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
It’s a poor, poor week for music fans unfortunately. There are no music festivals lined up and the main gigs – Jedward, Kris Kristofferson, Crystal Swing and Celtic Rising, appear to be geared exclusively towards eight-year-old girls and menopausal women.
One of the few respectable gigs on the go this weekend is Kasra & Break at the Twisted Pepper in Dublin on Friday. While by no means household names, Kasra & Break are regarded as being among the best in the drum and base genre. Expect an upbeat, floor-filled night at this one. Click here for tickets.
Film
Hollywood’s second favourite religious nut (after Mel Gibson) is returning to the big screen this weekend. That’s right – we get another chance to see Tom Cruise, the king of Scientology, being effortlessly heroic and cool alongside beautiful damsel in distress #465 in his latest offering, Knight and Day. If you like ‘em big, dumb and American, then you’re in for a treat. Click here for Joe’s review.
Tom Cruise saving the world and getting the girl:
Events
This weekend volunteers will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the largest charity walk in aid of the Irish Cancer Society.
This Saturday, organisers will be attempting to gather together 10,000 walkers in SDCC Rathcoole Park in County Dublin. It’s for a good cause, so if you’re at a loose end and feel like giving yourself that warm fuzzy charity feeling on the inside then click here for more information.
The big fixture this weekend is of course the GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship semi final between Kilkenny and Cork. Action starts at 3.30pm in Páirc an Chrócaigh.
If you pop along to HQ earlier in the day, prior to 1.30pm in fact, you will also get a look at the ESB GAA Hurling All Ireland Minor Championship 2010 semi final between Kilkenny and Galway. Click here for more information and to score yourself some tickets.
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
The aforementioned GAA and Premier League schedule brings some much anticipated ties this Sunday, as viewers will have to choose between the Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship Semi Final between Kilkenny and Cork, or the FA Community Shield tie between Chelsea and Manchester United. Both are airing around the same time, so choose wisely. If you’re looking to stay up as late as possible Saturday night, you could do a lot worse than turn on UFC 117 at 3am, as Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva attempts to finally shut trash-talking Chael Sonnen up for good.
Can Wayne Rooney begin his 2010/2011 season on a high this weekend?
Sunday 8 August
UFC 117 (ESPN from 3:00am)
FA Community Shield: Chelsea v Manchester United (Sky Sports 1 from 2:30pm)
SHC Semi Finals: Cork v Kilkenny (RTE Two from 3:30pm)
On the Box
The stand-out highlight on the box this weekend is probably the final episode of the three-part BBC revamp of Sherlock Holmes, simply titled Sherlock (Sunday, BBC 1 9pm). If you haven’t had a chance to catch the series yet you’ve been missing out, as the Steven Moffat-created series has rebooted the character with the same success Moffat encountered with his relaunch of Doctor Who. Set in the modern era, the splendidly-titled Benedict Cumberhatch stars as Holmes, whilst Martin Freeman (The Office) is his trusty sidekick Watson. In tonight’s finale, Holmes is targeted by a bomber after investigating the death of a young civil servant.
Cumberhatch and Freeman weren’t happy with comparisons to Guy Ritchie’s film version
Alternatively, save money going to see Knight and Day this weekend (we hear it’s a bit of a dud) and revisit Cruise in better times, with Friday’s showing of his 2002 Steven Speilberg’s stunner Minority Report (Friday, Sky Movies Sci-Fi/Horror). Cruise stars alongside Colin Farrell as cop John Anderton, who solves crime in 2054 Washington DC with the aid of ‘pre-crime’, a supposedly infallible method of catching criminals before they have committed the act. Seemingly infallible, until Anderton himself is accused and forced to go on the run. Blistering action is supported by a vision of the future that in many ways (gesture-based computer interfaces, robot scouts) is proving eerily prescient.
DVD
Very slim pickings in terms of DVD releases we’re afraid, with Sandra Bullock’s Oscar-winning performance in The Blind Side the biggest release by far. Never mind that though, this is JOE.ie – we know you have no time for Sandra’s ‘rich white family save poor black boy’ tale – you want some Mega Piranha instead. 80s pop star Tiffany (Sarah Monroe) thinks she’s alone but is she? Not when she’s as a rofessor trying to stop a ferocious tandem of giant piranhas from destroying Florida. Can you resist the sheer nonsense this movie promises? The promotional blurb for Piranha even mentions ‘the most fearsome marine monsters in the history of film’ so no, we cannot resist either.
Plus
Don’t forget to join JOE this weekend for our GAA live match-tracker, as we’ll be here Sunday for our coverage of the Kilkenny v Cork Senior Hurling Semi Final. Feel free to send your comments mid-game to shout@joe.ie.
