Last Word Blog

It's that time of year again

Matt Cooper — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:16:18 GMT

Superbowl Sunday is just hours away so as we always like to do here's a re-post of the '85 Chicago Bears and the Superbowl Shuffle...

Profile Interview: Brian O'Driscoll

Matt Cooper — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:30:07 GMT

In the coming weeks, we'll be meeting "O2 Rugby Ambassadors" throughout the 2012 Six Nations for in-depth profile interviews -including Paul O'Connell & Jonathan Sexton - but first up is arguably the greatest Irish player of all-time, Brian O'Driscoll. Take a listen to the extended interview below, in which he reflects on adaptions made during his career, life on the sidelines, his forthcoming autobiography, and just how long he plans to extend his time in the Irish jersey.

Mark Pollock update

Matt Cooper — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:50:00 GMT

You might remember adventure athlete & friend of the show Mark Pollock joined us back in October to discuss the tumultuous challenges he has faced in life - be it blindness and more recently paralysis - and how he was raising funds to attend a specialised spinal injury activity-based recovery centre in the USA. Well take a look at the above video to see how he's getting on! (via Broadsheet.ie).

First Listen to Leonard Cohen

Matt Cooper — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:35:58 GMT

The good people over at NPR have a "first listen" to Leonard Cohen's new album - click the link if it tickles your fancy. Matt will be joined by Stuart Clark shortly to talk about the great man's life and times.

Last Word Oscars 2012 Special!

Matt Cooper — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:25:31 GMT

To mark the announcement of this year's Oscar nominations today - we've re-podcasted our interviews from the past 12 months with those involved with Oscar-nominated movies below. Also, our movie critic Ed Smith joined us to discuss today's announcement - Listen Back here

Beau Willimon, Writer, The Ideas of March - nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay

Profile Interview: John Hurt on Tinker Tailor Solider Spy - film nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay & Best Actor (Gary Oldman)

Emily Watson & Jeremy Irvine star in the movie War Horse - nominated in Best Picture category

JC Chandor, screenwriter/director, Margin Call - nominated in Best Original Screenplay category

Silk road to Shanghai adventure

Matt Cooper — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:33:32 GMT

Maghnus Smyth and David Burns who are undertaking a trip that will start in Turkey, from where they will cycle to the foot of the Himalayas, run across the mountain range, and when they get to the other side will raft the length of the Yangtze, finishing in Shanghai. All for charity. If you want to support them checkout http://www.sand2snowadventures.com/

Young Scientists Exhibition ticket giveaway

Matt Cooper — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:26:57 GMT

Thanks to the BT Young Scientist & Technology exhibition, we have 10 'Family Pass' tickets to give away to this year's event, which opens to the public tomorrow and runs through to Saturday. The 'Family Pass' admits two Adults & up to three Children - valid for one visit - and doors open at 9.30am & close at 5.30pm each day.

To enter, simply email lastword2011@gmail.com using the subject line 'Young Scientists' with your name & address - we'll be in touch with the winners asap.

These lads could give Sepp a run for his money

Matt Cooper — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:16:11 GMT

He's still got it

Matt Cooper — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:35:46 GMT

Sepp Blatter shows Shakira that his hips don't lie. As the man himself tweeted - "As you saw at Ballon d'Or, I love the rhythm of football & the rhythm of music. The two together bring joy to life!". He is slowly winning us over.

Ken Ring 2012 Weather outlook

Matt Cooper — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:04:02 GMT

Our long-term weather forecaster Ken Ring joined us to give his predictions on the outlook for the coming months!

Listen here: Ken Ring's 2012 weather outlook

New Mixtapes a-go-go

Matt Cooper — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:22:59 GMT

To kick off 2012 we've got a some free mixtapes to get rid of your January blues - starting with...

An incredible collection of mash-ups (including Stevie Nicks v Britney Spears!) from DJ Lobsterdust there's also a Dirty South hip hop mixtape from T.I. and rap royalty the Wu Tang's own Raekwon has also got a mix tape out there and in this part of the world, Kano has been mixing it up too as has Dizzee Rascal.

Apart from those, we have Lykke Li's lost sessions, an album from Cockanbullkid, some Guided By Voices from NPR and a rather tawdry effort from Lady Gaga

HO! HO! HO! Oh no, norra lorra Free Music for this week

Matt Cooper — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:27:36 GMT

Pic via Dj Paul Nelson

Right not a lot of links this week but some great stuf in NPR's 2011 sampler - inclduing tonight's play-in track, which was by Alabama Shakes. Have a listen to the whole thing here. Apart from that we have a Christmas single from The Japanese Popstars and another Christmas one from last week from Wiley

And that. sadly, is that! Hope you had a great 2011. Merry Christmas to all.

Books for Christmas

Matt Cooper — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:10:31 GMT

Looking for some present ideas for your loved ones? Sunday Business Post Arts Editor Nadine O'Regan and Crime Fiction Author Declan Burke gave us their recommendations of this year's best books.

