#2, Day 674. Ireland: Someone Left the Craic out in the Rain (IRL edition)

Day 674, 01:43 • Published in Ireland Belgium • by Enterdyne Systems


Hiyo, Team!

This week I thought we could take a Real Life detour. See, in RL I am an expatriate American living in Ireland, for my sins, as they say. Everybody thinks they know all about Ireland (drinking, music, violence) but don't believe the hype! It is easy to be misinformed. So perhaps I can dispel, or at least re-allign, a few of these misconceptions. If it works out we'll occasionally take a look at other countries and publish locally in those countries as well. Sorry for the double-subs ending up in inboxes but, hey, it's only once a week.

Just an explanation about the title. "Craic" doesn't actually rhyme with cake but with crack (more or less). It basically means "scene" as in:

Blathnai😛 Morning, Emer. You look haggard, how was you're weekend?
Emer: Ugh. Awful. Until last night, we closed Grogan's.
B: I love Grogan's, how was the craic?
E: The craic. Was. Mighty. Brian O'Driscoll and yer man got in a row.
B: Who? Ryan Tubridy?
E: No, the little yoke with the moustache.
B: Ah, Willie O'Dea.
E: Right, and a ban garda had to break it up.
B: That's a bad fight to get into, like.
E: Yeah, Bod was last seen on an unmarked, illegal CIA flight to Shannon.
B: That's a bit dark.
E: Worse, the in-flight movie was Once.
B: Ouch. I bet it'll be a long time until he sees the light O'Dea again.
E: Oh, ha, I see what you did there. Very funny.

Anyway, so, yeah, Ireland equals music, right? Sure, whatever. But while it is true that everybody does know all the words to this song: The Pogues - Dirty Old Town. It's also true that that song was written by an Englishman about an English City. And that city was Salford. So they've moved on.

Nowadays the best Irish music is this: Fight like apes - Jake Summers

With this band coming in a close secon😛 Ham Sandwich - Click, Click, Boom (for those familiar, I wanted Broken Glass but the vid was down). Also these guys love the larffs (RL lulz).

Of course the mainstream media and their corporate overlords thought Fight Like Apes was too dangerous (too real, the fat cats can't deal with the truths they're laying down) so this is a decent song with a good video by a lazy band that won top honors over FLA at the big music awards: Jape - Floating

Ireland is nuts for sports. Like America they have a couple that no one else play. But with only 5ish million people it's a bit weird and pretty nearly non-professonal (which is kind of cool). The two weirdest are both run, among others, by the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) and are called GAA With Sticks and GAA Without Sticks. Big ups to Kilkenny and Kerry for their recent victories. There are three major soccer teams in Ireland; Celtic, Liverpool, and Man United. But Ireland isn't so big on cricket (no disrespect to the victorious Twenty20s). I'm more into cricket than most Irish people. And I ain't into cricket. Much. But those who do play are as mad for it as everyone else is for everything else. The excellent result of this is the collaboration between one guy from The Divine Comedy and another guy from Pugwash called The Duckworth-Lewis Method and their concept album entirely about cricket: The Duckworth-Lewis Method - Revolution.

Until Next Time Keep Your Irish Up The Dubs!

As always, if you liked it vote, subscribe, and shout!

Tacitus Arkenseale, Editor