The Ask Evan A Question Thread

[Little Jimmy]

Do you have feelings of inadequacy?

[eobversion1]

Yes, at the thoughtfulness of that question.

[Little Jimmy]

Would you call my question "The Award Winning Question", even if it hadn't won any awards?

[eobversion1]

No.

[Mafwanix]

This question assumes the location in your profile is accurate.

Q.Have you ever kissed the Blarney Stone?

[eobversion1]

No. I expect questions of that calibre out of Jimmy, you should know better.

[El Canuck]

Do the Irish celebrate Christmas with mummering as we do here in Newfoundland?

[eobversion1]

I hadn't heard of that actually, I looked it up and as it turns out a variation of what you're referring to often happens on St. Stephen's Day or Boxing Day as it would be where you are. In Ireland, people who are known as Wren Boys go from house to house playing music collecting donations. It happens in some parts of Ireland more than others but overall I'd say you're correct in assuming that we celebrate in a similar fashion.

[El Canuck]

I had suspected some form of origin for the tradition in Ireland, being that it is by and large the ancestral home of the majority of the populace here. I've even heard grandparents refer to Boxing Day as St. Stephens day too, in the past. The Wren Boys is interesting, I did a bit of reading on the variations between the origins and what occurs here nowadays and it really hasn't changed much.

[eobversion1]

Good to know, it always interests me how traditions survive in different areas across different time periods.

For Irish surnames too, I've noticed a lot of Americans keep the H but don't pronounce it. The McMahon's being a clear example of that.

[El Canuck]

In that regard, Newfoundland is quite the hidden treasure. Between the Irish ancestry, British occupation and relatively late inclusion into Canada (1949) we have maintained much of our traditions and cultures from the British Isles. My grandparents, for example, were all born as British subjects, and three out of four of them were even born in the time when Newfoundland was self-governing. (they gave up that right in 1933 and were ruled directly by the crown until joining Canada in '49) The Irish language was not only heavily spoken here, but it is the only place to have not only its own distinct name in the Irish language, (Talamh an Éisc) but its own dialect here. We even have our own recognised genre of music just referred to as Newfoundland music that more or less incorporates the traditional Irish musical instruments and stylings into songs about the island. Most bands also sing the full gamut of traditional Irish songs as well.

An example: The Celtic Connection - Tim Finnigan's Wake.



The entirety of that band are from the collection of towns that I call home, as added trivia.

You could also look up the Masterless Men, the Navigators, the Irish Descendants, the Fables, the Ennis Sisters, the Derina Harvey band (whose cousin Glen is the lead singer of the Celtic Connection), Kevin Collins, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers and a whole host of other bands.

It's an interesting place to check out. We're something of a forgotten gem in Ireland, but when people see what we're all about, they find themselves quite surprised at how close to Eire we really are. Just as Seán McGinley of Braveheart fame. He was a main star in the CBC (our equivalent of BBC) show Republic of Doyle and absolutely fell in love with the place. Tommy Tiernan (who I know Tamer doesn't much care for) was also quite surprised at just how Irish we actually are here and apparently enjoyed the Irish pubs on George Street in St. John's during a tour stopover.

[AndyF1069]

Given the success of the Star Wars revival and the success of spin off movies in general such as Rogue One and Fantastic Beasts, what non obvious Star Wars spin offs would you be interested in seeing?

An example being the young Han Solo movie that is confirmed to be happening.

[eobversion1]

Thanks for sharing that Nucks. Good to see the spirit of the Emerald Isle duplicated in another part of the world.

Given the success of the Star Wars revival and the success of spin off movies in general such as Rogue One and Fantastic Beasts, what non obvious Star Wars spin offs would you be interested in seeing?

An example being the young Han Solo movie that is confirmed to be happening.

What I want more than anything are characters, arcs and filmmaking that is exciting, satisfying and worth my time.

After Rogue One though, I'm perfectly OK with not doing anything else that takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. What they have lined up anthology wise doesn't set my world on fire but doesn't bother me either. Only one other project has been announced, though, so we'll see.

Next year, I'm going to get the very thing I want to see, a Luke Skywalker film with 30 years of unknown history to unpack. You can't not be immeasurably excited for that. It also looks like we're going to get more of Obi-Wan too so if they keep going the way I think they're going they'll do well for themselves.

[Little Jimmy]

Where is the first place you think a pimp would look while searching for for a missing ho?

[AndyF1069]

La La Land

Have you/will you see it?

If you have, have you given thoughts?

[eobversion1]

I'm seeing it this weekend. Will report back. A clear Oscar frontrunner it seems although some have been underwhelmed, it could just be a vocal minority I guess. We'll see I suppose.

[AndyF1069]

I became aware of it through Hideo Kojima who is an absolute creative mastermind of video games (the brains behind the blockbuster Metal Gear Solid series). He bluntly said it's possibly the greatest movie he has ever seen. High praise.

[eobversion1]

I am familiar with Hideo, indeed very positive response from him. I'm sure it will live up to the hype when I head along to see it at the weekend.

[Little Jimmy]

La La Land

The only reason I don't bitch at you for answering the question I asked to Evan, and the reason I don't bitch at Evan for not answering it, is because I botched typing the question and don't want to give it any more attention.

Either way, suck my hairy balls.

[AndyF1069]

La La land is a movie. I wasn't answering your question, I was drawing attention to my topic. I would happily suck your balls though if you so desire.