#The Brendan O’Neill Show

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Spiked

Published: Sept 16, 2024

The new UK Labour government has declared war on free speech. Within weeks of gaining power, it scrapped a law upholding free speech in universities. In early August, following rioting across England, it announced plans to tighten the regulations on online speech. Perhaps most troubling of all, Keir Starmer is also considering writing a broad definition of ‘Islamophobia’ into law, which would make it almost impossible to criticise Islam and even Islamic extremism.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali – writer, activist and author of Prey: Immigration, Islam and the Erosion of Women’s Rights – returned to The Brendan O’Neill Show last week to discuss the importance of free speech in the battle against Islamist extremism. What follows is an edited extract from the conversation. You can listen to the full thing here.

Brendan O’Neill: Why do you think politicians – even those who would define themselves as ‘liberal’ – are so willing to adopt a phrase like Islamophobia?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: I think it has to do with guilt about the past. When it comes to the Jews, many European countries did not protect them from Nazi persecution, so there’s definitely a sense that we don’t want to do the same to our Muslim minorities. When I was living in the Netherlands, this was a very potent argument. The Dutch felt extremely guilty about the fact that, in proportion to the Dutch population, more Jews were removed from their homes and sent to concentration camps, than in any other country in Europe. So there’s definitely a sense of ‘let’s not repeat history’. But this is also what makes me so angry, because the Islamists – and to a certain extent, the leftists – will exploit this. They will exploit what is essentially the goodness of human beings, a desire to ‘do right this time round’, in order to do wrong.

While the Islamists want to use democracy as a tool to win power and then abolish democracy, I think the woke left also wants to do something similar. I think this is part of why the far left does rely on the Islamists to vote for them. This is then compounded by the fact that the white working class, which was traditionally the group of people the Labour Party relied on, has faded. So instead, these parties rely increasingly on migrants. This is their new demography. They think they can harness their vote to come to power. People talk about the ‘great replacement’, but it’s actually a ‘great realignment’. The parties which used to represent the working classes now no longer do so. Instead, they now just represent capital.

O’Neill: So what do you make of this idea of the ‘Muslim vote’ in the UK, particularly in relation to the new Labour government?

Ali: I see Keir Starmer as a front for the radical left. He needs the Muslim vote, and the Muslim vote can be relatively easily gained because Islamists can skillfully organise their communities to vote. But the question that Keir Starmer, and other leftist parties across Europe, should ask themselves is this: ‘What are they demanding in return?’ Because the Islamists do have many demands in return. First and foremost, they want censorship. They want ‘Islamophobia’ to be made illegal. And the way they define Islamophobia is any form of criticism of the political agenda of Islam.

If you talk about the radical views being preached in the mosques or the schools, that’s Islamophobia. If you question the fact that some imams are telling their congregations not to assimilate and to distance themselves from ‘the infidels’, that’s Islamophobia. If you talk about the recent examples of sexual abuse against women and girls, some perpetrated by Muslim immigrants, that’s Islamophobia. If you highlight that there is a kind of soft Sharia law in Britain – which is well established in many Muslim communities when it comes to marriages, divorces and inheritances – that’s Islamophobia. The same goes if you want to talk about the fact that there are Muslim women in Muslim households being beaten, curfewed, removed from school, forced to marry and then raped. If you want to expose any of this, you’re committing Islamophobia. And so, all of a sudden, you can’t fight sexual violence against women perpetrated by men.

That is what banning Islamophobia is going to ban, if you allow it. It will ban discussing these issues in the name of human rights and equality. If you question this and ask, ‘Do we really want this parallel society?’, you’ll be called Islamophobic.

These days, the Islamists are less and less secretive about their agenda. This can be seen recently in the blatant anti-Semitism in some Muslim communities. But if you bring this stuff up, and try to get politicians to discuss it, you’re again accused of Islamophobia. This is the question that we have to ask governments, particularly the leftist governments that are trying to outlaw Islamophobia. It is criticism of Islam that’s going to be banned. Journalists and newspapers will no longer be able to exercise their free-press rights to investigate crimes that are being committed.

O’Neill: The unwillingness of the woke left, even the moderate left, to ever criticise radical Islam is extraordinary. We really are in a difficult situation, aren’t we?

Ali: Absolutely. We’re emboldening them. The woke left is the enemy of civilisation, and they say so themselves. They’re deconstructing everything. On the other hand, the Islamists are also clearly an enemy of civilisation – our Western civilisation in particular. We’ve got to stand up to these two forces now. The silent majority has to stand up and stop this before they stop us. And the only way to do that is through freedom of speech, which is exactly what they want to take away from us.

As voters, we still have the capacity to organise, vote, find new leaders and reject what is being imposed on us. In the decay of the universities, alongside the censorship in schools, there’s definitely a concerted effort to silence us. Most worryingly of all, I think, is what we’ve seen after the riots and how the government has responded. Whereas previously you might be cancelled or piled-on online, now the elites are using the law. British prisons, which are effectively full, are clearing out convicted criminals, some of whom have done all sorts of horrible things, to put people in prison for putting words and images online. They’re using the awesome powers of the state to censor and to silence us. Soon we could be banned from saying things that are, in this very sinister phrase, ‘legal but harmful’. This should be met with the greatest opposition of all time. All of us need to go out into the streets and say, ‘stop right there’.

--

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was talking to Brendan O’Neill on The Brendan O’Neill Show. Listen to the full conversation here:

==

A modern Islamic insurgence is no longer conducted with swords on horseback, but with the aggressors using the language of victimhood.

[amberraymond]

Mrs. Brown’s boys having their Irish tour next year

[ingek73]

Among the Meghan-hating media fraternity, Jeremy Clarkson isn’t even king

Catherine Bennett

The invective of the former Top Gear presenter barely rose above the standard of an average incel

Sat 31 Dec 2022 18.00 GMT

Follow Catherine Bennett

Commiserations to Jeremy Clarkson: now his Sun column has been taken down, the celebrity must forfeit his chance to win the UK media’s most demented attack on Meghan award, 2022.

Fairness requires his article to be available for comparison with work from names including, in no particular order, Dan Wootton, Piers Morgan, Nigel Farage, Tom Bower, Brendan O’Neill of spiked and the Spectator’s Freddy Gray, not forgetting Richard Tice, Toby Young and Rod Liddle. Energised, perhaps, by the abundant material issuing from Montecito, more and more commentators are realising that a media career really can be based on, or refreshed by, repeating that the Duchess of Sussex is any or all of a talentless (yet cunning) mansion-dwelling liar, narcissist, bully, gold-digger, hypocrite and republic facilitator who stole “our” prince (Morgan: “dragged him out of the country off to your California mansion to fleece your royal titles”) whom she will dump – thanks to the demagogue-psychic Farage for this insight – when the time is right. To which the popular psychologist Dr Jordan Peterson tweeted: “This seems highly probable to me.”

Having said that, the trade is harder than it might look; the successful Markle-detractor must not only sustain Morgan-rivalling levels of abuse but produce some signature excuse for his feelings. An honourable mention, then, to Peterson who, new to the specialism, brought a scholarly perspective to bear on a Markle “archetype” podcast in which he’d been quoted (saying “I don’t think that men can control crazy women”). While compliant with Goldwater constraints on psychological speculation, Peterson added to his academic defence of “crazy women” the objection that Markle’s voice “just grates on me”. Elsewhere, the recently arrested career misogynist Andrew Tate seems to be the first of this men’s group to call her a bitch and worse. Why the anger? Unclear, but, invited on Morgan’s show, Tate recently regretted that “a lot of age-old traditions are being destroyed in real time”.

