Léirmheas Scannáin – A Complete Unknown

Film Review - A Complete Unknown

Léirmheas Scannáin – A Complete Unknown

This young man arrives on the scene unexpectedly and we know nothing about him. Most of us still don’t know this man’s real name, after decades in the spotlight. But say his stage name – ‘Bob Dylan’ – and almost everyone will know about this star. He expressed how a new generation that grew up in the sixties in America after World War II felt in the midst of a society that was very unstable and changing rapidly. It was a generation that was looking for a place, looking for equal rights, and was not happy to be dragged into a meaningless war in Vietnam. With his music, Dylan succeeds in expressing the mood of his generation and even the mood of the country at a crucial time in American history.

If I had to pick a pivotal moment in the sixties when one generation passed the torch to the next, it would be the 1965 Newport, Rhode Island Country Music Festival, when Dylan plugged in his electric guitar.

‘A Complete Unknown’ is a great period film that provides the background and history of this eventful concert. The film begins in early 1961, with Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) at the age of 19 visiting his hero, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who is incapacitated with Huntington’s disease. Guthrie was the voice of his own generation, the generation immediately before Dylan’s. He points his finger at Dylan’s guitar, and Dylan plays a song he wrote in tribute called ‘Song to Woody’. We can tell by the look on his face that Woody recognizes Dylan as his likely successor. At the end of the song, Woody bangs his fist on the bedside table.

Dylan hardly acknowledges the other person in the room, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton). Seeger seems to realize that he is witnessing the beginning of a new era, the era of Dylan.

As soon as he first sees Dylan, the famous promoter Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler) moves in as his manager. As soon as Joan Baez hears him play, she immediately realizes that she is looking at her rival. She is a great talent of the era herself, with a clear voice and an almost unlimited range. She will soon appear on the cover of Time magazine. But even more than Baez, it is Dylan who attracts the audience, with his unusual yet magnetic personality.

Dylan has only failure after failure in matters of love, perhaps because he is mostly in love with his music. He has a relationship with painter Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), a fictionalized version of his long-term girlfriend Suze Rotolo, and later with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro).

Dylan is a reclusive person, and rarely acknowledges other musicians. For example, although Seeger is always working for him, Dylan clearly does not respect Seeger as a musician. One exception is bluesman Jesse Moffet (Big Bill Morganfield), the son of Muddy Waters himself (who was a famous blues musician in his own time). When Dylan is late for a live performance on television, Moffet fills in for him. However, Dylan arrives late and starts talking to Moffet, who then starts playing his guitar. Dylan is impressed by what Moffet is doing, studying him carefully the whole time.

When Dylan arrives in Newport in 1965, the whole world is watching and waiting for an iconic and distinctive performance from the master. But when he turns up the volume on his electric guitar and plays ‘Maggie’s Farm’, half the crowd boos. Seeger is furious and tries to turn off the power, but to no avail. After the third song, Dylan leaves the stage. Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook),who is seen in other scenes singing his own anthems, hands him his acoustic guitar. Dylan returns to the stage and plays ‘It’s all over now, Baby Blue!’

You don’t know much more about Bob Zimmerman at the end of the film than you did at the beginning. Maybe that’s the point – pioneers like him are elusive. On the one hand, we see and hear the fruits of his labor and how great they are. On the other hand, we see a person just like everyone else in their private life. The contrast between these aspects, which is clearly outlined in the film, is clear and interesting.

As Dylan himself tells Sylvie: “People ask where the songs come from, but when you look at their faces, that’s not what they’re asking. They’re trying to understand why they didn’t write them themselves.” While we can witness exceptional creativity, we don’t have the capacity to fully understand the magic of it. The final scene is fitting – Dylan revving his motorcycle and riding off down the road, as darkness falls on the screen. For the last time, the main character escapes from us.

Director and co-writer of the script, James Mangold, has a strong portfolio. His films include ‘Girl, Interrupted’ (1999), ‘Walk the Line’ (2005), which he also co-wrote, ‘3:10 to Yuma’ (2007), ‘The Wolverine’ (2013), and ‘Logan’ (2017). Mangold did a great job creating a fresh perspective on Dylan, based on Elijah Wald’s book ‘Dylan Goes Electric!’

