Happy St Patrick's Day!

So I have no real knowledge of why we celebrate St Patrick's Day other than, I guess, Irish people are sorta cool and that we decided to only way to celebrate their place in the world was by getting shitfaced plastered and wearing green a whole lot. Still, it's sort of interesting that Ireland has a day that is recognised throughout the world as theirs. Isn't that sort of crazy? Not even America or England or Kazakhstan has that!

But, naturally, St Patty's Day leads me to think about Ireland and the entertainment arena. The first thing I thought of was the hilarious Simpsons episode where Bart gets drunk on St Patrick's Day and so they ban alcohol and Homer becomes a beer baron. It's a super episode. I wonder if they'll show it on TV tonight before I have to go out? Hmmm. The only other television I can think of relating to Ireland is Father Ted a show I haven't seen in many years, but that I remember enjoying a lot when I was younger. The only episode I remember destinctly (I wonder why...) is when Father Ted himself enters Eurovision and Ireland's judges choose him to represent their country because they can't afford to send a real act. Sort of ironic considering Ireland is the most successful country in Eurovision history with seven wins. I love Eurovision. It's getting around to that time of the year, too!

Of course, there are movies. I have a soft spot for the 1994 kids tale The War of the Buttons. I'm not entirely sure why. It's been ages since I saw it, but I do remember seeing it as a kid. Plus, the poster you see to the right is sort of kooky. Loves it. Another great one, albiet of a much more serious tone, is Peter Mullan's The Magdalene Sisters. This movie got royally shafted throughout the 2003 awards season (did anyone even see it? Look at it's rotten tomatoes page!) It's incredibly well-made and acted and very emotional. I think I shed a tear or two, but I'm not certain on that. And of course there's the Academy Award-nominated In the Name of the Father from Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Day Lewis and Emma Thompson. That one is all about an IRA bombing and the court case that resulted against the innocents charged. There's the slighted Intermission, which not many people saw. It has Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy in one of those movies with many different plot strands that all sort of converge at some point. It was actually quite good. I believe in the US this week Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley is being released. How festive!

I must point out the Leprechaun films too, even though they're not Irish. The only ones I've seen are the one where the Leprechaun is in Las Vegas, and the one where he's in "the hood". They're incredibly bad films so don't even bother with them.

Two Irish movies I don't like are the Keri Russell dance flick Mad About Mambo, which is just multiple levels of ridiculous, and the Neil Jordan-directed The Butcher Boy. I can't remember what it was about that movie that I disliked so much, but I gave it a really poor grade. I think it had a nuclear bomb in it?

Musically the only acts that wikipedia tells me are popular and that I like on some level are Sinead O'Connor, The Cranberries and Enya. I'm choosing to ignore Westlife, okay. Ugh. Anyway. Sinead is clearly all sorts of awesome. Check out her back catalogue now! Enya is very hit-and-miss. For every one great song she has a bunch of endless songs of her humming over the sounds of a waterfall. So, yeah. The Cranberries were pretty cool in their time, too.

...or there is still Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance (The Irish jig guy, teehee, who caught the Friends reference?) But let's not go there, shall we?

So, er, drink up, greenify and do a jig of some kind. It's totally worth it.