Latif Yahia interview with HARDtalk is scheduled to broadcast on BBC ,

The full interview with Latif Yahia will be broadcast on HARDtalk on Wednesday 2nd December 2009.

BBC News Channel: 0430 and 2330 GMT.

BBC World News: 0430, 0930, 1430, 1830, 2130 and 2330 GMT.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8388903.stm

http://www.latifyahia.com

Last night, QUEST attended PIAGET MEN TO WATCH IN 2009 hosted by LARRY BOLAND, President of PIAGET North America, and DAN PERES, Editor-in-Chief of DETAILS magazine, at LEHMANN MAUPIN GALLERY at 201 Chrystie St. We didn’t see ANDRE LEON TALLEY sporting his vintage diamond PIAGET timepiece slash his version of a “tennis bracelet” from THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE. But we did spy a GORG Piaget Polo 45 Flyback Chronograph Watch. Dear Santa!

The event’s honorees included LEE DANIELS (director of Oscar contender “Precious”), JEREMY RENNER (star of Oscar contender “The Hurt Locker”), JEFFREY DONOVAN (star of USA Network’s “Burn Notice”), MICHAEL BASTIAN (celebrated menswear designer), DAVID CHANG (celebrity chef/Momofuku … and a graduate of TRINITY COLLEGE in Hartford, Conn.), and NICK ROLDAN (top-rated US polo player).

QUEST strolled through the gallery (filled with ink sketches of human figures accompanied by pithy remarks in scrawly handwriting), noting a pair of THOM BROWNE pants (thumbs up) and lots o’ brightly colored footwear (the jury’s still out …). 

EQB

Trinity College Library in Dublin - I've been there!

Christmas is coming up fast!  Books are a beautiful thing because they have the power to edify the soul, sharpen the mind, and stir the affections of the heart.  The next few weeks, I will post my personal top 5/10 lists of Christian books organized by topic.  If there is a particular topic or sub-genre you would like me to list, then post it in the comments section.

Zzzzz… Zzz….

I woke up at 7 am, ready to explore!  Amy already left for work and her kids were still asleep, while I was eating my breakfast of cereal, potato hash browns, and juice.  I dressed up in my gray Princeton U tee shirt and a light tan khaki shorts and was set to go.  David told me last night that I need to take bus 25A by the Penny Hill Pub to head to Centre City.  At 2 euros a ride, I could feel the burn.

I never seen this much cobble stone streets in my life!  It really makes me want to drive my Impreza all over the twists and turns, regardless of the fact that that would damage my wheels and suspension faster.  I arrived at Trinity College, Ireland’s oldest university which was build 300 years before Princeton was ever built!  This was one of my top places I wanted to see while in Dublin.  Not only was it the oldest educational institution in Dublin, it is, according to them the best university to attend in Ireland.  I don’t know the educational system or the rigors of their educational system.  Here is an excerpt from their graduate level program:

“Message from the Dean of Graduate Studies:

Trinity College Dublin is a university with a long and distinguished reputation in research and scholarship.  However, to our prospective students, it will be our present standing as a high-ranking centre of learning. and as Ireland’s leading university, that will be the most important…”

Professor Patrick J Prendergast

Dean of Graduate Studies

The College’s Mission statement:

“Trinity College builds on its four hundred year old tradition of scholarship to confirm its position as one of the greatest universities of the world, providing a liberal environment where independence of thought is highly valued and where staff and students are nurtured as individuals and are encouraged to achieve their full potential.

The College is committed to excellence in both research and teaching, to the enhancement of the learning experience of each of its students and to an inclusive College community with equality of access for all.  The College will continue to disseminate its knowledge and expertise to the benefit of the City of Dublin, the country and the international community.”

From their strategic plan 2003-2008

I thought that was pretty interesting to read and added Trinity Colleges as a place where I might want to apply for graduate school. ha!

The other really fascinating things about Trinity College, other than its facilities, buildings, and classroom appearing awesome like the ones you see in movies set in antiquities, it also held the Book of Kells in their possession.  It is an illuminated manuscript detailing the four gospels, which I was told, was to convert the locals, at that time, to Christianity and to the Catholic Church.  Really was gorgeous, from my perspective, work of art.  After leaving the carefully guarded room, you go through a long reading room with stacks of books lining up to the very top of the ceiling!  I’d like to have a perspective shot of the volumes, but they closed off access to the books.  Inside the room were historical pieces of Ireland’s involvement in WW II.

When I exited the reading room it led me to the souvenir shop.  Looking around I saw a necklace for 20 euros, a pin for 15 euros, shirt for 45 euros., etc.  Walking out I headed for the gentsroom for obvious reasons! haha!  Which did not accomodate tall or structured people. I had problems getting in and out of the bathroom stall!  When I finally was able to escape from my toilet stall I saw the urinal which was a long basin.  I guess the Men’s bathroom rules don’t apply here…

What an experience with that bathroom!  I couldn’t stop laughing!  I got to the entrance and saw that there was a guided tour by a history major from the university.  Luckily I had the PU shirt on and got in with a student’s discount.  Sweet!  The guy had so much knowledge, it just looked like he didn’t know where to begin whenever he spoke!  But he was an immensely nice guy.  So can’t knock him down for that.

After all the other people came, we went back to the university where he would give us a very descriptive history of the university.  The university was build by the English as a settlement of Protestants to civilize the “aborigines” he mused.  It was actually quite funny, though.   After the discussion about the College, he brought us to a bank which was once part of the Irish Parliament, where led us all to the delegation room which was decorated with velvet and marble statues.  Along the wall were tapestries of some of the wars that were fought.  In the middle of the room was a large chandelier.

After being led to Temple Bar we ended the tour, two hours later.

Dispersed, we all went on our separate ways.  Getting lost for a good two hours looking for St. Stephen’s park, I looked at my 30D’s info screen and saw that I only had 30 photos left that could be taken on my current CF card.  Lunch time was in order!  I made my way to southern part of Dublin and found a shopping area where I could buy a coffee and eat my sandwiches.  I logged onto the local wifi, and chatted with Eric retelling him what I have been up to so far.

Turns out mom was going to Vietnam to see my grandfather who was very ill and wanted to see him one last time.  She, at the time, has a bad leg, not sure how she injured it but I wonder how she was going to do it!  Flying to Vietnam from home is in the 20 hour range!  Geez, gramps is going to pass away.  :(

I finished my food and coffee and left to find a park, walking into people making out.  Ooops!  Having watched Once I recognized the scenes and park!  I also stumbled onto a different shade of color- red!

I lucked out this day.  Not a cloud in the sky and it was turning 6:30 pm and I was set to return back to Lucan County for Dinner.

Union Institute on this date, 11/21/1852 was chartered as a Christian training school by Methodist Church in Randolph County, North Carolina.   The school was renamed Trinity College in 1859.  It was not doubt a good move to drop “union” in light of the pending strife closely related to that word.  It was a wonderful move to honor the wonderful Trinity with this new name.  In 1892 the college campus was moved to Durham, North Carolina.  

But listen to this.  A tobacco magnate named James B. Duke decided to give Trinity College a gift in 1924.  It was a huge gift, reported to be a $40 million endowment.  For money (it seems – God knows the hearts of the men) the great name Trinity was dropped.  Want to know what took its place?  Try Duke.  Oh, the power of money – even on a Christian college.  Trinity College became Duke University.

Info Source - William D Blake. Almanac of the Christian Church. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.  

I’d like to briefly share with you two stories about two donors. The first is the Kern Family Foundation, which provides scholarships to 25 TEDS students every year. The Kern Foundation is committed to training pastors for full-time ministry, and Trinity is their largest partner. Last year they contributed $319,787 to fund the Kern Scholars. In October, representatives from Kern visited campus and met with administrators, faculty, and the Kern Scholars here on campus. We are thankful for their ongoing partnership and their generosity. To learn more about their foundation, visit www.kffdn.org.

