How the writers strike could change the course of the US Primaries

Shout Out

Congratulations to all those longlisted for the Irish Blog Awards, I am happy to say that many of those I nominated have appeared on the list.
The rather large group of judges have some difficult choices to make!

Ellen is 50

OMG what age does that make me??!!!



Ellen Degeneres (who does a nice line in runners)reached a half century and marked it with a TV Special.

This is an karaoke style video that features a collection of celebrities singing I Will Survive by way of saying Happy Birthday to Ellen or some such thing, it features Posh Spice, Paris Hilton and Jake Gyllenhaal, among others but the most notable thing about it for me is how much Celine Dion looks like Jennifer Aniston.

"I've never knowingly slept with a Windows user..."

This is the trailer for the upcoming fan boy doc, MacHeads The Movie. I'm already hooked, it looks hilarious, and just a little creepy.




"...only Steve knows, He knows what people really need before they know they need it...."

A Dali - like photo from Gaza

TIME magazine have a photo essay on the wall that has come down in Gaza, and this is one of the pictures from it. I think there is something quite amazing and surreal about this shot, the fallen wall seems to morph into steps..

Bin Done?

Morehamton Rd, 15th January, 2008

Inevitable, though I never thought of it myself!

The Writers Strike

As the Writers Strike continues with no real sign of an end, here's something to watch.

Bringing back Chris

Today on LiveDrive the Fartist vote garnered one of the most enthusiastic responses ever (that's featured artist for those of you that don't commute, we face off two "artists" for the privilege of lots of play the following week)
Typically, because of the diversity of the listenership, the fartist vote splits things down the middle, we had Diamonds and Pearls last week (Neil Diamond Vs Pearl Jam) and it went right to the wire before Pearl Jam scraped through just before the end of the show.
Recently, for the craic as much as anything else, I've been campaigning on the show to "bring back Chris" and to the horror and delight of the listeners in the midst of our ecletic playlist I've sneaked in Don't Pay The Ferryman and Ship To Shore. Such was the reaction that we decided to give old Chris a shot at Fartist and so this morning we offered up the choice of De Burgh Vs. De Mode. The result was some of the funniest texts we've had "you're giving us a choice of electronic or catatonic" "this should separate the tranny lovers from the nanny lovers among us" loads of votes for Crispy Burger and Cheesburger, not to mention a deluge of monobrow related comments prompting Paul from Live Drive to say that if Depeche Mode are New Wave then Chris De Burgh is highbrow.
Unbelievably (or perhaps not) Mr. Chris De Burgh WON, so next week the playlist will be peppered with the likes of Lonely Sky, Say Goodbye To It All, Spanish Train and In A Country Churchyard, and OH YEAH High On Emotion (anything pre Lady In Red in fact). By next Friday I'm sure that my Campaign to bring back Chris will been an unmitigated success, or, more likely, the novelty will have completely worn off.
I'm off now to buy a Chris De Burgh Best Of CD!

Light fantastic.

All the skinny on the new MacBook Air here

Mac Expo - yes, I care.

Last year Steve Jobs set hearts a fluttter with the launch of the iPhone at the Mac Expo, it's unlikely there will be anything as "big" this year, though from this teaser I'm guessing something wireless will be part of the "just one more thing" keynote tomorrow. Macworld will be live blogging here.
Apparently there are whispers of a new ultralight laptop, as my PowerBook is getting on in tech years (1 tech year = roughly 40 human years I reckon) I like the sound of that.

Opie on O'Connell St

Remember last year when The Hugh Lane ran the outdoor Barry Flanagan exhibition and we got treated to all those cool bunnies in the city centre? Well they are running a new outdoor exhibit that looks like it's going to be pretty cool. There will be four pieces by Julian Opie (nice website by the way) along the central median of O'Connell St.

If you don't already know Opies work you're probably familiar with the album cover he did for Blur.

I came across this video on youtube that gives an idea of what it will be like.

Sometimes I really admire these guys...

It must be a bit of craic all the same coming up with this stuff.....

In from the cold.

I have had a head cold for 12 stuffy irritating days, there are signs (small ones) of it abating, but whenever I'm exposed to Air Conditioning, it kicks off again. What is it with the Irish management of air conditioning? Do we even need it? My office is in a HUGE open plan space, summer and winter the air conditioning blasts out, to the extent that in Summer you have to wear a fleece inside to keep warm. Ridiculous. I believe that the Irish approach to air conditioning is similar to our approach to Cappuccinos, It's all about the sophistication of having it regardless of whether or not it is any good. Therefore we happily shell out €3.20 for a pint of scalded milk mixed with a thimble of coffee that tastes (if you can taste it) of the dirty pipes it's been run through. (FYI Dublin "Baristas" you're not supposed to Boil Milk, and you are supposed to clean the pipes.)

I cheered a little for Hilary this morning on the news of her unexpected comeback in New Hampshire, there is an interesting piece in the Huffington Post theorising about the Republican agenda for backing Obama, and indeed the medias Hilary bashing.

As the Writers Strike continues, this years Golden Globes have been shelved, at least as we know it, because there were fears thart the attending actors would refuse to cross the pickets of the writers outside. The impact of the strike hasn't really been felt here yet as we are usually a season behind the US on major dramas, but Greys anatomy has run out of episodes, Ugly Betty is in repeats and there are mutterings that the new season of Lost will be a short run. The Networks are turning to repeats and to reality shows as an alternative schedule filler, and while they are reporting good viewing figures for these, causing some to say that when the writers come back, there will be less need for them. Reality shows don't hold up well as repeats, nor do they make great DVD Box sets (a big revenue stream for the networks and one of the reasons the writers are striking - they want a bigger cut) , so I'm pretty sure that when the writers do come in from the cold, they will be put back to work!

Lovely Sunrise

While it was snowing everywhere else, Dublin didn't see much of it, we did feel the cold snap though, it was -2 on my way in to Live Drive. The weather did treat us to an amazing sunrise however, although I work in a windowless room, we have plenty of views and this one is from a camera on the M50 looking over Finglas.
I love the quality of the light at this time of year, the warm orange glows cast over the city at twilight are a real contrast to the temperature.