Profile for West Sider
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West Sider has commented 129 times (0 in the last month).
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Books
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Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
Help me with the West Wing: Essential viewing or Party Political Broadcast?
Having somehow managed to avoid watching a single episode of the widely praised West Wing TV series I was delighted to discover the entire Box set in my Christmas stocking – and with enough spare time over the holidays to give it a good lash. But with 10 episodes of the first series under my [...] read our review »
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Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the human [...] read our review »
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Comment on Prometheus Unbound…
on 25 December 2011 at 11:06 pm
Dewi,
Nolan’s Batman films, like most of his other stuff, are bland, boring and totally unengaging. If you want a dark and dramatic take on comic books, then Tim Burton’s Batman Returns trounces all around it.
And don’t get me started on the truly dreadful Inception, should have been retitled Ineption such was the amateurish quality of this film.
People will say – you’re wrong, it made a fortune and so did his Batman films – but I counter with, so did many dire silly Hollywood comedies and they weren’t hailing them as masterpieces.
There is a very good reason he’s never been even nominated for the Best Director Oscar – he is a hack.
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Comment on Prometheus Unbound…
on 25 December 2011 at 10:45 pm
BTW – Happy Xmas all.
And note to Slugger: need to get more movie blogs up as this is a culture site as well. And they don’t have to be about our troubled history.
They also cool the atmosphere on here and bring people together!
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Comment on Prometheus Unbound…
on 25 December 2011 at 10:43 pm
Pete,
we are in solid, complete and total agreement here: I can not wait for this. It looks incredible and is the film we fans have been waiting for since 1979.
Young West Sider first saw Alien on TV, just after the 1982 World Cup final, and was totally terrified by the beauty, mystery and brutality of the film.
I have been tracking every piece of news about this new film since it was first announced.
I’ve read the original writer, Jon Spaihts, previous scripts, and they point to an amazing talent. Google Shadow 19 pdf or Passengers pdf to get a flavour.
Every single component of this makes it a must watch: Ridley Scott returning to sci-fi to make an epic with an incredible cast and realising his vision in 3D, and it is not a straight prequel to Alien, but an epic story taking place in the same universe but a new grand mythology.
And it is about that strange Space Jockey. Good heavens, this is probably the most excited I’ve ever been about a film since I was a kid.
And John, here is my take on the saga:
Alien – A Masterpiece which gets better with each passing year
Aliens – A cracking sequel, but one which gets more dated with each passing year.
Alien 3 – a decent enough crack at getting back to the original film’s dark and nihilistic roots.
Alien Resurrection – utter cack. And as the great Kim Newman labelled it, “utterly anonymous”
AVP – a sin
AVPR – a cardinal sin.
June 1st can’t come soon enough. Thanks for posting this on Slugger, Pete.
People need to know that next summer at the movies is not all about another Hack Nolan Batman film.
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Comment on Eoghan Harris in meltdown mode
on 9 October 2011 at 7:48 pm
@Ulick
What is the source for the Brendan Gleeson and Jim Sheridan endorsements?
BTW, on topic, the Sindo campaign is just getting embarrassing now. Harris is horrific; a censorious, lying, fickle, sycophantic relic of a bygone age in Ireland.
He is the best asset the McGuinness campaign could wish for, and a true nightmare for Gay Mitchell’s team.
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Comment on “They’ve hit homes with paint bombs, pipe bombs and petrol bombs.”
on 21 June 2011 at 11:01 pm
Stunned.
Niall O D on UTV Live Tonight just now was statesmanlike, measured and conciliatory – in the face of such violence and provocation – and he’s only 26 and would put many older reps to shame –
- and so was Michael Copeland who seemed seriously under pressure, but he backtracked slightly from his earlier statements – but what I want to know is –
Where was the DUP?
They are the most well-oiled and agile of political machines/animals – and while one of the most potentially disastrous security crises of recent years occurs, they cannot put a single person forward to comment on it.
Either:
a) it’s Catholics being attacked, so who cares (which I don’t believe)
or b)
They are involved in behind the scenes talks with loyalist terrorists and don’t want to jeopardise that
or
c) They know this will peter out and that the faction causing it will be called into line soon, so no point or political capital lost in making a statement.
BTW – where is Naomi Do Gooder tonight. The Alliance Party aren’t really fit for purpose, are they?
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Comment on Nationalism’s ‘crise de foie’: most Catholics prefer the United Kingdom…
on 18 June 2011 at 12:32 am
WS,
I’m not, in the least, trying to represent *why* people vote for what they currently vote for. At best these results point to paradox. At the very worse, a form of ‘cognitive dispepsia’.
My suspicion is that it would be better to try to unpack what it means for nationalism rather than continue denying the slightly weird ‘sub rosa’ reality it’s pointing to.
I think what it means for nationalism is that those people asked face-to-face, if indeed they were nationalists, are still harbouring in the bay marked “whatever you say, say nothing” but which in recent years has been amended slightly to read “whatever you say, say what the loaded questions want you to say”
In the privacy of the polling booth all bets are off, my friend.
If you were really, really, REALLY paranoid you would say that this is part of a SF strategy to lull unionists into a false sense of security, and then into a position of arrogance – and let them trigger that border poll being so full of confidence and hubris, hoping to put unity off by another 100 years….
Only to get a very, very nasty surprise.
There’s an old story about the census and how it is filtered… but that’s neither here nor there….
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Comment on Nationalism’s ‘crise de foie’: most Catholics prefer the United Kingdom…
on 18 June 2011 at 12:18 am
H.M.G. , to drop airport tax in ulster, another nail in the Eire is better coffin.
How’s the cave tonight?
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Comment on Nationalism’s ‘crise de foie’: most Catholics prefer the United Kingdom…
on 17 June 2011 at 11:58 pm
WS,
It’s as relevant as your comments re the paper carrying the story. In fact it is more relevant, since if the highest office in NI shared your view why would it spend money money on it?
Bang on! And bang off!
Bang on: yes, the highest office in the land paid money for it.
Bang on: the dreadful 1950s Daily Mail-lite papers carried it.
But it doesn’t reflect what people vote for, no matter how you or they (and they really, really tried once the other numbers came in) try to present it.
Story. End. Of.
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Comment on Nationalism’s ‘crise de foie’: most Catholics prefer the United Kingdom…
on 17 June 2011 at 11:53 pm
Addendum:
Mick,
sorry for taking this thread out and beyond and into the realm of the hypocrisy of our revolting local newspapers and their disgusting attempts to power up on the lowest common denominator’s blind and angry and contradictory moral anger.
Feel free to snip my addendum to that last post.
Bit for those who’ve read it, my point still stands.
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Comment on Nationalism’s ‘crise de foie’: most Catholics prefer the United Kingdom…
on 17 June 2011 at 11:47 pm
Baz the Blender,
yes, we want it. And we’ll take the hit and you’ll take the hit cos it’s something that needs to happen.
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