Tired of liking other people’s pain? Sick of ignoring boastful status updates instead of giving them the dressing down you really crave? Worried that a simple ‘Like’ won’t show how much you get your furthest acquaintance’s twisted sense of humour? Well, suffer no more! Facebook have rolled out some new ‘Reactions’ buttons – animated emojis which can display a wider range of emotions…
Category: Unscientific Generalisations
Abandon Ship: A Step-By-Step Guide To Not Finishing Books
I was on holidays last week. You know this, because I put up a horrible gloating post with photographs indicating the niceness of the holiday scenery, and the depths of my nasty character. While I was away, I abandoned a book I’d been trying to read for about six months. I’m not going to tell…
Death By EL James
When I threatened to kill a bunny by reading it EL James’ Grey until it ran headlong and arse-ways into traffic, some thought me callous. Some thought me justified, because the furry little gits give them nightmares. Someone else coined the phrase “Death by EL James”, which immediately sounded to me like a great story title. So without…
Only You Can Save A Bunny From Certain Death. Please Vote
It’s that time of year again, folks. And I need your vote. Twice. I’ve been shortlisted in the Blog Awards Ireland 2015 in two categories – Best Art & Culture Blog and Best Marketing & Communications Blog. (Well, not me, technically, this blog has, but why split hairs when none of you have any idea that my blog…
A Mindful Conversation With My Arse
The other day, my arse spoke to me, and imparted wisdom of great proportions. I didn’t know I’d been sitting on an oracle, but then there are lots of things I don’t know, such as pretty much everything that isn’t Googleable (seeing as nobody actually needs to remember anything about anything anymore). Now, there is wisdom to…
On Waiting Productively, And Why There Isn’t A Word For That
I’m not the world’s most patient person. This is an understatement, because to tell you how impatient I am would take too long. But I was forced to spend the last fortnight in a paroxysm of waiting. It made me think about what I could learn from it, because I write a blog, so I go around trying…
The Secret To World Domination Is… A Hairy Irishman
They’re Irish. They’re hairy. And they’re taking over the world. It’s all very well perfecting your craft – whatever that might be – and seeking fame and fortune on the strength of it. But the fact is that unless you grow the hair to go with it, you’re wasting your time. I lay the cases…
Why Your Attention Span Is A Great Excuse For Someone Else’s Failure
I wasn’t well last week, and ended up feeling dreadfully sorry for myself. Now, there’s nothing on earth can feel quite as sorry for itself as an Irish woman, so it can get quite dark. Anyhoo, as I lay prostrate, bemoaning the state of both my health and my immediate prospects, my lamentations eventually began to…
You ****! You Just Can’t Say That On The Internet
It’s the ILF Dublin this week (International Literature Festival Dublin – formerly known as the Dublin Writers’ Festival – related attempt at satire here) and the city is swimming in a lovely pool of gorgeous writerly types putting themselves out there for our ogling and listening pleasure. On Tuesday I went to hear Jon Ronson, author of…
Inappropriate Stock Photo Of The Week
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to a new segment called “Inappropriate Stock Photo Of The Week”. This highly covetable award is given to any publication whose lazy and ham-handed use of irrelevant, terrible or inappropriate stock photos for illustration purposes deserves both recognition, and a good kick up the arse. This weeks’ award goes to the…
Tara Sparling writes 