In this episode, Dara is wondering if the spirit of the season is upon you, or if you’re still waiting for that festive feeling to announce itself. The price of beef isn’t helping much. Nor is the price of Christmas trees, for that matter! And why does his daughter have so much to do?
Mari Lwyd, a Sugar Mouse, and a Rake of Christmas Poems! – Episode 232 Read More »
In this episode, Dara has thoughts on December coming round so quickly and the accompanying temptation to collapse in a heap. Does the festive season differ in any significant way from the rest of the year? Christmas really did used to be something special and genuinely indulgent – but does that still land when the rest of the year seems to involve frequent indulgence too?
In this episode, Dara considers the power of defying expectations. Partly prompted by a conversation with his dementia-affected father, his thoughts are also informed by a New York psychologist who worked with first responders to World Trade Center attacks. Role-reversal can be both destabilising and disarming, but it rarely goes unnoticed, and it often provokes both consternation and resentment.
Flipping the Script and Messing with Expectations – Episode 230 Read More »
In this episode, Dara confesses to having had a very teary twenty-four hours. But what could have caused him to weep like a baby?
Hand Me a Tissue, Somebody Just Scored a Goal! – Episode 229 Read More »
After watching Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Dara finds himself wondering about the director’s world view, and specifically his perspective on beautiful, sincere women and their superficially unattractive love interests. The Mexican director has an established sympathy with those considered ugly and monstrous by society – could a Freudian reading be applicable?
Can Women Love Monsters? Guillermo del Toro says ‘YES’! – Episode 228 Read More »
A week under the weather had Dara running for the comfort of old Hollywood classics. In this episode, he reports his findings.
Influenced by the spooky season, he reached for a couple of Hitchcock staples of the older variety – 1940’s Rebecca and 1941’s Suspicion. Two very different but no less complicated love stories, one featuring espionage and seduction, the other – gulp! – murder!
You Silly Girl! Gender Roles from 1940s Hollywood – Episode 227 Read More »
In this episode Dara argues that at a certain moment in autumn, the whole season starts to feel like a Sunday night, and not in a good way! The shortening days, the lengthening nights, it all combines to create a sense of nature closing in to usher us into a dark resting place. And isn’t that what Mondays can feel like?
It’s Autumn – Get Your A** in a Cave! – Episode 226 Read More »
In this episode, Dara is wondering who the enemy is. Finding himself symbolically shaking his fist at the clouds, he tries to work out who exactly he was angry with, and why. His wife used Jedi mind powers to flip the script which only stoked his fire further. The two choices available to him were obvious, and one was certainly not going to end well…
The Wisdom of Humanising the Enemy – Episode 225 Read More »
Who needs women when you’ve got AI? That seems to be the position of AI porn providers who seem pretty confident of their feminist credentials. How could they not be when they’re taking the messiness out of porn consumption. And while men are licking their lips over their fembot fantasy, female customers are enjoying committed relationships with AI partners. Welcome to love and sex in the 21st century!
AI Love Connections – The Charm of Asymmetric Ones and Zeroes! – Episode 224 Read More »
This week’s episode couldn’t be simpler – it’s an hour of Paul Thomas Anderson adulation. More specifically, it is sixty minutes dedicated to his new film, One Battle After Another. A propulsive story of revolution and retreat, of obsession and resignation, of manipulation and resistance.
PTA – One Brilliant Film After Another! – Episode 223 Read More »
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