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A Very Particular Set Of Skills

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“I will find you … a property.” Liam Neeson stars in the film Taken as a father who is determined to rescue his kidnapped daughter from Albanian sex-traffickers, slaughtering more or less everyone who stands in his way (WP). The same ruthless measures are apparently required to find and buy a home under our current system of predatory capitalism.

This is street art by Jossie Pops (web) on the side of the offices of Independent estate agents in Bingham Street/Hamilton Road, Bangor.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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La Calavera Catrina

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Painting one’s face to resemble a skull, and wearing flowers (particularly marigolds) in one’s hair is a modern tradition that stems from the sugar skulls that are part of the offerings that the living provide for the dead who – for the brief period around the ‘Day Of The Dead’ – are able to return from the underworld (Mexico Historico | Bachman)

This calavera catrina (“dapper skull”) was painted by Visual Waste (web) on the upper wall of Bebe Adrianos Mexicanos (Fb), a burrito bar in Bangor.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Three-By-Four

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Here are three ‘Four Loko’ hand-painted ads in Belfast, specifically Islandbawn Street, west Belfast (above), Little Donegall Street, city centre (immediately below) by Shane Ha (web) in August, and (final image) Legann Street, Ligoniel, north Belfast.

Four Loko was originally contained caffeine, taurine, and guaraná (as well as being 12% alcohol), and was marketed as an energy drink (or, “blackout in a can” (GrubStreet | Campus Times)). Now, it just has the alcohol and the fruit flavour (Four Loko FAQ | WP page on the 2010 ban).

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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An Irish Goodbye

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A mural celebrating the success of the film An Irish Goodbye has been painted in Belfast city centre. The film won both the BAFTA and Oscar for best Short Film in 2023. The quartet depicted at the top in their best gear for the Oscar ceremony in March, 2023, are (above) actors James Martin and Seamus O’Hara, and (below) directors Ross White and Tom Berkeley (BBC); in the bottom left is actor Paddy Jenkins as he appears in the film, as the priest, Father O’Shea (BBC). (IMDb | WP)

By Peaball (web) in Winetavern Street, Belfast city centre.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Welcome To the Bellevue

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The beer garden at the Bellevue Arms got a facelift in the summer (of 2024), including new a name-sign in the style of the “Greetings from …” postcards in the US, which would feature local landmarks within the letters of the place-name. (Here is a history from Smithsonian magazine.)

Within the letters of “BELLEVUE” we can see a Delorean, one of the H&W cranes, the Albert Clock, the Rise sculpture (the Balls On The Falls), the Titanic museum, Belfast City Hall, the Big Fish, the Beacon Of Hope sculpture (Nuala With The Hula).

The seating areas have also been decorated with paintings of flowers.

Antrim Road, Glengormley. Perhaps by Visual Waste (web).

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Deadly Pints, Deadly Tunes

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“Deadly” here means “excellent” or “terrific”, perhaps from the idea of “hitting the (living!) target” (Stack) – it is a piece of southern slang that artist and print-maker Leo Boyd (web) perhaps picked up on his journey from Bristol to Dublin to Belfast (Boyd | Atom) where he is one of the Vault Studios artists (Vault).

Below the windows are “Ar scáth a chéıle a mhaıreann na daoıne” and “More Blacks, more dogs, more Irish.”

The new work shown here is at the American Bar (web) in Sailortown.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Ársa Ach Ór

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The Power’s whiskey (web) slogan “Old but gold” has here been translated into Irish as “ársa ach ór” and the red diamond from the ‘gold label’ is now agitating for “An Dream Dhearg [web] – #AchtAnoıs #CeartaTeanga” [The Red Group – #BillNow #LanguageRights].

There is also (below) a new tribute to Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí, similar to the one at An Chultúrlann – for which, see Dorn San Aer.

At Tí Mhadáın/Madden’s Bar in Berry Street, Belfast city centre, replacing the Paddy mural.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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