The second story is about a family who sent four children to Trinity College in one decade. We received a letter from them along with their check, which was much smaller than the Kern’s contribution, but no less significant. They wrote, “The years when our kids were at Trinity were very difficult times for us financially, as we lost our farm and had little income. Yet the Lord provided…It was such a blessing to know that they were in the right place and that they were with the right people and learning the right things. Recently, we inherited some money and we are sharing some of the tithe of that inheritance with this great institution. May God be glorified.”

These are just two of countless stories of people who make Trinity a possibility.

Prayer Requests

The FAN Committee warmly invites you and your guests to Christmas Drinks.

The evening will include tours of the Trinity College art collection and the launch of the latest edition of the Melbourne Art Journal, 2008/2009.

Date: Tuesday 1 December 2009

Time:  5.30pm to 7.00pm

Place: Sharwood Courtyard, Trinity College, The University of Melbourne

Cost:  Members $30        Guests $35 (Cost includes drinks and finger food.)

Tours of the Trinity College Art Collection will be given by Associate Professor Alison Inglis at 5.00pm and 6.15pm.

Trinity College has a diverse art collection including oriental artefacts, porcelain china and sculpture, and a contemporary art collection, which is added to on an annual basis.

More details on the art collection can be found here.

The Melbourne Art Journal 2008-2009 will be launched at 6.00pm.

The registration form can be downloaded here FAN_Registration_Form and should be returned with payment to Jane Berkley, FAN Secretary, by no later than Wednesday 25 November 2009.

Further enquiries should be directed to Jane Berkley email: Registrar@hildas.unimelb.edu.au

Cooper to play The Devil’s Double for Tamahori

9 November, 2009 | By Jeremy Kay

Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, XXX: State Of The Union) will direct to join what Corsan CEO Paul Breuls described as a taut action tale about the extraordinary life of Latif Yahia.

Corsan World Sales is talking to buyers here at AFM and the Paradigm Motion Picture Finance Group is representing domestic rights.

Yahia, a dead ringer for Saddam Hussein’s sadistic and widely despised son, was forced against his will to stand in for Uday in potentially dangerous situations. Through his role, Yahia gained access to Hussein’s inner sanctum and witnessed corruption, violence and debauchery.

Michael Thomas adapted the screenplay from Yahia’s books I Was Saddam’s Son and The Devil’s Double.

Cooper currently appears alongside Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in An Education and his credits include Mamma Mia!, The Duchess and The History Boys. He will next be seen in Stephen Frears’ Tamara Drewe.

Lee Tamahori

Lee Tamahori arrived in Hollywood having helmed “Once Were Warriors“
and then wasted his talents on films like “xXx: State Of The Union” and “Next.” Well his next film, about the late Uday Hussein’s body double, actually sounds pretty interesting. Titled “The Devil’s Double” it’s based on the true story of Latif Yahia, a dead ringer for Uday, who was forced against his will stand in for the hated, crazed and sadistic son of Saddam in potentially dangerous situations. As a result, he got a first hand look inside the wild world of the Husseins and went on to publish three books about his experiences, two of which – I Was Saddam’s Son and The Devil’s Double – will serve as the foundation of the film. The picture will begin shooting in January in Malta, and Dominic Cooper is the first confirmed cast member, while Ludivine Sagnier is currently circling the project.

Voor vaste lezers van de campuskrant in Leuven (of, wie weet, zelfs van The Voice), is hier de link naar de website van The University Times, de wekelijkse krant van TCD. Máréid, een flatgenote van Simon, schrijft voor de krant en Sonja, een andere flatgenote van Simon heeft voor een artikel van deze week de informatie geleverd (die technisch gezien wel fout was, maar de ‘journalist’ was slim genoeg om eerst Wikipedia te raadplegen ).

En voor jullie arme pendelaartjes: ook Dublin heeft zo zijn probleem voor busvervoer. Bovendien komt er mogelijk een staking die de universiteit platlegt op 24 november (ik durf te wedden dat jullie daar de voorkeur zouden aan geven boven eentje die het treinverkeer platlegt ). En in Trinity zijn we ook niet vies van een beetje controverse. Iemand van UCD (University College Dublin, zie Diary of a University President) beweerde dat UCD de beste universiteit in Ierland is en daar kunnen ze hier in TCD dus niet mee lachen.

Voor dat alles, en nog veel meer, surf naar: http://www.universitytimes.ie/index.php.

From an Associated Press story linked on John Starke’s blog:

Trinity College’s American Religious Identification Survey released this year showed New England overtaking the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region in the country. Twenty-two percent of respondents here said they have no religious faith of any kind, highest in the country.

In a Gallup poll this year, all six New England states were in the Top 10 least religious in the country, with Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts claiming the top four spots.

The story describes a gathering at a church plant pastored by a Southern Seminary grad and former Clifton Baptist Church member, Chris Bass:

On a recent fall Sunday, a younger group of about 50 people gathered to hear Bass’s message of salvation. The hymn “How Great Thou Art” was sung to a contemporary tune and echoed through an airy sanctuary that could fit seven times more worshippers. During fellowship afterward, Watertown resident Ralph Filicchia said he was drawn by curiosity. He said local churches have been killed by the “poison” of liberal theology, and he was eager to support a conservative church.

But the 74-year-old said he’s lived in New England long enough to avoid rosy predictions. Churches that preach traditional dogma, such as Redeemer Fellowship, can be branded intolerant.

“Up here, it’s tough, it’s tough,” Filicchia said. “It always has been.”

Read the whole thing. This church was planted by the NETS church planting residency program in Vermont, a program I’ve discussed numerous times on this blog.  In addition, note the PCA pastor mentioned, Doug Warren; a number of my close friends in college attended the church he pastors and benefited hugely from it.

There are encouraging developments, spiritually speaking, in New England.  They may be small at times, and they may be mixed with much frustration and prolonged discouragement, but the Lord has by no means given up on this region.  Here’s hoping for many more to join Bass, Warren, Wes Pastor and many others and take up the long, hard, and eternally rewarding work of New England ministry.

(Photo: AP)

Geen idee of ik het eerder al vermeld heb, maar ik werk hier dus eveneens op de vijfde verdieping van een bibliotheek. Met name de Ussher library. Niet dat de boeken voor geschiedenis daar terug te vinden zijn (eigenlijk is het de sectie theologie en religie en zo), maar het is eigenlijk de plaats waar vooral postgraduates komen, dus het is daar STIL! En – in tegenstelling tot de rest van de artsbuilding is er LICHT, natuurlijk licht welteverstaan. Dus hier een kleine impressie van het vijfde verdiep:

Alright, I’m quite in the ‘academic mood’ at the moment. This feels pretty much like a few years back when I was ‘shopping’ for universities. As I’ve previously pointed out, I’d very much like to study in Ireland.

So far, I’ve learned of four universities in Dublin alone – the Trinity College, University College Dublin, Dublin City University, and Royal College of Surgeons. Since Trinity College is the oldest in all of Ireland, I automatically had a bias for it.

Trinity College was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. Only Protestants were admitted, and Catholics had to renounce their faith if they really wanted to enter the university. This denominational restriction was lifted in 1873 but Catholics did not start enrolling until the 70s. Among its famous students were Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Jonathan Swift.

The university is accessible via taxi, rented car (i.e. Car Hire Dublin), or tourist bus.



I’ve always dreamed of studying in Europe. Attending classes in gothic buildings, staying in old dormitories, and pouring over some old manuscripts are just among my personal version of adventure that I habitually fantasize about.

I’ve read about the Book of Kells and I can only imagine how thrilled I’d be to see it. It is a medieval illuminated manuscript written in the A.D. 800. It was created by monks, and is one of the oldest surviving books in the world. The oldest university in Ireland, Trinity College in Dublin, houses the manuscript and holds a regular exhibition about it, dubbed as “Turning Darkness Into Light”.

