Shelley O is on the case

Supporting Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics in Copenhagen...

Teaching kids to grow veggies on Sesame Street...

Wild journey

Heading to LA tomorrow to interview Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers and the cast (Catherine Keener et al) for Where The Wild Things Are. Beyond excited.

A comedy, farce, horror and tragedy all rolled into one!

From Tubbercurry to Tinseltown

My interview with Dearbhla Walsh in yesterday's Independent

Dearbhla Walsh might be flying high thanks to her Emmy win last Sunday for directing the BBC mini-series Little Dorrit, but this is one woman who refuses to rest on her laurels. Having arrived back in Dublin on Tuesday evening to a rapturous welcome from her family, and further celebrations until the wee hours in the Trocadero restaurant, Dearbhla still managed to be back in work for 10am on Wednesday.

“Life and work gets back to normal very quickly,” she laughs. “I spent all day scouting locations around Dublin. It’s been non-stop, and on top of the jet lag and a hangover, I think I’m fighting a chest infection too.”

That’s not to say that the Sligo-born director isn’t still dazed by her Hollywood success. “It’s unbelievable,” she admits. “It was so strange coming back through Heathrow and seeing my picture all over the British papers, and there’s been so much interest and support here too.”

Now that she mentions it, just how does one get an Emmy award home on a plane? Surely she didn’t just pack it into her check-in luggage? “We were wondering that, because it’s like a weapon,” she says. “The angel’s wings on the statue have spikes on them, and it’s really heavy. We stayed in the Beverley Hilton, so the front desk wrapped the award in bubble-wrap and sellotaped it up in a box.

“At security in LAX, they thought it was a DVD player, and so I would have to unpack it. I said, ‘No it’s not a DVD player, it’s actually an Emmy’, and they went, ‘Oh, ok!’ They let me through and I carried it under my arm all the way to Dublin.”

Being the proud owner of an Emmy award not only boosts her professional profile considerably, it also served as an important party pass in Hollywood last weekend. “It was collateral on Sunday night because we had been told before the ceremony that Tom Courtenay [nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Little Dorrit] and I were not allowed into the HBO party because we were the competition against their nominated series, Generation Kill,” she reveals.

“But after I won, and I was backstage, the head of BBC Drama said, ‘you are going to the HBO party’, so it makes a big difference arriving there with an Emmy in my hand. The first person I bumped into was Dianne Wiest, who stopped me, saying, ‘Congratulations, it’s so exciting. It’s great for a female director to win’. It was surreal. I had to pinch myself and think, ‘Quick, take a picture!’”

Dearbhla freely admits that while walking to the podium to collect the prize, she found herself reflecting on just she got from Tubbercurry to Tinsel Town. The truth of the matter is that it took Dearbhla the best part of 20 years to achieve overnight success.

While studying Communications in DCU, Dearbhla got her first experience in the business as a runner on the RTE talent show, Screen Test (“The X Factor of the ‘80s”, as she calls it).

However, like the majority of young people of her generation, Dearbhla had few employment prospects upon graduation.”It was 1988, and there was no work,” she recalls. “I signed up for a FAS unemployment course in film, and soon got called for an interview with Granada TV in Manchester, where I worked there for three years editing trailers for film and TV programmes.”

To her own surprise, Dearbhla then landed a place on RTE’s producer-director course, and worked there for three years in young people’s and arts programming, before leaving the station to go freelance.

“I was trying to get into drama for ages and couldn’t because all those jobs went to English directors,” she says. “So I went to Australia for a wedding, and ended up staying for seven months. Of course, when you stop knocking on the door, opportunity comes calling, and I got called back to work on an RTE-BBC co-production, Custer’s Last Stand Up (2001).

“That won a Bafta award, which brought me on to EastEnders and Shameless, and luckily since then I haven’t stopped working. It’s been a long slog with very little glamour in it, so going to the Emmys was a nice reward.”

During her acceptance speech last weekend, Dearbhla also jubilantly thanked her partner, the RTE presenter and journalist Anna Nolan, quipping that “they’re will be there of us in the bed tonight”.

