I was reared with the Irish Independent on my kitchen table every day of my life. Most families in…read moreIreland are either a Times family or an Indo family, and I certainly fall into the latter. It's the second biggest broadsheet in the country and is a lighter version of the times. It's full of news stories and over the years has started to feature more and more lighter stuff.

Eh...no. Just no. Since it turned over to the dark side (no matter how they deny it!) and began to…read morepublish in both broadsheet and tabloid format, the tabloid has taken over. Not that it was ever a truly insightful paper, but it has now given up the facade and basically admitted its true tabloid bent. But it can't even do that right?! Still stuck in a pseudo-broadsheet mindset, the Indo appears to have become a bit confused. It refuses to go the whole tabloid hog, replete with beauties on page 3, and yet cannot bring itself to maintain a purely broadsheet mentality. The result is a confused and oddly-laid out paper that does little to shed light on current events - either popular or political.

Kiss is like Stellar magazine's younger sister. Aimed at about 12-18yr olds - it's a magazine for…read moreall the tweens out there. Think those teenagers who love Miley Cryus, Lauren Conrad, and the Jonas brothers. Glossy, colourful and very very sparkly, it was the first magazine of its kind in the country that catered specifically for teens and it has grown in popularity since it first debuted in 2002. At 24, I'm much too old to be reading it, but if it's knocking around my office or the hairdressers, I'll always have a flick through - just for the lay out and the pictures alone. With a journalism degree, I know what a pain in the backside the laying out of a magazine can be - and their formula is really eye catching and attractive. It's such a nerdy thing to say - but the lay out is my favourite part of the magazine! If I was 14, I would definitely be hot footing it down to my local centra to but it with my pocket money!

I am pretty much obsessed with Totally Dublin, a free monthly newspaper that is chock full of great…read morestuff. The publication is aimed at a hip crowd that goes on often and always wants to know what events are around the corner. It's been around for 5 years, and I hope it lives to see many more milestones in years to come. The listings are broken up into categories like live gigs, theatre, weekly clubbing and one-off clubbing, so you'll have no trouble finding something cool to do each month. They also have venue, club night and restaurant reviews that are humorous and informative. While Totally Dublin is essential for finding out what's going on around the city, it's also a great read otherwise, with lots of well-written content, articles, band/artist interviews and more. The staff is probably young and doesn't take themselves too seriously, and this is reflected in the style and content, which is funny and interesting. It's the kind of cultural newspaper that I actually read cover to cover and sometimes even keep (it's that good!). It's distributed at businesses around the city and if you spot on, do not hesitate to pick it up!

Every cultural city needs a magazine like Totally Dublin. A free, independent paper, written and…read moredesigned by a team of in-the-know Dubliners who bust their asses just so we can pick it up at the local shop and have something fun to read while waiting for our pizza or drinking our coffee. Each issue features interesting interviews, event picks, reviews and travel pieces, music/culture/art-related stuff and plentiful samplings of local flavour and is therefore useful for locals and a fine introduction to Dublin for visitors. Their listings section comes in handy when in the pub with friends who want to check out a gig but don't know where to go and their website is a great addition to the printed publication with its easy-to-use listings calender. If you join their facebook group you'll get the newest issue in the mail, even before it hits the streets, so you'll never have to miss out on any Dublin event. Whether the issues covered fit your areas of interest or not, the staff deserves a big pat on the back for delivering a cool-looking issue every single month. Hope they'll manage to keep up the good work for years to come!.

I've been very fond of the Phoenix for some years now. It's Ireland's own Private Eye, and since…read morePolitics can be extremely silly in this country it is important to have a political commentary that acknowledges and revels in the silliness. There's serious reporting here too, but I have to confess I always skip to the funnies section first. Their cartoonist usually manage to capture the particularly ridiculous and lampoon it well, so you can't help but giggle.

