True, in 2005 even City Manager Jack Higgins participated proving his own confidence in the river’s new found cleanliness, but I still vividly recall seeing tons of goo floating on top of the water. I still shudder when I see people fishing in the Lee, let alone swim in it!

Anyway, I still got time to think about it. A course track can be found here, application forms here.

Channel 6

2006-04-23T10:41:00.000+01:00

Looks like Ireland’s newest TV channel, Channel 6, is something to look forward to with ingenious programming that includes the likes of FRASIER, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, LAW & ORDER, CSI, SEX & CITY and DHARMA & GREG. Humm, just where have I seen all those shows before?

Dave’s Rants has some interesting suggestions as to why it is called Channel 6, seeing that we currently only appear to have four other TV stations: RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4.

Luke Rhinehart: The Dice Man

2006-04-22T16:44:00.000+01:00

I generally get most of my books from second hand book stores. I love those shelves of used books and the stuff you can find on them. Most of my favourite writers are now out of print or hard to find. I also admire old paperbacks and do buy books for their covers, even if I never read them afterwards. Given a choice most of the older editions look much better than their modern counterparts. And even if I can’t find a great looking old paperback and opt for current versions of a book, well, then it’s still a good bit cheaper to purchase those than to go for the full priced ones.

And every once in a while I also come across some madcap inscriptions like this one:

I got a good chuckle out of this when I started reading the book on a plane. It’s ironic that this was found in a novel dedicated to living your life randomly and experiencing the thrill of life by making often subversive decisions.

Good for you, unknown reader!

3 is a lonely number

2006-04-05T20:34:00.000+01:00

Am I the only one who thinks that if you name your company “3” you gotta be extra careful how you word your ad campaigns?

“Now all 3 customers can roam the UK at no extra cost.”

Then again maybe it is indeed an accurate description of their current client base as I have yet to find a single person who actually subscribed to their network.

The reason why Baywatch was not filmed in Ireland

2006-04-04T19:01:00.000+01:00

I got this link via The Blog That Should Not Be: It features a bunch of frozen models wearing some rather ridiculous looking Irish Flag Swimwear. You gotta check it out! It’s hilarious.

A Day at the Matches

2006-04-04T18:21:00.000+01:00

Went to see the Heineken Cup Quarter Final Rugby match in Lansdowne Road between Munster and Perpignon on Saturday. For the last couple of years I have heard about the fun that can be had on those rugby events, so I thought it was about time I’ll try and see what it’s all about.

Well, to cut to the chase: a completely disorganised mess is what it’s all about.

My ticket was for the East Terrace 3 section. When I arrived, the entrance was like an overbursting bottle neck with people pushing and shoving to get in. The gates to that section ended up closed and I was asked to move first to entrance ET2, then ET1, then to some seated area.

Needless to say anytime I arrived at those gates the orderlies knew nothing about those arrangements. There was no co-ordination or dialogue whatsoever between the people in charge, some of whom were quite obviously at the end of their tether and reaching a state of panic in front of the masses.

When I finally was allowed to enter the Terrace rude security personnel instructed us to move to other areas when no movement was effectively possible and people (including some obviously frightened young’uns with their dads) were already seriously squashed and unable to move anywhere.

A little bit of info about me: I am 6’4. I’m the guy who blocks other people’s views. I’m simply not used to not being able to watch what’s in front of me. Yet, after just a few minutes into the game I caught myself watching the action on the stadium screen as I couldn’t see a frigging thing otherwise. The only difference between my watching the match in a pub and in the stadium was that I was drenched and frozen from the rain and did not have a pint in my hand.

Needless to say I left just a quarter of an hour into the game. Initially I thought it was just me being overly critical, but most of my buddies – all hard core rugby fans – soon joined me after the first half. They all agreed that this was the worst it has ever been!

This really is a recipe for disaster: With gates being closed down in front of the spectators and quite obviously way more people on the grounds than should have been allowed in, a minor incident could have easily turned into a tragedy of giant proportions.

Well, Munster won 19:10 and will play Leinster in three weeks time in an all Irish semi-final. If last Saturday was Bedlam attending the next match will be a masochistic delight. Based on Leinster’s amazing performance against Toulouse, I’d say they will kick Munster’s arse. And if I watch it, I’ll do so from the comfort of a bar stool.

