Its genesis can be traced back to a conversation that took place between myself and PMc at our abode in Pembroke Street, Irishtown in early May 2005. A dodgy webhost in Singapore went belly up a few weeks previous, taking my first blog with him. The conversation was idealistic and fanciful and exciting. We were carried away with doing something that was creative and engaging, somewhere our friends could come and trade friendly barbs and tell nasty jokes about each others' moms.

More and more contributors came on board over time. Cahony, El Commandant P, Dae and Francie made handsome and varied contributions throughout. I will remember the Biscuit Tin series and especially when El Commandant P discussed the political nature of Custard Creams on Newstalk, the one where I claimed that women were more interested in shopping than politics which resulted in a lambasting from many female bloggers, the posts with comments where Cahony and I earnestly told each other to fuck off, Cahony's articulate rantings on Palestine and techno, PMc's astute post about the playing of God Save the Queen in Croke Park, Francie's horse racing punditry and Dae's unique take on the realities that face immigrants arriving in Ireland. A shoutout for the three other one-off posters Shirley, Tom and Euzie must also be made.

Maybe the Irish Blog Awards hex really does exist because on Monday morning, a collective decision was reached to shut up shop. Careers, distractions, 24 hour partying in Berlin :-) and the more important things have ultimately meant that this is no longer viable.

Anyway, enough of this unseemly and drawn-out farewell. So long. For now.

tags:infactah

Published by Colm.  

Made up exclusively from planks.



tags:cabinet

Published by Colm.  

Of Montreal @ Primavera Closing Party




Well I trust now well over a week later my Primavera companions, like me, have just about recovered from the non-stop partying carried out over 6 nights and early mornings at Barcelona's (and dare I say one of Europe's) most wonderful music festivals. Yes, yes I know Sonar is on this weekend!

The depth, variety and geographical spread of musical talent which descended on Barcelona on June Bank Holiday weekend last was truly mind-boggling. Couple this with the logistical setup of the festival and you have a must-have experience for any music fan. The performance and drinks licence runs from 4p.m. to 7a.m. Thursday - Saturday with a closing party on Sunday night in a Barcelona Club 9p.m. - 6a.m. The peak time for the big name acts would be from about 1a.m. to 4 a.m.

The venue, El Parc del Fòrum conveniently located on one of the city's Metro lines is a purpose built outdoor entertainment venue by the sea with grassy knolls and an assortment of amphitheaters ranging from vast to intimate. Sitting on the top tier of one of the amphitheaters around midnight watching a near full moon reflect on the mediterranean and shoreline in front of an amphitheater packed with thousands of revelers will be an abiding memory.

Of course, besides the festival Barcelona is a wonderful city to visit for any reason and you will not be disappointed with its many charms. I wouldn't quite go as far as last year's must have T-Shirt at Sonar "Fuck Berlin, Barcelona has a beach", but it is close! (BTW guys, if anybody sees any of those T-Shirts out there this weekend at Sonar - Buy, buy, buy. There's a soon to be exquisitely valuable In Fact, Ah mug in it for you!)

We took one excursion away from the festival all weekend when we missed all the peak time acts on Friday night to go 40K outside Barcelona to a club called La Cova (it literally looks like a cave with a few bars stuck in the corners) to see Shitmat who was in town. Line of the weekend had to be from the awesome Shitmat himself after his gig when we were chatting to him "Oh, is there a festival on this weekend?".

As regards the festival (and Shitmat) from my own perspective (in its various states of lucidity over the few days) here's a loose order of hots and nots:

Hots
Battles
Shitmat
Slint
Girl Talk
The Fall
Band Of Horses
Of Montreal
Isis
Nathan Fake
Ivan Smagghe

I was a little disappointed to have missed Fujiya & Miyagi due to an unplanned diversion at the festival, but you've got to embrace the craic when it happens. Apparently F & M were really great.


Nots
Smashing Pumpkins
Dominik Eulberg
Justice
Erol Alkan

Some various video fragments spliced together are below.


