A Tale of Two Irishmen

In celebration of the best holiday ever, St. Patrick's Day, I give you a pair of Irish tales, about a pair of great Irishmen, and with them a pair of videos.



First Up: out of the gritty backstreets of that Dirty Old Town, Dublin, we have the great, great (and one of my personal heroes) Shane MacGowan. MacGowan fought his way through the original punk wars of the late seventies in London, and eventually formed his own band, The Pogues. The Pogues drew on traditional Irish music fused with the energy and unabashed attack of punk. MacGowan himself instantly positioned himself as one of the greatest lyricists of all time upon their first release. From Wikipedia:

MacGowan drew on his Irish heritage when founding The Pogues. Many of his songs are influenced by Irish nationalism, Irish history, the experiences of the Irish in London and the U.S., and London life in general. MacGowan has often cited the 19th-century Irish poet James Clarence Mangan and playwright Brendan Behan as influences.

Above is his best loved song, Fairytale of New York. And though technically a Christmas song (and in my opinion the greatest Christmas song ever written), it sure feels good to sing on St. Patty's Day.

Bonus: watch this performance by The Pogues and the Dubliners. Amazing.



Second Up: Out of the mean streets of South Jersey, came Irishman Raghib "Rocket" Ismail. Ismail was known as the Rocket due to his blazing speed, which he wielded as a weapon. From the second he stepped on campus at the University of Notre Dame The Rocket was a force to be reckoned with. From Wikipedia:

Ismail was known as a tremendous game breaker who could turn a game around with his unmatched hustle. During the 1989 regular season game against the University of Michigan, Ismail returned two kickoffs for touchdowns sealing the Wolverines' downfall. He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice, and received numerous awards, including All-American status. In the 1991 Orange Bowl, he returned a punt return 91 yards for a touchdown that would have sealed the game for Notre Dame and stopped Colorado from winning a split of the National Championship, however the play was later called back on a phantom (ed.) clipping call and Notre Dame eventually lost 10-9.

Watch this too, it's totally worth spending a few minutes on. So awesome.

So sit back and enjoy this Tale of Two Irishmen on this beautiful St. Patty's Day.

Hey Designer, Sick of Skulls Yet?

Skulls have been the de rigeur in design for the past several years. I really haven't had a problem with it because I personally really like skulls and other rock iconography. However, once you start to be concious of it, you find that they really are everywhere, and it becomes obvious that the whole emo thing has really got to go. Whether on a Motorhead T shirt or in terrible, vile movies (Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull), they are everywhere. Anyway, AIGA has a great article over at their site called Forever Skull concerning this whole phenomenom. From the article:

The skull is an elastic symbol, but it expresses a frustrated desire: we will never see our own skulls. The impossibility of this self-knowledge maddens and tempts us. So we flatten our skulls, misshape them, adorn and prettify them, wrap them in thorns and set them afire, make them scary, funny, silly, slick, put them everywhere, on everything, for whatever excuse comes to mind. On and on, we are doomed to representations, teasing ourselves with reminders of the limits of our perceptions. We will never see our own skulls. But we will always want to.

Go read the entire album, it's really fascinating.

BTW - the you should check out Damien Hirst's controversial piece "Diamond Encrusted Skull". Dig it.