Dublin

Today is Bloomsday, and we're not talking cherry blossoms. June 16 is the date when Leopold Bloom, hero of James Joyce's epic novel "Ulysses," made his odyssey through Dublin, Ireland. So what, you may say. Well, "Ulysses" is one of the most influential books of the 20th century. Funny, irreverent, full of barely comprehensible word play - and the original manuscript resides not in Dublin but in our own wonderful and underappreciated Rosenbach Museum at 2010 Delancey Place, repository of an amazing collection of rare books and art. Today from noon to 6, in front of the Rosenbach, a variety of Philadelphians, including Police Commissioner John Timoney, radio host Marty Moss-Coane and TV personality Ulysses "Ukee" Washington, will read from "Ulysses.

In Dublin's fair city, the girls are so . . . waifish. At least The Girl With Green Eyes is. This 1964 feature starring the delightful Rita Tushingham as a stray cat of a girl rescued by writer Peter Finch is a mood piece as memorable for their performances as for the Dublin locations. "The Girl With Green Eyes" will be with "Waltz of the Toreadors," a comedy starring Peter Sllers, tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Film Forum/Philadelphia, Philadelphia Center, 509 S. Broad St. (w) Tickets are $4; $3 for members and full-time students.

Inis Nua, dedicated to contemporary drama from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales, presents Mark O'Rowe's Made in China, a stunningly nasty play about Dublin's thugworld. The accents are thick (what did he say?), the slang is low (what does that mean?), and the violence is vicious: If the three actors - all giving terrific performances - live through the run, it will be thanks to their skill and courage and the brilliant fight choreography of J. Alex Cordaro. A thug named Hughie (Jered McLenigan, whose honeyed baritone serves him well here, creating a sense of humanity crucial to his character)

Cass Kimrey likes to tell about how her son went all the way to Ireland to meet the girl next door. Jim Kimrey, 35, a sergeant in the Philadelphia Police Department and a saxophonist in the Avalon String Band, is the prototypical South Philadelphian - carrying on in his father's footsteps as a police officer and a Mummer, living in his grade-school parish, and remodeling the home his paternal great-grandfather bought after emigrating from Lithuania....

NEW YORK - In April, as part of an Irish theater festival in which several professional Philadelphia companies took part, a curious little play called Dublin by Lamplight , with all the actors in clownface, opened in Center City in the large space at Broad Street Ministries. Now Inis Nua Theatre, the company that staged it, has reopened the production Off-Broadway, at the suite of theaters called 59E59. The setting by Meghan Jones has been scaled down to fit the New York space, and the six-member cast includes two new actors.

DUBLIN - Somewhere in Ireland, a burglar has the heart of a saint. Officials at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin said yesterday that they're distraught and perplexed over the theft of the church's most precious relic: the preserved heart of St. Laurence O'Toole, patron saint of Dublin. O'Toole's heart had been displayed in the cathedral since the 13th century. It was stored in a heart-shaped wooden box and secured in a small, square iron cage on the wall of a chapel dedicated to his memory.

The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Tuesday the appointment of Paul A. Leonard as township manager, officially bringing an end to Gregory Klemick's 12 years of service in that role. For the last year, Leonard has performed some of the manager's duties, serving as deputy township manager, a position created to ease the transition. Klemick resigned Jan. 1 because he has multiple sclerosis. "Greg was hardworking," board Chairman Richard R. Rulon said in an interview.

With his broad smile, deep eyes and wild hair, does anyone look more the Irish poet than Seamus Heaney? With a poetry rooted in the history of his native land, with verse that rises and falls like the lush landscape, does anyone sound more the Irish poet than Seamus Heaney? And yet, as befits the latest recipient of the world's most prestigious literary award, Mr. Heaney's work transcends nationality and place to touch a universal longing. His poems "exalt everyday miracles and the living past," said the Swedish Academy as it awarded him the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature last week.

