"No Irish Need Apply": The Negative Portrayal of Irishness in "Friends"

The One with Russ
Season 2 | Episode 10

Fun Bobby: [pulls out a flask] Whattaya say we make these, uh, coffees Irish?

[Phoebe and Rachel look uncomfortable.]

Phoebe: Um, cake.

 Rachel: Yeah, we're gonna... we're gonna get some cake. [Phoebe and Rachel go to counter.]

Monica: You know what? It seems like you've been making an awful lot of stuff Irish lately.

Fun Bobby: Well, I would make them Belgian, but the waffles are hard to get into that flask.

The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad
Season 6 | Episode 21

Paul: (laughs then checking his watch) 1 minute 50 seconds.

Ross: Okay, okay, a joke, a joke—lighten the mood. Umm, two guys go into a bar. One of them is Irish.

Paul: I’m Irish.

Ross: And the Irish guy wins the joke!



The One With Rachel's Big Kiss
Season 7 | Episode 20

Joey: I don’t know. Just uh, just tell ‘em it was a mix-up with the invitations, or—No-no-no! Blame it on the post office. They hate the post office. And the Irish! But I don’t think you can blame it on them, so… (He dials the phone and hands it to Monica.)

Monica: (on phone) Hello? (Listens) Yeah, hi! Mrs. Tribbiani? (Listens) Hi, this is Monica Geller. (Listens) Yeah I’m just calling to say that Chandler and I uh, really hope you can make it to the wedding. Yeah, apparently a bunch of invitations that we sent weren’t delivered. Umm, I guess there was some screw up at the damn post office! (Joey nods his approval.) (Listens) T-Tell me about it! (Listens) Yeah, yeah, the US Post Office? No, more like US lost office! (Listens) What, are they Irish?! (Joey gives her a thumbs up.)

"The Alienist" Returns

The Alienist is a novel by Caleb Carr published in 1994 that was a huge bestseller. The eponymous hero of the novel is Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist (or "alienist") who puts together a profile of a serial killer who is actively killing prostitutes in New York in 1896. Kreizler investigates the crime with the help of reporter John Schuyler Moore, Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, policewoman Sara Howard and ("Baker Street Irregular") Stevie ‘Stovepipe’ Taggart.

"The Alienist" Mini-series

An eight-part mini-series is being developed based on "The Alienist". Cary Fukunaga ("True Detective") is developing the series with screenwriter Hossein Amini ("Snow White And The Huntsman"), Eric Roth ("House of Cards") is as executive producer, as well as Caleb Carr. The series will be broadcast on US channel TNT, who are paying $5 million-per-episode.

More detail:

• 17thStreet.Net
• IMDB News
• Wikipedia

"Surrender, New York"

Caleb Carrr has authored a new book, Surrender, New York, which is set in contemporary times but set in the Kreizlervserse, featuring Dr. Trajan Jones, a criminal psychologist - and the world’s leading expert on the life and work of one Dr. Laszlo Kreizler - in whose brilliant but unconventional footsteps he follows. It will be released on August 23, 2016.

The plot is described as follows:
"In the small town of Surrender in upstate New York, Trajan Jones, a psychological profiler, and Dr. Michael Li, a trace evidence expert, teach online courses in profiling and forensic science from Jones’s family farm. Once famed advisors to the New York City Police Department, Trajan and Li now work in exile, having made enemies of those in power. Protected only by farmhands and Jones’s unusual “pet,” the outcast pair is unexpectedly called in to consult on a disturbing case. In rural Burgoyne County, a pattern of strange deaths has emerged: adolescent boys and girls are found murdered in gruesome fashion. Senior law enforcement officials are quick to blame a serial killer, yet their efforts to apprehend this criminal are peculiarly ineffective."

Two New "Alienist" Novels

Caleb Carrr will author two new books, one that will be a sequel, and one a prequel, to "The Alienist". The first will be a sequel, set 20 years after The Angel of Darkness, in 1915 New York City, and is “centered on nativist violence and terrorism during America’s involvement in World War I. The second book, the prequel will be called "The Strange Case of Miss Sarah X", and will see a youthful Kreizler, after finishing his psychology training at Harvard, fall under the spell of William James, have his first run-in with Roosevelt, and delve into the secret life of Sara Howard.


