on balconytv via iced coffee words
Kitty and the Can Openers on BalconyTV
You can download their full E.P. on the band’s website.
Not long left to vote for the band on SlicethePie... Kitty and the Can Openers on BalconyTV
You can download their full E.P. on the band’s website.
Not long left to vote for the band on SlicethePie... show me things via iced coffee words
creative camp belfast via iced coffee words
This Saturday the first Creative Camp Belfast takes place at Blick Shared Studios (beware, your browser may resize and ears exposed to annoying bell sounds).
CreativeCamp is a self-organised “unconference” - made up of open, participatory workshop-events where the participants are responsible for setting the agenda, deciding on topics and generating the content. CreativeCamp Belfast brings together technology and creative enthusiasts who want to make things happen with web, mobile, open source, new media, music and design.
The event is free to attend - food, drinks, projectors & wifi will all be made available. More information on the workshops, discussions, talks and portfolio presentations will emerge as people sign-up to take part.
So far 75 people have registered to... links and things - monday 1st september via iced coffee words
The legal age to buy tobacco in Northern Ireland has risen from 16 to 18 today.
The Eiffel Tower is going eco.
In South Belfast there are 116 sex offenders living publicly.
Add friends’ birthdays to google calendar or ical from facebook.
NIPodcast is now on episode three. An unoriginally titled music podcast from NI and ROI.
Some words of wisdom from Alexia.
Coolsites.ie was launched today by Michele Neylon:
I plan on posting a site every day if I can, so if you know of any nice, cool or simply interesting sites that I should mention please let me know via email to submissions@coolsites.ie. I’d strongly recommend that you use the subject line “coolsites.ie submission”, as it will get lost in my inbox otherwise.
Another great web app for Twitter from Cork; Tweetrush... last standing via iced coffee words
Every so often a ‘Battle of the Bands’ pops up on the radar, each one to be better than any before it. Last Standing with its emphasis on war rather than battle, may prove itself to be stronger than its predecessors of the genre of musician competitiveness.
Last-standing.com Is a social networking site for Northern Irish bands; trying to build networks between bands in NI to strengthen our collective position in the music industry. Also runs a Battle of the Bands which is open to entrants right now, heats are on around NI to to determine the finalists, the finalists will then battle for a chance to win £2000’s worth of prizes, including:
- cash prize
- demo recording at Shabby Road studio
- 100 copies of the demo
- expert advice from those in the music and promotion... links and things - wednesday 28th august 2008 via iced coffee words
summer experiment via iced coffee words
The Summer Experiment play Auntie Annies on Wednesday 27th August. Then disappear into the night. Never to be seen again.
They said it better than I could
What happens when a band is faced with its own end before it even gets off its feet? Would this knowledge change their plan of action? Could it change the band’s dynamic? Could it even change the music? The Experiment is exactly this: a ‘band’ in its dying days from before you had even heard of them….it is what it is…no strings attached…just creativity. Doing what you can while you can. This is what we decided to make of Summer 2008 and we hope to remind everyone of the amazing things that happen when artists just allow themselves to create.”
The Summer Experiment taking place in Auntie Annies,... links and things - friday 22nd august 2008 via iced coffee words
John Baucher launched his Ttv (Through the Viewfinder) exhibition ‘Old meets New’ last week. The exhibition runs in the Black Box until 16th Sept. Here is a shot he took of me outside the venue:
10 yrs on, too much Google? Still doing no Evil?
They have amassed more information about people in 10 years than all the governments of the world put together. They make the Stasi and the KGB look like the innocent old granny next door.
Google’s tentacles are everywhere. It runs services for blogging, email, instant messaging, shopping and social networking. It offers a suite of word processing, spreadsheet and other tools to rival Microsoft’s products in the workplace. It is building a software platform for mobile phones that may challenge Apple’s iPhone and... Moron Moments - Corn Market Upgrade via The Great Wee Azoo
The modernisation work on Belfast city centre's tired pavements is well underway. In the main, the results are impressive.Yet, I'm surprised that no one thought to relocate the electricity box that stood beside the old bandstand in Corn Market.Now that the bandstand is gone, the electricity box stands alone and incongrous in the middle of Corn Market, at the approach to the new Victoria Centre.It would appear that amid the hysteria that surrounded the development of Belfast's flagship shopping centre, someone forgot about the little details.Copyright The Great Wee...
slicethepie via iced coffee words
What is SlicethePie?
Slicethepie is a web based artist financing engine that raises money for artists to professionally record an album. It enables users to invest in, profit from, and trade in artists’ success by turning every music fan into a talent scout and investor.
