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Fri, Feb 26, 2021
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Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry – A bit eye-rolley, a bit woke, a bit Spinal Tap
  • Film
  • Ed Power
  • February 26, 2021, 09:37

Film review: This isn’t a warts-and-all peek behind the pop-star curtain, but it is absorbing

Pat Kenny is fuming – and it’s not because of his property dispute Pat Kenny is fuming – and it’s not because of his property dispute
  • TV, Radio, Web
  • Mick Heaney
  • February 26, 2021, 05:00

Radio: Host tires of Charlie McConalogue’s vagueness as Ministers fudge pandemic plans

Patrick Freyne: The EU dissolved, the continent collapsed into anarchy. Ah, paradise Patrick Freyne: The EU dissolved, the continent collapsed into anarchy. Ah, paradise
  • Culture
  • Patrick Freyne
  • February 26, 2021, 05:00

Disagree with Tribes of Europa’s Crows? This is Project Fear talking. You just hate freedom

Eurovision 2021: RTÉ launches Ireland’s song contest contender Eurovision 2021: RTÉ launches Ireland’s song contest contender
  • TV, Radio, Web
  • February 26, 2021, 08:23

Lesley Roy to perform Maps on The Late Late Show in fresh effort to win competition

Golden Globes 2021 and the ‘doddering, faintly corrupt’ group that chooses the winners Golden Globes 2021 and the ‘doddering, faintly corrupt’ group that chooses the winners
  • Film
  • February 26, 2021, 06:00

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s membership and finances are under scrutiny

The Movie Quiz: What was Popeye’s podiatry pointer? The Movie Quiz: What was Popeye’s podiatry pointer?
  • Film
  • Donald Clarke
  • February 26, 2021, 06:00

Plus: Saoirse Ronan’s 1st of 4 nominations, the many Marxes, Spike Lee’s company

Arts Council to invest €46m from biggest ever grant to help key cultural organisations stay afloat Arts Council to invest €46m from biggest ever grant to help key cultural organisations stay afloat
  • Culture
  • Deirdre Falvey
  • February 26, 2021, 10:59

Record €130m budget reflects reality that culture sector ‘will still be living with Covid’

The Leaving Cert is not fair. Why not just replace it with a lottery? The Leaving Cert is not fair. Why not just replace it with a lottery?
  • Culture
  • Joe Humphreys
  • February 25, 2021, 05:00

Unthinkable: We can no longer plead ignorance of the inner workings of our State exams

Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘I have to be careful to guard against genius syndrome’ Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘I have to be careful to guard against genius syndrome’
  • Books
  • John Self
  • February 25, 2021, 06:00

Nobel laureate on writing his new novel in lockdown and his admiration for Irish culture

Damien Hirst: ‘I was a Catholic until I was 12. I loved the imagery – the blood’ Damien Hirst: ‘I was a Catholic until I was 12. I loved the imagery – the blood’
  • Visual Art
  • Jonathan Jones
  • February 25, 2021, 06:00

The artist has always rammed home the fragility of life. It makes his work perfect for a pandemic

Latest Film

Pelé Four new films to stream this weekend
A recent lawsuit and a series of interviews and financial records are providing a more unsparing look at the group behind the Golden Globes, which does not publicly list its roster and admits very few applicants. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Golden Globes 2021 and the ‘doddering, faintly corrupt’ group that chooses the winners
Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971) The Movie Quiz: What was Popeye’s podiatry pointer?
  • Gérard Depardieu charged with rape and sexual assault in France
  • Woody Allen denies abuse claims in Allen v Farrow HBO documentary

TV & Radio

Eurovision Song Contest 2021: Lesley Roy is representing Ireland again after the cancellation of last year’s event. Photograph: Ruth Medjber/ruthlessimagery.com Eurovision 2021: RTÉ launches Ireland’s song contest contender

Lesley Roy to perform Maps on The Late Late Show in fresh effort to win competition

