Dunkilderry - Ireland

Well - it’s over and it probably wasn’t worth waiting for. The Simpsons UK and Ireland exclusive St Patricks episode was a bit of a disappointment . Here in Dunkilderry we were not too impressed with the story. Ireland didn’t even make an appearance until after the commercial break.
The Irish accents were pretty bad - as expected.

The empty Flanagans pub was bought back to life by allowing smoking - (Moes Idea). The place was packed - but the Gardai (Police) raided it and arrested Homer and Abe.
Marge and the kids went to Blarney Castle - where bart disguised has Ass as the blarney stone and got people to kiss it - but one lad tried to carve his initials in it with a pen knife!
The Giants Causeway got a quick visit - where they turned it into a retro video game with Marge chasing the kids around the stones.
The Guiinness Brewery got a visit too - where Lisa discovered the secret recipie - 50% Bog Water and 50% Chocolate Syrup.
After that - a quick visit to the Bloomsday celebration (James Joyce). Where BArt made a note " Next time visit Scotland" and said " I guess this means we have run out of fun things to do".
The Irish Tourist board will not be happy - but it is pretty true.

The High Tech industries in Ireland got a mention - with Mick O’Soft and Hewlett FitzPackard factories shown.

All round - it was pretty tame and not very funny.

 

A few selected people got to see the premiere of the St Patricks 2009 Simpsons episode in Dublin yesterday

A ‘LOVE letter’ from Homer Simpson  to the Irish people is  how the producer  described the St Patrick’s Day special. In it -  Lisa finally revealed the secret recipe for making Guinness:  involving bog water and chocolate syrup, apparently.

‘In the Name of the Grandfather’ was an instant success with the audience at the preview screening in the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin  yesterday morning.

The episode can be seen in Ireland and the UK on Sky One tonight at 7.30pm.

Executive producer Al Jean is taking part in the Dublin parade and says it was his Irish roots that inspired the Simpsons visit to Ireland.

"The episode is based on the experiences of myself and a lot of the writers on ‘The Simpsons’ who have Irish ancestry and come back to visit to find it very different, much more hi-tech," he says.

"Homer’s father was here as a young man and it was the most wonderful time of his life. He comes back to find the Ireland that he knew, but it’s been taken over by corporations and is not quite the way he remembers."

Defying audience expectations, not every Irish character featured in the episode was drunk and rowdy. "Most are actually hard-working and sober, which reflects my experience of visiting the country," says Mr Jean.

"I was married here in Enniskerry in 2002 and my wife is also Irish-American. It’s the fourth time I’ve been here and many of the writers have been here a lot, so it’s kind of a letter of love."

Mr Jean admits to a fondness for a pint of Guinness, having sampled a couple during his trip. "Guinness features in the episode as well, when Lisa discovers the secret recipe to making it: bog water and chocolate syrup."

Another true story from the Irish Independent

ST PATRICK’S Day is the one day when people should stay indoors, a judge warned yesterday, citing the new ‘Simpsons’ episode as an example of the vulgar and drink-fuelled behaviour which frequently occurs on our national day.
Judge Conal Gibbons refused the request of a troubled youth to be released in time for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations and suggested that the adventures of Homer and his associates demonstrated the value of staying at home on March 17.
The 15-year-old Dublin boy, who has been the subject of a full care order and given a place in a care unit for troubled teens, had been remanded to a juvenile detention centre in recent weeks for breaching his bail conditions. He faces charges at the Dublin Children’s Court for theft and Public Order Act offences. His solicitor said: "He is asking for bail and wants to be out for St Patrick’s," she told Judge Gibbons. But Judge Gibbons replied: "St Patrick’s Day is the one day he should be inside."
He said the new episode of ‘The Simpsons’, which is set in Ireland and had been given a premiere screening yesterday morning in the Lighthouse Cinema, in Smithfield, a short distance from the Children’s Court, "has demonstrated all the reasons why they should stay in". "You did not hear that ‘The Simpsons’ were on about St Patrick’s Day and the difficulties that occur on it?" he asked the boy, who replied "no". Judge Gibbons remanded him in custody for a further week, to allow a welfare report to be furnished to court and for his social workers to be present before considering the issue of bail.

Not long to wait now until the St Patricks day Simpsons Special 2009. Homer and Abe visit us here in Dunkilderry and have a great time with the locals.

The episode will be broadcast in the UK and Ireland on on Sky1 and Sky1 HD St Patrick’s Day, Tuesday 17th March at 7.30pm.
US viewers won’t be able to see this episode until a week later.
Everyone in Dunkilderry is looking forward to it!