It was quite a saucy remark to make on American network television. “It probably was,” she laughs. “But I just said it in the heat of the moment. I really didn’t expect the night to go that way.”

Dearbhla prefers not to publicly talk about her seven-year relationship with the one-time Big Brother star, but she does reveal how the glamorous pair first met. “We worked together on her series Ask Anna,” she explains, adding with a smile: “So I asked Anna, and she said yes.”

It seems there will be plenty of more people saying ‘yes’ to Dearbhla from now. “My agent called me today to say a film script had come in for me,” she says. “I’ll have a read of that at the weekend and proceed from there.

“I had gone out to LA two days before the Emmys and did lots of meetings with companies like Miramax, HBO and Scott Free. After the ceremony, there were a lot of messages from people saying, ‘we must find something we can work on together’.

“Anyway, I’m in full employment until April with a four part serial for the BBC called The Silence, which will be filmed in and around Dublin at Christmas time. We’ll see what happens after that. It’s nice that the phone is suddenly ringing and it’s not my bank manager!”

Boy in the bubble

...picture of moi in today's Independent, taken in the amazing Bubble Exhibit at the Trinity College Science Gallery to mark Culture Night 2009

A story three years in the making

In London today to catch 53 min preview of the new disaster movie 2012, which was screened in the Vue Theatre in the West End, introduced in person by director Roland Emmerich, and stars John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Not allowed talk about it - but I will say that I've started calling it Independence Day After Tomorrow and Apocalypse Wow! Interviewed the very cool Ejiofor afterwards. A good day

Jam get married

Sob. TV's best couple - Jim and Pam from The Office - finally get wed on October 8.

Precious

So looking forward to seeing this

Green Emmys

Congrats to Brendan Gleeson for his Emmy win last night for Into the Storm. Sligo-born Dearbhla Walsh - partner of the fabulous Anna Nolan - also won an Emmy for directing the mini-series Little Dorrit. Mucho proudness.

Full list of Emmy winners here. About bloody time Michael Emerson won for Lost!

Thanks a thousand!

Feature on gratitude to mark National Thank You Day, published in last Thursday's Irish Examiner.

The average person speaks about 16,000 words per day, but it only takes two - ‘thank you’- to make all the difference in your personal and social interactions. They don’t cost anything to say, and they are at the heart of what we all hold to be basic good manners. But how many of us forget to use those two little words in the course of our daily routines?

Well, tomorrow [Friday Sept 18] is National Thank You Day, an American calendar event that serves to remind everyone about the importance of expressing simple gratitude to your fellow (wo)man. The Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny is getting into the spirit of things, offering little gifts to every guest that checks in, be it a glass of champagne or a spa treatment, just to show their appreciation for the business.

Little matters of social etiquette are very much to the forefront these days, despite, or perhaps because of, the straitened times in which we live. The economic downturn seems to have had a knock-on effect in the area of volunteering, which is currently experiencing a boom. There’s even anecdotal evidence of people being friendlier to one another seeing as we’ve all been brought down a peg or two in the last year.

So are we meeting these basic rudiments of politeness in this country? I spent last Monday keeping track of how often I was thanked for simple, everyday social transactions. Being a good country boy at heart, I’d like to think I make a good effort everyday to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, but sometimes, like everyone else, my manners escape me. You might be having a bad day or else you’re so preoccupied that it slips your mind to say ‘thank you’. That’s forgivable, once it doesn’t become a regular occurrence.

One of my big acts of basic courtesy is holding open doors for people, but it’s amazing how many members of the public never even acknowledge you for it. On this day in question, I hold open the door to let people in or out ahead of me everywhere I go. The results form a basic pattern, stereotypical though it may be: older people always, always say thanks; younger ones, not so much.

Case in point: I’m walking out of a newsagent’s when I see four people approaching the exit behind me. Holding the door, two elderly ladies smile and are effusive in their gratitude, saying things like, ‘Ah you’re very good’ and, ‘There are some gentleman left’. They are immediately followed by a guy my age who gives me the oddest smile, like he is embarrassed for, or by, me, as well as a girl in her teens wearing earphones who doesn’t even look at me.

