Game Of Throats

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03256 2016-01-20 DarkHorseThrones Studio+

The HBO show Game Of Thrones wrapped up its sixth season recently in its customary fashion, which is to say, with intrigue and murder.

Interior scenes for the show are shot at the old Harland & Wolff ‘Paint Hall’ in the Titanic Quarter. The filming is parodied in the image above — the boom operator is wearing a Northern Ireland football top and has a tattoo saying “Is grá liom uisce” (“I love water”) on his bicep.

The popularity of the show has proven a bonanza for tourism: Wilderness Ireland provides a list of filming locations and Discover Northern Ireland has a page listing many tours. The most famous is the Dark Hedges near Ballymoney.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Battle Of The Bottle

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A 2012 Belfast Telegraph opinion piece asked “Is it Orangefest or vodka and Orangefest?” This year sees a campaign to curb alcohol consumption during marching season (including both the centenary of the Somme on July 1st and the traditional Twelfth celebration of the Battle of the Boyne) using the slogan “It’s about the battle not the bottle” and the hashtag . Here is a NewsLetter article on the campaign, which includes 25,000 beermats bearing the message.

It also contains (as shown in the wide shot, below) figures for both the number of casualties suffered by the 36th (Ulster) Division on July 1 at the Battle of the Somme (5,500) and the number of Irishmen who served in the Great War (200,000).

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Stuff We Don’t Need

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03539 2016-06-14 Stuff We Don't Need+

The image below is from a Twelfth bonfire collection point in Belvoir in April, threatening a fifty pound fine for anyone caught dumping unwanted material. The image above of a collection point near Sandy Row articulates what is unwanted: ironing boards, chairs, washing machines, sofas, sinks, fridges, wheels, comfy chairs, toilets, beds, stoves. This Belfast Telegraph article includes a good image of the pallets gathered in the car-park.

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Lest We Forget

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East Antrim 1st battalion (specifically D Company?) and (North?) Belfast 3rd battalion mural in Erskine Park, Ballyclare.

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The Ulster Volunteers

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03567 2016-06-25 Ballyearl Somme m+

After a year without any change, work appears to have stopped on this UVF mural in Ballyearl. It links together the Ulster Volunteers of the first world war (shown on the left of the wall, with a Victoria Cross, Carson and the covenant, and a cross on the battlefield of Flanders) and the modern UVF (represented by a hooded gunman with rifle brought to bear, and the Nissen huts of Long Kesh. An orange lily and red poppy complete the tableau.

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03568 2016-06-25 Ballyearl Somme weather+

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X03567 X03564 X03566 X03485 X03568 ballyearl dr ballyclare rathcoole tiger’s bay shore lanarkshire craigneuk carluke bellshill tyneside glengormley new mossley mount vernon 3rd battalion new mossley weather cloudly uvf ycv for god and ulster

No Steps Backward

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03498 2016-06-03 Beechm Drumm CnamBan+

“We must take no steps backward, our steps must be onward. If we don’t, the martyrs that died for you, for me, for this country … will haunt us forever” — the words of Máıre Drumm from an anti-internment rally in Dunville Park on 10th August, 1975 (RN) are featured against a backdrop of female volunteers in Cumann Na mBan wearing berets and holding rifles.

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Free Short Strand

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03243 2016-01-02 Dove House Free Short Strand+

Graffiti in support of the nationalist community in east Belfast on the shutters of Dove House Community Trust in Derry, with a giant “IRA”.

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Celtronic 16

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Celtronic brands itself as “Ireland’s leading electronic music festival”. This years festival takes place in clubs across “Derry, Ireland” until July 3rd. On the rear of Free Derry Corner.

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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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VTEC Engine

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03558 2016-06-23 Islandbawn Writing+

Colourful wild-style writing by ANCO and CASP(?) in Beechmount, an area without any other writing or street art.

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In Answer To The Echo Of Alarm

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03575 2016-06-15 Somme 2016+

One hundred years ago today, on July 1st, 1916, the Battle of Albert began, the first of many battles in what is known collectively as the Battle of the Somme. Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Brigade went “over the top” at 7:28 a.m. By the end of the day, more than nineteen thousand British soldiers were dead, five thousand from the 36th.

The line “We gathered from our towns, our villages and farms, in answer to the echo of alarm” comes from the song “Armagh Brigade”; the alarm is more specifically “Carson’s loud alarm”. Below the main panel, which shows combat at close quarters, are the words of Wilfrid Spender: “I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st. July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world … the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history.”

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