On Slicethepie:
Artists can raise money directly from their fans to professionally record albums
Fans can become emotionally and financially involved at all levels of the music industry - scouting, breaking, investing in and influencing real artists
Investors can gamble on, trade in and profit from the success of these artists
Artists who secure finance pay Slicethepie a small royalty on album sales but keep all their copyright and publishing rights.
Essentially, Artsits join an Arena and once the arena is full (up to... links and things - monday 18th august 2008 via iced coffee words
belfast floods via iced coffee words
What started out as a lot of heavy rain as I headed to Enniskillen for the VibeFest with Kitty and the Can Openers, turned into widespread flooding across Northern Ireland.
Unfortunately the festival was first postponed due to the rain and flooding on the field, then eventually cancelled. So after much waiting around we made our way back to Belfast on the bus.
It continued to rain.
Here is what we saw on our way home (they aren’t great quality as the bus window was very wet also):
All the stuff in the centre is water, and that was a road!... links and things - saturday 16th august 2008 via iced coffee words
ben & sarah via iced coffee words
Watching Ben & Sarah smile all day brought a small tear to my eye. They are so happy together, always. It makes me so happy to see.
The wedding went really well; the weather was good, food was great, drink was drunk (understatement!) and everyone was happy.
I wish them both the very best of happy years together.... links and things via iced coffee words
yes we know gmail was down via iced coffee words
I will admit that it is important, although the chaos that resulted after Gmail went down for an hour or so (for some, longer) last night was quite surreal. Thousands of tweets, widespread panic, and even an article to mark the occasion.
“productivity up of 20 million people” - Techcrunch
Though for many people, this quote is completely untrue. So many of us rely on Gmail. What do we do when it goes down? Should this make us think about having backups of our backups?
We all assume Google’s servers are safe for hundreds of years, but are they? Maybe they are, but sometimes things go wrong, even just for a short period of time. They tell us that although something has gone wrong, all our stuff is still safe - reassuring, but what if it wasn’t.
There wouldn’t be... kitty and the can openers dot com via iced coffee words
Kitty and the Cna Openers launched their website yesterday, so head over to www.KittyandtheCanOpeners.com for free mp3 downloads, photos, live dates, and various updates through the blog, with the occasional spot of home recording in the mix.
The band’s first E.P. can also be purchased through the online store.... gay pride 08 via iced coffee words
Its fascinating to see such open and public acceptance of the gay, lesbian and bi community in Northern Ireland, so known for its segregation and conflict between communities. The streets of the City centre were lined with spectators who screamed, applauded and yelled as the parade and its participants walked along the route from Custom House Square around the City Hall and back to the Square where there was a stage and “gay” music (I can’t stand ABBA) and a lot of people.
There were thousands of people from all around showing their support and generally having a great time. This years parade was also so much bigger than last year. Many were also protesting the recent remarks from Strangford MP, Iris Robinson, who stated on an interview on the Stephen Nolan show that... colour management via iced coffee words
I had heard that most browsers don’t manage colours correctly, but until just the other day I hadn’t noticed it just as much as I have.
As I was previewing my next entry on my photoblog, I noticed the tomatoes in the photograph weren’t in fact red. They were orange. Why oh why is this true. It’s the result of colour management.
Colour mangement is the controlled conversion between the colour representations of various devices, such as image scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, computer printers, offset presses, and corresponding media - wikipedia.
This is something I have been looking into a lot recently, especially since my MacBookPro purchase where I have noticed many differences in my photos between the Mac, my external monitor, and... music mart via iced coffee words
glasgowbury 2008 via iced coffee words
12:03am. Ash are 3/4 through their set, and are in good form. It’s been a great day, the weather was good and so many musicians in the one place enjoying the lively atmosphere ad great music.
Back to 3/4 through Ash’s set and Paddy Glasgow has noticed a disabled man by the fence left of the stage. He goes to him and, after failing to get him through the doubled up barrier, meets him at the backstage entrance and tells him to sit at the front barrier, spitting distance from Tim Wheeler.
This is how Paddy does things - Small but Massive.
A festival with a human side. A great vibe from everyone and the best of Northern Irish music (with the odd band from South of the border). The crowd is happy. The bands are happy, and things just run smoothly.
It is a festival to be proud of.... fluffy links challenge via iced coffee words
award-winning via iced coffee words
This morning I woke up tired as usual, but please with the events of the night before; a great meal with some friendly people and that very long, but truly great film, The Fiddler on the Roof.
