In this episode, Dara looks at a couple of recent news stories in Ireland that have raised some confronting questions about where we’re at as a society.
Laughing at the Wrong Things, or Why Cat Stevens is So Funny to Me – Episode 88 Read More »
After hearing his wife listening to a selection of different piano pieces in preparation for a class, Dara realised he wanted to talk about motifs. He discusses motifs in the work of film score composers before warming to the idea of motifs in one’s life – what themes and fascinations have recurred over a lifetime? What has been circled back to? What has been underscored and reiterated?
The Attraction of Certain Instruments, or Oh, What a Lovely Wand! – Episode 87 Read More »
In this episode Dara shares his experience of a recent family funeral that seemed to succeed in channelling a profound communal expression of love and grief. Because of his role in the service, he had to wait to express his own feelings.
Notes From a Funeral, or The Power of the Collective Experience – Episode 86 Read More »
If last week was the wrap-up of the year, this week is assessing the landscape of the year to come. Dara acknowledges the generic themes he has embraced for the moment that’s in it and tries to contextualise his own attitude to the beginning of another year. Part of that attitude is informed by his birthday falling in January, something that has helped him cultivate a lifelong affinity for the month and what it can represent.
Goldfish Memory and the Things We Get Used To – Episode 85 Read More »
An attempt to wrap up the year that was becomes a review of stand out movies and TV taken in over the last twelve months. Somewhat symmetrically, Dara realises he began and ended the year watching the work of Peter Jackson – he took in Jackson’s Beatles documentary in January and is finishing the year by revisiting The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There have been plenty of other memorable productions along the way.
This year’s Christmas story features a man who is desperate for a break so he can feel worthy of his wife’s love. A larger-than-life blind man hijacks his night and steers him on a path towards victory. But is he all that he seems? And what does his one-eyed cat have to do with proceedings?
The Finding of Gabriel’s Heart Read More »
Dara ain’t gonna lie – this was a monster effort to produce! A little recital with his wife, an unexpected but most welcome interview with his daughter, and a new story for the season that’s in it, all pulled together on the day of the episode. And done while sick.
The 2022 Christmas Special! – Episode 83 Read More »
In this Christmas shopping list of an episode, Dara has a look at the festive season through the lens of Christmases past. He also considers the pressure people are put under to partake of all things yule.
The Zero Sum Game of Loving Christmas – Episode 82 Read More »
In this episode Dara has a flea in his ear about what he sees as the shortage of social and political ideas to cater for a world that is outrunning itself.
Calling All Pamphleteers! What’s the Big Idea? – Episode 81 Read More »
In this pinball machine of an episode, Dara bounces all over the place and is none the wiser at the end of it whether things held together.
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