El Burro Volador

Well, today is St. Paddy’s Day, but I won’t be getting up to any of my usual shenanigans – ‘Bekah is on Spring Break, and we are going to the zoo.  Hopefully it will not be so crowded today, so there will be no one to see when I vault into the enclosure where they keep those miniature deer and bring Clemmy home a new friend – we will bring along a stroller for smuggling our new buddy home.

For those of you interested in being Irishy without getting a green hangover for tomorrow, I might suggest a number of fine Irish films as a possible vector of appropriately Irish enjoyment.  For a long time my favorite was, corny as this may sound, Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Good luck tracking it down, though – I don’t think it’s even been made into a dvd.  For the more serious-minded, Michael Collins may be a good choice – it is a compelling look at some of the most pivotal events in Irish history – the ones that led to most of Ireland being its own country today.

Other than those, there are a slew of wonderful comedies set in Ireland that I can recommend – Waking Ned Devine being perhaps foremost, or maybe A Separate Piece.  Finally, any of the “Barrytown Trilogy”: The Commitments, The Snapper, or  The Van, would be a good decision.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!