Being a tourist for another weekend - Part2

Another weekend touring Ireland.

Saturday: Blarney Castle and the traditional kiss of the stone.


Inside the castle


Adn where everybody lining up fro a kiss of the stone


I've been surprised by the garden, this time,



And at the end of the tour, as a reminder of how changing is the weather in Irleand is... a beautiful blue sky almost cloudless.



On the next day we moved further south, in search of more sun, and ended up near Drunmore East.





And try to see the ship coming near Ireland, like that man:

Like the Metal Man in Tramore would say: "Keep out good ship, keep out from me, For I am the rock of misery".

Disturbing some seagulls on the way:


And even if we found some inviting signs, we did not go swimming:


Next week end back to Scubadiving...

Being a tourist for another weekend

Another weekend, being the tourist around Ireland ( around Dingle ) and playing with my large angle lens (sigma 10-20 ).

Dingle Peninsula


Still Dingle where Ryan Daughter has been partially filmed:


in Dingle town:

And no he's not drinking Guiness, just coffee

Pub in Dingle town, easy to find it's in front of the church... and if you want to find the church it's in front of the pub:


Dingle local shops

UnionHall

Just finish a quite typical Irish diving weekend down west cork. Here's the recipe:



- a big slurp of salty water

- 2+ pint of Murphys
- a rugby game ( to be watched at the local pub )
- some seals
- crabs, loybsters and anemones



- and finally meet and greet old and new friends

This toys are having fun without me...

Hidden in the greens...


Indiana ... running


away from


the bad guys

Surf surf in ... Eire

Waveriders Trailer from Waveriders on Vimeo.

The movie Waveriders (http://www.waveridersthefilm.com/) can be seen from the 3rd April in Irish Cinema theater. Time to go surfing....

Songs of the Month [Mar'09]

Fight Like Apes : Something Global

Violent Femmes : Blister in the sun

R.Plant & Alison Krauss : Please read the letter

Frank Black : Bullet

Vampire Weekend : Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

Luck of the Irish dive sites

IMG_0140.JPG, originally uploaded by TOF2006.

I just stumble upon to this top ten dive site in Europe by Scuba Travel

1. Diving the Booroo The Zenobia, Cyprus
2. Blue Hole, Gozo
3. Cirkewwa, Malta
4. Booroo, Isle of Man
5. Blockship Tabarka, Scapa Flow, Scotland
6. Diamond Rocks, Kilkee, Ireland
7. Eddystone Reef, England
8. Secca della Columbara, Italy
9. Fanore, Ireland
10. Chios island, Greece

And guess two of them (Fanore and Kilkee) are actually at a driving distance from Limerick... to be more precise, number 6 is a regular dive site for our diving club... I'd also loved to go to Scapa Flow...
So let's go diving

What's at the end of the alley

Walking in the city street, you may face some amazing discoveries, in a very small street, in a cul de sac in the heart of the city, here's one:


More on my other blog: Limerick Daily Pic: At The End of the Alley

Poem: If I should die beneath the sea

If I should die beneath the sea --
What e'er the circumstance may be --
I only ask that you not cry
For such a lucky one as I.

But, rather, weep for those alive
Who know not what it is to dive
Into the planet's liquid heart
And of God's ocean be a part.

For even Christ must envy all
Who stroll along the ocean's wall;
Though wind and sea His will obeys,
He only walked upon the waves.

And may I ask for one thing more?
A simple cross beside the shore.
Below my name inscribe for me:
Lost to the earth, but found at sea.

Carson Ray... 1989

Evrything is amazing... and nobody's happy

Materialistic 5 things

...which makes me happy:
- my white MacBook, for my digital living.
- my camera (Canon EOS).
- my notebooks, all kinds:
from my work one A4, black cover
to the Moleskine Weekly Notebook (discovered it this year, I've finally found the perfect organizer )
not forgetting the small pocket one ( a clairefontaine ... like in School ) I carry all the time.
- a Bic Cristal pen, indispensable accessory to the previous items. I like its simplicity and robustness, probably the best pen Bis ever design even if it was almost 60 years ago (1950).
- a medal I've got since my early childhood.

