Movies

A small post about the (once again) wonderful BBC. On their website, they present some short movies animation ...etc... worth to check it out sometimes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/

My favourites movies are:

• Industrial love dwarf about a (dwarf) conspiracy to steal love.
• Safety procedure to watch if you have to take a plane one day.

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.

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 .

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)


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....

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...

So huge crowd (most of them from Cork) to assist the Clare defeat

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):


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.

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,”

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 !!!!!!

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

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....

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.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

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.

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



Galway University



Wind Power in Ireland


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
  

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

• Melaka Blog (French)
• Megatokyo (BD)
• Mouton Benzene (French)
  
• Boulet Corp Blog (French)
• Nancy Pena (French)
• Madame Fa blog (French)
• PHD comics
  

And to discover few comics universe I like:

• To discover the world of Schuiten and Peeters
• Joann Sfar the author of "La fille du professeur"
• Lewis Trondheim
• Donjon universe

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.


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.

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.




Finally the sun arrive on monday (monday under the sun... a luck we sometimes have)








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...
  

Food market

Saturday Pub:0 ; Alcohol uits 0; Activities:RiverFest, Rayman, Food Market
Friday Pub:0 ; Alcohol uits: loadz but 0 stout; Activities:Tartiflette

• So due ti the River Faest this week-end, there is a French/International market in Limerick... Finally it's possible to buy some nice food (cheese, real "charcuterie"...). Actually once you know, there is a way in Limerick to have nice products.
  Every saturday (or sunday ??) mroning there is the Milk Market in the city center, where you can buy cheap and good products (I'am talking food).
  Another interesting spot, is the Asian supermarket ( I suspect it's the provider for all asiatic restaurant in the area), this is worth to tale a look at.


• Improvised Tartiflette friday night, as a result I sadly did not go to the pub ... very good (potatoes should have cooked more) but nice. Thanks to Mikie.


• Arte (Tracks) put his shows on the web, this is downloadable (unfortunately not free http://www.artevod.com/ , it's probably the next incoming mutation fro the media, no more scheduling, the programs will be avalaible when you want to watch it, good bye TV listings

NOT FINISHED --- NEED MORE

Limerick Guiness

Pub: 3; Alcohol Units: 2; Activities: Salsa, pub

So Munster is going to Cardiff to entertain Biarritz during the Heineken Cup Final, everybody in the city, is wearing the red jersey, every car has his flag of ithe team, and most important, everybody is seeking a ticket for the match. People book their flight, hotel... Actually all tickets are sold out, only remains 15000 tickets given to the 2 clubs... unfortunately for Munster, their 7500 tickets will be reserved to the club and sponsors and Not the supporters ! So you can see Irish people lurking to the 7500 tickets given to Biarritz... The red Army is ready to invade Scotland. Aer Lingus has added to extra flight from Dublin to Bristol just for the event.

Guinness is a cultural thing.
Diageo has introduced in Limerick for a test a "Guinness Mid-strength" with only 2.8 degree.
So it's been 6 weeks, and the Limerick Post is looking at it:
http://www2.limerickpost.ie/fullnews.elive?id=57&category=news
Where you can see the importance of drinking in the Irish society, one of my favourite quotation in this article is:
"People are very busy nowadays. They have a lot of responsibility and although they still like going to the pub, they are finding it harder and harder to drink and to execute their responsibilities. This way you can have a few pints and still have a clear head in the morning.”
For information few pints for an irish is a minimum of 3 !

I will need to come back later, on Limerick, its criminality, its horses and its street burning garbage.

Les Boulets

• Quotation of the day:
  "Rien ne m'est sur que la chose incertaine" F.Villon


• The incoming weekend (May Bank Holiday) the River Fest is taking place in Limerick:
  http://www.limerickriverfest.com/


• I've just seen that Nico introduced me and some other french lads in his blog, so to re-establish the truth, let me introduce you: "Les boulets", some french lads who arewilling to spend 5 to 6 months in Ireland, (drinking beer...)
  
