Ireland is replete with literary events and poetry readings. All literary events are literary, but not all of them are equal. O Bheal ( http://www.obheal.ie ) is a particularly good one, and it was a marvelously enjoyable evening for me. 1. Resistance is futile. You are made just so welcome. I am not a particularly … Continue reading Eight things about reading at O Bheal in Cork that everyone should know
writing
The Queen And I
The Queen (2006) Directed by Stephen Frears. With Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings. The notion of any kind of hereditary monarchy simply incomprehensible to me. It is a system of government so riven with problems as to be potentially catastrophic for a country. This is why the UK have reduced the monarchy … Continue reading The Queen And I
Ten things Which didn’t Make Our Ten Day Stay in Alykes, Zakinthos Sheer Perfection
Caveat Emptor: THE WORST HOLIDAY OF OUR LIVES (*SEE NOTE BELOW*) We stayed ten days in Alykes, Zakinthos and it was 1. Drafty: The way the wind howled through the cracks between the windows and the doors during windy rainy nights and we were freezing and that no one checked on us after the … Continue reading Ten things Which didn’t Make Our Ten Day Stay in Alykes, Zakinthos Sheer Perfection
No Belief Systems Remain Unharmed by These Blogs
I believe in blogging. I am often shocked what other bloggers endure in order to keep on blogging, in a forum wherein one supposedly can engage in some kind of free expression. The most obvious one is that of the Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi who was recently sentenced to 1000 lashes in Saudi Arabia for ‘cybercrime’ … Continue reading No Belief Systems Remain Unharmed by These Blogs
THEY READ EVERYTHING
GOOGLE’s BOOKWORMING EXPERIMENTS AND AI DEVELOPMENT I love reading. I read about 3 books a week. I know many people who read more, much more. Reading and writing goes back about thirty thousand years. The act of scribbling things down in various formats, from stone walls to tablets to wax to wood to paper to … Continue reading THEY READ EVERYTHING
Bad Blood
Being the strange case of the Shooting Incident of Michael Brown Jnr. (May 20, 1996 – August 9, 2014), by Officer Darren Dean Wilson (b. May 14, 1986),on Canfield Drive Ferguson Missouri, 12.02pm Aug. 9 2014. Just before 12pm on the 9th of August, a security camera caught Michael Brown (6 feet 4 inches … Continue reading Bad Blood
Crucifixion?
Calvary (2014) Written and Directed by John Michael McDonagh “Killing a Priest on a Sunday, that would be a good one.” A Catholic Priest, especially on a Sunday, while he celebrates Mass, acts In Persona Christi (in the person of Christ) transforming the bread and wine in to the body and blood of Christ, re … Continue reading Crucifixion?
Librarians and Civilization
As usual in Wicklow town the staff in the local Library are incredibly helpful and saved me a fortune in books by sourcing copies of volumes on loan I was pricing on the Internet. There are few jobs more unappreciated than that of the librarian, which is not cool at all. … Continue reading Librarians and Civilization
Publishing and not Being Damned
Getting work published and reducing the Tears Involved Archive Image of Thompson Reuters Publishing – see http://thomsonreuters.com/core-publishing-solutions/ The purpose of writing is to be read. No amount of false humility will ever sufficiently delude a writer into thinking she is destined to a kind of solipsistic world of simply writing for themselves. Writing is communication. … Continue reading Publishing and not Being Damned
POSTER POEM BY COLIN DARDIS
COLIN DARDIS’ EXCELLENT ADVENTURE So much of Irish contemporary poetry is to say the least disinteresting. It is tired, fearful of innovation, hopelessly swamped with a vast rich cultural and historical context that should give it a deep well of innovation to work from, a launching pad to new modes of self … Continue reading POSTER POEM BY COLIN DARDIS
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