Bakker Bugle Blog Say it three times fast. In Luxembourgish.

11 October 2007

Make a Connolly-o-lantern for Halloween

Filed under: culture,entertainment,ireland — Will @ 15:46

Give the corporatists in your neighborhood a real scare this Halloween! Make your very own James Connolly pumpkin this Halloween — an exclusive for Bugle readers.

It’s easy! Just follow these instructions, and you’ll have a Halloween decoration that shows off your socialist credentials and frightens away the local children. Candy is for the working class, not the scions of privilege and oppression!

  1. Obtain a pumpkin, preferably from a farm that is owner-operated and does not exploit its workers. Better yet, grow your own. (It may be a little late for that in some climates.)
  2. Download the Bugle’s exclusive easy-to use Connolly Template and open it using your favorite graphics software. Remember that when you use Microsoft software, you undermine the proletariat!
  3. Resize the template to fit your pumpkin, and print it out. If you can, stick it to the Man by using the printer at work.
  4. Hollow out your pumpkin. This is a good time to consider how a life of wage-slavery is hollow, with one’s creative energies scooped out by the time one spends at work, simply to obtain the requirements for living.
  5. Attach the paper to your pumpkin.
  6. Carve away the black parts on the paper. Reflect on the talents and joys that are carved out of the working class by the poverty and frivolous consumption that are necessary features of a capitalist society.
  7. That’s it! Add a candle to the inside for an extra-spooky, revolutionary light-from-within.

The template in this post is for pumpkin-carving beginners. Connolly PumpkinsIf you’d like a more advanced template, make your voice heard in the comments!

The photo in this post is for simulation purposes only. No pumpkins were harmed in the writing of this post. Thanks to Clearly Ambiguous for making the original photo available under a Creative Commons license, which expresses solidarity with all persons insofar as possible through the strained context of our crony-capitalist legal system. Clearly Ambiguous’s use of that license does not entail support for the content of this post in any way. So don’t open a file on Clearly Ambiguous, Mr. NSA!

5 October 2007

Hop across the Irish Sea

Filed under: ireland,travel — Will @ 21:53

Hello, silly residents of North America, with your huge continental countries.

Anita and I will take an 80 minute flight to London early Saturday morning for a little trip abroad. We’re meeting Chris and Katie at Hyde Park tomorrow morning, to take in the best of British theatre and some respectable Premier League football (Portsmouth at Fulham), and to do anything else we care to do in the centre of the civilised world.

Advertisement: A side trip to London is a perfect complement to a stay at the B.B. B&B. Add a few days to your itinerary and experience the vibrant city of London! You may opt for a guided tour, or spend a few days on your own. Either way, the travel expenses are minimal, and the memories last a lifetime!

You can expect a full report when we return, because this is one of those rare occasions when we travel without either of our laptops. In the meantime, you might notice that there are many new photos on our flickr site. I haven’t finished the text for the Belfast series, but there are other new sets for you to enjoy.

Have a good weekend!

1 October 2007

Fitzwilliam Inauguration

Filed under: B&B,dublin,entertainment,ireland — Will @ 21:01

I have it, on good authority, that rich people hold galas to celebrate how great rich people are. We are parvenues, nothing more than envious bounders who bubble to the skim layer of the teeming masses. So we can, at best, emulate the men and women of quality who surround us.

1468173595_592d89f884_b.jpgThus, we inaugurated our entry into the Square’s echelon with all the class and sophistication we could muster. We took Doug lawn bowling at night.

A few months ago, Laurie sent us abroad with an electrified version of our favorite backyard game, bocce (or, more accurately, boules). We left our regulation equipment in Lake County, in favor of 1468169325_67f0af840b_m.jpgher gift. And now we have the ideal site. Fitzwilliam Square is incredibly dark given that it is in the middle of the city. Its lawn is finely mowed and frequently rolled, and the lighter balls do not damage it.