  First: Manu (aka "Schtroumpf-grincheux"/Smurf grouchy)
  
  2nd: Guillaume (aka Dopey )
  
  
  
  
  
  
  3rd: Mikael (aka Jojo le merou)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  4th: Nico (aka Leprechaun aka Patrick)
  
  
  
  

Bike....

Pub:0;Alcohol Units:0; Activities: Bike, work

• Today I finally went to my work with my bicycle... It took me a bit more than one hour.... but for the return I have the wind against me so I've almost double my time -sic-
  I am quite happy with the bike-journey, even if I know what the 2 or 3 next weeks should be the hardest, to give me time to be in better physical shape and accustom myself to the journey.
• Just for the fun a french website about "Les Crados" http://www.lescrados.com/ , the english version is GarbagePailKids (look at this website http://www.wgpkr.com/ to have the list of all cards)
• Actually when you look at the Crados website, you'll see cards about M.A.S.K ("Illusion is the ultimate weapon !") and now I can't stop thinking of GI-Joe, Playmobil and James May. James May is a co-presenter of TOP-GEAR a show about cars, in my opinion the only one who has a good taste for cars.
  Note: TOPGEAR actually has set a quite fun challenge Celeb Laptime where they asked celebrity to race against the clock... and guess who is heading ... I let you discover.
  James is in his fourties, and for last christmas, he had a show (Toy stories) about the toys of his childhood, and it was absolutely brilliant: still playing with his toys, trying the parachute of a Action Man for real (very dispapointing), Etch-a-Sketch (in the hands of art students producing some amazing portraits) and buying a collection train (Hornby) to play with it and not too keep it in his box.... When I'll grow up, I want to be like James May !!!

If.... poem from R.Kipling

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Sunday Sport.... Irish definition

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: TV-Sport (WWE, Hurling, Rugby)

Here's the definition of a very sportive sunday in Ireland: an Hurling semi-final and the Heineken Rugby Cup semi-final opposing Munster to Leinster, all to be watch in a pub!
And outdoor it was an absolutlely perfect sunny day! Don't quite understand....
Anyway, I wanted to go to the Gaelic ground to see the hurling game between Limerick and Clare... unfortunately I made the mistake to believe the hurling game was played in Limerick, and it was in fact, in Kilkenny, the Gaelic football was in Limerick...

So lousy/lazy day... the good thing is: finally this sunday I've been able to catch up with what happened in Raw and Smack-Down (WWE)... I've almost missed the story between Cena, Triple H and Edge these last week-ends.

Munster will be heading for another Heineken Cup Final, as far as I remember it will be their third final. Great victory against Leinster (the brother-ennemy), actually the Dublin team has been crushed by the Red Army in a Landsdowne Road Stadium all dressed in red (I wondered where the blue/Leinster fans where... but the joke tells what there was a promotion in Browne Thomas at the same time). So in 4 weeks time, it will be another Irish-French clash between Biarritz and Munster for the Final in Cardiff (aka Dimitri Yachvili vs Ronan O'Gara ).
And it's been a great day for Limerick in sport as the Hurling team has won against Clare, in semi-final of the National League.

Scuba-Diving

Pub: 2; Unit Alcohol: 3; Activities: ScubaDiving, SeeSighting, Gig

Finally I went diving today..... Yipeeeee !!!!! Thanks to Mikie. Okay teh water was a bot cold (8°C)... next dive in one month (minimum.. so the gulf stream would have heat the water a bit)

Diving parameters: Max 27.2m 27min 10°C.

And we've been to Loop Head

The sea rescue tam has a nice equipment:

And finally to end happily the day we went to the Dolans to see a Nirvana Tribute band (+) and a Pearl Jam tribute band (+++).

Things Learned today:

1. Massey Ferguson is a canadian company founded in 1847.
2. John Deere is an american company founded in 1868.
3. Difference between raven (Corvus corax, Fr: corbeau ), crow and rook (Fr: Corneille), all are Passeriformes (Family:Corvidae)

Climbing a wall

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: Indoor Wall Climbing
Nice activity wednesday evening after work: Indoor Climbing...
Game take you birthday date (exclude the year) and pick in Wikipedia: 3 events,3 births,3 deaths.

