The digital big bang is coming. So wave goodbye to the real oneGIVEN THE mindburbling vastness of the universe, and the span of all history since its creation, 14 billion years ago, when the…Sat Sept 22 2012 - 01:00
High praise for Clifden: True republic of the artsPRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins last night launched the 35th Clifden Arts Festival by declaring the town “a true republic of the …Fri Sept 21 2012 - 01:00
A toast to Culture Night - and a black mark for Arthur's DayIN 2002, PRETTY late in the evening, I stood in Amsterdam’s Van Gogh museum while a DJ played in the lobby, and inspected some…Sat Sept 15 2012 - 01:00
The loud, utterly annoying soundtracks of our livesA COUPLE OF weeks ago, late at night, I was sitting in the waiting room of a maternity hospital (obviously not for myself – not…Sat Sept 08 2012 - 01:00
Explosions in the Sky, Main StageExplosions in the Sky, Main Stage : Perhaps the logic for having the US post-rock instrumentalists on the Main Stage on Saturday…Sun Sept 02 2012 - 01:00
The news in a nutshell, for J1 students and Marian FinucaneEVERY YEAR, as the summer says farewell and we head into September, the airports are busy with people returning from foreign …Sat Sept 01 2012 - 01:00
The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, Body & SoulThe Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, Body & Soul :Sat Sept 01 2012 - 01:00
Let's hear it for the girls/ladies/women. What do you say, Jimmy?ON WEDNESDAY afternoon, as Katie Taylor was (literally at one point) dancing her way to the Olympic final, RTÉ’s Jimmy Magee …Sat Aug 11 2012 - 01:00
The frogger, the switcheroo, the pop-up and the invisible bike laneTHERE IS a perversely ingenious network that criss-crosses Dublin, appearing, disappearing, morphing into something else entirely…Sat Aug 04 2012 - 01:00
Sniffle. Snuffle. Snort. When did you last cry at the theatre?DURING Galway Arts Festival I saw The Outgoing Tide at the Town Hall TheatreSat Jul 28 2012 - 01:00
What's a 'Guinny guinny blum blums'? More than you'd thinkOF ALL THE lines in Tourism Ireland’s “escape the madness” viral hit, Chris O’Dowd’s savouring of a “Guinny guinny blum blums…Sat Jul 21 2012 - 01:00
Audience to star at Dublin fringeHAVING BROUGHT the audience increasingly closer to the performers in recent years, this year’s Absolut Fringe Festival in Dublin…Wed Jul 18 2012 - 01:00
The Boss stays switched on and tuned inHaving made his reputation on knockout shows that seemed unlikely to ever end, Bruce Springsteen arrived into Dublin yesterday…Wed Jul 18 2012 - 01:00
The Boss stays switched on and tuned inHAVING MADE his reputation on knockout shows that seemed unlikely to ever end, Bruce Springsteen arrived into Dublin yesterday…Wed Jul 18 2012 - 01:00
What in the name of St Patryk is going on with Irish names?The girls’ list is notable for the absence of Irish names from the top 10Sat Jul 14 2012 - 01:00
Sit down, boson: I've got to tell you how life really startedBEFORE GETTING TO the question of why we need to stop calling the Higgs boson the God particle, let’s cut to a depressing example…Sat Jul 07 2012 - 01:00
Will TV3' s psychics stay on air? Only they can tellFOR A GUY powerful enough to foresee fires in people’s homes a year and a half from now, Flathan needs to focus his powers on…Sat Jun 30 2012 - 01:00
We'll just have to name that bridge when we come to itIT WOULD be a diversion someday to create an alternative map of the Liffey, featuring all the buildings, sculptures and strange…Sat Jun 23 2012 - 01:00
Why our Second Coming was just another irrational exuberanceIT’S A WONDER it wasn’t raining on Monday morning. Heavily. Across the whole countrySat Jun 16 2012 - 01:00
'The Dead' lives on: Joyce story for AbbeyTaking advantage of the writer’s work moving out of copyright, Frank McGuinness’s adaptation of the short story will be the first…Tue Jun 12 2012 - 01:00
Seizing on Starbucks' snub - because we're proud of bean IrishGRRR. ARRGH. Can’t you see it? The red that infuses the green of our proud land, regardless of what Starbucks tried to do this…Sat Jun 09 2012 - 01:00
Dealing with the day after the race beforeSo you’ve just completed your big run: now what? Set yourself a new goal immediately to keep that energy and enthusiasm flowing…Mon Jun 04 2012 - 01:00
Sex, stars and screen ratings: influence of 'Late Late' still a hot topic 50 years onIT’S 1964. There’s not much on the television on a Saturday night. The Virginian. Nuacht. And then The Late Late ShowFri Jun 01 2012 - 01:00
