II. Arts & Culture

Rock Band - Virtual Battle of the Bands
22nd July, 9.30pm, £5 (info)
Exactly what this game was created for - teams compete in a virtual battle of the bands to win some stupidly awesome prices - including Xbox 360 systems and copies of the (gaspingly overpriced) game. Apparently the tournament is also to include the original Guitar Hero games and a few from the Singstar series - expect to see me belting out something on Easy Mode at least once over the course of the evening.

One Man Star Wars
28th July, 8pm, £12 (info)
Canadian actor Charles Ross takes to the Waterfront Studio to solitarily act out the initial (read: only) Star Wars films - single-handedly playing all the characters, singing all the music, fighting all the battles - and condensing the entire trilogy into a single sitting. Pleasantly rescheduled out of the way of last weeks’ TwoStep - can’t wait!

Urban Market
26th July, All Day, Free (info)
The Urban Market extends the usual Saturday morning St. George’s Market to local artists, designers, musicians, photographers, puppeteers, jewellery makers, record labels as the “alternative” side of Belfast take hold for the day. Always worth a look!

Transcend Exhibition
26th July, 4pm, Free (info)
The exhibition - taking place in the Waterfront Foyer right after the Urban Market - places some of the finest work from internationally renowned graphic artists on display in the form of screenprints, paintings, skate decks, customized vinyl toys and video projections.

Transcend Live-Drawing
26th July, 6pm, Free (info)
Leading in from the exhibition opening, many of the artists on display who have travelled over for the launch will take to every surface in sight with sharpies, stencils and spray-paint - covering walls and windows with a blend of graphic brilliance. The amount of wall space we’ve managed to commission is nothing short of staggering - come watch these guys fill it!

SweetTalk
26th July, 8.30pm, £7 (info)
The evening then concludes with SweetTalk - a series of presentations from some leading national creative talents - including Gavin Strange, BrenB, Chris Judge, M&E (Matthew and Emelie) and Aidan Kelly. Expect overflowing amazement and inspiration.