Eoin Butler

“The great image of God, with forefinger pointed straight at me…”

From the Tonight Show in 1959. Kerouac was too nervous to do a straight interview, so host Steve Allen asked the writer to do a reading, while he accompanied him on jazz piano. That same show today, incidentally, is hosted by Jay Leno.

Miscellaneous Amusing Items I Come Across #47

Oddly sinister use of quotation marks at a cafe my sister happened upon in Cork. Why do I get the impression that dishes are served with some fava beans and a nice chianti?

Chilean miners: “We’re not gonna lie… It got pretty gay down there.”

“Christ it’s Hallowe’en again, isn’t it?”

Well, either that or war has broken out. Gunships are on the Liffey. The bombardment of Dublin city centre has commenced. No… I’ve checked the calendar. It’s Halloween alright. Read the rest of this article here.

“And for what? The muddled testimony of a henpecked chip shop owner?”

The palsied lies of his stubby-fingered wife? This SHOULD NOT be allowed to stand! This WILL NOT be allowed to stand! By God there will be JUSTICE for the CHIP SHOP FIVE!!! Read the rest of this article here.

Perusing the Sunday papers this weekend, something suddenly strikes me.

I kinda hate the Sunday papers. The first six days of the week, newspaper articles tend to begin with sentences like ‘The government has announced…’, ‘Sources in Timbuktu report…’ or ‘Grave robbers in Ballyjamesduff have stolen…’ But come Sunday, it’s all ‘Is Bebo turning our children into zombies?’ or ‘Can worrying about my bum give me swine flu?’

The answer, invariably, is ‘Almost certainly not… But here’s 2,000 words and a photograph of Jennifer Aniston (for some reason) just for the hell of it.’ Read the rest of this article here.

This is funny

Crippled Inside (1971)

He may have been crippled inside, but he sure knew some interesting people: Tariq Ali, Miles Davis, Jack Nicholson, Andy Warhol. This is from the documentary (it’s on YouTube!) Gimme Some Truth. Happy birthday, John!

Miscellaneous Amusing Items I Come Across #46

Fame is a fickle mistress, Idris. One moment you’re kingpin of the Barksdale organisation. The next Ray Shah is patting you on the back and offering a few pointers. More here.

I’m reminded of Garrison Keillor’s uncle, the one reputed to have “unfinished sentences dating back to the Hoover administration…”

It is a bright, clear morning in mid-September. Aidan Gillen’s battered BMW rattles along one of the bumpy backroads that snake across the sun-kissed Dingle peninsula. To our right stands Mount Brandon. Ahead, the Atlantic Ocean sparkles in a summer’s last hurrah. But the driver is ill-at-ease. I’m a journalist. He doesn’t like journalists. You can tell. Read the rest of this interview here.