Put the Irish in the Olympic ad breaks - because we're worth itSurely Procter & Gamble could give us a washing powder ad that doesn’t give the impression that Ireland are happy just to…Sat May 26 2012 - 01:00
We can't write down Anglo, but we can write a musical about itA joke about the Fiscal Treaty had all the impact of a damp campaign posterSat May 19 2012 - 01:00
56 and counting: the return of the original reality-TV showTHOSE OF A CERTAIN age can measure their lives to the seven-year beat of the Up seriesSat May 12 2012 - 01:00
All is fair in love and online comments, but don't let it get uglyI KNOW I’M NOT alone among columnists who scrabble around for subjects, then poke, criticise, crack some weak jokes, stick their…Sat May 05 2012 - 01:00
Singular statementsFew things say you came of age in the late 1980s/early 1990s more than wearing a T-shirt with a song lyric printed on itSat Apr 28 2012 - 01:00
Mike Murphy's public service message about the artsIT’S RARE WE get an RTÉ presenter having a public go at the broadcaster.Sat Apr 28 2012 - 01:00
A shifting political leadershipIreland before the first World War was a stage set for revolution - nationalism's growing, evolving appeal complemented by the emergence of the labour and women's movementsWed Apr 25 2012 - 01:00
Journalist, founder of Sinn FéinThough his opinions were often controversial, Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Féin who would head the Treaty negotiations in 1921, was a major figure in the fight for Irish independenceWed Apr 25 2012 - 01:00
Teletext clings on in some corners of techie nostalgia, such as RTÉOF ALL THE glittering riches of the internet, few are as counterintuitive as Aertel on the webSat Apr 21 2012 - 01:00
Why 'Prometheus' had better be out of this worldWHEN PROMETHEUS IS finally released in June it had better be the single greatest film ever madeSat Apr 14 2012 - 01:00
Bertie Ahern lied here: how to remember our disgraced taoisighTHE SUGGESTION that the portraits of “tainted taoisigh” be removed from Leinster House is an intriguing one – not so much the…Sat Mar 31 2012 - 01:00
'Tallafornia': soap opera for a channel that can't afford to make oneSO WE FINALLY write about Tallafornia. Just as it’s disappeared for a whileSat Mar 24 2012 - 00:00
Appliance of science will reign on St Patrick's Day paradeWe’ll start with an easy question: name a well-known Irish writer. Alive or dead. Now name a famous Irish musicianSat Mar 17 2012 - 00:00
A wake-up call to the media: Twitter is not your sitting roomIT WON’T BE framed as a noble gesture, and will certainly not be seen as such by Seán Gallagher, but when someone fed Pat Kenny…Sat Mar 10 2012 - 00:00
Three Irish novelists on Orange Prize longlistIrish novelists Aifric Campbell, Anne Enright and Emma Donoghue are among 20 writers to feature on this year’s Orange Prize for…Thu Mar 08 2012 - 00:00
How the supercut made everyone a cultural commentatorDURING THE week I found myself, not for the first time, watching a long stream of related clips otherwise known as a supercut…Sat Mar 03 2012 - 00:00
The heinous, evil, shocking, barbaric world of true-crime TVTV3 HAS DONE well in recent years, finding its niche, building on its strengths, targeting its audience and adopting an almost…Sat Feb 25 2012 - 00:00
The opening titles are over; let's leave the cinemaTHIS IS THE age of anticipation. The teaser, the preview, the trailer, the extended trailerSat Feb 18 2012 - 00:00
Narrowing the gap between old and new media is the futureTHIS WAS ANOTHER week in which a representative of the “old media” stormed outside his house to take on the “new media” kids …Sat Feb 11 2012 - 00:00
O'Connor to receive Irish Pen prize from PresidentNOVELIST JOSEPH O’Connor will tonight be awarded the Irish Pen Prize by President Michael D Higgins.Fri Feb 10 2012 - 00:00
Fighting words, champion printsAT STONEY ROAD PRESS the art hangs on pegs from the ceilingSat Feb 04 2012 - 00:00
Why Gaelic games bring out my patriotism anxietyI played a single football match as a teenSat Feb 04 2012 - 00:00
Streep hails new Belfast arts venue as 'architectural gem'OSCAR-WINNING actor Meryl Streep described Belfast’s newest arts venue as “an amazing gift for the people of Northern Ireland…Sat Feb 04 2012 - 00:00
You might forget insignificant details, but Facebook never willHAS A COMPANY ever had as far a reach into private lives as Facebook? Google is an obvious answer, but it lags in the coherence…Sat Jan 28 2012 - 00:00
How 'Heat' went from froth to filth - and who we should blameHEAT MAGAZINE used to be pretty smartSat Jan 21 2012 - 00:00
