Monthly Archives: August 2009

Music for The Golden Vale

  By Niamh | August 27, 2009 - 12:15 pm | Events, Music, The Culch
3 Comments

On 4 September next, the National Chamber Choir will perform in Cashel Cathedral, Cashel, Co. Tipperary. Music for Tipperary are presenting Music for the Golden Vale featuring contemporary Irish works from Ian Wilson, Rhona Clarke and Elaine Agnew-RTE lyric fm’s 2009 (and first ever) composer in residence - as well as pieces by Lesur and Palestrina. Conductor, James Wood will be joined by traditional sean-nós singer, Iarla Ó Lionáird and the world premiere of The Beloved and Her Lover, a specially commissioned work by Ian Wilson, will also be performed on the evening. “The Beloved and Her Lover is based on the dialogue between the Beloved and her Lover in the Song of Songs. These exotic and sensuous poems have inspired composers for centuries, and in this programme you can hear contemporary settings of these celebrated poems not only by Ian Wilson, but also by Elaine Agnew and Daniel … There’s more →

Screen Classics

  By Darren Byrne | August 27, 2009 - 11:39 am | Movies & TV, The Culch
4 Comments

Okay, we’ve talked about it before - the classic movie season that Screen Cinema was running. I loved it. It’s been great to have the opportunity to see All About Eve and Casablanca on the big screen. I even got to watch Brief Encounter for the very first time. Well, now that the season is over they are already planning the next and they want your help. For being so lovely and greeting the screenings of classic films with such enthusiasm, they are opening the vote to you for future classic films. Just email [email protected] with your top three choices from the following list. My three will be The 39 Steps (apparently there’s a remake in the works), The Good, The Bad And The Ugly and The Great Escape. What about you? Drop a comment below with your list or with some suggestions that aren’t on this list. I’d love … There’s more →

Grind your bones: “Unbalanced Pieces” by Soulsavers

  By Will | August 27, 2009 - 11:05 am | Music
2 Comments

Title: Unbalanced Pieces Artist: Soulsavers Label: V2/Cooperative Release: Out now Grinding. Unrelenting. Those were my first thought when listening to “Unbalanced Pieces”. Its not a happy song. Sorry, no dancing here. Mark Lanegan’s voice (he serves as the main guest vocalist on the “Broken” album) reminds me of a resigned Johnny Cash, but with darker tones. It suits a piece about things getting worse. And worse. But like a car crash, you can’t stop listening. Its not an ear worm of a song, but it will burrow itself in your skull. Then it surfaces at the worst times. Dark alleyways. Midnight noises. In the pause of a doctor’s diagnosis. Not happy time. I’m still giving it a thumbs up. Sometimes grinding is the right thing to hear. I can’t find a video for this (OK, YouTube has something, but its not an official release). If you want to hear it, … There’s more →

Social Media Blues by Scott Rodgers

  By darraghdoyle | August 27, 2009 - 10:22 am | Music, Random Whimsy, The Culch, The Internet
2 Comments

I normally despair at all the songs about “social media” because they’re rarely good. Let’s see how I can insert “social networking” into a song, rhyme it with something and hey, maybe I’ll become popular on You Tube. Wooo. They can be awful. This one, on the other hand, is actually quite good, in a “oh that’s amusing” kinda way. Fair play to them. I’ve listened to it at least three times. Wonder what that says about me? Thanks, Lauren for posting that, I think…

Colonel Popcorn’s Minute Movie Mystery

  By Colonel Popcorn | August 27, 2009 - 1:23 am | Movies & TV, The Culch
13 Comments

This is a little series I’ll be doing just for the fun of it. A few little teasers of movie trivia from well known movies. If you get it right it’ll make you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. If you don’t win you can revel in the fact that the winner is probably a movie geek who’s never had sex. All in good fun! 000OOO000 Cheating in this will result in the baby Jesus crying a tear of shame on your behalf and all of Culch thinking that you smell. You may not use Google, Twitter, Facebook, the IMDB, texting, emailing, phone calling, writing, and/or Jedi mind tricks or any other form of cheating. I’m watching and I know where you live. 000OOO000 Guess the movie - Released in 1988. Bill Murray was first choice for the lead role, but couldn’t be contacted. Kathleen Turner was uncredited for … There’s more →

