What you may need to know:

1. John McClaine used to be an ordinary man in extraordinary situations; these days he’s the ‘007 of Plainfield, New Jersey’.

2. The original Die Hard (1988) is still the best damn action movie ever made; the sequels have their defenders, even the decidely iffy Die Hard 4.0 (2007), AKA Live Free Or Die Hard.

3. A Good Day To Die Hard is directed by Dundalk’s very own John Moore, who previously gave us Flight Of The Phoenix (2004), Max Payne (2008) and the remake of The Omen (2006).

4. 57-year old Bruce Willis prevails: the bady bad-ass has had three hits this year alone – Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Expendables 2 (2012) and Looper (2012).

5. That’s Valentine’s Day 2013 sorted.

Release Date: Feb 14 2013

Work on the line, known as Luas BXD, including filling in basements and diverting utilities, is due to begin next year, with trams operational by 2017. No cars or buses will be able to drive down Dawson Street. All traffic will also be removed, along with all parking spaces, between Grafton Street and Kildare Street on St Stephen’s Green North.

Elsewhere:

Kildare Street to become two-way. Left onto the Green reduced to one lane heading east to Merrion Row.

Only buses will be able to turn right onto St Stephen’s Green East from the Shelbourne Hotel side.

Right turn only from Hume Street onto St Stephen’s Green.

Bike parking only on St Stephen’s Green East.

Severe limitations on car access to St Stephen’s Green West.

Work on latest Luas line will disrupt city centre traffic (Olivia Kelly, Irish Times)

(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)

Brian Sammon writes:

The incomparable Flann O’Brien/Myles na gCopaleen/Brian O’Nolan. gets the Google doodle treatment [only on Google.ie] on his birthday today, October 5 [he would have been 101]. How about a sample of the man’s genius?

 

A sample you, say?

Cruiskeen Lawn
January 11th, 1941

A LADY lecturing recently on the Irish language drew attention to the fact (I mentioned it myself as long ago as 1925) that, while the average English speaker gets along with a mere 400 words, the Irish-speaking peasant uses 4,000.

Considering what most English speakers can achieve with their tiny fund of noises, it is a nice speculation to what extremity one would be reduced if one were locked up for a day with an Irish-speaking bore
and bereft of all means of committing murder or suicide.

My point, however, is this. The 400/4,000 ration is fallacious; 400/400,000 would be more like it. There is scarcely a single word in the Irish (barring, possibly, Sasanach) that is simple and explicit.

Apart from words with endless shades of cognate meaning, there are many with so complete a spectrum of graduated ambiguity that each of them can be made to express two directly contrary meanings, as well as a plethora of intermediate concepts that have no bearing on either.

And all this strictly within the linguistic field. Superimpose on all that the miasma of ironic usage, poetic licence, oxymoron, plamás, Celtic invasion, Irish bullery and Paddy Whackery, and it is a safe bet that you will find yourself very far from home.

Flann O’Brien’s books (Amazon)

Brian O’Nolan (Wikipedia)

The Royal Residence, Kuala Lumper, Malaysia (Gary Hoey)

“American mother filming her  family swimming with whales in Tonga.” (Gareth Rowan)

“Top of the Empire State Building, New York.” (Blathnaid McKenna)

Budapest, Hungary. (Conor Walshe)

Shanghai, China. (CF)

The Acropolis, Athens, Greece. (Aaron McAllorum)

Oktoberfest, Munich (Ddools)

There’s Always One to Broadsheet@broadsheet.ie

Broadsheet.ie