Odrán Waldron

Bluey

It was a weird text, but Bluey was always a weird one. He got the nickname when we were all sixteen and he passed out at a house party in mine. Back then my sister used to dye her hair blue and we thought it'd be funny to stick a blue streak in his otherwise auburn hair.

The Selectors

There was no hope for him this time: the liver was beyond all repair and they didn't give new ones to people like him. I passed by his classroom everyday and studied the substitute sitting behind his desk with his shoulders slumped timidly like a brae that slips and slides into a river.

They're on the Roof Again

The stone hit her window and interrupted her shaking. Her teeth cut against each other with fright, the top row jagging off the inside of the bottom row, but she bounded on the balls of her feet towards the window, toes folding underneath. Jess knew the stone had been coming, but had let the anxious...

Transplant

Oh sweet Jesus I've been here before. This nightclub, this nightclub is the place I had that trial shift a few months ago. This table, I sat at this table that night too, before the nightclub opened, they gave me a meal and sent me upstairs with it.

Bastards of Young

The following is an extract from a larger piece of work, which is centred on my upbringing in a rural Irish village, the influence of sport on the village and coming of age in the midst of the recession in Ireland.

How Brexit Is Threatening Northern Ireland's Peace Agreement

DUP leader Arlene Foster. Photo: Benjamin Wareing / Alamy Stock Photo One of the central tenets of conservatism is the inability to detect the irony in any sentiment you've ever expressed. Jeremy Hunt rigidly adhered to this rule when he warned the EU that if they "put a country like Britain in the corner, we don't crumble - we fight".

The Northern Irish Massacre Britain's Army Were Never Held Accountable for

Screen shot via 'The Ballymurphy Precedent' trailer. "My mummy was brushing the front steps at the door when the soldiers were driving past, and they were shouting abuse at her - she was shouting back at them and they shouted, 'There's a bullet in here that's for you.'" Speaking over the phone - recounting what she says in Callum Macrae's new documentary, The Ballymurphy Precedent - Briege Voyle remembers her mother, Joan Connolly, as "a saint; she made them [British soldiers] tea and...

From the Summerhill Occupation: On the Fight for Public Housing in Dublin

Summerhill Parade was as quiet as any inner-city street could be at 10:30 on a Saturday night. Locals celebrated the Dublin Gaelic football team's fourth successive qualification for the All-Ireland Football Championship final in two pubs, the Bridge Tavern and Lowry's; cliché as it will sound to any Irish reader, a punter smoking outside actually said "up the Dubs".

The Mess in Northern Irish Politics Shows Where Far-Right Rhetoric Gets You

Ian Paisley Jr. (Stephen Barnes/Politics / Alamy Stock Photo) It has been an uncomfortable summer in Northern Ireland. Much like the roads of South Antrim, pasty descendants of Celts, Normans and Anglos began to melt when temperatures hit 30ºC.

Is Ireland Losing Its Neutrality?

Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Leo Varadkar. Photo: RollingNews.ie / Alamy Stock Photo When HMS Biter, Charger and Pursuer docked at Irish Naval Service (INS) headquarters last Tuesday, they made history. It was under-reported, but these Royal Navy patrol and training ships were the first British naval vessels to dock at Haulbowline Island in 80 years.

Westminster Will Rule Northern Ireland: Here's Who to Blame

DUP Party Leader Arlene Foster addresses media during assembly talks. Photo: Mark Winter / Alamy Stock Photo Both the British and Irish press were almost willing the latest round of talks aimed at restoring the Northern Ireland Assembly to succeed, but they shouldn't have been surprised that it failed.

Northern Ireland Has Spent a Year Without Government

In Moygashel, a village on the edge of Dungannon in County Tyrone, a sign told Martin McGuinness to " rot in hell". So often mischaracterised as a hotbed for religious rather than political strife, the existence of hell and whether or not McGuinness is in it seems immaterial now as Northern Ireland drifts into its second year in limbo.

