An afternoon of commentary and conversation at Lismore Castle organised by Lismore Castle Arts and MA Art in the Contemporary World, NCAD, Dublin. Featuring Gerard Byrne in conversation with Lynne Cooke (Chief Curator, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid) and presentations on minimalism and its legacies in contemporary art practice. September 11th 2010, 12-5pm This event coincides with the continuing exhibition of Gerard Byrne’s A Thing is a Hole in a Thing it is Not at Lismore Castle Arts. This is an ambitious set of four new films on minimalism co-commissioned by Lismore Castle Arts (with the 2010 Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art and The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago, in collaboration with the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven). The exhibition runs until September... Similar posts

Where will he fit in at the Lane? Confirmation came tonight that Spurs have indeed signed Rafael Van der Vaart from Real Madrid. The Dutchman is a decent player, a poor man’s Wesley Sneijder in my view, but that doesn’t make him a dud by any stretch of the imagination. I wonder though where exactly he’ll fit into the Spurs lineup, with the excellent Luca Modric already established as the club’s main playmaker, and Van der Vaart lacking the pace or power to really impose himself on the Premier League from wide areas. For 8 million euro he’s a player that’s sure to bolster Spurs attcking options as they face the rigours of a Champions League campaign for the first time. But I’m far from convinced he’ll make that much of a difference as the... Similar posts

It was late August 2006 when we moved back to Dublin from Barcelona (it was my Dublin DNA as my good pal ... erm ... Not Xavi used to say). At that point Arsenal were still faced with the Ashley Cole situation. Would he go to Chelsea? Would he not? What sort of deal would we get with them if we did? There was also the Jose Antonio Reyes situation. Poor Jose had been tricked by nasty DJs, scowled at once too often by Thierry Henry and was hen-pecked at home by Mama Hen and Girlfriend Hen who complained to him all day long about living in England. "Is too much raining, Jose", they might have said had they chosen to complain to him in comedy English. That year the transfer window shut at 12 midnight. At that stage I was a person with a life so I did what any normal person does and... Similar posts

The rather late and slightly all over the place Barcelona season previewSo Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in Milan. Little over twelve months after his arrival from the Nerazzurri for €69 million, he's been loaned (!) out to the Rossoneri, who have the 'option' to buy him next summer for €24 million. Yes, you read that right. A player who cost €49 million in cash plus Samuel Eto'o has just walked for nothing with the prospect of clawing back just over a third of what they paid for him. Add in his wages (an astronomical €16 million per year) and you're up to €85 million. With this sort of business being the norm (see Chygrynskiy, Caceres, Hleb, Henrique and Kerrision for further examples of same), it's no wonder the club is almost half-a-billion Euro in the hole. Short of... Similar posts

Certain sections of the international media are going mildly berserk about press freedom in Argentina. The headline in this Miami Herald story informs readers that the government has taken over a key paper mill, which the story below softens a little to it having merely “moved to take over the country’s largest newsprint mill”. It then goes on to quote an opposition politician talking of the government’s “unlimited authoritarianism”. El País of Madrid has an editorial, headlined “Silencing Critical Voices”, which says that the government claims that the previous owners of the Papel Prensa paper mill were forced to sell it to the present ones while being tortured. It also claims that the government wants to pass a law nationalizing it. Continue reading here Filed... Similar posts

First home game of the season, six goals, clean sheet, some outstanding individual performances and a great team one, can't ask for much more than that, can you? I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we could have hit double figures yesterday. Blackpool's keeper made three outstanding saves that I can think of - one from Arshavin and two from Chamakh - and we created chance after chance after chance.  People will say 'it was only Blackpool and they were down to 10 men' and in one way they've got a point. In another way, however, they can stick it. You never hear anyone say 'it was only ...' when Chelsea have turned over another relegation candidate. You can only beat what's in front of you and we've seen this Arsenal side struggle against poor teams too often not to take as many... Similar posts

   Llevaba tiempo pensando en vacunarme contra el HPV y al final, tras hablarlo con mi ginecóloga y hacerme una citología de cérvix o test de Papanicolaou que me dio negativo, me puse las tres dosis de la vacuna. La primera dosis fue en diciembre y la última en julio. Los efectos secundarios que tuve fueron fuertes brotes de migraña. Si bien esta vacuna no protege contra todos los tipos de cáncer cervical, ni es un anticonceptivo, creo que es una buena barrera contra algunas de las variantes más virulentas de este tipo de cáncer. During several months, I was wondering if I should take HPV vaccine or not. So after talking with my gynaecologist in Madrid, she persuaded me to do a PAP smear test and as the result was negative, I made up my mind and got the vaccine. The... Similar posts

The ownership of football clubs has become a contentious issue in recent years. The arrival of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea altered the landscape considerably. They were about to go bust, the Russian oligarchy billions saved the day. Since then the Glazers have plunged Man United into enormous debt but crucially have enjoyed a run of success which meant objections have been relatively muted. The two Americans at Liverpool have made a total pig's bollocks of things and whatever your rivalries it's not healthy for the game to see two of the biggest clubs in England in such a precarious position. Then along came the Abu-Dhabi billions at Man City and their spending is illogical and obscene. At Arsenal we've somehow managed to keep a balance despite attempts at a takeover. When David Dein sold... Similar posts

