Ragtag Giggagon

The poison I inhale is Marlboro, but sometimes I buy Pall Mall to save on the price of a carton of milk and maintain my smoker's cold and cough through all the summer days, Undermining my prospects in any number of other ways. When convinced I requested Pall Malls I'm occasionally given the Marlboro Golds. While accepting the mistake as mine, alongside the error of an expensive habit that has killed billions of my betters - I will doubletake at the shop-assistant - and whenever this happens, silently wonder if my mouth says Pall Mall Blue, but my eyes say Marlboro Lights.

A Wednesday evening poetry launch at the Liquor Rooms 21 June was an eclectic evening of culture. While not at all madness, the event turned into quite a late midweek session for many attendees. This reviewer is left believing it was only yesterday, when it took place some days ago.   Clara Rose Thornton launched her book Alternatives at the Liquor Rooms, where she spoke of “the sheer diversity of talent in Dublin’s literary scene,” in a country that's “old-fashioned in a way that’s very very positive compared to my homeland the States, where not so many people read the newspapers or listen to the radio any more.” Also premiering were two (two!) short fillums - one a video to accompany Clara Rose's poem Champagne, directed by Ailish Kerr . The video is terrific - with a Roaring Twenties aesthetic - capturing a performance from the poet on what appears to be a very stylish, mid-afternoon or perhaps very-late-night, hair-of-the-dog, champagne-fuelled bender. The second movie w...

Yes, I misspelled advice to annoy the folks and draw them in! Who's the fool now, ehhh? So why don't you cut back on the criticle eye, Little Miss Grammer Pants? Anyhoo, I saw this question via Wayne Borean on Twitter. Go answer it yourself if you have any thoughts. Mine are spewed out again below. Writing: I want to write a novel, but I don't have an appealing story idea, skill as a good writer, much free time, tenacity, much imagination, or observational skill needed to write a good novel. What should I do?  I want to write my first novel but I have some issues and excuses to get started. Please suggest how should I cope with them and start writing.   1.      I don't have a good/clear and appealing story to take a start  Ehhhm...this is a...ehhhm...a...thumbnail...photo. Ahem. 1. Whaddaya wanna write? Or write about? Do you know what your subject will be? When you say you don't have a clear idea, do you have any idea? Take the most int...

Here is Calvin, or as he's also known, Mr. ****en Squishface . Mr Squishface is an almighty ******ks. He looks all cute and fluffy, with his beautiful fur, and his wondrous brown hind legs, but if you hold out a treat for him, your hand will be returned to you with missing ****ing fingers.  Even though he's a chubby ****er, h e has the claws of a ludicrously ****ing impatient, half-starved ****ing **** of a veloci****ingraptor. Although he will strip hands of their flesh, seconds later he is still stupid enough to flop like a vibrating ****en cushion when you pick him up and turn him over in your arms, reacting like some class of dead ****bag. An ostrich burying its head in the sand, the stupid f***en purring p****.  What a genetic ****up. Here is Max.  Max is "The Human" . The spooky ****ing depth to Max's eyes indicates that - beyond question - there's a mother****er of a human under there.  Some claim that Max is in fact the reincarnation of her Ladysh...

As the title suggests, there's plenty angelic and heavenly in this collection of flash fiction (available at Amazon UK, and Amazon US too). The occasional echoes of Márquez's magic(al) realism, or Liam O'Flaherty's short story His First Flight, suggest that many have mined similar seams. I don't know what Taylor Eaton reads, but her frequently dreamlike style and original choice of subject matter make this collection well worth a look. Thematic drivers appear to be wings, the divine, and what we call Heaven. Eaton's surreal tack is often irreverent, very fast-and-loose when it comes to divinity, without ever crossing over into sacrilege. An expressive and assured voice throughout makes for some terrific lines, to the point that some of the phrases and sentences could well become aphorisms. This image of a dead dragonfly completely misrepresents the magic of Taylor Eaton's collection, but what do you expect? I'm NOT a photographer! One story reminded me...