Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
Blog
Clicking Along The Ledge
#10 Student Hack Bites Back (April 15th)
Funny story this. Student hack writes extremely flattering, but also totally made up, profile of me for student magazine. I publish said profile here, replete with sarcastic comments from myself and various associates. There is much rejoicing. Months later, student hack drops us a line protesting cruel treatment. I offer him right of reply. The rest is… acrimony. #9 Holy Crap, Is This The Most Casually Homophobic Article You’ve Ever Read or What? (April 21st)
In retrospect, I should have just ignored this nasty piece of invective by hairy-knuckled troglodyte Ian O’Doherty. The guy is a friendless, talentless hack that no one with an ounce of sense would urinate upon if he were on fire. Which is punishment enough for him, I suppose.
#8 Gerry Ryan: My Part In His Downfall (May 3rd)
There was nothing remotely funny about Gerry Ryan’s untimely death in April. But this reader comment, which followed hot on its heels, gave me possibly the biggest laugh I’ve had all year. (You kind of have to read the article to appreciate the full extent of the misunderstanding.) Thank you, Peejus!
#7 The Rain is Bucketing Down Outside, I Can Hear the Gutters in the Back Yard Overflowing (July 30th)
A friend of mine texted me one Sunday morning this summer to tell me he’d just been incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital. This is a column I wrote about it for the Dubliner shortly afterwards.
#6 Conor Lenihan: Highly Evolved (September 17th)
When our esteemed Minister for Science endorsed a book condemning evolution as a hoax, I wrote this comment piece for The Guardian. It got about a billion comments on CiF. No exaggeration like.
#5 Gimme Shelter (April 8th)
This piece was written in reaction to Wikileaks’ Collateral Murder video. Looking back it’s obvious none of us had any idea just how big a story Assange was going to become this year.
#4 Chilean Miners: “We’re Not Going To Lie. It Got Pretty Gay Down There. (October 13th)
Not my most mature effort. But (ahem) boys will have their fun.
#3 Email to My Editor, 2003. (July 28th)
Out of boredom one day, I posted an old email I’d written to the editor of Mongrel seven years previously. When he responded in the comments, things got interesting. In a facepalm kind of way.
#2 I’m Reminded of Garrison Keillor’s uncle. The One Reputed to Have “Unfinished Sentences Dating Back to the Hoover Administration.” (October 5th)
Aidan Gillen wasn’t happy with this piece I wrote for the Irish Times. But honestly, this is was how the interview went down. He seemed to me to be a decent guy who just issn’t uncomfortable in the public eye. I still have huge respect for him as an actor.
#1 Isn’t Sinead O’Connor Overdue a Massive Grovelling Apology From Absolutely Everybody? (March 28th)
Twenty minutes after this story appeared online, my inbox showed forty new Twitter followers. In the next 24 hours, the story got about 40,000 hits on my blog and made the front page of Reddit. By the following evening Sinead O’Connor had been in touch. (It was also translated into a whole bunch of languages and linked to by Glenn Greenwald.) This was when I understood the awesome power of the internet.
Appendix: It wasn’t one of my most clicked stories of the year, but this story I did in February was included in the Irish Times Book of the Year 2010.
See also: My Top Five Stories of 2009.
December 16th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Well done Eoin and all that. It’s interesting in no.10 you come across like a prick (sorry but you do) for publishing correspondence but then in no.3 you’re cool with someone doing the same thing back to you so you’re not a hypocrite at least.
I really have to do some work now.
December 16th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
@ Andy – At the beginning of your comment you come across as being quite sound. But then you seem rude but then you seem sound again. Thank you!
December 16th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
going through this led me back into the swirling vortex of Ian O’ Doherty. On the other hand, congrats. If this were a book I’d still read it
December 16th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Agreed on Ian O’Doherty. I considered tweaking the results so as to omit him. But having done it once already*, I figured it’d be farcical if I did it a second time.
* This is the actual second most viewed story of the year. Never in the field of human blogging have so many tedious comments been read by so few.
December 16th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
I have strange feelings about Inception. When I watched it I thought “that was good” but one day shortly after I found myself thinking “that was a load of boring shit actually”. Now I feel guilty that I told everyone I enjoyed. have had to listen to them go on about it and nod.
This is starting on Inception again, better stop.
December 16th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Best thing about those Inception comments is the way everyone begins “Okay, I haven’t time to read all those long comments…” and then proceeds to leave their own 800 comment that no one will ever, ever read.
December 17th, 2010 at 2:11 am
Well I haven’t time to read that comment but I’m pretty sure from skimming it you’re right.
Also who doesnt have time to read a comment? You’ve already commited to the nothing means anything zone, may aswell be informed of the eejitry that came before you
December 17th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Lolz at Chilean miners!
December 17th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Great stuff Eoin. But I just read back on 2009 and realise you never gave us the Steve Appleton follow up we were promised. Pleeeeeese!
December 17th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Jenny, I’m afraid he either needs to become either destitute or a superstar in Japan before it would really be worth my while. But for the record, Mark (who wrote that piece) and Sam (who went all Julian Assange on my deep, dark secret’s in the Mail to my Editor post) now both blog here:
http://www.tidylittleracket.com/
December 18th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Acrimony/History?
Is there any way to remove the times of posts so nobody knows just how drunk I am?
December 18th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Is there any way to remove the times of posts so nobody knows just how I am drunk? Or even is there any way to remove the posts so nobody knows just the times i am drunk?
December 18th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
It’s possible to get so drunk that no one knows what time it is. If that’s any help?
December 18th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
ah eoin now-youre losing your ledge.
i was helping poor ponjoe out there.
that student lad working in the world bank completely pawked (sic-leave it in) you i might as well add.sure hes only having you on boybeen.a small quite brilliant piece of maggot acting that hes able to keep up some 5 yrs after the fact. what a guy.in fact hes my friend.or he was my friend.we had a falling out working for the local creamery selecting kids drawings for milk cartons.he liked all the superhero ones.i thought they were only all pictures of marlon brando. that was 84-we havent talked since.that was before he moved to brussels acourse.i like the world bank now.
December 18th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
See, that guy is clearly hammered
December 18th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
That’s my best guess alright. Even checked his IP address to see if he was in Australia or somewhere it was late at night. Nope, he’s in Ireland.
December 18th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
“that hes able to keep up some 5 yrs after the fact”
– That’s a strange and worrying sentence
December 18th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Well,smart boys wanted! No need, here’s poncho joe and his butty. Where’s that young fella from the World Bank gone? I’m afraid I’m not hammered-sorry to say. I can keep you posted on my sobriety throughout the rest of the evening if you want. Apparently though it’s only kosher to be hammered over in Australia-and only late at night at that! This is news to me and a sore blow to the publicans of Ireland. But what’s to stop me,then, booking a flight and heading over there to send the exact same comment? Nothing-only the exorbitant cost!
December 18th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
the being sectioned might stop you too
December 18th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Jesus, this is as good as Liveline. The reigning champion of angry, incoherent comments (Dan) is limbering up and promising big things on the Miscellaneous Amusing #51 thread below. He likes it there. Says it’s MOR.
December 18th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
“The being sectioned might stop you too?” Ah poino,man,don’t say that. That’s a bit cutting now. Sorry bud-didn’t mean to come across as angry or incoherent.It’s just I had this friend once who was sectioned and then I brought him nuts and a big picture of the Beatles Help and I felt really bad about it after. I think it was raining too. Beeped the horn at a guy then and he got the wrong idea and I was thinking what next now? It was just a rotten run of luck really and I due in town to play Minnesota Fats in pool the next day and all but I knew I couldn’t win after that. 18 missed calls from George C Scott-that was no fun.
What’s the criteria exactly for making the clicking along the ledge? Is it when it kicks off or when it ends?
Also,is Harmony Korine ever going to make a good film again?
December 18th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Technical K.O.
Opponent turned into a vegetable
December 18th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Sorry i might be wrong now but I’m not sure you really understand what a TKO is Ponchyo. It’s not a knock-out knock-out a la Rocky 22. A TKO is when the ref puts a stop to it. And we both know who that is. Butty call it there
I’m kinda enjoying this…for a sanctioned vegetable and all.
December 19th, 2010 at 3:48 am
Wos whammmered wow? I twink thn jocks on who swineshun? polyges lapcete.
December 30th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Coming a bit late to this party but finally saw Inception (grudgingly) last night.
In a word: portentous.
December 31st, 2010 at 4:11 pm
It’s funny, after all the hype during the summer, hardly a word about it at the end of the year. People coming around to my opinion on this.
January 1st, 2011 at 8:18 am
Truly you are a leader of men.