In Dublin, several tennis clubs include grounds for lawn bowling, the British variation of boules, or pétanque. I can be absolutely sure that there is nothing like the Bugle Boules Club of Fitzwilliam Square. It presently consists of me, Anita, and Doug, but applications may be made in person at Bugle HQ.

We’ll have a brochure available shortly. Until then, please visit our gallery.

Also, have a look at the two sets of photos from Doug’s visit: Set One and Set Two.

27 September 2007

Our Little Square

Filed under: dublin,ireland — Will @ 21:54

On Monday, I picked up our key to Fitzwilliam Square. We are now members of the Square’s association, and thus have the right to bring up to six guests with us onto the grounds of one of the last private parks in Dublin’s city centre.

Is it karma that summer ended, definitively, this week? What did we do to make the weather get so cold, so quickly? I will put on an extra layer or two and put some photos on flickr shortly.

The Irish use a charming euphemism for a cold snap: “It will be fresh,” or the always inviting forecast, “Fresher, with winds at near gale.” Here’s a rough definition for you: “Fresh” means “get out the gloves and sweaters, lads, ’cause it’s a weenie-shrinker.”

21 September 2007

Irish Word: galore

Filed under: culture,ireland — Will @ 9:33

Let’s start with an English loanword that originated in Irish: galore. In context: “Once I discovered the library’s DVD collection, I had movies galore.” Or, “When he took a photograph of the customs area, it was security guards galore.”

“Galore” is derived from the Irish, “go Leor,” meaning “enough.” As you can see, the English version is just a minor change of spelling.

“Ceart go Leor” means “Everything is alright” in Irish — at least in Cork, it does. I think that “ceart” means “just” or “very” in this context.

“Maith go Leor” is sometimes spelled “mongalore,” which is closer to the English pronunciation. “Maith go Leor” means “doing alright” in eastern parts of Ireland; it has a connotation closer to “tipsy” in western parts. (from Dolan’s Dictionary of Hiberno-English)

So if you wanted to be clever this weekend, you could say, for example, “D’ya tink Dave was a bit mongalore last night? He must have been celebrating his Bugle awards.”

Warning: Speculation
I don’t understand Irish grammar yet, but I think that the word “go” is a verb-modifier somewhat like “to” in English — as in, “I’m going to build a bench.” I’ll find some books to become better informed, but I’m swamped right now.

20 September 2007

Photos for Phans of Cyclists and/or Bakkers

Filed under: dublin,entertainment,ireland,sports — Will @ 21:13

Hello, all! I just posted some photos of the Tour of Ireland on our flickr account. And I wrote a bunch of text for each photo. Are you sitting comfortably?

The best way to enjoy the photos is to click through, in order, as a set. Here’s how you do it.

1. Open the set by following the link:
http://flickr.com/photos/willbakker/sets/72157602086146256/

2. Click on the first photo — the upper-left corner of the group.

3. Read the title, above the picture. Read the description, below it. Snicker, guffaw, marvel at my wit.

4. Check to see whether there are any “notes” on the photo — boxes on the picture itself that point out details.

5. If you have something to say, write a comment! (Disclaimer: Comment on Flickr may or may not be eligible for Commenter of the Week awards. Bakker Bugle not responsible for any injury and/or loss of income due to commenting activities.)

6. Time to move on. There’s a grey control panel to the right. It shows the previous photo and the next one. Click on the next photo.

7. Repeat until:

  • your belly hurts from laughing
  • you’re bored
  • your eyes cross
  • the boss walks by, unless your boss is Keely
  • you reach the end of the set

Oh no! Don’t be sad! There’s another set! But it won’t take as long. Start here:
http://flickr.com/photos/willbakker/sets/72157602086280884/

If you don’t want to see next year’s Tour by the time you’re done with this, then I’m not worth what Fáilte Ireland is paying me.

