Monthly Archives: November 2010

Queer Notions: The Big Deal @ Project Arts Centre

  By ElaineBucko | November 30, 2010 - 12:53 pm | Performance Art, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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the big deal cyan

Following on from recent Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival hit show 565+, and nationwide success of the stunningly moving Victor and Gord, Una McKevitt directs this poignant and gritty work-in-progress showing based on letters and emails between two real life friends undergoing male to female gender reassignment. This is THE BIG DEAL. I’ve always been a woman. All this time I’ve had a penis and to be fair he never did me any harm. In fact he worked very well, but I’ve waited my whole life to have my own vagina. This is my first email to you. I hope it doesn’t in any way shape your thoughts on what you should do. If there is any chance it might, please don’t read it. It is the night before my operation. I am remarkably calm. Shouldn’t I be crying my eyes out or having second thoughts? Shouldn’t I be doing … There’s more →

Competition: You Could be Lifted High on Ocean Drive

  By Darren Byrne | November 30, 2010 - 11:15 am | Competitions, Music, The Culch
25 Comments

Yesterday, I was on a nostalgia trip with The Human League. Today, another part of my youth fell into my Inbox. Easy listening never sounded as good as when Lighthouse Family’s Lifted wafted from my radio on constant repeat in the mid-nineties. Lighthouse Family have announced a new Tour for February / March 2011, their first major tour in seven years, where they’ll be playing all their hits from 1995′s Ocean Drive album all the way up to 2001′s Whatever Gets You Through the Day (which included great versions of Nina Simone’s I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free and U2′s One). They open the tour with Irish dates at The Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on 26th February and The Waterfront Hall, Belfast, on 27th February. Tickets go on sale this Friday, 26th November at 9am, but readers of Culch.ie have the chance to win a pair … There’s more →

Update: Other Voices: Live in Dingle, In Person and On Screen

  By Éilish Burke | November 29, 2010 - 8:40 pm | The Culch
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Here’s the daily schedule for Other Voices Saturday December 4th Anna Calvi followed by… A Night Curated by Richard Hawley featuring Richard Hawley and band Jarvis Cocker, Laura Marling plus a very special guest Sunday December 5th The National, Ellie Goulding, Cathy Davey, John Smith Monday December 6th Lissie, Smoke Fairies, Everything Everything, And So I Watch You From Afar, James Vincent Mc Morrow Tuesday December 7th Marina & the Diamonds, O Emperor, The Minutes, Ryan Sheridan And performing at the IMRO Other Room on Wednesday December 8th Jennifer Evans, Planet Parade, Lisa O’Neill, Sacred Animals, The Danger Is, The Man Whom 85 tickets went on sale for Other Voices on Monday. Yes, 85 tickets (well, 85 for each day of the 4 day event). I didn’t get one, though I was poised at my keyboard at 9am as though it was the starting line for the Olympics 100m sprint. … There’s more →

The Apprentice Liveblog Week Eleven

  By Darren Byrne | November 29, 2010 - 5:06 pm | Apprentice, Apprentice, Movies & TV, The Culch, TV
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We’re eleven weeks in now and I’m sure you’re all well aware of what a live blog is, but just in case, let me welcome you to the eleventh of this year’s Apprentice Liveblogs. If you’re unfamiliar with liveblogs, it’s simply a place to chat about the show while we’re watching. It’s one big moderated chatroom for The Apprentice. You can follow it below on Culch.ie or you can launch a stand alone window and follow it there. The Apprentice Ireland 2010 Week Ten Click here to launch in a separate window

My Handset History

  By bngr | November 26, 2010 - 12:17 am | The Culch
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It’s well time for some mobile phone nostalgia so I decided to delve into my own personal mobile handset history just to remind myself of what they were like. They’ve been frying my brain for over a decade so a good homage is due. Ericsson GA628 I was early enough to the game, with my first phone in January 1998. You can tell from this picture that it didn’t exactly fit into the hand. Information and menus scrolled from left to right across one line. It was a year later that I sent my first text - they weren’t known of before that. Ericsson T18s Here’s a step up. This had a flip open, was small and had voice dialing, all very cool. I even bought me one of these fancy mini querty attachments. Nokia 7110 Back then I was Ericsson and Nokia was for the masses but I caved … There’s more →

Unstoppable - Film Review

  By Andy Gaffney | November 23, 2010 - 10:15 am | Movies & TV, The Culch
4 Comments

A little while ago I found myself sitting in the rather lovely Gate Theatre watching ‘Celebration’ by Harold Pinter. While I very very much enjoyed the play and have now even vowed to some day write a play (you lucky lucky people), panic soon set in. You see, I said that I would review it. Now, the idea of me reviewing a play of such subtle themes and heartbreak kind of reminds me of that time I saw a man in his late 60’s walking hand in hand with an 18 year old French prostitute dressed in a Britney-like school uniform. You could clearly see the man was enjoying himself, but you might not ask his advice on your own love life. The review never saw the light of the day and, luckily for both me and the all round decency of theatre reviewers everywhere, a movie about about a … There’s more →