Perhaps one day I could at least visit Trinity College as a tourist. I’ve read that one can take the daily buses bound for the university. Or I could just hail a cab anytime or rent a car from Car Hire Dublin.

The majority of action is taking place within the Branch leagues, this weekend but there are also two ESB Irish Junior Cup matches getting underway this Saturday when Cork C of I II take on Galway II and Pegasus II take on Randalstown II the winner of each will go on to join the rest of the teams in the next round on November 14th.

Firstly to Leinster Men and Pembroke who had their closest match this season against YMCA where they just secured the victory at 2-1 will be keen to keep their winning ways on tack when they play hosts Fingal on Saturday. Railway Union who will be licking their wounds after a four nil defeat to Fingal will have a chance to redeem themselves on Saturday when they take on Monkstown who will be buoyed by their 5-2 win over Clontarf last Saturday. Clontarf who have yet to register their first points this season will have a tough job to do it this weekend when they take on the Glens who have a perfect three from three so far. Meanwhile Three Rock Rovers who dropped their first points last weekend against the Glens will be keen to re establish their winning ways when they play the UCD Students, finally Corinthian and YMCA should provide an entertaining battle at 3.30 in Whitechurch Park.

Over to the Leinster Ladies and Hermes will be keen to finally get their League Campaign underway when they take on UCD on Saturday. The Hermes girls have just one league game so far under their belt where they dropped points against local rivals Loreto. Railway Union who have been on goal scoring form of late play Glenanne who are searching for their first league points, while Corinthian will take on Pembroke Wanderers. Loreto who have a perfect three from three so far will face Trinity who have taken six from a possible nine points so far and finally on Saturday Old Alex will face Bray at 2.30pm. Sunday also offers hockey fans to catch more Leinster division 1 action when Hermes are back in action against Pembroke and Glenanne take on Old Alex.

In Ulster Men’s Hockey the One 1918 Premier League action goes full steam ahead on Friday and Saturday – Lisnagarvey will take a trip to face strugglers Bangor (Saturday 31st, 1pm, Bangor) while Banbridge face a tougher test away to Annadale’s young guns (Friday 30th, 8pm, Annadale). Cookstown have the only remaining 100% league record but this weekend they face a difficult away trip to face in form Instonians who will be hard to beat on home turf (Saturday 31st, 1pm, Shawsbridge).

The remaining fixtures are all crucial in terms of the relegation battle as Raphoe travel to north Down (Saturday 31st, 2.30pm, Comber) and Kilkeel travel to Mossley (Saturday 31st, 1pm, The Glade).

On the women’s side of the Ulster Premier Division this weeks fixtures are hard to predict with a few close encounters, firstly looking at the battle between Ards and Lisnagarvey, the match could go either way but the home advantage might just edge Ards ahead. Armagh will be keen to produce an upset when they take on Ballymoney, they are capable of beating anyone on a good day, Ballymoney although they have more experience in their ranks are failing to fire on all cylinders.
The Belfast Harlequins and Randalstown battle will be a close encounter while the Pegasus and Victorians match can only go one way in favour of Pegs against a side who have been struggling of late. Lurgan will take on Ulster Elks who have stuttered a bit lately and Lurgan have recently shown they can put the goals away.

Leinster Top Divisions – Mens

Clontarf v Glenanne 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Mens Division 1 (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Corinthian v YMCA 1sts 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Mens Division 1 (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Pembroke Wanderers v Fingal 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Mens Division 1 (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Railway Union v Monkstown 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Mens Division 1 (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Three Rock Rovers v University College Dublin 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Mens Division 1 (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Leinster Top Divisions – Womens

Corinthian v Pembroke Wanderers 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Womens Division 1 (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Glenanne v Railway Union 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Womens Division 1 (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Loreto v Trinity College 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Womens Division 1 (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Old Alexandra v Bray 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Womens Division 1 (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

University College Dublin v Hermes 2009-10-31 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Womens Division 1 (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Glenanne v Old Alexandra 2009-11-01 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Womens Division 1 (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Hermes v Pembroke Wanderers 2009-11-01 14:00
No Venue | Leinster Womens Division 1 (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Ulster Top Divisions – Mens

Instonians 3 v 5 Cookstown 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Mens Podium 4 Sport Senior Premier Division (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Annadale 2 v 2 Banbridge 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Mens Podium 4 Sport Senior Premier Division (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Bangor 0 v 8 Lisnagarvey 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Mens Podium 4 Sport Senior Premier Division (Mens) | Match Report(s)

North Down v Raphoe 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Mens Podium 4 Sport Senior Premier Division (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Mossley 2 v 3 Kilkeel 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Mens Podium 4 Sport Senior Premier Division (Mens) | Match Report(s)

Ulster Top Divisions – Womens

Ards 1 v 0 Lisnagarvey 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Womens Senior Premier Division (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Ballymoney 5 v 1 Armagh 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Womens Senior Premier Division (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Belfast Harlequins 5 v 1 Randalstown 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Womens Senior Premier Division (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Lurgan v Ulster Elks 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Womens Senior Premier Division (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Pegasus 8 v 0 Victorians 2009-10-31 14:30
No Venue | Ulster Womens Senior Premier Division (Ladies) | Match Report(s)

Lord Byron at age 25, by R. Westall, 1813.

As it is common with many distinguished British gentleman, there is a lot of their lives we don’t know. Lord Byron’s bisexuality, for example, has only been recently unveiled, having been censored for a long time. What still has yet to be fully publicized, however, was his pederastic inclinations (both as an eromenos and as an erastes).

As a Harrow boy in 1804, he lived his first homosexual experiences, both as the younger and the older partner. Though the information is quite murky, it is believed that he had a sexual relationship with his tenant at Newstead Abbey, Lord Henry Grey de Ruthyn, a much older man. If the boy found it “traumatic”, we do not know, but the fact of the matter is that Byron went on to cultivate many “special friendships” with boys at Harrow. Byron refered to his school friendships as “passions“, and his nostalgic poems about his Harrow friendships, ‘Childish Recollections’ (1806), express a sense of melancholy at the passing of youthful freedoms, even a prescient ‘consciousness of sexual differences that may in the end make England untenable to him.’

“Ah! Sure some stronger impulse vibrates here,

Which whispers friendship will be doubly dear

To one, who thus for kindred hearts must roam,

And seek abroad, the love denied at home.”

Morning Splendour, by Henry Scott Tuke

Perhaps the most lasting of those Harrow friendships was with John FitzGibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare, a boy four years Byron’s junior. That means that even at their oldest, the boys were 18 and 14, respectively. Given the tender age of both boys, it is unknown whether the boys recognized their relationship as romantic, or just “went with the flow”. Records show, however, that a sexual relationship very likely occured.

It was at Cambridge’s Trinity College, that Byron really became a full-fledged erastes. He befriended John Edleston, a younger choirboy who Byron considered his “protegé”. In later years he described the affair as ‘a violent, though pure love and passion’. As he had done at Harrow, Byron played both the erastes and the eromenos roles. He befriended older men while at Cambridge, including Francis Hodgson, a fellow at King’s. It is unknown, however, whether these friendships evolved into something deeper. In fact, by his own admission, Lord Byron’s true love was his genuine eromenos, John Edleston.

“Oh! ever loving, lovely, and beloved!
How selfish Sorrow ponders on the past,
And clings to thoughts now better far removed!
But Time shall tear thy shadow from me last.
All thou couldst have of mine, stern Death! thou hast;
The Parent, Friend, and now the more than Friend:
Ne’er yet for one thine arrows flew so fast,
And grief with grief continuing still to blend,
Hath snatched the little joy that Life had yet to lend.”

Lord Byron’s “To Eddleston”. 1817-1818.