I catch a bus just after that, keen to observe the reaction of my bus driver when I hand over my money. I make a bit of a scene of it: “There you go,” I say clearly as I purposively deposit the coins in the slot. The driver stays silent and doesn’t even look at me. He pushes the button for my ticket and that’s it. I get a similar (non)reaction from the driver on the journey back. There are some really friendly bus drivers out there; not on these services it seems though.

I know it’s not really necessary for him to say ‘thanks’ in this instance, but, to be fair, we are paying for a service, and he is the face of that service, as much as a cashier or sales assistant is. Also, it’s a particularly Irish habit, and a lovely one at that, to thank the driver when you’re getting off at your stop. A little reciprocation isn’t asking too much.

On the bus back into town I end up giving up my seat to an older lady. Again, I get a ‘What a nice young man’ in response. I have a meeting in a cafe in town, and the waitress is uber-friendly. She says ‘thank you’ when taking my order, when dropping down my coffee, and when collecting the bill. My receipt even says ‘thank you’. Bless. A little while later, I’m paying for a sandwich in a deli, and tell the server to put the e1.50 change into the tip jar. For the second time that day I get, ‘Ah you’re very good’ in response. That’s even better than ‘thanks’, right?

Contrast that with my experience in a well-known supermarket later that evening as I pick up some groceries. The cashier is talking to her colleague, moaning quite audibly about her manager. The only acknowledgement she makes of my presence is when she absent-mindedly starts scanning my items from the basket, all while continuing her rant.

I tut under my breath at the rudeness and ask for a bag. She doesn’t hear me. I ask louder. She stops talking momentarily, throws a bag at me, and resumes her conversation. She calls out the amount due in a flat tone, we make the exchange, but there isn’t a word of thanks on her behalf. “Thank you,” I say in a loud voice. She doesn’t even look at me. “Next!” she shouts. What charm school did she graduate from, I wonder?

I decide to get the Luas home. There’s a big huddle waiting to get on. I step out of the way and allow a man and a woman board before me. Not a word of thanks. “You’re welcome,” I say. He throws me a look. Oh yes, I think. I’m the rude one in this case.

Judging by this one day, the ratio of receiving thanks to not is about 50:50. There’s always one negative experience to counter the positive one, and, of course, it’s the negative ones we remember longer. Let’s change that, today, shall we? Because, as the writer GB Stern once said: “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.”

Examples to inspire you…

*Oprah Winfrey has a pretty awesome way of showing her appreciation to the public that has helped to make her the billionaire superstar she is. Once a year, she holds a great giveaway for the audience of the day, gifting them household appliances, food and, on one memorable occasion, cars.

*Following a spiritual trip to India, singer Alanis Morissette became so thankful for everything in her life that she famously penned a song in tribute. Entitled ‘Thank U’, it expresses her appreciation for everything from India, to terror, to frailty, to, erm, “transparent dangling carrots”.

*Alfred Hitchcock, one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of cinema, never won an Oscar or any major award. So when Hitchcock was presented with the Irving G. Thalberg Award for lifetime achievement at the 1968 Academy Awards, everyone expected him to speak at length about his career and those that helped him along the way. Instead, Hitch simply uttered a short ‘Thank you’ and sauntered off the stage. Simple and to the point: really, what else was there to say?

Recent articles

Feature interview with New York author Julie Metz (pictured above) in today's Weekend magazine

Feature on the mainstream popularity of sci-fi in yesterday's Day and Night

So, it's a No vote for Lisbon II?

My Fey Lady

Last night Tina Fey won an Emmy award - her 6th statue in seven years - at the Creative Arts Emmys for her guest performances as former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

Fey won three Emmys last year as actress, writer and producer of 30 Rock, and is up for a further clutch of awards at next Sunday's Primetime Emmy Awards for that same show.

Precious talent

Gabourey Sidibe: the 26-year-old star of the forthcoming Precious, which sounds incredible. She seems a lock for a Best Actress Oscar nomination next year, putting her head-to-head with Meryl (Julie and Julia) and British twentysomething Carey Mulligan (An Education)

Firth past the post

Colin Firth wins Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival for his role in Tom Ford's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man.

