Eoin Butler

Hell Is Around The Corner (1995)

How To Get The Girl

THE POLISH GIRL with the tea trolley is trying to work out what the fuck is going on. A tall, athletic young man in a tight-fitting black T-shirt is standing in the centre of Room 202. His hair is meticulously tousled and a tacky necklace pendant bobbles on his chest. He is a rising inter-county hurling star, but that probably doesn’t ring any bells with her. She’s more likely to have noticed that he’s holding the hand of another (identically kitted-out) young man and leading him in a graceful twirl around on the spot.

On the far side of the room, a third boyband clone is filming the pair on a digital camcorder.

I wouldn’t presume to know exactly what’s going through this girl’s mind at this moment. But I’d be surprised if the words “gay” and “porn” aren’t pretty high up in the mix. Read the rest of this article here.

This is Funny

If laughing with the England World Cup squad of 1998 does not sit easily with you, take some consolation from noting what appalling music tastes they have.

Brass Buttons (1973)

Have you got a SLVNLY, NHLSTC side?

Is it just me, or is anyone else concerned about the wellbeing of the WKD gang? When those irrepressable jack-the-lads first burst into our lives they were brimming with mischief and effervescence: whether it was playing football in their underpants, hilariously pretending to be gay or engineering any number of japes that revolved around someone appearing to have pissed themselves. It was a golden age for hi-jinks.

But five years on, the reservoir of alcopop-fueled jocularity appears to have run dry, plunging the WKD gang into a downward spiral. Boisterous, imbecilic good humour has now been replaced by an all pervading sense of nihilism and apathy. Read the rest of this entry »

O Mio Babbino Caro (1965)

Environmentalism has become the dominant ideology of our age

It is an ideology of limits, restraint and caution. Humans are having an impact on our climate, that’s pretty clear. But environmentalism has turned into an extremely illiberal moral crusade. Read the rest of this article here.

Lotion Hitler

It’s the Final Solution to dry skin. (From Reddit)

And the 2010 Flat Lake Festival table quiz champions are…

Yeah, we’re Mayo’s answer to the Royal Tenenbaums. Except without the personality flaws. Table quiz glory aside, there were many, many highlights at this gloriously dog-eared festival: Barry McGuigan’s nifty Footloose. Livin Dred Theatre’s mightily impressive production of Pat McCabe’s Emerald Germs of Ireland. Jinx Lennon. Hell, even the programme notes were entertaining. (“The legendary Toblerones are back – fatter, balder and poorer than ever!”) Read the rest of this entry »

You know the way life isn’t fair, right?

It’s Aidan. I might have guessed. “You know the way life isn’t fair..?” he asks. As opening gambits go, this is one of his better efforts. (The last time he rang with bad news, he said “You were never too fond of that coffee table, were you?”)

Immediately, my mind races through all sorts of horrific possibilities. Aidan has run over my dog. Aidan has impregnated my sister. Aidan has murdered my pregnant sister and run over my dog while making his getaway… It’s almost a relief when he coughs up the truth. Read the rest of this article.