Antoinette Slovik
Earlier today I posted a scene from “The Victors” based on the execution of Eddie Slovik, the only US soldier shot for desertion in World War II. A detail in the…
Knockroe Passage Tomb December 21st winter solstice observances
Knockroe Passage Tomb near Windgap in County Kilkenny was only rediscovered during the 1980s. Like Newgrange, the dawn light on the Winter solstice aligns with the structure, but unlike Newgrange so…
“Have yourself a merry little Christmas…” – the execution scene from “The Victors” (1963)
The Victors is a 1963 film depicting American GIs over the course of World War II. Portrayals of World War II now tend to be reverent and serious, ever since…
“No poor people please, I write for the New Yorker” – Daniel Kalder on Lawrence Wright in the TLS
Daniel Kalder had a review in the TLS a while back of Lawrence Wright’s God Save Texas. The full text is on Kalder’s own website. Entertainingly, while the review itself…
Ember Days and nature connection
Today, Friday and Saturday are Ember Days. I had never heard of these (though “embertide” rings a faint bell) until I came across this tweet In a way Fr Schrenk…
Architectural urban myths: mixing up the plans in Dungannon and Enniscorthy
Reading the Wikipedia page on Dungannon, Co Tyrone I came across this: An interesting feature of the town is the former police barracks at the top right-hand corner of the market square…
New Geneva, a (failed) Genevan colony in Waterford, designed by James Gandon
Recently I came across the placename Geneva Barracks, near Passage East in Waterford. Obviously a slightly unusual name, I wondered was it an Anglicisation of something – but in fact…
From Lee Watkins’s blog – Henry Miller’s Christmas
One of the nice things about growing older is that you lose some of the inhibitions about admitting you haven’t read a particular writer. One of the less nice things…
Séamus Sweeney 