The above list should not, incidentally, be interpreted as some innate female inferiority in reviling Meghan. Credit is due, in fact, to the Daily Telegraph’s female team. The judges of this award are not, however, so “woke” as to favour less obsessive and comparatively pallid contributions to Meghan-hating by women, simply for the sake of diversity.

One challenge for specialist Markle-baiters is to balance, as Clarkson did not, the disturbed with the publishable

If it is any consolation to Clarkson, last year’s anti-Meghan content included work so outstandingly malignant that even after his article provoked international condemnation and record-breaking complaints, he may not have triumphed. True, the description of Meghan as worse than the serial killer Rose West is memorable, likewise his dream of the day that Meghan – since the writer hates her “on a cellular level” – “is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”. But original? Our judges noted that this sort of sexualised, unashamedly pathological fantasy about a determined and attractive woman would probably be considered fairly basic in online groups favoured by resentful incels.

Moreover, one of the challenges for specialist Markle-baiters is to balance, as Clarkson did not, the disturbed with the publishable. As familiar as it is for some men to be triggered by female success into the sort of behaviours academics have summarised as “masculine over-compensation”, the Meghan-averse, like Greta Thunberg’s haters (as Clarkson shows, there is significant overlap), must keep in mind the need not to come across as worryingly invested or, to borrow Peterson’s jargon, crazy.

Tom Bower, a strong contender for this year’s award, could probably have pulled off his Nazi analogy, “Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propagandist, would look with real awe at what the Sussexes and Netflix have achieved”, and even his conspiratorial “Doria plays a really sinister role in this whole story”. It helped that he was speaking on a channel where Meghan hysteria is pretty much normalised. But people noticed when he told viewers of Good Morning Britain: “It’s Meghan I’m after.”

That the would-be shit-pelter Clarkson is to keep his TV shows and newspaper columns should not, as much as it has thrilled his fans, be taken to mean less eminent contributors would survive. Careful misogynists might be better advised to study the way his rivals will, for instance, elevate otherwise standard exercises in vituperation with a dash of compassion, a mention of the cost of living crisis, learned regret for Meghan’s limitations. “In a strangely lobotomised way,” Gray says of his muse, “Meghan seems to have been influenced by the theories of Carl Jung.”

Alternatively, notice how seasoned Meghan antagonists offer deep constitutional feeling as a justification for their insults and disgusted faces: “Princess Pinocchio”, “your narcissistic delusionist (sic) wife”, “the ginge”, “poisonous rats”. The guild’s settled understanding, after the Netflix series, that the Sussexes represent, in Morgan’s words, “an existential threat to the British monarchy”, allowed for some peerless abuse from lead members of the fraternity, notably in the popular Meghan-hating double acts. The aim of this collaborative format being for participants to goad one another into ever more extravagant denunciations of the Sussexes. In particular the Wootton-Bower combo reliably appals, the host nodding while the writer insists, for example (confident that Wootton won’t mention Andrew Morton), that Diana was never, like her son, “duplicitous”. Wootton (confident that Bower won’t mention Panorama), agrees that Diana never did anything so vile as criticise the institution.

To pick a winner from this wealth of invective has occasionally felt like an impossible task. But the most precious is, surely, a piece by the distinguished Marxist turned Markleist, Brendan O’Neill. Not for pyrotechnics but for so brilliantly encapsulating Meghan’s often fascinating effect on the male mind. “Go away,” he begs the belle dame of Montecito, “Leave me alone.” He made the same request in 2020.

Catherine Bennett is an Observer columnist

[globalzombie]

Brendan O’Neill discusses the new elite with Matthew Goodwin. 16 March 2023.

[lmarodrigues]

Melanie Phillips: The case for Israel | The Brendan O’Neill Show

[msclaritea]

Why we can’t let the trans lobby win - spiked

"Graham Linehan has paid a heavy price for speaking out against trans ideology. The former TV comedy writer – best known for Father Ted, The IT Crowd and Black Books – has effectively been blacklisted from his industry. His projects have been cancelled and he has been barred from performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. He has even received visits from the police, thanks to his online sparring with gender ideologues. So has it all been worth it?

Linehan recently joined Brendan O’Neill for a special live recording of The Brendan O’Neill Show to discuss his new memoir, Tough Crowd: How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy. What follows is an edited extract from their conversation. Watch the full thing here.

Graham Linehan: The first thing that really shocked me was the way that gender-critical women were being spoken to – especially the death threats and the rape threats. I knew that this alone was something that I had to stand up to. Just doing that opened a whole can of worms. It became clear that a lot of people in the trans movement – especially the men online – simply do not like women. They’re complete misogynists and they leap at every opportunity they can find to hurt, demean and be sadistic towards women."

Brendan O’Neill: Was there any particular moment when you realised that you needed to say something, even if it put your career at risk?

There might well be some good people in the trans movement, but they’re completely sidelined by the loudest voices. The most effective trans activists are extremely committed and utterly dangerous. And they’re exploiting the goodwill of a much larger group of generous people who just want to do the right thing...."

[damonkowarsky]

The @thefprojectarts members’ show returns after a three year hiatus. Featuring over 90 works by more than 50 artists, the Small Works show promises a wide variety of works in a number of different media from fresh and familiar local names. 14 December 2022 to 8 January 2023 Opening Saturday 17 December from 2 to 4 Get in quick to view this show, as works are removed once sold! Artists include Julie Poi, Kate Melican Rollo, Kathryn Ryan, Kayleigh Walmsley-Sims, Kelsy Landwehr, Kirsten McLean, Kristy Roche, Leon Melis, Liz Rodriguez, Mandy O’Neill, Marion Matthews, Maryann Owen, Matthew Stewart, Megan Cullum, Merran Koren, Michelle Caithness, Nathan Stebbins, Oliver Vizon (3 y.o), Paul Burman, Rebecca Hill, Richard Walter, Ricky Schembri, Rosina Gannon, Shari Nye, Sian Burman, Tamara Sharp, Alexandra Davis, Alison Withers, Ann Krause, Anthea Rafferty, Bob Emeny, Brendan Kelly, Caroline Healey, Clive Murray-White, Colleen Campbell, Damon Kowarsky, David Higgins, Des Bunyon, Ellen Moloney, Harley Manifold, Helen Bunyon, Helen Fitzhardinge, Hyunju Kim, Irene Crusca, Jan Allan, Jane Curtis, Jane Downing, Jeffrey Vizon, Jo Brian, Jo Merriman, Joanne Russell, and John Coxon (Jay Cee). #thefproject #warrnambool #artexhibition #art #smallworks #cashandcarry #southwestvictoria #christmasshow #thisweekend #whatsonwarrnambool #towerhill #koroitj #etching #intaglio (at The F Project) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmNVsIgh3IQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[edgeworth-for-the-truth]

JK Rowling’s a terf? Where is the proof? (ACTUAL proof in full context: not just something Tumblr and the “woke crowd” took out of context to make someone look bad like they ALWAYS do.)

