If you are up for entertainment that has nothing to do with people dressing up as sl**ty nurses or Dracula this weekend, maybe you should visit this year’s edition of the Darklight Festival.

Welcome to Darklight, Ireland’s premier festival celebrating independent, DIY and artist films. Now in its eleventh year, Darklight 2010 promises to be an exciting weekend of film, animation, art, music and workshops. It began in 1999, as an opportunity for artists and filmmakers to share their work and experiment with new technologies and has emerged as one of the most important art events of the year.

This year, the festival motto is “The Heroes Edition”, as the festival planners asked contributors of the past festivals to invite their personal heroes to come and exhibit & perform at the festival. After the launch tonight, the festival takes place in various venues like IFI, Filmbase or the Grand Social over the next three days.

Dublin’s rich cultural heritage will certainly not go a miss this Friday the 24th, as the city looks to recapture it’s fine, historical lineage for one night only. Starting at 5pm and running until midnight, Dublin Culture Night will see the city’s most famous museums, churches, galleries, historical and cultural centres, open their doors late for an extraordinary night of entertainment, discovery and adventure that comes at absolutely no expense! The theme for Culture Night this time around is ‘What Will You See?’ and is a highly recommended outing for the whole family. This year’s event is forecast to be the biggest one to date, with expected nationwide crowds amounting to over half a million with 20 cities, towns, counties and islands all taking part as people around the country rediscover Ireland’s magnificent cultural heritage.
The programme of events, in their entirety, were previously presented at Dublin Castle by the Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT), with the help of the recently retired broadcasting legend Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, and include a wide range of tours, performances, historical talks, and cultural events for the whole city to enjoy. Dublin bus have also agreed to lend a helping hand, providing free buses along three culture trails from 6pm to 11pm with buses leaving every 20 minutes from stops at Bachelor’s Walk, Aston Quay and Trinity College, that will transport visitors to the outermost venues. On top of this, the TBCT have also set up a series of outdoor information points, which will be located in each cultural quarter on the night where a helpful team of Culture Night Guides will be on hand to provide further assistance.
A full list of the programme of events for Dublin Culture Night is now freely available on the website, www.culturenight.ie, which will give any intended visitors a useful insight into the numerous activities taking place on what should be, an unforgettable evening.

I am a big fan of typography, and also a big fan of street art. In addition, I also like Damien Dempsey a lot. Therefore I was delighted to find out that Damo and Dublin’s very own Maser have joined forces to do something good. Their project is called They are Us:

“They are Us” is the name of a series of outdoor public art works inspired by Dublin City. It is a tribute to the city: northside and southside, the visible and the secret, the good and the bad. The aim of the project is to raise money for the homeless of Dublin.
The images were painted by graffiti artist Maser and feature words by musician Damien Dempsey. A number of limited edition screen prints of works from “They are Us” will be available in our online shop in the near future. All proceeds from the project will be donated to the Simon Community.

And the results look nothing except brilliant. I had seen the blue and yellow-one outside the Project Arts Center before, but you’ll find more of the artworks throughout the city if you keep your eyes open, or on the project’s website if you are lazy.

We in Dublin had our fair share of festivals this year already – the Dublin Writer’s Festival, the Dublin Soul Festival and the Latin America Festival to just name a few – but we’re not done yet. Which is a fact I very much appreciate. So, without further ado, here are my favourite festival picks for the upcoming months:

Image by Absolut Fringe

Phizzfest (09. – 12.09.) – The Phibsborough Arts Festival has its premiere this year. This promises a fantastic opportunity to explore this touristically underdeveloped working-class neighbourhood from a different perspective. Also is Anne Enright reading at the festival and I live here, so there are two things that speak for the festival

Absolut Fringe (11. – 26.09.) – This year’s edition of dublin’s own Fringe Fest seems even more packed with great events and artist then last year. I’m especially looking forward to the Icelandic Music Weekend with my friends FM Belfast.

Arthur’s Day (23.09.) – This may come as a surprise for some, but after the success of last year’s worldwide Arthur’s Day the Guinness Brewery decided to have a ball on this special day again this year. And the line-up is nothing else than fantastic.

Hard Working Class Heroes 2010 (07. – 09.10.) – In my opinion the HWCH is Dublin’s most likeable music festival. Battalions of bands and musicians will spread out to 7 venues all over town to provide a showcase of what’s hot in the Irish scene at the moment. Don’t miss it.

In case you are still looking for something to do this weekend, and feel the need to spice up the Irish version of the season otherwise know as “Summer” with some tango-rythms, salsa-sounds and spicy food, maybe the first festival launched by the Latin American Native Community in Ireland (or LANCI for short) is worth a visit:

2010 is the bi-centenary of the independence of Latin America. LANCI is launching a new festival to commemorate and celebrate this year . This will incorporate the 8th International Tango Festival.