It's Time for Labour to Disassociate from the SDLP

It isn't hard to find new alleys in which to attack Jeremy Corbyn for the same thing over and over.

Che, the Commodity

by Odrán Waldron The black beady eyes looking over your left shoulder as you face into them, the black beret effortlessly lounging on the top of his head, the left cheek dimming into the shadow of his long black hair; we all know it, it is the icon's

Please Solve Life: How Transhumanism Distracts Us from Silicon Valley's Class Warfare

by Odrán Waldron In February 2014, there was a terrifying scene outside of the Mountain View swallowing Googleplex. A "protest" was happening outside of Google's shiny, cyclist-friendly Castle Doom and among the demonstrators, Jason Xu held a sign that read: "Google, please solve death." This scene, and the

Che stamp hypocrisy: 'A centre-right government selling us the iconography of leftists'

It is a few steps backwards from Bertie Ahern calling himself a socialist, writes Odrán Waldron.

As the Centre Collapses, It Distorts Democracy

Politically homeless was how Gary Lineker put it, not realising that he was summing up nicely why it was that people had abandoned the centrism he was tweeting about craving. Centrism always has been and always will be homeless, an absence of ideology sheltering itself from the rain with a cardboard box made of subservience [...]

The Death of Capitalist Realism and the Most Reactionary Government in Living Memory

2017 feels, sadly, like the year of Mark Fisher. It should be a year of celebration for Fisher, a year when the political concept he popularised - capitalist realism - came crashing down in his native UK, a year when the people who picketing him from the vampire castles he placed them in finally laid [...]

British Nostalgia Is Coming For Everyone, Even The Foxes.

A spectre is haunting Britain - the spectre of nostalgia. It is an all-inclusive nostalgia, yearning for any time that isn't right now and seeking to restore laws, policies, demographics and passport and colours to anything that they might have been before the 21st century.

Remembering Martin McGuinness: A Statesman of the Bogside

This is a piece I wrote in the immediate aftermath of the death of Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin's leader in the north and the former Deputy First Minister. I pitched it to a few places, but it never...

Tetsuo & Youthquake

In Katsuhiro Otomo's seminal manga series Akira, an initially insignificant boy named Tetsuo becomes the primary antagonist. After gaining supernatural powers, Tetsuo's life becomes a nightmare, where he, in the words of the Irish novelist Danny Denton, "quite literally contains apocalypse, badness bursting out of him so furiously that he fears his head will explode."

Stranger Things: TV for a Lost Reality

by Odrán Waldron When I was young and given a pencil with which to draw, I would draw cruder versions of whatever it was my brother had drawn before me. Like many younger siblings, my brother was a purveyor of taste for me, the conduit through which I discovered childhood favourites like Street Sharks, Biker Mice from Mars, and The Mighty Ducks.

Ed Sheeran Is Essentially the English Ginger Drake Now

by Odrán Waldron 21 March 2017 ÷ is the final step in Sheeran's shift from baby-faced ginger kid whispering about class A's over acoustic guitar to England's version of a man who constantly refers to himself as "The Boy". Songs on Drake's recently released More Life will inevitably enter the various singles charts around the world via streaming services.

Review: Foxes in Fiction - Ontario Gothic

Warren Hildebrand doesn't need this. Had Foxes in Fiction remained dormant for 2014, the year would still have been one to remember for Hildebrand by virtue of the sheer quality of output from his record label, Orchid Tapes. Hildebrand has overseen, and in some cases mastered, releases from luminaries Ricky Eat Acid and arrange among others.

James McClean's Refusal To Wear The Poppy Has Made Him The Most Hated Man In English Soccer

In England, Halloween ends and gives way to November in various ways: Pumpkins left on doorsteps begin their neglected descent into rot; the seasonal coffee flavoring changes to gingerbread; James McClean begins receiving death threats from a certain brand of soccer fan, including among his own supporters.