√ May I suggest History Channel’s documentary on Lord Byron, mainly beacause it is freely available on YouTube. As it is common with most documentaries, a great deal of censure is present, so bear that in mind. Embedded below is the passage that deals with Byron falling in love with young Edleston.

Hi everyone!

What a great, great, great conference it was!!! If I wasn’t already completely hooked on the depositions before the conference, then I’d certainly be by now. But there were some incredible speakers. Nine papers in one day is an enormous amount, I admit, but most of them were so relevant.

The first lecture of the day was by David Edwards, who talked about the tradition of violence in Ireland before the outbreak of the 1641 rebellion. The rebellion/revolt/insurrection  – whatever you want to call it – did not come as a bolt from the blue, even though the country had been in peace since 1603. Ireland was military occupied and the standing army in peacetime was larger than it had been during the Elizabethan plantation, which was an offensive campaign. No wonder the Irish felt pressured. Plus, some of the other speakers referred to the Irish as savages, just like the indians, but the Irish were stubborn savages :p (I’ll get to that and how it came up in a bit). This lecture was – for me – at least, ideal to kick off with, because professor Edwards spoke quite slowly, so I was perfectly capable of understanding him and taking notes, too. The fact that he spoke about the tradition of violence and insurrection leading up to 1641 also helped of course. He also mentioned the continuous fear about an invasion by the Spanish (and, being a 17th century historian, I can’t help but be fascinated by it).

Following professor Edwards, was a lecture by the famous professor Canny. I say famous, because his name should ring a bell to anyone interested in 17th century Ireland. He wrote books like Making Ireland British, of which I have to read two chapters by next Wednesday. He talked about the colonial context of 1641 and was probably one of the best speakers I have ever heard. He pointed out that the pamphlets, published in Europe on what had happened in Ireland in 1641 are to be seen in a literary tradition of Theodore de Bry and Jean de Léry (people who have taken the class by professor Verberckmoes on culture in early modern Europe – remember them?). De Bry and de Léry are protestants and started the tradition of describing what happened in the Indies (in the case of de Léry, the indians in Brazil) as atrocities, barbarism and – especially – cannibalism. The narrative that emerges on the massacres in Ireland follows the same pattern. Moreover, an early printed book by John Temple on the 1641 massacres has proven to be almost identical to Edward Waterhouse’s tale of the rising by the indians in Virginia in 1622. So essentially that means that both narratives about the massacre in 1641 Ireland and the depositions themselves should be treated with care, because the protestants had access to that kind of narratives circulating locally.

Next up was professor William J. Smyth, who is more geographer than historian. He and his team of researchers have tried to map the depositions. Locating the killings and compare them to – for example – the portion of English/Scottish settlers in the area. What struck me in particular – and that’s one of the few things I was able to write down, because he was talking quite fast – was what he was telling about slaughtering women and children. There are a lot of depositions that speak of cutting open pregnant women’s wombs, putting babies on pales, feeding fetuses to dogs, cutting of men’s genitals etc (I’m sorry for the gruesome details) and this relates especially to the preoccupation of the Irish rebels to ensure that they eliminate  a future for the protestant settling. I never looked at it that way, actually, so I thought that was a very striking point.

Those first three lectures were part of one way to look at the depositions  – which is the way the conference was structured – namely from the Irish contexts (even though professor Canny’s lecture doesn’t necessarily fit. There was a break for lunch after this, during which I went to take some photocopies of the same Nicholas Canny’s book (someone wanted my copy of the book, and since I suspect it was someone in the class, I thought it safer to make the photocopies and then bring the book back to the library, because if I wait until Tuesday because of the Bank Holiday on Monday, that person might not get the copy on time) and then the second block on European contexts kicked off.

And how! Judith Pollman from the university of Leiden (yes, the very person who wrote about why similar circumstances (rise of Calvinism) in both the Netherlands and France lead to different outcomes, remember that article provided to us by Hans Cools? ) talked about the making of memories and violence in the Dutch Revolt. I of course, loved this – because this was by far the closest that I’ve been all year at TCD to hearing about the Spanish Netherlands. And, related to what Nicholas Canny had been telling, she pointed at the way memories about the sacking of towns by Spanish soldiers have been formed. She correctly outlined that it took a very long time, for example in Naarden, for eyewitness accounts to emerge  – and by the time they did, it is doubtful that everything the witnesses said they could remember they actually remembered. To go back to the example of the women with their wombs cut open, that is for example a very biblical reference – and these protestants are familiar with that kind of images. This of course sparked a huge debate afterwards, which would almost make us forget about the two other speakers that session, namely Ronald Asch (about the political and social impact of the Counter-Reformation in Bohemia – extremely dull, because he literally read his paper out) and Peter Wilson about atrocities in the Thirty Years War). The debate was whether or not a historian was capable (and indeed if he/she should attempt to) make the distinction between truth and fiction in the depositions. I think an attempt should always be made, even with the distance of  350 years, but it is a tricky one. Especially since you have a tradition of images about atrocities that people are familiar with, which might make it more difficult to judge. But it was extremely stimulating.

The third session further expanded the focus and looked at 1641 in Atlantic contexts. The first lecture had something to do with William Shakespeare, but I was extremely lost because professor Wood spoke kind of quiet and had a difficult accent. The second lecture of that session was by Karen Kuppermann, who spoke about the plantation in Virginia, where there were similar discontents and attempts to get rid of the British in 1622. She was the one who said ‘The indians were savages, but the Irish were stubborn savages’ . The last paper of the day was by dr. Igor Perez Tostado who studied the influence of the Irish at the Spanish court in the 17th century and whose book I should definitely read one day. He spoke of the Black Legend that emerged about the Spanish, due to Bartolomé de las Casas’ book and pointed out that no such a Legend came into existence about the Irish after the massacres. He mentioned a book called ‘The tears of the Irish’, analogous to the English translation of de las Casas ‘Tears of the indians’, so that might actually be a very interesting read, too. And here we’re back on the subject of making a memory about what happened and the pre-existent models of narrative that are used as sources to describe the massacres.

And that was that. It was a very tiring day, but very inspirational. More than once I had to jot down some comments or things I will have to bear in mind when I’m working on the thesis. That subject will – hopefully – be approved of on Wednesday (and I’m really looking forward to it). I also bought a book yesterday – that’s what happens if the organisers of a conference such as this ask a bookshop to bring relevant works for sale – called Protestant War by Robert Armstrong. Elaine – who works on the 1641 project – recommended the book to me, and it was an extremely good deal: €20 instead of €65.50.

Anyone who might be interested to hear the lectures in full, I made a recording with my voice recorder, but they will be podcasted on the TCD-website, too (and the quality will probably be better than my own taping). If I can recommend two lectures to listen to, it would be the ones by Judith Pollman and Nicholas Canny (because he’s such a great speaker!).

Dag iedereen,

Zoals eerder al vermeld – meerdere keren zelfs – zit ik dit weekend op een conferentie over de 1641 massacres. Gisterenavond was er de openingslezing door professor Aidan Clarke, die de leiding heeft over het project. Een woordje uitleg is waarschijnlijk wel aan de orde. Op 22 oktober 1641 – let op de datum! – namen katholieke Ieren strategische plaatsen in Ierland bij verrassing over van de protestantse Engelsen, die hier de baas waren. Enkel de aanval op Dublin Castle mislukte, omdat een dronken Ier een beetje te veel had opgeschept in de pub over de geplande aanval (dat is een recurrent gegeven in de Ierse geschiedenis ). Maar in het noorden, vooral in Ulster, was de verrassingsaanval een succes. Wat volgde, echter, was een grootschalige afslachting van protestanten, vooral Britten maar ook Schotten. De depositions (zie hier) zijn getuigenissen van zowel protestanten als katholieken (maar vooral van protestanten) over die afslachting en de activiteiten van de rebellen.