Phoenix was the magazine that my Dad read with seemingly comical captions over the heads of…read morepoliticians on the cover of this particular political satire magazine that befuddled me as a wee lad. My Dad's sense of humour isn't entirely refined and definitely very bloke-y. His favourite show is Only Fools and Horses. There's nothing wrong with Only Fools and Horses, in fact I like it a lot myself, but it's not exactly high-brow humour, and even my Dad thinks the humour is a bit lackluster. But Phoenix is Ireland's only political satire magazine and there's something to be said for that. It's not going to have you ROFLing, but you might get a titter out of how much Brian Cowen likes jelly and ice cream from one of the covers when picking up Grazia. I have been dying to use the term 'ROFLing' in a review for ages now. Success.

Dublin City Centre is awash with franchised mini-supermarkets and convenience stores, all of which…read moreare happy to charge astronomical prices on basic items of immediate neccesity. Those of us rich in knowledge (but not in pocket) make our basic daily puRchases at the SU shop in Trinity College, located just inside the front gate, under the arch and to the left. As it's a student shop, prices are kept to as near as cost as possible and newspapers are half price!

As a gaelgóir, I give TG4 a big thumbs up. It's not the best channel on tv, but for a small channel…read morebased mostly in rural gaeltacht of Co. Galway, they do pretty damn well. They have a lot of home produced shows, produced both on their own and in connection with RTÉ and they have big series'like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill, shows that RTE don't even have. They've been on the air since Halloween night 1996, and it continues to go from strength to strength.

The only Irish-language TV channel in Ireland, TG4 spreads it's net pretty wide - sports, drama,…read moresoaps, news...they kind of have it all...and predominantly as Gaeilge too. Actually, that's my main gripe with them - they do show US dramas such as CSI and that, but don't even bother to subtitle them. Now, I realise that if they didn't have some of the big name programmes that they could well go under, but at least put up a front of keeping up the Irish end of things. On the other hand, and this is by far their redeeming feature...there's nothing like listening to Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh ag déanamh a rud leis an CLG...priceless...

So what's up in Dublin for the weekend? LeCool has your answer…read more Filling the space where EventGuide left with it's January 2009 departure, this online local mag is the best place for offbeat events happening all around the City Centre. There's hot links for blogs and online art, real life shows and exhibitions, plus great ideas for stop off points if the Dublin touring excitment is wearing thin. What really rocks your humble reviewer's socks here is that LeCool covers the week, with great recommendations for cinema, kareoke and more from LeSunday to LeSunday. Event prices do vary but it's all as set through the venue itself. Forget the usual Friday night pub thing, LeCool has something better in mind for you!

Yep, this is what you've been missing. Been a subscriber of…read moreother city's lecool for several years now and even if you dont live there it s still a decent read and wonderful insight into any city. It' cherry-picks the bestest of the best each week in Dublin and points you on your way to cultural, hedonistic, gourmet or just damn fine nirvana. Subscribe and feel better already

Yes it's the tabloid of TV stations, and the ads are really long, but I have a certain fondness for…read moresome elements of TV3. They do love their over sensationalised reality TV/ docudramas, which can be something of a guilty pleasure depending on the topic. And they've recently introduced more talk-tv with midday, and Nightly News. Unlike David I really like Martin King (the bloke from the weather), although I'm kind of in favour of meteorologist in general... clearly for no apparent reason living in this country. Their news team annoy me a bit, particularly that guy Alan Cantwell. TV3 is a bit of a guilty pleasure station, although I will not stoop to Jeremy Kyle!

I see TV3 as kind of veg viewing! It has Corrie and a lot of American sitcoms, not to mention the…read moreIrish version of The Apprentice, which I love. It has its downsides of course. I wouldn't be the biggest fan of its showbiz show - Xpose - and it also airs the oddest documentaries with even odder titles. You could flick onto TV3 and find yourself watching a programme about a woman who was so overweight her plastic surgeon cut her in half. Or something equally insane!