The actors were amazing and very convincing in their roles – especially Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro. Both of them spent a long time learning and practicing their roles as Dylan and Baez, in every aspect of their lives. Even viewers who knew nothing about Dylan or Baez beforehand, will come out of the theater a fan of the singers. Don’t miss the opportunity to see this film on the big screen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Litir ó Mheiriceá – Los Angeles ar lasadh!

Letter from America - Los Angeles on Fire!

When we arrived in California years ago, we had never seen a motorway or freeway before, except on television. The Dublin to Naas dual carriageway was the closest thing we had to an Irish highway at the time.

I was terrified of them and tried my best to stay clear of them. I was successful at first, but that quickly ended when I accidentally drove up an on-ramp. There was nothing to do but go with the flow and then we were on the freeway! I had a death grip on the steering wheel and was bent over it. I was sweating! I stayed in the slow lane and kept driving. We knew we had to drive out on an off-ramp as soon as we could or we would end up in San Francisco.

Finally, I managed to escape the freeway at a place called ‘Pacific Palisades’. You may recognize the name because it is now a household name around the world.

In those early days we thought we were in Heaven on Earth. The weather was perfect every day and there was a culture of convenience. Unfortunately, it was short-lived, and our honeymoon came to an abrupt end one day when there was an earthquake. We had the TV on and the news reporter quickly ducked under the news desk. Our building was rocking back and forth but it remained intact. You would think the shaking would never stop, but eventually it did.

It rained a lot during our first winter living in Los Angeles, resulting in landslides and mudslides and the destruction of several homes.

Although there had been some significant damage from wildfires in our early days in California, things got worse over time. Wildfires are more frequent and dangerous today than ever before. Global warming probably has something to do with it. We lived on the edge of the woods for many years, completely unaware of the dangers of fire. We bought a house by the ocean twenty-five years ago so that we could be closer to our workplaces, and we are there still. We didn’t realize at the time that there was a big advantage to that – wildfires are rare here, because the mountains are not close to us. There was a terrible wildfire in this county (San Diego) in 2003, and many of my colleagues lost their homes in that wildfire – the ‘Cedar Fire’. My son and I had to drive by that wildfire on our way home from a road trip. It was terrifying to be so close to flames that touched the sky itself. The air was hot and there was a strong smell of burning. We could also hear the roar of the fire. When you see and hear a fire that big and so close, you have a new understanding of the danger, scale and scope of a fire. That understanding stays with you forever.

No doubt, you saw the fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena on TV, and you heard all the news about it. The fires are tearing apart and destroying everything in their path, small, medium or large, and those suburbs are right in the way. Between Pacific Palisades and Altadena, more than 12,000 buildings have burned to the ground so far. At least 25 people have died so far. It is a terrible disaster that has affected many families, and it will be very difficult for them for many years to come.

There are two main reasons for these terrible fires. First of all, we have been suffering from a drought for the past 8 months. Therefore, all the vegetation is very dry. Secondly, the dry desert winds (‘Santa Anas’) have been blowing in their wake for the past week, at high speeds of up to 160 km per hour. In such climatic conditions, it only takes one spark to ignite a fire and that is exactly what happened in these cases.

It is always difficult to deal with disasters of this magnitude as they occur, and although the fire crew was on the scene quite quickly, and although firefighting aircraft were dropping relentlessly, various problems soon became apparent. The fire crew does not have sufficient resources, due to the fact that its budget allocation has been cut year after year. In addition, some of the fire hydrants further up the mountains dried up, so that water was not available to firefighters at a critical time. The residential water system is not designed to cope with such demands being placed on it. Many investigations will be conducted to discuss and understand these issues to see what we can do to improve matters.

There are currently 8 fires burning in the region, and thousands of firefighters are working hard to put them out. Firefighters have come from all over to help – from California, other states in the United States, Canada and Mexico. FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is on the ground providing care, advice and financial assistance to victims of the disaster. Hundreds of police (LAPD) and National Guardsmen are patrolling the area, preventing crime.

