Live from the Oscars!

Don't know if you know it... but I have made my way to the west coast of the USA. I've been out here for the past week working... and taking photos in my spare time! I have not had too much time for sightseeing... but I was able to get over to Hollywood yesterday. The place was crazy with preparations for the Oscars Sunday night! BUT... I did get a piece of THE Red Carpet!!!

I was collecting some dirt from the base of a palm tree (for my dirt collection - of course)... one of the workers saw me and came over to see what I was doing. He then asked if I would like a piece of the red carpet and handed me a section through the fence. How crazy is that??? I think that it is the perfect Hollywood souvenir!





















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TV in Ireland...

This is my new favorite commercial on Irish TV. hope you enjoy!

Dustin the turkey...

Everyone in Ireland is talking about Dustin this morning....

Last night was the annual EUROvision song contest. Each year every European country selects and sends a musical act to an 'American Idol' type contest. This song contest started back in the early 50's and has produced such musical acts as: Abba, Celine Dion, and even Riverdance. Ireland has won the competition more than any other country but has not had much success since the contest was opened to Eastern Europe. This year all of Ireland's hopes were pined on a puppet named Dustin. The performance - if you can call it that - was a blatant attempt to get laughs, mock the contest, and win votes by playing to every country. Dustin's song 'Irelande Douze Points' contained such riveting lyrics as:
"Hello Abba, hello Bono, hello Helsinki
Ola Prague, hello sailor, se la vie
Alvida sein Mama Mia, and god save the Queen
Bon joir Serbia, good day Austria
You know what I mean?"

or


'Eastern Europe we love you
Do you like Irish stew?
Or goulash as it is to you?

Shake your feathers

Listen Bulgaria we love you
Belarus, Georgia, Montenegro,
Moldavia, Albania, Croatia,
Poland, Russia, Ukraine,
Macedonia, Love you Turkey
Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia,
Armenia, Bosnia Herzegovina
And don't forget the Swiss!'

Needless to say... Dustin was disappointed when he did not get past the first round last night. The final contest will be held on Saturday night. I don't think that we will watch it... I think that we will go see the new Indiana Jones film.

Here is a youtube video of Dustin's performance. Enjoy if you dare!

In the News...

If you were ever wondering what is going on over here.... here are a few exerts from the news here.


It is being said that this week is the most depressing week of the year. The lull after the holidays mixed with the depths of winter darkness makes this week the week where most people suffer from depression on varying levels.



Will Farrel has been seen around Ireland. He is here researching his family roots. We have not seen him.



Irish movie "Once" staring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova has been nominated for an Oscar. The movie, about an Irish street musician and a Czech immigrant who strike up a friendship based on their mutual love of music, has been nominated for Best Original Song. Dee and I both bought this movie for each other for Christmas. We love it!! And the soundtrack!!



Grey's Anatomy's star Patrick Dempsey (Dr. McDreamy) is said to be looking to buy a home in Ireland.

Ireland is the world's friendliest country, according to a survey drawn up by the Lonely Planet travel guide group. Ireland beat the US and Malawi as the friendliest travel destination in Lonely Planet's 2008 Bluelist. Irish people have 'a deliciously dark sense of humour' and 'a welcoming attitude towards strangers,' Lonely Planet said. 'The famous ability of the Irish to find craic or fun times with convivial company, in boom or bust times means you're always in for a treat,' the survey added.

The Archdiocese of Dublin has approved a new school enrollment policy, which will see schools for the first time setting aside a quota of places for non-Catholic pupils. Until now all schools belonging to the Archdiocese were obliged to enroll Catholic applicants first. Last year, an emergency school had to be set up to take in the non-Catholic children they could not accommodate and most of these were the children of immigrants.

Voting has opened for the first ever world edition of the board game Monopoly. The manufacturer of Monopoly, Hasbro, has set up a website where people can vote for cities from a prepared list or nominate a city to feature in the game. Just 22 cities will make it on to the new game, which traditionally listed street names in each spot on the board. Dublin is the only Irish location to appear on the list and it stands alongside other major cities like New York, London, and Tokyo. Dublin is currently ranked 6th on the leader board with 2% of the total vote. Paris and London jointly lead with 2.9%, followed by New York, Paris, and Rome.

