Spotted John Rocha on Exchequer Street, Saturday morning. He was wearing clogs and holding an enormous cigarette holder. Someone told me RTE are doing a countdown of the all-time greatest Irishmen. Well, I’m gutted J.R. didn’t make the cut. Because we are nation of chancers and bullshit artists. And this guy is beating us at our own game. Now I have no idea what John Rocha’s day job is. I think he designs shoes or something. And I’m sure he’s very good at it. I’m more concerned here his sideline as our all-purpose guru-in-chief. This is the role in which I have come to revere him. He first came to my notice in this capacity a few years ago. I was waiting for someone in a bookshop, when I happened to skim through his introduction to the Kilkenny Shop... Similar posts

B’ah. I’ve worked on stupid articles all weekend and missed most of the sun. So, weather permitting, I’ve decided to make Monday and Tuesday my alternative weekend. Activities may include (but are not limited to) ice cream-eating, stone-into-pond throwing, dog-befriending and unabashed sandal wearing. Any of my friends currently unemployed, or willing to call into work sick, are more than welcome to join me. It’s going to be a regular jaunt. Yeah, I’m gonna make the real weekend look bunch of... Similar posts

The wasted life and tragic death of Mitch Hedberg, who died five years ago this week. See Mitch at his best here.... Similar posts

“By the way, Butler’s paying for everything,” says Aidan, before we sit down. “Why the hell am I paying?” I ask. “I’ve given you enough material over the years,” he says. “You’re lucky I haven’t sued for commission!” I suppose, the man has a point. Read the rest of this article here.... Similar posts

It’s our last ever outing for this column. Aidan and I are celebrating at the Bull & Castle in Christchurch. We’re joined by our friend, Johnny, briefly home from the States. “Butler’s paying for this, by the way,” says Aidan, before we sit down. “Why the hell am I paying?” “Listen,” says Aidan. “I’ve given you enough fucking material over the last few years, you’re lucky I’m not suing for commission!” The man has a point. I order chicken breast with stuffing and gravy. The lads both go for streak. This is going to run me a few euros, but it’s the best pub food in Dublin. Hands down. It’s four years ago now I started this column. That’s about as long as it is since Aidan and I hung out with Johnny for any length of time. In a way, his presence... Similar posts

The Irish Blog Awards were held last Saturday in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Galway. The overall winner of the evening was “Beaut.ie” which won the best Irish blog 2010 award and also scooped the best beauty/fashion blog prize. Other winners on the night included Mick Fealty, who was awarded the best political blog prize for “Slugger O Toole” and Suzie Bryne, who won the best news/current affairs award for the second year running for her well regarded blog “Maman Poulet”. No stranger to the Irish Blog Awards, Niall Byrne won the best music blog for the fourth consecutive year for “Nialler 9” while Tommy Collison a 15-year-old schoolboy from Limerick was awarded the best youth blog after winner the best newcomer award in 2009. Other winners on the night included Irish Times... Similar posts

If there’s one thing this blog is fond of doing, it’s recycling old material. And the hardiest of hardy perennials in that respect is this wildly inaccurate perhaps-not-entirely-definitive profile of me written, in 2005, by a young student journalist from DCU. No matter how many times I post it, it never fails to raise a chuckle. But now the hapless anonymous author has stepped forward to answer his critics. Well, sorta. This email arrived Sunday evening: from [anon] to Eoin Butler date 28 March 2010 20:22 Dear Eoin, Recently enough, I had a flashback of the time i interviewed you for a college assignment and decided to key your name into google to see what i could find. I was kind of proud to discover that you had posted up this article i wrote on your blog despite the fact... Similar posts

“Ah Christ… Who told you?” “I met Tina in Tescos the other night.” “For fuck’s sake… He was a Malaysian fella in a Malaysian restaurant wearing a black shirt… Anyone could have made the same mistake.” Read the full article... Similar posts

The India-Pakistan Wagah border flag-lowering ceremony, as witnessed by the BBC’s Sanjeev... Similar posts