*cracks knuckles* Aight

First off yes I'll be showing shit from social media, specifically some people's opinions, but this shit happened on social media so it can't really be helped

So Rowling tweeted this:

Now most of that is fine, except for that last part. "Stating that sex is real," and the first hashtag, is referring to one Maya Forstarter; of whom has had some questionable interactions with transpeople, online and in the workplace it seems, and was fired for it.

faye (@fayekinley) Tweeted:

Maya Forstater didnt lose her job because she believes biological sex is real. Her contract wasn't renewed bc the charity she worked for saw she'd been attacking trans people and deliberately misgendering them online. That’s it. That’s how deep it is. https://twitter.com/fayekinley/status/1207678714403794944?s=20

Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) Tweeted:

Maya Forstater did not lose her job because she campaigned against the GRA. She did not lose her job because she believed in biological sex.

She lost her job because of her refusal to recognise the legal rights of people who had transitioned. https://t.co/artfU2psMS https://t.co/HkLw7IZYBH https://twitter.com/AyoCaesar/status/1207665791639920640?s=20

This particular issue has some people split between this side, and the side of "she was fired for just stating her belief of biological sex! Trans Activists are rabid!"

spiked (@spikedonline) Tweeted:

“Maya Forstater was sacked because she believes sex is real and a man cannot become a woman. A judge said her views are ‘unworthy of respect in a democratic society’. This is outrageous. People are now being punished for expressing biological facts.”

Brendan O’Neill on talkRADIO https://t.co/XxOVH689wJ https://twitter.com/spikedonline/status/1208379484044505088?s=20

[tikkisaram]

Poetic Patriarchy in Ireland — Part I: Poetry Against Women

It is no secret that poetry offers a plethora of positive effects, be they as extreme as bringing someone out of depression or as simple as putting a smile on their face. Poetry has done a world of good for me and I would not be devoting so much of my spare time to it if it did not. However, we must acknowledge the fact that on multiple occasions in the past, poetry has shaped our world in a decidedly negative way. This can be seen clearly in the history of Ireland and the rights of women there. This blessay will cover how poetry led to the oppression of Irish women and will additionally give an overview of the female poets in Irish history. It will thus answer the oft-asked question, namely — why is the vast majority of Ireland’s internationally-renowned poets male? In my research I have not been able to find an essay exploring this question; I am thus honored to be the first.

During Celtic times, Irish women had more or less equal rights with men. There were many famous female role models for young girls and boys to look up to; these included the legendary queen Méabh and pagan goddesses such as Mórrígan. Unfortunately, the poems that would have been told during this time period were never written down, so we do not know how women were portrayed in them. It is probable that they would have been portrayed positively, considering the equality of gender roles present in that society.

Literacy reached Ireland in the fifth century and came alongside Christianity. While Christianity is often critiqued for its portrayal of women, Christian women in Ireland then were just as strong as their male counterparts. St. Brigid of Kildare is one of the most important women in Irish history; she was a nun — a profession usually associated with conservative tradition. Yet the teachings of the bible didn’t restrict her from being strong and independent. In fact, St. Brigid was close friends with one of Ireland’s first poets - Dubthach maccu Lugair. Dubthach and the other poets of the time were overwhelmingly not sexist. One of the most notable works of early Irish poetry is the prosimetrum by Táin Bó Cuailnge. The first recensions in this beautifully written collection are in celebration of Queen Méabh; she is treated as an equal — if not a superior — to her husband. Other strong female characters follow her, including the sovereignty goddess Macha, the villainous Morrígan, and Gráinne, who shows great power in her taking control of her own sexuality. These are only some of the most notable women to feature in these poems; were I to list them all, it would take all day!

In those days, composing poetry was one of the most lucrative professions in Ireland. This was due to the many kings across Ireland employing personal poets, known as ollams. These ollams were required to have hundreds of original poetic stories ready upon request for the king. What a shame that so many of these doubtlessly great pieces of work have been lost forever! These poems celebrated Irish royals, Biblical figures and figures from Celtic Mythology, including the strong women from each of these sources. My favourite piece is the poetic narrative An Banshenchas, written in 1147 by Gilla Mo Dutu Úa Caiside. This is the ultimate piece of feminist writing from the bardic period of poetry; it celebrates many notable women, from what the author considered to be the beginning of time with God’s Eve up to 1030 with Gormlaith ingen Murchada, a queen who stood as a symbol between the relationship of the native people of Ireland and the Viking settlers. This is not a celebration of one type of woman — we see so many different personalities and characterisations, from the somewhat passive Miriam to the perseverant and powerful Étaín. There is truly a woman in this collection for anyone to relate to, which is a testament to the feminist nature of a poem written 990 years ago in supposedly sexist times!

The most prestigious position a poet could get in this period of time would be Ollamh Érenn, or the Chief Ollam of Ireland. They would sit next to the high king of the country and be commended by all. Out of all of the documented ones, a single woman held the title — Uallach ingen Muinecháin. Since she was the first famous Irish female poet, one would think that her work would be taught to all, yet none of it survives. Were it not for her obituary in the Annals of Innisfallen, this trailblazer would have been forgotten entirely.

But ollams were not the only type of poets around; they were in fact only one subset of the poetry grouping known as filid. The type of filid that is best known today is a bard. Bards were actually the lowest position a poet could take, but the word has become synonymous with poet in the context of Ancient Ireland. Ancient Irish poetry is commonly referred to as bardic poetry, even by many scholars, despite the term's inaccuracy. It is often stated that it is unknown if any of these bards were female (Walker, 1786). However, the previously mentioned Muinech and Sadhbh Ó Mailchonaire are two factual exceptions. As with Muinech, Ó Mailchonaire’s works has been lost and the most famous record of her is her obituary. (Unknown, 1447) There are also some other potential candidates as ancient Irish poets, although once again these women’s works do not survive to this day. Agnes Carkill was a poet who performed for King James IV of Scotland in 1512 and there is speculation that she hailed from the Antrim family, Mac Fhergail, which would have been her maiden name (Bourke, 2002). Walker who spent years researching bards, speculates that the Caoine was written by a woman; most scholars agree with this opinion. The Caoine is a weeping lament, which was performed by women at funerals; its practice has spread from Ireland as far as Libya and Egypt. It is best known today for being the origin of the banshee myth. Women were also associated with the poetic form amhráin, which is a poem that’s sung, a practice which became prominent in the 16th century. It is also possible that many of the anonymous poems were written by women, especially since many of these poems feature distict feminist undertones, such as the spectacular St. Brigid’s Prayer which has since been translated by Brendan Kennelly.

It is also worth mentioning fictional female poets who appeared in ancient Irish stories. One of the characters who appears in Acallam na Senórach, the longest surviving work of medieval Irish literature, is Créide. She is described as a fine poet who invites males to a hostel in order to judge their poems. Créide is one of the first fictional poetry critics, but unfortunately she is not celebrated to the extent that she deserves to be. The Daughter of úa Dulsaine appears in a story by Cormac mac Cuilennáin (who died in 908), where she is one of the most popular poets in Ireland and travels around the country and abroad to show off her poetic prowess. Some suggest that this account is based off a true story and mac Cuilennáin just added the fantasy elements (Nicholson, 2016).

Another feminist fact about Ancient Irish poetry is that what we know today was as alliteration was named after women. It was referred to as “brichtu ban, brechtaib ban”, which roughly translates as “charms of women”. (Stifter, 2016) This technique is found in almost all surviving bardic poetry from its inception to its end. I do find it odd that such a prevalent term was named after women’s ability to speak in an enchanting manner, and yet that this very same society supposedly would not let these women write their hypnotic words down.

