10:07 am July 2, 2011
So I've been pretty terrible about keeping a solid journal. I've written some tinges on Word on my laptop, but mostly it's been the video camera cataloging my journeys and the weird aspects of culture that fascinate me.
Anyway, I am on the train to Kilkenny right now, and I barely got my fat ass on it. This morning, I got on the bus and went to the wrong station. Seriously? I walked from the stop near the Liffey to what I thought was the end of O'Connell street, where that weird spilt is. I couldn't remember which way to go exactly, so I went to the right towards Trinity and Temple Bar, but soon realized I made a mistake. I asked for some directions (again, no distance, just left, straight, right) and eventually ended up at O'Connell Station. After hopping the escalator up to the info desk, my fears of being at the wrong station were confirmed and it was suggested I take the tram and I'd be there in 7 stops. Well I know that screwed the pooch, but what choice did I have? I was gonna miss the train. So I sat on the tram for a minute on the phone with Ambi and was like, "Fuck it," I'm hopping a cab. The tram has to stop 7 times, so I'd just be better off in the cab even if if the cab can't move. The driver had actually been to the States living in Rhode Island for a year, and his brother had lived there for 15 years. He thought he'd get me there in less than 10 minutes and he did! So I jump out, run over to print my ticket, and haul my chubby carcass to the No. 7 platform, hopping a gate and a fence in the process. I made it with just two minutes to spare. Whew! I found my seat, or what I think is my seat, and sat down for a ride south.
One funny thing so far, the conductor (?) comes down to check our tickets, I motion to the two ladies across from me that he's coming to get our tickets. But the younger lass was more concerned with the realization she was drinking chardonnay at just 10am in the morning. I joked that, "Well, since you've been drinking, you may not have noticed we need to have our tickets out." That got quite the chuckle.
Yesterday, we saw two films at the Institute, and both were rather decent. The commentary tackled the problems and perceptions with women in Ireland. It was filmed in 1987, and the presentation was quite poor. When Dan and Ashley about how bad it was, I reminded them it was made in 1987, to which they remarked, "That's no excuse!" It was on the level of a poorly made student doc, seriously, "The Man from Aran" was better, and that was pure hokum. In one scene the former fashion model on the cover of travel brochures was interviewed in a pub or restaurant of some sort, and the woman's kids are running around in the background playing and shouting. Just a few scenes later, she actually has a baby sitting with her, who of course begins to wail. What the hell?
The shots on some women are just way too tight, and anytime she used b-roll, it was so poorly edited, it looked like bad Power Point. This really distracted a lot of students from the quality or importance of the subject matter, which is truly a shame.
A few days before, Dr. Chown mentioned an author once wrote that Ireland was "the first first world country with a third world mentality." Certainly the discussion of Ireland as represented by Mother Ireland is problematic, and the film addresses this well, despite the lack of technical proficiency.
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