MOST RECENT
Must Try Harder
Thinking About the “Art’ of Retirement I’m a little more than 4 years into my early retirement at this stage ...
The Next Big Pandemic: Xenophobia
Fear of foreigners is contagious and a valued political tool. I hope you forgive the title for this article on ...
The Indian Lake Trilogy
A Reflection on Stephen Graham Jones’s three novel Indian Lake trilogy Stephen Graham Jones took me to school and back ...
Sympathy, Empathy & Meme Talk
I remember when sympathy was seen as something worth offering. You certainly were expected to offer it to people when ...
King & Connolly: Passing On The Road
Never Flinch & Children of Eve Made Me Think I’ve been reading Stephen King since he published his short story ...
Thoughts, Decisions & Feelings
Earlier this week I needed to take a right turn up a country road that takes me home (queue the ...
Sinners the Movie: But What About the White Guy?
CAREFUL: SOME MINOR SPOILERS I already knew before I started watching Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” that there was a vampire in ...
SOAPBOX
I'VE NEVER BEEN KNOWN NOT TO FORM AN OPINION AND WHAT'S THE POINT IN HAVING ONE IF YOU'RE NOT WILLING TO SHARE IT?
The Next Big Pandemic: Xenophobia
Fear of foreigners is contagious and a valued political tool. I hope you forgive the title for this article on the grounds that xenophobia1 is not a medical condition, but ...
Sympathy, Empathy & Meme Talk
I remember when sympathy was seen as something worth offering. You certainly were expected to offer it to people when they lost a loved one, fell on hard times, lost ...
Thoughts, Decisions & Feelings
Earlier this week I needed to take a right turn up a country road that takes me home (queue the music). Keeping in mind we drive on the left here ...
Thoughts on Retirement
It’s NOT All About the Money Having surfed the internet for a long while now I can confirm most of the content produced in relation to retirement is about getting ...
Kamala Harris & The Democratic Convention
Apologies to Stephen King but as I read the title for this post I couldn't help thinking about his short story - Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption - not ...
The God of Small Things
All my life I’ve had a problem finding value in the day-to-day actions of everyday life. It’s not that I craved constant drama or anything of that sort, in fact ...
Toxic Masculinity & The Emerging World Order
I have to admit I've always had a fear of the pendulum effect when it comes to societal developments. Like every other person who welcomes improvement in equality and the ...
Regrets & How To Fix Them
Lucky old Edith Piaf had none but, like Sinatra, I reckon when we reach our sixties we all have at least a few, regrets that is. Relax, my Irishness won’t ...
MORE SOAP
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS ARE BASED ON PERSONAL CHOICE WHETHER YOU WORK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES OR A BLOG THAT PRACTICALLY NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT. IT'S GOOD TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE OTHER OPINION, EVEN IF IT'S JUST SO WE CAN DISAGREE.
The Indian Lake Trilogy
A Reflection on Stephen Graham Jones’s three novel Indian Lake trilogy Stephen Graham Jones took me to school and back with his Indian Lake trilogy. Straight up I have to ...
King & Connolly: Passing On The Road
Never Flinch & Children of Eve Made Me Think I’ve been reading Stephen King since he published his short story collection Night Shift way back in 1978. That book led ...
Gamers, Vampires, Volcanoes, Demons and A Superhero Kid
My reading for July 2024 was eclectic as always but with the usual break from reality and accompanied by a cast of memorable characters. These are just post-it notes style ...
Review: The HalfHero series by Ian W. Sainsbury
What if a super human turned out not to be so super...or even human? Britain's superhero, The Deterrent, was unveiled to the world in 1979, and disappeared two years later ...
Review: Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta
Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her Canadian nationality and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life ...
Armchair Traveler
"You can lead me all over Attica or anywhere else you like, simply waving in front of me the leaves of a book." ~ Socrates When the Covid lockdowns had ...
DRIVING OVER LEMONS
DRIVING OVER LEMONS by Chris Stewart No sooner had Chris Stewart set eyes on El Valero than he handed over a check. Now all he had to do was explain ...
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MOVIE REVIEWS
IF YOU CAN FIND A PATTERN HERE YOU'RE A BETTER MAN OR WOMAN THAN ME HORATIO!