At the end of the Girl Talk set which was insanely fun, Girl Talk stage dives, crowd surfs and then almost flattens some poor punter in a fall after which he professes his love for said punter.



Justice, meh. You've seen this done before, but here's them doing it.



Slint. Hadn't listened to these guys much before seeing them this time performing their album Spiderland. Wow and stuff!



Shitmat at La Cova. So we missed much of the peak time acts on Friday night at the festival to go the 40K outside Barcelona to see him. Boy, oh boy was it worth it. Major kudos to El Commandant P for marshaling the troops in the right direction and for the blags, it wasn't half bad craic getting backstage with Henry (that's Shitmat to you guys) after his set. The vid includes bits from before and after the main man's set, he's the clip in the middle in the blue shirt with no sleeves going bonkers behind the equipment.



So that was Primavera.





It was a pleasure always, and a pain to leave. So it was good; and so it must come to an end. Thanks!

tags: Primavera

Published by Paul.  

tags:the end

Published by Colm.  

There are fewer pleasures in life that surpass quaffing £50 bottles of champagne while fine dining in Bam-Bou on a Friday night, especially so when the bill is taken care of. Indeed, the past three weeks' dining out have embellished my rotund proportions. Yesterday's barbecue and odd bottle of wine, and today's pork sausage, feta and salsa wrap (my invention) haven't helped either.

Today's beautiful weather and inspiring demonstration of athleticism by Rafael Nadal made a convincing case for getting off the couch. Running and I were never best buddies, but I do try, with the help of Map My Run, to do 25 minutes exercise three times a week. As mentioned already, the past few weeks have distracted me so today was going to be a struggle.



Half way in and I was struggling badly. Legs and chest would not cooperate. A 60 year old woman passing me out on Lambeth Bridge didn't help. In the end, I kicked like Sonia and showed that old lady who the better athlete was. A young girl then glided past, who strangely appeared to take only two steps every 10 metres; she was positively gliding. There was nothing left to do except give up when I got heckled outside a nightclub in Vauxhall (day nightclub).

The End.

tags:running

Published by Colm.  

What costs £400,000 and looks like it was designed on a kid's magic drawing board? It's the new logo for the London 2012 Olympics of course. Ken Livingstone has given his two cents and recommends that the design company not be paid. Most Londoners think it looks daft and some bloggers have likened it to a Simpsons cartoon that's gone horribly wrong. Oh my.

But not all logos are bad, right? Discuss. My favourites are ...



tags:logos

Published by Colm.  

Published by Francie.  

His epic cycle's title is probably slanted towards those who speak American/Canadian English, so don't laugh. But seriously, Tony Griffin is an inspiration both on and off the hurling field. A classy hurler for Clare for the past number of years, this summer Griffin is using his natural athleticism to help him overcome a 7,000km cycle across Canada. Anybody from the Banner who was watching the Clare V Cork game last week probably wished that they had 15 Tony Griffins on the field. Meanwhile, Tony himself was navigating rugged terrain in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Sometimes, it really is just a game. Griffin is aiming to raise 1 million euro in support of cancer research. This journey was inspired by his father's death from lung cancer in December 2005.

The Clare People are featuring a diary of the man himself and it makes for interesting reading. The daily updates leave the reader with the impression that this isn't just another vacuous charity fundraiser. Griffin comes across a deeply spiritual chap who seems to make friends with everyone he meets. Heck, his writing is almost better than what you'll see in Wayne Rooney's autobiography! :-)

Go make a donation here, even if you are Tipperary and the thought of giving money to a Clare hurler makes bile climb your oesophagus.

tags:tony griffin

Published by Colm.  

This spellingbindly pure performance from Joni Mitchell never fails to inspire. As a sixties girl, she was unrivalled when it came to writing songs about politics and for capturing the mood of beatnik folkies at a time of great promise and happiness (wars and political drama aside). Her unique guitar style is something that made everything she composed as fresh as the hippy daisies she probably wore in her hair.

Enjoy the video below of her performance on the Johnny Cash show in 1969.



tags:joni mitchell

Published by Colm.  