19 September 2007

Belay Yer Cutlass and Mind the Yardarm

Filed under: culture,entertainment,ireland — Will @ 15:51

Yo-Ho! A Jolly International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day to ye! It seems a little crass durin’ the Week o’the Constu… Constee… er… Week o’the Foundin’ Document o’me Nation. D’arrrrgh, one can’t expect international events to give way for a commemoration whut our own fearless captain didn’t raise his rum to. (Sink me! If it be interestin’, feast yer deadlights on my comment below.)

Aye, I remember back when we sprogs were let out o’our foul urchins’ bulk for a short sun’s spin, to splice the mainbrace with enough grog to keelhaul an English blaggard. I’d play kick-the-bung with me hearties and I’d dance to the Cap’n’s hornpipe for a laugh. Arrr, I even sang an Irish sea shanty now and agin.
(more…)

11 September 2007

Irish America, #1 of a continuing series

Filed under: expat,ireland,travel — Will @ 18:43

In my sister Theodora‘s neighborhood in Manhattan, there’s a pub that displays two Irish flags beneath the US flag: The Kinsale Tavern.

Flags at Kinsale Tavern NYC
On the left is the official national flag of the Republic of Ireland. On the right is an unofficial flag of Ireland, representing the four provinces of the island. According to an unsourced website:

The Four Provinces flag has two main uses. Firstly, it is an economical way of flying the flags of all the provinces – one saves the cost of three flags and three flag poles! Secondly, it is sometimes flown when a politically neutral flag representing all of Ireland is required. For example, Irish hockey teams, which draw players from both the Republic and Northern Ireland, use the Four Provinces flag as their emblem in international competitions.

That last explanation rings true to me. As I’ve seen on numerous posters, placemats, and menus:

A Publican must be a democrat, autocrat, acrobat and doormat. He must be able to entertain prime ministers, pick-pockets, pirates, philanthropists and police whilst sitting on the political fence. (from the web)

2 September 2007

All-Ireland Hurling final

Filed under: ireland,sports — Will @ 17:35

Anita and I went shopping this afternoon, just off Grafton Street. On the way home, a local pub, Doheny and Nesbit’s enticed us. The county flags for the two teams playing in the All-Ireland Hurling championship were flying at its front entrance.

County Kilkenny was heavily favored over County Limerick. Since we didn’t follow hurling this season, we didn’t have a strong opinion in the matter. The folks in the pub, however, did: they were plainly cheering for Limerick. So we ordered a pint of Guinness, a Jamieson and ice, and sat along the rail.

It’s amazing how much easier it is to understand a sport when you’re watching with a crowd. Their cheers and sighs were better signs of what mattered than the announcers’ drone. Hurling is an impressive sport, when you actually pay attention to it. In retrospect, we had hurling on the TV in our home, but we never gave it more than half our attention.

Kilkenny dominated Limerick. We missed the two goals that gave them a solid lead, but we saw them protect that lead for the rest of the match. It reminded me of the way that a great hockey team can make a slightly less talented team look ridiculous using defensive tactics.

31 August 2007

Trivial Surprise #47

Filed under: entertainment,ireland — Will @ 18:23

Coors Light is a real presence in Dublin. There are lots of billboards and commercials on TV for Coors Light, and they aren’t much different than American versions. Coors Light DealThe current tagline is “Amazing Things Happen High in the Rockies.”

In pubs, you almost always see just one American brand on tap, Coors Light. That’s odd, I thought, as I remembered stories about how Coors Light had to be smuggled into the Midwest in the good ole days. I thought no more about it, until I started this post and I googled around a bit.

I found a fascinating document from an Irish self-regulatory body for Irish advertising. Coors Light is imported into Ireland by Heineken, the 363-kg gorilla in the global beer industry. Apparently, Bud Light recently became the first real competition for “light” beer in Ireland, and is brewed in Ireland.

Do I remember correctly — Didn’t Guinness recently run an ad campaign in the US that said that Guinness has fewer calories than major American lagers?

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