Something Wicked This Way Comes... New Substack from me: a Chernobyl visit, American unease, rising AI, Trump’s reshaped power, and signs of coming storm clouds over culture, economy & tech. A read for anyone feeling that subtle dread… open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

Why So Few Americans Take the Bus 🚍 I took the 217 bus in LA so you don’t have to. It was like Jurassic Park meets Trainspotting. Few pay. Several yell. Many detach from reality. Driver doesn’t care. The smell… still recovering: open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

🟢 New on the blog: Cork to Cognac – How an Irishwoman made it in L.A. without losing herself From Cork pubs to Cognac lounges in Los Angeles… 🍷 📖 Saoirse McCabe didn’t trade her Irish identity to “make it” in L.A. — she used it like a passport. open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

The Migrant Crime Wave That Wasn’t. Trump praised Hannibal Lecter as a “very important force” in his campaign. Absurd but politically effective. There’s no migrant crime wave — 150 years of data proves it. But fear sells better than facts My latest ⬇️ open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

Big Bear Lake: How a Beautiful Place Forgot Its Story On a trip to Big Bear Lake, I found beauty—but no soul. No trace of the Indigenous people, no history, just kitsch + forgetting. In Ireland, place remembers. In America, it’s erased. open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

I once played a delusional banker on TV, whose wine bill was bigger than the mortgage. Writing about Trump’s “migrant crime wave” felt the same — denial always wins over facts. New Blog: why immigration debates aren’t about crime, but fear & mistrust. open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

Family Secrets: Irish America and IRA guns I sat down with New York Times reporter Ali Watkins to talk about her new book — a story that began with a deathbed revelation in Philadelphia and ended with the trail of 400 guns smuggled to the IRA. 👇 open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

“This is not who we are.” It’s said after every shooting, every assassination attempt. But after Charlie Kirk’s killing, Trump’s near-death, and the murders of lawmakers in Minnesota — can America still claim that? Is denial is part of the problem? substack.com/@hollywoodandh…

No longer 'WOKE TIME' in Santa Monica—“The Pearl of the Pacific” has lost its shine. Empty streets, closed shops, and sad clowns having an existential crisis under the American flag. Later came stabbings, closures, and political finger-pointing... open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

Politicians love saying “the community.” Influencers love selling it. But most of the time, it’s BS. Real community is messy, not hashtags or labels—it’s stories, struggles, even grudges that bind people together. Stop Talking Crap About “The Community” open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

"I did not ring Áras an Uachtaráin" 📞 Today Tonight - 30th October 1990

🦟 Eaten Alive: An Irishman’s Guide to Mosquitoes and Midgets A group of American tourists completely misunderstands an Irish myth involving midgets & I learned the hard (itchy) way about ankle biters New post on folklore, bites & our burning planet 👇 open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

🚗📢 Honked at the traffic lights? 🧁 Screamed at in the bakery? 🤯 Wondering why everyone is so bloody angry? New Substack: “Why Is Everyone So Bloody Angry?” Culture clash, retail rage, and what my mother said about strangers. 👉 ]open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

In LA, there’s an app that pings you every time someone gets stabbed at Trader Joe’s. In Ireland, we had a banana, a Child of Prague and a warning: “Ye can’t be doing that lads.” My latest Substack: open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

The Butt of Nephin & the Borders of the World From a Co. Mayo mountain to the Rio Grande — when immigration bureaucracy meets real lives, reality and truth slips away. #Borders #Migration #Ireland #USA open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

Watch: "When Politicians Pick Their Voters: America has rediscovered an old Irish trick: Gerrymandering" I’ve turned my latest Substack essay into a short video — the first of many. 🎥 Watch here → open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda… 📖 Read the full essay → hollywoodandheffron.substack.com/p/when-politic…

Gerrymandering—Killing Democracy with Maps? So what's the problem with Redistricting anyway? youtu.be/jy1_imJUvm0?si… via YouTube

The Day a Boy Beat a Homeless Man with His Shoe. 🔥 “Cruelty Needs No Ideology” Some cruelty isn’t about racism, politics, or ideology. Some people hurt the vulnerable simply because they can. open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

Teenage Grandmas and Sacrificed Virgins. Hollywood gave us Lord of the Rings, Casablanca and Dallas. Now it gives us crazy one-minute smartphone soaps, and an AI actress who doesn’t exist. The dream factory didn’t collapse — it accidentally ate itself. open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…

Who Shot Kim Kardashian? Hot take: Kim Kardashian’s new show is the most unintentionally honest piece of TV about modern culture and consumerism ever made. Cold take: It’s also terrible, awful and devoid of any redeeming qualities. open.substack.com/pub/hollywooda…