Sign up online for Sky TV in Ireland Here

 

New evidence suggests that the time St. Patrick spent on Croagh Patrick, (The Reek), outside Westport, in the fifth century AD may not have been the 40 days and 40 nights of penance we were told about at school.
A recent excavation at the top of the mountain has found that there was in fact a thriving community there at the time the saint lived. Indeed the original 2 meter square excavation pit of an ancient structure near the summit has expanded and now covers an area of more than 34,000 square feet. Features uncovered include over 300 bedrooms, four large areas that look like swimming pools, some form of ancient steam room, 8 Jacuzzi’s and a large hall possibly used as a recreational drinking area.
Dr. Erin O’ Ratheillaigh-Wong says that the evidence collected so far indicates The Reek was the site of the biggest Inn and Health Spa outside of the Roman Empire.
“The greatest mystery”, she said, “is not who built it or how it was built, but how in the name of God they got planning for it”.

Young Paddy Moore is after spending the guts of €15,000 on putting bloody air conditioning into that monstrosity of a two-storey house that he’s building above near the lake. One thing is feckin’ sure, he didn’t grow up in a house with fresh air in it. Sure there was no such thing as fresh air in houses when we were growing up – all we had were houses with different smells. If it wasn’t the smell of cow muck from outside the door, it was the smell of sweat, dampness, turf smoke, farts, hairy bacon and cabbage boiling in a big pot, a child’s dirty nappy or the smell of an aul’ fellow sitting beside the fire who had wet himself. You had to be tough to survive in those days. They want their comforts now but with their air conditioning and all their gadgets they’ll end up in bad health I’m telling’ ye. They’ll end up sick oftener than we were and all we had to put up with. Sure every generation is getting weaker and then there’s eejits going around claiming that evolution is plausible.
I blame the Yanks myself.

 

The Simpsons St Patrick’s day 2009 episode is generating so much interest that Irish  bookmakers Paddy Power are now offering odds on what will happen during the episode.
Homer is going to visit the Blarney Stone and Paddy Power is taking bets on whether Homer will hold baby Maggie out to kiss the Blarney stone instead of kissing it himself , whether he’ll lick the stone, vandalise it with graffiti, remove it or even worse, urinate on it.

The betting firm is also speculating on what famous Irish cliche Homer will utter first, with "Oh begorrah", "top of the morning to you", and "to be sure, to be sure" the top three favourites. Other phrases in the betting are Bacon and cabbage   , Slainte  , Get up outta dat , That’s grand  , Glocamorra .

See all the Paddy Power odds on The Simpsons go Oirish here . Click on Novelty Betting than look for Simpsons go Oirish category.

 

 Homer and Abe in O’Flanagans pub in Dunkilderry

They like it so much they end up buying the place. The trouble is - with the smoking ban and the Celtic Tiger yuppies - there is less drinking in pubs now in Ireland. They have to recruit Moe to try and get the customers back.

This is what Donal Lynch thinks about the planned St Patricks day 2009  Simpsons episode which is due to be set in Ireland  (from the Irish Independent March 1st 2009

Quote

"THE Simpsons has always mocked Ireland more than any other country. We have rubbish food  and in the eyes of the hypercaffeinated Harvard graduates who write the scripts, we’re still violent drunks with good singing voices and about 17 children.

We also, for some reason, seem to talk in a strange accent that’s somewhere between Scottish and Mary Poppins English. But, hey, we’re not complaining. Even if they’re not exactly accurate, being lampooned by the Simpsons’ makers is still an honour. They wouldn’t waste their satire on some other nonentity countries, like, say, Denmark (keep your Ronan Keating-penned Eurovision number!).

And at least along with calling us wife-beating drunks they also propagate the myth that we’re really sexy. As long as Lisa is fainting in front of an "Irish" boy with a strange accent, we’re still relevant. It’s essential then that when the makers come here next month — they’re going to do the voices for the St Patrick’s Day episode — we don’t disabuse them of the paddywhackery notions. So if anyone who looks like they might have been to Harvard asks, you’re a loose cannon with a charming manner and your children go to school barefoot. If they get wind that we now actually eat more smoothies and bean wraps than potatoes and cabbage, and that most young people now have Friends accents and wear Uggs rather than green felt boots it could be the end of our Simpsons episodes. America is not ready for the New Ireland.

And Colm Meany and Liam Neeson could be out of voiceover jobs.""

End Quote

Do smoothies and bean wraps mean we are sophisticated now?

Details of how police in the Irish Republic finally caught up with the country’s most reckless driver have emerged, the Irish Times reports. Another True Story from us here in Dunkilderry. 

The Polish driver was wanted in Dunkilderry and from counties Cork to Cavan after racking up scores of speeding tickets and parking fines. However, each time the serial offender was stopped he managed to evade justice by giving a different address.
But then his cover was blown.

It was discovered that the man every member of the Irish police’s rank and file had been looking for - a Mr Prawo Jazdy - wasn’t exactly the sort of prized villain whose apprehension leads to an officer winning an award.

In fact he wasn’t even human.

"Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence," read a letter from June 2007 from an officer working within the Garda’s traffic division.

"Having noticed this, I decided to check and see how many times officers have made this mistake.

"It is quite embarrassing to see that the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities."

The officer added that the "mistake" needed to be rectified immediately and asked that a memo be circulated throughout the force.

In a bid to avoid similar mistakes being made in future relevant guidelines were also amended.