Today (Thursday, February 28) marks the beginning of the Alliance Française Cork French Film Festival, a cerebral celebration of the often discussed, continuously evolving and indelibly influential medium of French cinema.

FIVE-time Academy Award nominee Mike Leigh’s (Vera Drake, Secrets and Lies) renowned play Abigail’s Party celebrated it’s 30th anniversary this year with it’s first Irish tour.

Irish hip-hop: the unknown frontier! To boldly go where few have gone before! House of Pain dropped pints of the black stuff when they weren't fronting behind their shamrock logo, playing up the s**t-kicking Irish hoodlum image and offering old-Irish greetings like 'Top O' the Morning to Ya' on big-selling records.

It seems trivial now – some professional athletes head off to fulfil some Eastern promise in the worlds biggest sporting competition. But it all goes spectacularly pear-shaped when the team arrive only to find sub-par facilities in place.

Regarded as Shakespeare's most dynamic and blood-thirsty play, Macbeth is still to this day held up as perhaps the Bards most enduringly popular production with audiences both young and old alike.

An exciting exhibition entitled Signifier / Signified kicks off this evening, Thursday, January 24 at the James Barry Exhibition Centre, CIT, Bishopstown.

The cold, biting Northerly winds, torrential downpours and traditional flooding let us know, in no uncertain or subtle terms, that we are mired deep within the early stages of another new year.

Remember all those old Guinness poster adverts? You know, the one's with an ostrich / kangaroo / ostrich / seal / toucan telling you how a pint of the black stuff is good for you? They look great, but obviously advertising standards have changed somewhat and this kind of statement would hardly be tolerated nowadays.