IrishBeat.com

I came across an old Irish film the other day that I thought was fantastic. It’s the story of the Howth Tram that ran along the coast in Ireland. The film is called “Once Upon a Tram”. It was created in 1958 and has some wonderful scenes of Irish life at the time.

Here’s the link and a brief excerpt from the site. I hope you enjoy.
http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PY/261/see-the-film-once_upon_a_tram’

Directed by John Sarsfield and James Maguire between 1958 and 1959, Once Upon a Tram immortalizes one of the last runs of the Howth Tram that linked the villages of Howth and Sutton that lie along the County Dublin coast, 9 miles from the city centre. Families escaping the hustle and bustle of city life would head there for an afternoon at the seaside.
Life passes gently by from one tram stop to the next, in the midst of the Irish countryside glorified by the inimitable Kodachrome film. Some passengers get off, others climb on, for a round of golf before teatime.
Narrated with old-fashioned elegance by the smooth voice of renowned Irish actor Cyril Cusack, Once Upon a Tram is a nostalgic film that moves along like an old lady taking her time.

Christopher Columbus who? I came across an interesting podcast today from Stuff You Missed in History Class that discussed some findings that suggests that an Irish Monk may have traveled to the New World before Leaf Ericson and Christopher Columbus, had contact with the natives, and spread his teachings and the language. Now I know the Irish are often cited for exagerating certain aspects of our rich cultural prowess, like claiming we invented “the question”,which may or may not be true; and some of that may be part of the curse of having the great gift of the gab, but when we have hard evidence as presented in this article, now that’s a different story…

With all this recent commentary about the state of affairs in our economy, I couldn’t help but wonder what Christmas would be like if we had stayed with the traditions of 50, 75, or 100 years ago. I’m not old enough to have experienced a Christmas then, but in what I can see from the media, it seems like Christmas sure was simpler and more focussed on religious and family traditions. Maybe there were a couple gifts, but not this orgy of packages under the tree. Sounds kinda nice.

Â

Pile o crap

With the economy in the state it’s in, it feels like we’re having Christmas shoved down our throats more than ever by the corporate greedy. The advertisers are playing into our attraction for a good bargain and selling us more crap that we really don’t need. I think it’s a good pill for the economy to take if, as Americans and consumers in general, we can learn to settle back into a simpler lifestyle, enjoy Christmas and the holidays for what they are and stop spending more than we have and buying more than what we need.  And maybe we might even be able to balance our own budgets.