The Pride of Parnell Street at Act II Playhouse in Ambler is a love story. Like so many Irish plays, it's told in monologues, making it seem more like storytelling than like conventional, dialogic theater. Sebastian Barry's couple, Janet (Kittson O'Neill) and Joe (David Whalen), live a rough, tough, hardscrabble life, financed entirely by robbery, punctuated by violence. So it's surprising only to Janet when Joe beats her up after the Irish football team loses an important match.

Frank Timoney wants to get a few things straight about his cousin, John, the Philadelphia police commissioner. First, his real name is Sean. "Over here, we call him by his Irish name," said Frank, a retired Dublin cop who spent 36 years on the force. Sean it is. As for this thing in Esquire magazine about John - er, Sean - being the best cop in the country? "Well, he's not the best cop in Ireland," Frank quipped. "The best cop in Ireland just retired. " This is going to be good.

Under normal circumstances, Kayla McAneney wouldn't have been anywhere near the offensive end of the field. But the Upper Dublin girls' lacrosse team wasn't exactly playing by its typical script Tuesday when it gutted out a 9-8 win at North Penn in the preliminary round of the PIAA District 1 tournament. With two starters out because of injuries, McAneney moved from defense to midfield. That put the sophomore in perfect position to pounce on a turnover and score the tying goal with 24 seconds remaining.

At Saturday's 13th annual Hurricane Track Classic, Upper Dublin showed that it's well on its way to gearing up for next month's district championships. On a brisk and breezy day at Villa Maria, the Cardinals stood out by winning three events at the girls-only meet. Cydney Christian got the day started for Upper Dublin by winning the 100-meter dash in 13.14 seconds. The Cardinals then got their second win in the 400 meters, as Nicole Burke topped a field of 39 runners as she finished in 57.17.

Milo O'Shea, 86, a versatile Dublin-born stage and screen actor known for his famously bristling, agile eyebrows and roles in such disparate films as Ulysses , Barbarella , and Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, died Tuesday, April 2, in New York after a short illness, according to Irish news accounts. Familiar both in starring and supporting roles, Mr. O'Shea, who also appeared in many popular television series, including Cheers, Frasier, The West Wing, and The Golden Girls.

DUBLIN, Ireland - A chilly, damp Dublin celebrated St. Patrick's Day with artistic flair Sunday as the focal point for a weekend of Irish celebrations worldwide. More than 250,000 revelers braved the occasionally snowy, sleety skies to line the streets for the traditional holiday parade, a two-mile jaunt through the city's heart involving performers from 46 countries. Unusually, 8,000 tourists in town for the festivities led the procession in a "people's parade. " Many donned leprechaun costumes or deployed banners and flags of their home nations or U.S. states, with the Texans making the biggest impression, sporting "Happy St. Paddy's Day, Y'All!"

Two teams beat a state record in the same race Friday at Bucknell University, and Upper Dublin came out as the team with more reason to celebrate. The Cardinals' 200-yard medley relay quartet won by 23 hundredths of a second at the PIAA Class AAA boys' swimming and diving championships. Robert Bantley, Cooper Tollen, Michael Jensen, and Eric Jensen registered a time of 1 minute, 31.28 seconds, setting a state record. The mark had been held by La Salle, which set it in 2011 with a time of 1:31.94.

Two teams beat a state record in the same race Friday at Bucknell University, and Upper Dublin came out as the team with more reason to celebrate. The Cardinals' 200-yard medley relay quartet won by 23 hundredths of a second at the PIAA Class AAA boys' swimming and diving championships. Robert Bantley, Cooper Tollen, Michael Jensen, and Eric Jensen registered a time of 1 minute, 31.28 seconds, setting a state record. The mark had been held by La Salle, which set it in 2011 with a time of 1:31.94.

It's the first round of the state girls' basketball tournament, and the defending champions are your opponent. You're still reeling from a devastating loss in the semifinals of the district tournament. And to make matters worse, despite earning third place in District 1, you aren't getting the respect that you think you deserve. Then the defending state champs hit four three-pointers to start the first quarter. It would have been easy for Upper Dublin to quit Friday night against Archbishop Carroll.