The Rape Case Tearing Apart Irish Rugby

Rory Best should have stayed in Carton House with the rest of the Irish national rugby team. Instead, the captain and starting hooker sat in Belfast's Laganside Crown Court alongside his teammate Iain Henderson, watching the trial of two other teammates for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old woman in June 2016.

In San Francisco, the Community Ethos of the GAA Survives

You're Ugly Too wins Finders Series 2015

Friday 19 Jun 2015 The Screen Directors Guild of Ireland have announced Mark Noonan's You're Ugly Too as the winner of their Director's Finder Series 2015. The film, which stars Game of Thrones, Love/Hate and The Wire star Aiden Gillen, will now be shown in the Directors Guild of America Theatre in Los Angeles in a bid to secure US distribution.

Pratt and Lawrence film close to being green-lit

Wednesday 17 Jun 2015 Following the record-breaking success of Jurassic World, Sony is reportedly close to green-lighting Passengers, the sci-fi film starring Jurassic World star Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Deadline reports that the studio is close to approving an early autumn start to production, which would allow for Pratt and Lawrence's schedules to match up with Imitation Game director's Morten Tyldum's.

Beggars Group slams Apple Music non-payment

Beggars Group, the English record company that owns independent labels such as 4AD, XL, Rough Trade, Matador and Young Turks, has released a statement criticising Apple Music's proposed policy of not paying rights owners for the service's first three mont

Pitch Perfect 3 set for release in July 2017

Pitch Perfect 3, the sequel to this year's highly successful Pitch Perfect 2, has been announced with a release date of July 21, 2017 and the return of stars Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick.

Bon Iver's Justin Vernon criticises Apple

Wednesday 17 Jun 2015 Following the announcement of Apple Music, Bon Iver frontman and songwriter Justin Vernon has criticised the company that he says once made him "believe in companies and, not joking, people".

Paul Walker's estate sues over disappeared cars

Monday 15 Jun 2015 The estate of Paul Walker have opened legal proceedings against a former associate of the late actor, alleging that he took possession of seven of the actor's cars less than 24 hours after Walker's death and has not yet returned them.

Fans think Captain America is new Top Gear host

Marvel fans were left a bit confused last night when it was announced that a certain British TV presenter would be the new host of Top Gear.

Depp says Christopher Lee was "last of his kind"

Wednesday 17 Jun 2015 Johnny Depp has paid a touching tribute to the late actor Christopher Lee, who died on June 7, saying that the screen legend was the "last of his kind". Depp starred in five films with Lee, starting with 1999's Sleepy Hollow. He described his former co-star as a "wonderful man".

Doherty says Winehouse inspired Libertines album

Thursday 18 Jun 2015 The Libertines frontman Pete Doherty has said that the presence of a makeshift poster of his "kindred spirit" Amy Winehouse helped to inspire the band's third album. Speaking to NME, Doherty said: "The studio was quite sparsely decorated, but we did have a little NME front cover of Amy Winehouse over the mixing desk the whole time."

DCU student leads the way for Ireland's Brave New Voices

Five young Irish poets will make history this summer as they become the first team to represent Ireland at the Brave New Voices slam poetry festival. Brave New Voices is the largest ongoing spoken word event in the world and is also the world's first poetry slam dedicated to youth.

How I Met Your Mother creators sign deal with Sony

How I Met Your Mother creators Craig Thomas and Carter Bays have signed a three year contract with Sony Pictures Television, which will see them write and produce new series for the company.

Monsanto, Starbucks respond to Neil Young album

Wednesday 17 Jun 2015 American multinational food company Monsanto has told Billboard that the new Neil Young album, The Monsanto Years, which protests against large corporations, is based on "misinformation" and "myths". Billboard put selected lyrics from the album to four of the companies singled out by Young (Chevron, Walmart, Starbucks and Monsanto) "in the interest of hearing from both sides".

