Amidst the popcorn blockbusters of the summer, keep an eye out for veterans as well as up-and-coming Irish talent in Hollywood. First up, Pierce Brosnan stars alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, based on the musical, which itself was based on the songs of Swedish supergroup Abba. Mamma Mia!, scheduled for a July 18 release, is about a bride-to-be who is searching for her … [Read more...] about Irish Eye on Hollywood
Tom Deignan
Chicago and the Irish
Before he was president, Barack Obama was an ambitious young politician who learned a valuable lesson thanks to the Chicago Irish. The year was 1999. Obama, a state senator, announced he was going to challenge Congressman Bobby L. Rush, a legend in the working-class African-American wards of Chicago’s South Side. Decades earlier, the South Side was heavily Irish. It was the … [Read more...] about Chicago and the Irish
Review of Books
Recommended Until releasing his latest novel, Joseph O’Neill was best known for his “family history” Blood-Dark Track (about his grandfather who was an IRA soldier) and his regular, insightful contributions to The Atlantic Monthly magazine. Add two earlier novels into this mix, and this is certainly a fine résumé. But it does not quite strike you as the background of the … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Irish Eye on Hollywood
Irish-American hunk George Clooney recently said that he plans to return to his ancestral home for a summer of motorcycling. “I am doing a motorbike ride in Ireland this summer,” he recently told Dublin radio station FM104. “I hear it rains a lot but I’ve got the perfect outfit!” Clooney’s last film Leatherheads was a bit of a dud, but he may soon be back in the Oscar … [Read more...] about Irish Eye on Hollywood
The House That Hoban Built
James Hoban, Architect of the White House. In 1785, a newspaper in Philadelphia carried this advertisement: “ Any gentleman who wishes to build in an elegant style, may hear of a person properly calculated for that purpose who can execute the Joining and Carpenter’s business in the modern taste James Hoban. Hoban was an Irishman, born in Kilkenny. George Washington … [Read more...] about The House That Hoban Built