Ireland on TV and in the Movies

Anika is 21 now!

Before we get to the title subject I have to share the news that we celebrated Anika's birthday last Thursday [if I had posted back when I had intended to.] It was a fun evening with some close friends and now she is already heading toward California; driving for the first time to college.
Lee Ann and I spent a couple of weeks here in Albuquerque before heading back to Dublin on Wednesday.
On the trip in, the flight attendant asked us over the announcement system whether we knew that we were headed for the home of Breaking Bad. She was quite a fan and found a willing discussion partner in a woman who is the Mom of one of the stunt men on the show. I had to put headphones on to avoid spoilers; I'm only in season 2.

Orion rising over Albuquerque night glow

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is very well done and you see tons of Albuquerque locations, although often looking worse than they actually are. However, it is not for the faint of heart. It's gruesome, brutal, and at times very uncomfortable to watch. We started watching one about every three weeks to have enough time in between to cleanse. It is very intense and leaves lasting images that seep into your dreams. Lee Ann decided not to finish the series. Now I can catch up and watch the final season currently on.
Although this post is about movies and shows playing in Ireland, many of the pictures are from Albuquerque; some of the from last Winter, like the one above when I went out to the volcanoes to see what my then newly acquired, refurbished D7000 could do.

Sunset from the other side of the valley, along La Luz trail

In the meantime we are back in Ireland and the kids are off to their respective colleges. It was nice here too, just cooler, but the last few days have gotten really cold; sometimes dipping below 50. We're adjusting quickly, especially since our heater is broken. Hopefully it'll get fixed tomorrow. Otherwise I'll have to endure even more angry stares from the cats. Who are not pleased. Not at all!

Midsy doesn't like cold

OK, so lets talk TV shows. We got the first one, Forbrydelsen or The Killing, as a DVD set from some American friends here in Ireland. It's in Danish with English subtitles. We watched the first episode with the murder and were astonished that the case hadn't been solved at the end of the show. So, we watched the next episode. Now we have a strong suspect, but no resolution. All right, on to the next one. We have a new suspect, but toward the end, something seems fishy again about the earlier suspect. We have to know! Click on the next episode and we get more twists, new suspects, earlier cleared ones back in, and still no answer. Now it's 1 am!
An email to our so called "friends" who gave us the set, clears things up. We have another 16, hour-long, episodes to go before we'll know who done it! That was a long week of late nights with discussions afterward about new clues and suspects and what had been overlooked in earlier episodes. Absolutely cool, but exhausting.
The second season is shorter and the third season is not on Netflix yet.
Since then I have learned that AMC in the States had a similar show based on this one. Except, they didn't tell you who the murder was at the end of the first season. Then they canceled the show! People were furious and AMC brought it back on. I can't imagine what that must be like. When we were watching it, we were so glad we didn't have to wait another week, or another season, before seeing the next episode. Nothing to do with Ireland, but that's where we saw it, it is European, and we liked it.

UNM is mentioned frequently in Breaking Bad

Well, then, off to Ireland. Conemara to be exact. In Single-Handed, we saw a lot of spots we enjoyed when we were visiting there over Easter. In this one, the crimes get solved more promptly. What is interesting, besides the scenery and the people's dialects, is that it is partially based on real corruption cases and other scandals that have happened in Ireland. A little bit of history rolled into our entertainment. It is serious stuff, though. Child abuse and police corruption are covered and leave you feeling helpless.

The Sandias seen from the volcanoes

Therefore, something more lighthearted: Moone Boy, a show about a boy and his imaginary friend (the funny Chris O'Dowd) growing up in Ireland in the 1980s. It's very funny, weird, and interesting.

This "interesting" house in Clifden shows up in Single-Handed

Long before we knew we would live in Ireland some day, we used to watch Ballykissangel. The name is invented, but the town where it was filmed, exists in Southeast Ireland. We have it on our To Do list to go visit. An English Roman Catholic priest gets dropped into a rural Irish village. Of course, for us foreigners, it is difficult to say, but it feels like this is (could be ;-) how the Irish live outside of Dublin. It's easy going and fun. Until they kill off one of the main characters we liked and we stopped watching. That was just mean. On the other hand, it was not clear how the story could have gone on. Oh, well, that's life; at least on TV.

The abbey in Cong

Across the (Irish) sea is the Black Books bookstore. Well, not really. It's a fictional bookstore in a TV show that plays in London. Anika and I found it one evening browsing Netflix for something to watch. It is very weird, not wholesome (wine for breakfast), mostly plays in a single room, but is very funny and imaginative. Not Irish, but close enough and one of the characters is supposed to be Irish, although he doesn't sound like one.
Sorry for the long delay in getting this post out. Maybe I should watch less TV...