Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and millionaire oil tycoon
Tripping Along The Ledge
Miscellaneous
Published: Unpublished, summer 2007READERS LETTERS
Dear Eoin,
I’ve never been lucky when it comes to love. My first husband Michael was great with the kids and the sex was fantastic. But one day he ran off with my best friend Tracy and the contents of our bank account.
I found new love with Dan. He was great with the kids and the sex was fantastic. But one day he ran off with my brother-in-law Pete and the contents of my lingerie drawer. Read the rest of this entry »
Nitelink 69N: a critical analysis
The sights, sounds and smells of late night urban transportation are all powerfully evoked by Nitelink 69N (Westmoreland Street, 2.45am). The dialogue is crisp and authentic, with some riveting individual performances extracted from a cast of veritable unknowns. Read the rest of this entry »
Your Ma: A Critical Perspective
There has been a tendency in recent times to recalibrate the matriarch by endowing her with glamour, sophistication or sex appeal. Unapologetically bucking this trend, however, is your Ma: a gormless, rotund but ultimately lovable woman, who makes a persuasive case that the best path forward for the Irish Mammy lies not in elegance or refinement, but in understatement and verisimilitude. Read the rest of this entry »
Brendan Thompson getting his mickey caught in his zip in Junior Infants: a critical analysis
Picture it: a vibrant tableau of rural Irish childhood in the 1980s. Two lines of infants, marshalled by a prissy, short-sighted nun, queue in a freezing corridor, waiting for their turn to use the toilet. There is some perfunctory jostling and pulling of hair. But for the most part, it is an unremarkable scene. On the wall behind, a portrait of Pope John Paul II beams down serenely. Read the rest of this entry »
Admin Blues
Productivity has bottomed out. Our department is now so far behind on processing claims that the clients who made the claims in the first place have now forgotten ever doing so. Coming up with the goods at this remove only seems to annoy them further. Doing nothing actually makes more sense. Read the rest of this entry »
ADMIN BLUES
“Is anyone watching that Celebrity Farm?”
No takers, but she’s undeterred. The girl is a conversational terrorist. No topic too banal. Read the rest of this entry »
Published: Mongrel Magazine, October 2004ADMIN BLUES
I may appear polite, even deferential, to the spineless jobsworths who populate my workplace. But I despise them, and I despise their petty politics. Their meaningless office-speak is this company’s unofficial vernacular. Mastery of that, as well as an ability to smile like a simpleton in any situation, is what passes for professionalism around here. The head of my department is particularly fluent:
“With er… regard to the salary review you were promised, as such, we are presently not in a position to implement any… increases, as such, going forward… at this time.” Read the rest of this entry »
Published: Mongrel Magazine, August 2004FREE THE CHIP SHOP FIVE!
A grave injustice has been done. Five young men have been punished for a crime they had very little to do with. Barred for life from Marco’s Take Away in Stoneybatter (the fast food outlet of choice for a new generation), tut-tutted at by every pain-in-the-hole auld one in a two mile radius, and for what? The muddled testimony of a henpecked chip shop owner? The palsied lies of his stubby-fingered wife? Read the rest of this entry »
BANK ERROR IN YOUR FAVOUR?
HOW WOULD you react if a substantial sum of money was mysteriously lodged to your bank account one day? Would your first phone call be to your bank manager or your travel agent? Would you attempt to find out where the money came from? Or would you cross your fingers, do nothing and pray that no one ever noticed? Read the rest of this entry »
(THE BEST OF) THE VOID
Hasta la Victoria Siempre, readers! Greetings from Buenos Aires! Yes, after months spent battling the forces of the hated GENERAL RODRIGUEZ in the mountains by day, and instructing my ragtag band of guerrillas in the basic tenets of Marxist-Leninism and beard grooming by night; having survived 37 assassination attempts by the C.I.A. and two by the International Red Cross; and with only the fiery and enigmatic “TANYA” for female companionship (her passion for social justice is surpassed only by her passion for yours truly!); deliverance has finally arrived. Read the rest of this entry »