And you, what day to day objects makes you happy ?

I've stolen that 5 things idea from Fabienne.

LCGA

Two very interesting exhibition at the LCGA till the end of the week ( sorry or the late notice )

• The Ice Above, the Fire Below and Other Works 2007-2009 - (January 15th - February 27th) by Clare Langan
• Into Irish Drawing

I've posted some pictures of it on the Limerick Daily Pic Blog : http://limerickdaypic.blogspot.com.

Marine Species of Ireland

Chines Portrait

If I was a fruit, I'd be a banana.
If I was a factory, I'd be a nuclear reactor.
If I was a city, I'd be Montreal.
If I was an animal, I'd be an otter, in the water craking nuts on my belly.
If I was an element, I'd be water.
If I was a building, I'd be a lighthouse.
If I was a color, I'd be blue.
If I was a vehicle, I'd be a citroen DS.
If I was an art object, I'd be Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.
If I was a smell, I'd be a salty marine breeze.
If I was a period in History, I'd be the Antique Greece.
If I was a sound, I'd be a whale song.

And what about you ?

Yes you can

Some positive thinking

Spectrum Dream Jobs 2009

Like every year in february, IEEE Spectrum, published interviews of 10 engineers who have "Dream Jobs"
Worth to have a look to see what kind of better job, you could dream doing, from creating a solar plane for an around the world trip.

Some interesting thing this year, like building electric dirt-bike.

But in my heart, still none are beating those two:

Designer for Lego Mindstorm (Dream Job 2004).
Lau Kofoed Kierstein: Playtime in the Land of Lego
What He Does: Comes up with ideas for new toys; designs toys
For Whom: Lego System A/S
Where He Does It: Billund, Denmark

Mythbuster (Dream Job 2006).
Grant Imahara (M)
What he does: Builder for the Discovery Channel's "MythBusters."
Where he does it: San Francisco.
Fun factors: Enjoys working on the eclectic "MythBusters" set, which features a motorized surfboard, a row of first-class airplane seats, and a larger-than-life rubber cast of a human rear end.
Basically blowing up stuff, in name of science... and entertainment.

Movies previsions for 2009

There is a couple of movies I'd like to see in 2009. Here's the list.

• Up
  because it is the next Pixar movie, directed by Pete Docter (Monster Inc). And the story already attracts me: Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming. But at age 78....


• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  a David Fincher (Fight Club) about an inverted life ( born old and finish dying young )


• Vicky Christina Barcelona
  because it's been a long long time since I've seen a Woody Allen, and I love Javier Barden. I know it's a 2008 movie but here in Ireland, there's some delay


• The Illusionist
  because it is directed by Sylvain Chaumet, which previous movie "Belleville Rendez vous" was quite magic.


• Synecdoche, New york
  by Charlie Kaufmann, his first movie (directed)


• Bolt
  because in those depressed times, I need a good Disney movie


I also wanted to see the last Darren Aronofsky: "The Wrestler", and I did and was quite happy with it.

Project 365 - Week 4

Week 4 has been a photo-less week ( i am really bad with new years resolutions ), my excuse being upgrding my computer ( hard-drive and OS ), an overload of work at the office, and a very nasty cold... Anyway with february coming it should be all fine now.

Here's a summary of the first month of the project with only 18 of teh 31 photos expected.

Project 365 - Week 3

Not much again this week, nor during the weekend (though i watch Munster demolishing of Sale, which was not a good news for the future of ASM in the H-Cup)...

[FR] Jeu des mille euros

Le jeu des mille euros de France Inter viens faire un petit tour en Irlande, sans Lucien Jeunesse malheureusement....

