Temple Bar Pub; Palace as has been said already; the Long Hall (super old school); Farrier and Draper (very boho-down-at-the-heels chic); Toners Pub (supposedly a Yeats drinking spot); the Octagon in the bottom of the Clarence (yes we have seen various U2 people hanging out there before).
This is my go-to rec to anyone visiting Dublin. It's a tour where you go on a pub crawl with two performers who tell you about Dublin's literary history through skits, anekdotes, street performances, and a quiz! (it's so fun even my non-literary friends I dragged along loved it)
I just spent 2 weeks in Ireland over christmas/new year's and most of it was at my family's home in Dingle. it's a magical place where many people still speak irish, and everywhere else we visited, people would say how jealous they were that we were visiting Dingle. it's a pretty small downtown area but I saw several pubs offering accommodation, everyone is so welcoming. specific recs include dick mack's pub, the fish box, and murphy's for ice cream.
went on a big trip with my family over the winter where we went to london, edinburgh, inverness and dublin. dublin (and really just ireland in general) was by far my favorite of all the places i visited. loved the city and also loved driving up to donegal to see slieve liag!
School made us think reading is a holy act. It is not. Its just something to do. Like watching a movie or sports. You aren’t going to be tested by anyone. Read high. Read drunk. Read 2 pages. Read half awake. Remember nothing or just some of it. It really doesn’t matter
I feel like growing up every band or musician besides super huge pop stars was just normal looking. Not weird in a cool way and not perfectly curated. Just actually weird or actually normal. I miss that. Everyone is too hot now. To quote Silver Jews, "What's with all the handsome grandsons
In these rock band magazines?
What have they done with the fat ones?
The bald and the goateed?" We need more normals in music.