Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
irish times
This is funny
In honour of Comic-Con, which gets underway in San Diego today, here’s maybe the funniest ten minutes of television I’ve ever seen. “Here’s a spoiler… you will die alone.” I’m not a big fan of science fiction myself. But I have had some fun at it’s expense it in recent years…
Who will watch The Watchmen? No, seriously.
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.
Q&A with Pat Mills, the ‘Godfather of British comic books’
The House of Dolls
“Weird. Freaky. Scary… Freaky and scary are the two you’d get most often. People tend to either like the dolls or hate them. There’s no in-between.” Read the rest of this article here.
“To be fair, we did just whizz past in a bright pink discotheque on wheels. He might have been a little bit distracted.”
‘I THINK I went to school with that guy,” mutters 28-year-old Chris Dunne of Absolute Limos as he navigates a roundabout in Clondalkin, west Dublin. Its 8pm on Saturday and we’re en route to the first pick-up of the night. When the passerby does not return his salute, Dunne is disappointed. “He didn’t even acknowledge me!”
To be fair, I point out, we did just whizz past in a bright red discotheque on wheels. He might have been a little bit distracted. Read the rest of this entry »
Student hack (belatedly) bites back!
I can’t help noticing that Eoin Butler has billed this piece as some sort of revenge or competition between myself and himself with his title “Student hack bites back”. I am saying from the outset that I have no intention of “biting back.”
Looking back now, I wish I had chosen to interview someone a bit safer than Eoin for this article. The bottom line is that I thought Mongrel was a hilarious magazine and decided it would be cool to interview one of their writers for this assignment I had.
Lame jokes Bob Dylan has told onstage while introducing his band (1988 – 2011)
“At the back, the meanest drummer in the world. When we played in the Middle East, he killed the Dead Sea… David Kemper!”
“You might be wondering what’s written on his shoes – those are foot notes!” Read the rest of this entry »
“I’m not sure what the guy’s problem is, but he’s pointing an AK-47 assault rifle at me, so I don’t make a fuss…”
What stands before me is a scene of utter desolation: the chalk remains of roads, buildings and farmland, bombed and bulldozed beyond any recognition… Read the rest of this article here.
“Half the ads on there were from professional ladies. Solicitors? No, not solicitors.”
You’ve never tried it yourself, of course. Nor, as far as you’re aware, have any of your friends or any of your friends’ friends. But no more than Enya’s record sales, or the viewing figures for Mrs Brown’s Boys, the statistics tell a very different story. They suggest that far more of us dabble in the world of online dating than would care to admit it.
Even in the midst of recession, it has never been as popular. Two year ago, online dating overtook pornography as the third most valuable source of paid-for online content. Only digital music and online gaming generate more revenue. This year it is projected to bring in a staggering $932m in the US alone. Read the rest of this entry »
Published: Irish Times, March 12 2011“What was the highest grossing movie of last year? Jackass 3. Well, we weren’t trying to make Jackass 3…”
VALERIE PLAME
Ex-CIA agent, now the subject of a film starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.
Spies often tells us that the James Bond image is a myth, that intelligence gathering is a dull, unglamorous business. Your career doesn’t really bear out that theory though, does it?
Well, I always loved what I was doing. It was exciting to work undercover in foreign countries, using disguises and hi-tech gadgets. But I never spent much time at the craps table, let’s put it that way. I never owned too many sequined work dresses!
You joined the CIA straight out of college. What did your friends and family think you did for a living?
My cover varied, depending on what the circumstances called for. I usually posed as a businesswoman or a commercial traveller. I was lucky. When my identity was betrayed, my friends understood my reasons for deceiving them. The only thing they said – to my face at least – was, well, that explains a lot… Read the rest of this article here.
In which I Google my own name
Of course, it’s not something you should do too often. And when you must, it’s not something you should publicly admit to. But what the hell? Last time I googled the words “Eoin Butler”, I discovered that my friend and I were listed as problem tenants on a website called LandlordSolutions.ie. (Our crime? Taking a case to the PRTB four years ago, which had ruled 100% in our favour.)
I managed to get our names removed, but not without using (for the first and only time in my life) the utterly cringesome phrase “I write for the Irish Times, you know.” Time before that, I discovered that I’m reviled within the Ultimate Frisbee community. Which caused me to soil myself pretty badly, as you can imagine. So this is a task I approach with no little trepidation.
But fuck it, I’m bored. So here goes nothing… Read the rest of this entry »
“Yeah right. Last Irish box you saw the inside of had a number 5 on the lid…”
Went through the Magic Door, did he?
We both crease ourselves laughing.
“Special offer at Saver’s Supermarket, wha?” Read the rest of this article here.