NON-FICTION

Declan's recommendations:

Anglo Republic: Inside the Bank That Broke Ireland by Simon Carswell.
As late as 2007, Anglo Irish Bank was a darling of the markets, internationally recognized as one of the fastest growing financial institutions in the world. By 2008, it was bust. Now, for the first time, the full story of the Anglo disaster is being told - by the journalist who has led the way in coverage of the bank and its many secrets.

Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich.
Thad Roberts, a fellow in a prestigious NASA programme had an idea - a romantic, albeit crazy, idea. He wanted to give his girlfriend the moon. Literally. Thad convinced his girlfriend and another female accomplice, both NASA interns, to break into an impenetrable laboratory at NASA's headquarters and help him steal the most precious objects in the world: Apollo moon rocks from every moon landing in history.

Faulks on Fiction by Sebastian Faulks.
The novel was more than just a reflection of British life. As Sebastian Faulks explains in this engaging literary and social history, it also helped invent the British. By focusing not on writers but on the people they gave us, Faulks not only celebrates the recently neglected act of novelistic creation but shows how the most enduring fictional characters over the centuries have helped map the British psyche.

Nadine's recommendations:
Shadows Bright As Glass
This book by the Pulitzer Prize winner is truly enthralling -- it's a history of the human brain, but told through the prism of one man's experiences -- Jon Sarkin, an ordinary American who, after emergency surgery which necessitated removing a part of his brain, woke up to become quite a different man. From being a humble and quiet chiropracter who liked playing golf, he was suddenly a volatile visual artist, who could not stop creating, who even drew on the walls.

Where Were You? Dublin Youth Culture and Street Style, 1950-2000
This is easily the pick of coffee-table books this year -- it's an incredible compilation of images of Dublin youths from 1950-2000, taking in mods, rockers, teddy boys, hippies and everything in between. Skunk hairstyles, Elvis influenced suits, micro-mini skirts and bags of attitude predominate. Sepia, black and white and colour images are here -- and if you look closely, you're quite likely to find someone you know inside its 300 pages. Over 800 images are featured here, from photographers such as Tony O'Shea, Bill Doyle and Fergus Bourke.

Boomerang By Michal Lewis
In Boomerang, a collection of chapters stemming from his work in journalism, Lewis turns his attention to Europe: through lucid prose, he asks: what happens when governments cease to be credible? When nations are on the brink of financial collapse? He investigates Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Germany -- and what he finds is scarcely credible, even though we know it's true.

BIOGRAPHIES/MEMORIES

Declan's recommendations
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
From bestselling author Walter Isaacson comes the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. In Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, Isaacson provides an extraordinary account of Jobs' professional and personal life.

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin.
(Dickens' bicentenary next year)
Charles Dickens was a phenomenon: a demonicly hardworking journalist, the father of ten children, a tireless walker and traveller, a supporter of liberal social causes, but most of all a great novelist - the creator of characters who live immortally in the English imagination: the Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Lady Dedlock, and many more.

All Made Up by Janice Galloway.
In the second volume of her memoirs, the prize-winning author Janice Galloway reveals how the awkward child introduced in This is Not About Me evolved through her teenage years, living with her stoical mother and domineering older sister. In visceral descriptions of puberty, sex and school-room politics, Galloway casts her extraordinary gaze on the morals and ambitions of one small-town through the stories of three generations of women.

Nadine's recommendations
Caitlin Moran -- How to Be A Woman
Funny, incisive and poignant, this memoir from London Times columnist Caitlin Moran is an absolute joy to read. Yes, it's a sort of manual for women, chronicling everything from cystitis to the brilliance of bras and what feminism really means, but beyond everything else, it's also absolutely hilarious - and any man who values a good belly laugh should read it.

Kristin Hersh -- Paradoxical Undressing
A memoir highlight comes from Kristin Hersh, the Throwing Muses frontwoman and singer-songwriter responsible for Your Ghost. Her memoir, Paradoxical Undressing, sees her return to the diaries she began in 1985 when she was 18.Hersh has spent four years working them up to publication standard, and it shows: the book is brilliantly put together and beautifully, sharply written.

FICTION

Declan's recommendations
The Fear Index by Robert Harris.
This is a very topical novel based around the current economic depression and its beginnings. The plot throws a different twist on Artificial Intelligence getting out of hand and plays on the human fear of computers taking over.

City of Bohane by Kevin Barry.
Bohane is a thoroughly lawless Irish town, set in what would appear to be some kind of parallel universe. We are told it is set in 2053, but it's a town without any technology or modern luxuries. It's a violent place fuelled by alcohol, drugs and lust with a patois style language that takes a little work to get into. Novels with this kind of premise have to be beyond good if they are to interest the annual literary prize judges; this is one such book and City of Bohane was nominated for this year's Costa First Novel prize.