It is a very difficult time for those who have lost family members or friends. It is not easy for those who are now homeless, especially those who were burned out of their homes. Almost 100,000 people are currently under evacuation orders, and it is very difficult for them to find shelter. It will take a long time to clean up, and many years to rebuild.

But the reality is that Southern California is under constant threat from natural disasters, including earthquakes. The landslides, floods, and mudslides are likely to get worse over time. This will increase the challenges we face and make it more dangerous to live here. While it is Heaven on Earth most of the time, it is Hell on Earth at other times!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I bPonc Ceart sna sléibhte!

In a Right Fix in the mountains!

At first he had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. He tried to stand up but couldn’t. His left leg was in excruciating pain and he thought something was broken. He looked around but there was not much to see from where he was. Apparently, he was in the middle of a pine forest. He was clearly confused. He took off his backpack. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw his mobile phone peeking out of an open pocket in the pack.

He opened the phone and called his friend, Eric. But the call failed due to lack of signal. He felt depressed as he now had no chance of being rescued. What about the satellite navigation system? Would it work? He turned on ‘Google Maps’ and got a quick fix. But even though the satnav was working, he hadn’t downloaded the map of the walk beforehand. Damn! He was in a real bind now.

Then, he remembered where he was. He was on Mount San Gorgonio in southern California. Other memories came flooding back to him one after another. He was on vacation in California, where he had lived for over twenty years. He had returned to Ireland when Trump’s kangaroo courts began to unjustly incriminate politicians, television stations, newspapers, social media, journalists, and others. With that, Trump and his followers crossed a red line, because they did not adhere to the constitution of the United States of America. Micheál was not happy to stay in a country that contravened its democratic principles and whose government resembled a dictatorship. 

But Micheál still had loyal friends in America, and that was why he was on the mountainside now. He had known Eric for almost 30 years, and they were very close. They had gone on road trips together to hike in the mountains of California. They had also traveled to Nepal, where they had hiked to Everest base camp. In fact, Eric was supposed to be on this hike too, but he got sick and couldn’t make it. Despite that, Micheál went on the hike – a decision he now regretted. 

Normally, his wife would have known where he was and they would have been in touch all the time. But she was still in Ireland because she hadn’t come on this visit to America with Micheál. Although he had told her that Eric and he would be hiking together, he didn’t say what hike it would be. And when Eric texted him that he had fallen ill, Micheál didn’t tell him that he had intended to go on the hike anyway.

Did he have a broken bone? Maybe not. He felt his leg carefully. He had a bruised ankle, but everything else was fine. He had more than a liter of water left in his water bladder, and there were a few energy bars in a pocket in his backpack. There was an egg sandwich in another pocket. There was a first aid kit in yet another pocket in the bag, and he was very happy to see that. Maybe there would be something useful in it that would help him.

The bag contained mixed bandages, an emergency blanket, duct tape, ibuprofen, a pair of pliers, scissors, antiseptic ointment and moleskin. He took the ibuprofen immediately. Then, he made a splint for his leg. He wrapped bandages around his leg and ankle and then wrapped a large piece of duct tape around the bandages to keep everything in place. Luckily, he had hiking poles in his backpack. The ground was steep, and it was clear that he had fallen off the hiking trail. Micheál stayed where he was for a while. He ate an energy bar and drank some water in between. Finally, he tried to stand again and put his weight on his good leg and the hiking poles. He didn’t put his other foot on the ground, and he was able to keep his balance. He took a few slow steps, testing out the arrangement he had made. It was a little painful, but manageable. He took it one step at a time, slowly making his way up the slope. He saw a few small broken twigs on the trees, and he knew he was going in the right direction. Ten minutes later, he saw the hiking trail and it was a great relief. “I’ll be on my bike now, son!” Micheál said to himself. He was right, although it took him five long hours to reach his car. He didn’t meet anyone else along the way, either.

He kept his adventure to himself, because he was ashamed of what had happened. He promised himself to learn a lesson, so that it would never happen again. Ironically, he already knew the lesson, and he was quick to preach the same thing to other hikers. But you have to follow through on your words, and to that end, he wrote himself a checklist. From now on, he would never go on a hike without checking every item on that list. He was lucky to have survived this time, but he would make sure that it never happened again!

