Flirting 2.0

With the explosion of Social Media and the new found ability to poke, tweet, follow, tag and so on, you need to know just how it is that you're meant to interact with the opposite sex...



Cheers to Rick for this one!

Electric Picnic 2009

Awesome stuff! Last Wednesday saw the announcement of the Electric Picnic line-up, perhaps the most eagerly awaited music news this year. And why not - it looks amazing!

So what are the who's what's and why's....
This year Electric Picnic will be on the 4th, 5th and 6th September
The venue (as always!) is Stradbally Hall, Co. Laois
Tickets went on sale on Friday last (17th April) at 9am

And the acts....
Headliners (though many would say this year is a collection of headliners!) are the dance giants Orbital, who confirmed that their Irish summer outing would indeed be the picnic. Then alongside them there is an almost endless array of mega-stars:
Flaming Lips
Basement Jaxx
Madness
MGMT
Fleet Foxes'
Klaxons
Bell X1
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Chic
Seasick Steve
2 Many DJs
Lisa Hannigan
Explosions in the Sky
Damien Dempsey
Alabama 3
Bat for Lashes
Zero 7
Erol Alkan
Roots Manuva
The Sugarhill Gang
Billy Bragg
Lykke Li
Imelda May
Echo & The Bunnymen
Magazine
Moderat
Simian Mobile Disco
Four Tet
Skream & Benga's Magnetic Man
Noze
Heartbreak
Halfset
Chris Cunnigham
Okkervil River
Magnolia Electric Company
The Low Anthem
The Villagers
Tunng
Jape
The Whitest Boy Alive
Micachu and the Shapes
The Walkmen
Michael Nyman
Dublin Gospel Choir
Quantic Soul Orchestra
Jazzanova

But stay tuned as that's not the end of it. There are still a lot of actsa to be announced in the coming weeks and as you can see, it's looking like one hell of a weekend.

So what else can I do there....
Back again (thank God on Sunday!) is the Body & Soul Village with all the stuff to right you back again - holistic treatments, reiki, yoga and massage, all combined with that wickedly chilled out vibe and music that feels of so good to the weary dancer. Then once you've got your energy back why not get yourself over to the Comedy Tent to refuel your sense of humour. Though if you're looking for something with a little bit more thinking you can always try the Spoken Word area, which will have (the brilliant) David McWilliams' Leviathan debates, and a host of poetry readings, Irish language performances and storytelling.

Is that it...
Definitely not! There's still Arcadia (except Glastonbury, Electric Picnic will be the only festival to host Arcadia this year), Thisispopbaby, Greencrafts, the Southern Comfort Crawdaddy Stage, the Bacardi B Live Arena and the Hot Press Chatroom. So you see, this is not a weekend to be spent anywhere except in Stradbally.

So how much will this weekend of joy cost me....
Weekend Tickets are €240
Family Camping Tickets are €480 (2 adults & up to 4 kids under 12)
Campervan Tickets are €60 (only one needed per campervan)

Well that's it....
If your mind isn't made up, you're a crazy person. Get your ticket and I'll see you there.

Shoot Like Apes

An exciting day ahead for sure folks. I have the pleasure of helping out as a Production Assistant on today's Fight Like Apes video shoot in Whelans on Wexford Street.

Today's shoot is for the song ‘Something Global’ and will be directed by Eoghan Kidney and produced by Fionn Kidney. Eoghan previously directed the Fight Like Apes’ ‘Tie Me Up With Jackets’ that was hugely applauded for its ground breaking animation, which used 1,400 different oil paintings, and more recently the video for Valerie Francis' 'Punches', which has received a similarly massive amount of praise including a listing on KanYe's Blog (this was also Produced by one of my best mate's Tim Duggan who is CEO of Mercuryboy). Fionn's background is equally impressive, with experience as Director of Digital at Strategem, Assistant Producer with Mercuryboy and providing Consultancy Services to the Darklight Film Festival, to name just a few.

Today's shoot will be no different to 'Tie Me Up With Jackets' from the point of view of creativity and daring. The video will mix pro hi-def camera footage with footage from audience operated handycams, camcorders and camera phones. Of course there's more to tell but I'm afraid I'm sworn to secrecy for the moment. Hopefully this evening I can give a better account of exactly what has been done and how it was pulled off. But we'll have to wait and see.

If you want to know more; either check out Darragh's Tweets throughout the day as he keeps the outside world up to speed on what's going on on the closed set, visit the FLA website or Facebook Page, or pop down to Whelans at 11.30am and if there is any space left in the crowd you could be lucky enough to get in.

YouTube Symphony Orchestra

Following months and months of work, last Wednesday saw the YouTube Symphony Orchestra finally arrive. Including over 90 musicians from around the world, the event at Carnegie Halls a truely historic performance.

Check out Tan Dun's composition "Internet Symphony, Eroica" - a mash up of nearly 3,000 video submissions.

Spam Could Power 2.4 Million Homes

Following on from my earlier post (in a general environmental theme) I wanted to share this article that I spotted on [Geeks Are Sexy].

A report by McAfee has outlined that the total energy wasted by spam emails could power 2.4 million homes a year. The report, which was produced with environmental consultants ICF International, indicates that spam emails are responsible for 33 billion kilowatt hours of energy used each year. Surprisingly (to me at least) the report shows that the actual development and mailing of the emails only accounts for 7% of that energy, the vast majority of the energy is used to filter the unwanted messages.

The report also shows that the total energy usage produces 17 million tons of CO2, the same amount as 3 million cars.