Compared to other countries Ireland has quite a lot of surviving poetry, but it’s only a small selection of what was written at the time. Many recorded works of poetry were destroyed in 686 AD after the Saxons raided Ireland, and again in 798 AD when the Vikings settled. Their cultures were more sexist than that of the Celts and their prejudice might be another reason why there are so few works that are credited to a woman from this period. The Saxons and Vikings were not completely able to destroy Celtic culture and bardic poetry, however, despite their best efforts; the bardic tradition managed to continue for hundreds of years after their arrival.

Poetry in Ireland began to shift during its Tudor conquest between 1529 and 1603. Queen Elizabeth brought the first English poets over to Ireland as she was claiming land, one of the most famous examples being Sir Walter Raleigh. This sexist poet’s writings did not have much influence on the Emerald Isle; in fact, in Éirinn he is most notable for the assumption that he planted the first potato in Ireland, even though this is pure speculation and it is far more likely this was done by a Spanish man or woman. (McNeill, 1949)

After England conquered the country in 1601 and Hugh O’Neill surrendered, bardic schools began to shut down. One of Ireland’s most infamous literary controversies — the Contention of the Bards — occurred during this time period. The bards attacked each other through verse, and it brought the end to their influence on the country. Bards were now just known as poets and it was becoming rare for poetry to be one's full-time occupation. Since there were no more kings, poets had to adapt and find patronage from the English settlers. Most of these settlers wanted their poems in English, not Irish, and thus a shift in language began to occur. Many refused to take part in it as it interfered with their Catholic beliefs; those wealthy enough migrated to Catholic countries in continental Europe to study poetry in college. Unfortunately, no one would fund these poor Catholic writers, so almost all of their work has been lost. As Protestant England was an extremely sexist society (even when it was ruled by a queen, ironically), women were discouraged from becoming poets as well.

The harsh Penal Laws put in place in Ireland by England forbade the teaching of the Irish language and poetry to Catholics. To circumvent this people pretended (often unsuccessfully) to be Protestant, or else taught children in secret 'hedge schools'. Hedge schools kept the tradition of Irish poetry alive, but if people were caught teaching in them or being secret poets they were arrested and punished. In Cork in 1584, 71 men an 1 woman were arrested. She was named Mary-ny-Dononoghue and dubbed by the presentation to the jury as “she-barde” and “rhymer”.

Before we get into the bleak sexism, I’d like to bring up two notable female poets who existed in the 17th and 18th centuries: Mary Monck and Charlotte Brooke. Both women come from wealthy backgrounds and married rich men, so they were able to avoid punishment as a result. Monck was multilingual and spoke English, Latin, Italian and Spanish. Many of her works can be found in the 1775 collection Poems by Eminent Ladies, which is definitely worth a read. Unfortunately for some reason in this collection Monck is miscredited as Mrs. Monk! Brooke was homeschooled by her father, who was also a writer. She was interested in the Irish language and became bilingual through hours of study. She not only wrote poems, but translated them too; yet despite being just as talented as her male counterparts, if not more, she was never accorded the same respect as them. Her poetry is rich in storytelling and employs a multitude of techniques, including an effective application of the most obvious ones: rhyme, repetition and rhythm. Monck is also very skilled in her writing; we will discuss possible reasons for why they have been forgotten by history later.

We see the first signs of widespread sexist poems in Ireland during this time frame. Epithalamia made their way to Eirinn in the writings of Dáibhí Ó Bruadair. While epithalamia in theory do not have to be sexist, almost all of the ones written during these times treated the women as inferior to men. There is also the establishment of poetry circles that would only allow male members; the most notable of these was Seán Ó Tuama’s and Andrias MacRait’s Maigue Poets. (Joyce, 1961)

Aodhagán Ó Rathaille’s aisling was invented in this time period and it constitutes one of the most uncomfortable forms of poetry I have ever witnessed. Aislings are set in dreams where women appear to the poet; often the woman appearing in such a dream is an anthropomorphic depiction of Ireland. This poetic brought the Mother Ireland concept into popular culture. Filmmaker Pat Murphy summed up it best when describing Mother Ireland in an excellent 1991 documentary about that subject: “[Mother Ireland] is not a positive image, the associations I have with it are not positive ones, I actually think it’s a wrong thing to do – to call a country after a woman – because it gets into those kind of areas where a country is to be won, or penetrated, or ploughed. And it means that women aren’t seen for themselves”. (Crilly, 1991)

Unfortunately, the concept of Mother Ireland did not stop at one poem; it was featured in several of Ó Rathaille’s aislings, as well as aislings written by other men. The concept transcends the aisling form and poets such as Thomas Moore began writing poems about Mother Ireland. The most notable of his poems about this oppressive concept is The Origin of the Harp, which inspired an equally sexist painting by Daniel Maclise in the 19th century. Even Roisin Dubh, which was an innocent poem about a man being in love with a woman, was weaponised by Owen Roe Mac Ward and turned into a poem about Mother Ireland. It has been widely sung by masses since the 18th century, unknowingly (or not) oppressing millions of women.

Well Tikki Troops, that was a lot to take in for part one, was it not? I decided split this blessay into parts because I did not want to overwhelm you all! The next blessay will cover 19th century poetry up today; despite covering a much shorter period, there are more poems that exist in its time frame. How will Irishwomen combat this Mother Ireland archetype — or will they at all? How will the most famous Irish poets, including Becket, Joyce, Heaney, Wilde and Yeats fit into this narrative? You’ll find out next time! But be patient with me as I try to perfect part two. :^)

Bibliography

Bourke, A. (2002) The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. NYU Press.

Cahill, S. E. (1983) ‘Reexamining the acquisition of sex roles: A social interactionist approach’, Sex Roles, 9(1), pp. 1–15. doi: 10.1007/BF00303105.

Collins, G. and Wickham, J. (2004) ‘Inclusion or Exploitation? Irish Women Enter the Labour Force’, Gender, Work & Organization, 11(1), pp. 26–46. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2004.00219.x.

Conroy, A. and Dickinson, T. (2018) ‘Male adolescent suicidality: a literature review’, Mental Health Practice, 21(8), pp. 50–55. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2018.e1293.

Crilly, A. (1991) Mother Ireland [Documentary Film]. Aired on Channel 4, U.K.

Hanlon, N. (2015) ‘The Role of Men in Gender Equality_Eire Report’. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.1.2011.5369.

History of the Potato (no date). Available at: https://www.potato.ie/history-of-the-potato/ (Accessed: 20 March 2020).

Joyce, M. (1961) ‘The Poets of Maigue’. The Capuchin Article.

McNeill, W. H. (1949) ‘The Introduction of the Potato into Ireland’, The Journal of Modern History, 21(3), pp. 218–222.

Meaney, G. (1991) Gerardine Meaney Sex and nation : Women in Irish Culture and Politics. ARTIC PRESS.

Morrison, T. G., Speakman, C. and Ryan, T. A. (2009) ‘Irish university students’ support for the human rights of lesbian women and gay men’, Journal of Homosexuality, 56(3), pp. 387–400. doi: 10.1080/00918360902728871.

