Monthly Archives: February 2011

Superb Superbowl Movie Spots

  By Niall | February 7, 2011 - 12:36 pm | Movies & TV
1 Comment
super-8-slice

The Superbowl, America’s answer to the Rose of Tralee, was on last night on last night and as usual it was a battle of the brave and the bold for supremacy of the Vince Lombardi trophy. Aside from the action on the field the Superbowl is an American advertisers dream, millions and millions all tuned in to a 4 hour long show with more ads than actual sport. Movie studios use this time wisely to peddle their upcoming releases and last night was no exception with 15 films going to post. The films that we caught a glimpse of include Captain America: The First Avenger, Transformers: Dark of The Moon, Cowboys & Aliens, Super 8, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Thor, Battle: Los Angeles, Priest, Limitless, Rio, Rango, Fast Five, The Adjustment Bureau, Drive Angry 3D, and Just Go With It. Below are the spots, with the synopsis … There’s more →

The Thinking Place

  By travors | February 7, 2011 - 12:00 pm | Movies & TV, Random Whimsy, The Culch
Comments Off

If, like me, you grew up on staple diet of 80s movies then you’re probably already familiar with The Thinking Place. If not, watch a bunch of 80s movies and you’ll begin to recognise a gradual series of events that lead up to The Thinking Place, something like this: Boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets upper middle class girl with over protective father (preferably ex-army and still sporting the crew cut). Over protective father doesn’t want Johnny-blue-jeans anywhere near his beautiful (if a little wishy washy), porcelain, academically gifted daughter. Duckie (Jon Cryer) visits The Thinking Place in Pretty in Pink. First: The father tries to bribe the boy to stay away, but Johnny’s honour is strong and his love true. Second: He threatens the boy to stay away, but with love in his heart Johnny has no fear, even when grabbed by the scruff of his … There’s more →

Grand Canal Theatre: A preview of their upcoming season

  By Colm | February 7, 2011 - 9:30 am | Featured Post, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
Comments Off

The Grand Canal Theatre recently released info on their upcoming season and its a very impressive and promising line up indeed. Featuring several touring productions straight out of the West End and a number of high profile acts in one off concerts it seems the theatre is going from strength to strength and we’re finally seeing the kind of calibre of show that can make use of this impressive space. Check out what they have in store after the break.

Review - Hereafter

  By dinglesurf | February 7, 2011 - 9:00 am | Movies & TV, The Culch
Comments Off
arts-hereafter-584

When hard-nosed director Clint Eastwood teamed up with screenwriter Peter Morgan, famed for his expertise in writing about real life people (The Queen, Frost/Nixon, The Last King Of Scotland) one would expect them to cook up a hard hitting socio-political biopic or at the very least a gritty crime thriller. Instead what they have delivered is a slow, ponderous, “think” piece about various aspects of the afterlife. Although perhaps at a now staggering 81 (and still The Busiest Man In Hollywood™) it is not surprising that Eastwood has become curious about the supernatural and what happens to us after we die. Hereafter follows three interweaving storylines, as a French reporter, an American medium and a London based twin are all forced to deal with how death encroaches upon their lives. The most successful thread involves Cécile De France’s reporter who, in a stunning opening set piece, suffers a near death … There’s more →

How Gamers Will Change The World

  By Colm | February 6, 2011 - 8:59 pm | Games
Comments Off

Here is one of those great TED talk videos, which are usually pretty awesome we will all admit, but this one particularly caught my eye. If you play any games at all you should watch this (and I would encourage you to give it a go even if you don’t). After watching this video, I actually completely agree with her. Makes me feel less guilty for having a total play time of over 80 days on World of Warcraft!

Review: Gnomeo and Juliet

  By Kitty Catastrophe | February 6, 2011 - 9:27 am | The Culch
1 Comment

Before I knew anything about Gnomeo and Juliet I was already pretty much sold, based on the name alone. It covers everything really, the premise being the tale of Romeo and Juliet but told with garden gnomes. Which is flipping genius as far as I’m concerned. Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) is the handsome (well, for a gnome) son of Lady Blueberry (Maggie Smith), who is leader of the Blue Garden and sworn enemy of Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine), head of the adjacent Red Garden. In the midst of the squabbling Red and Blue Gardens’ turf war, a chance encounter brings Gnomeo and fiesty Red Gnome Juliet (Emily Blunt) - who happens to be Lord Redbrick’s daughter - together. As tensions mount between the feuding Reds and Blues, things get even more difficult for the star-crossed pair in their attempt to get their gnomance (Yes. I’m afraid I did just … There’s more →