HIMYM wins award despite being off-air for a year

US sitcom How I Met Your Mother has become the first ever off-air show to win the International Audience Award for best comedy at the prestigious Monte Carlo TV Festival.

Kurt Vile and Waxahatchee to play Vicar Street

Monday 15 Jun 2015 Indie rocker Kurt Vile will return to Irish shores this November, after his two sold out Irish shows in 2014, with support coming from alternative songstress Waxahatchee. Vile will bring his backing band The Violators to Dublin's Vicar St. venue on November 15.

Dixie Chicks announce Dublin 2016 date

Tuesday 16 Jun 2015 13-time Grammy Award winners Dixie Chicks will play Dublin's 3Arena on May 4 2016. The concert will see the group, the biggest-selling female group in US music history, returning to Dublin after playing the C2C: Country to Country festival in March of 2014 in the same arena, which was then known as The O2.

Groucho Marx's last days to be made into film

The final days of legendary comedian Groucho Marx are set to be brought to the big screen by rock star and horror director Rob Zombie.

2fm & Oxfam call for bands to play Electric Picnic

RTÉ 2fm and Oxfam Ireland have come together to announce their second annual Play the Picnic competition, which will give ten lucky musical acts given the opportunity to play live at Ireland's biggest music festival, Electric Picnic.

That '70s Show stars to reunite for Netflix comedy

Former That '70s Show stars Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson will reunite to portray brothers in the new Netflix comedy, The Ranch.

DCU Music Society raise €300 for Temple Street

DCU Music Society raised €300 for Temple Street Children's University Hospital during the society's DCUrovision, the main event of DCU Music Week. The event, styled after the Eurovision, took place on Wednesday, November 12th, and was the first of its kind in DCU.

Cork indie band Neon Atlas announce new album

Monday 15 Jun 2015 Cork-based indie trio Neon Atlas have announced the upcoming release of their second album, Graffiti Reality, due July 31. The band will also release the album's first single, I Never Felt So Good, on July 31. It can be heard here.

8×8 Film Festival comes to DCU

Suas' 8×8 Film Festival came to DCU last week, with free events such as film screenings, photography workshops and a Q&A session with the director of Unearthed, Jolynn Minnaar, open to students. The festival, which tours five universities around Ireland, is a development-focused arts festival meant to bring attention to under-covered topics like the dangers of fracking and the tribulations of young people living in developing countries.

One-line reviews

Earl Sweatshirt's I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: Exactly the opposite of every expectation that comes with a major label rap album, Sweatshirt stands alone in the world of hip-hop. Castlepalooza: Hercules and Love Affair are perfect headliners for that setting, but forcing free nonprofit festival Canalapalooza to change their name to Canalaphonic...

One-line reviews

Action Bronson's Mr. Wonderful: Two Big Body Bes features on an album is two too many. RATKING's 700 Fill: Any album with a Despot feature is worth listening to by virtue of that alone, doesn't hurt that RATKING themselves are pretty amazing. The Kanye West at Glastonbury reaction: You'll find there's a massive correlation between...

One-line reviews

Heems's Eat. Pray. Thug.: Better than anyone could have hoped for; "Home", "Flag Shopping" and "Patriot Act" are all absolute must hear songs. Kanye's performance at the BRITs: How long you been laughing at Lionel Richie and Taylor Swift? All day. Modest Mouse's Strangers to Ourselves: Dare we say that it's their strongest since The...

One-line reviews

Music SNL40: Jerry Seinfeld made some sort of joke about Saturday Night Live 's historic lack of diversity and that kind of stuff is funny, I think? Blur's first album in twelve years, The Magic Whip: Does Damon Albarn ever sleep or was Everyday Robots an exposition of his android-like ability for work?

One-line reviews

Daddy's "This Charming Man": Surprisingly really not terrible. Band Aid 30: Just as bad as Band Aid and Band Aid 25. Beyoncé's "7/11": Either Beyoncé listens to Future or Future wrote this song. Jennifer Evans' Works from the Dip and Foul: The voice! The sound! The lyrics!; and all it took was four years.

