We’re a strange old bunch here in Ireland. If you’re on Facebook, you already know about Sunday Mass. Not just any old mass though, we’re talking about RTÉ’s televised Sunday Mass. For some reason, a Facebook page dedicated to this weekly televisual tradition has blown up in the past week. We’ve pulled together our favourite stats from the strange phenomenon which is now raising funds for Pieta House.
We want to let you in on a little secret. Goos3D.ie has a goal. Ireland is not short of great technology news sites like siliconrepublic.com to name but one. However, for the day-to-day person, some of these sites can be a little full-on. Goos3D.ie instead tries to get people excited about technology by making it fun and relevant. RTÉ have a new series coming with a similar goal – Making Ireland Click.
Making Ireland Click is a four-part series looking to explore why the public need to get cracking with the online world. Quite simply, the web makes like easier once you know how to work your way around.
Episode one of Making Ireland Click will focus on older generations interacting with the online world. This generation makes up some of the 300,000 in Ireland who are not active online.
The show itself kicks off on Monday 31st October, on RTÉ One at 7.30pm. If you are already confident online, be a champion for tech. Maybe your grandparents aren’t active online. Suggest sitting down with them this Monday to show the value of online. Share the Making Ireland Click website, or even Goos3D.ie and ask others to get their loved ones involved. The Making Ireland Click website is full of resources to make tech and online useful for everyone. It’s time to get Ireland clicking.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow, with the release of Dr. Strange this week. There has been much anticipation around the latest addition to MCU. We were lucky enough to see it before general release on Friday.
Is the hype justified? Read on below to find out. But be warned, this review does contain mild spoilers!
The storyline centers around Stephen Strange, (Benedict Cumberbatch) a brilliant neuro-surgeon with a massive ego. From the very start, you feel a certain disdain towards him as a character. His transition towards “superhero” begins when, after a high-speed car accident, he loses the use of his hands.
Driven close to madness, after conventional treatments fail him, Dr. Strange finds himself losing his fortune and looking for an alternative way to heal in Nepal. It is here that he encounters the Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, and begins to train as a sorcerer.
One of the first things to strike you about Dr. Strange, is the quality of the casting. Tilda Swinton‘s portrayal of the Ancient One is superb, while Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor are as solid a support cast as you could ask for.
But it’s the performances of Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, and Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius, that standout. The casting of Cumberbatch is perfect for the role of Dr. Strange, where you can see elements of his performances from Sherlock coming through. He plays the role of “cocky rich man” perfectly at the beginning, and embraces the transition into “superhero” with ease. He also pulls off the comedic elements superbly throughout, the interactions with Wong in particular, providing laugh out loud moments. You are left with a feeling that Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, is as perfect a fit as Robert Downey Jr is as Iron Man.
Mikkelsen was also an inspired choice as Kaecilius, a former student of the Ancient One, turned renegade sorcerer. Mikkelsen has a history of playing sinister roles, both on the big screen as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, and as Hannibal Lecter on TV. His performance as the villain with a cause in Dr. Strange, is only beaten by Tom Hiddlestone as Loki in the Avengers across any other MCU movie.
While all MCU movies are heavily dependent on effects, Dr. Strange takes it to a whole new level. Within the first 5 minutes, you are treated to a breathtaking fight scene that sets the tone for the rest of the movie. It’s hardly surprising that the sequences throughout are like something out of Inception, on some kind of mystical steroids, given the nature of the storyline. However, the effects are seamless and well conceived, while being ever so slightly over the top.
Marvel have a track record of producing excellent standalone movies within the MCU franchise, like Iron Man and Ant Man. However, Dr. Strange is a cut above both. Cumberbatch plays the role of Stephen Strange to absolute perfection, with a performance to rival anything seen in a Marvel movie before. The supporting cast compliment each other superbly, while the story flows well throughout the 115 minutes of movie time. Add in some eye-watering special effects, and Marvel has another hit on their hands.
So, as we enter the winter season, a time of the year when we go out a bit less, stay in, light the fire and put on that evening’s new episode of something you love. The Walking Dead has returned a bit early. Fox aired the episode at half two this morning. It’s nice to be eased back into a cracking series.
At the end of Season Six, we were introduced to two new characters – Negan and ‘Lucile’. The latter is an inanimate baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, but she plays a big part. Negen takes control of Ricks crew immediately. Looking to assert his dominance, Negen plays a game of ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe’ to choose who he will make an example of. Season Six closed with a vicious first person strike, delivered from the bat of Negan to one of our beloved characters. At this point it hard to see whether they died or not – but survival was universally accepted as unlikely.
