The ClearOut

In this episode it is Dara's great pleasure to sit down and have a long overdue chat with his great friend and former college buddy, Aengus Devine. Aengus is a gifted musician, singer and songwriter, and has sustained a long career as a professional musician. At the end of their long and winding conversation, Aengus plays his lovely new Christmas single 'God Save Christmas'.Before that, the conversation stays firmly in the world of music, with thoughts on 50s rock and roll and its influence on The Beatles and The Rolling Stones; the dubious impression of being seen in public carrying a Barry Manilow album; why Pet Sounds is no Sgt. Pepper's; actors who were also singers; separating art from the artist; favourite Christmas songs and much more.Dara takes a quiet moment at the start of the episode to briefly share his thoughts on two shocking incidents that occurred over the weekend - the terror attack on a Jewish Hanukkah gathering in Bondi Beach in Sydney, and the killing in their home of the American film director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele.Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara is wondering if the spirit of the season is upon you, or if you're still waiting for that festive feeling to announce itself. The price of beef isn't helping much. Nor is the price of Christmas trees, for that matter! And why does his daughter have so much to do?Ignoring those sources of exhaustion and exasperation, Dara launches into a sheaf of Christmas poems from both sides of the Atlantic. Christmases exotic and local, Christmases lonely and loving, Christmases urban and rural, they're all represented. Just don't tell Dara that you knew what a 'garrigue' was!Christmas poems from PoetryFoundation.org: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/101692/christmas-poemsChristmas Crackers: https://www.candlestickpress.co.uk/pamphlet/christmas-crackers-ten-poems-to-surprise-and-delight/Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara has thoughts on December coming round so quickly and the accompanying temptation to collapse in a heap. Does the festive season differ in any significant way from the rest of the year? Christmas really did used to be something special and genuinely indulgent - but does that still land when the rest of the year seems to involve frequent indulgence too?The popularity of a new masculinity book has Dara scratching his head - are the apparent insights remotely new or insightful? Does the millionaire author have anything substantively useful to share other than 'make money' and 'be kind'? At least he has learned how to cry at the ripe old age of 61! For some, the learnings come later in life. The masculinity crisis remains unsolved for now...Dara is more concerned by growing wealth and opportunity inequality and he argues for a type of radical thoughtfulness that chooses not to focus on gender or identity, but rather on an understanding of shared resources and mutual consideration. What an idiot!Maybe bartering is the way to go. Why did that nice man give Dara cakes in the car park? Positive impulses were followed and reciprocated (That's not a euphemism!).Scott Galloway's masculinity tips: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/dec/03/scott-galloway-masculinity-crisis-notes-on-being-a-manWebsite: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara considers the power of defying expectations. Partly prompted by a conversation with his dementia-affected father, his thoughts are also informed by a New York psychologist who worked with first responders to World Trade Center attacks. Role-reversal can be both destabilising and disarming, but it rarely goes unnoticed, and it often provokes both consternation and resentment.To explore it further, Dara looks at a handful of female-centred films where the protagonists fail to behave as expected, or in a couple of cases, the lead actresses don't conform to their previous character types. One such film is Jane Campion's In the Cut (2003), in which Meg Ryan gave a performance that obliterated her image as America's sweetheart that she had so firmly established in the romantic comedies of her earlier career. Films like Olivia Wilde's Booksmart (2019) and Emma Seligman's Bottoms (2023) present female characters who had historically been on the fringes of the story, not at its heart.Also - the right to keep a flame alive, affirming unseen victories, men's need to speak, and decorating your internal house exactly as you see fit!My 2023 Christmas story, which touches on the right to self-identify and defy expectations: https://theclearout.com/short-story/mrs-hennessey-and-the-womens-christmas/Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

In this episode, Dara confesses to having had a very teary twenty-four hours. But what could have caused him to weep like a baby?It wasn't Troy Parrott's match-winning goal (and raw and emotional post-match interview) that means Ireland still have a chance of going to next year's world cup, was it?It wasn't Chase Infiniti's exquisitely vulnerable performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, was it?It wasn't a Bosnian-born, New York-based milliner sharing her heart-rending story of bereavement, sickness, and recovery, was it?It wasn't a written account of a historic football match between the two unrecognised states of Palestine and the Basque Country, was it?Yes! Yes, it was all those things! Football and acting and hats (and babies) and more football!But really it was about hope and pride and the unexpected.It was about innocence and fear and defiance and love.It was about friendship and tragedy and resilience and rebirth.It was about solidarity and sovereignty and identity and visibility.Dara tries to explain what it all meant and what it all means. It's an episode about sport and storytelling and small kindnesses.Sid Lowe on an unforgettable night in Bilbao: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/nov/17/it-touched-us-from-the-start-palestine-savour-historic-night-in-bilbaoBehida Dolic Millinery: https://behidadolic.com/Behida Dolic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behidadolic/Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout

After watching Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, Dara finds himself wondering about the director's world view, and specifically his perspective on beautiful, sincere women and their superficially unattractive love interests. The Mexican director has an established sympathy with those considered ugly and monstrous by society - could a Freudian reading be applicable?Following this idea of male directors and their presentation or objectification of women in their work, Dara considers female characters as featured in the films of Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino - two very unstraightforward male auteurs. What do their heroines say about them? And does it have anything to do with how they have been treated or perceived by the opposite sex off-camera?Finishing up, Dara considers how he has presented female characters in his short stories. Has he unintentionally revealed something about his own hidden desires? Or is he just painfully sincere himself?Website: https://theclearout.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theclearoutpodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theclearoutpodcast/YouTube: The ClearOut PodcastEmail: theclearoutlive@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theclearout