Sunday, May 28, 2006

Thurles

[WE] Pub: 3, Alcohol Units: 4, Activities: Rugby-Hurling match

RUGBY
Saturday, I attended (thanks to my company Sports&Social coitte to offer the tickets) to the last game of the Celtic League for the Munster Team (they finished third, this year), just one week after their historic victory in the Heineken cup. Very good crowd, most of the supporter were here to see the whole team and the Heineken Cup.


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At the end everybody ends up singin' [Munster songs on the supporter website].

And obviously The Fields of Athenry:
-1-
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Micheal they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyn's corn
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
Chorus
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
-2-
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matter Mary when your free,
Against the Famine and the Crown
I rebelled they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.
Chorus
-3-
By a lonely harbor wall
She watched the last star falling
As that prison ship sailed out against the sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
Chorus



Of course after the match we all end up in the pub (Woodfield first and the Nancy Blake to finish the night in the Icon).
As usual everything in Ireland, ends with songs,in front of a guinness .

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Just a few words anout the Nancy's Blake, one of the best pub in Limerick (even if my personal preference goes to the Costello... but I agree that you will never be deceived by the Nancys)
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Hurling
Sunday I went to Thurles, small town in County Tipperary, only 8000 habitants usually, but this village host the second largest GAA stadium: The Semple Stadium.
This sunday, Cork was playing against Clare for the Semi-Finals of the Munster championship, whiwh is part od the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.
Number of people present at the match: 40000. Population of the village multiplied by 5....
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This is incredible, everybody in the County went to the match, one of the most incerdible thing is that women are amongst the greatest supporters. All generations united (kids, women, elder...) united under the flag of their county...
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So huge crowd (most of them from Cork) to assist the Clare defeat
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But there is still hope that Clare can make it up to the Final... don't ask me ta explain, I am not sure to understand myself how it works.
To understand: Wikipedia on Hurling , Official GAA website.

The crowd at the exit of the match (takes hours to leave the town after the game):
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And finally the official GAA song, which occurs at the beginning of each game (natioanl gaeilge anthem)
Sinne Fianna Fáil (Irish National anthem)

Sinne Fianna Fáil
A tá fé gheall ag éirinn,
buion dár slua
Thar toinn do ráinig chugainn,
Fé mhóid bheith saor.
Sean tír ár sinsir feasta
Ní fhagfar fé'n tiorán ná fén tráil
Anocht a théam sa bhearna bhaoil,
Le gean ar Ghaeil chun báis nó saoil
Le guna screach fé lámhach na bpiléar
Seo libh canaídh Amhrán na bhFiann

World cup France and her supporters
There is something which strikes me now, it's the difference of behaviour between irish and french supporters. When you compare to the fever of Munsters fans, whatever the team win or lose, when you see what support the GAA teams gets....
The French attitude is absolutely disgraceful, in 1998 people only started to cheered the team when it reached the quarter-finals, and it was the same in 1982.
I was 6 in 1982, and I still remember this fantastic semi-final against Germany will all the drama (Battistion attacked by Shumcher, the four goals in the extended times, France leading 3-1 and losing during teh penalties stage... ).
It was absolutely fabulous (and I think the next september everyboy was rushing to the next football club).
I've seen a documentary (I think it was the BBC) about the french football team in 1982, and I realize that at the time, nobody in France believed in this team. France had always preferred glorious second to efficient winner.
The most famous example is Poulidor, cheered and loved by the public who never managed to win the Tour de France, against Anquetil (multi-winner).
Seem french only become supporter when the tem has winned.... (I could probably do a parrallel with more ancient history).

