David Chase: ‘Most American movies are cartoons or stories where toys are the central characters’David Chase revolutionised TV with ‘The Sopranos’ but at heart, he’s always wanted to be a filmmaker, he tells Patrick FreyneThu Jan 29 2015 - 11:45
So Wright, it can’t be wrong: Patrick Freyne on RTÉ’s ‘Clubland’The Wright Venue – ‘a nightclub that sprang into existence when an enchanted copy of the Sindo’s Life Magazine was hit by lightning’ – featured in the first episode RTÉ’s new Reality Bites seriesThu Jan 22 2015 - 12:35
Finbar Furey: ‘I’m winding down the clock’Furey is back on the road after a period of grieving for his brother, and an injury that could have put him out of business as a piper. Catch him while you canMon Jan 19 2015 - 01:00
Don’t buy stuff. Do stuffThe futurist James Wallman, author of ‘Stuffocation’, says that, having accumulated too many possessions in the 20th century, people now prefer ‘doing stuff’ to ‘having stuff’. Rich experiences should make us happier, but are they simply a new way to keep up with the Joneses?Sat Jan 17 2015 - 01:00
Patrick Freyne on The VoiceKian Egan is one of five Lego-men transformed into a boyband by an evil wizard – and he resents BressieFri Jan 16 2015 - 06:00
Patrick Freyne: ‘The Musketeers’ return with a new series of adventuresThe story of a bunch of counter-revolutionary monarchists who strive to keep a Tony Blair lookalike in power as king of France.Fri Jan 09 2015 - 06:00
Charles Haughey drama: ‘This is a story about power’While being true to much of the Haughey story, there were some things RTÉ couldn’t stretch toSat Jan 03 2015 - 06:00
Gallery: Patrick Freyne wishes you a heroic 2015Fancy getting a new habit for the new year? Check out these comic book heroes of a different stripeThu Jan 01 2015 - 06:30
Patrick Freyne’s cultural highs and lows of 2014Guardians of the Galaxy made me laugh, starring, as it did, a wise-cracking racoon.Sat Dec 27 2014 - 01:00
1886: The last Christmas Day edition of The Irish TimesIn those days the news never stopped - and neither did the adverts, apparentlyFri Dec 26 2014 - 14:30
Doctor conference with a difference: rappers, undertaker-poets and medical start-ups confer in DublinDotmed offers up the changing face of medicine at its annual ‘creative medical conference’ in Smock AlleyTue Dec 16 2014 - 10:00
Brendan Gleeson and sons: ‘There’s no such thing as a normal family’Brendan Gleeson and sons Domhnall and Brian have established a recent acting dynasty. So what will happen when they finally share a stage together for the first time?Tue Dec 16 2014 - 06:00
Citizens need voice between electionsThe man behind the ‘people’s conversation’ initiative believes that some national soul-searching can help us create a better countrySat Dec 13 2014 - 06:00
Are you a solutionist or a zero-growth economist?10 terms every modern social reformer should knowSat Dec 13 2014 - 06:00
ITV’s spin-off reality show captures the essence of Joey EssexI have to say, I could listen to Joey Essex guessing what a ‘glacier’ is all dayFri Dec 12 2014 - 08:00
Forget the new Star Wars – instead catch Luke, Leia and Han in the long-lost ‘Holiday Special’Last week the long-awaited trailer for Star Wars Episode VII was released. True fans, however, know that it’s really Star Wars Episode VIII.Fri Dec 05 2014 - 07:00
Late Late Toy Show kids steal the show from TubridyToy Show show begins with a dementedly frenetic, child-infested dance-numberSat Nov 29 2014 - 16:25
A mouthful of pig testicles washed down with tearsWelcome, once again, to the jungle, where Ant & Dec steal the sanity of celebritiesFri Nov 28 2014 - 08:00
Water world: meet the protestersWho are the people fighting the water charges, running the protests and taking to the streets to object to the installation of meters?Sat Nov 22 2014 - 01:00
Using the slaughter of the first World War to make us buy groceries? Bah, humbugThe Sainsbury’s ad strives to make us associate the tragedy of a generation with self-service checkouts and shopping trollies and Christmassy feelingsFri Nov 21 2014 - 11:30
Patrick Freyne on Made in Chelsea, Life is Toff and How Rich Are You?The rich are the ideal subjects for fly-on-the-wall, scripted-reality television series. They’ve been ignoring the help for millennia, so it’s no bother to them to ignore a camera crew.Fri Nov 14 2014 - 02:00
Alan Cumming: ‘Something was not quite right about my father’When the actor was told by his cruel, ailing father that he was not his son, the revelation inspired a memoir that puts a positive spin on a tough childhoodFri Nov 14 2014 - 01:00
Graham Norton talks up dogs, booze, divas, IrelandThe TV chat show host shares his witty take on, among other subjects, why people get the dogs they deserveMon Nov 10 2014 - 12:00
‘Love/Hate’ goes out with a predictable bangReview: The drama’s body count became its biggest appeal – and its biggest drawbackSun Nov 09 2014 - 23:31
