The University Observer is the paper of record of University College Dublin and is Ireland’s most widely-read student publication with a circulation of 10,000 and a readership of approximately 24,000.
In 2009-2010 I was the full-time Deputy Editor of the paper, having been Online Editor the year previous, and a contributor across a multitude of sections in the three years previous.
Although a little bizarrely titled for a non-‘Best Of’ album, The Greatest is already being hailed by the mainstream press as one of the better works of 2006. And having listened to it, I’m not sure which I find more confusing: the fact that these publications can seemingly predict 2006’s musical future, or that they […]
Steal a phone and ring Adreeeen Kennedeeeee and threaten to shove a banger into his letterbox if he doesn’t say “I love ye, Teena, will ye marry me, ye will?” Neck a few cans, find a karaoke bar and sing ‘Mambo No. 5′ replacing every girl’s name in the song with Teena. “A liddel bit […]
Gav Reilly remembers the sweets that we munched when watching children’s television… Anybody hwo was ambling around the Freshers’ Marquee last September will remember the multitude of sugary freebies being offered by different cliques present – but anyone would splurged and spent €3 joining NetSoc (and thereby helping to break down the invisible nerd-divide between […]
Gav Reilly preview Ireland’s answer to the Mercurys… This month marks the beginning of a new era (okay, that’s a little too emphatic but it’s certainly a sign of consolidation) for the Irish music scene with the announcement of the first winner of the brand spanking new Choice Music Prize for the best Irish album […]
It surely isn’t much of an understatement to say that the debut from this young Sheffield foursome was one of hte most eagerly awaited offerings of 2005 – it almost seems that the album appeared in January out of spite. Most of the songs on the contradictorily titled Whatever People Say I Am… have been […]
When it was first revealed that Steven Spielberg was mooting an adaptation of George Vonas’ patchy novel Vengeance, the cinematic world wasn’t quite sure how to react; either cinemagoers would be treated to another Jewish-based epic like Schindler’s List or the offering would instead be a continuation of Mel Gibson’s Passion genre of ‘spinach cinema’ […]
Book review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress by Paul Howard How do you begin to describe Ross O’Carroll-Kelly to a foreigner? It’s a problem that’s shown itself more than once in the online life of yourrs truly. When asked to explain your favourite series of books (I can hear the Potterphiles […]
Throw out all non-black clothing to accentuate the feeling of nelancholy in your life. ‘Cos, like, there is no happiness, maaaan. Buy a white anti-poverty wristband and attack it with a black marker, out of spite. Thereby sticking it to The Man. Take a fancy to wearing eye shadow, regardless of your gender. Listen to […]
Gav Reilly takes a look at where the main players in Britpop disappeared to… Blur went weird. Graham Coxon left in 2001, and had a successful solo career (notably the great single ‘Freaking Out’); Damon Albarn lost his hair, went to Mali and made a CD, came back, bought a sampler and started Gorillaz; Alex […]
To describe Autamata as a band is a tenuous statement – ok, yes, there are three members, but in essence Autamata are as much a band as The Streets, where for ‘Skinner’ read Ken McHugh, who plays a frankly scary list of instruments on Short Stories varying from guitar and ye olde piano to theremin, […]
All content © Gavan Reilly 2003-2025. Powered by WordPress using the DePo Clean Theme, tweaked by Gav.