Up

Seeing Up this weekend - at last! Director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera are flying in for the Irish premiere in Cineworld on Sunday evening. Sick with excitement! 97% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Stuff

Nightwatch column on silly door policies

Interview with Janeane Garofalo

Don't get mad, get writing

Being dumped by a lover is never pleasant. Working through any residual anger and bitterness arising from a break-up involves a good deal of moping around, crying to friends, listening to depressing music and drinking to numb the pain, until eventually (hopefully) we make peace with it, let go of the resentment, and move on.

That's how it goes for regular people anyway. The creative types, on the other hand, don't just get mad -- they get writing. A case in point is the new comedy (500) Days of Summer, which bucks the romcom trend by focusing on a failed relationship, as opposed to an idealised Hollywood romance.

Continue here.

Air time

Clooney does it again.

Watch a clip here.

Plus after Thank You For Smoking and Juno, Jason Reitman is really establishing himself as one of the most interesting American film-makers out there.

New Wild Things poster

Tubbers/Taoi-Shrek Smackdown

Watch new Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy - who did very well: surprisingly well, I must say - grill a deeply uncomfortable Brian Cowen on last night's show.

Part 2

Meat, Stray, Love

My feature-interview with Julie Powell (author of Julie and Julia, and a subject of the new movie of the same title starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams) in Weekend magazine in today's Irish Independent.


In the forthcoming movie Julie and Julia, Amy Adams stars as real-life New Yorker Julie Powell, an unhappy government secretary who, in 2002, decided to spend a year making all 524 recipes in the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, originally written in the 60s and 70s by legendary American chef Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep).

Powell blogged about the experience and later turned it into the bestselling book, Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, which partly inspired the new movie released next week. What readers of Powell's work, but particularly viewers of the movie, will know is that the love and support of her adorable, endlessly patient husband Eric ("the saint") was a crucial factor in Powell completing her ambitious gastronomic task.

Julie and Eric were high-school sweethearts, marrying in their early 20s. To all of their friends and families, the Powells were considered the perfect couple with the ideal marriage, an image that the movie perpetuates even further (aided in no small part by the casting of sweet, charming actors such as Adams and Chris Messina in the roles).

Continue here.

Obamalot

Little Sash-Sash creeps up on BHO in the Oval Office.

GALA event

I got an email earlier this evening notifying me that I've been longlisted for an award at the first annual NLGF Irish Gay and Lesbian Awards (GALAs). I'm on the longlist for Journalist of the Year. Quite chuffed I must say.

Mother Nature weeps

It's no Virgin Mary on a tree stump, but this is still spooky.

70 years ago today

Britain declares war on Nazi Germany.

Cowen and out

Brian Cowen's Government of the Living Dead plumbs new depths of unpopularity - yet he still claims to have a strong enough mandate to push through Nama, Lisbon II and the December budget. Delusional is not the word.

In today's Indo, the report says that Cowen has asked voters "not to use Lisbon as a referendum on his Government's performance", adding that "he won't resign if there is a second 'No' vote to Lisbon and he is not contemplating defeat in the referendum in a month's time."

Surely, surely, the only way that such a profoundly unpopular "leader"- who has so utterly lost the faith and trust of the electorate - can ensure that Lisbon II carries is to publicly commit to holding a general election within a month of the referendum, regardless of what the result is? That way, the voters can focus their attention on Lisbon II, and not use it as an excuse to bash the Government, or indeed as a way to force an election, by voting No.

Not likely though, is it? After all, the turkeys (and boy, this Greena Fail coalition is one ginormous turkey) are hardly going to vote for Christmas, are they?

Lion's Share

View the schedule of movies competing in the Venice Film Festival, which kicked off today. Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) were the breakout stars of last year's bash, and both went on to get Oscar nominations.

Ones to watch this year are Michael Moore's latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, and Tom Ford - yes, the designer Tom Ford's - directorial debut, a big screen version of Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man.

Wild Thing

Spike Jones to The New York Times about the making of Where The Wild Things Are - one of the most eagerly-anticipated movies of the year. Watch the trailer are.