10 Février 2009 Dublin (Irlande)
A l'Alliance Française.
Sélection et enregistrement (Adulte et Jeune) à 18H00.

12 Février 2009 Cork (Irlande)
A la Crawford Art Gallery.
Sélection et enregistrement à 18H00.

Donc si voulez montrer votre culture...

Project 365 - Week 2

2nd week of my 365 project:



I've been incredebly lazy since i came back to Ireland, did not even put a foot in a pub, not even been back in the water, just back to work.

Project 365 - Week 1

I've started a new project on Flickr, a 365 project, a picture a day about me, my activities.
I'll summarize each week in this blog:

A bit of web-surfing, comic reading, only 4 day in Ireland.
Here's the URL of the set:

• Project 365 SlideShow
• Christophe Flickr 365 project Set

10 movies I think frequently

Ten movies I think of, frequently, those images fill my mind.

Chung King Express (Wong Kar Wai - 1994)
No point of telling the stories of that movie, you just have to let the images drawn you. I prefer the second story with Faye, how can a man not fall in love with her ? Even if she's a little bit crazy.

Bringing up baby (Howard Hawks - 1938 )
Another strong woman (this time its Katharine Hepburn ) storming into the life of a nice old chap, with some devastating effects ( and love not being the least).

Moonfleet (Fritz Lang - 1955)
Another classic movie from Hollywood ( I should probably thanks Eddy Mitchell and his TV show "La dernière séance" to have me discovered those movies ), the photography is absolutely fantastic, in a very gothic atmosphere, all the scene with the young Mohune deeply impressed me (and still today).

La Jetee (Chris Marker - 1962)
A short movie, all created with still images and a voice over. The story is trong and is at the origin of a remake by Terry Gilliam: Twelve Monkeys.
I miss seeing short movies ( if you go in Clermont-Ferrand in february, you should drop by the international short festival, to see thousands of them).

Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull - 1972)
An ecological tale in space, by the man responsible of special effects in "2001", and "Blade Runner". I like the image, of giant domes containing forest, deriving through space.

Monster Inc (Peter Docter - 2001)
Pixar... oh pixar, I love their movies. It's not about the techniques, the fabulous things they can achieve with computers, it's more the fact that all those prowess are based and for the story. Pixar movies have a real strength in very good story-telling, and everything in the making come in support of that.

Joe's appartment (J.Payson - 1996)
A MTV movie, actually its a musical, about singing cockroaches.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (J.SHarman - 1975)
One day I might come disguise as Franck N'Furter...
Don't dream it, be it

Santa Sangre (A.Jodorowsky - 1989)
What a shock when i saw this movie, the first time. From the elephant death, till the puppet son, this movie is full of (somewhat disturbing) invention.

My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki - 1988 )
Another shock, but of marvelous amazement, every time i walk in a forest i wonder which wonderful creatures are there in hidding.

Ten TV series which influences my childhood

Here the ten TV series who influenced my childhood, for bad or good.

• Litllest Hobo (French Title "Le Vagabond")
  
  There was some sadness, about the story of this dog, which kept leaving at the end of each episode... I wonder if he ever found his family, if he ever settle down.
  And a great lesson for life: every stop i make, i'll make a new friend.
• Punky Brewster
  Another seemingly sad story (a child abandoned by her mother in a mall), but it ends happily. I whish my parent would have let me paint my bedroom like she did, or even let me have the doghouse in my bedroom...
• Magnum PI
  Aaaah ... magnum... when i was 7, this is the way i imagined my life when i would be older, hawaian shirt, moustache, and sea kayak (not much facination for the car though, i'd prefer the 2 dogs zeus and appollo). Today I am almost there... Not.
• Mac Gyver
  One of the rare TV series, I watched with my father, the game was to see if MacGyver tricks were plausible, most of them are theorically right, but not really practicable... if you have Discovery Channel, I encourage you to look at the Mythbuster episode dedicated to Angus McGyver.
  