‘You’re very good at just filling the time with platitudes,’ Pat Kenny fumes at a Minister. Photograph: Frank Miller Pat Kenny is fuming – and it’s not because of his property dispute
Tossed salads and scrambled eggs: Kelsey Grammer as Dr Frasier Crane. Photograph: Gale Adler/Paramount via Getty Frasier reboot: The pompous, insufferable, lovable snob returns after 17 years
  • Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance: A few cheese boards short of a four-course meal
  • Big Sky: About as cutting edge as Magnum, PI or Murder, She Wrote

Latest Books

Monica McInerney with her mother Mary and their cat Nicholas Monica McInerney: Stranded by the pandemic with my mother and a cat

I was separated from my Dublin-based husband, back living with my Mum in Adelaide

Eason book offer; Saturday’s pages; Walter Scott and Jean Monnet Prizes; Cairde Word
#WTFthatending: Eve Hewson in Behind Her Eyes Behind Her Eyes: Sarah Pinborough on writing the Eve Hewson hit and its ‘WTF’ ending
  • Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘I have to be careful to guard against genius syndrome’
  • A road trip to Oklahoma inspired a real journey to the heartland

Film Reviews

Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry

 
Pelé: ‘I’ve had a few affairs, some of which resulted in children, but I only learned about them later.’ Pelé

 
The socially disadvantaged are afforded a dignity and interest that jollies this formally challenging film along. IWOW: I Walk on Water

 
’ If Day were in a better film, the current Golden Globe nominee would surely be among the frontrunners for best actress at the Oscars.’ The United States Vs Billie Holiday

 

Latest Music

Paul McCartney: “The one thing I’ve always managed to do, whether at home or on the road, is to write new songs.” Photograph: Mary McCartney/PA Wire Paul McCartney to publish 900-page lyrical ‘autobiography’

The Lyrics, a ‘self-portrait in 154 songs’, is based on conversations with Irish poet Paul Muldoon

Grainne Humphreys: ‘George Michael was a consummate artist yet so bloody catchy.’ Photograph: Chris Cuffaro Grainne Humphreys: ‘Not much makes me feel better than a George Michael nostalgia trip’
Satanist: Nergal, of Behemoth, on stage in London last year. Photograph: Gus Stewart/Redferns/Getty Satanist appeals for support to take on government after blasphemy prosecution
  • The Music Quiz: Which Irish island appears on a David Gray album cover?
  • Sandinista! – The Clash triple LP that became my post-punk Bible

Book Reviews

Dostoevsky in Love: Inventive take on a remarkable life
We Are Not in the World: Lyrical storytelling of heart-wrenching events
We Are Bellingcat: A thrilling, if demanding, read
The New Climate Wars: How vested interests delay action

Stage

Abbey Theatre: Caitríona McLauglin and Mark O’Brien are its new artistic and executive directors Abbey Theatre: New artistic and executive directors announced

Caitríona McLaughlin and Mark O’Brien will succeed Graham McLaren and Neil Murray

Claudia Carroll: somehow, by some miracle, might my little play get to see the light of day? Claudia Carroll: My wish for 2021? That bums end up on actual seats in an actual theatre
Stanley Townsend on stage with director Lynne Parker before the premiere of Solar Bones by Mike McCormack in an adaptation by Michael West. Photograph: Mark Stedman Rough Magic prepares to cast spell on live audiences again
  • Once Upon a Bridge: Unchecked aggression and its regretful aftermath
  • ‘I used to be a stand-up comedian’ – a stage career cut short by Covid-19

Art & Design

Damien Hirst: Temple (2008) installed in St Moritz. Photograph: Felix Friedmann/© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2021 Damien Hirst: ‘I was a Catholic until I was 12. I loved the imagery – the blood’

The artist has always rammed home the fragility of life. It makes his work perfect for a pandemic

Over at the website for One Molesworth Street, you can discover that the Henry J Lyons-designed office block, which houses the Ivy Restaurant at ground level, “has been carefully sculpted to sit comfortably within the historic context”. Image: Visual Lab. Idealised futures where the sky is always blue
Born in 1958, Keith Haring grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania. He moved to New York in 1978, evolving from a street art start to an international art star. Photograph: Joe McNally/Getty American graffiti: new biography sheds light on the art of Keith Haring
  • Brushing up the Louvre
  • Fintan O’Toole: Dublin city – facing its third great abandonment – must be reimagined

Unthinkable

‘I think recognizing the wider role luck plays in society is very important,’ says TCD political scientist Peter Stone. Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP Creative/Getty The Leaving Cert is not fair. Why not just replace it with a lottery?

