Daily Archives: April 27, 2010

Review: Iron Man 2

  By Anto | April 27, 2010 - 11:06 pm | The Culch
12 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to this one for quite a while as most of the geeks around the world have. In that context I know a lot of you will be conscious of having the movie spoiled by divulging too much. I was very lucky to see the film without having seen any reviews before but it’s almost impossible to review this fully without going into detail. So I’ll give a quick opinion in the next paragraph and then go on to the full review. Did it live up to expectations considering they were so high universally? Not for me. In terms of what I was expecting, Iron Man 2 suffered from middle film syndrome. I’ll explain that. There’s just a bit too much going on. We know Iron Man (the ever excellent Downey Jnr.) but we’re introduced to two new villains, more members of SHIELD, a senate committee and … There’s more →

John, Shelly and the Creatures

  By Darren Byrne | April 27, 2010 - 10:00 pm | Music, The Culch
1 Comment

Like most people, I first came across John, Shelly and the Creatures through the TV ad for Discover Northern Ireland, which features their track Long May You Reign. But while I loved that track, it was a long while before I got around to soaking in the other offerings from their debut album, Dinosaur. This Belfast band are far more than pleasant background music to sell tourism. From the opening Blinded and Cross, we are introduced to some of the greatest vocals I’ve heard in recent times. Beauriful and soaring, lead singer Walter (just one name, much like Madonna) elevates the soft rock to shiver inducing heights at times. The album doesn’t quite flow as you might expect. It doesn’t have a slow build to a crecendo - it more zigs and zags through the bands influences, Elliot Smith, Bowie, The Kinks, Belle and Sebastian, even Tom Waits. The lack … There’s more →

Broken Spine #24: Book Shopping

  By Ronan | April 27, 2010 - 12:12 pm | Books
6 Comments

Yesterday on twitter I asked my followers where they bought their books online in order to help you save some money on your purchases. So the following are the Best Places to Buy Books Online. (All deliver to Ireland, obviously) AMAZONAmazon started off as a US book retailer before branching out to supply nearly everything. It’s like the world’s biggest Argos, as you can see only the catalogue before making your purchase. Amazon has thousands of books, as well as out-of-print titles via its authorized resellers. Luke Teeling suggested checking between both amazon.com and amazon.co.uk for prices, as sometimes you can get a better deal from America. BOOKDEPOSITORYA few people suggested BookDepository.co.uk as the number one place to shop online for books. They do free delivery to Ireland, and prices on books that are at least six months old are very reasonable. It may take a few days for your … There’s more →

Irish Apprentice Applications Close May 3rd

  By Darren Byrne | April 27, 2010 - 10:35 am | Apprentice, The Culch, TV
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If you’re a regular Culch.ie reader, you’ll know about our obsession with The Irish Apprentice. For 12 weeks last year, we ran liveblogs, we discussed, berated, reviewed and applauded the show and its contestants. This year will be no different. TV3 are currently searching for this year’s candidates and the closing date for Applications is Monday 3rd May 2010. Here’s last year’s winner, Steve Rayner, talking about his win: A selection of applicants will be called to take part in an interview process on Saturday 8th May with the possibility of progressing to a further round of interviews between Tuesday 11th and Thursday 13th of May. Your interview may only take a few minutes due to the large number of applicants. It is essential to come to the interview well presented and with good reasons as to why you should be Bill Cullen’s next Apprentice.

What’s Going On Your Summer Soundtrack?

  By Lisa McInerney | April 27, 2010 - 10:00 am | Music, Random Whimsy, wantsies
7 Comments

Doubtless it’ll be pissing rain by the time you lot read this, but this post came to me when it was sunny and the wind was coming on little teasing tufts of Gawd’s benevolent breath, or something. I was walking along Suburbia Street, considering playlists (I’m due to draft one up for a friend who’s so indie, he listens to bands whose frontmen haven’t been conceived yet, and so on and so forth, as the cliche goes), enjoying the weather, and thinking about summer. It’s on the way, you know. You can tell because the indie brats have stopped wearing socks outside their tights. And so, with playlists and dandelion wishes in the air, I thought you might like to get in the mood by nominating some nice, summertime songs for me? I can start you off, because there’s a couple of lovelies in the pipeline/my ear canals that you … There’s more →

Ricky Gervais at the O2 Dublin

  By Andy Gaffney | April 27, 2010 - 9:52 am | Comedy, Events, The Culch
5 Comments

The very first time you see Ricky Gervais’s face at the gig, it’s on a large video screen puking semen into a toilet and then asking for more. It’s this charming image (I hope your mental pictures are sticking by the way, dear readers) that sets up Gervais’s mission statement for the rest of the night: he is going to do and say whatever he wants and there isn’t much we can do about it (not that we would want to because he’s rather funny is that Gervais fella). The thing about Gervais is that he seems to fit into the ‘either love him or hate him’ bracket more than any other comedian in recent memory, well maybe apart from Bernard Manning, though you would have to excuse the ‘love’ part from that. I, however, see Mr. Gervais as a bit of a hero, and feel that The Office is … There’s more →

Rugby Seven’s comes to Kinsale this Bank Holiday weekend

  By Niall | April 27, 2010 - 9:43 am | Sports, The Culch, Tourism
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Do you like rugby? Are you free this weekend? Can you get to Cork? If you’ve answered yes to the questions above then you’re in for a treat, as this May Bank Holiday weekend the rebel county plays host to Ireland’s foremost rugby sevens competition, the 2010 Heineken Kinsale Seven’s.

Fame: The Musical, Week 3

  By pluincee | April 27, 2010 - 12:17 am | Movies & TV, The Culch, TV
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RTÉ and Shinawil are currently airing a talent search for this autumn’s touring production of Fame, The Musical (which opens on August 19th in the Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin). The aim of the show is to cast the two leads (Nick & Serena) who will tour the country, in a similar format to that of the BBC/Andrew Lloyd Webber talent searches which have been running since 2006, and have cast leads in The Sound of Music, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Oliver!, and is currently looking for Dorothy. Over the past months, hundreds of competitors have been whittled down by the judging panel to 53 hopefuls who then attended Fame School, resulting in 12 finalists who were revealed to the public during a pre-recorded show which aired on April 18th.