Subject: Virtual Irish Pub
Posted by: Chavs
Date: May 14 13
Welcome to the Virtual Irish Pub - aka the VIP blog - a meeting place for any and all Fun Trivia Players from the island of Ireland.
Nice to meet you, pull up a chair and introduce yourself. Call in to the blog anytime just to say hello, meet other players from Ireland, chat about the weather or current events, start a topic for conversation, or simply to keep in touch. This is your blog!
Also welcome to post here are Fun Trivia players from all over the world who may have visited Ireland, or may want to visit Ireland, or may have family from Ireland, or may have celtic souls, or may just like Irish Pubs.
Please join the VIP private tournament @
http://www.funtrivia.com/private/main.cfm?tid=101321 -- active link and instructions for registration follow in the first post.
Céad mÃle fáilte!
Posted by: Chavs
Date: May 14 13
Welcome to the Virtual Irish Pub - aka the VIP blog - a meeting place for any and all Fun Trivia Players from the island of Ireland.
Nice to meet you, pull up a chair and introduce yourself. Call in to the blog anytime just to say hello, meet other players from Ireland, chat about the weather or current events, start a topic for conversation, or simply to keep in touch. This is your blog!
Also welcome to post here are Fun Trivia players from all over the world who may have visited Ireland, or may want to visit Ireland, or may have family from Ireland, or may have celtic souls, or may just like Irish Pubs.
Please join the VIP private tournament @
http://www.funtrivia.com/private/main.cfm?tid=101321 -- active link and instructions for registration follow in the first post.Céad mÃle fáilte!
349 replies. On page 12 of 18 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
dsimpy 
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Very sad news today that Seamus Heaney has died. I remember hearing him read his poems in Oxford in 1977, alongside the far better-known (in England) Ted Hughes. The friends I was with that evening were all there for Hughes, but for me Heaney's poetry was far more moving. I just pulled my Heaney volumes off the bookshelf and see that 'North' was the first collection I ever bought (in April 1976). One of my favourite poems in 'North' is 'Punishment' - when I was at Uni I gave a seminar on it: I can feel the tug of the halter at the nape of her neck, the wind on her naked front. It blows her nipples to amber breads, it shakes the frail rigging of her ribs. I can see her drowned body in the bog, the weighing stone, the floating rods and boughs. Under which at first she was a barked sapling that is dug up oak-bone, brain-firkin: her shaved head like a stubble of black corn, her blindfold a soiled bandage, her noose a ring to store the memories of love. Little adulteress, before they punished you you were flaxen-haired, undernourished, and your tar-black face was beautiful. My poor scapegoat, I almost love you but would have cast, I know, the stones of silence. I am the artful voyeur of your brain’s exposed and darkened combs, your muscles’ webbing and all your numbered bones: I who have stood dumb when your betraying sisters, cauled in tar, wept by the railings, who would connive in civilized outrage yet understand the exact and tribal, intimate revenge. RIP Seamus - ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis Reply #221. Aug 30 13, 1:13 PM |
Chavs
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Reply #222. Aug 30 13, 2:07 PM |
| dsimpy
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Yeah good one too Chavs. :) I just noticed a typo in the 'cut 'n paste' I did on 'Punishment'. Her nipples are blown to amber beads (of course), not amber breads! :-0 Reply #223. Aug 30 13, 2:45 PM |
| Chavs
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Reply #224. Aug 30 13, 3:38 PM |
_Morpheus_
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beads...breads... whatever. The beer is flowing like mud around hear. It's Friday. Enough with the poetry ;-D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ISAntOom0 Reply #225. Aug 30 13, 6:46 PM |
| dsimpy
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With only today's game to go for this month, tension's mounting in the Virtual Irish Pub Quiz!! Will Postie make it three wins in a row? Will Rusty knock Postie off their perch and grab the laurels? Will dsimpy sneak in for 2nd place? Oh the excitement! :)) While I'm on the subject of the VIP Quiz, this is just a reminder to encourage anyone reading this ... Irish, friends of Ireland, part Irish or merely occasional Guinness drinker ... to play the quiz. Put it on your Favourites Bar (if you have one) http://www.funtrivia.com/private/main.cfm?tid=101321 The more the merrier! Ádh mór oraibh. :) Reply #226. Aug 31 13, 4:23 AM |
DiaDuit73
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Sorry I haven't been on the board in a while. A family member was recently diagnosed with cancer so I haven't been online much. Just log on to play KO, the daily and team games and some hourly but yeah (sorry) forgot about here until I got dsimpy's note today. It's sad Seamus Heaney died (RIP) but I wasn't a big fan of his (don't shoot me) thanks to my English teacher in school. He met him once, on a train, but went on everyday for two years about him and his poems. It was annoying. Reply #227. Sep 01 13, 6:30 AM |