Events
1815 - Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
1916 - Albert Einstein publishes his theory of relativity.
1965 - In Naples, Italy, France Gall wins the tenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (Wax doll, talking doll).
Births
43 BC - Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)
1957 - Spike Lee, American film director and actor
1964 - Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer
Deaths
1413 - King Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
1727 O.S. - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist (b. 1642)
1929 - Ferdinand Foch, French commander of allied forces in World War I (b. 1851)

B-movies

Reference site about B-movies: Nanarland

• Last B-movies seen:

Ready to Rumble: the story of two sewage workers wrestle-fans on a quest to help their hero, a fallen wrestler champion.
Westworld: A curiosity directed by Michael Crichton, with Yul Brinner about futuristic leisure complex full of robots.
Thunderpants: The story of a farting boy who has his best day ever ever, when he flies in space with a ship propelled by farting.


My favorites B-movies:

• Orgazmo
• Turkish Star Wars
• The Cat
• Robotrix
• Joe's Appartment
• Whitefire
  

Bike....

Pub: 0 ; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: Bought a Bike

Finally, I've bought a bike in Ireland, hopefully I should be soon be able to cycle to work... but not tomorrow because of the Indoor Climbing Initiation and not Thursday because there's Salsa....
I've also realised than there is a lot of topics I want to discuss in this blog:
GAA, Hurling, Gaelic/Irish, W.B.Yeats, Irish 1916 events, sailing....

I discover this fantastic website : http://www.chronique-gaelique.com/index.html while I was trying to find the origin of the famous french song "Les lacs du Connemara" from Sardou ( just to prove that Michel Sardou never put a foot in Ireland...)

Killarney Lakes ....

Sunday
Pub: 2; Alcohol Units: 3 (1 Guinness, 2 Murphys); Activities: Bicycle, He or She, Seesighting
Heading to Killarney with M&N... rent some bike and cycle around Killarney Lakes...
Ross Castle:

Muckross Abbey:

The Waterfall:



There was an exhibit of vintage tractor/farmer machine:

Some quite old:

On the lake watching the making-of of a ninja movie....

Evening: Restaurant and few pubs in Killarney

Night: youth Hostel without any swedish girl ....



Monday (Bank Holiday)
Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0, Activities: Seesighting, beach, car

Leaving Killarney, through the Upper Lake and the Gap of Dunloe (Black Lake), and then afternoon on the beach.... Kells (Part of the ring of Kerry)

Where some people enjoyed wrestling:

• Global Thematic of the Week-End: SpongeBob SquarePants
• Things learned:
  
1. Marsupials are mammals.
2. Chicago is not near New York
3. Women are complicated
4. Do goldfishes have a memory longer than 3 seconds ? Yes...Busted myth according to the Mythbusters
5. Claude Francois did not write the song "Cette Annee la", the original song is "Oh What a night" written by Robert Gaudio and Judy Parker.

• Unanswered questions:
• Is the memory of a goldfish a conscient act or an inconscient one ? (Asked by Patrick)
• Quotation of the day:
  "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" – Adam Savage from Mythbusters

Paella....

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 2-3 (sangria, vine); Activity: ??

Nice and international party at Laurent House to celebrate his wedding. And thanks to Ruben who cooked a fabulous paella....

Fun, when I came back from, I check out Flickr and saw that someone put a comment on one of my Lego pic, and linked it to the Adventures of the dinosaur and the robot.... LOL !!!!

And here's the blog of the guy who posted the comment: http://dunechaser.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow Killarney....

Lego - Day

Pub: 0; Alcohol Units: 0; Activities: Shopping, Garden, Lego building
Main activity of my day: build LEGO numero 7903.


UPDATE photos removed from FLICKR

FYI:

• LEGO has a new service Lego Factory, you build your model within a CAO software and then you can order the pieces you need to build it in real.
• Mindstorms .... are coming this summer.
• LDRAW a free CAD software for Lego
• Adult Lego fans: http://www.legofan.org/brickjournal/
• Stop Motion Movies with Lego http://www.brickfilms.com/

Except that, today was a lot of shopping, and I've started to grow some plants in the garden (mint, thyme...)

