FRESH from hosting a New York dinner to promote the Lyric Theatre, Ballymena-born actor Liam Neeson has been nominated for a prestigious Golden Globe for his portrayal of controversial sex researcher Alfred Kinsey. (Click on ‘More’ to see the answer to the question in the blog entry title…)Had his tay. I know, it’s awful… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
ANYONE still missing Giro’s, the ‘Warzone Collective’ that closed last year in Belfast after 17 years, might be interested in this campaign to create autonomous social centres in Ireland. Indymedia follows up the story. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
A COPY of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic has been sold at auction for almost 400,000 euros. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
CONGRATULATIONS to Portadown, which came in at number 22 in The Idler’s stocking filler ‘Crap Towns II’. As well as references to the town’s sectarianism and Drumcree, it is described as “like Burnley, but with more tattoos”. Unfair? Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Heh heh.. Well, someone had to say it. John Waters, in the Guardian, puts on his flak jacket and points out – in an actually very considered piece – that the new U2 album, the “fourth past-their-best anthology” and “a nondescript collection by a band nearly two decades at the top and desperate not to slip”, “adds up to no more than a massive unit-shifter” Pete Baker
Brendan O’Connor has an excellent article in the Sunday Independent, High time to bury the dead poets’ society, looking at how we treat our poets and praising a new book by Anthony Cronin, the man responsible for Aosdana and the artist’s exemption. A Sample of Cronin’s writing: The Man Who Went Absent From The Native Literature“IT IS apparently said at Irish wakes that the dead person “would have loved it himself”. And if Paddy Kavanagh had been alive for his …
In the Guardian, Mark Lynas looks at The concrete isle that Ireland is fast becoming – this magical country, intoxicated by wealth and fixated on ‘progress’ – that increasingly turns a blind eye to the destruction of real history while revelling in the sentimentalising view of others.The official philistinism (that Clinton is quoted as referring to) is, perhaps, exemplified by the seamless transition of Martin Cullen from Minister for arts, heritage and the environment.. into Minister for Transport. Up on …
Horslips, a big name and a big draw back in Belfast back in the 70’s release their Rollback album today, along with a DVD documentary Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts. Yep, Charlie O’Connor’s back on the fiddle. Hat tip to Gerry! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
SOME suspect that the Big Deal will be announced next Tuesday or Wednesday, although I can guarantee it was never going to happen on Saturday – Lundy’s Day! However, even Lundy’s Day – named after the man denounced by Protestants as a traitor during the Siege of Derry (unionists are quite insistent upon the ‘Derry’ name when it comes to Apprentice Boys events) – has become an example of progress. The Irish News reports that many stores will be open …
Further to the discussions on language, I received a review by e mail,in the extended entry, of a new edition of A Dictionary of Hiberno-English by Terence Patrick Dolan, reviewed in this link at Bibliofemme.”This is the dictionary’s second edition and there are over 1,000 new entries alone. Calling it a dictionary is a bit off the mark; it’s a sort of dictionary meets encyclopedia with a bit of Schott’s miscellany thrown in. As well as lots of Hiberno English …
In response to the news of the cuts at Lá newspaper, Lord John Laird has told Slugger, “I’m very sad to hear if anyone has lost their jobs, that was never my intention”. However he went on to suggest that the intention behind his recent mention of the papers funding was to etablish equity in public funding between Irish and Ulster Scots.He’s also adamant that he was not instrumental in any of the funding decisions that lead to the cuts …
If you can listen online, check out this week’s version of Ghost in the Machine (not sure if this is the right edition). The local link is the first feature on the alleged ghost of Helena Blunden, who apparently fell to her death in a Linen Mill in Raphael Street in Belfast on the same day the Titanic sank. In the weirdest twist (there’s a few others), a few years back the current owners of the building unearthed an old …
Lá have lost two posts in the last week. Editor of Ireland’s only daily Irish newspaper Ciarán Ó Pronntaigh believes that the shutting down of European funding was as a direct consequence of pressure from senior Ulster Unionist politicians:”Unionists, including Lord Laird of Artigarvan and Lady Sylvia Hermon, have managed to block vital grant-aid for Lá from Europe and the cross-border body Foras na Gaeilge.” “The Andersonstown News Group has kept Lá afloat by investing over £150,000 in the paper …
Synchronicity and all that. No sooner had I read Sheila’s comments on Maureen O’Hara in ‘The Quiet Man’ – Sentimentalizing Ireland – than this news story caught my eye, Quiet Man Pub to Get its Proper Home at LastReading the story, of course, it soon becomes evident that the ‘proper home’ for the Quiet Man pub, or rather the props and fittings used in the original movie, is in a Hollywood studio – Pat Cohan’s in Cong, Co Mayo, was …
The full text of a Flann O’Brien play, presumed lost, was discovered in the 90’s.Written in the 1940’s it sounds astonishingly familiar 🙂 From the dung heap of history The first act of Rhapsody in Stephen’s Green was among Flann O’Brien’s papers owned by the University of Southern Illinois. But no trace until now had been found of acts two and three and a prologue and epilogue. The play is in the vein of O’Brien’s columns under the name Myles …
Shane and the lads are back in business. Last night’s Frank Skinner show had an interview with the man himself, Shane MacGowan. Old habits die hardTwenty-five years ago, Shane MacGowan was given six weeks to live. But he’s still here, and so are the Pogues – back to their original lineup for a new lease of life. Dave Simpson joins them in Dublin to relive the bad old days Ambrose Uprichard
An otherwise interesting article in the Belfast Telegraph is somewhat spoiled by the headline: How Ulster Scots put Bush in power It must be hard enough trying to convince the world of the validity of an Ulster-Scots identity without burdening it with this!Nell McCafferty is quoted – ‘Unionists are boring, though I will say this about them – you can throw everything you have at them, and we did, and they’re still f****** standing there. It’s like that film Zulu. …
Interesting story concerning the SS Nomadic, a small tender built in Belfast the year before the Titanic and used to ferry passengers out to the tragic liner. The ship is still afloat, and is up for sale in France. But the City Council cannot afford the cost of buying and restoring and ready for inclusion in a Titanic Musuem.It also seems reluctant to apply to Northern Ireland Consolidated Loan Fund, run by the NI Audit Office to help NI Departments …
According to Fast Fude the Vacuum is going to organise a Sorry day some time in December “and will involve a special SORRY issue of The Vacuum, Sorry T-shirts, a Sorry cabaret and club night and a host of other Sorry events”. It’s in response to a demand for a public apology to Belfast City Council. To give you a taste, here’s that rascally aetheist Newton Emerson. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the …
Fortnight Magazine , September 2004, carries an interesting Interview with one of Ireland’s great writers. Liam Carson talks to Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill Ambrose Uprichard