So anyway, even if I don't agree with the current selection (Santini should have stay and continue to build a new team and make progress... but that's my personal opinion), I will only have few words: ALLEZ les BLEUS !!!!!!
First match: 13th of june.... see you there.
Things learned:
- Aime Jacquet was manager of Bordeaux in 1982, where most of the french team came from, probably the lessons learned with this lost semi-finals, resulted later with the 1998 victory.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Stab city

Pub: 3, Alcohol unit: 0; Activities: Salsa, social talk

Video of the day: Monty Python Holy Grail Camelot song revisited by LEGO
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=99174057823861673

Quotation of the day:
Geoff Wallis talking about Limerick in the Sunday Tribune: "Stab City has all the attractions of a funeral parlour and certainly less of the life. If there is a grimmer place in Ireland please don’t let me know its identity,”

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Sailing

Pubs:1, Alcohol units:0, girl-phone-number:1, Activities: sailing

On the road to Kilrush:
Massey ferguson spotted: 7; Wind Farm spotted: 3

Sailing in Ireland
Yesterday (tuesday), we headed to Kilrush just after the work (ok we left at 4.30pm) for an initiation to the joy of sailing (a first for me ... finally)... great.
Forgot to take my camera, so no pictures... anyway here some links:

Kilrush center:
http://www.kilrushcreekadventure.com/
Irish Sailing Association
Glenans Irish Sailing Club
Les Glenans [France]

So now I need to learn how to tie a knot... and all this kind of stuff......

Top Gear
Sail... that remind me last week Top Gear, on BBC2, where they organized a race with homemade amphibian cars, and my idol James May build a sailing boat from a Triumph Herald
See the boat-car here (brilliant):
http://James May Boat/Car
And most important thing, James won the race !!!!!!

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Munster finally won the European crown

[Last 4 days] Pubs: 4; Unit of alcohol: 3; Activities: Cheering, Rugby-Pub, PS2, Cleaning house, salsa....

So finally, Munster has been crowned european champions (for the rugby union). Limerick, home of the Munster team has its moment of glory, and the city is ready to celebrate (for one week). Despite the rivalry with Cork, Limerick is the real heart and home-town of the Munster rugby team. I had to explain that this is only the 4 provinces of Ireland (Ulster, Leinster, Connaght and Munster) and not the clubs which are competing in the European Heineken Cup. But the real spirit, tradition of rugby (normally qualified as a foreign sport) is held in Limerick.
This tradition roots deeply in the history of Limerick:
Starting with the Garryowen club, founded in 1884, one of the first foortball/rugby club, and the presence of a welsh regiment in the city.

Eurovision: A fantastic performance for France which end up with 5 points (as far as I remember) and a great winner HardMetal finnish Lordi... (perhaps France should have used Lorie .... against them ... stupid thought...) ... yes ... I like the countdown in the eurovision (the only part of the show I enjoy and look at)... "Russia eight points, Russie huit points, Latvia ten points, Lituanie dix points, Finland twelve points, Finlande douze points" ...

Link:
http://www.limerickpride.com/sport/RUGBY.htm

Criminality in Limerick:
Seems Limerick is no longer stab-city, in fact: The official Garda Sίochána crime statistics for the years 1998 – 2005 confirm that Limerick has had an 8 year cumlative lower than the national average for Ireland (ROI) serious crime rate per 1000 compared to other Garda Sίochána Regions (Headline Crimes Include: Murder, Manslaughter, Sexual Offences, Robberies, Burglaries & Thefts).
Source: www.garda.ie/angarda/annreport.html

Quotation of the day:
"We thought we were in Limerick, a big Limerick" - Dimitri Ychvilly after Heineken Cup final in Cardiff(20 May 2006)
The Millenium stadium in Cardiff was red by 70000 Munster supporters (out of 74000 seats)... I am almost surprised there was people left in the city (Limerick city population 54000 (CSO, 2002))....

Things learned:
- Difference between rugby union (15 players) and rugby league (13 players).
- TV-football is good for your mental health (british study ....) see: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/page.cfm?pageurl=press_2006_05_23.cfm

