photo credit: vmiramontes

The November meet of Kilkenny Open Coffee takes place tomorrow morning at 11:30am at the Kilkenny Cafe in Market Cross Shopping Centre. (Map here). I’d missed last month’s outing, being away with Devious Theatre, but you can read John Keyes’ writeup here to give you an idea as to what took place.

Kilkenny Open Coffee has been running since January this year; we’ve had some great discussions, some very busy mornings, some very quiet mornings, but no matter what the topic, it has constantly made for a great way to spend a few hours on a Wednesday morning. The gathering has grown in terms of regular attendees over the course of the year with matters business, technology, web, social and otherwise on the table for discussion. We’ve heard new business ideas, seen new product demos, listened to and shared advice and experiences, all the time making new contacts and new introductions.

If you’re in business, considering starting your own business, have a product to show off, a new idea to run by an interested audience, or you just want to get out of the house or office for a coffee and meet people in a similar workspace, then join us at the back of the Kilkenny Cafe tomorrow morning from 11:30am. The tea is plentiful, the wifi is free and you’ll be back in the office in time for lunch.

Visit KilkennyOpenCoffee.com or check out Kilkenny Open Coffee on Facebook and Twitter.

The Original – Devious Theatre Company

The Copy – Waterford 2009 Production

Myself, John, Paddy and Kev had spent the full day working on this photoshoot with the photography, artwork, colour scheme, actor setup, the whole shebang coordinated by our own (as in Devious Theatre’s) Paddy Dunne. Did they rip off his name too (note photographer: Paddy Dwan, too funny)?

Genuinely amused, albeit pissed off at seeing something ripped off.

How do you, as ruler of Dubai, send your congratulations on the launch of an e-library? By tweeting, of course.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai (very long title) is keeping people updated on government issues, business issues, a recently taken photo of Dubai from NASA, videos of the Dubai metro launch (was under construction the last time I was here but has opened as of last month), which are also available on his Facebook account.

I’m impressed.

“The Istanbul-based Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), which is affiliated with the Organistaion of Islamic Conference (OIC), has one of the most valuable references on the Islamic civilisation. This includes 65,000 rare reference books and 200,000 historic documents and images on the Islamic civilisation dating back to many centuries.

The project which was launched in 2008, aims to digitise all of the library’s contents, making its valuable resources available to the public through a multi-lingual portal.”

The turning of the library into a full e-library is being made possible with a grant from the Sheikh. (via Gulf News)

Guessing the holiday snaps won’t be going up on Flickr this time around. I’m convinced I was able to upload them this time last year but but the TRA and its Internet Access Management Regulatory Policy has outfoxed me this time. (If you’re in the UAE and try to click the Flickr link above you’ll be presented with a very large version of the above graphic)

I was wondering as much when I spotted some of my daily blog reads with vacant real estate on screen. Signing into the Flickr uploader won’t work either.

Thankfully it looks like there’s no problem with Pix.ie. Looks like that’s where the holiday snaps are headed this year.

After a hectic weekend between Sligo and Dublin (for the Irish Web Awards), on Sunday night I hopped on a plane to Dubai, a holiday long talked about but only booked a week ago today. The opportunity to get away and do nothing doesn’t arise all that often.

I managed a long weekend in Amsterdam this March, a precursor to “the wedding” in Portugal, where I hadn’t told anyone I was working with at the time that I was going and as a result continued to work for all but one of the days I was there. This time around, it’s a bit different.

Coming to Dubai for the ten days or so gives me the chance to do nothing. I’ve been here before, covered a lot of the tourist activities so if all I get to do is sit around the apartment for the day and watch TV or read through Gulf News or The National, then that’s perfectly fine by me.

It’s been a serious transition year for me work-wise, it’s been an incredibly busy year for me theatre-wise. I had to stop ordering books from Amazon as I haven’t read more than the first chapter in each book since the beginning of the year. I’ve stopped one magazine subscription and I’m close to stopping another as it’s taking me a month to get to taking the magazine out of it’s plastic postage wrapper. This past weekend was also the first in at least six months that I’ve been able to see the family en masse in Sligo such is the way things have been going.

Of course in the rush to get out of the country I left behind my headphones, sunglasses and camera. I actually can’t remember a break I’ve taken away where I have remembered to bring headphones with me. I’ve sourced a new camera here, a nice Canon Ixus 120IS so I can grab some photos so (to the family), I’ll have shots to bring home with me.

I’m letting things slow down, slow right down as in ten days time there’s projects to finish and launch, two theatre productions to oversee and a whole lot more on the cards.

But they can wait a week or so, right?

Here’s the final installment of the current Vultures series, The Long Goodbye. Whether or not it’s the last we’ll ever see of the Vultures gang remains to be seen but needless to say, it’s been an entertaining two years to get the show to its current stage.

The trailer can be seen here or immerse yourself for 40 minutes or so and enjoy episode 7.

For more on Vultures, and all previous episodes, trailers and character information, check VulturesPI.com.

The trailer for the final installment of Vultures has just hit the web. We were treated (we as cast and crew) to the screening of the final episode last weekend and followers of the series online only have to wait until next Sunday (October 4th) to find out how everything comes together…

…or will it?