Haha… not by long shot it... Similar posts

Top 5 Reasons Why Ben Folds’ Bitches Ain’t Shit is the greatest thing ever 1. Okay, technically speaking, “Bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks” is about the most misogynistic statement you could possible make. But for some reason, it’s even more UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLY misogynistic when uttered by a nerdy, middle class white guy (accompanying himself on the piano). This has more than just shock value though. Ben Folds’ version of the track, from Dre’s The Chronic, raises the question of why something is unacceptable from one guy (or bunch of guys) but not from another. 2. There’s more than misogyny being shown up here. As it happens, rappers get away with saying all sorts of ludicrous things you wouldn’t necessarily notice until they’re being repeated... Similar posts

The mayhem kicked off at an ungodly 6.30 in the AM when a 30-piece Mariachi band in full regalia performed a surprise gig in the unorthodox setting of my hotel bedroom. Advance warning would have been nice, but there’s no denying their set created a lot of industry buzz in the adjoining rooms and corridor. The elevator ride to breakfast was soundtracked by Congolese folk collective Papa Doodle Doo, who overcame their fear of enclosed spaces to deliver a sterling set, while the cab ride to see Petrified Aubergine made their SXSW debut in a disused coal shed was hijacked by much hyped Czechoslovakian punk outlaws The Gary Busey Experiment, who slit the driver’s throat and made off with the takings. It’s hard to choose a favourite among the 1,239 other acts I caught in the... Similar posts

To date, I’ve already done unorthodox reviews of on the Nitelink, Brendan Thompson getting his mickey caught in his zip and, of course, your ma. Those ones were just taking this piss. This one was written for the Irish Times. The Vatican has, apparently, issued a whole load of guidelines about what a mass sermon should be. Last Sunday, I was asked to head along to mass and offer up my verdict. I wasn’t hugely impressed with what I found. There was a sparse attendance for mass at Saint John’s Lane Church on Thomas Street in Dublin city centre. The gospel was the parable of the Prodigal Son, which arguably has a certain relevance to the dilemma Ireland finds itself in today. Think about it: The prodigal son took leave of his senses and embarked upon a decade-long orgy of... Similar posts

The sights, sounds and smells of late night urban transportation are all powerfully evoked by Nitelink 69N (Westmoreland Street, 2.45am). The dialogue is crisp and authentic, with some riveting individual performances extracted from a cast of veritable unknowns. However, by the time this meandering juggernaut rumbles into Saggart bus terminal ninety minutes later, that potential has, for the most part, largely been squandered. To be sure, the general drunkenness on board does make for some wonderful early slapstick sequences. But the longer this production endures, the more muddled the narrative becomes. Characters arrive and depart at arbitrary intervals, often without warning. In one promising subplot, an exhausted night worker is pelted with soft drinks cans, crumpled up cigarette... Similar posts

There has been a tendency in recent times to recalibrate the matriarch by endowing her with glamour, sophistication or sex appeal. Unapologetically bucking this trend, however, is your Ma: a gormless, rotund but ultimately lovable woman, who makes a persuasive case that the best path forward for the Irish Mammy lies not in elegance or refinement, but in understatement and verisimilitude. True, it may seem excessive to lavish high praise on a woman who owns at least two Joe Dolan CDs. And there is a danger that the critical acclaim showered on your Ma may be deemed disproportionate in certain quarters. Yours, after all, is not a Ma with any great ambitions to declare, or knotty themes to articulate. Instead she is a celebration of doggedness, discipline and bull-headed good humour.... Similar posts

Your most uncharitable captions, please. Disclaimer: I may later change this to read something like, oh, what a lovely picture of Mary Harney. So that it looks like the rest of you left mean comments about her for no reason. Shit idea. But thems the risks you take when you comment on my very, very marginally popular blog, motherfuckers. Thems the... Similar posts

First of all, to anyone who called, emailed or texted me in the last ten days but never heard back, I apologise. I was really, really busy. (Unless you’re a PR person of any description, in which case I probably was just ignoring you.) Anyway, I’m back in the land of the living now. A couple of thing I loved while I’ve been away…. #1: The Guardian’s Shaun Ryder wedding story. Now, on the face of it at least, this had all the hallmarks of one of the greatest (albeit premature) April Fool’s Jokes ever. That the story, and hilarious accompanying photo, are for real is both incredible and slightly heart-warming. About four years ago, I spotted the singer a couple of tables away from me in Subway in Smithfield. I’d have been surprised then if you told... Similar posts

You know the way gay people think everyone is gay? And stoned people think everyone is stoned? In the same sort of way way, I can’t help thinking the person who left this message was being really, really sarcastic.... Similar posts