If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed.
Click here to find out what an RSS feed is. Thanks for visiting, Phil!
So the long list of nominees has been officially released, just behind those “leaks” that spread across the web in the last couple of days. This year I find myself nominated for: Best Designed Blog, Best Photography Blog and Best Blog. I am very pleased about this, though I doubt I will win due to the great competition I am up against in each category, but to be standing alongside these great bloggers I feel honoured.
Not surprisingly, the number of blogs has increased significantly since last year let alone how much of an increase there has been from two years ago, with just far too many to count (at the minute at least).
I have my work cut out for me for the next month, the little free time that I will have will be spent catching up on the blogs I know and all those that I don’t.
Being a bit of a nerd as I am I have always enjoyed doing nerdy stuff on my PC, but the time has come where that seems pretty irrelevant. All I want is to be able to edit photographs, browse the net, watch movies and listen to music.
I have problems with my pc so often that now it its just not proving reliable enough right now when I really need it. I’m finding more and more than I actually want a Mac. I can barely believe I’m actually saying this.
There will be many things that I will miss about windows, but it will be a new fun experience. I will sit on patches of grass and find wireless connections and have lots of fun understanding how it all works, my iLife will be transformed.
I have used a few Macs recently, for short periods at a time, gradually coming to like them. My time with windows could well be over.
I think I have been converted.
The only thing that is holding me back now is iMoney!
Surprise surprise,
My computer’s gone haywire once again.
Everything e’se has been called off. All money is going into the newly created ‘computer fund’ - motherboard, CPU, memory, new hard drive. Though I do want to go to Paris in the next few months. My plan of not drinking for the whole month of February will help.
==============================
The exhibition finished on Sunday. It shall be a three weeks that I won’t forget too easily. Ups and downs. But mostly ups. Fall-outs and bad reviews aside, I am very pleased to have had the opportunity and I enjoyed it.
Thanks to Sean Kelly, festival organiser, and everyone else involved in putting on such a great run of events. In my mind it was a great success. Having attended most days, I can say that there were some great performers each day, as well scrumptious lunch.
A great way to combat those January blues.
Every day things happen that only motivate me to continue doing what I love even more. Always taking the good with the bad, conflicts and friendships, knowing that the good is always much better than the bad.
This blog, for those unaware is for me to express myself through words, and pictures. The photographs have a back-story. I have a back-story. This is where I tell it.
I never said everything I write is the complete truth. Nothing should be taken that way without consulting me first. Sometimes things are embellished slightly.
This is my place to speak my truth - exaggerated or not. For further details on anything leave a comment or drop me a line at phil @ iced-coffee. com.
But I never lie.
I haven’t seen the limelight as packed for a local band as it was on Thursday night. 360 325 paying punters. Although I did hear the turnout was similar at Kowalski/And So I watch You From Afar/Cutaways gig in December. The lineup this time around was A Plastic Rose, Panama Kings and Fighting With Wire. The entire venue was filled with lots of kids screaming at each band out shear love and devotion.
At 22:05 A plastic Rose made their way to the stage. Gerry Norman began by calling everyone close to the stage - and they did. Filling every space. By 22:30 the venue was already full.
Singing/shouting along the crowd joined in in the ways the knew how, even shouting requests for the ‘classics’. This band know how to rock and rock they did. They have gone up 100 times in my estimation since seeing them a few months back in Lavery’s Bunker; it was either the fact that it was the Limelight, or they have just improved dramatically.
After a short break the Panama Kings came to the stage and began pumping those memorable riffs and drum beats along with lead singer Niall showing them all how to be a rock star; he has the look and the attitude and certainly the voice.
For a band who only began gigging at the end of 2007, the Panama Kings have come a long way in terms of large fan base and tight sound - including some excellent recordings available for download on their myspace. Hot Hot Heat comes to mind when I listen to their tracks, particularly in the vocals, and also a hint of Modest Mouse. As is apparently the norm, Neill gave out his own house address for the after-party. I heard it was just as sardine-packt as the Limelight.
To end what was possibly the most photographed gig in Belfast, Fighting With Wire showed everyone in the room how to ‘dance’ in the form of lead singer and guitarist, Cahir O’Doherty throwing himself across the stage to bring extra life to those extra-ordinary animal-like songs. Many of which I’m sure can be found on their recently released album Man Vs Monster which I hope to get my hands on at some point.
Two Step have done it again - they put together a great line up.
Tomorrow Belfast band Mary’s Great Idea will be on the new Irish language chat and music show from BBC Northern Ireland called Imeall Geal, which translates as ‘Bright Edge’. Last Sunday they performed in front of a live studio audience in Newry’s Sean Hollywood Art Centre along with Dublin band Director.
The idea being that each week two bands perform, one an unsigned band from Northern Ireland and the other a bigger name band from throughout Ireland. Other acts to perform in coming weeks include Ruby Colley, The Delawares, Olympic Lifts, Henry McCullough, Foy Vance, and The Winding Stair.
Click here to view a short interview with Mary’s Great Idea.
Imeall Geal is on BBC Two Northern Ireland each Thursday at 10pm
The date is January 4th 2006, nominations have just opened for the very first Irish Blog awards to be held in Dublin on March 11th at the Alexander Hotel.
I was very excited, I had lots of visitors to my photoblog at the time. I was in with a chance. I didn’t expect to win, but I knew I had a chance.
The day before the ‘ceremony’, Friday 10th March 2006, my camera arrived in the post. My first digital SLR. After ripping the box open, I headed to Dublin City, having barely any idea what I was doing with the camera, sticking to ‘auto’ much of the time, I snapped away through the busy streets.
