The plot thickens. Weeks ago the popular torrent site The Pirate Bay was pre-emptively blocked by the police division in charge of post and communications here in Italy. With a flick of the switch the site became inaccessible (despite the fact, as journalist Alessandro Longo points out that the Pirate Bay has yet to be […]
One of the pleasures of being a hypocrite is that Pete Townshend empathises completely. Not that one should go on any particular *ahem*, “nostalgia” trip, circa 2003. Instead, cast your attention upon “Quadrophenia”, Townshend’s emotional, sexual, primal, whatever you want to call it mindfuck from some 30 years previously. Laying down a sequence of particular character foibles […]
Harry Palmer has a lot to contend with. Unlike the suave and aesthetically pre-programmed 007, he tends to shed blood, and even if he does compete reasonably successfully with M15’s blue eyed boy in matters of a carnal persuasion, the chances of his hush puppies getting submerged in one of London’s overflowing drains tends to downgrade his face […]
Irish poet, Patrick Kavanagh, put his finger on it when he wrote in his 1950’s poem Advent, ‘We have tested and tasted too much lover, through a chink too wide comes in no wonder’. Experience too much of something, and you become immune to its splendour. So, it should come as no surprise that it’s […]
“Translation is the performative nature of cultural communication. It is language in actu (enunciation, positionality) rather than language in situ (énoncé, or propositionality). And the sign
The Corporate Takeover of Ireland, by UCD’s Kieran Allen, was published in 2007 by the Irish Academic Press, where he is joined by such as Bryan Fanning (also of UCD) and Diarmaid Ferriter. Heavyweights, in other words. A serious business. So why is the book so badly marred by typos and other errors? “complimentary” where […]
A danger with living abroad too long – and one I have failed to avoid – is to start thinking the second country, in my case Poland, is uniquely rubbish. A return to the mothership reassures you that it’s not just Poland – everything is shit
I can sympathise, to an extent, with DoveGreyReader who approached Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland with trepidation given the tag ‘post 9-11 masterpiece’ (the Observer) that has been widely used by enthusiastic reviewers. It’s a problematic tag for any novel, but particularly so in this case given that the novel scarcely concerns itself with the attacks or their aftermath. That’s […]
Back in Dublin again. While I was away the LUAS trams mysteriously filled up to standing room only. The antiseptic pre-recorded voice announcing the stops has, as a result, more to say for herself: