Culture  
 
Kim Deal of The Breeders. Photograph: Erika Goldring/Getty Images A little nostalgia goes a long way

Twenty years ago, The Breeders soundtracked part of a generation with The Last Splash, and live it’s well worth a fresh outing

Bon Jovi on stage at Slane Castle in Co Meath. Photograph: Arthur Carron/Collins Slick Bon Jovi leave Slane living on a prayer

‘Show me what you got, Dublin!’ says the man with the whitest teeth in rock

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Music

Neil Young and Crazy Horse perform at the RDS in Dublin last night. Photograph: Aidan Crawley Neil Young and Crazy Horse trot off with a whimper

Crowd left disappointed with self-indulgent performance

Bon Jovi on stage at Slane Castle in Co Meath. Photograph: Arthur Carron/Collins Slick Bon Jovi leave Slane living on a prayer

‘Show me what you got, Dublin!’ says the man with the whitest teeth in rock

Film

Lily Collins and Greg Kinnear in Stuck in Love Lily Collins: The genesis of a movie star

She’ll never fully escape the ‘daughter of Phil’ tag, but actor Lily Collins has always been determined to achieve success on her own terms

Michael Shannon’s got the Krypton factor

Michael Shannon is one of the most intense actors of his generation, with eye-popping turns in the likes of Bug, Take Shelter and Man of Steel, but in person, he couldn’t be more nonchalant . . . He even has a nice lie down during the interview

Books

Participants in the Bloomsday World Record attempt which took place outside Dunphy’s pub, George’s Street, Dún Laoghaire. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw ‘Ulysses’ brought to life across the globe

Bloomsday marked across world by marathon reading of James Joyce’s masterpiece

John Ryan, Anthony Cronin, Brian O’Nolan, Patrick Kavanagh and Tom Joyce on Sandymount Strand on Bloomsday 1954. Who ever decided that James Joyce was ‘fun’?

Difficulty in literature has its own joys and pleasures

Media

Independent Newspapers on Talbot street. INM is to put €60 million into its pension scheme over the next 11 years, it has told trustees, while pension scheme members will be given a 5 per cent stake in the company through the pension fund. INM proposes 46 per cent pension benefit cut

Media group employees face deep drop in retirement income under company plans

Saturated with atmosphere: The Returned moved glacially but packed a lot of story into its opening episode TV review: Pleasantly surprised by a very unexpected return of the zombies

The French series The Returned is a proper ghost story instead of a zombiefest

ROCK-CHRIS_WEB Stage Struck: Laughing matters
  • Stage
  • Peter Crawley
  • June 14, 2013, 00:00

Why does comedy have to be so difficult?

Actor Tom Vaughan Lawlor. Photograph: Eric Luke Tom Vaughan Lawlor: From criminal kingpin to a rookie on his own
  • Theatre
  • Sara Keating
  • June 4, 2013, 01:00

Tom Vaughan-Lawlor is going back to his criminal roots for ‘Howie the Rookie’, but this solo show is a world away from Nidge and his crew in ‘Love/Hate’

Daniel Radcliffe: ‘I never want to settle for where I am.’ Photograph: Larry Busacca/Getty Images Post-Potter: Daniel Radcliffe goes from Hogwarts to Inishmaan

Famous since he was 12, Daniel Radcliffe is all too aware that ‘Harry Potter’ might be the biggest part of his career, but he is sure it won’t be the best

HM4CATLAUGHS_WEB Laughing all the way to Kilkenny comedy festival

Revamped Cat Laughs festival includes Chris O’Dowd, Dylan Moran and David O’Doherty

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry
  • Theatre
  • Peter Crawley
  • May 24, 2013, 01:00

Why is it so hard to get rid of all those lionised critical clichés?

Dubliners Laura Hartin from Rathfarnham and Conrad Oppermann from Malahide, and Gabrielle Leleu from Sallins, Co Kildare, rehearse backstage. 2,000 participants take part in week-long drama festival
  • Stage
  • Judith Crosbie
  • May 20, 2013, 01:00

Skills of young people tested in poetry recital, improvisation, drama, mime and storytelling

ETB-THEFULLIRISH-THE-COMPANY_1_WEB Germans queue up for the Full Irish

In Germany, they love Irish storytelling in song and word. Now, at last, they are paying attention to our plays

A detail of a caricature drawing of the composer Igor Stravinsky playing the music for The Rite of Spring by Jean Cocteau Dublin Dance Festival’s opening night shows the rite way to do it
  • Dance
  • Michael Seaver
  • May 14, 2013, 02:00

Vaslav Nijinsky’s choreography became a victim of the success of the music in Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. A century later, choreographers are still trying to get to grips with the dance