The next day I met Gavin and we both snapped all around us, he having received an SLR for Christmas a few months prior. Some of these photographs I still like today.
We arrived at the Alexander Hotel, a little unsure what to expect. I was nominated and short Listed the title of ‘best photoblog’. The prize went to Donncha O Caoimh for his In Photos blog - well deserved. I was quite relieved, anyway as I didn’t want to have to say anything in front of all those people.
The following year, however, I did. Gavin Mullan won the ‘best photoblog’ for Headphoneland. There was no way I could win it this year as I hadn’t updated mine in over 6 months. Unfortunately, Gavin was ill and couldn’t make it, so I accepted the trophy on his behalf.
Having very much enjoyed the last two Blog awards and met many great people, I will definitely be going to again this year. Unfortunately the photoblog is still no longer active (still on the to-do list), I do have this blog of course. So if you feel that this blog fits into any of the categories, have a go at nominating me.
Some would say this isn’t a photoblog, I don’t even consider it a ‘proper’ photoblog, though there are lots of photos. It could also go under the category of ‘personal’ blog, ‘arts and culture’ blog or ‘music’ blog, your choice. There is ‘best overall blog’ too! Each blog can only be nominated for Best Blog and one other category.
Nominations close at 9pm on Friday January the 18th. Click here for the nominations page
The blog awards this year are being held this year on Saturday, March 1st, 7.30pm at the Alexander Hotel. Time to book the hostel I think.
A photograph of mine has been printed in today’s copy of The Ticket, the entertainment section of The Irish Times!
The plan worked! I am now going to every single event as part of the Out to Lunch festival - Official Photographer! (unofficially photographying!)
On Tuesday I saw Eilidh MacAskill - who was both very natural in her style and very funny. Only eight days after completing her daily ukulele ceilidh she is touring to tell the tale of the last year. Maybe next year she will tell the story of the year she told the story of the thing she did the year before that…
Of course the original thing she did last year was to “perform” her ukulele in some fashion, to somebody, every day for a whole year. She didn’t go into full detail, though by the sound of it she certainly had a good year. The uke seems to lend itself nicely to cheeky humour and Eilidh knows how to play and make everyone laugh.
I am always amazed by the intelligence of comedians, they are often the sort of people you wouldn’t expect to be very intelligent, I do hope I’m not offending any right now, but I’m sure you get it. Going to bars and making people laugh each night. Making people laugh. Talking about ‘ordinary’ things to ‘ordinary’ people. Whilst of course giving the impression that you too are just like them; very ‘ordinary’. But of course they aren’t, they are intelligent.
Think about it, how many jokes have you made up? Real jokes, and kept it coming for an hour or more. Not that time where there were laughing at you!
So there’s the rambling about a topic, or variety of topics, that relate to your life, and in some way the audience can also relate to - and putting in the odd joke, or one big joke.
Paul Sinha, at the Black Box on Wednesday, was a real intelligent person. A qualified GP. Plus he helped his school win the 90s game show ‘Internet’ (apparently only one result on Google and I can’t find it) when he was 15. He’s openly gay, so he has confidence, though so do all stand-ups. And being Asian means he will always be able to talk about how his family moved to Britain in 1968 to have their only son become a clown. But it works and he is very funny. And intelligent. And he likes to show off that intelligence a bit too.
This afternoon Barbara “as in Streisand” Nice “as in the biscuit” flew from Stockport with her pink suitcase, which she brought onto the stage with her. Her show, she calls ‘Higher and Hiya’ for two very obvious reasons, that you can only understand after seeing her perform.
Higher - as in she - successfully - gets the audience feeling higher than they did at the start of the show. By higher, read in a more pleasant, jolly mood. Hiya - she gets the audience to interact with each other and tells everyone that they should say “hiya” when meeting people in the street. Very funny, very “ordinary”.
These slightly sunny, very cold days in that soulless office are being nicely split up with a small bit to eat and sweet sweet bread rolls along with the occasional hysterical laughter. More of this I say!
And so it begins, in earnest, the year two thousand and eight. Today marks the first full week of the year, a year which, if it is anywhere near as good as the last I welcome with open arms.
With my Out to Lunch programme in front of me I will make out my plans for the week from it. Now of course I don’t want to totally take the piss, I have been given free reign to go to any events which catch my eye, in return for a few photographs. Doesn’t bother me at all, I would take photographs anyway.
I will likely not be able to stay at each event for the full duration as I will be taking time out of work, and losing flexi-hours the longer I take.
I do also want to document the festival, as part of my enthusiasm of the great growing arts and culture in this city; my home.
So I may infact go to each and every event and take a few snaps, interesting or not, though many have caught my eye as I look through the ones for this week.
So there were no events today, Monday, or any Monday throughout the festival. I guess then that it is true; that no artist works on a Monday. No artist gets paid on a Monday either, but if it works for them…
On Tuesday 8th Jan it’s Eilidh’s Daily Ukulele Ceilidh. I’m really not sure what Eilidh’s (assuming that is her name) show involves, nor what a ceilidh is, let alone how to pronounce one, but by the description it sounds like she likes to play her ukulele and make the audience laugh. Maybe her and Geoff Gatt - resident festival musician and ukuleleist - will have a duel. I haven’t seen Geoff in a while either so I shall hope to see him about.
It could be a good week of lunchtime comedy adventures. Anything to get out of work for a few hours! All but Eilidh are on at 8pm as well as 1pm, costing only £5, and includes lunch!
Next »