Gedurende iets meer dan 2 jaar, zijn 3 historici (Edda, Annaleigh en Elaine) bezig geweest al die verslagen systematisch te digitaliseren en te transcriberen. De 8 manuscripten (eigenlijk zijn het losse folio’s die ingebonden zijn, volledig door elkaar) met betrekking tot Ulster zijn zo goed als af en worden in december op het internet geplaatst. In het kader van dat project (zie ook hier) vindt dus die conferentie plaats. Gisterenavond waren we min of meer verplicht aanwezig te zijn, in het kader van het vak War and Society van professor Ohlmeyer (die toezicht houdt op het project). Het hele semester lang werken we namelijk op de depositions. Tegen binnen twee weken, bijvoorbeeld, is er een groepswerk gepland, waarbij we de afslachting in een bepaalde stad moeten vertellen. Mijn groep heeft Belturbet toegewezen gekregen, in county Cavan, waar 33 – 50 (afhankelijk van de getuigenis) protestanten, zowel mannen, vrouwen als kinderen, van een brug werden gehooid en verdronken. The drowning at the bridge of Belturbet is een beruchte fase in de hele Rebellion/Uprising (je kunt kiezen welk woord je gebruikt om het te beschrijven; als je het vanuit het Brits standpunt bekijkt zul je eerder Rebellion gebruiken, terwijl je vanuit het Ierse standpunt eerder voor ‘uprising’ zult kiezen). Tegen 18 november moeten we een essay schrijven, 2.500 woorden, over wat de depositions ons leren over een bepaalde sociale groep in de samenleving. Ik heb merchants and tradesmen, maar zal het in de praktijk vooral over die laatste doen.

Zoals gezegd ben ik ogenblikkelijk stapelverliefd geworden op de depositions en ben dus serieus aan het denken op mijn thesisonderwerpen, waarbij ik de depositions dus kan gebruiken. Gisteren heb ik nog wat ideetjes opgedaan, tijdens Aidan Clarke’s lezing – die trouwens, samen met alle andere lezingen zal gepodcast worden op de site van Trinity, voor wie geïnteresseerd is) – en heb het er al met een aantal medestudenten over gehad, maar eigenlijk moet ik er eerst met iemand van het project over spreken, om te weten of het wel mogelijk is binnen het bestek van een thesis. Ik zal vanavond of morgen of in de loop van de week een uitgebreid verslag van de conferentie posten, mogelijk met wat fotootjes (Aine heeft foto’s gemaakt gisteren in Saint-Patrick’s Hall, in Dublin Castle, en die ging ze doorsturen, dus ja, kzal daarop wachten).

Tot later!

If the amount of hits on the thirty second video that we posted on YouTube are anything to go by, then there’s quite a few people who are interested in finding out what Jack White had to say in Trinity College on Sunday. Having spent two hours sitting in the Phil council room typing the transcript up, I felt it was only appropriate to share it with as many people as possible, especially since there were so many people who didn’t know that the talk was going to be on. Here you go:

Jack White speaking at Trinity College, Dublin. 18/10/09.

Upon receiving the honorary patrons medal:

Well I’ve been patronized in a lot of different ways, but this is the nicest.

Did you have literary heroes?

I had a lot: Shakespeare was probably the first one that was out of childhood years that spoke to me in a different sort of way and opened up a new life. Everything else was sort of children’s stories until then. It’s funny what you said [about Oscar Wilde], because there’s a quote from Oscar Wilde in the airport when we walked in this morning, saying that the only thing he had to declare was his genius at Customs.

And who did you have on your wall poster-wise as a kid?

Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare.

What was it like filming It Might Get Loud with Jimmy Page and The Edge?

It was a pretty incredible experience to work with those two guys. I liked that there was no real idea what the movie was about: it was two sentences that said ‘this is about guitars and guitar players, let’s talk to each other and see what happens.’ Some people have a huge five page summary of what they think something is going to be about: a movie, or a video, or a project or an album or whatever, and it seems to get less and less interesting as you read. And when the door is open to be creative and let things happen in the moment, that interests me, so that was incredible and of course they’re just incredible musicians.

Was Jimmy Page the first to launch into a song?

He was the first to pick up a guitar and start playing. At the time it was striking because we were caught off guard thinking ‘I didn’t expect that to happen so soon, so it was a pretty funny moment.

Did you get performance anxiety in front of Page?

I was reading in the last couple of days about the philosophy of anxiety, and it’s such an interesting notion to me, because the word seems to mean about 16 different things to me. Sometimes I think it means nervousness – I don’t really have much nervousness, I’ve always wondered why I don’t have more and maybe it’s to do with anxiety being synonymous with the word dread – I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately too, because the definition which I have of anxiety in my brain is energy which can be turned to something good, sort of like kinetic energy.

Nerves can be a good thing too..

I guess so, I’m so curious about that, because maybe I have it and I don’t know it.

What was the first song you played in front of the other two?

I can’t remember. I think we listened to records, actually, we did listen to ‘Rumble’ by Link Wray together, and I think Jimmy and I played ‘Rumble ‘together, just the three chords.

Do you think that there is wisdom you can get from your elders?

Oh definitely, so much. You can turn into a small child, just pulling at their shirt and annoying them, really. It’s tougher to find your moment to talk to them about certain things. But it’s so obvious if someone is in the room and everybody knows what they’ve done, it’s a white elephant in the room for sure. Especially when you both do the same job. You think that maybe you have an easier way to talk to someone if you’re both artists, both poets, you’re both musicians or whatever it is, you think you’d have an easier way talking about it. But sometimes it’s more difficult.

Who have been the people you’ve met that you’ve got the most from?

Probably craftsmen – carpenters, plumbers and things like that really turn me on, really get me interested. I really get inspired, I can sit and talk to somebody in a hardware store for hours about some sort of cross-cut saw or something like that and I get so much inspiration from the love of the idea and the beauty that they’re striving for, which is almost perfectionism to finish their job. It’s compelling to take that and work it into the craft of songwriting too, and apply those techniques to them.

On Nashville:

It’s a strange town, it’s sort of a town that time forgot in a way, but it’s also so current, so mega-commercial, mega-capitalist and about the business side of music. It’s such an interesting place for me to be in. You can look at things from all angles, which I think you’re sort of forced to do once your art is accepted in the popular sense.

Is the raw country music still in Nashville?

It’s there, it’s on the outskirts, and actually I have a record label now which is looking for those people. I’m trying to find collections of one-hit wonders from the Fifties and Sixties and what they’re doing now, because I assume that a lot of them still live in Tennessee, so I’m trying to find a lot of them now to see if there’s some spark still left in them.

Is the name of you record label – Third Man records – a nod to Orson Wells?

The name came from my upholstery shop when I was in my twenties. It was called Third Man upholstery. My business card was an upholstery tack that I had painted blood on and the slogan was ‘Your furniture’s not dead’. A lot of people that I handed this card to didn’t really know what to do with it.

Was working with Loretta Lynn the first time you engaged with Nashville royalty?

It was. Meg and I had recorded our third album in Memphis and we loved country music, but we had no notion how to get in any way close to that world. But Loretta called us, because we had dedicated that album to her, because we had passed Loretta‘s house on the way home from Memphis – we saw a sign for her house, her famous Hurricane Mills ranch – so Meg and I drove over there to take a look. Meg was smoking a cigarette and threw it out of the window onto her driveway and we had an argument about it. I was like ‘don’t put a cigarette out in front of Loretta’s house, that’s not very nice’. She didn’t care, whatever, but it turned into a funny argument, so we decided to dedicate the album to her, in honour of that cigarette. That turned into Loretta inviting us for dinner at her house – she made us chicken and dumplings – she’s a good cook.

Didn’t you play a song with Bob Dylan live in the Ryman Auditorium that you’d never played together before?

