Total Pageviews

Sunday, 2 February 2020

HERE'S ONE YOU CAN CLAIM YOUR OWN FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

PAIRS

💕

We go together
Like crackers and cheese,
Like thank you and please,
Like skip and rope,
Like water and soap,
Like moon and stars,
Like jams and jars,
Like Morecambe and Wise,
Like pork and pies
Like seek and hide,
Like Bonnie and Clyde,
Like comb and hair,
Like table and chair,
Like Ant and Dec,
Like Fiona and Shrek,
Like peas and pod,
Like hook and rod, 
Like bread and butter.
Like mumble and mutter,
Like Minnie and Mickey,
Like glue and sticky,
Like Adam and Eve,
Like ho and heave,
Like Batman and Robin,
Like thread and bobbin,
Like Homer and Marge,
Like canal and barge,
Like Barbie and Ken,
Like cluck and hen,
Like Jack and Jill,
Like Ben and Bill,
Like Hansel and Gretel,
Like flower and petal,
Like Tom and Jerry,
Like Christmas and merry, 
Like bacon and eggs,
Like stockings and legs,
Like Black and Decker,
Like wood and pecker,
Like bow and arrow,
Like wheel and barrow,
Like click and clack,
Like train and track,
Like fish and chips,
Like walnuts and whips,
Like Watson and Holmes,
Like barbers and combs,
Like Wooster and Jeeves,
Like autumn and leaves,
Like finish and start
(And, I do apologise),
Like beans and fart,
💗💗💗💕

Saturday, 1 February 2020

COUGH, SPLUTTER, THEY NEVER WON AN OSCAR!!

The Academy Awards take place on Sunday 9 February, 2020.

I gave up watching any awards show years ago. Too much squabbling and all that ballyhoo.

But I am intrigued by the actors, actresses and directors who have never won an Oscar for a specific parts or films. There may well be honorary awards amongst the list, but none for a specific piece of work.



Chin-drop and head-scratch alert:

Greta Garbo
Judy Garland
Doris Day
Lauren Bacall
Debbie Reynolds
Marilyn Monroe
Angela Lansbury
Deborah Kerr

Kirk Douglas
Cary Grant
Gene Kelly
James Mason
Tony Curtis
Orson Welles
Richard Burton
Peter O'Toole

Alfred Hitchcock
Howard Hawkes
Cecil B. Demille
Charlie Chaplin
Arthur Penn
Frederico Fellini
Sam Peckinpah
Sidney Lumet
Robert Altman
Stanley Kubrick

This is just a sample.

Monday, 20 January 2020

BOOK REVIEW: FIREFIGHTERS DURING THE TROUBLES BY JOHN WILSON


























Firefighters During the Troubles
The men and women on the frontline tell their stories

by
John Wilson

Blackstaff Press

Colin Breen, also a Blackstaff Press writer, wrote two very fine books* about policing in Northern Ireland during the Troubles from the points of view and experiences of individual officers. Now in a similar vein, John Wilson highlights the stories of firefighters in their own words. Books of this nature carry more emotion than staid history chronicles because they are about real people dealing with danger and tragedy, not knowing what they will find when they react to calls for help, sometimes not knowing if they will return to their families at the end of a shift.

The book’s blurb reminds us that there was a time before the Troubles when firefighters would deal with buildings ablaze, of course, but also chimney fires, traffic incidents and smouldering hay sheds. The Troubles brought layers of unimaginable risk to fire teams who witnessed destruction, injury and death at the closest of quarters.

John Wilson, a 30-year veteran, tells of the thrill and excitement of racing to the scenes of incidents but tempers it with the realisation that the aftermath of too many fires affects families forever when their loved ones are victims.

Firefighters in Northern Ireland had heightened awareness of false calls and booby traps.  (I’m sure they still do!) They grew to expect attacks on them and their vehicles, sometimes from organised terrorists and others in what has been described as ‘recreational rioting’. 

 “Firefighters are just normal people and in the excitement of the moment and all the camaraderie, it’s easy to overlook that reality. The comfort I take from my own experiences and from conversations over the years with colleagues is that we somehow manage not to lose sight of this. We know we are here first and foremost to help people - and we also know what a privilege that is.”

