Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.

Date: March 2019

The epitome of Ireland’s Dublin-centrism is this coypu story, which first became an issue in 2017 but that wasn’t in Dublin so… #aside

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Just thought of like five better puns than the crappy headline I put on a piece before end of shift last night #aside

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Um, kinda forgetting everything before 1985 there, aren’t we? In the context of where the phrase originates, the st… https://t.co/fF8IkboTbc #aside

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Film review — The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley

It’s tempting to compare Theranos to the Fyre Festival debacle, but we’re dealing with a different situation here, one where capitalist greed and general arsehole-iness doesn’t play the same kind of part. Whereas Billy McFarland was an ignorant grifter who knew his concept wouldn’t fly from the earliest stages but pursued it anyway (and the Instagram kids, being marks, fell for it), Elizabeth Holmes really does seem like she was inspired by the Edison lesson of faking it till she made it. She really did want to be a Steve Jobs-esque Silicon Valley pioneer and ‘disrupt’ the established infrastructure of blood testing. All she needed was that one breakthrough that would solve all her problems, as they continued to pile up and eventually avalanche on top of her. One can’t help but imagine that if she were a man, one who, say, blustered about fanciful transport tunnels or cave rescue robo-coffins with nowt to show for them, the big idea would still be a thing. More…

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Political journalism is really bad. I’m sure this isn’t news to most observers, but it has to be said #aside

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Here’s a thread of fair and valid criticisms of Joe ‘I can’t do my job and just watch the monitor when I commentate at UFC events’ Rogan https://t.co/iwzgjOu8aT #aside

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Did anyone expect Theresa May to say anything of substance right now? She hasn’t at any time over the last few years #aside

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I think this means ‘he made another horror movie’, which is like criticising John Carpenter for following Halloween with The Fog https://t.co/soC4UKbsuT #aside

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Less haste for this now seeing as I found a voucher in my eBay account and just used it to buy a matcha whisk. But still interested in others' experiences https://t.co/ZpLDElBXmu #aside

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Do I know anyone who’s shopped with AliExpress? I must do. What’s your experience? #aside

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Who would’ve thought the humble egg would get the far right so wound up? #aside

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Nightmare fuel in the new video for From the Bogs of Aughiska, directed by @FracturedSeries (CW for flashing images) https://t.co/0GWqNdzGjl #aside

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Some positive news for Monday: where I live, at least, daylight hours will be one minute longer than night #aside

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WrestleMania X is on the Network right now if you’re at a loss for something to do tonight #aside

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I was only thinking about this earlier: Katie Taylor is out there collecting belts with nary a peep from the nation and Conor McRacist is doing what, exactly? https://t.co/qsrRfPRkAd #aside

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Something really bugging me about last night: the guy in the section behind us who yelled that Liger is a ‘Jap’ http://bit.ly/2TdtIRA #aside

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Just met my favourite wrestler ever. No big deal, like #aside

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I’m glad I went to UCD, but if I’d known I could have simply not done Irish in the Leaving, it would’ve been a better points strategy for sure https://t.co/oX41U9SPix #aside

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They’ve made a Super Split flavoured Coke now? That sounds disgusting #aside

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Two great records out today you should hear: the new Deafkids and Elizabeth Colour Wheel #aside

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49 people murdered for social media lulz. That’s the world we’re living in now #aside

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Film review — Pacific Rim

Second viewing, still boring. I would say unremarkable, but there’s a lot one can say about its manifold problems: the rampant otaku fetishism; the forced nomenclature absent context or explanation, like ‘jaegers’ (very quasi-fascist, that one) and ‘chasing the rabbit’; the determination to stuff into less than two hours a whole series worth of plot (the ‘human element’ I complained about previously, which was a bit unfair as that’s what most giant robot manga/anime is about, ultimately). The film rushes through the bullet points of its treatment at a breathless pace without anything really happening, and the results just wash over and away down the drain. Quite a remarkable feat, actually, to make a movie about massive monsters and the machines that fight them so dull. More…

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Just a short clip of Jawbox in rehearsals for their upcoming reunion tour. Which I won't be seeing. Sad face. #video

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Westminster is the only side that has been acting in bad faith at every stage of this shambles. Just sayin'... https://t.co/oNM57Nggow #aside

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For those of you confused about last night’s Brexit news: it’s guff. Britain was no more ‘trapped’ by the backstop a few months ago than it is now. All she got is a letter confirming stuff that was already in the spirit of the agreement https://t.co/NuiENZwSMZ #aside

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Down to the wire tonight. Thanks a bunch, Theresa May #aside

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Is it just a weird camera angle, or does Vince look very, um, slender? #aside

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PSA for Irish/UK wrestling fans: US clocks went forward this morning, so Fastlane tonight starts at 11pm (Kickoff at 10pm) #aside

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Film review — Raising Cain

Watched the re-cut of this, which is supposedly approved by Brian De Palma himself. He’s such an idiosyncratic filmmaker, especially here, where the Hitchcock references are in full effect along with confident nods to his own oeuvre. The combination is so heightened, so deliriously odd that it could not possibly be recreated by anyone else. Essential viewing, also, for anyone who appreciates what Shyamalan was trying to do with Split. More…

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Was only this morning discussing at home that ‘technical solutions’ are pie-in-the-sky stuff. As if they’d even spend the requisite on this Podunk corner of the world https://t.co/vZyoofovc2 #aside

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Regarding that Hollywood Reporter list everyone is going on about: it’s a framing issue, really. Favourite /= Best #aside

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I liked Lords of Chaos a lot. There, I said it #aside

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Film review — Lords of Chaos

Oh boy. Some people are going to absolutely hate this one. I, on the other hand, liked it a lot. Do not go into this expecting any kind of affectionate, reverential depiction of the origins of Norwegian black metal; this is very much a tragicomedy of more universal themes, taking great artistic licence with the true kvlt lives it depicts. The contrasts are jarring at first: the parodic tone of kids dressed in black, wailing in American-accented English about death (a deliberate aesthetic choice flying in the face of ‘the scene’ and its carefully cultivated self-seriousness), cut through with sudden, shocking violence in all its visceral verisimilitude. It could come off like it’s taking the piss. But if you know anything about black metal, you’ll be fully aware of its contrived artifice. It’s all kayfabe, just tag team wrestlers in facepaint. Except for the ones who believed their own hype, and took things too far. (Which is what some will accuse director Jonas Åkerlund, an original member of Bathory, of doing with this very film.) More…

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Guerilla Toss’ upcoming Euro tour isn’t coming to Ireland. Understandable, but boo to that all the same #aside

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Even apart from all the qualities that made/make Jushin Thunder Liger such a phenomenal performer: surgery for a brain tumour, then continued his career for almost a quarter of a century. Beast god indeed #aside

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Had a feeling this was coming. I got to see him wrestle in London a few years ago, and I’ll see him one more time in just over a week in my home town https://t.co/tmAaJtv2xe #aside

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