Shooting Monkeys/Arctic Stars

  By Darren Byrne | August 27, 2009 - 12:00 am | Featured Post, Music, The Culch, TV
1 Comment

We have been transported back in time by the hairy time machine. It’s no longer 2009. It’s circa 1997. I’m in Transition year and being slagged for wearing my Naff jacket, which was so two years ago. In class, we heavily quote The Fast Show, seriously discuss and debate the decline of the X-Files and lust after Ulrikakakaka. Shooting Stars returned to our screens tonight. It’s still awful. It’s still full of terrible jokes and buffoonery. And yes, it’s still hilarious. From Ulrika’s faux disgust to Vic’s knee rubbing, from the Dove From Above to George Dawes, it’s every inch the same show I watched and loved as a teen. I really felt like I had just fallen into a 1990′s bubble. This was not helped by my choice of music post-Shooting Stars. Arctic Monkeys’ new album, Humbug, sounds like it was written, performed and produced in the mid-nineties, but … There’s more →

The Walking Dead Week Finale - Meeting Charlie Adlard

  By Rob Cumiskey | August 26, 2009 - 6:26 pm | Comics, Featured Post, Infected, Movies & TV, The Culch
2 Comments

This interview, with artist Charlie Adlard, concludes my Walking Dead Week. I hope you have all enjoyed it and appreciate any comments you have. Click here to find out who won a signed copy of the latest volume of The Walking Dead from Sub City Comics, Dublin. The following is a nice long interview with Charlie. It’ll take a few minutes to read, but it’s worth it. I felt a longer article would do him more justice - he’s a pretty cool guy Having never seen a picture of the guy, I sat in The Central Hotel opposite Sub City Comics on Exchequer Street waiting for Charlie Adlard to arrive. Our meeting time was 11.30 on this sunny Saturday Morning and it was now 11.40 and still no sign of him. I asked an older looking man in shorts who had been waiting by the Hotel door for some time … There’s more →

Guest post: Is It Really Better Late Than Never?

  By Ken | August 26, 2009 - 4:24 pm | In The News, Movies & TV, Music, The Culch
11 Comments

This is a guest post for Culch.ie from Ken of BurnAllZombies.com. Ken is looking at how illegal downloading effects the entertainment industry. Check it out and leave your comments below. - Darren With the internet more rife with pirates than a Johnny Depp movie, we all know illegal downloading exists, and Irish ISPs and their reactions to sites like The Pirate Bay have been hitting the headlines over the last few weeks. The music industry in particular are doing their best to clamp down on piracy and illegal downloads, but let’s be realistic: internet piracy will probably never be completely eliminated, at least not until the ultimate cause gets nipped in the bud. So is piracy the result of consumer greed, or in some ways, have the entertainment industry been too slow to move into the digital age and created a situation of their own delayed action? While we can … There’s more →

Blown away by the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival 2009

  By darraghdoyle | August 26, 2009 - 2:48 pm | Events, Performance Art, The Culch, Theatre
4 Comments

If I didn’t have to work (and I do), I’d take September 24 to October 11 off this year and indulge in some world class theatre and events happening around the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival. Coincidentally around the same time as Arthurs Day and beginning not long after Dublin Fringe ends, the city is going to be awash with creativity. I picked up the brochure as soon as it came out and have been marking carefully what I’ll be going to, what I’d love to see and some of the brilliant events that are on. (Please note, I’ve had no contact with the Theatre Festival around the writing of this post - they haven’t suggested or requested it and nor did I - I’m just genuinely enthused by the line-up, and love telling people about this sort of stuff. It’s what I do.) So read on for some of … There’s more →