Nicholson, T. (2016) A Biography of Story, A Brief History of Humanity. Troubador Publishing Ltd.

Owens, R. C. O. (1984) Smashing Times: The Irish women’s suffrage movement 1889-1922. ARTIC PRESS.

Patterson, R. A. (2015) ‘Women of Ireland: Change Toward Social and Political Equalityin the 21st Century Irish Republic’. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20151008154655/https://martindale.cc.lehigh.edu/sites/martindale.cc.lehigh.edu/files/Patterson.pdf (Accessed: 9 December 2019).

Stifter, D. (2016) ‘Metrical systems of Celtic traditions’, North-Western European Language Evolution 1983 & University Press of Southern Denmark, p. 58.

‘The Present Duty of Irishwomen: The Contribution of Irish Women as documented in the Archival Record’ (2016). Irish Archives Source.

Unknown (1447) ‘Annála Connacht’. Walker, J. (1786) Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards. Dublin: Printed for author, by L. White.

[midnightiscoming-kasabian]

'Geezer' – Kasabian's Sergio Pizzorno on Jamie Vardy friendship and his favourite Leicester City memories

Leicester City supporter and Kasabian guitarist Sergio Pizzorno is preparing for homecoming gig at Victoria Park in 2020, six years after he met Jamie Vardy at first show

22 OCT 2019 

“Nice geezer” Jamie Vardy and the Leicester City squad are more than welcome at Kasabian’s big hometown show in Victoria Park next summer, guitarist Sergio Pizzorno has said.

City striker Vardy was in attendance when Kasabian first played to 50,000 fans at Victoria Park in 2014 and was on stage when the Leicester band joined the Premier League title celebrations in 2016 with a show at the end of the parade.

Vardy is invited to next June’s gig and will no doubt join Pizzorno and the band backstage, six years after his first meeting.

“I’m friends with Jamie,” Pizzorno told LeicestershireLive. “We first met him at the first Victoria Park gig. He came to the show and we saw him backstage afterwards and had a beer.

“I didn’t know he was a fan, one of my pals came in afterwards and said: “Do you know Jamie’s here?” and we said, “Get him in here.”

“We had a proper good chat. You know, he plays for my team, it’s great when you meet the players.

“I ended up going to his wedding. He’s a nice geezer. And what a player.

“Who you would you rather have up front? I wouldn’t swap him for anyone. He’s as fast and as fresh as he’s ever looked.

“But anyway, they’re all welcome, the academy lads, the staff, everyone.”

Brought up in Countesthorpe, Pizzorno has been a City fan his whole life and began following the club home and away in the early 90s.

Although City were well below their current heights, Pizzorno still has plenty of fond memories from that time.

“I was a true fan from 1991, that’s when I got a season ticket, and I went every week until the band kicked off,” he said.

“Rooster [Kevin Russell] was my boy, mainly because the song was so brilliant. Tommy Wright, Gary Coatsworth, Colin Hill, Joachim – what a player – then the O’Neill days, Walshy, Lennon, Izzet, I loved it.

“There are so many good memories, but the Oxford United game when Tony James scored and we needed to win to stay up, that was the one.

“Then there was the Newcastle game where we needed to win to get promoted [City lost 2-1] and the fans were on the pitch. You literally could have kicked the ball away.

“Then there was the play-off finals.”

Even following the release of his debut solo project, the S.L.P., and with Kasabian’s seventh studio album in development, Pizzorno still gets to games with his sons Ennio, nine, and Lucio, six, who “had no choice” who they supported.

Pizzorno believes big things are on the horizon if Brendan Rodgers stays in the hotseat at the King Power Stadium and is backing them to book another European tour.

“If we can keep Brendan Rodgers for five or six years and he can implement his philosophy, we are going to be one hell of a side,” he said. “These are exciting times.

“Keeping the players is going to be the most important thing – there’s a lot of England international and potential England internationals in there – and the big boys will be coming in. The future is bright.

He added: “Absolutely [I want Europe]. I’ll take Europa League, anything. You need a decent squad for that though. It can be a bit of a curse.”

www.leicestermercury.co.uk

[killian-whump]

Non-OUAT Whumpers

Most of the whump collected on this blog takes place on the show Once Upon a Time. The Whumpers responsible for these incidents are collected on this blog’s Official Whumpers Page for your amusement.

However, this blog also collects whump from Colin’s other work, as well as humorous “bestings” from real life when appropriate. Those “whumpers” will be collected on this post, also for your amusement ;)

Incidentally, while the Official Whumpers List is listed by character names, this list is organized by the name of the actor/actress playing the role. There’s no reason for this, other than it amuses me.

Amy Huberman Irish actress. Played Conor’s friend Daisy in The Clinic. Entirely angsty bestings here, as Daisy is the cause of a lot of Conor’s emotional upheavals throughout his time on the show.

Anthony Hopkins Academy Award winning actor. Played Father Lucas in The Rite. All kinds of whump here. Father Lucas brings about angst, delivers lectures, manhandles him, attempts to possess, and even throws Michael Kovak across the room.

Antonia Campbell-Hughes Irish actress. Played Shelley in Storage 24. Shelley doesn’t really do much to Mark throughout this film, but near the end, after everything he’s done to his friends... she gives him a sound slap.

Bad Fashion Choices Let’s be real, it’s mostly just that fucking shirt. This one also has a lot of Killian Jones bestings, as there was the diving suit, the white tuxedo, the Dark One robe that offended him, that hair bow, and various other questionable fashions in that show. There’s also some lovely fandom contributions of Killian/Colin being bested with bad fashion. And, of course, plenty of that buzz cut and that fucking shirt.

Bathroom Fixtures Seen in every bathroom in every home around the world. Usually, bathroom fixtures are useful. Sometimes, not so much.

Bel Powley English actress. Played Carrie Pilby in the movie of the same name. Carrie doesn’t really whump Professor Harrison, but near the end of the film, she does bring her father over to his house - and the two of them invade his home, her father punches him in the face, and Carrie mocks him.

Berserkers A crazy band of murderers found in What Still Remains. The Berserkers are at war with Peter’s commune in the film, and near the end of it, they attack and annihilate the commune entirely, burning it to the ground.

Bikers Random ruffians found in 2004′s Love Is the Drug. LITD’s Peter goes up against some badass biker dudes to defend the guy his sister’s with. It doesn’t go well, and he gets punched in the face. As usual.

Camera Angles Found in everything, everywhere. Stupid cameras. Let’s be real, though. It’s mostly just me bitching about leaves.

Cats Adorable furry creatures. Showed up en masse in The Rite. “Make sure they don’t come in,” Lucas said. Spoiler: They all got in.

Chris Carmack American actor. Played Nora’s boyfriend David in The Dust Storm. Near the end of the film, David confronts Nora and Brennan in a bar and punches Brennan in the face, resulting in a pretty big bruise.

Chris Ellis American actor. Played Harvey in What Still Remains. Harvey seems, at first, to be a harmless old man cooking over a campfire in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, his innocent demeanor lures Anna right in - and once she and Peter are close enough, they’re ambushed.

Colin O’Donoghue I think we all know who this guy is. This tag’s not for him getting bested... it’s for when HE bests US.

Cops Police officers. Seen in many films and TV shows. This tag includes some Once Upon a Time whump, but also has Conor Elliott’s arrest in The Clinic.

