The ClearOut

In this episode, prompted by Spike Lee's He Got Game (1998), Dara examines his convictions as a parent, and recalls how an ill-fated Irish journalist helped him get comfortable with the idea of becom…

In this episode, Dara starts off with thoughts on what defines us as individuals. Is it a higher power? Or is it just what wins the battle for our identity? He believes it is strongly connected to na…

In this episode Dara wrangles with the purpose and direction of the podcast. He wonders if he's doing the pod all right or all wrong. Before he makes any radical changes though, he remains clear that…

In this episode, Dara examines the centrality of heart to his own personal philosophy. He recognises that his concept of the metaphorical heart is suffused with his natural idealism, and how that can…

This episode looks at the problem of having access to too much information, material and opinion in the online space. So much content, and so much for free, and such ease of access, creates an imbala…

In this episode Dara shares his thoughts and responses after a movie mini-binge. He is struck by the hackneyed plotline of CODA (2021) but thinks the film is saved by the acting and warmth of the mai…

In this episode, Dara is brushing up against his past and walking the fine line between nostalgia and sentimentality. Spending a lot of time in Dublin recently has provoked a host of memories from ov…

Inspired by a podcast about Julius Caesar, Dara realises he has long had a fascination with assassinations, particularly those that have played out in movies. In this episode he looks closely at the …

In this episode, Dara finally achieves a long-term goal of the podcast - he gets his wife to sit down for an interview at Hashtag Blessed!

Chiara Clear (nee Browne) is an Australian who fell in love w…

Dara is not in the mood for this week's episode. He simply doesn't have the headspace. But he talks himself into it and soon warms up as he mentions how a recent football podcast planted the seed for…

In this episode, Dara is all stirred up as a result of the theatre production he is currently working on. The subject of the work is masculinity and the nurturing and shaping of boys into men. Dara a…

In this episode, Dara looks at a couple of recent news stories in Ireland that have raised some confronting questions about where we're at as a society.

The first was an ill-conceived joke at one of h…

After hearing his wife listening to a selection of different piano pieces in preparation for a class, Dara realised he wanted to talk about motifs. He discusses motifs in the work of film score compo…

In this episode Dara shares his experience of a recent family funeral that seemed to succeed in channelling a profound communal expression of love and grief. Because of his role in the service, he ha…

If last week was the wrap-up of the year, this week is assessing the landscape of the year to come. Dara acknowledges the generic themes he has embraced for the moment that's in it and tries to conte…

An attempt to wrap up the year that was becomes a review of stand out movies and TV taken in over the last twelve months. Somewhat symmetrically, Dara realises he began and ended the year watching th…

Dara ain't gonna lie - this was a monster effort to produce! A little recital with his wife, an unexpected but most welcome interview with his daughter, and a new story for the season that's in it, a…

In this Christmas shopping list of an episode, Dara has a look at the festive season through the lens of Christmases past. He also considers the pressure people are put under to partake of all things…

In this episode Dara has a flea in his ear about what he sees as the shortage of social and political ideas to cater for a world that is outrunning itself.

Before getting into that he takes a moment t…

In this pinball machine of an episode, Dara bounces all over the place and is none the wiser at the end of it whether things held together.

He starts with strange bodies in 1983's Terms of Endearment …