Top Loader by Ed O'Loughlin.
Spying inside the Embargoed Zone is an expensive business, not to say risky, and Agent Cobra wants his wages in full. But his down-at-heel spymaster can only offer payment in kind - and the first thing he finds in an unattended storeroom. And so both men are sucked into the mysterious Toploader project, a race to retrieve a deadly secret from inside the world's first - and best - walled-off terrorist entity

Nadine's recommendations
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Night Circus arrives as a beautiful hardback edition with black-edged pages and an old-fashioned red ribbon bookmark, and the contents within live up to the stunningly well imagined cover.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Nine years after the publication of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides returns with another widescreen, yet wonderfully intimate take on young adult life in America.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Set in the rural, gothic-tinged town of Chabot, Mississippi, it's the story of Larry Ott, a timid, bookish soul who waits in his auto repair shop every day, hoping for custom from passing strangers. The town's people refuse to support Larry, because they think he's responsible for the disappearance of a young woman 25 years before. When another Chabot woman vanishes, Larry becomes the prime suspect.

Solace by Belinda McKeon (Picador)
One of the most talked about Irish debuts of recent times, Belinda McKeon's novel Solace borrows heavily from the work of John McGahern, but is ultimately no less compelling for that.

CRIME FICTION

Declan's recommendations
Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James.
Inspired by a lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen, PD James masterfully recreates the world of Pride and Prejudice, and combines it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly-crafted crime story. Death Comes to Pemberley is a distinguished work of fiction, from one of the best-loved, most- read writers of our time.

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott.
Megan Abbott's The End of Everything (Picador, �7.99) is another unusual offering, a novel about the abduction of a pubescent girl by a male neighbour as seen through the eyes of Lizzie, the best friend of the abducted girl

Bloodland by Alan Glynn.
The winner of this year's crime gong in the Irish Book Awards, Bloodland opens with Dublin-based journalist Jimmy Gilroy being warned off a story, by a political 'fixer', about the death of a tabloid ing�nue in a helicopter crash.

AUDIO BOOKS

Declan's recommendations
I, Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan by Steve Coogan
Journalist, presenter, broadcaster, husband, father, vigorous all-rounder - Alan Partridge - a man with a fascinating past and an amazing future. Gregarious and popular, yet Alan's never happier than when relaxing in his own five-bedroom, south-built house with three acres of land and access to a private stream. But who is this mysterious enigma?

Falling Glass by Adrian McKinty
(Won the Audible.com crime novel of the year).
The sixth offering from Adrian McKinty is ostensibly a straightforward chase-'n'-shoot thriller, in which an underworld enforcer, Killian, is hired to find the runaway ex-wife of an Irish millionaire, said ex-wife having absconded with her two daughters.

Nadine's recommendations
Ulysses by James Joyce
There has never been a better time to read Ulysses. It falls out of copyright in Ireland on Jan 1, 2012, so next year you can expect to see lots and lots of public renditions of the classic book (previously Stephen Joyce banned a lot of that; Joyce's grandson is notoriously restrictive). There will be flash mobs, new plays based around Ulysses and much more. Also, it's a great book for an audiobook read because it's a very long book and it's incredibly dense at points. So you have much more of a hope of getting through it:-)

KID'S BOOKS

Declan's recommendations
Sally Go Round the Stars by Sarah Webb and Claire Ranson.
A major, beautifully-illustrated collection of favourite nursery rhymes known and loved throughout Ireland. It includes favourite international, British and Irish rhymes as well as special Irish favourites.

There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff.
Imagine that God is a typical teenage boy. He is lazy, careless, self-obsessed, sex-mad -- and about to meet Lucy, the most beautiful girl on earth. Unfortunately, whenever Bob falls in love, disaster follows. Let us pray that Bob does not fall in love with Lucy.

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens.
The first thrilling book in the most exciting children's fantasy series since Harry Potter. They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since. Ten years on, Kate, Michael and Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, and all memories of their parents have faded to a blur.

Nadine's recommendations
The artist who painted a blue horse By Eric Carle
This one has been tried and tested on my two-year-old niece Chloe -- and she loves it. There's a tiny amount of text -- it tells the story of an artist painting many differently coloured animals. But the illustrations are incredibly lovely: a blue horse running against a yellow sky; a red crocodile; a yellow cow; a pink rabbit and an orange elephant. It's great for kids who like to make animal noises as you proceed through the book too.

Free Music

Matt Cooper — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:57:14 GMT

It's Free Music Wednesday again.

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International doesn't come out for another month, but the massive four-disc tribute is available to stream. The album featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Sting, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello and, er, Miley Cyrus.

We also have first airing of a fabulous new song by The National, an excellent new Cast Of Cheers single and Squarehead's cover Darlene Love's 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)'.

Also available for free this week is pop starlet Alex Winstone's wonderful Black Keys cover and another Gaga remix courtesy of Dimitri Vegas & Live Mike.

AND She & Him's Xmas album streaming in its entirety aswell as a free streams of the Richter Collective Christmas Party and O Emperor gigs this weekend in Dublin.

And finally a free taster from Paul Weller's Sonik Kicks album, out next year.

Shaun Ryder interview

Matt Cooper — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:58:11 GMT

LISTEN HERE: SHAUN RYDER INTERVIEW

Shaun Ryder joined Matt to reflect on life with The Happy Mondays, and his extra-curricular activities in recent decades!