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Can a mug, a jug or a basket move you like a song, a painting or a film can? Questions in search of an answer at Future Beauty? (sic) at the National Craft gallery in Kilkenny

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Our second visit to this year’s Veronica Dunne International Singing Contest sees the sweaty semi-finals decided

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As the release of bassist, Peter Hook’s memoir stirs up once again the puzzle of who did what in the creation of influential, but ill-fated group, Joy Division, photographer Kevin Cummins on his contribution to the band, the myth and even the music. (RPT)

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It’s all about the vowels as Culture File makes its first visit of the week to the 7th Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition.

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Rumble ‘n’ rattle with the Beast of the Ulster Hall, as Dr Joe McKee pulls out some of the stops on the venue’s Mulholland Grand Organ.

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The health risks of spray paint, the whys of tagging, the power of love and the colour blue, in the second part of our visit with Dublin street artist, Maser. (Part 2 of 2)

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Graffiti’s gift to typography, Dublin artist, Maser, shows us around his new studio, which he hopes to turn into a hub for graffiti. (Part 1 of 2)

Maser type pieces: http://maserart.com/they-are-us/ 

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Why are so many music recommendation sites still so bad at knowing what we’d like to hear and will they ever get better?

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"I’m not A.D.H.D… I’m B.O.L.D" co-author, Jacinta Sheerin on where drama meets therapy and where the two part company again.

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Does your life have a good eudaimonic / hedonic balance? Eat up your greens - neuro-scientifically speaking - with Prof Gary Marcus, on music, learning and living a better life. (2/2)

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It’s never too late to learn, officially, according to NYU cognitive psychology professor and middle aged guitar novice, Gary Marcus. (1/2)

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Is this real life? Playwright, Ross Dungan on The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle, his comedy-cum-postmortem stocktaking.

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Firsts of a million? Benjamin Britten’s centenary kicks off with two Dublin opera productions, one from DIT and one from the stars of tonight’s Culture File, the students of Royal Irish Academy of Music, directed by Rough Magic’s Lynn Parker.

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The competitively-priced charms of Bruce Willis, and other vinyl temptations at a Saturday afternoon record fair above talismanic Dublin music venue, Whelan’s.

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Photoblogger, Dave Kennedy, takes us ambling through ancient haunts and secret spots in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

[soundcloud]https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/74522271[/soundcloud]

Chatted the other day to The IrishTimes’ Chief Innovation Officer, @johnnyryan about recent “links are copyright” fracas/debacle and, eventually, about future of online news. Skype being what it is we had a terrible, terrible connection, even from the IT’s Tara Street studio, and the resulting audio was not suitable for broadcast. But the chat was interesting, and for those who pay attention to the web, copyright and the future of news (that’s everyone, right?) it might be worth sticking with it…

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How the landscape painting of Van Ruisdael, Corot and Lowry helps us think again about photography — and Instagram - in the latest exhibition from Northern Irish artist, Mary MacIntyre.

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Actors aged 8-18 taste the fear this week at the inaugural Cork Young Performers Festival.

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How Christine Tobin turned WB Yeats on to jazz, with some help from her old schoolteacher, Gabriel Byrne.