We rehearsed some Hank Williams songs that day but he didn’t like the way we they were sung. We did a bunch of Hank Williams covers but it just didn’t feel right. He wanted to turn the PA off and let us sing acoustically. The Ryman Auditorium is a church, after all, and my first performance at the Ryman was with Bob Dylan.

It’s funny: I got married on the stage of that. I was looking for a place to live in Nashville, my wife and I. We’d already been married on the Amazon river a couple of months before. But we were in town looking for a place and on our lunch break we went to the courthouse and tried to get legally married. They said that we had to prearrange that with a judge and book a day, but we said we were only in town for that day. Next to where we bought the marriage license was a flyer for a guy named Pastor Red Michael, saying ‘I’ll marry anybody anywhere for $150’. I called him up and said we’d like to get married. He asked when, and I said ‘how about right now?’ and he said ‘that’s fine by me’. And he started asking where we’d like to get married and I said that I didn’t really know Nashville very well and we really didn’t know where we wanted to get married. So he said ‘how about the steps of the Ryman Auditorium?’ I thought that that would be great: it would be kind of perfect, so I said that we’d meet him there in fifteen minutes. So we drove there and got out of the car looking for him but we didn’t know where he was, and we were waiting on the stairs to get married.

Then this white Cadillac pulls up, Pastor Red Michaels get out and we’re signing the marriage license on the hood of the Cadillac and somebody comes out of the Ryman and recognizes me and asks if I’m getting married. I said ‘yes, we’re getting married, and he says ‘do you want to get married on stage? Come on in and get married on stage.’ So I said ‘okay, sure’ and we went in and got married right in front of the microphone. It was an incredible moment, I’d never even been in the building, so on top of the first time to be there to get up on the stage in front of the famous microphone and also to get married at the same time was kind of overwhelming. It was made even funnier when they asked us to leave because apparently George ((Elton??)) had died and they were coming to film a video.

How did that Coffee and Cigarettes piece with Meg come about?

That was stuck in a scene of a movie we made with Jim Jarmusch called Coffee and Cigarettes. Jim had come and seen Meg and I play in Union Square and he took us back to his office and we were just hanging out with him and he had a little pamphlet about Tesla coils. Five or six months later he called back and said ‘I’m making this film called Coffee and Cigarettes and would you and Meg make a short film with me?’ and I said ‘yeah that would be great’ He’d already done one with Tom Waits and Iggy Pop so I said yeah.

…We were also trying to get him to direct a video for the band where we filmed the pretend electrocution of a live elephant because Edison had actually done that to Tesla, to try to prove Tesla’s theory of alternating current wrong by going out and electrocuting animals and he actually electrocuted a real elephant and killed it and filmed it, to disprove Tesla’s theory. We wanted to recreate that scene but it was extremely expensive.

Has your own music taste changed as you’ve evolved as a musician?

I reevaluate my taste in music on a daily basis. I try to cleanse my palate and rethink about music and I try to open my eyes to something that I wouldn’t normally like. A couple of months ago I was trying to listen to La Roux and really trying to get into this song of hers. I was reading recently about the philosophy of authenticism, of something being authentic and what we really feel is authentic. I always feel that I’m looking for that in music and art, I’m looking for truth, I’m looking for something beautiful. In my own mind I imagine that as authentic. I don’t know sometimes if the artists that I love the most truly are authentic. I don’t know if Bob Dylan and Tom Waits are as authentic as I think they are. Perhaps they’re not. Perhaps they’re like a David Bowie creation that they’ve made themselves and perhaps we’re witnessing the art of that…. I’m a Polish-Scottish descendant in Detroit who grew up in the Seventies, what business do I have playing the blues? Dylan was a Jewish kid from Minnesota, what business does he have playing these Oklahoma based Woodie Guthrie songs when he started? And on and on and on.

Sometimes you start thinking that maybe Britney Spears or someone like that who’s doing exactly what they want to do in the way that they best know how is more authentic than any of those people you could mention. It’s a tough call. You listen to all that music through a filter all the time. I’m always listening to it through a filter. I assume that Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson are authentic and I love them for it and I think that the mystery surrounding the way that they recorded music is the way that I want music to be. The beauty of that coming off the needle is exactly what I’m hoping for. Then you read stories which say Robert Johnson also played Bing Crosby songs at supermarkets and that’s very inauthentic. I guess that’s the two sides of it.

There are times when you can be at a supermarket and hear a song on the radio and it doesn’t have to speak volumes or be beautiful in the sense that you can get some kind of depth out of it or some kind of life changing notion form it, but it’s enjoyable on a different level. I really love Charlie Patton and his songs speak from a completely different generation to me, but I also hear Ace of Base come on and I think they’re doing something really good. I don’t know how to differentiate at times. I think it really is a philosophical paradox if you really think about it, if you really decide what side of beauty that you want to be on. I need for it to be authentic, especially the music that I make myself. But I think that sometimes, people who are appreciators of art and music and listeners especially, either don’t know the difference or don’t care. That’s evident in a lot of digital technology and the way that we record music nowadays: the more plastic that it’s made, the bigger a hit it is.

There’s a responsibility when you start recording a song, as a producer or a songwriter or a performer, you’re dedicated to it and you want people to hear it the way that you hear it and respond to it the way that you would hope they’d respond to it when you’re creating it. That’s really, really difficult to do, to put on the tape. All I can do is say that I know what I don’t want it to sound like. A good way to avoid that is to avoid digital technology and things like Auto-Tune and effects that create a false sense of authenticism. So it’s very tough because nowadays because if you’re in a young band and want to record analogue on tape you can afford it because tapes are expensive and it’s hard to do. It’s a shame because there’s a romanticism about all that, that’s apart from all the Luddite notions of technological geekery or something like that, that you’re trying to be an obscurist, just to record that way.

Biggest achievement?

Well, I’ve got two kids, they couldn’t be here today.

What music do they like?

They like a song right now called Ole Buttermilk Sky by Hoagy Carmichael. Scarlett, my daughter really likes this Edith Piaf song that I don’t know how to pronounce – I have it on a record but I really don’t know how to pronounce it.

Advice to upcoming musicians

The easiest way of saying it is to be true to what they’re doing instead of what other people want from them. That’s the easy answer. It can get more complicated and say things like stay away from the tshirts and the myspace pages that really are a distraction rather than keeping things true. You should start off with something that makes sense to you. If you don’t love it, how can other people love it? If you’re doing it for them to love, then it’s probably not going to succeed.

…

When a record comes out it’s like you sort of have to throw it to the lions in the end. And that’s the hard thing. It’s like you’re giving a child away to strangers but the whole reason you did it to begin with was to share it with other human beings anyway. It’s a sort of a minefield at that point. It’s not while you’re creating it, it feels like progression every second of the way.

Your work on Bob Dylan’s tribute to Hank Williams, is it still ongoing?

I don’t know what’s going on with that either, I recorded my record two years ago. I don’t exactly know where that album is going. It was really fulfilling and it was probably one of the most special things I’ve been involved with. I live on the street that Hank Williams used to live on in Nashville and I sort of leafed through his lyrics, one of which was one of his last songs, that was found on the floor of the backseat of the car that he died in. I don’t know who’s tackling that one, I don’t know if anyone did, but one of the song spoke to me, it’s called you know that I know and it sort of screamed out at me, it leaped out, and that was mine. I felt some sort of antennae connection to it. I sort of asked Hank to help me finish it, and I did. In five minutes it was done. I played it for Dylan a few weeks later and he said something good about it.

