Welcome to the weekend, courtesy of JOE.ie. Whether you’re staying in or going out, we’ve got it covered. It’s time to leave the working week behind.
GOING OUT
Gigs
Surely you don’t need reminding from us that this weekend is that of Electric Picnic 2010, where thousands of revelers descend upon Stradbally in Co.Laois for three days of music, art and culture at Ireland’s only ‘boutique’ festival. Roxy Music, Leftfield, Massive Attack, The Frames, Hot Chip, The National and Crystal Castles are just some of the acts taking the stage this weekend and luckily enough, tickets are available if you’re suffering from last-minute procrastination.
This could be you this weekend. Looks like fun, no?
If you’re packing away your tent just as you read this, we recommend having a quick gander over JOE’s coverage of the festival thus far, from our picks of the unmissable acts to our top five alternative attractions that have given the event its unique reputation.
Film
New to cinemas this week is the Paul Rudd and Steve Carell-starring Dinner for Schmucks – a screwball comedy based on a 1998 French flick, Le Diner de cons. Rudd stars as a rising financial executive who is invited by his boss to a “dinner for winners†night, where each executive must find and bring an eccentric guest to be endlessly mocked for the host’s enjoyment.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a scare, you could do a lot worse than The Last Exorcism, also opening this week. Promising a Blair Witch-style ‘documentary’ conceit, Exorcism centres on a preacher who performs mock exorcisms. Planning his documentary to be a confessional piece, he agrees to perform one last exorcism and as you can imagine, it doesn’t go too well.
Events
Comedy fans are well catered for this weekend as funnymen Dara Ó Briain and Tommy Tiernan take their latest shows on the road. Dara will be performing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Vicar Street, whilst Tommy can be found in Mallow on Saturday night and Enniscorthy on Sunday. You can peruse Dara’s busy schedule and chance your luck for tickets here, or if Tommy’s your man instead, you can pick up tickets for himself here.
There’s plenty of sports action this weekend too, as Shamrock Rovers take on Sligo Rovers, St. Pats challenge Galway United and Longford Town travel to Limerick FC in the Airtricity League. In the Magner’s League, Aironi have an away trip to Munster on Saturday night. Whichever tie catches your fancy, tickets are available on Ticketmaster now.
Getaway
God evidently thinks it’s funny to urinate all over his servants on this his greenest isle during summer time, but you don’t have to stand for it. You could convert to Buddhism or alternatively make a break for it – check out the hottest late, late travel deals featured in the newest edition of the Last Minute JOE.
STAYING IN
Sport on TV
For football fans this weekend brings the slightly unwelcome return of international football, as the Euro 2012 Qualifying ties get underway. We say unwelcome because the Premier League has got off to such a flying start that it’s hard to get as excited about an Irish trip to the likes of Armenia. Ah well, in any case, we’ll be getting behind Trap’s army and hoping for an encouraging start to our international campaign, with a live match-tracker to boot.
For GAA fans, Sunday brings the Senior Hurling Championship Final between Kilkenny and Tipperary. It’s a rematch of last year’s final in whiche Kilkenny came away with the title for the fourth year running. We don’t want to prematurely spoil this Sunday’s action too much, but some joker on Wikipedia has apparently revealed this year’s result –with Kilkenny potentially tonking Tipp 3-12 to 0-1.
Can Trap guide us to the promised land of Euro 2012?
Friday 27 August
Euro 2012 Qualifying: Armenia v Ireland (Sky Sports 1 from 3:55pm, RTE Two from 4:00pm)
Euro 2012 Qualifying: England v Bulgaria (Setanta Ireland from 7:30pm, ITV1 from 7:30pm)
Euro 2012 Qualifying: Slovenia v Northern Ireland (Sky Sports 1 from 7:30pm)
Saturday 28 August
Tri Nations: South Africa v Australia (Sky Sports 3 from 4:00pm)
Sunday 29 August
GAA SHC Final: Kilkenny v Tipperary (RTE Two from 3:00pm)
On the Box
US network HBO has been very good to us over the years – churning out everything from The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, The Wire and Entourage. Hung (Friday, 3e 10:05pm), much like Entourage, is an atypical move for the network – a breezy, half-hour comedy with a killer hook, that could be best described as Californication, only a lot better. US audiences are currently sampling Season 2 of the well-received comedy-drama, while 3e gets things going from the pilot episode tonight. Thomas Jane (The Punisher) stars as a struggling high school baseball school that resorts to male prostitution. Tonight Jack prepares for his first client.
Thomas Jane resorts to an interesting business practice in Hung
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been nearly nine years since the morning of September 11, 2001. 102 Minutes (Saturday, Channel 4, 7:00pm) is a two-hour documentary that focuses solely on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre building, with 102 minutes being the duration between the first plane hitting the north tower to the collapse of both buildings. Amateur footage and audiotape recorded by New Yorkers on the day provide an intensely personal perspective on one of the darkest days in America’s young history.
DVD
Five years ago Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn walked out of a potentially star-making position helming the final installment of the X-Men trilogy, the later ill-received The Last Stand, due to creative differences. In 2010, Vaughn finally released his own superhero movie, on his own terms and with huge independent funds to create his adaptation of Mark Millar’s blood-splattered graphic novel, Kick-Ass.
With a great starring role for the promising Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage on fine form and an infectious, riotous pace, Kick-Ass is the post-modern, ballsy antidote to cookie-cutter superhero origin stories. Look out for the numerous scene-stealing lines from a pint-sized, foul-mouthed Chloe Moretz as the pre-teen Hit-Girl, a portrayal that provoked a huge media storm upon the movie’s release. Ignore the self-righteous critics; Kick-Ass is simply pure, unadulterated entertainment.
And finally…
Don’t forget to join JOE this weekend for our GAA and International Football live match-trackers. We’ll be covering Ireland’s trip to Armenia on Friday afternoon and we’ll be here on Sunday from 2:30pm onwards for coverage of the Senior Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Tipperary. Feel free to send your comments mid-game to shout@joe.ie.
