December saw the draw of the group stages for this summer’s World Cup finals, the first time they will be played on African soil. At the ceremony, the world watched as Nelson Mandela – a man who dedicated his life to improving rights and bringing relative peace to the South African nation – described his joy; at last the world will witness just how far Africa has come.
BY DON MCDERMOTT
Crude is an impressively involving exposé documentary about the injustices that the oil drilling giants Texaco have enforced upon the native dwellers of Ecuador along the Amazonian River. This is protest cinema at its best. This highly effective portrayal of the terribly wronged indigenous tribes of Ecuador follows their trail in the courts as they try to claim back their basic human rights that the US corporate group Chevron took away from them.
BY LAURA ANN SHEARER
www.queensfilmtheatre.com
For Liverpool supporters like myself, there is an ominous cloud hanging over Anfield these days.
BY DON MCDERMOTT
9th – 12th February 2009 (Week 2)
Interested in media or journalism? The Gown is hosting a series of events at Queen’s, giving students the chance to learn more about careers in journalism and media. The week will also provide many opportunities to get involved and to support your student-run publication. Continue reading
Peter Doherty arrived for his gig at the Mandela Hall three months after he was originally set to play the venue with enough time passed for the audience to have listened to and digested his excellent solo album Grace/Wastelands. An album designed to present Doherty as a solo artist, distinct from his current act Babyshambles (and explaining the move from “Pete” to “Peter”), the accompanying tour similarly had Doherty as (except for one instance of an accompanying harmonica) the sole musician on stage. This, combined with the relatively confined surroundings of Mandela Hall, suggested the possibility of an intimate atmosphere.
BY PADRAIC GRANT
On Monday, people around the world celebrated Burns Night. The 25th of January was also to be the date the SNP released the bill that they hoped would be a first step towards an independent Scotland. What would this mean for Northern Ireland?
BY CATHAL MC GUIGAN
The commencement of the Royal Belfast Academical Institute’s bi-centenary celebrations saw the coming together of two of Northern Ireland’s most renowned literary talents. An evening with Michael Longley and Frank Ormsby combined a humorous reminiscence of school days with an evocative poetry reading. As the Irish Professor of Poetry, Michael Longley delivered a speech which resonated not only with past pupils, but offered an account of Belfast which all the audience could relate to. His belief that no experience is complete without poetry marked the significance of the occasion, whilst highlighting the important role which R.B.A.I. has played in shaping some of Northern Ireland’s most prominent literary figures.
BY ROBYN MCMURRAY
Continue reading