Benny Profane takes over this edition of our regular flash fiction column, and finds himself wandering around in the shadow of the spire with a raging comedown. Sounds familiar. Coming-to on O’Connell Street. It’s 7a.m on a Sunday morning in mid-March. I can’t remember at what point I left the rave. I’m in that delirious and tenuous twilight stage of inebriation; after the high and becoming more lucid but still … Read More
Gombeen #13: The Box.
Stephen Donnelly emerged on the national scene in 2011 as a white-hot ball of suburban middle class indignation. With his shiny suits and technocratic, apolitical style, he won followers for his ability to give our ruinous old establishment a bougie-common sensical dressing down. A couple of years would pass where he let his ego lap it up, before gradually the sheen started to come off. He notably voted for the … Read More
Session Pixies: Holistic Lifestyle Column from #rabble13
The Session Pixies are back from their annual winter sojourn in the gulags of D1 to deliver you some respite from your woes. Whether it’s questioning the depths of your masculinity or just seeking an alternative to a good ol’ Tumblr whinge, the Sessions Pixies have your ear. Dear Session Pixies, I got one of those new re-issues of the Nokia 3310 to get away from Facebook. It’s great an’ … Read More
Culture Vultures.
Above: Ian Hunter captures Smithfield Square over on Flickr. With plans well underway for yet another cultural qwartter in Parnell Square, Kerry Guinan warns us to be sceptical of Dublin city council’s love in with vulture fund Kennedy Wilson after the “culture” evaporated from Temple Bar and Smithfield Square quicker than the steam of piss behind the Hard Rock Cafe on Fleet Street. Past initiatives warn us that culture-led development in … Read More
Brick In The Wall.
Broadstone – Iosta Na Cloiche Leithne – is a right bruiser of a building that sits over the no-place between the north inner city and Phibsborough. Eoin O’Mahony takes a look at how we fetishise old infrastructure. It’s a terminus, a prayer place, a station in need of a train. Until recently there was a half legible wooden sign near the traffic lights, “Rosary Recited, Very [sic] Sun. at 3pm … Read More
Shadow Of The Glen.
Above: Glenmalure House in Wicklow. You need to cross a river in a car (if your beat up old jalopy can handle it…) to reach the place and it once played host to the likes of Yeats who wrote a poem about it. Tomás Lynch takes a look at the dwindling number of An Oige hostels throughout the country. On his rambles he stumbles across issues of privatisation, a fall … Read More
Meanwhile In Montrose.
Above: Some sort of grotesque sick nightmare that crawled out of the mind of Darragh Lynch. Shudder. Has anyone else noticed RTE’s attempt to kickstart a national conversation on class for the Autumn? Mark Cullinane sticks on his waders and takes a look in the ideological sewers of the national broadcaster and finds a few funny smells in its recent day to day and documentary programming. “Are there distinct classes to which we all … Read More