Appendix – Checklist

  1. Plan: Share your hiking plan with someone else (start time, route, return time).
  2. Supplies: Make sure you have enough food, water, clothing, and first aid kit. Don’t forget your hiking poles.
  3. Information: Research the routes, terrain, and weather conditions in advance. Download the map related to the hike, so that the app on your phone ('Google Maps', 'AllTrails', or similar) will show your location on the map when there is no phone signal.
  4. With your preparations made - enjoy the hike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Na Cloig Bhuile Arís!

The Wild Bells Again!

Introduction

Peadar Bairéad (my father) wrote an article twenty years ago bidding farewell to one year and welcoming another. That article is as fresh and relevant today as it was when it was written. Perhaps that is not a good thing, because we (humankind) failed to make a lot of progress in the meantime, and we are still plagued by the same problems. But hope springs eternal and hope is deep-seated in us. Therefore, we will never stop our struggle towards a better world – a world where peace prevails forever! And without further ado, here is Peadar’s own article.

Annual Lament

The time of those wild bells has come and gone again. What bells am I talking about here, is it?

The bells are rung to mourn the passing of one year, and to celebrate the birth of a new one, and I need not remind my readers that I use, year after year, appropriate lines from that beautiful, nostalgic lament, composed by Alfred Lord Tennyson, in memory of his friend, Arthur Hallum, in the year 1841, to mourn the passing of a year, for in that poem, there happen to be beautiful quatrains, bidding farewell to the year that was slipping into the depths of history, and at the same time, welcoming the new year, and the happy, peaceful life that that same new year would offer to mankind. And since it would be difficult to surpass the verses of that same poem in expressing “Ave atque Vale”, on this nostalgic occasion, I have therefore decided to use those same verses, once more, to do that for me.

Atmosphere

So, watch how Tennyson creates a fitting atmosphere for the occasion, with the ringing of those same mad bells:

“Ring out wild bells to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty lights.

The year is dying in the night,

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.”

Yes, ring out that mournful bell, as the year is dying in the middle of the night, ring out, and let it die. That is the message the poet sends us, down through the ages.

It may not have been the worst year yet, that year that has just passed, but at the same time, the new year could be a lot better. There is no doubt in the world, but many things happened during that year 2024, without which life would have been better. I need not refer to the floods, the fires, the earthquakes, the wars, the sexual assaults, the drugs, the muggings, the violence, or all the other evils, that have afflicted mankind during the year that is now sent into the mill of time, that year of our Lord, 2024.

The Tailor’s farewell!

And since that same year has now passed, we can give it some abuse. In that Roman phrase “De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bonum”, we were not prevented from saying anything we liked about it, yes, and we can add the tailor’s blessing with his broken needle to it.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times.

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Be that as it may, each of us probably has our own list of the virtues and benefits we have gained from the year that has now passed, or there are two sides to every story. Can't we all think about the conflicts that were resolved, the problems that were solved, the hunger that was satisfied, the thirst that was quenched, the relief that was given, and the crimes that were forgiven during the year? 

The Thousand Years Of Peace

But all that said, aren't we all praying to God that this new year 2025, in a far better one for us, than the guy who is escaping from us.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold,

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Yes, aren't we all, probably, seeking peace? And don't we all remember the beautiful, stirring vision of the prophet Isaiah, and didn't he sing poetically about those days of peace to come. He himself must have lived in a time that was quite turbulent, but under Divine inspiration, he succeeded in setting before us, as a race, another possibility, a time when there will be an end forever to fighting and warfare; to slaughter and discord; yes, and to trouble and violence. There would be no more wars, or even rumors of them, the skills of warfare would be forgotten, and weapons would no longer be designed or made among men...

“And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into billhooks,

Races shall not raise the sword against each other hereafter,

Nor shall they learn war anymore.”

Isn’t that vision beautiful, shining down upon us through the darkness of the night of human history? That is the desire of the human heart, and at this time of year, we pray again the ancient prayer, that prayer of the Angels...