Last week, we got a sneak peak of the first episode. We were shown Rick telling Negan ‘I’m going to kill you. Not today, not tomorrow. But I’m gonna kill you.’ Negan proceeds to drag Rick into an RV, which is where the scene ends.
Season Seven opened by offering a deeper insight into the character of Negan. He’s a very, very intense guy, violent, with no remorse. Towards the end of the episode, he had my heart racing. In one episode, the writers made me feel I have just witnessed a worse villain than Darth Vader and violence that is on par with Game Of Thrones. Actually, it could be more violent than a lot of it. While we get some zombie action in this episode, the main focus is Negan, who has a kind of polite intensity about him.
The cliffhanger conclusion of Season Six, the show got a lot of negative reviews with many feeling it was unfair to the viewers. Some feel the writers wanted to secure an audience for Season Seven, keeping who died a secret.
The Walking Dead writers mess with us for a few minutes of the latest episode, but then we are shown who has just been killed off. Even with the big story breaking, the writers fill the remainder of the show with pure quality viewing, heart-pounding intensity and almost crossing a couple of lines. What’s worse is seeing what Negan does on screen, but thanks to Jeffery Dean Morgan and some great one-liners, you’re helpless. Helpless to stop that feeling that you like the character – stoked at the thought of what Morgan has in store for the rest of the season.
In the past, we became used to The Walking Dead’s cycle. Find a nice place, bad guys come, big fight, good guys win with one or two big deaths, and repeat. Between that and Glenn’s fake death and Daryl’s ‘shooting’ last season, the audience were getting pretty fed up. So they hold nothing back in the shows return.
From what we have seen in just this first episode, we can expect a very different type of The Walking Dead. One not full cheap scares. There is a big shift in power with a ruthless leader at the helm. Rick and his crew are basically told they will now provide for Negan and his cronies. Next week we’ll see the gang head back to Alexandria to regroup, and… who’s knows? It’s hard to see how Alexandria will be able to take on Negan. But if the writers do listen to the audience, and don’t do the same old cycle again, who knows what to expect from Season Seven.
While not the first system I used for gaming, the Sega Mega Drive II is what i imagine when I think retro gaming. First thing’s first:
Now, with that out of the way. It’s where I spent my sick days and days off. The Sega was where I learned how to fixed cartridges (blowing). I felt my first digital elation and total despair on the Mega Drive. It’s where I learned how to throw controllers in anger, strategically at the couch. Picking out five games is going to be tough, but here it goes.
The day I discovered this game was magical. I was flicking through loads of random cartridges in a pop-up shop. One of those shops that looked like it was the last will an testament of seventy different people being auctioned off.
Well, much like a trip to TK Maxx, persistence paid off. I found Ultimate Mortal Kombat for like £3. Yes, that’s old money. I’d played some of the older games and watched what was arguably the great injustice of a movie to be overlooked for an Oscar.
I don’t know if I ever completed Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Nor do I ever think I actually pulled off a Fatality. See you couldn’t just Google the button combos back then. Even without hitting these milestones, it is the first game I download when I’m going on a retro gaming binge.
The premise is a bit crazy, loads of people coming together to defend earth in a combat tournament. Maybe that’s what added to the game. Of course, the true beauty came in multiplayer. Was there anything more magical than annoying the hell out of your friend by picking that one character with an attack they couldn’t defend against.
Considering I can Google how to perform a fatality now, maybe I should check it out.
Sure, it came as part of the six-in-one so most people with the Sega Mega Drive II had it. There wasn’t really a choice to having Italia 90, it just kinda was there. Don’t let that take away from how great a game it was.
There is one massive bone we have to pick, and you know it’s coming. Considering this was an officially licensed game for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where the bloody hell were Ireland. I still have memories of disregarding team ratings and just picking a team in green – Algeria I believe – to represent the Irish. Picking a team was, in itself, a challenge. You had to be pretty nifty at the old geography to work out which country you were picking.
Once you got passed that fact, it was a cracking game. The top-down view was extremely playable thanks to decent graphics. Even when you hockeyed the ball forward it came towards the camera. That was pretty cool. Tackling was wild, and the celebrations were always the same with different coloured shirts. Then there was the sound. The sound of a player dribbling in Italia 90 was hilarious. I can only describe it as a “wockum” sound.