Interview: My Pilot

  By johnmfinn | November 23, 2010 - 9:00 am | Music, The Culch
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My Pilot are a Dublin fourpiece who have just released their debut EP “Spiders” as a free download. We caught up with front man Neill Dougan to find out a little of the history behind the band, what it was like to write and record the EP and the difficulties facing unsigned bands. Who would you cite as your main influences? Speaking for myself, I listen to a bit of everything, I like hip-hop and reggae and soul and stuff. But in terms of all-time personal heroes, I’m a massive fan of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Smog, Neil Young, Tom Waits, The Fall and so on. But we all have pretty diverse tastes within the band, I don’t think we’d all list the same bands or artists as influences, although obviously there’s an overlap in terms of stuff we all listen to. I mean me and Ross both absolutely love Sparklehorse, … There’s more →

The Apprentice Liveblog Week Ten

  By Darren Byrne | November 22, 2010 - 5:30 pm | Apprentice, Apprentice, Movies & TV, The Culch, TV
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We’re ten weeks in now and I’m sure you’re all well aware of what a live blog is, but just in case, let me welcome you to the tenth of this year’s Apprentice Liveblogs. If you’re unfamiliar with liveblogs, it’s simply a place to chat about the show while we’re watching. It’s one big moderated chatroom for The Apprentice. You can follow it below on Culch.ie or you can launch a stand alone window and follow it there. It’s simple and fun, so please come join us. This week’s challenge setter is Harvey Norman (Go Harvery Go!!) and we will have a competition running tomorrow morning in association with Harvey Norman. Keep an eye on this evening’s live blog for more details. The Apprentice Ireland 2010 Week Ten Click here to launch in a separate window

The Return of The Human League

  By Darren Byrne | November 22, 2010 - 5:00 pm | Music, The Culch
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Their music can be heard through every subverted electro-pop act since the release of Dare in 1981 (the year I was born). The Human League’s synthpop sound has been cited as an influence by everyone from Madonna to Robbie Williams, from Moby to Little Boots. This week, they return with the single Night People from Credo, their first studio album in 10 years. Am I excited? Maybe. It sounds like they’ve just picked up where they left off, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a good track and it bodes well for the new album, which will be released in March 2011. They will also tour here in the new year (dates tbc). What do you think of Night People? Will you catch The Human League when they visit us?

Culchie Calling Cards - Gigs November 22 - 28 2010

  By Will | November 22, 2010 - 12:01 am | The Culch
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GIGS Boyce Avenue is a Florida-based band with strong acoustic roots and melodic rock sound. The band is also a set of brothers (no no “how we met story”) namely Alejandro, Fabian, and Daniel Manzano. The band came together in 2004 with Alejandro on lead vocals, guitar and piano, Fabian doing guitar and vocals, and their older brother Daniel on bass, percussion and of course vocals. And in the keeping the relations happy camp, after graduating from Harvard Law School, Daniel moved back to Florida, to join his brothers, who were both attending classes at the University of Florida. Then the band started. They have played for YouTube a lot, go look for them and decide. They return to Dublin’s Academy for an All Ages show (Over 14s show) on Tuesday November 23. It’s been three years since Klaxons burst onto the music scene with the influential Mercury award-winning album … There’s more →

Swear I’m Not Red?

  By seanear1ey | November 20, 2010 - 10:38 am | The Culch
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Ever wanted to see our very own Ronan Hunt-Murphy a.k.a prolific Irish music blogger Swearimnotpaul? Well, now you can, for a full 3 and a half minutes as he guides you through the world of Irish music in his very own videocast (podcasting is SO 2008). REDmusic Review is a quirky jaunt recommending what to listen out for, what to download for free, what to pay to download and what to watch on YouTube. Including music ‘parrot’ees. :rollseyes: The videocast itself is a pilot for an online show with RTÉ Young Peoples for their hit show Apartment Red: http://www.rte.ie/tv/red/ And may we add without bias that we think he does a great job, rather dashingly it must be said. Ronan is a Culch.ie with great clout when it comes to recommending music. His blog, now to be found at http://swearimnotpaul.com has received countless nominations from the 2010 Irish Web Awards … There’s more →

Watch Simon Fagan Live at 9.15pm

  By Darren Byrne | November 19, 2010 - 5:00 pm | Gigs, Movies & TV, Music, TV
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If Tubridy is proving too much for you, why not switch on to Simon Fagan TV? Simon will be performing acoustic versions of songs from his debut album Outside Looking In in Bewleys Cafe starting between 9.15 and 9.30 this evening. It’s a free gig from the comfort of your own couch, so make use of it. Note: There is a looped video running prior to the start of the live stream.