I feel pretty cool because Friday night I finally got to meet CW of No Such Blog. I’ve been wanting to meet this dude for about a year now – since he randomly showed up on my blog during my entire Country of the Week mania. I was semi-convinced that he was the only one reading those ridiculous rambling essays!
Anyway, he was in town and we hooked up at a loud boisterous Irish pub and it was damn fun and made me realize, once again, how much this Internet thang knocks me OUT. I’ve met a ton of people through this blog – and there’s not an uninteresting person in the bunch. Wild. Also – it brings together people from completely different circles. We all have totally different lifestyles, jobs, we live in different countries sometimes – but there are obviously intersecting interests – and so we can connect, and be in each other’s lives – in a way we NEVER could have a mere 10 or 20 years ago. It’s really quite thrilling, when you think about it.
Anyway, CW and I talked like maniacs for what I thought, in my mind, was probably a good solid 3 hours. Maybe 4 at the most. But still – a huge chunk of time, right? For a first meeting?
When we finally halted the talk for a moment, and glanced at the clock – it was 2 o’clock in the morning – which meant that we had actually been talking for seven hours. Er – what? I can barely talk to myself for seven straight hours. And believe me, I have tried.
Somehow though – it’s not all that surprising.
I haven’t met a blogger yet who isn’t a great conversationalist, actually. It’s great great fun.
Oh, and Emily, you’ll be pleased to know that “Bush Mills” was involved on my part. I can’t remember what brand whiskey CW drank – but I had the “Bush Mills”.
I know I already told you this, CW, but great to meet you – at last.
Sheila,
Just as you’ve enjoyed the numerous great folks that you’ve met through blogging, a lot of us are appreciative of your efforts putting together “Variations”. I love reading your stuff, particularly about old movies, and your travels, and usually look at it every day. In any case, thanks for the daily does of cheer.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Tim McLaughlin
Annapolis, MD
make that “dose”…oops.
tim:
Merry Christmas to you, too! I need to get back into old-movie mode. I was on quite a roll there for a while.
Cheers!
Sweet ambrosia of the gods, what’s a good Irish girl like you doing drinking a Protestant whiskey for a Protestant people?
(Just kidding, really. But the last time I was in New York I was in a pub drinking with my friend’s Irish – and I mean like first generation to be born in the US Irish – boyfriend, and he was so offended I was drinking Bushmills that I switched to Jameson’s to keep from a fight. Who would have ever guessed that whiskey could have religion?)
I try not to get TOO nuts with the Irish thing. Especially not when great whiskey is involved. I did a wee Hail Mary before I took my first sip though.
I’m a much better conversationalist when I can hear the other person, honest. :)
Speaking of old movies, I just saw Key Largo; not enough Bacall but still a great film.
Emily
Who would have ever guessed that whiskey could have religion?
Ermm.. you mean it doesn’t?
:)
I’ve read a little on the Civil War’s Irish Brigade, which had three NY regiments in it (plus a PA and MA regiment), and apparently one of their favorite drinks was a mixture of Jameson’s and champagne. I tried it once, and it was great that night, but hell the next day! BTW, I named my eldest son Patrick Kelly McLaughlin, after the head of the Irish Brigade, Patrick Kelly, who died in battle in 1864.
tim mclaughlin
Whiskey is religion, Pete. Do you think Jameson’s has a sort of seal of approval from the Pope or something?
Of course it does, Emily. Hell, that’s why I drink it!
Scott: In my humble opinion, most of life can be summed up with the phrase: “Not enough Bacall.”
And yeah – Key Largo is great. Especially the OTHER woman in it, and dammit I am blanking on her name. What a performance. When Edward G. Robinson makes her sing – amazing scene!
You are a pious man, Mr. Baker. Very pious indeed.
Ermm.. Yeah! Pious.. I kinda like that. Although I have been known to stray from the path on the odd occasion.
But I have been asked by visiting friends which one of the two brands they should order before we pitched up at a bar. At other venues they’d received similar enquiries about their choice as you had, Emily.
My response was – “Which do you prefer?”
Ever since then, I’ve always wondered if people get knee-capped in West/East Belfast for ordering Bushmills/Jameson’s respectively. Do people actually fight over this?
Red, the other woman in Key Largo (looked it up and her name is Claire Trevor) annoyed me. But that was her character, not her acting. So I guess that’s praise. (Kind of like how I love to hate Colin Firth in Shakespeare in Love.)
This points to how different people watch different things in films. I suspect you pay more attention to the acting than most non-actors. I pay far too much attention to plot and storytelling. I have computer animator friends who after their first viewing of any Pixar film couldn’t tell you what happened, but could talk for hours about each Brand New Animation Thing that appeared.
Scott – i see what you’re saying. I just felt that she was completely pathetic, almost un-watchably so – and that’s fearless acting (to let yourself be unwatchably pathetic). That scene reminded me a bit of the fantasy sequence in Ironweed when Meryl Streep’s character – a homeless frump who fantasizes that she is a genius singer – gets up on a stage, and starts to sing – and suddenly you realize, with this burst of hope, that she is not just good, she’s MARVELOUS. She’s heart-breaking. She’s unbelievable. She’s GOT IT. Only at the very end – do you realize that you are watching her fantasy – and then they cut back to what is actually happening – and there is Meryl Streep, whooping it up on the stage, with a hoarse cracked voice, and crazy eyes – and you want to turn away from her, in pain.
Anyway, enough. Claire Trevor reminded me of that a little bit.
Emily
‘Do people actually fight over this?’
It depends on whether it’s the last measure.
reminds me of benny hill:
“seamus fell down a flight of stairs with a pint of whisky and didn’t spill a drop; how’d he do it?”
“he kept his mouth shut…”
hahaha
Dearest: I visited Bushmill’s on one of my travels [it’s up where Francis Stuart is from] so prefer that to the other Protestant brand Jameson. My mother preferred Powers. I recall coming back from Ireland once with a bottle of Powers for my mother and a bottle of Irish Mist for Mama. There’s a lesson there. love, dad
Dad – Perfect.
I had Talisker….
And it was a really fun time.
Also, as we discussed, I too believe that most circumstances can be summarized as “not enough Bacall”.
It is also ironic that Key Largo appears in these comments. The bar in the movie Key Largo is still there in Key Largo – it is called the Caribbean Club and it is a major local dive.
Finally, in the movie, Clair Trevor was supposed to be irritating – she’s the gun moll. So she must have been doing it right.
And finally finally, although I prefer the Scottish malts, the 12 year old Jameson’s is really, really good.
The Caribbean Club is probably no Green Parrot, and that’s all I’m sayin’. Bacall or no Bacall.