Mavericks. Moguls. Millennials. It must be the Web SummitPeople say ‘disruption’ and ‘ecosystem’ a lot and talk about selling their companies the way Buddhists talk about nirvana. They all seem to enjoy being at the Web Summit, in Dublin, but what exactly are they up to?Sat Nov 08 2014 - 01:00
‘I inhale food much like whales go about eating plankton. I’m not proud of this. Feck it. Yes I am’Patrick Freyne, journalistFri Nov 07 2014 - 12:49
Naomi Klein on climate change: ‘This is our last chance’When it comes to climate change, capitalism is the problem, says Canadian author and activist Naomi KleinSat Oct 25 2014 - 01:00
Superheroes may be irrational and silly, but they make really good tellyGet your cape, Patrick Freyne is forming a new Justice LeagueFri Oct 24 2014 - 06:53
From The Sandman to Astonishing X-Men - the 10 greatest superhero comic stories ever toldIn celebration of a misspent youth, Patrick Freyne runs through his favourite superhero comicsThu Oct 23 2014 - 22:11
Slideshow: The 12 labours of Enda KennyAn exhibition in Russia has likened the ‘glorious achievements’ of Vladimir Putin to the labours of Hercules. We tried to do the same for Taoiseach Enda Kenny ... a labour in itselfSat Oct 18 2014 - 04:00
Starmus: a festival of the starsAt Starmus Festival in Tenerife, the superstars of science and megastars of music bring cosmology to earthSat Oct 18 2014 - 01:00
A day rehearsing an opera for farters and drunksI know nothing about opera, but I’ve been sent to practise with professionals for the part of Papageno in The Magic Flute, which is ‘as lowbrow as opera gets’. It sounds right for meFri Oct 17 2014 - 01:00
Experience these potatoes – 'The Apprentice' is back, and the boastful gibberish is better than everThis week, we learned that, ike wildebeest, business folk are easily spooked - at one point, a swagger of apprentices ran aimlessly down a street. “We don’t know where we’re going,” one wailedFri Oct 17 2014 - 00:00
Bernard Sumner: ‘I’m happier in myself. Better behaved. Less of a f***ing idiot’He took a bath on ‘Blue Monday’, lost a pile in the Hacienda and was part of a scene that has become music myth. Bernard Sumner of New Order on living in the presentSat Oct 11 2014 - 01:00
Spar warsThe owner of the Spar group has announced 50 new shops, adding to its 400-plus across the Republic. Does the spread of the convenience chain mean the demise of the traditional local shop?Sat Oct 11 2014 - 01:00
All bicep, all heart: Is competitive arm wrestling a real thing? Damn right it isReality TV doesn’t get much musclier (or funnier) than ‘Game of Arms’Fri Oct 10 2014 - 01:00
Remembering the day Gay asked Bill to explain the burning millionHe was once worth a million quid; have a look, he'll tell you what he did ...Thu Oct 09 2014 - 21:56
Patrick Freyne: on Connected, the camera never blinks back tearsA powerful TV series draws us into the lives of others. But are we all just a little TOO connected?Fri Oct 03 2014 - 00:00
Simon Cowell gets his bread, and we get The X Factor circusesLouis Walsh, Leni Riefenstahl and ‘Logan’s Run’ – what more could you want from Saturday-night television?Thu Sept 25 2014 - 14:48
Freyne goes DowntonPatrick Freyne anticipates the new series of Downton Abbey which starts on SundayFri Sept 19 2014 - 01:00
‘The joke is on Ross and people like Ross’Journalist, author and Ross O’Carroll Kelly creator Paul Howard talks about his new book, his columns and his sense of humourMon Sept 08 2014 - 01:00
Paul Howard: 'What I learned From making Anglo The Musical'Ahead of the launch of his new Ross O’Carroll-Kelly book, Keeping up with the Kalashnikovs, Paul Howard tells Patrick Freyne about the musical nightmare that drove him to gin and helped him lose a stone in weightSun Sept 07 2014 - 08:40
Three days, one field and 41,000 party Picnic peopleFancy dress is mainstream, toddlers are a must-have accessory. It’s Electric Picnic 2014Mon Sept 01 2014 - 07:10
Do drones dream of Electric Picnics?Introducing Steve, the Irish Times flying robot cameraSun Aug 31 2014 - 23:34
“I view Electric Picnic as a sporting event”Patrick Freyne on a festival filled with mud, music, madness ... and a bleeping Deprogramming MachineSat Aug 30 2014 - 13:30
24 Hours in Temple BarIt’s different things to different people: party zone, bohemian quarter, workplace and home to 2000 people. We spend a day and night in Dublin’s Temple Bar, to find out what really happens there over 24 hours. Quite a lotSat Aug 30 2014 - 01:00
That blinding, deafening, sinking Titanic feelingThe Titanic Experience in Belfast is one of the most visited tourist sites on the island, and surely one of the loudestFri Aug 29 2014 - 01:00
A good year for the 2014 Roses? The harvest is assuredFellow culchies know this festival is all about renewing the land for another yearWed Aug 20 2014 - 07:27
Bonnie Tyler: ‘There’s nothing I won’t talk about’Tyler was a country-rock chanteuse before an operation to her larynx transformed her into the husky queen of the power ballad. She will soon take Total Eclipse of the Heart to Electric PicnicWed Aug 20 2014 - 01:00
