To Dingle or Not to Dingle?

by Iva Skoch on

One of western Ireland’s favorite tourist destinations (as well as surfing destinations?) is in a battle for its very name. This small coastal town, formerly called Dingle, has been officially renamed An Daingean (pronounced “on dang-un”). No more are the “Dingle” signs.

It just so happens that the town is in a “Gaeltacht,” a designated Irish-speaking area, so the cultural affairs minister renamed the town, shelving its English name.

However, the townsfolk, who understand that tourism is the town’s number one industry, are upset and are voting in a referendum to change the name back to a bilingual name: Dingle An Daingean Ui Chuis. Although they’re without power to force the change, they hope to win a moral victory over the minister.

But in this conflict of the traditional versus popular, only the sign-makers–and favorite local son Fungie the Dingle Dolphin–will be happy.

Like Father, Like Daughter

by Erik Olsen on

No, this is not, to my knowledge, the child of Steve Irwin that he, the Croc hunter, dangled over the gaping, toothed, gnashing maw of a live crocodile. This is the one he fed to the sharks. Just kidding. That’s irreverent. Even if he was a bit kooky and put himself in danger with perhaps predictable results, we loved Steve Irwin. The Aussies sure have a way of exporting interesting characters, even if their stars fade quickly. Or they die. And it looks like we may have another Aussie star on our hands, and this one from the loins of the croc man himself.

Yes, Bindi Irwin, the eight-year-old daughter of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, is set to star in her own series on the Discovery Kids Network, beginning early next year. You read that correctly. Eight years old. The new show is to be called “Bindi, The Jungle Girl”, and was originally supposed to star both father and daughter. In fact, the Discovery Kids Network had begun filming episodes before Irwin’s September 4 death by stingray stab. In a creepy turn of events that I am not sure the producers have really considered how creepy this is, and which if I were she would cause me all sorts of awful emotional problems, Irwin will continue to play a role in the series posthumously, appearing in scenes filmed together with his daughter before his death.

Poetry in Baghdad

by Adrienne Wilson on

Every time I hear Baghdad mentioned in the news my face and stomach both turn to sour. The American death tolls, the Iraqi death tolls, Bush, politics, etc. All of it makes me want to holler. Can the world get any worse? Surely, but I’m in no mood to discuss politics tonight. Instead I’m going to point you to this NPR piece on poetry. No, wait, not just poetry, but poetry shared in what they call the “Freedom Tent” in Baghdad so I suppose they’ll be some politics involved after all, but not from me.

Organized by the women’s Freedom in Iraq group, the goal is to bring Sunni’s from Madaan (a violent neighborhood in south Baghdad) together with Shiites from Sadr City to open up and share poems filled with both hope and grief. The environment is peaceful and the energy is the same. What would the world be like if it were always the way things went in the Freedom Tent? Who knows? Still, I have always loved poetry and the words from within insiders in foreign places. The pauses, winding of the words and the words themselves always have a different feeling and ring to them. Kind of like gun shots and the pitter-patter of children’s feet running down dark Baghdad streets to find shelter. The pause in the poet’s poem – the brief moment in time when the violence has ceased.

If you’re into news, arts, and culture – check it out.

LP Less Than Three

by Erik Olsen on

Aspiring filmmakers out there pay attention. Lonely Planet, the guidebook colossus, is offering a big time travel opportunity to folks who send in the best travel film that lasts, and here’s the gimmick, less than three minutes. That may seem like a short duration, unless you actually spent time watching some folks’ homemade travel video, (which believe me, I have), in which case you know that some folks are just not meant to be filmmakers (what is so hard about holding a camera steady?).

It seems like a pretty good deal. If you check out the FAQ, you can read that LP is offering a first prize of 10,000 Australian dollars (which comes out to, what? about $780? JK!) to help pay for your own Round-The-World economy flight, an STA travel voucher and the choice of either hanging with LPTV folks in Melbourne (LP’s home base) or taking the rest of the cash and heading out on your own “dream journey”. Hmmm….hanging with the LPTV folks would be fun, buuuuuttttt….so the hitch is you actually have to produce the film, make it under three minutes and, here’s the catch, make it interesting enough that people will actually WANT to watch it.

Tip of the Hat: Newyorkology

by Erik Olsen on

If there’s one thing about living in New York that I constantly tell other people, it’s that there is a nearly ceaseless number of things to do here. Literally, at any hour of the day or night you can meander around the city and find people hanging out, dining in fine restaurants, drinking, reading, writing, putting on performances…and that’s just the homeless. There’s a gazillion museums, playhouses small and large and, well, if you just hang out on a city block, you can do some of the best people-watching available in this day and age. But if there’s one thing that most of my friends and I agree upon, it can be hard sometimes to sift out the best, most interesting things to do, those that suit your interest or that might have nothing to do with your interests, but turn out to be really cool anyway (this always happens in NYC). So with that lofty preamble, let me point you quickly to one of my favorite sites about New York that does beautifully the job of alerting you to what’s happening. The site is called Newyorkology and is run by a young woman named Amy Langfield. She puts right up front every day her choice events and happenings. If it is Friday and you are wondering what to do over the weekend, hit the front page. If you are coming to NYC to visit and are wondering what to take the kids to, check Newyorkology. Museums? Check. I could go on, but instead, why don’t you go see for yourself.