This was always going to be the year I got more cultured. You should get more cultured, I said to myself on the Brooklyn Bridge as 2006 turned into 2007 and that familiar sinking New Year's Eve feeling took hold. You should read more books, I told myself. See more theatre. Catch more movies. Watch more reality television.
The watching more reality TV part of what I've been calling Culture 2007 has probably been the most successful. Speaking of which, I was delighted to see Paisean Faisean's inaugural gay episode on TG4 this week. I do miss the old presenter, Aoife Ní Thuairisg, she of the Olympic standard eyebrow gymnastics, and it was kind of disappointing that none of the gay contestants satisfied our desperate need for stereotypes by choosing a pink outfit with sequins, but otherwise this was quality reality TV. Bualadh bos, buachaillí.
As I promised, I've seen more movies this year, too. I'm now almost a regular at my favourite video store, where the staff have the skin pallor of people who watch more movies than is healthy. This is good news for customers such as me who go up to the counter brandishing boxes saying "This any use?", "What about this one?", "Have you seen this?" until, exasperated, they say "Yes, everyone is raving about it". And that is how I ended up bringing home a movie called Conversations With God.
Do not rent this film. Basically it's about a beardy American guy who became homeless and ate food from dumpsters and then God started talking to him so he wrote it all down on foolscap pages, got a book deal and made millions. But not enough to make a decent film, clearly. It turns out God's patter is not unlike one of those thought-for-the-day calendars, only less inspiring.
I brought back Conversations with God two days late and cursed the fact that it was going to cost me to return it. When I explained how bad it was, how the main character's stuck-on beard looked different in every scene, kind of like the way Dorothy's plaits change every five minutes in The Wizard of Oz, the man felt sorry for me and refused to accept the fine. The lesson is, always complain when you've been culturally short changed.
In my new role as culture vulture - or sparrow or finch or maybe just tit - I'd like to give an honourable mention to comedian Dave McSavage who provided one of the funniest moments on Irish television on last week's Late Late Show. Yes, there are many who will say his imitation of Pat Kenny in the act of lovemaking was not remotely funny. But not me. I nearly fell off my chair laughing at McSavage, and then at Kenny trying to cope with McSavage, and then at the audience tittering nervously.
In a welcome change to normal programming, here was an Irish comedian not being safe, not trying to pander to the nation and most importantly not trying to flog another unfunny DVD, the blurb on the back of which is used as a vehicle to land those lucrative corporate gigs.
It can be safely predicted that McSavage is not going to be getting many corporate gigs on the back of his latest television outing. It's quite possible The Late Late Show will never have him on again. For what it's worth, culturally speaking, I think this is a shame.
The reason I am in such a cultural state of mind is because a couple of weeks ago I was asked to go on RTÉ's The View. In the spirit of getting even more culture into me and also in the spirit of getting to nod my head thoughtfully with my finger on my lips beside John Kelly on TV, I said yes. The homework was two movies, an opera and a book so heavy it dented the basket on my bike. I had to watch five episodes of the new HBO comedy Flight of the Conchords back-to-back to recover my cultural equilibrium.
On a happier note, the reading more books element of Culture 2007 is going extremely well. Last February I co-founded a book club and so far we have made our way through nine books, ranging from The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford to We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. At this point I was going to tell you that along with a musician, a student, a playwright and a retired teacher, there is a politician among our number. The thing is, I don't have a taped confession confirming his/her book club membership. So it's probably best to keep his/her once-a-month book habit to myself for the time being. Or at least until the TV series, the one that in no way glamorises the reading of books or other cultural pursuits, comes out.
Roísín Ingle presents Weekend Blend at 10am every Saturday on Newstalk 106-108FM
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