The most popular children's names (2007) in Northern Ireland are Jack and Katie. The most popular names in Scotland are Lewis and Sophie.

And that's about all the random news I can come up with for now.

Source for news: www.rte.ie

Filming...

Work...

We have a very welcomed change in work this week. We have a small film crew here making an educational documentary on Ireland - it's culture, language, and how it is changing. We are working as Joel B's personal assistant/guide while filming is going on. To be honest with you, it has been really refreshing because it has made me step back and look at Ireland with new eyes and to re-appreciate the people here. I'll post more as the week goes on...

Where in the World????

Do we have any "Today Show" fans reading the blog today? If so you might have seen me today! Dee and I took a little field trip this afternoon to visit a friend that is in the hospital. Dee had to run a few errands and I wanted a quiet place to read for a little while (that is another post). I never would have guessed that I would end up in the middle of a Today Show live broadcast! Matt Lauer has a segment each summer where he travels around the world to interesting and random places. Today was day two of his trip... and he was in Ireland. I came upon the broadcast as I investigated the sounds of traditional music and dancing echoing off of buildings. At first I didn't know what was going on, but I saw several TV cameras, and one of them had the NBC peacock..... I turned around and to my surprise I was standing right next to Matt!!! I grabbed my camera and started to take pics.... I then grabbed my phone and called Dee... and then called my parents in the states (they were already watching the show)! I don't know if you saw me... but I was the crazy Amercian waving at the camera! I'm such a tourist on some days! Today was definitely one of those days where I just have to sit back and count my blessings to live in such an amazing place among such amazing people!

Me and My friend Matt!

Big...

I had a strange moment a few weeks ago. Dee and I watched the movie "BIG" with Tom Hanks. I have always loved this movie... in fact, I was about the kids age when it first came out. I remember thinking that I wanted to be a fun adult when I grew up. I had a lot of the toys that were in the movie... and I remember really identifying with the young guy. As I watched the movie I was enjoying this little trip down memory lane............ that is until it hit me: I am now the age that Tom Hanks played! AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! (sitting here in a "Home Alone" pose - hands on cheeks screaming!)

It isn't a secret that I am quickly heading towards the big 20-10.... but when I found out that Tom Hanks was big and really old at the age of 30 I had to sink out of my recliner and onto the floor! When did this happen? When did I become Big? In many ways I'm a bit troubled by this recent revelation... but I am also comforted to think that I have not really grown up. I find that I have more in common with Tom Hank's character than the other grown ups in the movie. I mean - hey... I still want a trampoline...and bunk beds... I still love to play Nintendo... I still think that it would be cool to have my very own coke machine.... I still love silly string and baseball... and I still think girls are weird! So.... even if it is inevitable that I will hit the 20-10 mark.... I'm not worried! Thank you Mr. Hanks.

In the News I

I have to start by saying that I am not a big fan of the reality TV show "Big Brother"... but it really has people talking around here. The British reality show (which has been spun off in the states) is on the air almost all day on one of many channels. There are shows where people sit around and talk about "Big Brother" and there are even updates on the radio. For those of you who have never seen the show... the show is based around a small apartment where contestants are locked away from the world and are filmed constantly by hidden cameras 24hours a day. Big Brother is the show's producer who controls the actions of the contestants. He prepares games with rewards, security from the outside world, and a place to privately confide to Big Brother's camera. Currently there is a Celebrity Big Brother being broadcast. The celebrities are: Derk (aka Face from the A-Team), Jermaine Jackson (From the Jackson 5), Shilpa Shetty (an Indian movie star), and eight other British stars that I had never heard of before. Now... you might be asking - "Why is everyone talking about it?". Well, There seems to be a bit of racism going on in Big Brother's House. Several of the British girls have ganged up on Shilpa and are harrassing her. It really echos something that you would see on a playground. Bullies picking on the new kid. The amazing thing is that these are adults who have singled her out for no apparent reason other than the fact that she is different. The crazy thing to me is that these are people who were at one time famous and have come on this show to be in the public spotlight once again. Talk about doing something to ruin your career! As I said in the beginning... I am not a fan... but it does have people talking around here.