Culture
10.02.09 Still Life
Photograph: Jonathan Mitchell
A photographic exhibition that celebrates twenty-six of Ireland’s modern dance pioneers. Urban locations like Dublin’s carparks, doorways and bridges provide an interesting backdrop for these dance narratives. Preview today, 5pm @ Dance House on Foley St. The exhibition runs till the end of the year.
08.02.09 Cheap as Chips
‘Cheap as Chips’ mixed-media exhibition is still on and running till the 28th at Circus, Powerscourt Townhouse featuring Rich Gilligan, Cliona O’Flaherty, Celestine Cooney and many more.
27.01.09 Barry’s Tea …with Graham Rawle
Renowned illustrator/novelist Graham Rawles will be at the Royal Hibernian Academy talking shop and sipping tea this Thursday, from 6.30-8.30pm.
14.01.09 Swapshop at Cooler Than You
Dublin’s newest dance night at Twisted Pepper tomorrow night @ 9pm, 54 Middle Abbey Street. Bring dancing shoes and at least one item to swap – scarves, hats, earrings, what have you. Music from Le Galaxie, Sleep Thieves & Quadrophenia. Ready, get set…swap! or dance… or both. At the same time.
08.10.08 Chocolate and fashion – what more could a woman ask for?
The people have spoken and the Wispa is back! Celebrating its delicious, chocolatey return, Cadbury is launching a high profile design competition in collaboration with the National College of Art and Design. Bet you thought chocolate couldn’t get any better?
Talented students from the college will compete to create a limited edition t-shirt. Inspiration for the design will reflect the overwhelming response to the Bring Back Wispa campaign and the bar’s iconic status in the 80s. Now, we’re not talking about a plain tee smeared in chocolate or a crazy collage of wrappers, but what will undoubtedly be a fierce competition pitting the most creative and imaginative students against each other in an all-out Wispa war!
Students will represent various design principles of Visual Communication and Fashion and Textiles. At the end of the competition, the prototype designs will face a panel of judges, including fashion designer Helen Cody, and a winner will be chosen.
This competition represents an amazing opportunity for the winning student – their design will go into production and go on limited edition sale in outlets nationwide. Till then I suppose we’ll just have to make do with the chocolate!
Linzi Mc Glennon
23.09.08 Urban Outfitter makes one in Dundrum
15.09.08 Jam for Charity – Oxjam 2008
Bad news – the summer’s over and the mud filled, music fuelled festival orgies of rock and roll are finished for another year. Good news – if you missed out on the overpriced, sometimes overhyped festivals or just miss the action, you can create your own DIY music revolution with Oxjam.
Oxfam are calling on all DJs, promoters, musicians, singers and music lovers to organise music jams for charity. Throughout October, DIY music events will be happening all over Ireland, raising money and helping to end poverty.
What can you do?
Be it a classical concert, street performance or holding your own music workshop, Oxjam is an inspirational DIY music festival that anyone can get involved in. If you can’t hold a note, then consider launching your promotions career now by organising a music party, charging admission and donating the money to Oxfam. There’s no limit to the size the events can be; big or small, a lot of profit or a little, every bit you raise can go toward Oxfam’s fight to end poverty.
How to do it!
For all the advice you need to get your music event up and running, contact oxjam@oxfamireland.org, lo-call 1890 60 60 65 (ROI) or 0845 30 30 337 (NI) or check out www.oxfamireland.org/oxjam to download your toolkit.
What are you waiting for then? Dust down your guitar, get the old band back together and raise some money!
Linzi Mc Glennon
11.09.08 Dublin Art Fair 2008 Preview Launch
The inaugural Dublin Art Fair launched tonight with an exclusive preview of a selection of the world’s leading art galleries. Most exciting of all is the Fair’s ‘Project Platform’ which gives four non-commercial Dublin-based studios a unique opportunity to display their work; Monster Truck studio & Galleries being one of them. Don’t forget to check out the Dublin Art Fair from the 12th-14th September in the Main Hall, RDS
28.08.08 Duracell Ultra Music Event @ The Academy
Photos Anahita Tabarsi
23.08.08 Festival of World Culture, Dun Laoghaire
Photos Arsheen Q
21.08.08 The Killers at Marlay Park
Photos Anahita Tabarsi
22.08.08 Jameson Movies on the Square: Closing Night
The Delorentos
Photos Arsheen Q
Film
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight sees director Christopher Nolan return to Gotham city to continue on from where Batman Begins left off. We are introduced to the Joker, the bank robber “who has a taste for the theatrical” like Batman himself according to Jim Gordon.
The mood of the movie is set from the opening sequence. Expansive shots of skyscrapers, the double-crossing dealings of the bank heist, the tense unpredictability which the Joker exudes.
Admittedly, I had my reservations as to whether Heath Ledger’s Joker would match up to Jack Nicholson’s eccentric and irresistible performance. My doubts were completely quelled upon viewing. Ledger’s performance of the Joker isn’t one that should be compared to Nicholson’s but in fact a re-invention of the Joker character, one that is more suitable for Christopher Nolan’s realistic and more tangible Gotham rather than Tim Burton’s theatrically macabre one. Ledgers performance is thrilling throughout the entire movie and steals the show, brandishing his anarchic, frighteningly disturbing and yet darkly delightful interpretation of one of the greatest comic book villains as an iconic one.
The Dark Knight explores its main characters in a captivating way, investigating the parallels between Harvey Dents “white knight” heroism to that of Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego, and also the paradigm of the Joker and Batman, the hero and villain who require each other in order to define each other.
The Dark Knight is well structured, the character development well-paced, and the stunts are breathtaking, a movie worth several viewings. My one gripe would be Christian Bales raspier take on Batman’s voice, but this is just a minor quibble, and not one that gets in the way of what in my opinion has been one of the best movies of the year so far.
Anahita Tabarsi
Wanted
A slick, high octane, edge of your seat action movie about a seemingly insignificant shlub, Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) who’s recruited as an assassin by a secret society of, you guessed it assassins called The Fraternity. The flick boasts high speed car chases, physics defying shootouts, and the watchable cast of James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman.
The special effects don’t forego the ridiculous, with numerous bullets whizzing through the air, curving, swerving and even directly hitting oncoming bullets. But this is a “leave your brain at the ticket booth” kinda movie, so the ridiculous is to be expected. The writing and the directing has a sense of humour which makes this movie entertaining. And the adrenaline rush packs a punch, lots of tense moments to keep you edging back in your seat.
So if you’re not opposed to lots of bloody fight scenes, don’t have qualms about the lacking moral compass of an assassin, and don’t mind leaving your science books at home, then check this out.
Anahita Tabarsi