• Code Quantum
  One of the 2 TV series, I've seen all the episodes (with McGyver), a total nonsense scientifically speaking (unless soul exist). I love the episodes about Kennedy Assassination or about Al first wife. The final episode was also quite mystical, with a great Bruce McGill (yep the mythical Jack Dalton in MacGyver) as a god-like bartender.
• Silver Spoon
  Totally the opposite of punky brewster, though his mother does not take much care of him... on the other hand Erin Gray is a dream step-mother
• Buck Rogers
  It was not so much, the space action (i've seen some episode again recently, and was a bit disapointed by the action in space, BattleStar Galactica was much better for the battles in space, and the look of the spaceship and uniform), but the robot twiki is gas ... bidibidi ...bidi bidi.
  Off course there is Erin Gray (she appeared in 3 series in this list), absolutely beutiful, but in one episode Arnold (Gary Coleman from Diff'rent Strokes - Arnold & Willy) confront twiki.
  
• Whiz kids (in French "Les Petits Génies" )
  May be the origin of my fascination for computer, it looks ridiculous to see what they were doing at the time (stopping a plane ..etc), but at the same time it kinda predicted what we are seeing today with the web


• The A-team
  Guilty pleasure, but how could you resist to that when you were 10 years old... You have a problem, let's weld some metal shield on a car and make it a tank, take your weapon and fire ... amazingly nobody ever gets hurt in the series, nobody die. It was also a yerribly mysogynic show
  10 years later we discovered this parody by Benny Hill:
  


• The Fall guy
  Colt ... how many TV series did Lee Majors stars in my youth ? Part-time bounty hunter, part-time stuntman seemed an intersting career perspective at the time

To finish a special mention to Fraggle Rocks, for some reason, i did not watch much of it during my childhood, but even today it's a pleasure to discover a replay on the tv screen:

Entrez dans la danse, les ennuis n'ont pas de chance

---

On a completely different subject:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turn 60, today 10th of december.
Blog Bonne Nouvelle 60 years

2008 Top 10 Things

The Time is publishing it's top 10 of evrything for 2008: Time Special Top 10 2008, so here's my personal top 10 for 2008

• ASM 9th french rugby union championship final. Against Toulouse, even if it was not the result expected, Auvergne is still lookking to win the Brennus. Actually if Clermont win against Munster next saturday, this might replace that entry.

• Radiohead "In Rainbows" in Dublin
  An excellent new album, distributed freely through the web (i know it's actually 2007).
  
  And on the top of that, i've seen them in a fabulous concert in Dublin, dreamy from the start with a double rainbow welcoming the group in Marlay Park.
  

• Wall-ee
  The last pixar marvel, absolutely enchanting, in particular the silent 1st part of the movie.
  

• US presidential campaign
  From Hilary raise, to Obama victory... it has been a quite exciting and over-publicized campaign. Change could not come at a best time ( or at a worst ? ).
  

• Bertie Ahern stepping down.
  Fascinating, a great political figure, which shape today's ireland, a finance minister who does not have a bank account (how did he get paid ? in cash ), a man who lead the peace process. He had an incredibly long career in Irish Politics, which is contrasting, when you compare to the american system: Obama political career only started 4-5 years ago, while Bertie started in his 20's... France is unfortunately no different.
  With all the afairs, he also did a lot for the raise of Irish stand up comedian.
  

• Large Hardron Collider almost start up
  The Large Hardron Collider, building is finished, and experiment will be able to start. A particular feeling about that news, as lots of my teachers in Clermont University worked ( and are still working ) on that project.
  

• Munster-All Blacks in Thomond Park
  What a game, makes you proud of living in Limerick.
  Everything, from the Munster haka to finsh was exceptional that night.
  

