Lenihan should not quit, says Minister states the Irish Times in relation to the moronic “kebabs” remark made by junior minister Conor Lenihan.Er, yes he should. Lenihan’s boss, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, claims that ‘the remarks had been made “in the heat of the moment.”‘ But even if they were, such a verbal […]

On the seemingly interminable (10+ hours) flight back to Ireland from Arizona, I managed to finish Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s slim, amusing, and mercifully short novel, Television (translated by Jordan Stump). Its slight premise–in short, a man decides to stop watching television for good–had a certain appeal after three weeks’ exposure to U.S. TV. (It’s not really […]

Ah, holidays–a time of year to wander around a video store 5,000 miles away from home and realize that Blockbuster, although significantly cheaper than your local video store (whose late fees kick in around 12 seconds after your five-plus euro 24-hour rental is up), has exactly the same range of offerings. (Remember the good old […]

This is the first post of May. The gap in posts is not just down to being on vacation (on vacation from what? some might say) but can also be explained by various dull Internet issues, flaring back pain, yada yada yada. In the past week or so, I have actually used to time that […]

The other day, while I was trumpeting my minor contribution to the most recent issue of Three Monkeys Online, I forget to mention some of the other stuff on the site worth taking a look at. In particular, the mag has somehow managed to wrangle interviews with both Peter Jackson and Naomi Watts, director and […]

The critics gave Kazuo Ishiguro a bit of a mauling over his latest novel, particularly in comparison with the garlands thrown at his fellow writing-course graduate (from the University of East Anglia) Ian McEwan. I happen to prefer Ishiguro’s book to Saturday–it’s far more imaginatively ambitious for starters. My review is available at the Three […]

Well, I succeeded in keeping off the net for three days. The flight to Arizona, which I had been slightly dreading because of fears that my two children would be driven to the point of insanity by 9+ hours on a plane, actually went very smoothly. Both of them (the smug father will let you […]

It will probably be a few days until my next posting–as I think I mentioned earlier, I’m off to visit my wife’s family (well, now mine as well) in Arizona.It will probably do no harm to be away from a warm laptop for a few days. Aside from what damage having a mildly radioactive device […]

Someone (St. Fintan O’Toole of D’Olier Street?) recently pointed out that the paradox of Pope John Paul II’s reign was that he was a fierce anti-Communist who kept control over his organization with a grip that would put General Jaruzelski to shame*.To flog the slightly divisive comparison, I wonder if, with the election of Pope […]

Martin McDonagh’s play, “The Pillowman,” which isn’t newly written but is new to Broadway, is receiving rave reviews from a wide range of American critics. I’m dubious about the acclaim. The grounds for my scepticism is slightly shaky—I’ve only seen one of McDonagh’s plays, “The Lonesome West,” a few years ago but I was taken […]