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

My favourites 25 movies

Just putting the list in five minutes (probably may subject to variation...)
  1. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, USA)
  2. Chung-King Express (Wong Kar Wai, HK)
  3. Ashes of time (Wong Kar Wai, HK)
  4. Moonfleet (Fritz Lang, USA)
  5. Requiem for a dream (Darren Arronofsky, USA)
  6. When Harry meet Sally (??, USA)
  7. The Big Lebowsky (Cohen, USA)
  8. Mullholland Drive (D.Lynch, USA)
  9. Hana-Bi (Takeshi Kitano, Jap)
  10. Taxi Driver (M.Scorsese, USA)
  11. La Jetee (Chris Marker, France)
  12. Persona (I.Bergman, Sweden)
  13. Un singe en hiver (H.Verneuil, France)
  14. Annie Hall (W.Allen, USA)
  15. Traffic (J.Tati, France)
  16. Rocky Horror Picture Show (J.Sharman,USA)
  17. Breaking the waves (Lars Von Triers, Dk)
  18. Monthy Python Holy Graal (GB)
  19. Drowning by numbers (P.Greenaway,GB)
  20. Blade Runner (R.Scott, USA)
  21. Encounter of the third Kind (S.Spielberg, USA)
  22. Vertigo (A.Hitchcock, USA)
  23. Ran (A.Kurosawa, Jap)
  24. My neighbour Totoro (H.Miazaki, Jap)
  25. Coup de tete (J.J.Annaud, France)
And probably could be extended....

Sunday, May 14, 2006

BlogThings

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who have a split personality - cold as ice on the outside but hot as fire in the heart.
In love, you feel the most alive when your lover is creative and never lets you feel bored.
You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.
You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.
Your ideal relationship is traditional. Without saying anything, both of you communicate with your hearts.
Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.
You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage.
In this moment, you think of love as something you can get or discard anytime. You're feeling self centered.


The ninjas....
I've finally found a trace of the ninja we discovered filming in Killarney... check this out:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8687019159168429230&q=urban+ninja
And if you want to know from where all this come from, check out Nanarland (in French), they also created a dedicated minisite to the ninjas movies (http://www.nanarland.com/dossiers/ninjas/inmdb/)

For the english-spoken: http://www.realultimatepower.net/ I love their definition of a ninja:
Facts:
1. Ninjas are mammals.
2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

There is so much beauty in the world...

"It's hard to stay mad, when there is so much beauty in the world"
From the movie American Beauty

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Galway University
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Wind Power in Ireland
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Wind Power in Ireland, it's developing (Irish Wind Association), curiosly none of the wind farms are owned by ESB the national electric company.
Irish are proud that there is no nuclear plant in Ireland, unfortunately Ireland buy 25% of its electricity to UK which uses Nuclear power...

Question

Why the Formula 1 does not compete using ethanol or any other bio-diesel ?
This could be a good push for the research in bio-diesel.



Final Countdown

  • J-13 Heineken Cup Final (Munster-Biarritz)
  • J-11/J-12 Eurovision Song Contest
  • 9 june start of the Soccer World Cup

Friday, May 05, 2006

Cubicle work

Cubicle
Like Dilbert, I work in a cubicle, invented by R.Propst in 1968. First the system, was created/designed simply to increase the productivity of the worker, partition were mainly there to insure privacy and places to pin-up the current work... The system evolved driven by economics to pack more and more people in a given space. ( see Article in Fortunes about the fate of the cubicle).
Instead of being a Dilbert, I would probably prefer to be a Gaston Lagaffe.... -sic-
Anyway I work in a cubicle, to produce (at the end of the day) some funny features people will only see with a microscope, and use intensively to build bomb, cars... to play Rayman and to download some pornography.












See Mister-T on a chip


HISTORY
Today (5 may) is the 25th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands in English prison.
90 years ago the republic of Ireland raise (Easter raising, 24 April 1916) which lead to the war for independance and the creation of the Republic of Ireland.
History still present, nowaday, in the political division of the two main movements, still present in the sport with the GAA refusing to see "foreign" sports played on his ground.

And next year, Croke Park will see rugby matches ... things change ....
To summarize, there is great debate in Ireland regarding the usage of Croke Park. As the GAA was founded as an organisation to maintain and promote indigenous Irish sport, it has felt honour-bound throughout its history to oppose other, rival sports.
Up until the early 1970s, rule 27 of the GAA constitution stated that a member of the GAA could be banned from playing its games if found to be also playing football, rugby.
That rule has been abolished but a similar rule, #42, still prohibited the use of GAA ground for "foreign" games. On April 2005, the rule #42 has been relax to accomodate the impossibilty to play in Landsdowne Road (stadium refection).

BD-blog and WebComics
Just some fun links about webcomics and bd_blog
And to discover few comics universe I like:

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Blues

Pub: 1 ; Alcohol units: 1; Activity: Movie theater, dance, PS2-Rayman

Cinema: Capote

Blues, it happens sometimes, root-cause: Age, old-friendship and irish friendship.
Hopefully... I've got a couple of custom remedies (playmobil-therapy, ps2-GTA-therapy, lego-therapy, movie, and if things become desesperate watch "It's a wonderful life" the Franck Capra movie... )

Quotation of the day:
"Now you listen to me! I don't want any plastics! I don't want any ground floors, and I don't want to get married — ever — to anyone! You understand that? I want to do what I want to do"
G.Bailey in "It's a wonderful life" by F.Capra (1946)

Auvergne
And because blues, when you're not in your native country is sometimes called "Mal du pays", this is time to talk about my native landscape: Auvergne.
Auvergne is as green as Ireland and it's probably why I am not so disoriented here, but more far way from any sea. It's a volcanic landscape, proud of its culture and its products (Saint-Nectiare, Salers, Bleu d'Auvergne for the cheese ; Chateaugay for the wine ; StYorre or Chateldon for the mineral water). I miss some succulent recipes like a "truffade".
Culturally the region is quite active, the city of Aurillac sees each year a festival of street theater
and Clermont-Ferrand the city of my student past, organize one of the greatest and most popular event around the 7th art: International Short Film Festival.

A view of Clermont-Ferrand from the Parc Montjuzet.
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Irish poetry:
Down By The Salley Gardens
by William Butler Yeats

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.
In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Aran Islands

Pub: 2 (Aran) 1 (Limerick); Unit Alcohol (2 days): 3; Activities: Bicycle, seesighting, boat, fun

I finally put a foot on the Aran Island (Inishmore), Great WE !!! Wonderful sunny monday (Bank Holiday) after a rainy sunday....

It's not rain, it's just Irish mist.
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Finally the sun arrive on monday (monday under the sun... a luck we sometimes have)
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Good place to stay overnight an hostel: The Killeany Pilgrim Lodge

French songs:
Lyrics of a song witten by Bernard Dimey
"Ivrogne, c'est un mot que ni les dictionnaires Ni les intellectuels, ni les gens du gratin Ne comprendront jamais... C'est un mot de misère Qui ressemble à de l'or à cinq heure du matin. Ivrogne... et pourquoi pas ? Je connais cent fois pire, Ceux qui ne boivent pas, qui baisent par hasard, Qui sont moches en troupeau et qui n'ont rien à dire. Venez boire avec moi... On s'ennuiera plus tard. Ivrogne et pourquoi pas "

Things Learned:

  • The Island of Ireland is composed of 32 counties (26 in the Republic and 6 in Northern Ireland), this is subdivision of the old 4 provinces of Ireland. This is a very useful information when you want to follow the gaelic sports as the GAA floow this divisions of the Island to organize theis championships.
  • "ik hou van jou" ... I love you in dutch (Netherlands).
  • Aran Islands geology linked to the Burren.
  • The french song "Celine" by Hugues Aufray (Lyrics: Vline Buggy et Hugues Aufray, music: Mort Shuman ).
  • "La ballade des gens heureux" is sang by Gerard Lenorman.
  • Pierre Delanoe wrote the lyrics of "Nathalie" (G.Becaud), "La ballade des gens heureux" (G.Lenorman), "Je n'aurai pas le temps" (Fugain), "L'ete indien" (Joe Dassin), "Le France" (M.Sardou)....etc...
  • "Take me out" is an original song by Franz Ferdinand, and has been covered (reprise) by The Magic Numbers, The Scissor Sister and Biffy Clyro.
  • There is a FFrench roundabout in Galway, (no syntax error), I wonder what it refers to...


Brickmania

Lego Smurf castle ??   Eva.... massive build Swimming in bricks ?