Daily Archives: November 5, 2009

Adolf Hitler, Alive and Well in the Tivoli Theatre

  By Darren Byrne | November 5, 2009 - 11:58 pm | The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
5 Comments

Let me start by saying I wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing Adolf tonight. The brief description I had read lead me to believe I was going to see a one man psychobabble drama about Hitler’s final hours. I was dubious to say the least, but I was pleasantly surprised at the range of emotions Pip Utton’s play dragged me through. Writer and actor Pip Utton has been performing his one man play Adolf for over ten years. It’s travelled the globe to great reviews and some controversy along the way. The opening half is an angry, engaging rant from Hitler’s bunker as he says his final goodbyes and talks about his lasting legacy. Though it drags at times, repeating itself and contradicting itself in places, it is a gripping piece of theatre, performed by an eerily Hitler-like Utton. As this portion of the play concludes, there is some applause, … There’s more →

Two Weeks Later, Living with 7

  By Niall | November 5, 2009 - 8:35 pm | Gadgets, The Culch, The Internet
5 Comments

Microsoft is PC operating software king. Windows is the most dominant platform on PCs today, holding just over 96% of the market. So when the company brings out a new OS it’s time to sit up and listen. Their latest, Windows 7, launched with much fanfare two weeks ago today, on October 22nd, 2009. I promptly installed it on my desktop and on my laptop, replacing previous incarnations of Windows. So 14 days in what’s the new system like to use?

A little help

  By Maxi Cane | November 5, 2009 - 4:11 pm | The Culch
11 Comments

Let’s say, hypothetically speaking that a certain Culcher will sometime in the near future be able to snare a sneaky, guerrilla interview with a well known, popular and successful Irish group, what would he ask them? Now, this hypothetical situation is a little weird as the Culcher in question knows sweet feck all about the band, other than the chorus to whatever songs they have in regular radio play rotation. He (or she) figured that writing for a pop culture web site that others would be more familiar with said group, and might want to know more about them. What questions would you ask them? This hypothetical Culcher doesn’t want to have a list of Smash Hits type questions for the group, should the interview come to pass. He (or she) would also of course publish the entire interview, and credit the questions to those who had asked them. Help … There’s more →

People of Ireland…. The Emergency

  By Peter | November 5, 2009 - 1:37 pm | Comedy
5 Comments

People Of Ireland… If you are wondering why I look like such an eejit in this picture… chances are you’ve never laughed as hard as I did the day I met The Emergency. Never heard of The Emergency before…? Chances are you’ve shared a cave with a bearded man for too long now. For the elder statesmen, The Emergency, is a resurrgance, of sorts, from those who may remember the old [ala Dermot Morgan] Scrap Saturday days. It’s a sort of spitting image without the dummys [literally] and a stage further. Some time ago I was privelidged to meet, with Anthony, the entire cast of The Emergency [minus of course Karen Ardiff ]. We ended up in the studio having a cup of tea and watched the making of a show… we even played a much famed role in one or two of the sketches. [ The great thing about the people who play these … There’s more →

7 things about The Irish (and Other Foreigners) - the trailer of the book

  By darraghdoyle | November 5, 2009 - 11:42 am | Books, The Culch
4 Comments

Here’s the trailer for Shane Hegarty‘s new book, just gone online today: Shane, Assistant Features Editor with the Irish Times and co-writer of The Irish Times Book Of The 1916 Rising, sent me a copy of his new book recently, called, as the title of this post suggests, The Irish (& Other Foreigners) From the First People to the Poles. Admittedly I haven’t had the chance to delve in properly, which is frustrating because this is a subject that interests me deeply. Why are the Irish the way they are? What is our genealogical heritage and why does that matter? How does it influence who we are as people and as a culture? The back of the book reads as follows: “Where did the first Irish come from? Where have the Celts gone? What did the Vikings ever do for us? And why is it that Chippers are run by … There’s more →

Four milestones

  By Will | November 5, 2009 - 1:55 am | Events, In The News, Politics, Radio, The Culch, TV
5 Comments

This week sees the anniversary of four major cultural milestones. The fall of a wall, finding all kinds of people in your neighbourhood, the morning agenda and a trip to the moon. First off, the wall. The falling of the Iron Curtain, and the Berlin Wall. The wall’s coming down on 1989 led to a major cultural change across the world. Mostly the end of the Soviet Empire had effects across the world. Firstly the reunification of Germany meant a bunch of economic changes across Europe, and the start of an expansion of the EU indirectly leading to Polish becoming the second largest language group in Ireland. More to the cultural point, the end of the Cold War meant a huge change in political thrillers. The generic Russian bad guy couldn’t be used. Bond has only recently recovered from the required plot changes. It also meant that the Soviet era … There’s more →