Check out VulturesPI.com in the build up to the release or follow the VPI crowd on Twitter.

On Saturday night I went along to The Left Bank in Kilkenny for the private cast and crew screening of Vultures episodes six and seven, Attack Of The Pinkertons and The Long Goodbye.

After two years of work, it’s great to see the series come to its conclusion. I could be slightly biased in that I’ve been involved in some of the episodes either on-screen or providing locations for shooting but behind the scenes when you look at the mammoth amount of work that was done, the minimal budget that was used to produce the entire series and the talents of those involved, you can’t help but be in awe. Vultures is produced here in Kilkenny by Mycrofilms.

Above is episode six, Attack Of The Pinkertons, featuring a cameo from myself (”Got any change?”), with episode seven set to hit the web early next month.

For this and all previous episodes along with trailers, character development notes and more, check out VulturesPI.com.

Outside of prepping Devious Theatre for two productions still to come this year, returning to the autumn podcast schedule and work in general, I’ve been spending the last week or so getting set to return to football blogging. American Football that is. Of all the things I’ve written about and taken an interest in over the last four years, the NFL is the one I felt I shouldn’t have stopped on, but did.

Flash back to last week and the 2009 season just a few days away from kick off (it officially started on Thursday night), I subscribe to NFL Game Pass HD, the NFL’s answer to video on demand for all games, every team, including access to the NFL Network and their new Redzone TV channel, and all for the princely sum of around €190 or so.

Day one, no problem. Day two, no problem. I get to watch some NFL Total Access shows over Friday / Saturday. I dip into the 2008 archives and stream the Steelers and Titans from Week 16 of the 2008 calendar, all in full-screen high-definition streaming quality. Impressed – most certainly.

Then comes yesterday, I settle in to watch Game Day morning TV, the show streaming in advance of the lunchtime starts in the US (6pm Irish time). Bengals vs Broncos my game of choice before switching to Redzone TV to geet flash updates and footage from all games. I’m five minutes in, click to switch to Redzone TV and the console crashes. Hmmmm. Possibly the Windows machine at fault, so I reload, get myself back in the game. Two minutes later, it crashes out. And thats it. 7pm rolls by, 8pm rolls by and nothing. Whatever about US users having the luxury to watch the games in the evening, we’re five hours ahead and the rest of Europe heading further into the night.

No video access, no radio access (I’ve a Field Pass radio account as a back up) – nothing. No explanation either apart from an eventual graphic, displayed above. Boards.ie users weren’t too happy and I’m hoping, having made a season-long investment, that the NFL have some serious backup plan and this isn’t the level of service on game day we can continue to expect.

That said, when service was restored a few hours later (late enough for me to catch the final TD score in the Bengals and Broncos game), uptime was maintained and quality never suffered. But for an organisation the size of the NFL, with subscribers paying a fee of that size in advance for their services, on the opening day of the season, surely we’re allowed to expect better.

So there were a few people asking for a photo for the recent DIY job I did in the house, namely in putting a new workstation into one of the rooms here.

Et, voila.

Moving office late last year I wound up with a large desk (one I had originally custom made to fit the first office) that wound up be recycled to construct this one. The desk itself went up in a day, the shelving and stands on the desk itself cut from the old desk top (made to order by a gifted Sligo carpenter) and the rest was down to myself.

I’ve been producing a series of podcasts for the Kilkenny Arts Festival this week so fitted the retractable mic stand to the desk this week to finish things off. Turns out to be a great workstation for the audio / video combo, with the PC (right) used more on the entertainment front (music, streaming video etc.)

The artwork on the walls are pretty much all from Devious Theatre productions.

It’s been a summer of media and arts and video work for me, particularly of late, and Ross Costigan is no different. Having released his special fx test shoot / short The Game earlier in the summer, he’s gone and produced another one entitled Turn Around featuring himself and Dave Minogue.

If you like what you see, let him know by leaving a comment at YouTube.

The Kilkenny Arts Festival, now in its 36th year, opened on Friday night and for the duration of the festival I’ll be hiding out over on the festival blog, with myself and John Morton making contributions to the festival content manning the blog / Twitter and video output until Sunday the 16th.

For me personally it’s a fantastic way to see the festival, having missed out on much of last year’s offerings due to our own (via Devious Theatre) commitments to producing Smitten (2008). Friday took in Aleksandar Madzar, Aka Moon and Black Machine opening to a weekend featuring RSAG, Julie Feeney, Amiina and much more. Throughout the week I’ll be attending a myriad of theatre, music, visual arts, crafts and literature events and working on bringing those to the web for the festival.

If you’re attending anything at the Kilkenny Arts Festival or talking about it on Twitter, there’s also the #kaf hashtag that’s currently being used to track festival chatter online. If you do manage to spot me at an event, be sure and say hello.

photo credit: jwalsh

The August outing of Kilkenny Open Coffee takes place tomorrow morning (Wednesday August 5th) at 11:30pm and we’re back in the Kilkenny Cafe at Market Cross for tomorrow’s gathering.

