I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience in a cinema quite like the last half hour of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It’s just been re-released into cinemas to commemorate its 35th anniversary. You might say it’s ho-hum today considering the incredible advances in computer generated special effects that have taken place in those years.…
September often sees the return of old shows. Sunday Morning Live (BBC One) returned recently for a new season, and among the issues discussed on last Sunday’s show was the thorny one of accountability for crimes committed by soldiers. This has a particular relevance for legacy issues in Northern Ireland. As is often the case,…
The Bayeux Tapestry, by Sue Brunning, Lloyd de Beer, Michael Lewis and Naomi Speakman (British Museum Publications, £40.00 / €46.50) Today there opens in the exhibition galleries of the British Museum in London a much anticipated exhibition of the famous Bayeux Tapestry, a visual record of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 and the…
Faith and Football: Played for the Glory, by Marc Lyden-Smith, foreword by Cardinal Vincent Nichols (McCrimmon Publishing, £7.95 / €9.50; available on Amazon, or search mccrimmons.com/shop/books/faith) This is a delightful little book which will be greatly appreciated by sport lovers and especially football fans. It provides a comprehensive account of Sunderland Football Club in the North East…
The Political world of Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde of Ballynastragh, Co. Wexford, 1862-1935, by Brian Fennell (Four Courts Press, €12.95) The Catholic Church in Ireland that attained a position of dominance in many spheres of Irish life in the nineteenth and twentieth century has always been slow to acknowledge the debt owed for its…
What is reality? Is it the same as cinematic realism? In times past we treasured our screen heroes. Then The Morning After Optimism – to quote playwright Tom Murphy – arrived. The first time I saw a celluloid icon being toppled from his perch was in Doc in 1971. Harris Yulin played Wyatt Earp as…
Last week I wrote about Fr Michael Baggott, a professor lecturing AI and ethics in the Vatican, on foot of a BBC appearance. I wasn’t expecting to come across him again so soon. He gave a very comprehensive interview on The Claire Byrne Show (Newstalk, Tuesday). As before he was articulate, personable and reasonable –…
The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection, by Robert Farrar Capon (Modern Library, US$20.00 / €17.50) This has been a bad summer not just in Europe but also in North America. The lack of rain and the bleaching out of the vegetation has threatened food shortages for the coming winter. Such a summer underlines…
An Artist in Glass: Frances Biggs, a pamphlet by John Keating (gratis at Terenure College Chapel) Recently a funeral Mass took us to the chapel of Terenure College. The last time I was in the college was to attend a book launch of a history of the college itself by Prof. Fergus D’Arcy; that very…
Downfall of a King: Juan Carlos of Spain, by Paul Preston (William Collins, £30.00 / €35.50) Paul Preston is one of the foremost historians of modern Spain. He has written sixteen books about the history of Spain since the late 19th century, most of them describing different aspects of the Civil War. Preston, an…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello