Search Results for 'Kevin Smith'

Two Galway teams — Team Sputnikí Mhóinín from Galway Community College, Galway, and Team Sat AthaRi from GairmScoil Mhuire, Athenry — were named joint winners in the regional final of the CanSat competition last week. The competition, run by the European Space Agency, sees school teams throughout Europe compete to create and launch miniature satellites.

Sound+Vision, Ballina’s annual film festival, returns this year celebrate music in film once again. Through a week-long programme of film screenings and other events, Sound+Vision this year celebrates the music of Generation X – the 1990s youth culture phenomenon. When American author Douglas Coupland published his debut novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture in 1991, he was inadvertently labelling the coming decade’s generation of alienated, disaffected young adults. His book sought to capture an ennui which became something of a zeitgeist for the period. This culture of the Generation X ‘slacker’ found a musical voice in the guise of grunge – a musical hybrid inspired by punk rock, heavy metal and indie rock, and characterised by contrasting song dynamics and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics.

Zack and Miri are lifelong friends and flatmates who live together in a run-down apartment in Pittsburgh where they work at dull, low-level jobs. As cash-flow problems begin to mount, and their water and electricity gets cut off, they decide (during their high school reunion) to make an adult film as a way of solving their financial problems. As they attempt to keep their personal life and their new professional life separate, however, they discover they might have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

Why do we vote the way we do? Because we are stupid! That’s the verdict from Rick Shenkman who has written a book called Just how stupid are we – the truth about the American voter. The book concentrates on American politics and it does not just concentrate on George W Bush – the favourite bogey man for smart people. Rick Shenkman says that voters are voting in a stupid way always. People should weigh up all the issues and analyse policies and politicians, Shenkman says. Undoubtedly, this wise man would probably come to the same conclusion if he were writing about politics in Europe or Ireland. We would all be collectively stupid.