Bebo.com

2006-03-26T18:25:00.000+01:00

According to the Irish edition of the Sunday Times [article not available online] colleges are starting to put an end to the Bebo.com craze. Bebo is a MySpace like networking website that apparently has proven so popular in this country that they have registered 500.000 users, most of them of college age. As a result of its surprising popularity

“NUI Galway, Carlow IT, Waterford IT, Dublin Business School and Queen’s College University, have all blocked access to the site after receiving complaints from students who were unable to access college computers for course-work due to hundreds of other students jamming PC suites to log on to their Bebo profile. (…) There were cases where 35 out of 40 students in a suite were logged into Bebo, which obviously is not defensible as an educational activity.”

OK, personally I don’t care whether or not colleges should ban access to the site. These are after all their computers and they should be allowed to do with them as they please. So no argument here.

What strikes me as odd, however, is the following:

The site has 500.000 registered Irish users????

Let’s see: Last time I checked – well, not personally, but thanks to my friends at the CIA – Ireland had a population of 4,015,676 residents. (Add another 1.5 Million or so for the North.) In 2003 Internet usage was 1.26 Million people, so my guess is that right now it is at 1.5 Million +. One look at Bebo shows that most people are in the 18-22 age brackets. In Ireland there are 342,000 people in the 15-19 age brackets, another 292,000 in the 20-24 age brackets.

And Bebo has 500,000 registered users in this country?!? Wouldn’t that mean pretty much every single person in the targeted age bracket (with or without access to the Internet) is now on Bebo? And yet no-one has ever mentioned it to me and it takes me reading the Sunday Times to first of all even hear about that web site????

Another thing: Bebo is so popular amongst college students, yet the average comment made on it reads like:

“u go gurl haha dat fella dat commented u,u gt ur luks 4rm me haha ye ok woteva treva!!!!!neway ne news avint tlkd 2 in a wee wile i mean properly hehe lvz ya xxxxxxxxxxxxx”

Without going all Lynne Truss, but: WT DE FK? Is that college standard these days?

There I am thinking how very much on top of the game I am as an Irish based blogger with broadband access and interest in RSS feeds and what-have-you, just to learn that Internet usage and development in this country is not driven by the likes of me and that I have instead missed the train altogether. Instead it is sozzled illiterate females that are ahead of the posse. (OK, admittedly there are also guys as members there, but given half a chance I’d rather watch pictures of drunk girls than those of their more awkward, spotty male counterparts.)

Or maybe the numbers reported in this bit of news are rubbish to start with.

Only one way to find out.

Next time I see a bunch of young drunken yobs flashing their, ahem, cameras I’ll simply walk over and say: “Oi, haven’t I seen you on Bebo?” and see what their reaction will be.

Axis of Evil

2006-03-23T19:41:00.000Z

Just stumbled across this window display from a music shop in Cork that shall remain anonymous. (Ah, what the hell: Russell’s Music store in Parnell Square.)

What on Earth is wrong with those people? No matter what one may think about the current state of affairs – and believe me I have very strong views about this subject, and none of them can summarised with “I wish I was George Bush’ secret love child” - , but what can be achieved with this very general and badly drawn condemnation? As those guys used the countries' flags they effectively insulted ALL the British, ALL the Americans and ALL the Israelis. Hardly a very clever political analysis methinks.

And then the Swastika! Is that a new trend in Irish politics?

But maybe I am misreading this and the owner is a Hindu who uses the Swastika as a positive sign of good luck and just wants to wish Bush & Co every success in combating the “Axis of Evil”……

Aer Lingus Customer Service

2006-03-21T10:58:00.000Z

So Aer Lingus now concedes that good service has ‘taken flight’?

Hardly any news for anyone who watched what once was a pleasant little airline slowly turn to a slightly better standard Ryan Air clone. Mind you, I still quite like Aer Lingus’ in-flight and airport personnel, but the service received through its offices and call centres ranges from non existent to abysmal.

This reminds me of the time about two years ago when Willie Walsh was still in charge and I had a relatively minor issue with my frequent flyer points that I just couldn’t get sorted. It wasn’t anything huge – certainly not on the level of when I went absolutely ape shit with some Ryan Air staff in Stansted – but it soon turned into a matter of principle for me that I wanted properly addressed.

I noticed that their email addresses followed the traditional firstname.lastname@aerlingus.ie format, so what did I do? Go right to the top and contact Willie Walsh directly who then referred me to his customer service manager who with trembling voice ended up getting everything fixed.