Demons Evil otherworldly beings. Most famously found in The Rite. This tag covers the demonic goings-on in The Rite, as well as some fandom bestings of Killian Jones being possessed or haunted.

Dorothy Cotter Irish actress. Played Laura in the short film, The Euthanizer. Laura is Ben’s beloved girlfriend, who has left him for unstated reasons. Ben is completely heartbroken by the loss, and turns to suicide.

Feels Seen: Everywhere, in everything. This tag encompasses all those moments when Colin’s character is overcome by emotion - including when that character is Killian Jones.

Finbar Lynch Irish actor. Played Terry in 2005′s Proof 2. The moment is very brief, but Terry does a wonderful job of grabbing Jamie by the lapels and manhandling him.

Frogs More animals, spotted in 2011′s The Rite, besting Michael Kovak. You’ve gotta be fucking kidding him.

Gary Lydon British actor. Played Dr. Patrick Murray on The Clinic. Patrick Murray was Conor Elliott’s therapist, and his poor handling of Conor (and Conor’s condition) contributed to the emotional breakdown that led to Conor setting himself on fire.

Gabriel Byrne Well-known Irish actor. Played Carrie’s father in Carrie Pilby. Carrie’s father invades Professor Harrison’s home and eventually punches him right in the face. In an interview about the film, Colin said, “Who doesn’t want to be punched in the face by Gabriel Byrne?” Indeed.

Giant Alien Monsters Giant. Alien. Monstrous. Starred in 2011′s Storage 24. One thing you can say about these things... they have good taste.

Jeff Kober American actor. Played Zack in What Still Remains. Zack doesn’t whump Peter at all within the film, but as the main driving force behind Peter’s warped world view and the man who orchestrated the abusive environment Peter grew up in, he is instrumental in the trauma that made Peter into the mal-adjusted psycho he undoubtedly is.

Jennifer Morrison American actress. Played Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time. She and Colin like to tease each other at conventions. “By teasing each other, we mean that Jen teases me, is what happens.” We got you, Col.

Josh Dallas American actor. Played Prince Charming in Once Upon a Time. O’Dallas is love. O’Dallas is life.

Keith McErlean Irish actor. Played Dr. Adam in Season 5 of The Clinic. Dr. Adam was Daisy’s boyfriend in Season 5. Conor and Dr. Adam didn’t get along very well, causing much angst... and eventually a blow-up that resulted in some physical aggression.

Kristen Gutoskie Canadian actress. Played Nora in 2016′s The Dust Storm. Brennan’s feelings for Nora (and Nora’s rather unhealthy ways of dealing with her own emotions) cause a lot of conflict and angst throughout the film. She also inflicts physical harm on Brennan near the end of the film, when she burns his arm with a cigarette.

Lana Parrilla American actress. Played Regina Mills in Once Upon a Time. Only adorable bestings need apply <3

Lee Arenberg’s Acting Choices American actor. Played Grumpy in Once Upon a Time. What was he even doing, tho? And why? And what?

Lesley Conroy Irish actress. Played Mandy in the 2003 short film, Call Girl. Mandy comes to Brendan’s house, she makes him nervous, they have sex, she argues with him, she pushes him... umm, yadda yadda yadda?

Lulu Antariksa American actress. Played Anna in What Still Remains. Anna spends more of this film getting whumped by Peter than whumping him, to be honest, but when she does get her whump in... it’s the fatal kind.

Marta Gastini Italian actress. Played Rosaria in 2011′s The Rite. Rosaria is a young woman who is possessed by a demon. Her behavior during a routine exorcism unnerves Michael in the beginning, but eventually escalates to an all-out physical attack where she tries to strangle him.

Mimi Rogers American actress. Played Judith in What Still Remains. Aside from a few awkward hugs and exchanges in the film, Judith doesn’t actually whump Peter on screen. So why is she here? The film hints at long-term sexual and emotional abuse that Peter suffered at the hands of Judith and her husband Zack - abuse that surely shaped Peter into the psycho he is, and a dynamic that adds depth to those awkward encounters.

Noel Clarke British actor. Played Charlie in Storage 24. Charlie is Mark’s best friend when the film begins, though he’s arguably less so as the film progresses and Charlie finds out Mark’s been sleeping with his girl and is the reason said girl broke up with him. There’s an accidental nut-crunch in the beginning, a fight when the betrayal is discovered, and a punch right in the kisser later on.

Others Everyone and Anyone NOT listed here or on the Once Whumpers list. That means everyone. Even you, if you play your cards right.

Pay Phones Apparently, they still had them in Ireland in 2009. In The Euthanizer, Ben has a bit of trouble with one of these.

Robert Carlyle Scottish actor. Played Rumplestiltskin in Once Upon a Time. Full honesty - this is mostly just endless references to that blooper.

Rose Reynolds English actress. Played Alice Jones on Once Upon a Time. Rose and Colin are amazing together <3 Their bestings are the best!

Rutger Hauer Dutch actor. Played Michael Kovak’s father, Istvan, in The Rite. There’s not really much besting shown in the film, but the man made his son Michael help embalm his own mother. If that’s not a fucking besting, I really don’t know what would be.

Sarah Bolger Irish actress. Played Princess Mary in The Tudors. You likely recognize this actress’s name from her role in Once Upon a Time as Princess Aurora, but what lands her on this list is her role as Mary in The Tudors - where she allegedly steps on Duke Phillip’s foot.

The Crew Assorted crew members of assorted projects, including OUAT. ...because everyone likes to tease Colin. It’s an international pastime!

Tobias Jelinek American actor. Played Phillip in What Still Remains. The dystopian world of this film lends itself well to random whumpings from complete strangers. Phillip is one of two men who Anna and Peter run into on their journey who attempt to rob them.

Tommy O’Neill Irish actor. Played the Euthanizer in the short film of the same name. The Euthanizer is originally hired by Ben to help him hang himself... but when Ben changes his mind and decides to live, things turn even whumpier!

This list was last updated on February 5, 2019.

[amberraymond]

Mrs brown’s boys is Nominated for NTA

[curly-q-reviews]

ROAD TO THE OSCAR MAYER WIENER AWARDS 2K19

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, 2018 (dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Nominated for: Best Original Song, Best Costume Design, Best Adapted Screenplay

SPOILER ALERT THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD ME HEARTIES BE YE WARNED

wowee what a cool film!!  i went into this not knowing much about it except it was directed by the Coen brothers (directors of Fargo and The Big Lebowski) which set real high expectations for me.  these guys are real masters of storytelling and what immediately come to mind when i think of movies that know how to effectively use dark humor.  i also love the kinds of stories they tell in general, how they take subjects and settings that seem kinda mundane and just give them this little extra spark. 

