(Produced with the assistance of Ardmore Sound)

According to my research: I am a mad egg who's having a bloody wopper of a time enjoying the stick matches with the youth of Dublin's inner-city Kip. Translation: I am a crazy cool person who's really enjoying my time trading jokes back and forth with the youth of Dublin's ghettos.

Amongst other things I'm enjoying thus far- this holds true.

Monday January 11th, 2009. My producer Nishat Kurwa, and I found ourselves "legginnit" (running really fast) to get on the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) train headed toward the town of Bray. We made the train, sat down to a breakfast of muffins and orange juice and enjoyed the 30 minute journey south along the Ireland eastern seaboard. "What a morning commute," Nishat exclaimed as we exited a tunnel and entered a seaside view that reminded us both of Northern California's coastline.
We arrived in the small town of Bray, were picked up by our Youth Radio diplomat to Ireland Paul Moore, and we headed off to the Irish foothills where the legendary Ardmore Sound studios are located.

On arrival we were thrust into the meticulous editing process which takes place in the numerous studios and sound stages on the Ardmore property. We were engulfed in different stages of the editing process of three prospective feature films of 2009, two of which featured Colin Farrell. Nothing against Farrell, but the third of the trifecta, which he wasn't in, was the most interesting to watch being sound edited. Well, at least it was in the most interesting part of the audio processing: sound effects! They used water bladders to make the sound of someone urinating, they had random deer feet by the side of the sound stage, and they squeezed a 1960's Mini Cooper into a mini room and used the inside of the car to make automobile audio! This has to be the coolest job in the world!... at least I thought, until I heard how rigorous the process is: every sound must be remade after a film is shot. Picture this: you shoot a simple scene: a person in high heels walking into a room with wooden floors... you have to remake the sound of the heels against the floor, change the footsteps sound when the character reaches the little carpet in the middle of the room, remake the sound of the person's clothing rubbing against them as they walk- oh heck, you even have to re-record their breath! And you better match their natural breathing pattern!

Wow...

Ardmore turned out to be an experience Irish slang would lead me to describe as a "wicked stonch" studio or a "bloody wopper" of a place to be. Translation: NICE!

On the ride from Bray, jetlag crept on me and I nodded off in the backseat of the Volkswagon driven by our Irish diplomat - when I awoke, we were back in Dublin. Nishat and Paul were talking about how Ireland had just legalized the sale of condoms within the past 15 years, and we were pulling into the Camara offices. Camara is a revolutionary business that refurbishes computers and sends them to 7 locations on the continent of Africa. Not to be what the youngsters from Dublin's kip call a "lick arse", but the CEO who created this movement is an "animal" (really cool guy). This is exactly what this green world needs!

From the Camara headquaters we drove approximately 2 blocks to the Clubhouse youth center where I met the four Irish teens who expanded my vocabulary twofold and expanded my "wickedness" fourfold - at least here in Dublin.

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