Latest news with #Irish-Australian
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Filled with nostalgia and great music, this Gen X romantic drama hits the right notes
Mix Tape ★★★ Mix Tape is all about the wonder. First love, favourite songs and inescapable heartbreak are the building blocks of this Irish-Australian romantic drama. Ricocheting between past and present, the teenage protagonists and their middle-aged successors, these four hour-long episodes have an inexorable momentum. It's not subtle, but it's effective. Yes, the plot forcefully pushes these characters into bitter circumstances, but there's also a deeper recognition that sometimes a gesture, or an unspoken decision, or a great song, can add more than carefully crafted detail. Sheffield, England, 1989: lanky teen Dan O'Toole (Rory Walton-Smith) sights high school classmate Alison Connor (Florence Hunt) across the room at a house party. New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle is playing: 'I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue.' Cut to the present day and Dan (Jim Sturgess) is a music journalist, still based in Sheffield and married with a son to Katja (Sara Soulie), while Alison (Teresa Palmer) is getting far more sunshine in Sydney, mother of two daughters and married to surgeon Michael (Ben Lawson). Why aren't they together? When will they get back together? Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart is obviously cued up, but this adaptation of Jane Sanderson's 2020 novel knows, as does the viewer, that Dan and Alison are meant to be together, both as a means of healing and a wellspring of happiness. Their children are mostly leaving home and their partners are slightly off – the emphasis Michael puts on the 'my' in 'you're my wife' lingers uneasily. Loading 'You never forget the boy who makes you your first mix-tape,' Alison tells her daughter, Stella (Julia Savage), which means more once Alison explains to her Spotify-era child what a mix-tape is. Irish writer Jo Spain (Harry Wild) and Australian director Lucy Gaffy (Irreverent) treat love and longing as a magnetic force. It draws the teenagers together, with montages and shared reveries that come with an impeccable soundtrack – Psychedelic Furs, The Church, The Cure – and immaculate production design for the adolescent bedrooms.
The Age
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Filled with nostalgia and great music, this Gen X romantic drama hits the right notes
Mix Tape ★★★ Mix Tape is all about the wonder. First love, favourite songs and inescapable heartbreak are the building blocks of this Irish-Australian romantic drama. Ricocheting between past and present, the teenage protagonists and their middle-aged successors, these four hour-long episodes have an inexorable momentum. It's not subtle, but it's effective. Yes, the plot forcefully pushes these characters into bitter circumstances, but there's also a deeper recognition that sometimes a gesture, or an unspoken decision, or a great song, can add more than carefully crafted detail. Sheffield, England, 1989: lanky teen Dan O'Toole (Rory Walton-Smith) sights high school classmate Alison Connor (Florence Hunt) across the room at a house party. New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle is playing: 'I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue.' Cut to the present day and Dan (Jim Sturgess) is a music journalist, still based in Sheffield and married with a son to Katja (Sara Soulie), while Alison (Teresa Palmer) is getting far more sunshine in Sydney, mother of two daughters and married to surgeon Michael (Ben Lawson). Why aren't they together? When will they get back together? Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart is obviously cued up, but this adaptation of Jane Sanderson's 2020 novel knows, as does the viewer, that Dan and Alison are meant to be together, both as a means of healing and a wellspring of happiness. Their children are mostly leaving home and their partners are slightly off – the emphasis Michael puts on the 'my' in 'you're my wife' lingers uneasily. Loading 'You never forget the boy who makes you your first mix-tape,' Alison tells her daughter, Stella (Julia Savage), which means more once Alison explains to her Spotify-era child what a mix-tape is. Irish writer Jo Spain (Harry Wild) and Australian director Lucy Gaffy (Irreverent) treat love and longing as a magnetic force. It draws the teenagers together, with montages and shared reveries that come with an impeccable soundtrack – Psychedelic Furs, The Church, The Cure – and immaculate production design for the adolescent bedrooms.