The LANCI Festival aims to give international recognition to the varied cultures of Latin American Countries. This Latin American Festival offers a variety of artistic and traditional presentations including music, and dance in the form of salsa, samba and tango, traditional foods and film, photographs and paintings from Latin American artists.

This is the first time that a festival of this kind is being held in Dublin. A cosmopolitan city like Dublin guarantees that this type of event will be a success.

You will find the full programme on the festival-website, and I’m especially lookign forward to the Latin American fair or “feria” in Temple Bar on Sunday.

If you haven’t already made plans for next weekend I would advise you to get yourself into Merrion Square, the earlier the better. Last year myself and my family had a great day out at the Street Performance World Championships in Dublin. It was so good on the Saturday that we went back for more on the Sunday. This event happens over 2 weekends – the first took place yesterday and Saturday in Fitzgerald park in Cork and from the tweets seemed to have been a big hit, regardless of the weather.While it was very busy last year, particularly on the Sunday, we were nearly always able to get a good view and we didn’t feel crowded.

Apart from the contiortionists, sword swallowers, breakdancers and acrobats SPWC are organising a world record attempt which we can all participate in on the Sunday. If you would like to break the world record for the number of people bouncing on space hoppers at the same time, your dream can become a reality on Sunday at 2pm. You just have to register by emailing worldrecord@spwc.ie.

The competition kicks off at 12pm on Saturday and the last performances are scheduled to take place at 6.30pm on Sunday. While most of the performers don’t take the competition too seriously, you can vote for your favourite act throughout the weekend. Make sure to bring along plenty of fivers or change to pay the performers. They do not get a penny except what they can persuade you to part with after their performance. Some of them are very persuasive!

The SPWC website includes maps (don’t worry about not being able to print it – they have plenty available at the event), timetables and lots of info about the competing acts. A favourite with the kids last year were the wooden games so we’ll see you there and challenge you to best us!

This year’s Dublin Writers Festival kicks off on June 1st, and I have to say that this year the list of featured authors is impressive: Ian McEwan, Anthony Beevor, Joseph O’Connor, Anne Enright, Hanif Kureishi, Yann Martel a. m. m. mark this year’s edition a festival not too miss. You’ll find the full programme here, and you can follow the festival both on Twitter and Facebook as well.

I’m really disappointed to miss it, as I’ll be on holidays at the time, but if you’re into books, please give it a go – tickets are between 12 and 20 €, and events take place at different venues throughout town, such as the Project Arts Centre, the Sugar Club and the Dublin Writers Museum. Go bookworms!

Yay, the long-awaited long May weekend is almost upon us. And if you’re still looking for something to do over the weekend, we are here to help. You could try these things:

First of all there’s the SoGo Arts Festival in and around South Great George’s Street all weekend. This 3 day bonanza kicked of today, but there are loads of activities and things to see over the next 2 days as well, like “The Best of Busking” featuring the Mighty Steph, a screening of “Once” in Walton’s music store and a flea market on Sunday.

Next on the list is the recently opened Glasnevin Museum – a museum on Dublin’s most famous graveyard, dedicated to Irish heritage & genealogy, and the history of the graveyard itself.

If a proper Indie rock festival is more of your liking, you could also head to Balbriggan on Saturday, where the Sibin Festival officially opens the Irish open air-festival season. For those of you who prefer electronic tunes, you can either keep on partying or start your own festival season on Sunday with the Yes Festival down in Clontarf.

And if this is too much activity for you, you can always relax in one of Dublin’s beer gardens – the weather permitting…

Image via

Most people will have noticed the posters with a pair of bloody hands around town by now – yes, the Abbey Theatre puts on a new production of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

Over 400 years after it was written, Shakespeare’s dark depiction of ambition, guilt and murder continues to send a shiver down the spine.

Macbeth’s sword is still wet with blood when he returns victorious from battle, a loyal servant to his King and a hero amongst his comrades. But when three weird sisters cross his path with mysterious prophecies, Shakespeare’s fearsome tragic hero comes face to face with his most fierce opponent yet – his destiny.

Swayed by promises of greatness and the demands of a power-hungry wife, Macbeth swathes his way to power – and moral decay.
Rooted in the Irish landscape at the time of Cromwell, this muscular new production from director Jimmy Fay (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, The Playboy of the Western World, Ages of the Moon) lays bare the darkest side of human nature.

Running since last Wednesday, the play is on until the 15th of May; and the Abbey Theatre also offers assisted performances for the visually impaired – so there’s almost no reason not to go if you’re at least a bit into good old William.

Even when they’re only on the big screen. So here’s a new, extended trailer for Kick-Ass, which opens at the cinema of your choice this Wednesday:

Plus, as I’m also a big fan of film adaptions of comic books, here’s the trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, due here in the Republic in August: