Emerald Extracts

Ryan Dolan performed “Only Love Survives” for 2013’s Eurovision Song Contest which was hosted in Malmo, Sweden on May 18.

An average of 799,700 people watched the show with viewing figures spiking to 1,079,700 while Dolan was performing. RTÉ were ‘thrilled’ with the viewing figures, as more people watched the entire show in 2013 than last year for Jedward’s entry.

A new documentary ‘The Crest’ is set to begin filming in Ireland this month. The film will see two Irish-American cousins, who have never met but have led remarkably similar lives on opposite coasts of the US, unite in Ireland.

Andrew Jacob of Boston, Mass and Dennis Kane of California are both great-great-grandsons of the King of the Blasket Islands in Ireland. Though having never met, the two men share similar lifestyles which focus heavily on the sport of surfing.

Farmers in Cork and Kerry staged a 24-hour prayer vigil for fine weather last week, as the region deals with an ongoing fodder crisis.

Hundreds of people showed up for the vigil in Rathmore, in the shadow of the Paps Mountains in Co. Kerry, reports the Irish Examiner.

Abercrombie & Fitch

Ellen DeGeneres went after Abercrombie & Fitch’s CEO, Mike Jeffries, and his policy of not catering for anyone over a size 8 by saying “Fitch, please!”

DeGeneres, whose talk show’s tagline is “laugh, dance, watch,” mocks the clothing chain and breaks down why their policy is insane.

Students the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, in Dublin, have created an almost unreal video of Dublin city using tilt–shift photography. Their aim was to “video and photograph Dublin and turn it into a toy like model by using the tilt-shift effect.” Mission accomplished.

Created by Stephen Duffy, Rafal Baran, Afshin Moosavi and Olivia Ricci, they explained on their site, TiltshiftDublin.com, that “tilt–shift photography is the use of camera movements on small- and medium-format cameras, and sometimes specifically refers to the use of tilt for selective focus, often for simulating a miniature scene. Sometimes the term is used when the shallow depth of field is simulated with digital post-processing; the name may derive from the tilt–shift lens normally required when the effect is produced optically.”

A new 60c Irish stamp was commissioned to commemorate UNESCO naming Dublin as a permanent city of literature in 2010.

On the stamp is an entire 224 word short story meant to “capture the essence” of Dublin, penned by Irish teenager Eoin Moore, who was 17 at the time he wrote it. Moore’s short story was chosen from a group of applicants through Dublin’s Fighting Words’ creative writing program.

A video of a three-year-old Colombian boy dressed in priestly garments celebrating Mass has become an online hit.

Samuel Jaramillo, who is an orphan, lives with his grandmother and aunt in the city of Medellin, the Catholic News Agency reports.

On Friday May 10, 2013, the 408-foot spire was placed on top of One World Trade Center symbolically capping the building, a symbol of New York’s comeback post 9/11.

Barack Obama wrote a personal letter in thanks to untrained artist and secondary school teacher Brian Fogarty who simply drew a depiction of the President’s Irish relation.  The 35-year-old Fogarty is a business and economics teacher at Salerno school in Salthill and has always had a passion for drawing.  Although untrained, Fogarty has a very natural talent for drawing as both his father and grandfather were artists.  The Galway Advertiser reported that Fogarty said,  “Since I was a child I would do drawings, mostly of houses, trees and of course being from Tipperary, hurlers.”

Fogarty treated drawing as a hobby for the most part until his girlfriend Agata, now wife, laid eyes on a exceptional drawing of his mother.  After realizing it was her boyfriend’s work, Agata was taken back and encouraged Fogarty to further his work.  He explained that, “She marched me off to Eason’s and got me pencils and art materials.”

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s ‘The Colbert Report,’ shared on his show this week a new trend spawning amongst “hipster” parents. The trend? Not using diapers on their pre-toilet trained kids, but rather let them “eliminate” in sinks, toilets or bowls.

The movement is being backed by those who say it reduces diaper rash, reduces the waste of disposable diapers and, of course, helps parents get in touch with their children’s “most intimate functions.”

One in three Irish people use their cell phones in the bathroom, with a whopping 27 percent texting while actually on the toilet.

According to Eircom’s latest Household Sentiment Survey, phone addiction is most prevalent among younger generations with 37 percent of those aged 16-34 admitting using their phones while on the toilet.

Irish people living abroad after have a terrible time when people go about pronouncing their names. For example names like Aoife, get pronounced A-O-FEE or Siobhan turns into SIGH-O-BAN. There are even cases where Maireads are simple renamed Mermaid but at least you've not been called Messiah, Fear, or MC on your birth-cert.

Galway native James Mahon attended the recent National Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg, Tennessee and admits he did not know what to expect.

Thousands descended on South Pittsburg for the 17th annual cornbread festival which included cornbread cooks-offs.

you're Irish when" video

 The RTE show "Republic of Telly" hit the nail on the head this week with their "You Know You're Irish When" video. If you're not Irish however we're not sure if you'll "get it".

From your Mammy asking you what Mass was about ("aliens and stuff") colloqualisms like people who thinks everything is modern society is "a disgrace", to ending a phonecall with "bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye....bye". And of course there's always that person in your life who knows how much every piece of property has devalued since "the boom".

Mike Tobin of Fox News brought focus to a new level after stopping two attention seekers dead in their tracks while simultaneously reporting an unfortunately acute story.

Two women approached Tobin from opposing sides planning a simultaneous kiss attack while cameras were live and rolling. A seemingly harmless gesture but in the midst of one of America’s most horrific tragedies, the Boston Marathon bombings, Tobin, who was recounting the attack’s timeline, had no time for the insensitive interruption.

The intense actor Michael Shannon, who’s brilliantly cast as General Zod in the upcoming Superman movie “Man of Steel” took on his most chilling role to date this week, the insane sorority girl at the University of Maryland.

This letter has been sweeping the Internet due to its insanely potty mouthed rant lashing out at her sisters. The “lady” hurls insults after insults at the girls but reading doesn’t quite do the intensity of this letter justice.

One of GoPro’s newest videos features Eoin McCarthy Deering enjoying a unique surf in Iceland.

GoProCamera sent the Irish surfer Deering to Iceland where he documented his journey enjoying the freezing waves and jumping through icebergs.  The video was GoPro’s video of the day on April 15th and already has over 110,000 views on Youtube.

After much deliberation the BBC has decided that it will play a short clip of the song “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead” after the track surged up the iTunes chart in Britain following the death of Margaret Thatcher. 

Ireland’s The Corrigan Brothers - whose song ‘No One is as Irish as Barack OBama’ was a hit - are cheering on Co Down native Rory McIlroy in his bid to win the Masters.

The singing group who hails from Tipperary penned a song about the Irish golf wonder last year when he first started making waves on the scene.

Irish snack staple Tayto is branching out in the sweets world with their release of a chocolate bar infused with their famous cheese and onion crisps.

Tayto has teamed up with Butlers Chocolates to create a “truly Irish product” after consumer demand went viral on social media outlets.

Fancy a laugh?

The Irish are known for many things but our wit is certainly one of our more charming traits.

You didn’t think that the ‘Gangnam Style’ phenomenon had gone away, had you? It’s not a real fad until Irish dancers around the world begin to work it into their performance routines.

After becoming a viral hit last summer, South Korean artist Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ has gone on to be recreated in a countless number of parodies. Check out these Irish dancers who work Psy’s signature moves into their own treble reel routines!

An Irish tricolor

A local town council meeting in Donegal was disrupted on Tuesday after a councilor demanded an Irish Tricolor be raised above the building before the meeting commenced.

The Tricolor is usually flown above official Government buildings in the Republic.

For the year of The Gathering and the Aer Lingus International Hurling Festival the Irish airline are introducing some new initiatives and changes to their standard operating procedures.

From how their planes will be boarded by clan to the use of hurls during in-flight service the airline is making some serious changes, including Irish dance lessons for all staff.

Phil Penny gets pranked

Phil Penny, one of the stars of Irish reality program ‘Tallafornia,’ is threatening to sue after becoming victim of a harmless albeit embarrassing photobomb that made its way to Facebook.

‘Origin,’ a short animation, tells the story a young man in Dublin who, on the brink of emigration, comes to realize the spirit he’s leaving behind.

The short animation was directed by James Stacey and produced by Souljacker Films with the support of the Irish Film Board.

‘Origin’ was nominated for Best Animation at the 2012 IFTA’s, and was the winner of the Best Animated Short at Blackrock Animation Film Festival of 2012.

Hundreds of students in Dublin gathered together to set a Guinness World record for forming the largest human shamrock just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, all while raising money for charity.

The Irish Independent reports on the endeavor that saw 800 schoolboys from Blackrock College and Willow Park schools in Dublin assembled on the lawns of Blackrock College.

Only in Ireland!

This rather unique scaffolding set-up was spotted on Main Street in Waterville, County Kerry on Thursday.

Yes, those are kegs being used to support the structure. Hopefully they're emptied already!

with a ball of whale vomite (Photo: Star)

Two Irish surfers are hopeful they can cash in on a rare lump of whale vomit that could be worth up to 50,000 euro.

The Irish Daily Star reports that Alan Davey (38) and Brian Miller, both from Co Clare, found the hardened lump of vomit on the beach in Lahinch.

A photograph taken from space shows a stunning view of Britain and Ireland lighting up the night skies.

The picture, posted on Twitter @earthposts this week shows the more populated areas, like Dublin in Ireland, lit up brighter than others.

What do you think of the picture?

Single for Valentine’s Day this year? Not to worry! Charlie, an adorable seven year old Irish boy, reminds us that there is no rush to settle down anytime soon … as in maybe not until your “late 30s.”

The video comes as a promotional spot for the return of ‘Singlehood’ to the Vicar Street theater in Dublin after a successful reception at the Dublin Fringe Festival.

A Californian woman has posted on Craigslist in the hopes she can be reunited with an Irish man she met in a notorious Dublin nightclub last year.

Describing herself as “The Girl from California,” the female posted on the popular American website last Saturday as a ‘w4m ‘ or ‘woman looking for a man’ she met in Copper Face Jacks on December 28th last.

will be hosted in Dublin from February 9-10.

Incidents included people who had fallen ill or injured on islands, cliffs or shorelines, or medical evacuations, which is a regular occurrence for the lifeboats at Arranmore Island in Co Donegal and the Aran Islands in Co Galway.

Running into break dancers on a New York City subway is nothing for most native New Yorkers to bat an eye at. However, for the break dancers to be upstaged by a faux Irish dancer?
Comedian Tyler Fischer stole the spotlight from some break dancers on a subway recently when the music switched up to an Irish reel and Fleischer began to prance around the subway car.

“Look at him go! He’s a little leprechaun!” cheered on the break dancers who were presumably in on the stunt.