Sky News AU
15-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
'It was a wake up call': Mark Bouris, 68, opens up about his secret health scare and the costly mistake he made by ignoring the warning signs
Australian entrepreneur and media personality Mark Bouris has opened up for the first time about a serious health scare he faced in 2009. The 68-year-old shared the personal revelation in a candid new blog post, reflecting on the experience and what it taught him about valuing his health. "I didn't slow down. I thought I didn't have a choice," Bouris wrote. "I worked myself into the ground, and it landed me in hospital with a serious illness." The experience, he said, "was a wake-up call". "I'm sure you've also heard stories of people suffering serious physical and mental consequences from burnout. I became one of them." Born and raised in Punchbowl, Sydney, to a Greek father and Irish-Australian mother, Bouris credits his father- a factory worker- for instilling in him a strong work ethic. In 1996, he founded Wizard Home Loans, which became one of the country's largest non-bank lenders. Three years later, he launched Yellow Brick Road, a financial services company aimed at supporting suburban Australians. Just two years into building his second company, Bouris found himself seriously ill in hospital, worn out from overwork. "I often tell business owners that prioritising your health is non-negotiable," he reflected, now nearly two decades later. "We're so worried about charging our phones but forget to recharge ourselves. "Rest doesn't mean heading to the pub or replying to emails after hours. It means giving your body and mind real time to unwind." In September, the father-of-two launched Project 100, a podcast dedicated to exploring the science and secrets behind living a longer, healthier life. He also hosts Straight Talk and The Mentor, interviewing leading entrepreneurs, business figures, and politicians. Despite advocating for balance, Bouris remains a prolific figure in the business and media worlds. He's authored two books, fronted The Apprentice Australia and The Celebrity Apprentice Australia, and regularly weighs in on key financial issues. Recently, he urged Australians to rethink their retirement expectations amid the rising cost of living and increasing life expectancy. "If you're 20 now, you won't be retiring until you're 80, maybe 90," he said on his Mentored podcast. "If you think you're going to retire at 65 or if you think you're going to have enough money to retire at 65, you've got another thing coming." As of 2025, Bouris' net worth is estimated to exceed $200 million.
West Australian
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Bestselling Perth author Dervla McTiernan strikes again with new release, The Unquiet Grave
Irish-Australian author Dervla McTiernan is returning to her roots — not by moving back to Ireland, but by penning a return to her wildly popular Det-Sgt Cormac Reilly series, with pacey new thriller The Unquiet Grave out on Wednesday. The literary homecoming for the bestselling crime writer — who is based in Perth with her husband and two children — is a highly anticipated occasion for loyal readers who have been begging for a return to Cormac's gritty world. Set in the misty, windswept landscapes of Ireland, DS Reilly investigates a murder in the boglands of Galway. Irish bog bodies provide an extraordinary window into ancient Irish society and are among the best-preserved human remains that can date back to the Iron Age. McTiernan's modern take on this culturally rich slice of Irish history is a centrepiece of the book. 'I came across an article about bog bodies. It wasn't the first time I'd encountered this bit of Irish history,' McTiernan tells The West Australian of what first sparked the novel's concept. 'And the idea struck me — what would happen if a body was found with the exact same pattern of injuries in a very similar place? But its contemporary . . . a modern body. Someone has done this today.' As the novel unfolds, McTiernan delves into the effects of grief and the burden of unspoken pasts. As for the motivation behind creating her literary leading man the way she did, she says: 'For me, writing Cormac was initially a reaction to some of the crime fiction I was reading. 'I was getting a bit frustrated (to) come across yet another detective who's bemoaning the fact that his marriage is broken down, (or) that he'd lost his wife, or his wife had left him, but also that his 20-something-year-old daughter he had no relationship with . . . All I found myself doing was rolling my eyes.' Why? Because the men she knew 'weren't like that'. Consequnetly, McTiernan's stereotype-defying depiction of Det-Sgt Reilly quickly won the hearts of thousands of readers across the globe in previous books The Ruin (2018), The Scholar (2019) and The Good Turn (2020). 'I wanted to write a central character that I could really admire. I don't think it's that impressive if you solve the crime but you never pick your kids up from school,' she says. In the beginning of the Cork-born author's writing career, her sister gave her a firm word of advice. 'She said: 'You need to be careful that you don't start writing about the Ireland you knew, and not the Ireland of today',' she says. 'She was right then, and she's still right today.' To combat this, McTiernan visits her homeland often, noting the country is a 'politically and socially aware' destination that changes quickly. Her legal background, too, continues to shape her writing. Before turning her hand to writing, McTiernan spent 12 years as a commercial lawyer working on contracts with 300-400 pages, plus an appendix — all of which she would have to memorise. This process proved invaluable in her eventual shift to creating complex plot structures. 'You have to hold the map of the contract in your head and it trains your memory in a particular way. My books have quite complicated plots, and they have to weave back into each other in a way that feels seamless and natural to the reader,' she says. McTiernan has cemented herself as one of Australia's premier crime writers with six successful novels, two of which are in development for screen adaptation — The Murder Rule and What Happened To Nina? Which begs the question, if The Unquiet Grave were to be adapted for the screen, who would play her beloved Cormac? 'There's so many amazing Irish actors out there. I always think of Jamie Dornan in The Fall. He was so spectacular in that show and I know he was very dark, obviously, playing a serial killer, whereas Cormac is quite the opposite. But I could see (Dornan) playing the role in the sense of delivering Cormac in a nuanced way,' she says. The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan, $34.99, is published by Harper Collins on April 30.
