Final column for the Examiner www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ar...

Final column for the Examiner www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ar...

Helen DeWitt news made me think that the John Banville getting scammed re: Nobel Prize story would have been even better if he tried to talk them out of offering it to him.

Precious few opinion pieces on the Dublin city centre blockade. Any reason for that?

The plane had a rough landing. When it hit the ground a load of sachets of milk flew out of the handbag of the woman across the aisle from me.

Does a book get better at the end or are you just excited by your anticipation of it being over?

People in the publishing industry are weirdly quiet about money. But as Wes Enzinna points out, every literary career is underwritten by some sort of capital, be it from a wealthy family member, a fellowship, or a dubious side gig.

Still going strong

'My brother, Little Chandler, actually just bought the paperback and posted a review on 6 October 2022 he gave it a perfect 5-star rating!' A.I. spam incorporating purchases made by fictional characters drawn from the work of James Joyce.

🎧 Collected Podcasts: 🎙 Episode 504: Katharine Quarmby is in conversation with Jonathan Tulloch. The episode also features work from Karl Whitney and Rosie Fiore-Burt. 🎙 Episode 505: Hugo Williams is in conversation with Julia Copus. Listen to both podcasts here: https://podcast.rlf.org.uk/

[Me, watching Killian Scott shoot people in the head in BBC's drama The Capture] 'Great to see the Irish doing so well internationally!'

Key moment in first Mission Impossible film.

New Modern has acquired by In Another World: The Four Seasons of Talk Talk by Graeme Thomson, publishing on 21st May 2026 👇 #BookSky

Spring weather=Kinks weather

'The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) – one of the biggest private pension funds in the UK – is taking a 50 per cent stake in the company behind the incinerator, Dublin Waste to Energy.' www.irishtimes.com/business/202...

Nathan O'Donnell ( @pva-books.bsky.social) on the limitations on cultural infrastructure in Dublin artreview.com/after-the-co...

Penn Station, famously successful knockdown and rebuild.

Useful cut-out-and-keep guide.

Me planning my next project

Alan Shearer all narrative and no critical analysis

Need a disgraced/discarded RTE star who does a podcast reflecting on their own insignificance and the essential meaninglessness of life. Better than using digital means to chase the buzz of their former celebrity. Partridge has shown you the way!

Never not doing a Dunkirk.

The Square, Tallaght

What you’re writing needs to be mysterious even to yourself for as long as you can manage it. That mystery is what keeps you going. You want to preserve the conundrum at the core of what you’re doing.

Beginnings www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ar...

Beginnings www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ar...

Very United post-Fergie (Alex not Sarah) panic from the royals at the moment.

Have been reading Helen Garner's diaries while thinking about my notetaking habits. www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ar...

Have been reading Helen Garner's diaries while thinking about my notetaking habits. www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ar...

Considering and celebrating the career of Frederick Wiseman, the greatest of all documentary filmmakers: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Frederick Wiseman, a director whose rigorously objective explorations of social and cultural institutions constitute one of the more revered bodies of work in American documentary filmmaking, died on Monday. He was 96. nyti.ms/4qGpq55

‘Perec went into analysis because he suspected that the ludic bent of his writing was in fact blocking an approach to his life story.’ Paul Keegan on Perec’s decision to enter analysis with Pontalis. granta.com/the-perec-ca...

Relic of a bygone era.

'Alone at home all evening, polishing my rave review of Wayne's World' - Helen Garner, How to End a Story: Collected Diaries

With huge leaps forward in jumper fluff-shaving technology we're looking at the world's first fully shaved jumper by 2038.

Whoof! Incredible. @grantmcphee.bsky.social www.cherryred.co.uk/various-arti...

Just used Microsoft Word's audio transcription feature on an old file.

Clifton Chenier boxset! cliftonchenier.bandcamp.com/album/king-o...

The 'scrap the House of Lords' and 'abolish the royal family' lights are flashing wildly.

Journos doing extended explainers on Mateta's injury because of lack of transfer activity.

Eircode-specific flood warnings or we riot

"Minister of State for the Office of Public Works Kevin “Boxer” Moran has said that no stone will be left unturned in finding out what led to flooding in the Rathfarnham area of Dublin." Uh, this is the flood map of the area showing potential risk.

A Jehovah's Witness who resembled Andy Burnham just called to the door.

The head of a real messer of a lad who's first of the gang to be infected during the zombie apocalypse.

Writers please try harder

Most Trump speeches are 95% something like 'you notice that grapes are cheap? You're welcome!'

A month's subscription to Amazon Prime and all I watched was that Robbie Williams monkey movie.