Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
Ballyhaunis
COLE’S CORNER (2005)
Such a lovely vocal, it’s a pity he screws the lyric up right at the end with that awful line about the girl with a smile and a flower in her hair. Read the rest of this entry »
“SALTED PORRIDGE. DRIED MEAT. LEEKS. GOATS MILK…
“Anything that doesn’t require refrigeration, basically. Chuck it all in a pot and then boil it up…” It’s difficult to identify quite which element of historical military re-enactment least appeals to this squeamish civilian of the 21st century. It could be the drafty costumes or public scorn. Then, of course, there’s the very real possibility of having my eye taken out by some hyperactive fund manager with a lance. But a new contender has snook up along the outside rail: the horrific-sounding lunchtimes.
“Oh no, that’s not just your lunch,” laughs John Looney, the founder of re-enactment website LivingHistory.ie. “That has to last you two days – that’s your breakfast dinner and tea!” Read the rest of this entry »
WHY DO CATS SMILE WHEN DRAGONS BREATHE FIRE?
HUMAN TRAFFICK
Remember Latif Yahia? Iraqi army captain, worked as Uday Hussein’s body double, escaped into exile, took a policeman hostage, punched a judge, torched a refugee camp, married an Irish woman, got into a beef with Michael McDowell and posted some fucking scary messages on this blog… Yeah, that Latif Yahia.
A $20m biopic based on his book I Was Saddam’s Son is about to go into production, starring Dominic Cooper (Mama Mia, An Education.) And the film’s director has a pretty colourful back story all of his own… Read the rest of this entry »
NIHILISTIC BEDDING
THIS IS NOT A JOKE SHOP. THIS IS AN ADULT FETISH SHOP. SERIOUS SHOPPERS ONLY.
“One particular film has three words in its title: none of which can be repeated in a family newspaper. Sufficed to say it boasts an all-male cast. And given the pride these gentlemen take in one particular aspect of their anatomy, the film could be described as, quite literally, an orgy of self-congratulation…” Read the rest of this article here.
THIS IS FUNNY
DJ #1: Hey, do you want to go the cinema tonight? Read the rest of this entry »
RESPECT ME, RESPECT BEYONCE
Today is my niece’s christening. I’ve been asked to be her godfather, an honour which speaks volumes for both the esteem in which I’m held by my family and the dearth of alternative candidates. More the former than the latter, I suspect. Read the rest of this entry »
A CUP OF TEA…
A bowl of corn flakes. Two slices of brown toast with margarine and honey… If someone had asked me on the tarmac what I ate for breakfast this morning, I doubt I’d have been able to recall. Hurling through a bank of clouds at 250 miles per hour upside down, however, I can recount every tiny detail, from the brand name of the margarine, to the expiration date on the milk… Read the rest of this article.
BRENDAN THOMPSON GETTING HIS MICKEY CAUGHT IN HIS ZIP IN JUNIOR INFANTS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Picture it: a vibrant tableau of rural Irish childhood in the 1980s. Two lines of infants, marshalled by a prissy, short-sighted nun, queue in a freezing corridor, waiting for their turn to use the toilet. There is some perfunctory jostling and pulling of hair. But for the most part, it is an unremarkable scene. On the wall behind, a portrait of Pope John Paul II beams down serenely. Read the rest of this entry »