On Upholstery:

There was a lot of things combining back when I had my upholstery shop. I was doing sculpture and I was in a warehouse full of artists that I had my upholstery shop in. I had my cutting table and sewing machines etc, but I was also working on sculpture. I also brought a guitar which ended up being a big mistake too because it drew me away from a lot of that work. But I got so obsessed with the design and the cartooniness of the business. I didn’t care if somebody handed me a cheque for $500, it just went to some electrical bill or something, I didn’t care, I had a yellow van – everything was yellow black and white at the shop. I was writing the receipts in crayon and the customers didn’t really understand it, they just wanted their antique reupholstered. To me I was in Japan or something, doing a business in some cartoon somewhere. I started to write messages to other upholsterers, because I realized that we were the only ones who saw the insides of the chairs, so I thought I’d start writing messages to them, jokes that I thought that maybe thought that only they’d get. Then I started writing poetry. I had another band called The Upholsterers at the time when the guy I apprenticed from had the 25^th anniversary of his upholstery shop. So we recorded a three song 45 which we put on clear vinyl and transparency covers that were also see-through. We made 100 copies of that vinyl and placed it in 100 pieces he upholstered that year, so you couldn’t even x-ray it to see if it was in there because of the transparent nature of it too, so they could be records that will never be found, ever.

More on authenticity:

Why can I tell you that I went to Arnold’s Meat and Three in Tennessee, but I’m not going to tell you that I went to Denny’s nationwide chain diner on the side of the freeway in Pittsburgh or something like that? I would never tell you about that because there’s no romance to that. That experience wouldn’t have been beautiful to begin with. But the America you’re talking about is all around.

Songwriting process:

I feel like I’m a bad storyteller in real life when I talk to people but I feel like when I’m writing a song I have a chance to do it right, I have a chance to say it the right way in the words I would like to use. That’s what happens. I end up dwelling on all the characters in the song and forgetting about myself. It almost feels boring to talk about myself: I know that story already. But these characters who come from an example of other people that I’m seeing, that story seems a lot more interesting for me and the people listening to it and I can get some life out of it down the road, playing it a hundred times.

DIA 3: ABBEY CHURCH – BANCO DE IRLANDA – TRINITY COLLEGE – ST ANN´S CHURCH – ST MICHAN´S PARIS CHURCH – CAPUCHIN FRIARY CHURCH – TEMPLE BAR

Fue el primer día que Cober trabajó. Se levantó bastante pronto, fue a desayunar y me subió la pieza de fruta de rigor (manzana solía ser) que me comí gustosamente. A continuación un bañito de media hora y listo para salir a la calle.

El caso es que bajo de la habitación por el ascensor para salir del hotel, desemboco en el pequeño hall donde se encontraba la recepción y cuando estaba torciendo a la izquierda para llegar a la puerta de salida oigo voces en un tono elevado dirigidas hacia a mi (o eso creo) en un dialecto extraño (inglés). Bastante nervioso acelero el paso hacia la puerta haciendo caso omiso de esas voces y salgo por la puerta a ritmo Bolt. Trote cochinero al salir del hotel.

Y era sólo mi segunda noche. A partir de ahora mi misión sería no hacerme nada notar, como sino existiera, a partir de ahora sería El Silencioso.

Por esa época me estaba leyendo la Ecuación Dante, libro que me llevaba a todas partes. Acabé terminándomelo en Dublín, me encantó.

Lo primero que hacía todos los días era ir a un cyber que había a dos minutos y chatear una horilla con Esther.

En frente del hotel teníamos una iglesia bastante chula, Abbey Church, fue la primera de las muchas que ví en este día.

Volví a bajar por O´Connell donde entré a por un desayuno en condiciones en un Mc Donalds: huevos, bacon, una tortilla extraña, salchichas…

Ya estaba listo para andar, o para rodar, según se mire.

Volví a pasar por el edificio de aduanas, crucé el río Liffey y al poco llegué al Banco de Irlanda, situado en un edificio del rollo templo griego. Justo en frente está situado el Trinity Collage, la universidad más antigua e importante de toda Irlanda.

Banco de Irlanda. Antiguo Parlamento

Trinity College. Patio Central

Trinity College

Fundada en 1592 por la reina Isabel I contó con Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde y Samuel Beckett como sus alumnos más insignes. En este complejo contemplaréis bellos edificios y jardines, plazas adoquinadas y el campus de la universidad. En uno de sus edificios se guarda el famoso Libro de Kells (que no vimos), del siglo VIII. Este contiene los cuatro evangelios escritos en latín, cuidadosamente copiados a mano por los monjes celtas alrededor del año 800. Está considerado como uno de los mayores tesoros nacionales de toda Irlanda y uno de los libros más antiguos del mundo.

No es muy grande pero cada edificio es una obra de arte. Coincidí con una graduación y allí estaban lanzando algunos alumnos sus sombreros hacia arriba al más puro estilo americano. Es curioso y maravilloso que se encuentre en pleno centro de Dublín, así la mayoría de estudiantes iban o bien en bicicleta o bien andando.

Fui hacia Grafton Street en sentido inverso al del día anterior y vi la famosa estatua de Molly Malone. A mi el nombre me sonaba pero más bien por un bar de copas en mi ciudad…

Parece ser que fue una hermosa joven muy estimada y querida en Dublín. Todos conocían a su familia que al igual que ella, se dedicaba a la venta de pescado fresco. Se dice que recorría las calles de Dublín, empujando una carreta llena de sus productos y ofreciéndolos a viva voz. Iba en uno de estos recorridos cuando sufrió de un ataque de fiebre que la llevó a la muerte sin que nadie la pudiera ayudar. Aún hasta hoy, luego de 300 años, leyendas urbanas cuentan que su fantasma aún ronda las calles de la ciudad haciendo sus recorridos de siempre.

De aquí fui a visitar varias iglesias que estaban bastante cerca entre ellas y que, creo, no son muy famosas (por el nulo número de turistas que había por los alrededores) pero que a mi me gustaron más de lo que esperaba. Algunas de ellas tenían al lado pequeños cementerios. Las que más me gustaron fueron: St Ann´s Church, St Michan´s Paris Church o Capuchin Friary Church.

St. Ann´s Church

St Michan´s Paris Church. Cementerio

Enseguida (pasadas las 16.00) me llamó Cober para ver por donde estaba que acababa de terminar de trabajar.

De camino a donde habíamos quedado pasé por Temple Bar para verlo de día.

Quedamos por O´Connell y acabamos comiendo en un KFC que había dentro de un centro comercial. Vimos un menú que tenía buena pinta y lo pillamos. Cuando nos sacaron la comida quedamos gratamente sorprendidos por la cantidad de la misma. Al acabar, cuando estábamos llenos, nos dimos cuenta que nos habíamos zampado un menú para cuatro. En fin…

Se nos hizo un poco tarde y ya no hicimos mucho más en lo que quedaba de día.

Hi all!

Today has been both a soft and glorious day this has been (and in fact, still is). ‘A soft day’ in Irish English essentially means it has been raining all day. Rainy season has finally kicked in, I think. Well, to be honest, it hasn’t rained for the ENTIRE day, but nearly for the entire day as it is. But it’s Ireland, it is to be expected.

On the other hand, it has actually been a glorious day for me, too . I had 5 hours of class, which is unusual, but I didn’t mind at all. This morning, I had a ‘War and Society’ class. As I told you before, we had to “have a go” at transcribing some of the depositions (which I enjoyed thoroughly). This morning, after some introduction on the depositions themselves, the class was taken out of the room, to have a look at the actual, original depositions. That’s a very rare treat for everyone doing research in Trinity. Up until the start of the 1641 project, there was no way you would lay your hands on the original depositions. Anyone using them for research had to deal with very crappy microfilms. So we got to see the original ones and were introduced to the secrets of palaeography (well, it doesn’t hold that many secrets anymore, but for the other people in the class – mainly modern Irish history students – transcribing is the most difficult thing they ever came across in any research and, to be honest, they won’t need it ever again). I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! I know I’m a complete freak . Thing is, while we were taking a look at the various kinds of depositions, I really felt like I wanted to use them for my thesis. The idea had already crossed my mind yesterday, while I was reading about the massacre in Belturbet, but this morning I really really really wanted to work with them. So I was al happy and nearly skipping (the wet cobblestones in Trinity prevent that ) when I left class.