Italia 90 is one of those retro games that actually creates that itch that can only be scratched by getting the Sega emulator downloaded.
I actually have to go back and play this one more time to see if the graphics were as good as I remember. You were driving tiny cars in a full-scale world. It was immense fun negotiating the dinner table and avoiding spots of jam which naturally slow you down. Micro Machines was actually rather frustrating because the graphics and worlds were just so good. It was easy to get distracted while appreciating the details and crash.
Micro Machines passes one of the hardest tests in retro gaming – the test of time. I know I could pass many hours right now just flinging those little cars around the garden shed. Just take this GIF for example. You’ll probably look at it for ages.
Ok, I’ll admit this is random for a number of reasons, but bear with me. This comes down to the simplicity of the gameplay, multiplayer and fun. NHL ’94 had the same feeling that I get about modern FIFA games – not too surprising as it was an early effort from EA Sports. And there’s why it makes the list. NHL ’94 was one of EA’s earliest efforts to mimic the full TV experience of sport in a game. EA practically nailed it and created one of the earliest immersive gaming experiences where you really got lost in the moment.
Plus, things could get heated and you could pull the head off your opponent. It had it all.
If the Sega Mega Drive is the first console to mind for Retro Gaming then Streets of Rage 2 is the first game. It’s hard to believe that in the early days of gaming, such a complete package could be created. I’ve played and completed both the original and sequel of Streets of Rage, but not the third. While I can’t remember exactly why the second sticks out to me as being better.
The combined backdrops, soundtrack, and two player mode was just perfect. It took countless efforts to complete and usually could only be achieved with a friend. Bating lads with pipes, bottling lads and throwing knives at women. It was all terribly non-pc, but still, what a game.
My favourite bit has to be the adrenaline rush and mood change when you came to the boss or the support vehicle revving in to help you out. I don’t think a more complete game has ever been created. I might need a moment.
I didn’t create this list to spark controversy, but I feel it may. No Sonic, Golden Axe or Shinobi is interesting, to say the least. I can only say these are the games I think of when I think retro gaming on the Sega Mega Drive II. Feel strongly about a game that was included or omitted? Drop a comment below.
Netflix & Marvel are a partnership made in heaven if recent history is anything to go by. We’ve already had hits like Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Luke Cage is the latest product from the Netflix Original Series conveyor belt. The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Luke Cage: a 13 episode series jam packed with action, story telling and of course super powers. We take a look to see if it’s worth a watch.
While the likes of Dr. Strange are patiently waiting in the wings to join The Avengers on the big screen, Netflix is powering towards The Defenders. For want of a better phrase, The Defenders is along the lines of The Avengers Lite. Luke Cage, as a show, is like its protagonist, solid as a rock yet dynamic and multi-faceted. The show packs one hell of a punch and credit must go to the cast and director Cheo Hodari Coker. Each one-hour episode, aside from containing the now expected actions scenes and character development, grapples with a number of serious themes. One such example is the position of the African-American community in American. Corrupt law enforcement, controversial shootings, and how far removed an area, like Harlem, full of gang violence and seediness has departed from the dreams and hopes of Martin Luther King.
It was in Jessica Jones when we first saw Mike Colter’s portrayal of Cage – as a stoic yet confident character. Finally, Cage has been unleashed. Solo in Harlem, Cage tries to make up for his past and save the area from Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes. Having gotten his abilities from a science experiment gone awry while in state penitentiary this ex-con/cop, dubbed Harlem’s Captain America is, essentially, “a bulletproof brotha” with super-strength. This calm, composed, behemoth of a man is still trying to keep a low profile. His day job is sweeping up hair in Pop’s local barbershop and washing dishes at the Paradise nightclub. Of course, the latter of which is owned by crime boss Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali).
Fisk in DareDevil and Kilgrace in Jessica Jones, the Netflix-Marvel model needs a bad guy – enter Cottonmouth. Cottonmouth is a crime lord, a club owner, a Bigge Smalls fan and a very very violent man. He operates alongside his corrupted cousin, Councilwoman Mariah Dillard. The pair are vying to control Harlem through dealing guns, drugs and laundering money.
Obviously, Powerman can’t be letting this happen (that’s his real comic book name, to much cheese for TV). Cottonmouth’s goons escalate things and push Cage to the edge. He’s forced to step out of the shadows and embrace his abilities to take down the thugs empire. It’s a standard enough story line. The bad guy does bad, good guy with flaws is conflicted and steps up etc. While feeling a little formulaic, it’s very well done. What I really enjoyed is how this becomes intertwined with a rich collection of historical, cultural and religious undertones.