Fearghus Ó Conchúir performing Cure The naked truth about dance
  • Culture
  • Michael Seaver
  • May 14, 2013, 02:00

In Greek mythology, the gods were depicted nude to show their higher status, but these days little inflames indignation like the sight of the naked human body. For some artists, and dancers in particular, it’s an essential, everyday part of their work

HMBILEOGDEAGLAN_1_WEB Ceisteanna crua faoi ról an tSeanaid
  • Treibh
  • Deaglan De Breadun
  • June 12, 2013, 08:31

Ba chóir go mbeadh rogha faoina bhfuil i ndán don Seanad

Ní binn béal ina thost; b’fhearr i bhfad linn caint gan stad
  • Treibh
  • Brian Maye
  • June 12, 2013, 08:22

Robert Lynd - Preispitéireach ó Bhéal Feirste a scríobh paimfléad smaointeach ag moladh pholasaí neamhfhoréigneach agus easumhlaíocht shíochánta Shinn Féin.

Proinsias Ó Conluain Laoch ciúin na craoltóireachta
  • Treibh
  • Alan Titley
  • June 12, 2013, 08:00

D’fhág Proinsias Ó Conluain a rian ar chultúr na hÉireann

HMBILEOGSTOG_WEB Cé a scríobhfaidh na plécháipéisí?
  • Treibh
  • Seán Tadhg Ó Gairbhí
  • June 5, 2013, 13:07

Ní tearc na seifteanna atá ann sa pholaitíocht dóibh siúd atá ag iarraidh cinneadh a chur ar an méar fhada

‘Enchanté, cén t-ainm atá ort?’
  • Treibh
  • Seán Tadhg Ó Gairbhí
  • May 29, 2013, 12:47

Cruinniú na gcoimisinéirí le dúshláin teangacha a phlé

Coimisinéir Éireannach san Aontas Eorpach, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. Grianghraph: Alan Betson / THE IRISH TIMES ‘Ceart sibhialta is ea é do dhaoine comhfhreagras a éileamh ina dteanga dhúchais ón státchóras Eorpach’ – Geoghegan-Quinn
  • Treibh
  • Éanna Ó Caollaí
  • May 29, 2013, 11:23

Ábhar mórtais iad Uachtaráin na hÉireann
  • Treibh
  • Alan Titley
  • May 22, 2013, 10:35

Cead ag Michael Dána labhairt go dalba ar son na hÉireann

Pat Butler Gradam cumarsáide do Pat Butler
  • Treibh
  • Pól Ó Muirí
  • May 15, 2013, 10:41

Is ar an iarchraoltóir Pat Butler a bhronnfar Buaic-Ghradam Cumarsáide an Oireachtais 2013

Chris Pine mar Kirk i Star Trek: Into Darkness Solas le fáil sa dorchadas ag Trekkies
  • Treibh
  • Robert McMillen
  • May 15, 2013, 10:21

Ní Cumberbitseach nó Cnó Péine mé ach an tseachtain seo caite, chuaigh mé go muiníneach go háit nach ndeachaigh mé riamh roimhe, go scannán Star Trek.

Record price of €400,000 paid at auction for Paul Henry painting

Picture bought by Irish family living abroad

From left, Denis Connolly, Pat Shortt and Vincent O’Shea in The Absent Architect Tricks and time travel at the Casino Marino

Connolly Cleary’s latest clever installation takes one of Ireland’s most intricately designed buildings as its source material and setting

A French landscape by the late Hilton Miller, a beautifully poised composition in the classical manner When life gets in the way yet art continues to be made

’Emerging Artists’ challenges a cultural fixation on youth

WKGEMMA-_WEB With so many festivals, who needs art galleries?

People love the freewheeling experimentation of art festivals. So why don’t our art institutions and galleries learn from them?

Commodified: the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s re-creation of the CBGB toilets for its show Punk: Chaos to Couture. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Punk goes down the pan at the Met

Culture Shock

A detail of We The People by Danh Vo, now at Lismore Castle Arts Five artists reinvent the Monument at Lismore Castle

Danh Vo’s Statue of Liberty segments top the bill in a monumental setting

FXSOTHEBYSWEB_WEB Big numbers for Impressionist art as New York auctions kick off

Sotheby’s sale takes in $230 million, led by a $42 million Cezanne still life

The opening of the Lime Tree Theatre was seen as a positive development, but its sole remit is not to develop or support local artists Limerick: a city in search of its cultural identity

The arts community in Limerick is in crisis, thanks to cuts and closures, so how will the city live up to its city of culture status next year?