so is this newest film just as good as their other work???  well id say yeah for sure!!!  it reminds me a lot of a film they did shortly after The Big Lebowski called O Brother, Where Art Thou?, because theyre both period pieces AND because they both feature a myriad of eclectic and interesting characters.  the one thing that makes The Ballad of Buster Scruggs really stand out from their other films however is the fact that this is actually an anthology made up of six different stories, all set during the same time period in The Wild West.  its also worth mentioning that this movie was made to premiere on Netflix, which is something ive started to see more and more as the streaming platform becomes the new go-to source of media content.  its very exciting to see such prolific directors go the Netflix route and have great success with it, because it means that the platform really is capable of creating high-quality movies and TV shows and working with big-name talent.  im sure the big hollywood production companies are all quaking in their lil booties cause this means big BIG changes are on the horizon

ok so ive reviewed anthology series before, notably Black Mirror, and with those reviews i ranked the short stories in order of least to most favorite.  so i guess in this case ill do the same, although its hard to really rank these cause i truly enjoyed all of them in different ways.  there was one however that didnt really tickle my fancy much, which was “Near Algodones”.  this one stars james franco as a bank robber who seems to have met his match in a fiery (probably crazy) bank teller.  he gets caught and hung from a tree by the town’s sheriff, but nearly manages to escape death when a Native American tribe swoops in and kills the sheriff and his crew.  james franco is saved by a cattle driver, only to be caught again by the next town’s sheriff for allegedly trying to hawk the cattle (which was not the case at all).  right before they kick the chair out from under him at the hanging, he sees a beautiful woman in blue, who at first smiles at him but then looks unnerved as he stares back at her. 

i think with this one the ending really didnt do much for me, i kinda didnt get it.  i did understand the whole irony behind surviving punishment for a crime he DID commit but getting hanged for a crime he never committed, and the bank teller was pretty hilarious, but everything else about the segment was just ok.  james franco didnt really blow me away (he never really does but thats besides the point), the rest of the performances were fine, and the story just kinda zipped on through.  maybe ill give this one another watch to see if the ending makes any more sense to me, or if theres any sense to be made from it at all

next up for me would be “The Gal Who Got Rattled”, and this segment i have mixed feelings over.  its about this brother and sister who set out on the Oregon trail so that the brother can get his sister to marry his business partner in Oregon.  the sister seems like a kind of wishy-washy, subdued character who just kinda goes along with whatever her brother says without giving much of her own opinion.  i gotta give credit to zoe kazan (who starred in The Big Sick) cause she does a great job with this character, totally spot-on performance.  ok so turns out the brother is a fucken HORRIBLE businessman who screws up all his business deals all the time, and he tragically dies like two days into being on the oregon trail.  he has this annoying-ass dog that barks all the time and everyone else on the caravan is sick of it, so when the brother dies the sister just lets one of the trail leaders put it down.  turns out the sister like did not like her brother at all but was always too afraid to say anything.  now getting back to the bad businessman thing, apparently he had promised the helper boy that is helping move their covered wagon a large sum of money, half of it halfway through the journey and the rest when they get to oregon.  problem is, the sister doesnt have the money, so it was either left in the brothers pocket when he was buried or there wasnt actually any money at all and he lied, y’know, like a bad businessman does.  the trail leader who put the annoying dog down offers to help her, and the two start to get close.  so now its like a pseudo love story thing.  except it ends pretty tragically (the sister dies its a long story and pretty ironic just watch it if u wanna know)

so uuuhhhhh this one was long as shit, like a lot longer than the other segments when it didnt really need to be???  like it just kept  going and going, and again the ending didnt really make up for how long it was.  i really liked zoe kazan in this, but otherwise nothing to write home about. 

number four on my list would have to go to “All Gold Canyon”, which basically just follows the story of a gold miner in the mountains trying to get that money honey.  this segment is the simplest one out of the bunch, but i gotta say its absolutely gorgeous.  what beautiful scenery and cinematography.  it provides a nice contrast to our disheveled, run-down gold miner who is just tearing up the beautiful grassy fields trying to get to this gold.  there seems to be a theme in this one of man’s relationship to nature, and how the gold miner does put in effort to respect it but still takes advantage of it for his own benefit.  and i guess theres a broader theme of greed, or the ruthless and endless pursuit of wealth which can drive people to do crazy and desperate things.  i definitely really enjoyed this one, especially the gold miner character played by tom waits.  but otherwise it didnt stand out as much to me as the other segments im gonna talk about

SPEAKING OF WHICH heres number three!!  “The Mortal Remains” is right up my alley, and has some more mythical elements to it than the other segments ive talked about so far.  so we have a wagon full of passengers all going to this hotel for various reasons, and its a really diverse cast of characters: we have the older wife of a prolific religious lecturer, a rich Frenchman, a trapper, a foppish Englishman, and a cheery laid-back Irishman, the last two seeming to be companions of some sort.  they all get on the topic of the true nature of mankind, and the three characters opposite of the strange pair all have something different to say.  the trapper believes that all people are inherently the same, with the same basic needs.  the older woman disagrees and insists that there are two kinds of people, upright and sinning.  and then the Frenchman says that both of them are wrong, that human existence is much more complicated and nuanced than that; no one persons life is exactly the same as another’s.  and then we have the Englishman and the Irishman, who turn out to be bounty hunters of some sort (is heavily alluded that they are grim reaper-type figures).  they explain their method of completing their kills, and talk about how they enjoy watching their victims “try to make sense of it all” in their death throes.  these two clearly have a much more cold and sinister idea of the nature of mankind, and the rest become very unsettled all the way to the hotel.  no one else even dares to step out of the carriage while the bounty hunters drag their latest victim through the front entrance and up the stairs.

oh man this segment was great!  i think the reason its third on my list is cause i really wish there was more to it, like if the Coen brothers spent more time on this one instead of “The Gal Who Got Rattled” it would be perfect.  Jonjo O’Neill and Brendan Gleeson as the bounty hunters were so enthralling, and i loved watching them play off of each other.  hell, i couldve had a whole movie featuring those two.  and the screenwriting really shines in this segment too.  this segment almost feels like a fable or something, which is really fitting for the time period.  makes me wonder if they had based it off of an actual fable.  but anyway yeah this ones awesome!

i had a hard time choosing between “The Mortal Remains” and this next segment for second place cause i liked them both equally, but in the end “Meal Ticket” gets #2 purely because of the utterly fantastic performance by Harry Melling, who plays a quadriplegic actor in a traveling show run by liam neesons character, an irish traveling entertainer.   the story itself is really simple, we just see this disabled actor be carted from one town to the next, doing the same stage show which is basically just him reciting famous prose throughout the ages.  meanwhile liam neeson is trying to get as much money as he can out of the audience members.  he doesnt interact much with harry melling outside of feeding him and helping him piss and get dressed.  u get the sense that he doesnt really see his disabled actor as an actual person, but more of an entertaining object or a pet.  and this becomes even more apparent when the irishman gets some competition from another traveling entertainer who has a chicken that can do math.  he sees this chicken getting more money than him, so he buys it off of the other guy and takes it with him.  and finally, the poor limbless actor is literally and figuratively tossed aside for the next best thing.

man oh man what a great segment!  harry melling blew me away with his performance, the fact that he was able to get such a nuanced range of emotion out of the few lines he was given (basically he had to recite the same shit over and over again) was so impressive to me.  and his non-verbal communication was really solid too.  liam neeson did really well in his role too.  and again the story itself is really great, simple but effective and really gets the point across without having to beat the audience over the head with its message. OH YEAH ITS REAL GOOD LOVE IT

and finally we have my #1 pick, which i think the directors knew this was the best one out of the bunch too cause its the first segment as well as the title of the whole movie.  “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” has that signature Coen brothers wit and dark humor that i love, it plays off of typical Western movie tropes and is very tongue-in-cheek and i ate that shit up.  tim blake nelson as the titular buster is just so fucken perfect for this role, he really shines in this and its kind of a shame that its one of the shorter segments cause it really is the best one and he knocks it out of the park.  we got some great music in this segment too, which is where that Best Original Song nom comes in.   this one also has some strong fable-y vibes to it, like this story could be amongst the likes of American folklore like Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed.  i wont get much into the plot of this one but i highly recommend watching it, even if you dont wanna see the rest of the segments. 