Living in the modern world, a world changed with the dawn of The Avengers and “the incident” in New York, Cage is dealing with the implications and limitations of his powers, relationships, perceptions. He’s also dealing with the fact he is a black, male ex-convict/cop. Yet, the son of a preacher with a deep respect for black history, Luke Cage is not your ordinary face value superhero. Couple this with the score, which pays head to the history of hip-hop and soul of the black community with performances from musicians Raphael Saadiq and Charles Bradley, and action sequences set to classic Wu-Tang tracks, and the formula is lethal!
Yes, it’s a Marvel product, so expect lots of action and references to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With that said, Luke Cage is happily different and is essentially a précis of the last 100 years of African-American history. Given the current political and social climate in the US, this is more relevant than ever. There’s a certain deliberate feeling to the creation of a bulletproof black man, lending the show an even greater sense of importance.
The show does have a few flaws. As far as the Netflix Marvel villains go, Cottonmouth is by far the worst, with Diamondback not much better. Then again, they are competing against Wilson Fisk from Daredevil, so I won’t be too harsh. There are also some annoyingly cheesy moments. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was satire or it was just cheese covered cheese. Stuff like when a character stares at a wall and says something serious with their back to the person instead of looking them in the eye.
Despite the bad bits, Luke Cage, like his character, powers on through another win for Netflix and Marvel. Luke Cage is a smart, witty show that shows a real awareness of current societal issues. Perhaps shows like this are the answer in the Insta-era of zero attention spans for serious themes.
Generally speaking, the collapse of sterling is a bad thing. With that said, they brought it on themselves and now it’s time to reap the rewards! Right now, you can save around €30 per £100 you spend on tech from UK websites. Most of these sites deliver to Ireland, and if they don’t there are services like Parcel Motel which provides you with a virtual UK address. So here’s a few items we have our eye on.
Apple products are the first thing on many people’s shopping list. This has been boosted by the launch of the iPhone 7 and collapse of Samsung’s Note7. A 32GB iPhone 7 in Black will set you back €779 on Apple’s Irish site. The UK site sells the same model for £599, or €671. Ordering from the Apple’s UK website saves you a whopping €108.
A Gold Aluminium Case Apple Watch Series 2 with Cocoa Sport Band costs €379 while the same on Apple’s UK site costs just €335. Again, a massive saving of €44. The trend continues with Apple’s Macbook. If you were to pick up a 12″ MacBook in Currys or Apple’s Irish site, you’d fork out €1499. That exact same MacBook from both Currys UK or Apple UK would cost just €1175. You’d save €324 by importing your next laptop from the UK.
It might not necessarily be tech, but Goos3D Tower is fueled by coffee. Also, Nespresso is horrendously expensive so if there’s a way to save we want to tell you about it. The Krups U Pure coffee machine costs €149 on their Irish site. You can get that same machine for €145 on their UK website.
An order of 100 Capriccio pods from the Irish Nespresso site will set you back €36 while the same from the UK costs just €32.50. You’ll save even more if you double that order as you’ll also get free delivery – though you’ll need to use Parcel Motel.
It’s coming up to the time of year Microsoft and Sony get very excited. Consoles will be shipping out in bulk ahead of the Christmas rush. Now is a great time to get in on the sterling crash and save yourself some money.
With the new Xbox One S just after being released, Microsoft’s console is set to have another good Christmas. You can pick up the 500GB Battlefield 1 Xbox One S in GameStop locally for €299.99. The same console can be ordered from Amazon’s UK website for €279. A modest saving of €20, but if you’re in a hurry, combine that with an Amazon Prime trial and you’ll get it super quick.
PlayStation is very popular around here these days. PlayStation VR is nothing short of stunning considering it’s much more affordable to the average gamer than the likes of HTC Vive. If you wanted to get set up with PlayStation and PlayStation VR, now is the time.
To get up and running, you’ll need a PlayStation 4, a PlayStation VR headset, a PlayStation Camera, a PlayStation Move controller and, of course, a VR game like Rush of Blood. From GameStop, these items cost a combined €815. Quite impressive considering you wouldn’t even nearly be set up with a HTC Vive for that money. Still, there’s more money to be saved when you get started from Amazon.co.uk.
The very same setup above, when ordered from Amazon.co.uk, costs just €769. So just a little shopping around will save you €46.