Click: “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar” by The Guild

  By Will | August 26, 2009 - 2:25 pm | Featured Post, Music, The Culch, The Internet, TV
9 Comments

Title: Do You Wanna Date My Avatar Artist: The Guild Label: unsigned but sponsored by Microsoft Release: Mp3 available for download on Amazon, and iTunes are faffing aboution the international release The Guild is a low budget TV series that never made it to the TV. The fact that each episode is only 5 minutes means that it was never intended to go to television. It did however make it to YouTube and the XBox network. Essentially The Guild is a sit-com about a group of heroes in an online fantasy world, sort of like World of Warcraft, but isn’t named. Except it isn’t. Its about the players who play the characters in this world. And the messy real world actions they take. The series was created by and all the episodes (so far) are written by Felicia Day who is indeed a bigger net head than most of the … There’s more →

The Playhouse project: what will you draw on Dublin’s Liberty Hall?

  By darraghdoyle | August 26, 2009 - 11:48 am | Events, Photography, The Arts, The Culch, The Internet, Theatre
8 Comments

What would you draw on one of Dublin’s most recognisable buildings? Your name in lights? A giant tetris animation? A stickman walking? A giant pen? Is that unrealistic? It’s basically filling in lots of squares! It’s your canvas and you can do as you wish with it. Daft.ie and the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival - September 24 to October 11 - are taking one of Dublin’s tallest buildings and allowing you to play with it. All you have to do is download their software and animate your thoughts to be broadcast onto the city skyline. Just head on over to here and use playhousefan as password. That’s pre-launch information, that. It’s easy enough, honest. Who knows what you could put up there! Basically Liberty Hall will be a a 50 metre, low resolution, TV screen. You can create animations with sounds and music via the website and get them … There’s more →

world cultures festival

  By Peter | August 26, 2009 - 11:44 am | The Culch
7 Comments

I found out about this gig because I was told about it by Gar from The riptide Movement. Gar Byrne Festival of world cultures this weekend! 240,000 people went last year! Gonna be beast! So I went to the website of The Festival Of World Cultures but I couldn’t find the lads listed anywhere on there. I’ve never been to the event. I don’t know anyone who has off the top of my head. You’d think I would considering 240,000 people went….. Anyhow whilst I can’t find them on the slot list Gar and the lads are playing between 1 and 9, odd i know and they are doing 3 slots! Without sounding like I’m not all for the gig…. I couldn’t find a logo/ banner and the about page didn’t tell me much either…. I got the one above from pix.ie If anyone has been…. feel free to leave … There’s more →

Bye Bye Big Brother

  By Lottie | August 26, 2009 - 11:34 am | The Culch, TV
2 Comments

Just caught this via @jonathanwpurvis on Twitter. It seems that Channel 4 have finally taken the hint that no-one is interested anymore and called an end to the reality TV series Big Brother. After over a decade next years BB11 is to be the final year of the show when c4′s contract with Endemol ends in 2010. Channel 4 claim the reasons behind the decision are purely creative and nothing to do with the dwindling popularity and fall in ratings but let’s be honest, the show stopped being creative after Series 2 and the idea of the social experiment behind the programme has long since been abandoned in favour of crass, shock-value TV. Remember the girl & the bottle? Need I say more?

(500) Days of Summer

  By Darren Byrne | August 25, 2009 - 11:30 pm | Featured Post, Movies & TV, The Culch
18 Comments

I‘ve fallen in love twice in my life. The first time, I was a young teen and it was a silly, messy, dramatic, wonderful, exciting and ultimately painful experience. The second time is deeper and means more, it’s constantly exciting and takes over every inch of me, my life, my future. And while both of these two events have affected my life, they couldn’t be more different. The only thing that both times have in common is that insane, whirlwind, obsessive beginning. The times when you figuratively and physically feel around each other, you work each other out - that need to touch, the urge to know everything about the other person, to probe their brain and eat up every word they utter. I have seen love portrayed on screen before. Woody Allen has been witty with it. Teen comedies have been funny about it. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan … There’s more →