Movie Review: Just Go With It

  By Éilish Burke | February 4, 2011 - 3:43 pm | Movies & TV, The Culch
1 Comment

I was going to start off this review with a disclaimer saying that I’m not a rom-com kinda gal. But on reflection, that isn’t really true. I mean, some of my favourite films are rom-coms; Strictly Ballroom, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Groundhog Day to name but a few. Well, I guess none of them are 100% rom-coms - they all have a little something else to offer up to keep the viewer coming back to watch them time after time. I suppose that’s what defines a classic film at the end of the day. I think what I’m trying to say is that throwaway rom-coms are not my kind of thing. I mean, if I’m going to spend a tenner at the cinema I’m going to want to see something worth the cash. But since I was getting a free pass and for the sake of yisserselves, dear readers, I … There’s more →

How About A Durty Weekend in Cork?

  By Lisa McInerney | February 3, 2011 - 10:30 am | Comedy, Events, Gigs, Music
Comments Off

… because that’s where I live. I know you’d like that. I see the way you’re looking at me. The lovely bhoys and gurls at The Pavilion in Cork have organised, for your aural pleasure, a Dirty Weekender. Now, I’m fond of complaining that there’s nothing to do in Cork, but that’s because I live there and as a typical Irish whingebag, it’s my duty to diss it whenever I can. The truth is that there’s always something going on in Cork, something odd or beetling or tricksy or bold that’s worth digging into. I would like to dig into the Weekender. I’ll leave it to the Paviolies to explain the game. Rather than give you the usual press release, intraweb media muck, we decided to let y’all know how we roll southside. Cork style. Dirty Weekender wasn’t born in some genius inspired moment of clarity nor seedy strip joint … There’s more →

3 Stunning Classical Pieces You Already Know from TV & Movies

  By MariaRainier | February 2, 2011 - 9:36 am | The Culch
1 Comment

A great guest post from Maria Rainier - make her welcome! -Sinéad It’s pretty easy to think of classical music as being inaccessible, stuffy, and boring – but like most genres of music, it can’t be accurately lumped into a box. So, putting all musical prejudices aside, have a listen to each of these incredibly gorgeous pieces and let classical music have a chance to wow you before you form an opinion based on its age. Modern TV and movie directors are using these pieces, so they’re still culturally relevant and will remain on playlists all over the world for centuries to come. And don’t worry – you don’t have to take these pieces seriously to enjoy them. Most of them will make you feel as if you’re in an epic battle, so feel free to practice your sword-fighting moves. 1. O Fortuna from Orff’s Carmina Burana Probably the most … There’s more →

I Heart Tea Crowd - Episode 2 Charlene McKenna

  By Andy Gaffney | February 1, 2011 - 11:47 am | Comedy, Featured Post, I ♥ Tea Crowd, Random Whimsy, The Culch, TV
2 Comments

Ello, and welcome to the jam packed, cat smashing, begging to be remade into one of those soppy youtube montage clip thingys in slow mo black and white with some song by The Script over it episode 2 of love fest The I Heart Tea Crowd. This time we were joined by Pure Mule and Raw’s very brilliant Charlene McKenna.

The JD Set 2011 : Tickets are free!

  By seanear1ey | February 1, 2011 - 9:17 am | The Culch
4 Comments

‘Free Gig’ I hear you exclaim? Not just any gig mind you. The Jack Daniels Set 2011. The gig, which is free to successful ticket applicants, will feature Neil Hannon, Cathy Davey and Jape. In an interesting twist they will be collaborating to re-imagine Vampire Weekend’s debut album. The gig is scheduled for Friday April 1st. Hannon, Davey and Vampire Weekend are three artists most beholden to me and the idea of this gig excites me greatly. Much love for Richie ‘Jape’ Egan too but the aforementioned are particular long-time squeezes of mine. Anyway enough of my rambling and to the knitty-gritty. We are lead to believe that tickets will be available via http://thejdset.ie from Feb 1st So we’ll hopefully see you there! Edit 03/02/11: With some confusion over how ticket allocation will work, here’s some clarification from the folks behind The JD Set: “There seemed to be a bit … There’s more →