Lazy day

Pub: 0 ; Alcohol Unit: 0 (good friday) ; Activity: Mown my lawn.

A bit of culture with some of the differents local Beers you can drink in Ireland:

• Beamish : stout, Brewery: Beamish and Crawford (Cork)
• Guinness : stout, Brewery: St James Gate (Dublin, Diageo)
• Murphy (Murphy's Irish Stout): stout, Brewery: Cork
• Smithwick's: Brewery: Smithwicks (Kilkenny)
• Kilkenny: Brewery: Smithwicks (Kilkenny)

Some beermat (coaster):




And finally tonight TV movie: Ghostbusters , in summary: "Do not cross the streams !"

Something like Bridget Jones...

Pub: 2 (Daffy's +++, Glen Tavern ++) ; Alcohol units: 0 (yes, 2 orange juice) ; Activities: Salsa

New idea for the blog, copied from BJ.... see where it ends....
About alcohol, irish people tend to take the booze quite seriously : MEAS ?!?!

TV Turnoff Week

Week W17 (24th April till 30th April) is TV Turnoff week....
See all spots and details at
ADBUSTERS.ORG.

Kingdom of list

Last Books read:

• American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
• Gone, Baby, Gone (Dennis Lehanne)
• Soul Music (Terry Pratchett)
• Redwall (Brian Jacques)
• Les Jardins de lumières (Amin Maalouf)
• Fondation (Isaac Asimov)

Movies seen:

• Munich(S.Spielberg)
• V for Vendetta
• Inside Man (Spike Lee)
• Good night and Good luck (G.Clooney)
• Walk the line
• Syriana
• Whisky
• Memoir of a Geisha

Links

• Kingdom of the nanards
• CAO software for LEGO
• Arte Radio :)
• http://www.tenbyten.org/10x10.html
• http://mikael.fillastre.free.fr/

WE 8-9 April

Saturday: Aran Island cancelled so we finished in Galway





Sunday: First Walk organized by the company Outdoor Poursuit Club, in the Burren

Listening the BBC

This week we’ll be finding out about the emerging trend that is freeganism. Freegans are people who believe in wasteful societies you can live well without the need to buy anything. Also if you do like shopping we discover that in the future a trip to the shops will be as much about selling as buying due to a new trend in drop-in online auction shops. And you’ve heard of Karaoke, well now there’s Talkaoke, a new mobile chat show that offers you the chance to save the art of conversation. copyright bbc

To listen the BBC

Limerick - History

About Limerick History/Folklore....

• http://www.limerickslife.com/

• Events in Limerick

And more about history:

• http://members.tripod.com/Preachan/limerick1.html

• http://indigo.ie/~blpeter/history.htm

Kinsale (2)

• Second visit to Kinsale, this time to see the Charles Fort.

• Munster will entertain Leinster for the Heinekein Semi-Final .... bye bye Perpignan and Toulouse.
• Get my ticket for Radiohead concert in Dublin ....Hourrah !!!!
  

Playing with playmobil

Just playing with some pirate playmobil (because they always have a barrel of ruhm)





Playing with my lomographic camera....

LINKS:
Playmobil official site
Lomography official site

A life in Munster....

This Saturday:
Munster-Perpignan

Social welfare seems to work in Ireland!

Achill Island / Connemara / Westport

Hi folks,

• Program WE 25 March 2006 was:

- Connemara
- Westport (Mayo Co)
-Achill Island (Website http://www.achilltourism.com/ )

Achil Island Coast:








Massive destruction machine:

• Pub: Matt Molloys in Westport

PUB: St Patrick

WE St Patrick

• 17th March Dublin (Parade, Croke Park-Hurling, Temple Bar Square)

• 18th March Limerick (6th Nations France victory, Triple Crown for ireland)

• 19th March Killaloe / Lough Derg

WE 11 March
Dingle Peninsula

WE 4 March
Cliffs of Moher / Burren