Happy St. Patrick's Day! Erin go Bragh!
I love this holiday. I have a little Irish in me, and it loves to come bursting out every March 17th. But it can not be overemphasized that St. Patrick's Day is for everyone, because everyone, regardless of race, religion or background, is Irish today.
But here I must point out the utter lack of Irish spirit in my community. I showed up to work at the library with a green top, green shoes, green-painted nails and a shamrock necklace. I couldn't be more festive without looking totally inappropriate for work. I was blasting Great Big Sea and the Chieftains on the drive over, and I was all set for some Celtic-related fun. But, I saw maybe all of 10 other people wearing green through the whole day, and that's counting both staff and customers. What the blarney? I feel very passionately about wearing green on St. Patrick's Day. As my roommate tried to leave the house this morning without wearing green I referred to him as Big Chief No Fun of the I Don't Wanna Tribe. I can't very well say that to a customer without getting a major chewing out from management. Same thing with trying to pinch them. Now granted, it's a very Italian community where I work, but still, I was so disappointed in the lack of emerald shades. I need to be around people who want to celebrate this holiday...without getting plastered, 'cause that's not my thing...though I did have a little Baileys after work with my roommates.
Anyway, rant's over. On to the fun stuff. This last Saturday I finally got around to watching The Boondock Saints, the 1999 shoot-em-up cult hit about Irish-American twin brothers, Connor and Murphy MacManus, cleaning up the streets of Boston after becoming vigilantes on a mission from God (and, interestingly enough, the movie opens on St. Patrick's Day). I enjoyed this little outing quite a bit. The mix of religious fervor and gratuitous violence was very interesting to see mashed together. There's even a family prayer the brothers recite at their scenes of crime, which is written on the poster shown here (I saw so many posters for this movie on sale when I went to university). The brothers themselves, played by Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, are charming and handsome. Willem Dafoe packs in a pretty intense performance as an FBI Special Agent torn between tracking the brothers down and wanting to join them in their mission. It's all pretty twisted, often times intense, but also funny, gripping and oddly enough it makes you think about whether or not the MacManus', or people like them, should be condemned or condoned for these kinds of actions. The final scenes, featuring a news crew and the citizens of Boston, are particularly telling on that point.
So to all of you, Irish in ancestry or in spirit, I say Happy St. Paddy's Day! I'm going to see if I can find some Father Ted episodes on YouTube.
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