As of yesterday The Irish Times has gone online. In celebration, lets have a news roundup:

TD Mary O'Rourke has a novel way of solving the Mugabe crisis- by putting her foot in her mouth. (Irish Examiner)

Seymour Hersh reveals $400 million US funding for 'Secret War' in Iran- Will they ever learn? (New Yorker)

Take note, secret warriors- Iran doesn't take kindly to spies. (Irish Times)

'Thieving Gypsy' clampdown in Italy. (Irish Times)

RSA hopes for 'sensible' approach to enforcement of driving regulations. Oh how I hate them. (RTE)

Drink-driving no longer necessarily has to involve driving. (Irish Times)

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2008 will see The Faint release their first album in nearly four years, and I for one cannot wait.

2004's Wet From Birth was pant crappingly good, and I'm not even going to attempt to describe how good it's predecessor Danse Macabre was, as words would simply fail to do it justice.

Word on the street is that the band are finishing up the mix on the new album, which is to be called Fasciinatiion, and a world tour will follow. Lets just hope they make it to Ireland as my wallet would hate to have to travel to see them again.

You can travel to the read more for a taste of Faint-y goodness.



From Wet From Birth, this is Desperate Guys:

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The implosion of the sub-prime mortgage sector in the US is largely being credited for the financial down-turn we're seeing in Global markets.

The Irish Government are, as usual, asking us all to tighten our belts (while they add extra notches to theirs); but while we worry, the real damage of the current financial climate is already being seen- in the US.

Los Angeles has recently seen a number of shanty towns spring up due to the large number of houses being repossessed. This is pretty outrageous for the 'Richest Nation In The World'. Considering how much has already been spent on the war in Iraq, and how much more is likely to be spent in the future, this seems even more of a tragedy.

Check out this shocking BBC report:



Thanks to the watchful Oz for the heads up.

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From The Irish Times:

AMSTERDAM: A shoplifter looking to make a quick getaway from a dutch supermarket after stealing a packet of meat left police a crucial piece of evidence- his 12-year-old son.

In his haste, the thief (45) made a solo dash to his car. Police in the southern town of Kerkrade said they contacted the thief via the boy, but he had refused to return and collect his son.

The man told officers to get hold of the youngster's mother instead. However, he turned himself in yesterday.

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I hate to give credit to Hot Press for actually delivering some news but I heard this from The Butterfly Explosion who directly copied it from Hot Press so here it is. My Bloody Valentine are playing Electric Picnic.

If you want to read the article it came from then you have to subscribe to that rag but here is the headline of the article just as proof.

As the Butterfly Explosion seem to have a subscription (explanations needed lads and lassies) and have taken the time to copy and paste the whole thing into a Myspace bulletin for us, here it is in all its glory.:


The reformed My Bloody Valentine will be playing the Electric Picnic festival this summer.

Hot Press has learned that My Bloody Valentine will be playing at this year’s Electric Picnic festival, which takes place in County Laois from August 29 to 31.

While yet to be confirmed by the promoters, a UK source reveals: "They’ve looked at the various Irish festival options open to them, and decided that the Picnic is the best fit. The clincher was Primal Scream and The Jesus & Mary Chain raving about how much fun they had playing there last year."

Diehards will also want to put these other new dates in their shoegazing diary: Roskilde, Denmark (July 5); Zenith, Paris (9); Oya Festival, Norway (August 8); and Benicássim, Madrid (18 & 19, day of appearance to be confirmed). As previously reported in Hot Press, the band’s comeback tour commences on June 24 with a sold-out five-night run in the London Roundhouse.

A new studio album from the pioneering band is also in the works, with frontman Kevin Shields revealing in a recent interview that much of the new record will be comprised of material written around the time the band broke up in 1995. "It sounds like what we sounded like - different, but not radically different." he said. "People will go, "yeah, it sounds like My Bloody Valentine."

This is fucking awesome news for anybody who is a fan of the Shoegazing godfathers.

Here's a remind of how savage they were and still can be.

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This is madness. I'd love to think that heads will roll over this, but somehow i don't think they will. Scary.

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