Books in the Kreizlerverse

1870s "The Strange Case of Miss Sarah X" (forthcoming)
1896 "The Alienist" (1994)
1897 "The Angel of Darkness" (1997)
1915 Alienist Sequel (forthcoming)
1919 Opening scenes "The Angel of Darkness" (1997)
2016 "Summer, New York" (2016)

A Guide to Twin Peaks: The Supernatural Elements

With the new season of "Twin Peaks", I thought it might be helpful to put together a guide to the show, based on my interpretation of things. It's important to know that the show is designed to be ambiguous, and open to multiple perspectives. but here's my take on things:


INTRODUCTION TO THE WEIRDNESS

• TWIN PEAKS IN A NUTSHELL: The town of Twin Peaks in Washington is a logging town, and it is populated with eccentric people. Because it is near the Canadian border, a lot of residents are involved in illegal activities over the border. Outside the main town is a woods that has portals to an evil spiritual dimension, and the spirits love possessing people and making them do awful things (including the killer of Laura Palmer, and possibly Windom Earle). When one of the residents of Twin Peaks (Laura Palmer) is found murdered, the FBI Agent, Dale Cooper, is sent to investigate. 

• Dale Cooper: An FBI agent who is investigating a series of murders. He is basically Sherlock Holmes meets Kwai Chang Caine, he has incredible deductive abilities and is also a Buddhist Shaman; he is a Buddhist because he meditates (sometimes hanging upside down), he can recite from the Bardo Thodol, and uses a stone throwing method to eliminate suspects from his cases. Further evidence of his Buddhism can be seen in his generally calm demeanour, but his fascination and joy with the small things in life ("damn fine cup of coffee", "This must be where pies go when they die")' He is also clearly a Shaman because he can access a spiritual plane (that we'll call THE OTHER PLACE) through his dreams and in visions, that can help him on his cases, but are generally confusing encounters.

• The Log Lady: Margaret Lanterman is a resident of Twin Peaks, her husband was a lumberjack who died in a fire on their wedding night. Margaret believes that her husband's spirit resides in a log (or he may have been reincarnated as the log) which she carries with her everywhere, and she talks to him all the time and thinks he responds to her. Her husband was in THE WOODS outside of TWIN PEAKS the night he died, and found (or received) a special oil that it appears to have enabled his spirit to transfer to the log. Occasionally the log gives clues about the murders, or makes accurate predictions about events to come, which the Log Lady communicates to Agent Cooper and others. The log seems to be able to access the spiritual plane, THE OTHER PLACE, that Cooper also contacts.

• Twin Peaks: A small Washington town (population 51,201) dominated by a lumber mill (owned by JOSIE PACKARD). The local hotelier (BEN HORNE) wants to shut down the mill and replace it with a large property development, and will do anything he has to to accomplish his goals. The town is populated by eccentrics, and because it is near the Canadian border, a lot of residents (who are very bored with all the logging) are involved in illegal activities (including drugs, prostitution, and gambling) over the border. 
• Some Twin Peaks Maps.

• The Woods: The woods outside of TWIN PEAKS appear to serve as a portal to the spiritual plane, THE OTHER PLACE, and allows spirits from THE OTHER PLACE to come to the earthly realm, and allows people to enter THE OTHER PLACE (at certain locations in the woods, and only at certain times). The supernatural effects of the woods are interpreted by some as meaning the woods are haunted, whereas others (including the military) think the woods are a centre of UFO activity. The Native Americans that used to inhabit TWIN PEAKS created a map and calendar that give details as to how to access the portals.

•  The Other Place: The spiritual plane is presented as a Red Room with sofas and chairs. When AGENT COOPER enters the Red Room, it is very confusing to him (in the same way that when 2D Homer Simpson came to the 3D world, it seemed strange and incomprehensible), as it is a higher plane of existence. Spirits who appear in the Red Room include Killer BOB, MIKE, LITTLE DANCING MAN and THE GIANT. 
• Time appears to move strangely in the Red Room because it is a different plane of existence, so sometimes Spirits look like they are moving backwards; and sometimes events seems to recur and 'glitch' in the Red Room. This is our 3D brains trying to interpret events occurring in 10D. 

• Spirits: Killer BOB inhabited the body of the killer of Laura Palmer, and forced his victim to kill Laura. BOB was partners with another spirit MIKE, and they inhabited people and delighted in making them and others suffer. They feed on the pain and suffering of people (which that call GARMONBOZIA). but they had a falling out and as a result MIKE cut off his own arm which had a tattoo that was a symbol of their partnership. His arm became incarnated as the LITTLE DANCING MAN who gives AGENT COOPER clues to the murder, but it is unclear if he is a bad or good spirit. There is also a GIANT who appears in the Red Room (and in TWIN PEAKS), who may be a good spirit. 

• Garmonbozia seems to be an embodiment the pain and suffering of people that evil SPIRITS like Killer BOB like to feed on. It takes the appearance of creamed corn, which was LAURA PALMER's favourite food. It also seems to signal when people are going to transit from the real world into THE OTHER PLACE (and vice versa).

• Blue Rose Cases: The FBI don't have an X-Files section, but seem to be aware of some of the supernatural occurrences associated with THE OTHER PLACE, and cannot officially acknowledge them, therefore when FBI Chief GORDON COLE wants to instruct his agents that a case may have supernatural elements he will meet them in the company of someone wearing a blue rose (something that cannot occur in nature).