Cork Arts Theatre is proud to present an evening of music and drama on March 4th and 5th at 8pm nightly in aid of Haiti. All proceeds from the ticket price are going to the Cork charity Haven. Haiti was devastated by a major earthquake in January 2010 which has cost the lives of over 200,000 people. The charity Haven, already involved in building homes for the poverty stricken country, has appealed for much needed funds and volunteers to rebuild the ravaged country.

Leslie & Carmel Buckley founded the Cork based charity Haven in late 2008. Leslie is a successful businessman and co-founder of the Digicel mobile phone company. His business interests brought him to Haiti for the first time in 2004 and he was really horrified by the level of poverty on this island in the Caribbean. He decided to do something to help and set up Haven with an initial donation of one million euro.

Artists for Haiti runs on the 4th and 5th March at The Cork Arts Theatre and includes Cork drama and musical stalwarts such as The Star Gazers, Snatch Comedy, ITSA Theatre Company (The Irish Canon Abridged), Kate McSweeney O Rourke, Marie O Donovan, CADA Performing Arts, Vanessa Hyde, Fionula Lenihan, Alma Kickham, Elena Hostetler, Cuan Walsh, Eavan O’Leary, Frank Twomey and Pakie O’Callaghan ( On The Beach ) and Irene Kelleher. Tickets at The Cork Arts Theatre for Help Haiti are priced €20, (€12 for students and unwaged) and the total price of the ticket will be donated to the charity Haven. Show is 8pm nightly call 021 450 5624 or log onto www.corkartstheatre.com for more details.

I’m not a big fan of horror movies, but oddly I’ve always had a thing for vampires and werewolves. The Wolfman looks like a bit of fun, and we definitely haven’t been seeing enough of Benicio Del Toro lately (not since Che part I and part II).

It’s a Universal Pictures film, and if you want to keep up to speed with what Universal are releasing in Ireland (and by the looks of it chances to win tickets to showings) there’s now a Universal Pictures Ireland facebook page and Twitter account.

Also you should read these thoughts on drinking tea .

via Pat Phelan – nice find
Worth watching through to the end.

Happy Christmas everyone! Especially you Brian.

Just found this beauty sitting in my draft posts – no idea why I didn’t publish it. Beirut jamming in their back garden or something.

Oh no wait, sorry… here it is:

Could’ve sworn it was Chris Isaak when I heard it.

It must have been an extremely difficult time for Mick in the run up to the public announcement that the Kino was to close, and the fact that he is now fighting for it’s existence again is fantastic news for the city.

In a very open statement of the situation, it was made clear that saving the Kino will be no small feat, however the pledges of support from the community, the city, and government ministers have given hope to the situation.

It is vital that we ensure this renewed energy for the salvation of the Kino is allowed to be channeled in the right direction, and as such I think it would be a good idea if the priority of the current steering committee that was formed out of Saturday’s meeting would be to identify the core skill sets that Mick needs in order to a) organise fundraising to tackle immediate debts and b) put together a business plan that can save the Kino long term.

By identifying these skill sets, and mapping them to the committee, a push could be made in the media to lobby some pro bono time from accountants, architects, people with experience putting together successful business plans & successful funding applications, and whatever other necessary skill sets are needed in order to fill any gaps in the committee and to really power forward with the initiative.

I hope also that Minister Micheál Martin, Fine Gael TD Deirdre Clune, Labour TDs Kathleen Lynch and Ciarán Lynch, and Senator Dan Boyle (all of whom attended the meeting) will all be kept involved and that the questions are put to them as to what precisely they may be able to do to help the Kino, and what they feel the best course of action is.

While we all have our own ideas of how the new Kino might be and how it might be set up etc, it really has to be Mick’s vision that gets renewed here because it is Mick who can, and will, keep the Kino open for us. As such we need to ensure that the right kind of support is available to him and do our utmost to buoy him up at this vital point in the lifetime of the Kino.

If you’re on FaceBook you can join the Group “Save the Kino”
Irish Times on the Kino Closing
Irish Examiner on the closing of the Kino
Irish Times on the Save the Kino initiative

Also Nathan Barley – Smoked Salmon Coffee and Nathan Barley Gets A Geek Pie