Firefighters During the Troubles is another important Northern Ireland book as told by people who were in the the thick of it. It is not an easy read at times but there is warmth (if you’ll pardon the word) in the way some of these stories are told and I reckon after reading it, it is impossible not to feel greater respect for the men and women of the fire service. They deserve our eternal gratitude. John Wilson has done them proud in this exemplary collection of real and honest memories.


*A Force Like No Other & A Force Like No Other: The Next Shift



Friday, 8 November 2019

BLOG TAKES A BREAK

Available for freelance writing commissions on a variety of subjects including family history, nostalgic Belfast and its famous people, shops, shoppers & shopping, the golden age of Hollywood (esp westerns) and humorous pieces on life's weird and wonderful. Op-eds, columns, non-fiction book reviews too. 

CV of published material available on request.
joecushnan@aol.com & @JoeCushnan



There will not be any new postings on this blog for a while.

I have a major 2019/2020 research and writing project to complete, as well as several much smaller sideline jobs to work on, and any tasty newspaper/magazine commission requests that arrive.

In December, look out for some of my writings in Reality and Ireland's Own magazines, and some new online poetry that has been kindly accepted for publication.

Anyone wanting to get in touch - joecushnan@aol.com

Until the next time, happy trails. 


Wednesday, 6 November 2019

ROLE MODELS - WHERE ARE YOU?

I fear for the younger generation and generations to come because politics and political leadership have become grubbier than they have ever been, and lying, cheating and bullshitting leadership is becoming the norm.  

The UK is off and running with a General Election and savagery, nastiness and chicanery will be front and centre. Promises and pledges will pour out like sewage from a burst pipe and come the morning after the results that deafening noise we will all hear will be the sound of manifestos being shredded on an industrial scale.

Savage media (formerly known as social media) has killed the very notion of a positive, inspirational role model to lead with vision, integrity and humanity.

The percentage of people who vote should think very carefully where they put their X.

The percentage of people who are eligible to vote but don't bother should be ashamed of themselves.

Nowadays, democracy should be spelled deMOCKracy. And how desperately sad is that?

Positive, inspirational role models, where are you?



Monday, 4 November 2019

NOVEMBER FEATURE WRITING IDEAS

Available for freelance writing commissions on a variety of subjects including family history, nostalgic Belfast and its famous people, shops, shoppers & shopping, the golden age of Hollywood (esp westerns) and humorous pieces on life's weird and wonderful. Op-eds, columns, non-fiction book reviews too. 
CV of published material available on request.
joecushnan@aol.com & @JoeCushnan

I can write a piece on any or all of the following - joecushnan@aol.com

1 Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presley was UK number one 50 years ago
12 Grace Kelly was born 90 years ago. Died at 52 in 1982
12 New York's Ellis Island immigration entry point closed 65 years ago
16 Anthony Blunt revealed as the "fourth man" in the Cambridge spy ring 40 years ago.
18 Ben-Hur film was released 60 years ago
19 The first UK National Lottery draw took place 25 years ago
21 Televised House of Commons proceedings began 30 years ago
21 Quentin Crisp died at 90 20 years ago
22 President Kennedy assassinated in Texas 56 years ago
25 John Lennon handed back his MBE 50 years ago
30 Pink Floyd released The Wall album 40 years ago

Monday, 28 October 2019

ME AND FAMOUS PEOPLE

Available for freelance writing commissions on a variety of subjects including family history, nostalgic Belfast and its famous people, shops, shoppers & shopping, the golden age of Hollywood (esp westerns) and humorous pieces on life's weird and wonderful. Op-eds, columns, non-fiction book reviews too. 

CV of published material available on request.
joecushnan@aol.com & @JoeCushnan

Once,
I saw Michael Longley at Belfast City Airport,
by the taxis where Tayto advertises;
Seamus Heaney in Kings Cross Station,
studying the big timetable board;
Frank Ormsby in Waterstones, Belfast,
wandering around, browsing away;
Clive James in Selfridges, Oxford Street,
signing copies of Unreliable Memoirs;
Terence Stamp in Hatchards, Piccadilly,
carrying a wicker basket full of books;
Adam Ant in a wine bar, Jermyn Street,
on his way out, flanked by two big guys;
Michael Caine outside Fortnum and Mason,
crossing the road towards the Dunhill shop;
Ralph McTell in the Regal Centre, Worksop,
signing cds, photographs and ticket stubs;
and more and more and many, many more.

And some of them may have seen me.