One-line reviews

Music Damien Rice's My Favourite Faded Fantasy: Rice sounds like a Blue-era Joni Mitchell as he spins beautiful songs with astute and observant lyrics. Caribou at Vicar Street: The word Sun has lost all meaning. Sun? Sun? Sun? Dominic West to portray Ernest Hemingway in Genius: Dare I say "genius" casting?

One-line reviews

Vince Staples' Hell Can Wait: Nothing as bone-chilling as "when I was younger all I wanted was to kill a man/cuz my daddy did it", but still a fantastic view into the grim life of Vince Staples.

One-line reviews

Weezer's Everything Will Be Alright in the End: Not exactly Pinkerton, but not Raditude either, which is a relief. 6.7/10 South Park's take on the Washington Redskins name controversy: Smarter (and of course funnier) than 99% of other takes on an antiquated and simply racist name.

One line reviews

A lot has happened in the world of art in the time between the last issue of Flux and the first issue of The Suss. Naturally, we can't cover it all, but we've definitely attempted to do so as succinctly as possible so we don't waste your valuable time.

Sharp darts

Kurt Vile is working on a new album that he hopes to release in the autumn. Rolling Stone originally reported that the follow-up to Walkin' on a Pretty Daze would be called All Over the Place, but Vile's management told Pitchfork that the album does not have a title as yet.

Sharp darts

Not content with releases from Kanye West, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Action Bronson to name a few, hip-hop in 2015 has decided to reward us again; Earl Sweatshirt has released a new surprise album. I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside was announced last week along with the video for lead single "Grief".

Sharp darts

John Legend is the latest act to be announced for this summer's Live at the Marquee. The Grammy Award winner will take the stage in Cork on Tuesday June 23. Bon Iver will return from their hiatus to play at Justin Vernon's Eaux Claires festival in July.

Sharp darts

Bob Dylan's thirty-sixth studio album, Shadows in the Night, has topped the Irish Albums Chart; displacing Ed Sheeran's X. Dylan's latest release is a collection of pop standards originally made famous by Frank Sinatra. It is the first new release to top the Irish chart in 2015.

Sharp darts

Kodaline, Le Galaxie, Rubywork Sessions and more will appear at a newly announced New Year's festival which will take place over three days in Dublin. The Festival, or NYF, will run from 30th December until 1st January. Michael Fassbender is reportedly in talks to take over the role of Steve Jobs in Aaron Sorkin's forthcoming biopic of the Apple co-founder.

Sharp darts

James Franco's band, Daddy, have announced their debut album, Let Me Get What I Want. The songs will be based on a series of poems, written by Franco, inspired by The Smiths. Former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke will appear on every song.

Sharp darts

Kanye West has announced the title of his seventh solo studio album. No release date has been announced for So Help Me God, but recent weeks have seen the release of singles "All Day" - featuring Allan Kingdom, Theophilus London and Paul McCartney - and "Wolves" - featuring Sia and Vic Mensa.

Sharp darts

Chief Keef has been released from his contract with Interscope Records. It is speculated that the Chicago rapper will release his sophomore album, Bang 3, through his own Glo Gang imprint. A Japanese science-fiction award, called The Hoshi Prize, has now been opened up to submissions by computers and aliens.

Entertainment news round-up

David Lynch and Mark Frost have announced the return of the cult TV show, Twin Peaks. The show will return from a 25-year hiatus in 2016 for a nine episode arc on the US channel Showtime. Morrissey has revealed that he has been treated for cancer in the past year.

Showreel

The College View - Issue 11 - Volume XVII

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The College View - Issue 8 - Volume XVII

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The College View - Issue 5 - Volume XVII

The College View - Issue 4 - Volume XVII

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The College View - Issue 2 - Volume XVII

The College View - Issue 1 - Volume XVII