Haegue Yang’s Strange Fruit sculptures Imma looks for the money shot with its new exhibition

The gallery’s new group show is about cash and all the other currencies that are shaping European identity

DIJUNE18_WEB Gaeltacht v Gaeltacht
  • Heritage
  • Catherine Foley
  • June 18, 2013, 00:01

An Irishwoman’s Diary: A festival of football, friendship and cultural fun

Words We Use: False
  • Heritage
  • Diarmaid Ó Muirithe
  • June 14, 2013, 17:44

If you were ‘fause’, you were not necessarily deceitful - it also meant shrewd and clever

‘I was certain the kid would crack, sooner or later. But as we approached the 4k mark, there was no sign of weakness from my diminutive rival. He was still skipping along like a baby cheetah. If either of us was under pressure, it was me.’ Above, runners wait for the start of last weekend’s Patrick Bell Memorial Race in Bohermeen, Co Meath The young dog for the smooth road

An Irishman’s Diary: A humbling experience in Meath

DI7DEAGLAN_WEB Remembering ‘The Irish Times’ circle of friends
  • Heritage
  • Deaglan De Breadun
  • June 11, 2013, 00:01

An Irishman’s Diary: Commemoration for those who died in the past year

In praise of an Irish genealogy blog
  • Heritage
  • John Grenham
  • June 10, 2013, 00:31

Irish Roots: Claire Santry’s blog is well worth a browse

‘Bridge or no bridge, Jonathan Swift’s monuments already include St Patrick’s Psychiatric Hospital, funded by his will. And it’s in keeping with Swift’s sense of humour that the same hospital is in part responsible for a very acute bend on the aforemetioned tram’s red line, reducing the Luas to glacial speed as it approaches the city centre.’ Image: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Moving Swiftly on

An Irishman’s Diary: Dublin celebrates the return of a favourite son

DIJUNE06_WEB A bridge name too far

An Irishman’s Diary: How Flann O’Brien is snubbed in Dublin but at home in Rome

The Exam Squad: Leaving Certificate students at Dunshaughlin Community College, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. From left; Linda McCormack, Stuart Bridgett, Catherine Vance, Sarah Keane, Aaron Gilmartin and Albert Wilkinson.Photographer: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times The Exam Squad: Meath students to share exam highs and lows
  • Heritage
  • Louise Holden
  • Peter McGuire
  • June 5, 2013, 01:00

(Video) The Irish Times has selected its Leaving Cert squad: the class of 2013 at Dunshaughlin Community College.

‘Pleasant as the Croppies Memorial Park is, the Anna Livia sculpture has been cutting a sad figure of late. A plaque nearby claims she was “unveiled” there in 2011 by the then Lord Mayor. But “unfrocked” would be closer. Because although she was nude to start with, and remains so, she looks much more naked these days, without her former stone-block surrounds.’ Croppies lie back

An Irishman’s Diary: The strange fate of Anna Livia

Irish Times Culture


Reviews

Admission

 
Man of Steel

 
Dan Stevens and Emily Browning iin Summer in February Summer in February

 
Paradise: Love

 
Much Ado About Nothing

 
Jagwar Ma: Howlin’

 
PictureHouse: Evolution

 
Tunng: Turbines

 
Disclosure: Settle

 
Liz Seaver: Turbulent Bliss

 
Kodaline: In a Perfect World

 
Got those bee in my bonnet about Bono blues
An Englishwoman in New York, by Anne-Marie Casey
Saul Bellow’s Heart: A Son’s Memoir, by Greg Bellow

Screenwriter

Ten Great Movie Trilogies

We mark the release of Richard Linklater's Before Midnight by hailing 10 of the greatest cinema triptychs.

On The Record

Neil Young and great expectations

As Shakey found out at the weekend, audiences who pay big bucks to see heritage acts expect to hear the hits and nothing else

Pop Life

Monday Morning Digest

Glasto, Yeezus, online surveillance and a (kind of) hover-board are all in today's digest.

Our Columnists

Fintan O'Toole Fintan O'Toole - Literary Editor

Culture Shock: If acting were as easy as it should look, it wouldn’t be an art

Brian Boyd Brian Boyd -

The song remains the same – no matter how it’s written

Frank McNally Frank McNally -

The young dog for the smooth road

Donald Clarke Donald Clarke - Chief Film Correspondent

Television culture accepted gay performers by denying the fact that they were gay

TV Guide

Book Club The Irish Times & Eason Book Club The Irish Times & Eason

This week's book: Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden is available from Saturday 15th June - Friday 21st June

Mary Raftery Do They Think We're Eejits? Mary Raftery Do They Think We're Eejits?

A selection of The Irish Times columns from 2003-2009: €10.00 plus €2.50 p&p

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Book Offers Book Offers

From The Irish Times Book of the Year to Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, you'll find books for all tastes and ages.