• Lisa Hannigan "Sea Saw"
  Some interesting things happen this year in music, from Portishead latest addition "Third" to MGMT "Kids", but i have a tender preference for Lisa Hannigan first album, and not only for her live show in UL.
  

• Basking Sharks in Kerry
  The first time, I saw so huge animals in the sea... I know it's not a big news, and they are quite frequent on the Irish Coast, but it's in my top ten...
  
  Next year I'll try to get closer, bigger picture of them.
  

• Crunch....
  This growth rate seems unreal, and crazy for most part of the year, and now it's gone, in less time than it takes to write it. How artificial has been our occidental capitalistic lifes ? We'll see if 2009 brings better alternatives

[FR] 10 Dessins animés qui m'ont marqué

Les 10 dessins animés qui m'ont le plus marqué dans mon enfance:

• Rémi sans Famille
  Je reste encore aujourd'hui traumatisé par la série d'épisode ou les animaux meurent un par un.
  

• Galaxy Express 999
  De nouveau une série trés sombre, qui débute par l'assassinat de la mère du héros lors d'une partie de chasse, peuplé d'humains en quête d'immotralité et de perfection via la robotisation de leur corps. Réalisée par le même créateur de la série Albator, un autre dessin animé marquant de ma jeunesse, c'est le même univers désespéré. J'ai depuis abandonné l'idée de devenir un pirate, et d'avoir une cicatrice sur la joue ( un peu a la Joffrey d'Angélique )
  

• Les Mystèrieuses cités d'or
  Une fantastique série ( depuis des années, ils annoncent une suite, peut-être sur grand écrans ) de Jean Chalopin (créateur de l'Inspecteur Gadget entre autres). J'adore l'ambiguité de certains personnages (en particulier Mendoza_, et je restais faciné par le petit documentaire a la fin de chaque épisode.
  

• Les Mondes Engloutis
  Trés trés étrange série, sur un monde au centre de la terre qui a oublié ses origines
  

• Dare Dare Motus (Danger Mouse)
  Comment ne pas adorer un série dont le héros est une souris blanche borgne, j'ai récemment redécouvert la série dans sa version anglaise originale, c'est a mourir de rire.
  

• Cobra
  Ca y est je me suis fais a l'idée que je n'aurais pas un bras-canon pour Noël.
  De nouveau la série a des cotés assez sombre et adulte, qui sont surprenants pour une série pour enfants.
  

• Cat's Eyes
  Avec ses trois filles sublimes ( au niveau filles subblimes cela se rapprochent de Cobra ), je crois que j'étais amoureux de célia.
  

• Nils Olgersen et les oies sauvages
  Excellent histoire, même si je ne me souviens plus des détails et de pourquoi Nils se retrouve réduis a cette taille.
  

• Candy et Lady Oscar
  Ce qu'on peut appeller "guilty pleasures", je n'ai aucune idée de l'histoire de Candy (si si sérieusement), je me souviens juste que les gens étais trés méchant avec elle (mais alors trés trés méchant, si bien qu'enfait je n'aimais pas regarder ce dessin animé). Lady Oscar m'a aussi marqué, je ne sais pas trop pourquoi, j'ai juste cette image trés forte de longs cheveux blonds flamboyants, sur un uniforme militaire blanc.
  

• L'Empire des cinq
  Plus que les robots, je reste marque par les différents sites qu'ils visitents au cours de leur combat, en particulier StoneHenge.
  
  Je me dois de rajouter quelques séries suplémetaires:
  

• Pole Position
  Juste pour les voitures qui sortent d'un camion ( l'un de mes jouets favoris etaient un camion qui permettais justement cela )
  

• Sherlock Hound
  L'une des meilleures adaptations de Sherlock Holmes, avec "Private Life of S.H" de Billy Wilder (1970) et les interprétation de Jeremy Brett, même si c'est une adaptation trés trés libre. Réalisé en partie par Hayao Miyazaki, la série a un attrait tout particulier avec la délicieuse Ms Hudson.
  

Et pour finir la définition du bonheur par maitre Vitalis:

Le bonheur
Uploaded by gerald_helios

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Reeling the years (08)

I am stealing an idea from some French blogs (Fabienne and Olivier who started the thing ).

The idea is very simple and based on a simple question: Where was i 5 years ago, 10, 15 ...etc ?
So let's go back in time by 5 years leap...


1978
I am 2 years old, living with my parents and my grandad in a small village in Auvergne, France near the river Allier.
According to the pictures taken by my dad, i've got a brilliant future in construction or maybe woodworking.

May be i should have gone this road... because the shed we were building is still there.

1983
Still living in Auvergne, we move to a different house in the same village ( i've calculated that my father moved at least 6 times in his life without actually leaving the village ).


The familly got bigger, with th addition of my brother.
I am also starting going to school in Hauterive.
This is also the year, my first computer began to be sold: Alice (8kb RAM, no hard drive...), first contact with informatic which would become predominant in my professional career and also the comic artist called Moebius which made the packaging illustration.

1988
Moving to junior School, in St Yorrre "ca va fort", and also moved to the best computer in the world the Amstrad CPC 464. Yeah I know, from now on I am and will be a geek.

1993
High school, I am in scientific section (is it a surprise ?) and have strangely terribly low notes in my favourite subject: physic. May be i was distracted by girls...

1998
I am in Clermont Ferrand, still in Auvergne, student in Blaise Pascal University.
And guess what, I am studiying physics.
I've started taking interest interest in photography with an old argentic canon (an old T60).

This is also there, I felt deeply in love with cinema, mainly because of the International Short Film Festival.

2003
I've moved to Grenoble at the end of my master to (finally) start working in a small company but on the winter of that year, I was actually on a mission in Milano Italy.

My first real taste of expatriation, I did not stay long enough to be able to speak Italian fluently but it was 4 great months, with some disturbing discovery. I actually discovered that italian girls have the same taste for decorating their bedroom as my 12 year old cousin (except one room was red and black while the other was white and blue ).



2008
I am in Ireland, on the west coast, since 2005.
Enjoying a lot of scubadiving and a bit of guiness.

[FR] Nos Enfants...

un documentaire francais sur la nourriture, les dangers de l'agriculture industrielle reposant sur les produits chimiques.



Le website du film:
http://www.nosenfantsnousaccuseront-lefilm.com/

A ecouter en particulier, le podacst de Serge Orru a l'univeriste de la terre 2008:
http://www.actus-durables.fr/2008/11/podcast-de-serge-orru-a-luniversite-de-la-terre-2008/

Neil Delamere

Last saturday, I was in Glór (Ennis, Co Clare) for Neil Delamere performance. It was excellent, as i almost piss on myself, learn a new word (Ghee, butter in all Indian food restaurant), and finally become highly suspicious towards AnPost.

Neil Delamere is an Irish comedian, one of the regular panelist of the RTE show : The Panel.
I've put some videos of the show previously here.

So here's another one:

Maturity

On devient adulte lorsqu'on a accepté ces 5 i
Irreversibilité du passé
Imprévisibilité du futur
Imperfection du présent
Irrémédiabilité de la mort
Insensé du tout.

Carlo Moïso

Which you can translate by:
"You're becoming an adult when you accept thes 5 I:past is Irreversible future is Imprevisible present is Imperfet death is irremediable everything is Irrational ( the word insensé has actually a more powerful meaning)."

I was listening to the brilliant BBC program: Thinking Allowed (available in podcast), and they were talking about Male immaturity. Basically men today are no longer the manly men of the past, gone are the manly figures of John Wayne and Gary Grant from the movies, replaced by some eternal teenagers. TV, and movies seems to be all about teenage year not anymore about growned up. Men seeking eternal youthness, and playing video-games. An interesting thought by the guest, was that games enable men to play with power until the day the have real power... which does not seem to be the case.

