Valentine’s Day is almost here, but first, the Byrne-ing News, with reminders for Gabriel’s Virtual Book Tour and to watch ZeroZeroZero if you haven’t done so, and a round-up of news bits from around the Internet, including a lovely story shared by a fan. Enjoy! heart

Walking With Ghosts

There are two virtual events (that I know of!) set for February, so be sure to check out this posting about them.

After all those fireplaces and cozy settings for reading Gabriel’s book, I decided we needed something more minimalist for a header image. So:

And check out this lovely widget from Book Marks. Don’t you love it!? heart

Gabriel’s memoir continues to be one of their “Biggest New Books,” too!

Boxing Clever

What? Yes, yet another new thing learned today. “Boxing clever,” a British term, according to Collins English Dictionary, means “to be very careful and clever in the way that you behave in a difficult situation, so that you can get an advantage over other people.”

“Boxing Clever” is the title of a brief review of ZeroZeroZero, by Pat Fitzpatrick for The Irish Examiner. And yes. There is someone who boxes very cleverly in this series, but it may not be who you think it is! We do, however, agree with him wholeheartedly: Every great show could do with a bit of Gabriel Byrne!

And then Gabriel Byrne stepped in to save the day. Actually, we hear his unmistakable voice at the very start and get to see him fall to the ground in a hail of bullets and glass. But it’s later, when he emerges into the picture as the broker between the two sides that we get to see why every great show could do with a bit of Gabriel Byrne. What he brings to ZeroZeroZero is a spot of ‘yerra lads it will be grand’ Irishness. The others are all very serious and well-dressed — Byrne’s character Edward Lynwood is shabby and optimistic. It makes for a nice bit of drama when the whole deal comes crashing down. The others, the grumpy Mexicans and Italians, they sensed that this could go badly wrong. But Byrne’s Lynwood seems a bit surprised because he thought he would end up grand.

The pace picks up at this point of the first episode and the full scale of what’s going on reveals itself. It didn’t leave me with a daft yearning to watch episode there and then, the way I felt after 1 hour of The Killing. But it’s building up nicely, it looks great thanks to the directors they used, and more than anything else, I want to see what happens to Gabriel Byrne’s character. This is going to be great.

Who wants to tell him? Do you? wink

Lots more about the UK premiere of ZeroZeroZero:

ZeroZeroZero Hits the UK

ZeroZeroZero: The UK Reviews

Happy Anniversary, In Treatment

France is creating a remake of this highly-regarded HBO series, and even HBO is getting into the redux business by rebooting it for a 4th season (but without OUR Paul Weston–so far, anyway), but there is no replacing the real thing. In Treatment premiered on January 28, 2008 and so we salute the original! heart

Look Into Your Heart!

Pardon this interruption, but politics in the USA has been a rough and tumble affair of late, in case you’ve not been keeping up with the international news–the kind of rough and tumble that a character from Miller’s Crossing would appreciate. After the January 3 revelation of blackmail and sedition reported by the Washington Post, Patton Oswalt had this to say to then President Trump:

Nice of him to invoke the power of Gabriel Byrne here. And of course, three days later, things took a right turn towards insurrection and tragedy, but that’s another story. PS. Things began to look up after January 20. Just saying. smile

Blast from the Past From RTÉ: Actor on the Rise

A video interview with Gabriel Byrne from 1986. He had been receiving rave reviews in the press and his new film Defence of the Realm was about to premiere in Dublin. Excerpt:

A Christmas in Paris

Somehow we missed this from last year’s Christmas edition of British Airways High Life Magazine, but we’ve got it now, so enjoy!

A Fan’s Story

Charlene Hickey, a Gabriel Fan, sent this story to me soon after the New Year. She has given her permission for me to publish it here for you. This is an unusual Gabriel Fan Story in that she did not meet Gabriel–but he had a role to play in reminding her about the past. We thank her for sharing her story with us.

My Dad’s Hat: a Fan Story by Charlene Hickey

I live in New Orleans, and was living here when Miller’s Crossing came out. My movie buddy David and I loved the Coen brothers’ first two films, so we were really looking forward to seeing this one, especially since it was filmed here. The music and image of the hat drifting away between the trees — my favorite opening credits scene for a movie ever. (I’m pretty sure I’ve camped out in those woods.)

My friend and I, being movie buddies, would naturally whisper our observations to each other. We had seen a movie recently with a character who played a TV dad, who reminded David of his father. “Dad!” he hissed in my ear. Chuckle chuckle.

When I first saw Tom in his suit and THE HAT, I had the same reaction. “Dad!” I whispered to my bewildered friend, who knew my father as a 70 year old retiree. So David was used to seeing “Mr. Hickey” slouching around the house in sweatpants and a t-shirt, looking at him like, “oh, it’s that boy of hers.”

But I remembered my Dad from the 1960’s, coming home from his job, wearing his suit and hat. I’m not saying he was a Gabriel Byrne lookalike, exactly, but Dad had the thick dark hair, blue eyes. Same height, same build, the nose, which he passed on to me (thanks Dad!). And he was very handsome. His own father was born in Ireland and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents when he was only two or three years of age. He married a woman of Irish descent in Rhode Island, where my Dad was born in 1920. Unfortunately Dad doesn’t remember his father, who was drafted into WWI and experienced a mustard gas attack which sent him home with weakened lungs. That’s the story, anyway. He was able to marry and father a child, but died a few years later from pneumonia, when my Dad was only two years old.

My father, though, lived to the age of 98. He died just over two years ago, so I’ve been thinking about him too–the man who always thought he’d die young. I miss him but I’m glad he had a good, long life.

And that’s the Byrne-ing News. For now. You know there is more on the way, so stay warm or cool, depending on where you live, and stay safe, no matter where you live. And read Gabriel’s book! heart