the segments fit together pretty well overall, although the tone of each of them differs slightly the fact that the setting and time period are the same is enough to firmly knit all these stories together.  its a really unique idea for a movie, and is so far the best attempt at an anthology movie that ive ever seen purely because the stories really all make sense together and play off of each other well.  in other anthology movies ive seen like The ABC’s of Death the segments usually dont have much at all to do with each other, except that they all fall in the same genre.  so overall id say give this a watch, especially if ur a Coen brothers fan, cause theres some real good stuff in here.

well thats all i got for now cowboys!!  i watched Roma the other day and CRIED REAL HARD so get ready for me to kiss that movies ass in a review that should be done in the next few days.  until then go uuhhhhhh lasso a cow or something.  chew some tobaccy.  fondle a barmaids titties.  die of dysentery.  y’know just old west things~

[globalzombie]

Brendan O’Neill discusses the pending (14 October) referendum & identity politics with Jacinta Price. 28 September 2023.

[pigballoon]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

(Joel & Ethan Coen, 2018)

Returning two years on from the fairly underwhelming, and pretty quickly forgotten Hail Caesar, the Coen brothers return with a project whose format has been much talked about. Was it intended to originally be a 6 episode miniseries, or was it always going to be a movie? It doesn’t really matter either way, but having seen it I feel like some of these 6 segments might have been a chore in isolation, and work infinitely better as shorter parts of this larger whole.

Buster Scruggs, unlike their very traditional previous western, True Grit, runs the gamut of Coens styles from the sheer absurdity of stuff like Raising Arizona, and Burn After Reading, to the darker, doom laden, dread and melancholy of No Country For Old Men or Blood Simple, the traditionalist, throwback class of the aforementioned True Grit, or Hudsucker Proxy, or the existential nightmares they conjured up in things like A Serious Man and Inside Llewyn Davis, it’s all here, and unified the Coens have conjured up as fine a deconstruction of the western genre since Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven over a quarter of a century ago.

To work through each section briefly, the titular Ballad of Buster Scruggs allows Tim Blake Nelson to cut loose in his own inimitable, and unforgettable way. It’s one of those pitch perfect marriages of actor and part that should earn damn near iconic status if enough people see it. The story he finds himself in the middle of (shout outs to Clancy Brown and David Krumholtz for playing their parts, however small) starts out outrageously amusing, and grows more and more absurd to the point of almost total idiocy. It’s blackly comic in the most black way, but so over the top it might prove off putting to many. Thankfully they have the good sense to keep it short enough that it never seriously outstays its welcome.

It’s followed by Near Algodones, another black comic work of absurdist madness, though slightly less outrageous than what comes before it (at least once Stephen Root finishes damn near stealing the whole movie), a little gentler in its tone, it’s ultimately no less bleak in its outlook, no less concerned with violence and death, it gives a nice little role to Ralph Ineson, and provides James Franco an opportunity to be as down to earth and natural as he may ever have been on screen. 

These first two segments are probably the two that most define what I was talking about when I said that some of these episodes may have been a little much to stomach in isolation, so crazy are they both. Yet with the end of Near Algodones the movie entirely turns itself on its head. 

In Meal Ticket, Liam Neeson, and Harry Potter’s now unrecognizable Harry Melling inject absurd amounts of melancholy into the most abstract segment in the movie. Told primarily through a sequence of very short scenes, with minimal use of much dialogue beyond the relatively incidental, the brothers and their two mournful performers craft a story less specific to the old west, more timeless and universal. It’s a mood piece of sorts, built around visuals and actions, asking the viewer to piece together the fragments they see, and infer meaning, and work their own way towards the conclusion, every bit as bleak as the finales of the stories that came before it.

After this comes the closest the movie can provide to respite. The Tom Waits led All Gold Canyon perhaps tonally could have come before Meal Ticket in the movies descent from dream into nightmare, but placed here breaks up the darkness of the movies second half a little bit. It’s another segment reliant more on action, with most of the dialogue proving on the incidental side. At the heart of it Waits is magnificent, it’s always nice to see him back on screen, and aided by the gorgeous photography of Bruno Delbonnel, now in his third collaboration with the brothers, this is maybe the most purely watchable chapter of the film.

It’s followed by another more traditional piece of work, in The Girl Who Got Rattled, with Zoe Kazan leading the way, aided by a terrific couple of performances from Bill Heck, and Grainger Hines. It’s the longest segment of the movie, along with the previous the most straightforward one, and the one with the closest thing to a proper arc, the one that feels the most like it could (again, probably in conjunction with All Gold Canyon) stand as a story in its own right. Heck and Kazan are a winning duo, and just when it starts to threaten to drag compared to what has come before, Hines steps up and elevates the final act at the centre of a sequence that needs someone special to make it work.

Finally comes the comparative chamber piece, The Mortal Remains. Shooting it in a studio where the rest was shot on locations may have been a practical choice rather than a creative one, but it adds to the movies meta qualities significantly, gone are the wide open plains, and in its place something that feels like a cross between the opening act of The Hateful Eight (the amount of talking in this segment would drive QT wild) and something out of Coppola’s Dracula. The oddballs in the carriage, the darkness and fog that surrounds them, the whole thing is unsettlingly off kilter, its another No Country For Old Men trick where the brothers sort of bring their film screeching to a halt at the last to force you to think a little bit more.about what you’re seeing. The quintet of performers, the great Tyne Daly and Brendan Gleeson, Jonjo O’Neill who finds himself gifted with the monologue of a lifetime, (speaking of Unforgiven) Saul Rubinek, and veteran Chelcie Ross, who is another of the movies show stealers, all bounce brilliantly off one another, off set each other, and keep this nightmare grounded to some degree in reality, a long way from the pure artifice in which The Ballad of Buster Scruggs began a couple of hours prior.

For all of its comic absurdity, and the storybook gimmick that strings the whole thing together, Buster Scruggs is a movie in which in spite of dabbling in generally pretty accessible, crowd pleasing or skin crawling storytelling, the Coens are able simply through structure, and their unmatched handle of tone to probe deeper into what they really want to explore. From the varying explorations of violence and preoccupation with death in all its complexities, to the use of songs, and mixture of tones, the Coen brothers latest effort is filled to the brim with all kinds of details that should reward repeated viewings. It’s a magic trick of a movie only the best can pull off, basically very light on its feet as a viewing experience, but enriched by a staggering amount of depth to be explored, and open up your understanding of what they’re going for just as they shrink their world, and box you in.

[rich4a1]

Turn it up with Gerry Casey Show #164

Turn it up with Gerry Casey Show #164

Making a Scene Presents Turn it up with Gerry Casey Show #164 with his Guest Brendan O’Neill Jaime Kyle Driving With The Brakes On Tony Smith Weekend Warriors The Dead Daises  Face Your Fears John Primer Hard Times Delta Fuse Let Me Go Five Horse Johnston Cherry Red Brian Setzer Take A Chance On Love Delta Moon The Day Before Tomorrow Joni Mitchell Blue Nine Below Zero Wild Kicking…