| dsimpy
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Welcome back anyhow, DiaDuit. Sorry to hear about your family member - hope it works out ok. Just call in here when you've the time and the notion, there's no need to become a virtual alcoholic in this Virtual Irish Pub (though you can be if you like!). :) Reply #228. Sep 01 13, 10:08 AM |
| Chavs
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Reply #229. Sep 01 13, 4:09 PM |
| Chavs
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Reply #230. Sep 01 13, 4:14 PM |
| Chavs
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Reply #231. Sep 01 13, 4:16 PM |
| dsimpy
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I like Dickens. A few years ago I went on a Dickens binge and read/reread all 15 of his novels, his Christmas books, short stories, two travel books, and selected journalism ... one after the other. By the end it had become a little bit of a grind, but - at the time - I used to be in London every few weeks on business, and it really gave me a fresh perspective on the city. A lot of the landmarks, streets, buildings mentioned in Dickens are still there, seeing them somehow made him seem more of a contemporary or at least modern author rather than an old Victorian. :) Reply #232. Sep 01 13, 5:22 PM |
| DiaDuit73
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How long did it take you to read it all? It's only in the last year or two that I have read books based on a time before the 1900's. Reply #233. Sep 02 13, 3:30 PM |
postcards2go
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DiaDuit, all I can say is (((HUGS))) The more that play the tournament, the better. Win or lose, I always enjoy them, and it's great practice for the main site :-) I quite like Hardy. He's similar to Dickens, in that he has a tendency to spend too much time on description. The first of his that I read in school was 'Return of the Native'. A friend advised me to skip the first 41 pages, as it was nothing more than a description of the countryside. Good advice, and it was quite interesting after that. ...and I wouldn't mind a virtual drink :-D Reply #234. Sep 02 13, 5:12 PM |
| dsimpy
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DiaDuit73: How long did it take you to read it all? I was pretty focused, so between 10 days to 2 weeks (max) for each novel. Probably 7-9 months for the whole shebang. Reply #235. Sep 02 13, 6:16 PM |
| DiaDuit73
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Postcards: You won't turn into a virtual alcoholic with me around. You are probably dying of the thirst by now (4 days later). I haven't read Hardy, the only way I know of him is through television/movies based on his novels which is not the same. :) dsimpy: Did you buy them all? If so locally or online? Most of the old novels I've read were in e-book format or I got them from other family members who did them in school. I would like to read more but they are hard to find (without having to buy them all). My local library is crap, most (if not all) of the books were written in the last 10-20 years. While Agatha Christie is not in the same league as the likes of Dickens and Hardy. Am I the only person who thinks it's wrong that there will be a new Hercule Poirot book, written by a different author? Reply #236. Sep 06 13, 2:01 PM |
| dsimpy
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Will your local library not order them in for you on request? I usually buy the books I read (a bit foolishly, probably) - bookcases are groaning. I did used to have a kindle (it broke) and have e-books now on a tablet, but much prefer the physical feel and smell of a book. I got some books a few years back from the Folio Society, some of them part-leather bound, great illustrations ... and they're a real treat to read. I like Hardy too, though I haven't read him for decades! :-) Reply #237. Sep 07 13, 2:34 AM |
| Chavs
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Reply #238. Sep 08 13, 7:53 PM |
| Chavs
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Reply #239. Sep 08 13, 7:54 PM |
thegeneral
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I would agree with the comments re the sadness about Heaney's passing. A sad loss to the country. An uncle of mine was at University with him. I note today that Mark Durkan got tributes to Heaney recorded in the House of Commons and he got cross-party support indicating his appeal. http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/463 I'm from Louth myself, been here a while enjoy the site. Want to reach 100 expert badge, 100 knockout and get the 50,000 daily points. I am stuck on level 99 and can't get the access the acsension quest at the moment. I can't crack the riddle either! Reply #240. Sep 10 13, 6:38 AM |
349 replies. On page 12 of 18 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
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