Unthinkable: We can no longer plead ignorance of the inner workings of our State exams

‘It’s sobering to consider that in a parallel history the world might have looked more like a planet of the apes.’ File image: Sebastian Willnow/AFP/Getty You’re a large-brained scheming dreamer with a sense of justice: What it means to be human
The best way of teaching philosophy is to present children ‘with a stimulus or a question’ rather than a history lesson, says Worley. Photograph: Jens Buettner/AP Teaching children to respect all opinions can be problematic
  • Why Covid dissidents need to be understood, not demonised
  • ‘We have learned from Covid how much we miss touch’

Heritage

The former Player Wills factory site on South Circular Road in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill 3:43 Protected structure status recommended for Player Wills building

Former Dublin factory part of a 19-storey redevelopment plan

Bear Grylls: ‘Dealing with failure has been the key to any success in my life’. Photograph: Ben Simms/NBC/NBCU Bear Grylls: ‘You don’t need muscles or good looks’
The ESB’s proposal to convert the former Georgian House Museum on the corner of Merrion Square in Dublin into luxury apartments has been opposed by The Irish Georgian Society. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Don’t reopen Georgian museum, says former head of national collection
  • Dramatic Stonehenge discovery boosts ‘Irish’ account of its origins
  • ESB plan to convert museum into luxury apartments criticised by city councillors

Michael Viney's Another Life

Gannet with fish: Anyone who has watched the birds plunging vertically from the sky to seize mackerel deep beneath the surface must marvel at their anatomy. Illustration: Michael Viney Gannet population continues to thrive despite human threat to its numbers

Michael Viney: Irish numbers have more than doubled since the counts of Operation Seafarer in 1970

Fox with prey: The urban adult is “thin and exhausted” from finding and ferrying food to its cubs. Illustration: Michael Viney Another Life: The fox as he dwells among us
Choughs. Illustration: Michael Viney The declining choughs of Dursey island need decision makers’ help
  • Super grass: the arching, architectural forms of wild meadows
  • Between cliff and sea: The curious trail of a puffin

Tuarascáil

Socraíodh in 2019 nach mbeadh gá as sin amach le tuairisc ó shíceolaí mar thacaíocht do iarratais ar dhíolúintí ó staidéar na Gaeilge. Grianghraf: Getty Gá le hathbhreithniú ó bhonn ar chóras díolúintí ón nGaeilge

‘Ba cheart go mbeadh an curaclam ann do gach dalta ag cibé leibhéal cumais atá aige nó aici’

James McClean: Is fíor go bhfaigheann sé drochíde gach seachtain mar Éireannach, ach ní hé an t-aon duine amháin é. Grianghraf: Mike Egerton/PA Wire. Bagairtí Báis
Cuireadh tús le tionscadal tochailte na Teamhrach go luath i samhradh 1952. Tógadh an grianghraf seo i 1958. Grianghraf: Fr Michael O’Flanagan HIstory and Heritage Centre Seandálaí agus dealbhóir a d’fhág lorg ar Éirinn
  • Deighil Teach
  • Ré nua don Ghaeilge sa státchóras?

Sponsored

Brexit: an utterly changed trading environment Brexit: an utterly changed trading environment

Irish businesses have been presented with a completely fresh set of challenges as a result of Brexit, says Mazars VAT director, Alan McManus

Local Enterprise Week goes virtual to better benefit Irish small businesses Local Enterprise Week goes virtual to better benefit Irish small businesses

Organised by Local Enterprise Offices nationwide, 200-plus events will take place online from March 1st - 5th and are aimed at those looking to start, grow or pivot a business

