A week ago Monday I had another turn at being on the small screen. This time, I got to work on the outdoor set of Fair City! On the RTE grounds there stands a little fake street in a little fake town called Carrigstown. Apparently they used to film on an actual street, but after a while that became too complicated, so they recreated the street on the RTE grounds. When we stepped on set, the crew wasn't around yet, so naturally I whipped out my camera:


These buildings might look real, but they are all made of some kind of heavy duty plaster or something. When you knock on what you think is a cement block, it sounds hallow or something. Even the houses to the right are fake. I must admit, they got it dead on.

My day was mostly spent strolling up and down this "street" in circles while various scenes were performed. Once I got to walk out of Vinos while a scene was being filmed on the table in front. But my key scene was the courthouse scene. I got to come out of the "courthouse" after the actors and be fake interviewed on the courthouse steps while the actors had a conversation down on stage left. I can't wait to see what that looks like!

Rag are hosting a film screening and discussion in Seomra Spraoi on October 17th, at 8pm.


Two film makers are on tour with films they have made on the subject of abortion. The first one is called The Coat Hanger Project http://www.thecoathangerproject.com/
and the second is Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa http://www.abortion-democracy.de/
The film makers will be there to talk about the films so there should be some great discussion afterward.

Because both of us are out of work, we don't do a whole lot of things that aren't free or nearly free, but we did splurge just a little recently -- Mark surprised me with tickets to see the band Jesus Lizard at the Button Factory. I hadn't seen them play live since before they broke up. They played with Boys vs. Girls in Providence, Rhode Island and the show was incredible. Mark and I actually saw a Jesus Lizard cover band play in Boston two years ago, and even that was fantastic.

When it was time to leave for the show, I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for a show that night, but when we got there I started to get psyched. But then when they played those first few notes, I was screaming like a Beetles fan. I tried to take photos, but without a flash they didn't come out like much.

The crowd was extremely enthusiastic, and people were crowd surfing like it was 1993 all over again. ha ha! Since I may not get the chance to ever see them play live again, I was pretty pumped about having tickets to this show.

A couple of weeks ago, I really felt like seeing a movie, so Mark and I went to The Lighthouse Cinema over in Smithfield to see the one movie we could agree on. Holy moly, the Lighthouse has got to be the fanciest movie theater I've ever been to. When you walk in, you feel like you're walking into a museum. Then you walk down the stairs to where the movies are, and it's like an Escher drawing. It didn't feel like a movie theater at all. There's even a little museum-style cafe in it. But they do give discounts for people on the dole, so that was cool. And the snacks didn't seem to be any more than at a regular theater.



We saw this British movie called "Fish Tank." I read the description at home, and once again proved the master of predicting plot lines. Unfortunately, the movie included a kind of disturbing statutory rape scene, which I totally called from the description, but otherwise I thought it was a really good film. But I will definitely try to go back to the Lighthouse Cinema again!

Jeezum I guess it's been a while! I still feel busy, even though of course I haven't gotten a job. I've been doing layout for the annual magazine that RAG puts out, which entailed teaching myself how to use InDesign. If I had known how relatively straightforward it is, I would have taught myself a long time ago and would have probably been able to get a better job back in Boston. Anyhoo - I think it's going to look fantastic, and I hope that the women in my group thinks so too. It's the fourth issue of the magazine, and they seem to get just a little better each time.

So, catching up, back on the 19th, Mark and I went to the art space called The Joinery to see a documentary about Bow Street. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was part of the Fringe Fest. Here's the description of the movie, aptly named Bow Street, by Tadhg O'Sullivan: "Shot and recorded over a month on a narrow Dublin street of bustling barristers, bowed street-drinkers, box-ticking tourists, proud and shamed seekers-of-a-free-lunch at the Capuchin day centre, Bow St. is a film and exhibition that hurries and slows to the criss-crossing paces of a hundred passers-by. The camera traces the movements and pauses of everyday lives; voices drift in and out with personal stories, musings on life and love, fuck ups and forgiveness, holding on and letting go. A unique look past the assumed anonymity of our urban lives."

It was a voyeuristic view of the street, at times funny, but mostly sad. I guess I felt odd watching this documentary in an artist gallery, being all hoity toity while the people on the screen were in such rough shape. I liked the way it didn't have a voice-over the way a traditional documentary does, but at the same time, sometimes they would put captions on the screen to highlight what people were saying, yet they didn't caption every word. This meant that only certain phrases came up on the screen, taken, in some cases, out of context. On one hand, it drew your attention in an interesting way to things you might not have taken notice of, but on the other hand, I sort of resented the fact that my attention was handed to me on a plate like that. Visually, there was never a dull moment in the film.

I had never been to the Joinery before, and I really enjoyed the space. Out front was a photography exhibition, which consisted of stills from the movie along with headphones for each photograph. When you put the headphones on, you felt suddenly like you weren't looking at a still, but a moving picture. The movie was shown in a back room lined with couches and chairs. We brought a couple of beers and drank them while we watched the movie. It was quite comfortable (though maybe would have been more so if we'd have gotten seats!).

The Fringe Festival has been going on in Dublin. This is a performance festival that happens all over the city at various locations, with all kinds of performance. We went to a show called Nurse Me that was held at St. Brendan's Hospital at Grangegorman. St Brendan's Hospital was established in 1814, then known as the Richmond Asylum, and was one of the first Public Hospitals in Ireland designated to treat the mentally ill. Needless to say, not the most traditional setting for a play!

The audience was led into a small, candle lit room, and while the actress told the story, another actress took people, three at a time, into another room. Then we were led into a larger room, where the bulk of the action took place. The rooms were fantastic. Here are some photos, taken by the Fringe Festival photographer (the women in white dresses are obviously the performers):

Yesterday, Mark and I hopped on a 145 bus with our friend Hilary and went to Kilmacanogue to climb the Sugarloaf. It was well over an hour on the bus, which dropped us off at a gas station at the foot of a hill below the Sugarloaf. To get up to where people usually start, we had to walk an hour uphill on this windy road that was lined with nettles and thorns and didn't have much of a breakdown lane, so we had to keep crossing the road at the bends to maximize our visibility. We were yelled at by bikers zooming down the hill! But once we got to the top of the road, where most people drive up to to climb, it was beautiful.
On our way, we passed a few of these little shrines:


Here's a little shack on the road right before we got to the bottom of the Sugarloaf:


Off in the distance, there was the Sugarloaf:


Then, as we approached, there were friendly horses hanging out:

They let people go right up and touch them:

I took this big girl's photo, and then I guess I made the mistake of looking her in the eye too long because suddenly I got a funny feeling, and I said, "I don't like this!" and walked away, but she followed me! Having a horse follow you like a dog is a very bizarre thing! Eventually I was left off the hook.

They were just so beautiful...


It took about twenty minutes to climb to the top, and it was more of a scramble at some points, but the effort was well worth it. Here are our shadows, up at the top:

Of course there's no way to convey the view in its glory, but I still tried:

Click on this image to watch a short video of the view:

From Sugarloaf

And of course, happy feet:

Hanging out on the edge:


And coming down:


We had just enough time to grab a well-deserved pint at the pub next to the gas station, and then we hopped on the bus back to Dublin.