Last month we had a nice sized meetup in the Kilkenny Rivercourt Hotel but given recent unreliable twists in the weather, we’re taking to The Meeting Room at the rear of the Kilkenny Cafe.

For those of you traveling from outside Kilkenny City, check here for a map.

You can now follow Kilkenny Open Coffee on Twitter.

So, the Janine Drew Agency has opened its doors, the wee junior detective looking to make her stamp on the industry by competing with the likes of VPI and the Pinkertons. She’s even on Bebo.

The above is the Janine Drew trailer, a precursor to Vultures episode six which should see a release within the next fortnight. After that, there’s only one left. So if you’ve got problems with people robbing your bike, saying stuff about you or shams throwing things at you, Janine is your woman.

So, the past few weeks heave been spent getting ready for Stags and Hens with The Devious Theatre Company. I’m a co-founder of the company, a producer on the show and play the role of Eddy (the violent best man), so the last few weeks have been testing to say the least.

Last night though, it all kicked off. One down, four to go.

The only problem with doing this part time is that you spend six weeks in rehearsal for a show, maybe another two months of top of that in pre-production, and it’s all over in under a week.

So for the next few days, you’ll be able to find me enjoying performing in Stags and Hens at the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny. If you would like to join myself and the rest of the Devious Theatre crew and check out the show, tickets are available from the Watergate box office on 056-7761674 or by calling in person to the theatre from 10am each day. If you want to find out more about the show itself, check out the DeviousTheatre.com blog or follow @devioustheatre on Twitter for daily updates and snippets from the wings during the show.

We’re back on the stage tonight at 8pm.

More video for you this week (with more likely to come at the weekend). This time it’s the trailer we’ve just release for Stags And Hens, taking place at the Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny from Tuesday July 21st to Saturday July 25th. Next week we’re going to start giving away a few tickets for the show as well so if you want to be in with a chance of winning, you best get to following @devioustheatre on Twitter. Facebook ads kick in this week, more character promo posters get released, more mentions in the press, it’s full steam ahead.

The first of our video diaries went live earlier in the week as well, you can check it out here or keep an eye on DeviousTheatre.com for all the developments on the show.

The above was cut together last night for The Devious Theatre Company, the group (of which I’m involved in running) currently up to their neck in rehearsals for Stags & Hens at the Watergate Theatre, opening on July 21st. The video and audio were captured on a Sony HDR-SR10 with 5.1 audio, all shots captured last Thursday night (July 2nd) and woven together in Final Cut Express on the Mac. Title screens and name overlays added as PNGs to the process. Music underscoring the piece is a recorded instrumental version of Superstition by Stevie Wonder. Running time is just under three minutes.

We’ve also cut together a nice teaser trailer which will hit the web this week, thanks to Alan Slattery at Mycrofilms.

You can find out more about Devious Theatre by visiting DeviousTheatre.com. We’ve got a few more of these diaries to release over the next two weeks and when I’ve got more, you’ll have more.

If you’re in Kilkenny this weekend, join us for a Devious Theatre 70s night party and fundraiser (fundraiser being there will be buckets doing the rounds if anyone wanted to make a contribution to the theatrical cause). We’re taking over Cleere’s in Kilkenny, the entire place, adding some serious 70s music, fancy dress, food, disco ball, the lot. Kick-off is 9pm.

A special FX test shoot that turned itself into a mini short, by good friend and partner-in-crime at Kilkenny Music and My Music, Ross Costigan and featuring another partner-in-crime, Alan Dawson.

Hopefully some of those scripts he talks about come to light soon. Better be a part in there for me. Or you’re fired.

Go enjoy The Game.

All of a sudden it seems that I’ve come from a family who like to travel a lot. I’ve managed to get away twice this year, most recently to Portugal at the end of the May. My brother has just returned from there. My grandparents are just back from Poland. One cousin has just left for France for the summer while my parents are currently driving around Italy until the middle of the month.

I’ve a sneaking feeling they’ll not have brought my MAXroam sim but if they do get to catch up with the blog today, they’ll be happy to read (as will a lot of people) that the new cap on roaming charges comes into play from today including

• Receiving a call capped at 19c p/m
• Making a call capped at 43c p/m
• Sending a text capped at 11c p/m

Whatever about the call charges, I’d certainly be happy with the reduction of the text charges as (at least in Europe) I would tend to rely a lot on them for the usual light communication chit-chat (”there in a minute” etc.). That said, unless anything changes at the last minute or I take a notion, the next stint away within the EU will be Paris next May.

You can read more on The Guardian’s site, with details of pricing in UK sterling.

With London supposedly entering into a heatwave and the temperatures here over the past week, and again this morning, indicating the possibility of sunny weather this Wednesday, we’re aiming to meet up in the outdoor area of the hotel with plenty of seating available overlooking the river.

I’m not sure myself whether wi-fi access will extend to the outdoor seating but no doubt there’ll be a few laptops and mobile broadband connections available if you’re truly stuck. Kick-off is 11:30am as always.

KilkennyOpenCoffee.com is currently in development and will be used for announcements like this in the future along with providing information on those who attend, where to find us etc.