Upon quickly checking my mail before leaving for work this morning I found that I had received an award in the early hours.
Indeed I have been given an award by Grannymar for “creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community.” Awards don’t happen often, and when they do they are to be treasured, and placed in my virtual award cabinet. My award, from Grannymar, is special two-fold. Firstly, to be given an award for any reason by Grannymar makes me feel very special, but then to be the only of her Toyboys to receive one, gives me even... future of photography? via iced coffee words
What does the future hold for photography?
The panel attempted to answer this question at the Waterfront Hall last Thursday as part of TransBelfast.
Adam Turkington was joined by two representatives from Belfast Exposed, Ciara Chambers (Archive Manager) and Pauline Hadaway (Director), who spent far too long talking about their super archive of photographs rather than contributing much to the topic at hand as well as trying to tell us about the benefits of the social internet for sharing photographs.
Alongside them Hugh Russell, former Olympic Boxer, now acting editor of the Irish Times who suddenly gave me all these great ideas that I can become a photojournalist, that it’s not hard to get into… [or not].
Moochin Photoman, AKA, John Baucher, a local photographer with his... photo 365, happy birthday via iced coffee words
The first time I heard of the Photo365 project it reminded me only of my photoblog, and as I first had a slight misunderstanding of the project, I thought to myself that was something I tried to do - and failed. My original idea was that a photograph had to be posted online (flickr/blog) on the day it was taken. Turns out that’s not true. Which is why I have decided to give it a go.
But rather start on a random day of the year, or January the first I have decided to start today - my 23rd birthday; the date I consider to be the most important in the calendar-year.
It will be tough as I don’t do exciting things everyday. But who does really? However, I have watched Andy successfully attempt this over the last 6 months and enjoyed the progress. With photos ranging from his... add to set via iced coffee words
twelfth 2008 via iced coffee words
If a group of people want to celebrate an achievement, by parading through the streets in costumes and playing music that’s fine, to a point, however, problems arise when these celebrations get out of hand, preventing normality for everyone else.
I have no problem with it all - heck I get a couple of days off work. I do however have a problem being intimidated as I attempt to keep from being prisoner in my own home; kids walking by with their trolleys filled with beer, police beside them, smiling. Then they call it “peaceful”. From my experience it isn’t very peaceful. And if the police could cut out the biggest factor which makes it so intolerable; the alcohol intake, the level of intimidation could be reduced, made much less of a problem in fact.
Maybe the “Orangefest”... cork via iced coffee words
The weather was good, and bad at the same time. When it wasn’t raining it was sunny and warm. I arrived in Cork City with no idea what to expect, pleasantly surprised to find that Cork is essentially an island surrounded by two river channels. I also haven’t been to a new city in Ireland in many years.
Having left Belfast early Friday morning, my brother Chris and I headed to La Pizza on O’Connell Street when we arrived in Dublin for the worst pizza ever before taking my first trip on the Luas to Heuston Station.
We arrived in Cork city at about 7pm and arrived at Lotamore House shortly thereafter via €7 cab.
That evening we flicked through the 3 out of 4 english speaking channels. It wasn’t on again the rest of the weekend. After browsing the net for info on... corcaigh here i come via iced coffee words
4th July. Independence Day.
I’m going to CORK!
Of all the three letter airport codes Cork has the best: ORK. But thats a sidenote I’m not even taking the plane anymore.
The last time I was in Cork we went to Trabolgan though I was nine and barely remember it. I’ve been thinking about going to Cork for a few months now, yet I barely know why. I just keep hearing the words ‘technology’ and ‘web’ coming from that general direction and wanna see if they have flying cars yet or generally what it is they are all so patriotic about…
Donncha mentioned a while back a selection of events from the Cork Midsummer Festival that looked good and so I set the date of the last event, Robodock, firmly in my mind. Of course I only booked it last week,... midsummer’s gone via iced coffee words
Midsummers Day has come and gone (it was quite a long day at Barcamp) and so just another time of year to realise that time is moving far too quickly. I read recently that the reason time appears to move so fast - that life rushes by, leaving us saying all too often “where does the time go?” - is that as we get older we experience fewer big events and significant milestones as we do when we are younger.
As children (I guess through to late-teens too) there is so much learning of the world and ourselves. Many of us continue to learn, even though the number of major events become more sporatic. It can be disheartening. And so it’s for this reason I keep my free time as eventful as possible, particularly weekends. Increasing memories, eliminating that feeling of...