The guest of the show was Gary Cross author of "Men to Boys: The Making of Modern Immaturity".

Reflecting on this, may be I should stop recreating Pirates battle with my playmobil:

Or try to make Godzilla vs Goldorak with my lego sets:


Thanks to "Ma Vie sans Moi" a French blog for the opening quotation.

Stand Up and Fight

In a replay of the famous 1978 victory over the All-Blacks (12-0), last night Munster played New Zealand in the newly renovated stadium... and what a game....

The 1978 victory is the beginning of the Munster legend, as Munster is the only irish side to have ever beaten the All-Blacks, the game also inspired a play : Alone it stands.



And the game last night was fabulous, even with a second string team ( most of Munster player were taken by international duty, O'Gara, O'Connell, Flannerys... were playing for Ireland last Saturday), Munster put all his heart into the game, pushed by its fantastic public. One of the best game of rugby I've ever seen.

So the song of the week is....

STAN' UP AN' FIGHT (TOREADOR SONG)

Thanks a lot! I'm sure glad to be,
To be where I c'n see
So many friends o' mine.
How've I been doin'? How've I been doin'?
If you really wanta know de truth,
I'm doin' fine!
Seventeen decisions in a row,
An' only five on points; de res' was all K.O.
Jackson an' Johnson, Murphy an' Bronson,
One by one dey come,
An' one by one to dreamland dey go.
How's it done? You ask me, how's it done?
I got a trainer man who taught me all I know.
Sure feels good to have him in my corner,
Hear his voice a-whisp'rin' low:
"Big boy, remember, you mus' remember...

Stan' up an' fight until you hear de bell,
Stan' toe to toe, trade blow fer blow,
Keep punchin' till you make yer punches tell,
Show dat crowd watcher know!
Until you hear dat bell, dat final bell,
Stan' up an' fight like hell!"

When you fight out in de open air,
In a patch o' light de ring looks small an' white.
Out in de blackness, out in de blackness,
You c'n feel a hun'erd thousan' eyes
Fillin' de night.
Cigarettes are blinkin' in de dark,
An' makin' polka dots aroun' de baseball park,
People are quiet den dere's a riot!
Someone t'rows a punch
An' plants it right smack on de mark...
Someone’s hurt, you kinda think it's you.
You hang across de ropes
Da's all you want to do.
Den you look aroun' an' see your trainer's eyes,
Beggin' you to see it through,
Dey say, "Remember, big Boy, remember

Stan' up an' fight until you hear de bell,
Stan' toe to toe, trade blow fer blow,
Keep punchin' till you make yer punches tell,
Show dat crowd watcher know!
Until you hear dat bell, dat final bell,
Stan, up an' fight like hell!"

Excursion in Dublin

So I went to Dublin, this Saturday, leaving the west for a tour in the big city... drop my car at the infamous red cow roundabout and took the luas for the town ( the best way to spend a day in Dublin, and not being bothered by your car).
As soon as i went through Temple Bar a strange feeling took control...

Yep french-attitude, the street were full of french tourist, students, I probably headed to the wrong part of the city between the Temple Bar Food Market to pay my homage to sir rory
and the Irish film Institute who is organizing this month a French Film Festival.
Did not have time to go to Howth as planned (next time).

As a result, during the all afternoon, I heard principally french followed by Italian and finally some english.

But where there the Irish ?

Actually they were all in the pubs, in great expectation of the: Ireland vs New-Zealand rugby game in Croke Park.
It did not turn out to be a success, as Ireland failed to beat the All-Blacks, again in 22 games, Ireland only manage to get one draw and 21 defeats.
All hopes are now on the shoulder of might Munster.

[FR] En avant la musique...

Noir Désir is back with some new music, you can see it there: Site Officiel http://www.noirdez.com/.

I want snow....

Please....

