Come Here To Me!

David Norris is one of the most likeable figures about the city, without a shadow of a doubt. While I see he’s said in the media he will be, if elected, a President who happens to be gay rather than a gay President, it still has to be seen as a remarkable sign of the progressions in Irish society.

...and that, my friends, was 1988.

Read Full Post »

'The Champion of Liberty' Daniel O'Connell.

Congrats to all at the Glasnevin Cemetery on their incredible victory at the THEA ceremony in Los Angeles. The Themed Entertainment and Amusement prize is about as much of an endorsement as any attraction can aspire to.

I really enjoyed Shane MacThomais’ tour of the cemetery, and his work on Glasnevin in his book Ireland’s Necropolis showed a clear passion for the cemetery, the final resting place of everyone from Frank Ryan to William Martin Murphy. Great praise is due to all at the Glasnevin Trust, and indeed the whole team at Glasnevin.

There are over 1.2 million people buried in the cemetery, including my own great-grandfather, a victim of what Connolly termed the ‘conscription by starvation’ of WWI who died a as a result of war injuries at home in Dublin, a veteran of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers . Like so many others in Glasnevin, he was buried in a pauper’s grave. The team at the cemetery tell the stories of not just The Big Fellas and The Long Fellows, but those forgotten men and women too. For that, Dublin is indebted.

Well done to all involved in bringing the prize to Dublin.

Glasnevin Museum in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, received a prestigious international THEA Award, the Oscars for Themed Entertainment and Amusement, at a glittering ceremony in Los Angeles.

It is the first cemetery to be rewarded for excellence in creating a compelling educational, historical and entertainment project.

-Full news report here.

///
Ci did a nice piece on the cemetery, which is over here. He looked at some of the most high profile graves in Glasnevin.

I’ve this piece on the Pearse Street fire disaster. Firefighters Nugent, Malone and MacArdle are all buried in Glasnevin.

Read Full Post »

“Politics is the default setting for street art”

Its fun to play with spray paint. But its hard to speak to people and say ideas. Its easy to throw up a Anarchy sign but what does that mean?

The latest from Canvaz, impressive as ever. Great point too, you can even wear some anarchy to work these days.

Read Full Post »

Last night saw Saint Patrick’s Athletic somehow throw a two goal lead away to lose 3-2 to Bray Wanderers. Still, never mind what’s going on on the field of play, last night was a remarkable one in the stands.

The Shed End Invincibles celebrate ten years this year. Last night saw the group unveil a display in tribute to Paddy ‘Ginger’ O’Rourke, a Saint Patrick’s Athletic and League of Ireland legend who passed on recently. For ninety minutes, the groups flags stayed up and one continuous chant of ‘We are the Red Army’ got a good airing through most of the second half, even with Bray knocking two goals in soon after one another. The sight of an entire block in the stand with their backs to the pitch bouncing is some spectacle, not least with the red flags waving.

If the League is to prosper, it’s critically important clubs facilitate ultras groups like the SEI. Last night saw the traditional ‘first game back’ scenes of people bringing friends for the first time and many children being taken to their first match. The roar in the stands is just as likely to bring people back to Richmond Park as the action on the pitch.

Read Full Post »

New piece from Maser, like it. Never a dull wall with this man about.

Read Full Post »

She ain’t pretty, but she is tall.

Here are some photographs I took recently from the roof of Liberty Hall, the tallest building in the city centre. Earlier this week we had these images of Liberty Hall being demolished in the 1950s.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Check them italics. From the New York Times online.

Change on Kildare Street means little on Wall Street.

Read Full Post »

I went down Moore Street last week for the first time in a while, as I was in the company of a returning friend who has been away in Germany. He wanted to see how things were up there, in terms of attempts to move the street traders on and buy out all the remaining premises.

I was pretty surprised to see that in the middle of the street, near to 16 Moore Street itself, there were numerous new business premises in the forms of cafes. Obviously these are on short term leases, but it is excellent to see a bit of life pumped into the street again. On both sides of the street, stalls indiciated that market life has continued on too.

With property developer Joe O’Reilly well and truly NAMA’d, is Moore Street safe for the forseeable future?

I found a few old copies of An Phoblacht recently along with all sorts of other stuff and thought this piece on the issue of street-trading in the capital worth scanning up:

Read Full Post »

Some amazing television from RTE there. If you missed The Naked Election, click here.

Highlights would include Leo Varadkar literally looking into his microwave while his two-minute dinner goes around in circles, and Paul Gogarty telling us he likes The Human League and used to wear make-up, but rest assured “I’m not gay.” Cheers for that Paul, cheers for that. Paul also told us he wants to record an album, which is a pretty terrifying proposition.

Plenty of doorstep shouting, abusive tweets (Gogarty reading out some of the tweets people sent him after he lost his seat was worth the licence fee) and count centre drama.

RTE, all is forgiven.

Read Full Post »

The best time of year in Dublin is when you start seeing these outside your gaff.

Read Full Post »