Perth Now
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Bestselling Perth author strikes again with new release
Irish-Australian author Dervla McTiernan is returning to her roots — not by moving back to Ireland, but by penning a return to her wildly popular Det-Sgt Cormac Reilly series, with pacey new thriller The Unquiet Grave out on Wednesday. The literary homecoming for the bestselling crime writer — who is based in Perth with her husband and two children — is a highly anticipated occasion for loyal readers who have been begging for a return to Cormac's gritty world. Set in the misty, windswept landscapes of Ireland, DS Reilly investigates a murder in the boglands of Galway. Irish bog bodies provide an extraordinary window into ancient Irish society and are among the best-preserved human remains that can date back to the Iron Age. McTiernan's modern take on this culturally rich slice of Irish history is a centrepiece of the book. 'I came across an article about bog bodies. It wasn't the first time I'd encountered this bit of Irish history,' McTiernan tells The West Australian of what first sparked the novel's concept. 'And the idea struck me — what would happen if a body was found with the exact same pattern of injuries in a very similar place? But its contemporary . . . a modern body. Someone has done this today.' As the novel unfolds, McTiernan delves into the effects of grief and the burden of unspoken pasts. The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan, $34.99, published by Harper Collins. Credit: Harper Collins As for the motivation behind creating her literary leading man the way she did, she says: 'For me, writing Cormac was initially a reaction to some of the crime fiction I was reading. 'I was getting a bit frustrated (to) come across yet another detective who's bemoaning the fact that his marriage is broken down, (or) that he'd lost his wife, or his wife had left him, but also that his 20-something-year-old daughter he had no relationship with . . . All I found myself doing was rolling my eyes.' Why? Because the men she knew 'weren't like that'. Consequnetly, McTiernan's stereotype-defying depiction of Det-Sgt Reilly quickly won the hearts of thousands of readers across the globe in previous books The Ruin (2018), The Scholar (2019) and The Good Turn (2020). 'I wanted to write a central character that I could really admire. I don't think it's that impressive if you solve the crime but you never pick your kids up from school,' she says. In the beginning of the Cork-born author's writing career, her sister gave her a firm word of advice. 'She said: 'You need to be careful that you don't start writing about the Ireland you knew, and not the Ireland of today',' she says. 'She was right then, and she's still right today.' To combat this, McTiernan visits her homeland often, noting the country is a 'politically and socially aware' destination that changes quickly. Her legal background, too, continues to shape her writing. Before turning her hand to writing, McTiernan spent 12 years as a commercial lawyer working on contracts with 300-400 pages, plus an appendix — all of which she would have to memorise. This process proved invaluable in her eventual shift to creating complex plot structures. 'You have to hold the map of the contract in your head and it trains your memory in a particular way. My books have quite complicated plots, and they have to weave back into each other in a way that feels seamless and natural to the reader,' she says. McTiernan has cemented herself as one of Australia's premier crime writers with six successful novels, two of which are in development for screen adaptation — The Murder Rule and What Happened To Nina? Which begs the question, if The Unquiet Grave were to be adapted for the screen, who would play her beloved Cormac? 'There's so many amazing Irish actors out there. I always think of Jamie Dornan in The Fall. He was so spectacular in that show and I know he was very dark, obviously, playing a serial killer, whereas Cormac is quite the opposite. But I could see (Dornan) playing the role in the sense of delivering Cormac in a nuanced way,' she says. The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan, $34.99, is published by Harper Collins on April 30.
