...going all 1950s Americana:Across the Atlantic, after decades of detrimental demographic shifts and a long, tragic decline into grind-house and soft porn, the drive-in movie circuit is finally enjoying a small renaissance.
Happily, Cork is getting in on the act. Movie Junction, Ireland’s first purpose-built drive-in cinema, opens this weekend with a full contingent of waitresses, diner fare and, for those long winter evenings, heaters in every parking space. If they can throw in a pelican cement mixer, our small nation can finally enjoy a standard of living comparable to that of the Flintstones.
...booking
Corn Exchange’s debut on the Abbey stage. The brilliant and timely Freefall starts previews on Tuesday.
...reading
Olaf Stapledons mind-bending Star Maker: Nothing less than a projected future history of the entire universe, the British authors masterwork, first published in 1937, could quite reasonably be regarded as the most ambitious novel ever written.
How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-up Comedian: Stewart Lee’s memoir and analysis of recent British comedy is as caustic, funny and engrossing as his stage shows
...watching
The Trip, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. It’s awkward, funny and bleak – even if it’s self-indulgent. Coogans performance (essentially as himself) is one of his best.
Chico Rita An animated feature about musicians/ lovers at the crossroads of post-war Latin music and bebop? “You’ll cry yourself a river,” said Donald Clarke in yesterday’s Ticket.
...sifting through
The Promise, Bruce Springsteen’s box set that’s more of a scrapbook with some DVDs and CDs thrown in. Although few scrapbooks cost more than €100.
...looking forward to
A choral piece by the young British composer Tarik O’Regan (right), based on Acallam na Senórach (Tales of the Elders). Paul Hillier conducts the National Chamber Choir when it has its world premiere, in St Ann’s Church on Dawson Street in Dublin, on Thursday night.
...excited about
A giant print being made with seven large-scale linoleum blocks and a steamroller. It will take place next Saturday at the old Sawmills site on Copley Street, Cork, as part of the city’s ArtTrail 2010, which began yesterday.
...glad we went to
The Walkmen, who played Dublin and Galway this week, and brought tight, tight, tight indie rock with them. It was a highlight among a blizzard of strong gigs – Foals played Monday night in Dublin too – that has also included five nights of Paul Weller and three sold-out shows by LCD Soundsystem (including tonight and tomorrow night).
...saying
"Now more than ever the role of culture to delight us – to make images and offer moments which will have strange power or even a mysterious and insistent powerlessness – is more important than it has ever been - Colm Tóibín, in Thursday's Life & Culture, on Ireland's cultural exports
...wondering if it's a gimmick
Jonathan Safran Foer's Tree of Codes takes his favourite book, The Street of Crocodilesby Bruno Schulz, and removes words to make a whole new book.
The result appears to be a strange reading experience, almost a piece of visual art as much as a story.
