Emerging from a recluse state?

Hey all you party people. Let me start off with an apology about my lack of posts. I think I got into the mentality that if I wasn't traveling around Ireland/Europe, there was no need to update anyone on my going-ons. Then I realized. WOW. I've become complacent with living in Ireland to the point where the little things like Ballygowan pure Irish Still water mean nothing anymore. So, I'll give a brief rundown in bullet form of things that have been happn'.

• The Superbowl! After much anticipation, I was able to meet up with a couple of friends who were Patriots fans in town at a pub called Portabella's on the Canal. We ended up getting there super early, however, as the game didn't start until 11:30 (we arrived around 10?). It was getting a bit stuffy, so I decided to go on a walk. I was feeling a mighty melancholy that night, so I was planning on just catching a bus back to campus and watching it at the student bar, when all of a sudden, I get a text from my good friend Jani Radhikrishnan (friend from UNC, studying at Dublin City University). She was apparently at a bar called The Bleeding Horse which, after quick research, turned out to be up the street from Portabella's. After running to catch the last bus up to town, I ended up reuniting with my two Tar-Heel buddies at the upper floor. We mainly caught up, as there were no super-bowl commercials here in Ireland. I wonder why? And my team lost. This seemed to be a running theme for the week (see below). 
• Play #2- Walworth Farce, UCD Dramsoc- This was the first authentic Irish piece that I actually saw. I won't go too in-depth with the play, but talk about meta-theatricality (which is markedly Irish, or so I'm told). The entire premise is about a father who makes two sons reenact the same story over every day in a flat in London. The premise is the usual Irish one, man kills brother, man runs away, sons follow, sons forget childhood. So the entire first half, you're a little unsure about what's going on because there are these people switching costumes constantly, a man wearing fake breasts, and people carrying empty boxes that look like coffins. So part one- trying to determine if they were really half-assing it in production, or if there's something deeper. But I was really intrigued by it. After the initial puzzle, the acting was quite good. Although I'm told it should be a lot more comic and a lot less tragic.

Rah Rah, Carolina-lina

• We celebrated the long awaited Duke-UNC game here. Yes that means staying up until 2 AM to witness the greatest game on earth. Yes that means watching until 4 30 AM, followed by a sad, fence-hopping, down-trodden, tear-filled, generally depressing trip back to my dorm from Laura's room. I think I was experiencing the stages of grief. Because after I got back, I started to undergo a fierce anger towards anything Duke-related, including my friends who DON'T go to Duke sending some ill-timed jabs at my expense (Duke Njie, Ellen Reat, I still love you). Then came the negotiation/denial, as I started talking to my UNC friends online begging them to tell me it hadn't happened, and this was some sort of terrible trick by the tv networks. Eventually, I accepted it. And then looked forward to the redemption concept. (Hell hath no fury like an angry tar-heel (which really doesn't make sense, as the heel is not a very emotive part of the body)).
• Juanita Wilson- 2 time Oscar winner- came to talk to the film society here about her career and the industry. I went with a couple of friends to see a couple of her films screened and to listen to what she had to say. it was interesting, as there were maybe 15 people in the room? I wish I had seen Winter's Bone so I knew more of her work. Oh well.
• I wrote a music paper about Björk's "Possibly Maybe". This involved listening to the song extensively on repeat. Let me say this right now. If you EVER need anyone to tell you ANYTHING about that song. I've said it. In fact, I'll weave an audible picture of it without you ever having to listen to it. EVER. ANYTHING YOU NEED. ABOUT THAT SONG.
• Play #3 Motor Town, UCD- About this play...I don't know if I want to say anything about the choices made, but I'll just say I enjoyed Walworth Farce quite a bit more. It might've just been that the Irish actors took for granted that they were speaking to an irish audience, and that the production had a lot of fast-paced dialogue, but I honestly got lost in the words. The protagonist had an entire monologue about musicians, while holding a gun to someone's head. So, I'm sure something exciting was happening, but I felt bogged down in the dialogue. This does have the merit of being the only play I've ever seen to have someone dragged with blood flowing behind them into a body bag...Yup. Never seen that before.
• They canceled the France-Ireland 6 nations rugby match because of "dangerous conditions." There was some ice on the field. BOOOOO. However, my friends Erin and Alex found this really great bar that housed international drafts. I tried the "Old Speckled Hen" instead. Not quite Newcastle, but we're going in the right direction.

 

A quick rundown of the next few weeks now

1. Bookworms at the Gate theatre tomorrow night.
2. Malin Head to see the northern lights this weekend.
3. Dublin to see Dublin the next weekend
4. Barcelona y various parts of Spain for the first week of spring break with Lane Whitman and Mwiti Murungi. (Also, Jason Bastida, Beth Moroney, Emily Braatan, and whoever else we can find)
5. Belfast for the 2nd week (or until my money runs out)
6. St. Patrick's day in Dublin
7. Paris to see Dan Richey and Jason Bastida the weekend afterwards

Thanks for tuning in!