Subscriber Only

Fyodor Dostoevsky: the Russian author was able to channel the extreme brutality he suffered into creative masterpieces. Photograph: Culture Club/Getty Images Dostoevsky in Love: Inventive take on a remarkable life
‘You’re very good at just filling the time with platitudes,’ Pat Kenny fumes at a Minister. Photograph: Frank Miller Pat Kenny is fuming – and it’s not because of his property dispute
A poet first, Conor O’Callaghan has spoken of the burden of inheritance of the Yeatsian singing line. File photograph: Eve O’Callaghan We Are Not in the World: Lyrical storytelling of heart-wrenching events

Most Read in Culture

1 ‘You’re very good at just filling the time with platitudes,’ Pat Kenny fumes at a Minister. Photograph: Frank Miller Pat Kenny is fuming – and it’s not because of his property dispute

2 Kate Winslet: ‘Partly because we are emerging from this spectacular #MeToo period, women are less afraid to say what we think now.’ Photograph: David M Benett/Getty Kate Winslet: ‘I shouldn’t have worked with Woody. I’ll always grapple with that regret’

3 Tribes of Europa. Photograph: Gordon Timpen/Netflix Patrick Freyne: The EU dissolved, the continent collapsed into anarchy. Ah, paradise

4 Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry – A bit eye-rolley, a bit woke, a bit Spinal Tap

5 Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971) The Movie Quiz: What was Popeye’s podiatry pointer?

6 Arts Council grants: the Irish Chamber Orchestra is one of the cultural groups to receive extra funding in 2021 Arts Council to invest €46m from biggest ever grant to help key cultural organisations stay afloat

7 British author Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘I am not really that interested in what happened, I’m much more interested in what the narrator thinks happened’. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘I have to be careful to guard against genius syndrome’

8 Moses Farrow (left) with his adoptive parents, Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, and some of his siblings in 1989. Photograph: Ron Galella/RGC via Getty Moses Farrow: ‘I felt inherently like I was a bad kid. The abuse at home reinforced that’

9 #WTFthatending: Eve Hewson in Behind Her Eyes Behind Her Eyes: Sarah Pinborough on writing the Eve Hewson hit and its ‘WTF’ ending

10 John Boyne in his Terenure College uniform during the 1980s. John Boyne: I was abused at Terenure College, but not by John McClean

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Music Quiz

The Music Quiz: Which Irish island appears on a David Gray album cover? The Music Quiz: Which Irish island appears on a David Gray album cover?

Plus: LSD in the studio coffee, Phil Lynott’s rock opera role, Pink Floyd’s musical nod

Macnas, whose parades are a core part of their work, receive this year’s special tribute award. Photograph: Brian Arthur
Irish Theatre Awards Find out who won this year, plus all our other coverage
 

The Books Podcast

The Irish Times Books Podcast - Darran Anderson, author of Inventory The Irish Times Books Podcast - Darran Anderson, author of Inventory 33:48
The Irish Times Books Podcast The best crime fiction of 2019 The Irish Times Books Podcast The best crime fiction of 2019 40:49
The Irish Times Books Podcast Remembering Maeve Binchy The Irish Times Books Podcast Remembering Maeve Binchy 35:01
The Irish Times Books Podcast Danielle McLaughlin The Irish Times Books Podcast Danielle McLaughlin 33:47

Culture Videos

‘Sign o’ the Times’: How Prince wrote a classic song 9:48 ‘Sign o’ the Times’: How Prince wrote a classic song
New multidisciplinary art hub opens in Dublin 1:36 New multidisciplinary art hub opens in Dublin
Dublin lights up red for Chinese Lunar New Year 1:05 Dublin lights up red for Chinese Lunar New Year
Historic 200 year-old graving docks in Dublin may be sold 4:01 Historic 200 year-old graving docks in Dublin may be sold

Food & Drink Club

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Shelved: a selection of books by Irish women writers. Might some of these names figure in the final 12?
Women writers Putting Irish women writers back in the picture
 

Galleries

Christopher Plummer holds his Oscar for best actor in a supporting role for Beginners in the press room at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California in February 2012. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images Christopher Plummer: A career in pictures
Late Late Toy Show 2020: Children from Spotlight Stage School and little puddle jumpers from Miss Ali Stage School rehearse Singin' in the Rain with show host Ryan Tubridy. Dublin. Photograph: Andres Poveda The Late Late Toy Show 2020
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