Tales From An Irish Lass

Happy St. Patricks Day! Basically I love all holidays; Halloween, Memorial Day, even Presidents Day. Really anything that is an excuse for a celebration, or a day off is great too.

(Holiday = Sugar Cookies)

Being born with leprechaun in me means that my whole family has always gotten into this holiday, including cooking up some pretty delicious Irish food. Lets just say, carb up everybody, because this meal involves a lot of potatoes; potato leek soup and potato biscuits are a highlight. Oh man, those biscuits, I could probably eat about 10, and then be sick for days.

Since recently I have utterly no perception of what the date is, I almost forgot all about today, and nearly stumbled out of my house without any green on! How dare I? Frantically dodging back into my closest I found one, yes only one, green shirt, and then tossed on these army green boots and called it a day. All of this effort became basically hilarious when I walked into work and saw only one other person who even bothered to throw on something green. Party poopers!

In honor of this day, I have been reflecting on all things Irish. To celebrate I would like to present an all time favorite Irish movie, and something new I discovered recently.

The Classic: Once



Having never been to Ireland, every time I watch this movie I want to instantly hop on a plane. Other than loving the picturesque shots of Ireland, this indie made me a huge fan of the stars, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Their endlessly passionate music is easy to get addicted to. With the great music, just a simple, well told story goes a long way.

The huge success of this movie translated into concert gigs and albums for their current music project, The Swell Season, and it makes me happy to look back on their big win at the Oscars. Truly a great moment for independent music and film.

New Find: Ondine



As it was true with Once, simple, passionate movies always turn out to be my favorites.

Colin Ferrell, who I actually really enjoyed here, plays a fisherman who pulls a mysterious woman out of the ocean in one of his nets. The mans daughter believes her to be a Selke (kind of like a water nymph), and the enigma of the woman only continues to grow as she begins to have an affect on their little village.

Ondine is an incredibly satisfying movie, where real life problems are combined with a fairy tale. The young actress who plays the little girl basically breaks your heart, and the supporting score is haunting.

When I said Once made yearn for a trip to Ireland, Ondine only made me wish even harder.