Feud

In those doom and gloom times, while Limerick was preparing itself for the replay of the big game, there is one word I wished would not appear: feud.
Last Sunday an innocent man died in a usually quiet area of Limerick, not very far from where I used to live. After a 6 months break, a 14th life has been claimed by the feud between rivals drug gangs of the city. This time, the victim is not even remotely related to the gang activities, but it was also the case for the burn children. Seems Saint Liam is replacing the saint patron of the city.
Limerick has a drug problem, actually Ireland too ( Cork and Dublin are no better ), with a very exposed coast ( 8 vessels to protect a 1,970.5 miles coast ), which means it's a gateway for drug coming from seas (this month another yacht full of drugs has been catch on the cork coast of Ireland ), and a sadly growing population of consumers.

The Limerick Blogger has more on this issue, with reactions of people of Limerick.

Note: There will be a march organized in Limerick: start at Perry Square, at 2pm on Saturday the 15th of November.

Addendum: The Limerick blogger community has been quite active, over the event.

Bock the robber

lo que dice candela (spanish blog)

Looking forward 2009

In those depressing time, where everybody's talking about recession, something to look forward in 2009, the next Pixar movie Up:



(From Trailer Addict)

Top ten things to do in Ireland

Recently Alison Curtis on her Today FM show, listed with the help of the listeners the top 10 things to do in Ireland, and this is what they came up with:

Top 10 things to do in Ireland before You Die
10. Wake Up Beside a Galway Girl
9. Visit Newgrange
8. Road Bowling
7. Pint in the Grave Diggers Glasnevin
6. Climb Carrintool
5. See a gig in De Barras Clonakilty
4. Paddys day in Doolin
3. Go to the Ploughing Championships
2. Attend the Culchie Festival
1. Watch an All Ireland Hurling Final in Croke Park

I personally only manage to do only one of those ( number 9, and it was worth it ) in the list.
So here's my personal top ten:

11. Listen ghost stories in Kinsale.
10. Watch the sunset over Rock of Cashel.
9. Circumnavigate Ireland in a sea kayak.
8. A night out in a Doolin or Brandon pub.
7. Spend a night on one of the Aran Island, after a day of cycling, you'll enjoy the best guinness in the world.
6. Watch a hurling game in Croke Park ( an all Ireland final would be a best, but even the club final on Paddys day is interesting ).
5. Visit Newgrange ( Ideally, on a solstice day, but you have to be drafted ).
4. Drink a pint in the South Pole Inn, on your way to Dingle.
3. Have an unexpected encounter with dolphins on the west coast of Ireland ( can be expanded to seal and basking sharks).
2. Climb all the way up to the Skelligs.
1. Participate to a Currach race down in Kerry or a Galway Hooker race up to the Arans.

Tom Crean

English: Photo of Tom Crean taken aboard the Endurance, 1914.

I went to the theater last night to see a wonderful performance about Tom Crean, at the Belltable. I've already talked about him in a previous post.

He went three times to the South Pole with Scott and Shackleton, and survive all of them.
Terrific story, remarkably brought to life with some humor by the comedian Aidan Dooley. The piece is called : "Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer" (Written and Performed by Aidan Dooley).

There is a highly recommended book by Smith, Michael: Tom Crean: Unsung Hero ( Mountaineers Books ).

And if you're on your way to Dingle, don't forget to stop in Anascaul, and have a pint in the blue pub after the bridge: the South Pole Inn.

The Bisounours go to the Pub

I've seen an interesting comparison between the land of the "Bisounours" (Care Bears, Bisounours is the French translation ie kiss bears) and Ireland, in another expat blog (Estelle), since I have in my head pictures of Bisounours drinking in Pubs, getting drunk.....



When doing this, I actually discover that in the care-bears there is an Irish connection through "good Luck Bear" ("Grosveinard" in French), who is green and bears a hearted shamrock. And you actually can see its influence in that ad:


Have a Great day.