And the lesson: If you can’t get a customer service issue handled to your satisfaction, don’t bother getting state agencies involved, but go straight to the company’s head honcho.

The Hi-B

2006-03-21T09:50:00.000Z

THE Hi-B
108 Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork
Tel: 021-4272758

The Hi-B is the stuff of legend in Cork City, one of the few bars that has neither changed ownership over the last few decades nor been seriously renovated or remodelled. Owned by a local eccentric, Brian O’Donnell, it is at first hard to find: It is right opposite the General Post Office (GPO), in a corner house, a few gloomy stairs up on the first floor on top of Minihan’s Chemist. Once found, however, it can become seriously addictive. In size and interior design reminiscent of a cosy old-fashioned living room it is frequented by all ranks of life: writers, artists, would-be writers and –artists, bankers as well as homeless people, rich and poor all flock in to subject themselves to Brian’s iron rules. No mobiles allowed, no chewing gum, and order non-alcoholic drinks at your own mercy: “For Chrissakes, this is a public house, not a coffee bar!” The sign behind the bar says it all: The whipping will continue until morale improves.

Ask any local and they will tell you stories of the Life of Brian. How about the time when he drank someone’s drink after seeing him pour some coals onto the fire. When confronted and told: “Sorry, you just drank my pint”, he answered: “Sorry, but you just used my coals.” Or how about when he was complaining to a motley crew of his only four guests one night, that it is impossible to make a living in the bar trade these days, yet when a group of ten new customers came in all at once he threw them all out, as he couldn’t face THAT much extra work all of a sudden?

This may at first sound harsh, but truth of the matter is that this is one of the few surviving pub relics left remaining, where you can enter at any given time and are guaranteed to find an ear to listen to. The weirder the stories you can tell, the bigger the welcome you will get from the locals.

Plus: These days Brian is no longer that often in his own bar so the rules have relaxed a little bit over the last few years. The standard classical and opera music in the background is now often replaced by jazz or 50s crooners.

So go in have a few pints, enquire in hushed tones about some of Brian’s shenanigans, but please, don’t take it personal if you end up getting barred on your first or subsequent visit over breaking one of the unwritten regulations. It’s all part of the game and you may even make it into local folklore.

Needless to say: This is my favourite pub in town.

Count Curly Wee

2006-03-21T09:24:00.000Z

Do you know that feeling? For weeks, months, even years on end you can walk through life and something really small and tiny is niggling away at you every once in a while that is completely incongruous, doesn’t matter much, but keeps you slightly off centre, yet you can’t quite put a finger on it why.

Then all of sudden somebody comes along and writes a little piece that makes it all fall into place and helps identify the itch that’s been troubling you without you really ever noticing.

And life is good again. Till the next time.

This was the case with me when I read Fústar’s excellent research into Count Curly Wee, a daily comic strip that appears in the Irish Independent for as long as I can remember…. well ever since I moved to Ireland ten years ago.

Humour generally doesn’t age well. (When was the last time you had a knee slappingly funny night while watching a Shakespeare comedy? Or split your sides looking at a Punch cartoon?) Count Curly Wee is quite obviously from a different epoch. It’s hard to believe that its humour was ever considered remotely funny. The drawings aren’t hot either. No-one ever reads it or generally talks about it. It has no admirers and there are no fannish websites about it. (Surely the sign that it simply doesn’t matter at all to anyone!)

Yet, the Indo prints it day in and day out.

And every once in a while I had my WTF moments that didn’t last long and didn’t upset me too much, yet kept niggling at me.

And now Fústar reveals all anyone never needed to know about the strip. And the world is a better place for it.

Introduction

2006-03-18T21:06:00.000Z

Hi everybody,

Welcome to my new blog!

I am a German, living in Cork (Ireland) and as such one of an ever growing number of foreign people living on this island. I got the inspiration for this blog from Japundit, a site about living in Japan. Should I eventually manage to cover only a fraction of the wonderfully wacky world of fun that the Japundits cover on their pages in an Irish context, then my Mission has been fulfilled.

I want to regularly keep all my readers up to date on events happening in Ireland, news, reviews of Irish related books and films as well as pubs and restaurants, tips and tricks about life in Ireland and travelling around the country or generally highlight stuff I notice in my daily life.

Suggestions would be always welcome for me, so please do let me know what you would like to read about here.