What's hot:

1. Facebook. Bebo for those what can write good, innit.
2. The Apprentice. More fun than seeing someone have their bank card swallowed by an ATM.
3. Fianna Fáil. 27.5% of the country can't be wrong, right?
4. Gavin Sheridan. Okay, not Gavin, but his blog! The grandaddy of Irish blogging is back.
5. Cheating cheatahs. What's next, lions that can't tell the truth?

What's not:

1. Big Brother. Staler than four month old bread.
2. The weather. And apparently, the wet spell at the weekend drove people online.
3. Irish property prices. Sell, sell, sell.
4. CD WOW. They are being ordered to pay £41m for selling cheap imported CDs. What I want to know is, who buys CDs anymore?
5. Wifi. Did nobody bother to check that this technology could cause you to grow an extra ear?

These lists are too easy and it's very lazy. But the Sindo might like my writing. Any chance of a job there Aengus, or is it still a family affair?

tags:lazy blogging

Published by Colm.  

See you all next week,

Really wish you could have made it.

Paul & El Commandant P





tags: music

Published by Paul.  

That poor excuse for toiletpaper, and especially Eoghan Harris, has been credited with saving Bertie Ahern's bacon for coming out and telling us all how naughty the bulk of the Irish media were for asking the hard questions.

Listen here as Eoghan Harris once again demonstrates how he and his employer are simply not willing to engage in serious political discourse.

tags:eoghan harris

Published by Colm.  

Whether the polls got it famously wrong or that the public changed their minds mid-stream is of little significance now. Let their voice be heard loud and clear. On Thursday, Irish voters said it was okay to be a little bit corrupt, said it was okay to have to put up with declining quality of life standards and said that change was unwanted and unnecessary. What they couldn't write on the ballot paper was that their real first preference is for economic prosperity to continue. In short, they got the heeby-jeebies.

Let's look at the detritus as it lies strewn across the Irish political landscape. The only real socialist, Joe Higgins, joins a long, sorry list of independents, PDs and Sinn Féiners to lose out to the big two.

An interesting point to note is that in this age of environmental goodwill, the Green Party has failed to match this trendy public sentiment with an increase of support. Fianna Fáil might do well to add this ready-made package to their own without sacrificing too much in terms of cabinet assignments.

While Bertie Ahern can deservedly bask in FF's clinical vote getting and distribution success, he has his work cut-out to maintain support in face of what appears to be an economy in decline. It is simply not realistic to hope that the flagging construction industry will not have too much of an impact on all other areas of the economy. Tradesmen who have made vast amounts of money from a booming property market are now finding lucrative work in short supply. This is particularly true for rural Ireland. Oversaturation of new houses has seriously reduced the demand levels we have seen in the past 10 years. What is to become of these people who have no easily-transferable skills to put to use in other areas of industry? The dole queues will be supported by the wages of young middle-class Ireland who failed to reap the same monetary rewards afforded to carpenters, bricklayers and roofers. Admittedly, this doomsday prediction might happen no matter who got elected this weekend. But when was preparation for this ever mentioned in the past two electoral terms?

All of the failings and disappointments of this government have been ignored by the electorate. The scandals, the dereliction of duty to provide adequate healthcare, the failure to put in place any immigration policies have all been ignored in favour of maintaining the status quo. Are the countless Tribunals now a waste of money? Does Bertie Ahern and Fianna Fáil have carte blanche to act as they wish without fear of being held accountable? Will the notion of standards of conduct in public life now be considered as nice-to-have but not essential? Time, and Fianna Fáil's upcoming term in government, will tell.

** Political persuasions and opinions aside, In Fact, Ah would like to congratulate Michael Kitt on his topping the poll in Galway East. Who says there's no such thing as an honest Fianna Fáil politician?

EDIT: Shed a tear with us and lament what could have been.

tags:irishelection

Published by Colm.  

tags:soccer

Published by Paul.  

If you didn't catch Jonathan Ross last weekend here's an edited down version of his interview with Janice Dickinson. Don't you just want to punch her really hard in her perfectly sculpted nose? Unless of course you are Liam Neeson.





tags: soccer

Published by Paul.