Yesterday, despite a popular outcry and serious objections raised, Ireland’s Minister of State for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock signed into law the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012, a statutory instrument which has been described as Ireland’s version of SOPA. The background to the statute is outlined here and here. When news […]
There’s a quote, from an article that Germaine Greer wrote back in the 70s,which springs back in to my mind continuously when listening to certain albums: “When Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho the walls came tumbling down. That’s revelation. The holy Ghost talking. So it can be done. The way to crack a mirror or shiver […]
Imagine the closing of an entire newspaper/magazine/portal online because judges deem one simple phrase published, on one of its pages, to be defamatory. No need to imagine it, as it’s already happened this month – not in China, as one might think, but in the heart of the EU; Italian judges, deeming one phrase published […]
“A poem often has a moment or a movement or an image, to deal with, not a whole series or interrelated and elaborated sequences, nor that sense of duration and vicarious experience that the novel brings. The best a novel can do is use its superstructure, all those cumulative bits of housekeeping, to achieve poem-moments, […]
It’s that time of year, when big newspapers publish long lists of hot travel destinations for 2012, often without rhyme or reason (and the distinct suspicion that lobbying and pr push have more to do with the compilation than attractions, charm, or interest). Having said that, we’re as partial to lists here at TMO as […]
While Irish and Italian citizens participated in the protests against the US SOPA / PIPA bills, it seems that their own Governments are in the process of introducing very similar measures – perhaps even harsher. The Irish government is acting in the wake of a court case (EMI and Others Vs UPC) where record companies […]
Tuscany’s success in presenting itself as the ideal Italian destination is legendary. To the British it’s affectionately known as ‘chiantishire’, while for thousands of American and European readers it is linked indelibly with the romantic vision presented by Frances Mayes in Under a Tuscan Sun. The irony of it all is that the very things […]
The prize-winning Spanish novelist Lucía Etxebarria has, apparently, decided to pack in her career writing books after having discovered that more copies of it had been illegally downloaded than had actually been sold. Etxebarria, whose first book was a biography of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, and who has won both the Premio Nadal and the […]
Debut e.p from highly regarded Dublin instrumentalists.
Debut album from Austin Texas songwriter Sarah Sharp. Produced by Dan Workman of Destiny’s Child and ZZ Top fame!