There you have a small selection of savings you can make when you shop from the UK. Sure, you could travel up to The North,but save yourself the petrol.
Oh, it’s an exciting time for cinema. Just this week we got to enjoy the latest Dan Brown movie adaption with Inferno. During the trailers prior to the movie, we spotted the Assasin’s Creed trailer with Michael Fassbender. Boy oh boy, does it look impressive.
That CGI “leap of faith” from the bell tower looked pretty awesome, right? Maybe give this a look and then completely re-appreciate the effort that goes into some cinema!
This got us pretty excited. Going to the cinema is pretty expensive these days, but even that won’t be able to keep us away from seeing Fassbender time-travel as an assassin. It’ll be an expensive 2017 as not only do we have Assassin’s Creed but the best soundtrack to a movie ever is getting a volume two.
Guardian’s of the Galaxy was a bit of a surprise package when it emerged in 2014. Set for a summer 2017 release, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 is almost certainly going to be a hit. There’s not much we know about it as of yet except that Drax is getting more touchy-feely with age and that baby Groot is adorable.
That’s just two films showing the potential that’s on show for 2017. It’s going to be an expensive year.
Yes, that is the coolest headline we’ve ever published.
This Saturday will see the very best Retro Gamers pitted against each other in Dublin. The event, organised by retrogaming.ie, will take place in Phibsborough’s The Back Page. Here’s what to expect.
Nostalgia, and lots of it. The team at retrogaming.ie are referring to this as a “90s gaming resurrection”. All major consoles will be represented on the day. Super Nintendo’s Super Mario Kart, Nintendo 64’s legendary GoldenEye and PlayStation’s Tekken 3, amongst others. Honestly, the variety on show is going to be crazy. Duck Hunt which will only work with really old TVs is even going to be making a guest appearance. Here’s an infuriatingly annoying ad of American teens playing Duck Hunt for the first time.
Each game will have its own tournament and tournament winner. Some of the prize up for grabs are going to be pretty sweet. The likes of Golden N64 controllers, and mint copies of retro games to name but a few. We fully expect this to lead to some friendly competition.
It may turn ugly later on in the day as the guys seek to name the Retro King or Queen of the day. Such a title is earned through fire and brimstone – and by being the gamer on the day with the overall top three tournament scores.
The Retro Gaming Royal Rumble kicks off at 3pm Saturday, October 22nd. Here’s the running order.
| Time | Game |
|---|---|
| 15:00 | Super Mario Kart |
| 16:00 | Tekken 3 |
| 17:00 | GoldenEye |
| 18:00 | Street Fighter II Turbo |
| 19:00 | Mario Kart 64 |
This is by no means an unusual idea. Retro gaming is a massively growing trend. Even Nintendo and Sega are revamping their old consoles for Christmas this year. We’ll be showing you how to play your old favourites soon, so be sure to sign up for updates.
In the meantime, be sure to like the Retro Gaming’s Facebook page. They hold events weekly as retro gaming and the few pints are just a marriage made in heaven. If you want to head along this Saturday, gamer tickets start from €5 per game with a day pass costing only €15 – letting you play all games.
Scarier than any clown sightings is the news that Pornhub has seen massive spikes of interest in clown porn.
Sure, you have no idea. Pornhub is the world’s leading online collection of pornography. Annually, the site gets almost 88 billion video views and has 8 million subscribers. Most impressive is the average visit duration of over nine minutes showing people enjoy the storylines. Pornhub also, from time to time, release some extremely interesting insights data – like this interest in clown porn.
Considering clowns are widely feared, many would appear to have quite the clown fetish too. Pornhub has announced a 213% increase in clown related searches on their site. The variety of these searches is impressive, to say the least.
Yes, you’re reading that right – “clown fart”. It’s also interesting to see that women are 33% more likely to search for clown porn than men. Pornhub, being sticklers for details, also looked at searches before users searched for clowns. Two terms appeared here that we were simply waiting for – “Harley Quinn” and “Ronald McDonald”.
The timing of the interest is no coincidence.
Halloween parties are within touching distance. Typically, people are already planning their costumes. Unfortunately, many have decided to get clown costumes and were unable to wait to try them on. Then, in full creepy clown attire, some people have been standing out in public scaring others. A few have taken this too far and attracted substantial media attention, including comments from the White House.
Naturally, this has led to people looking up clowns on Pornhub. Makes total sense right? Personally, Twisty the Clown from American Horror Story is our favourite.