Two things I learned in the past week: In Utrecht, cycling is an absolute pleasure. In Dublin, cycling is an absolute battle. Prior to this week, Dublin has been the only city in which I have had the experience of cycling and having now had the pleasure of cycling in Utrecht, it is clear that Dublin is a complete disaster in comparison. While Utrecht has an infrastructure of proper two-way, unbroken cycle lanes with their own traffic light system, Dublin city council deem it sufficient to paint a red stripe on the side of roads, the refurbishment of which, apparently cost the government €800,000 last year. This is embarrassing. The cycle lanes in Dublin are just plain dangerous in plenty of places and are a result of irresponsible and uninformed planning. There is a Flickr account... Similar posts

Is Mrs Tiffany Williams a connection of Mrs Rose Williams who recently offered a share of $12.5 million in return for providing her with bank account details?  Probably not, the present Mrs Williams purports to have a Brazilian email address, mrstiffany05@zipmail.com.br, while recently bereaved Rose Williams writes in her grief from West Africa. The Williams, however, are quite literate and professional in their attempts at a scam compared to the man claiming to be Mr Ian Elliott, ie.elliott@gmail.com, writing in distress from his Spanish vacation.  He needs some coaching. Hey! I’m writing this with tears in my eyes,We came down here to Spain for a short vacation and We were mugged at gun point last night at the park of the hotel where we lodged all cash,credit cards and cell were... Similar posts

So Cesc made his statement yesterday and committed himself to Arsenal for the season ahead. It has, naturally enough, sparked all manner of analysis both positive and negative. For me the most important thing about it was that it was honest. There was no denial of the lure of Barcelona, no verbose badge kissing, no trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. I've always said Cesc has had a professional outlook on this. He knew that unless Barcelona offered money close to his true worth then no deal was ever going to take place. Barça's admission that they made no bid which exceeded €40m illustrates perfectly how they tried to play things. You have to wonder if, after all their talk about how much they wanted him, it stings a bit that they wouldn't put their money with their... Similar posts

I've been focusing on AudioBoos lately so I'm afraid I'll need to re-publish another old post to keep this blog ticking over. This one is timely, though...it was written exactly 5 years ago on what was then the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the first bomb. It was also exactly 20 years since I had written my first ever serious song at the age of 16 so I have tacked that on as well. The post got a decent reaction at the time, from one guy in particular who accused me of supporting everything Japan has ever done in a wartime situation. Amazing how people read what they want to read.I love every member of my family, despite our flaws, despite mistakes each and every one of us has made in the past.Those mistakes cannot be ignored, nor can they be forgotten. If we can bring ourselves... Similar posts

The Parliament of Catalonia has decided to ban this sort of thing. Quite right too. It’s unfortunate though that the main motivation behind the ban is, evidently, to attack a symbol of Spanish culture and not to protect animals. The Catalans have no intention of banning this and if any politician in Madrid or Barcelona attempted to do so he’d be accused of being a Francoist and of trying to destroy an age old and entirely unexceptionable Catalan tradition. Filed under: Catalonia, Spain Tagged: bous embolats, bullfighting banned, Catalonia, correbous, corrida de toros... Similar posts

I was speaking to my middle daughter Daisy on the phone last night because she is in Poland at the moment with my wife and the other children. Of her three languages English is the weakest but she can carry a conversation okay. However, even in the ten days she has been in Poland I have noticed a dramatic deterioration in her English. Admittedly children are not normally good on the phone but there is certainly more than that at work here. When talking about the language abilities of children you always hear the cliché that children soak up languages like a sponge. A myth is propagated that all children will pick up all languages easily just by being exposed to them. The truth is somewhat different. All children can pick up a new language easily under the correct conditions. The primary... Similar posts

We have the news this week that Facebook has surpassed 500million users. Is there no end limits to where this online phenomenon can go? Brands and businesses of all walks of life embrace Facebook and sporting brands are no exception. Some of the largest brands on Facebook are sporting related and it is undoubtedly a superb way to communicate with fans and build a community online. Lets be honest, top sporting brands are an easy sell as there is a devoted fan base already assembled. It will be interesting to see what some of these brands do with FAcebook in the long run and if they aim to monetize these huge fan bases. Here’s a look at some of the largest sporting brands on Facebook… The NBA The NBA’s Facebook page currently has 3,441,966 fans and is growing at an exponential... Similar posts

Not a great deal of time to be posting stuff at the minute, to my regret if not to yours. Here’s a rough translation of an editorial from the July edition of the CNT newspaper which I thought relevant. To the virtual barricades The web is bubbling with activity. There are platforms, social networks of support, solidarity, outrage, commitment. We believe we can sift through the avalanche of information about everything that is going on in the world, but the reality is that we are and we repeat what the Opinion Makers tell us time and again. Virtual life is expanding way beyond our computer screens, and it becomes ever more solid to the point of vampirising our activities in the real world, our practical relations in the physical sphere. If 44,000 people who declared themselves... Similar posts

The iconic world cup cephalopod has been bombarded with offers from Madrid’s Zoo Aquarium to join Spain in its world cup celebrations. Madrid’s aquarium are ready to meet any demands to sign the oracle octopus so Spanish suckers can celebrate their victory with the eight legged icon. Germany’s Oberhausen Sea Life Centre is negotiating an exchange of animals with the Madrid Zoo Aquarium and is prepared to beat any other offers the Oberhausen Centre receives. Born in Weymouth, England and brought up and brought up in the Oberhausen Centre, Paul the psychic octopus correctly predicted the outcome of Germany’s world cup matches and the final between Holland and Spain. Quickly becoming a media phenomenon Paul the octopus or ‘Pulpo’ has been immortalized in song on Youtube and... Similar posts