Sinners the Movie: But What About the White Guy?
CAREFUL: SOME MINOR SPOILERS I already knew before I started watching Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” that there was a vampire in there somewhere and if the word vampire even appears in ...
XMEN – APOCALYPSE
DIRECTOR: BRYAN SINGER MAIN CAST: MICHAEL FASSBENDER, JAMES McAVOY AND JENNIFER LAWRENCE IN A SENTENCE: The re-emerging Xmen must do battle with an all-powerful mutant to save the world and themselves (and ...
PAY THE GHOST
TITLE: Pay the Ghost DIRECTOR: Uli Edel STARRING: Nicholas Cage BLURB: A professor frantically searches for his son who was abducted during a Halloween parade. IMDB There's nothing new here - a couple, ...
THE BLING RING
TITLE: The Bling Ring DIRECTOR: Sofia Coppola STARRING: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson BLURB: Inspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts ...
MOVIE SEASON
I'm of a vintage that makes me old enough to remember a time when one of the most exciting things about Christmas was the fact that almost every channel (there ...
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TV REVIEWS
OF COURSE I'M AS ADDICTED AS THE NEXT GUY BUT LIVING VICARIOUSLY HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF OUR FAVOURITE ACTIVITIES AND TV IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT.
Review: Joe Pickett
The series follows the life of Joe Pickett, a Wyoming-based game warden, and his family in the small town of Saddlestring and the surrounding wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. What did you like ...
BLACK SPOT
A police chief and an eccentric new prosecutor investigate a string of grisly crimes and eerie phenomena in an isolated town at the edge of a forest I don't know ...
THE SOCIETY
A group of teenagers struggles to survive after they're mysteriously transported to a replica of their wealthy town with no trace of their parents. The new Netflix YA drama puts ...
ONE MILLION DUBLINERS
I had the occasion to visit Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin the other day and took my camera along with me. Strolling around I watched people visit the museum, take part in ...
TV OR NOT TV? THAT’S THE QUESTION…
I'm not going to lie to you I watch way too much TV and none, or at least very little of it would be seen as genuinely intellectually stimulating. After ...
OLD DOG:NEW TRICKS
Having been abandoned by the Ban Chéile while she took on a week long tour of conference engagements (or gigs as I like to call them) in Poland, I sat last ...
MORE TV REVIEWS
THE REST
A ROUND UP OF ALL THE OTHER CATEGORIES - IN OTHER WORDS "MISCELLANEOUS"
Must Try Harder
Thinking About the “Art’ of Retirement I’m a little more than 4 years into my early retirement at this stage. The early bit is relevant because somewhere in the back ...
Thoughts, Decisions & Feelings
Earlier this week I needed to take a right turn up a country road that takes me home (queue the music). Keeping in mind we drive on the left here ...
Thoughts on Retirement
It’s NOT All About the Money Having surfed the internet for a long while now I can confirm most of the content produced in relation to retirement is about getting ...
1,000 Followers Later
Imagine if that 1,000 followers referred to this lonely website! Well it doesn't. It actually refers to my Instagram art account (link is in the right hand side panel). I ...
Memories….An Urban Myth
The prompt was - what was your earliest memory of being in danger? Well I can't tell you that but I will tell you about the time I was nearly ...
The Artful Dodger
ENCOURAGEMENT Following a conversation late last year with Granddaughter #2 about her love of art and plans for the future, I was a little surprised at her reticence to show ...
But Is It Art?
When I added an 'Art' category to this website I was being hugely optimistic and fully intended getting deeper into art. I've been making 'art' ever since I could hold ...
The God of Small Things
All my life I’ve had a problem finding value in the day-to-day actions of everyday life. It’s not that I craved constant drama or anything of that sort, in fact ...
MEANWHILE…#5
This is what I'm getting up to lately... Reading: Just finished "The Half Heroes" series by Ian W. Sainsbury. Loved it but couldn't help feeling the third book was a ...
My Signature: A Moviestar Moment
When I was promoted to what was to become my final role before retirement I had a momentary realisation that would make a small, but legally important, change in my ...
MY REDBUBBLE REVOLUTION
Okay I realise everybody at some stage looks at other peoples art and says to themselves "I could do that". Sometimes we're so off track that as soon as we ...