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Utopia not here yet

But that era has not yet arrived. There is no end to wars, nor to rumors of wars, nor have we defeated famine, nor to all the plagues that torment and afflict our race, but even so, that Guiding Star is in the sky, to guide us, and to hurry us, towards the Vision of the prophet Isaiah. That is the road ahead, that is the road that we are to tread in this year 2025, and is not that the road that will lead us to the Promised Land?

As we now sail into that new year, all I have to do is wish you all a prosperous and beautiful New Year and may we all be seven times better a year from tonight.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring happy bells across the snow,

The year is going, let him go.

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 

Many happy returns!

Stór focal: cumhach, nostalgic; umar, trough; Ave atque Vale, hail and farewell; ag síothlú, dying; sciolladóireacht, scolding; caismirtí, conflicts; faoi anáil Dé, by Divine inspiration; Réalta Eolais, guiding star; Tír Tairngire, the Promised Land 

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Nollaig Shona Daoibh!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas held a special place in my father’s (Peadar Bairéad) heart, and it was undoubtedly a magical festival for him. It evoked memories of his childhood in Erris of the Wonders with his family and neighbours, in the place he loved the most in the world, celebrating the faith that was so important and so strong and so central to him and to them at that time. Despite their living from hand to mouth, and perhaps because of that, the local community was very tight together and they were all very generous.

Christmas put all the children under a magic spell, and it was from that magic that Peadar’s vision of Christmas arose. Even as he grew up and grew older, he did not lose that bright vision he had as a child.

Here, in his own words, is a brief account of Christmas Morning when Peadar was a boy in the 1920s, over in Erris of the Wonders in County Mayo.

Christmas Morning

We could forget about the Christmas Stockings for a while. We would have fun with them after Mass... But 'First things First'... as they say.

But everyone was getting ready for Mass by now. There was no talk of breakfast, as we were all going to Mass fasting. Wasn't the light of the paraffin lamp beautiful that blessed morning?

 It was time to go to Church now, for the townspeople were already on foot, and they were going to church in small silent groups, and it was time for us to do the same. I don't remember rain or snow ever on Christmas morning; frost, certainly; and a starry sky full of bright, shining stars. There was a sacredness and a secret divinity to the cold and the stars. The presence of God was felt in them.

The women of the town met us. They were happy, content, returning home from early Mass, to start cooking. We would have goose for Christmas, at that time. Turkey was not customary in those days. No foreign culture had impacted us, at that time. The custom of turkey is a transatlantic custom, which had not yet been adopted in Erris.

And in the case of that church, in the Geata Mór, there were only seats for shopkeepers, teachers, and other well-to-do people of the parish, but the common people remained on their feet! But it didn't matter. It was the House of God, and it always welcomed everyone, however rich or poor. There was no light in that church except the light of the candles, those candles that gave us a soft, yellow, golden light, a light that was soft, kind, and warm, a light that had the magic of contentment. The end of Mass, and the dawn, coming together. Well, that's how I remember it.

We would spend the rest of the day idling, just as Peig Sayers would say long ago. We would feast, and have fun until nightfall, and be sure, too, that a couple of us would have his own wing of goose, after we had said goodbye to the big Christmas goose, because, alas, a goose has only two wings! 

And wouldn't there be a long, tiring day ahead of us with the Wren, the next day?

Wasn't it nice to be alive, but heavenly to be young, those days long ago, in West Erris, and many happy returns!

Christmas of (our) Youth

At Christmas, with the stars dancing,

As they danced in Bethlehem long ago,

Thoughts return to me in their myriads,

Like angels singing for the season.

 

The big blue candle burning

In the bright kitchen window,

To entice the Virgin's family

Through the frost and snow of the season.

 

My Mom busy making cakes and pastries,

Kneading and baking effortlessly,

And us playing and chatting,

In that little thatched house long ago.

 

The big roaring fire enticed me,

With warmth and loud crackling,

Soothing me, calming me, encouraging me,

With its bright, untroubled visions.

 

Would Saint Nicholas come to visit us,

At night when the Christmas star is above,

Or would the Baby and his Mom come,

When the family would lie down to sleep?

 

Memories of childhood return to me,

Tonight itself, and my age lost from me,

And the child in my heart praises

The child who lay in the manger.

 

Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year, to all our readers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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