Next class was an ‘Approach to historical research’ one. Generally, there not that interesting, but today was different. It was Graeme who taught the class – and I admit, I’m secretly in love with him No, really I’m not, don’t worry, but he does have a delicious sense of humour – and he was talking so passionately about his research, I even started to find it interesting . He talked about how you organize research, so mainly about the flux between your original research question, the historiography and the primary source material and how these three things affect each other. I could see so well what he was talking about ! And I had an epiphany about a possible dissertation subject , but I’ll think it through first before posting it here .

And then in ‘Toleration and intoleration’ we discussed ‘the Cheese and the Worms’ (that I didn’t actually read, shame on me) and the inquisition, so that was very interesting, too. I told Graeme I’m actually not capable of doing the reading for that class, but that’s grand, since I don’t officially take the class. But I can still come. So, I am very happy because I won’t have to do the extra work for that class, even though I wouldn’t have mind since it’s so interesting .

And then I went to buy myself a digital voice recorder. There is another conference this weekend, on the 1641 depositions project, and since I want to use them for my thesis and am officially allowed to write the essay for the core course on it (due 18 December) and since my note taking in English isn’t really that great, I thought it useful to invest in a voice recorder. I haven’t figured out how it works though . That’s something for tonight, after reading the depositions. O, and Simon introduced me to the delicious Thornton chocolate . Apparently, it’s English, but I don’t mind . So I’ll have some Turkish delight when I finish working tonight .

Great prospects!

Lamb, Sir Horace

Birth: November 27, 1849, Stockport, England.  Death: December 4, 1934, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, now amalgamated with isle of Ely.  Mathematician who contributed to the field of mathematical physics.  In 1872 he was made a fellow and assistant tutor of Trinity college, Cambridge, and three years later he became professor of mathematics at Adelaide University, Australia.  He returned to England in 1885 to become professor of mathematics at Victoria University, Lancashire.  The recognized authority on hydrodynamics, he wrote the Mathematical Theory of the Motion of Fluids (1878) and Hydrodynamics (1895); the latter for many years was the standard work on hydrodynamics.  His many papers, principally on applied mathematics, detailed his researches on wave propagation, electrical induction, earthquake tremors, and the theory of tides and waves.

Lamb made valuable studies of airflow over aircraft surfaces for the Aeronautical Research Committee from 1921 to 1927.  He was made a fellow of the Royal society of London in 1884 and was knighted in 1931.  His other publications include Infinitesimal Calculus (1897); Dynamical Theory of Sound (1910); Statics: Including Hydrostatics and Elements of the Theory of Elasticity (1912); Dynamics (1914); and Higher Mechanics (1920).

Visual source:  gap-system

September 13, 2009

“This entire country was designed for people 20 centimeters shorter than me.”
-Greg

This day was a lot of walking. We woke up at 9ish and we bought the full breakfast in the hotel for €10. Andy had pudding that tasted like meat.  I highly recommend the full Irish breakfast.  Nothing like bacon, blood pudding, eggs, toast, fruit, yogurt, sausage, juice, and coffee to get your day of marathon walking going. I ate mostly yogurt and eggs, not sure what state my stomach would be in.

We went to Trinity College first, and walked around it several city blocks looking for the entrance. Andy wanted to go in the entrance to the Dental School but I thought better of it, so we continued going around. You wouldn’t even let us go in the second entrance that would have taken us to the Book…eventually. The whole place had very high walls around it preventing you from seeing anything at all, really. It also had a train track running through it which reminded me of my alma mater, Grinnell College.

When we finally found the entrance and went in, we saw the Book of Kells and its respective museum (the only place in Dublin that didn’t accept the Dublin Pass). The exhibit was very nice and informative, and the book itself was beautiful, but we couldn’t read it since it was in Latin (duh!) We walked out to the college grounds and listened in to a tour guide who was explaining about “Gielguds,” fluent speakers of the Irish language. According to him, they were an “insufferable people.” They are insufferable people… bah. All the buildings around us were hundreds of years old. They were the notably oldest parts of the college, and the guide said they were mainly used for dormitories and administrative offices.

Class was indeed in session.

After leaving the college, we took a walk down Grafton Street, a walking avenue with shops where they have some street performances. There were some very excellent human statues, including one really amazing one who I believe was supposed to look like Winston Churchill.

At the end of Grafton Street is St. Stephen’s Green, a very nice park near the city center. It was a beautiful day: 75 degrees, no clouds in the sky, a nice breeze. We relaxed on the green a bit and did some people watching. I had worn shorts that day and I was very comfortable, which was lucky since apparently shorts are not something one often wears in this country.  This was the best part of Dublin.  The rest was a city… and cities suck.

Two views of Andy relaxing on St. Stephen's Green

Next we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral which was a lot like Christ Church but less old and with a lot of information about Jonathan Swift, who was a dean of the church and who was buried there. It also had a very nice green outside of it with posted rules that there was no ball-playing allowed, but of course tons of kids were kicking a soccer ball around, and who would be able to resist it on such a nice day?

We walked a block north to Dublin Castle, (it wasnt a castle) which was also a palace and an administration center for the Irish government. We waited in the waiting area for the guided tour. A saucy gentleman gave us the tour through palace rooms, courtyards, and an archaeological site with excavations of the base of one of the now-defunct towers.  It was very disappointing, no guards, cannons, or parapets.  It could barely be defined as a castle.  I felt like I couldve laid siege to it.

I don't know if these guards for Dublin Castle were quite up to the task.

We returned to Grafton St. via our favorite Thomas St. and ate at Captain America’s Restaurant and Bar. Andy had a gravy burger and I had a veggie enchilada with chips. I left a tip even though we didn’t think we were supposed to.  Look at that sign.  How could we not eat there.  It was like Shennanigans with all the goofy crap it had on the walls.  Plus with Captain Americas as the theme it felt like we were eating in the U.S. embassy.

We wanted to see what they think American food is like. They got close, but not exactly right.

After Captain America’s, we went back to St. Stephen’s and checked out the South side (this is how beautiful the day was, relaxing on the green was the perfect pastime.) There was some kind of Hare Krishna festival going on with a guy playing the ukulele and a dancing puppet. We stayed a while and watched people play “football.” A group of kids with balloon swords came out of nowhere and milled around a bit before seeing another similar group of kids across the green. They started running towards each other and one enterprising child yelled “Dirty Celts!” at the other group. It was an epic battle, like something out of Braveheart. After the battle subsided, we sunbathed a bit more.

We thought about going to a hotel for Irish dancing far to the south where our Dublin Passes would get us a CD and a glass of champagne for free, but instead we decided to head back to our hotel where there was also Irish dancing.  I still miss the CD that got away…

On the way back to the hotel, we saw a very cool street band playing. Andy wanted to buy their CD but he had absolutely no money.  Rub it in why dont you…

I like the hat the drummer is wearing.

We went to listen to the Irish music and watch the Irish dancing in the basement of our hotel. We met some people there: Danny, a Quebecois, and Diana, an Aussie. They were staying in a hostel in Dublin and had come to see the dancing too. Diana was doing a round-the-world trip and Danny had been in Ireland for a month and a half traveling around. Apparently he had no money and all he had left was a plane ticket home and a Coldplay concert ticket the next day, which I thought was hardcore. Andy got Diana to take our picture and then asked her to e-mail it to me (he knows all the tricks, although it didn’t seem to’ve worked.) We also met Anne and Katy, Americans going for study abroad in Cork for a semester. We went upstairs to the pub after the dancing ended and ended up hanging out with Danny and Diana ’til about 2 in the morning. Andy was very sloshed. Well, you know, when in Rome… We got fried food at a restaurant called Eddie Rocket’s and then went to sleep.

Here is a map of where we went on this our second day:

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