Well the full details of the Cork Film Festival schedule are out and Building A House will be playing in the Kino, Tuesday October 10th at 6:30. Not sure if the listing order is any indication of the running order but if it is, then we're on first - which isn't great but it beats being last or even, as Emmet stated, in the last three. Not particularly fond of screenings but I am drawn to them in a moth to the flames kind of way. Fact is I'll spend the screening watching for audience reaction.
Emmet got back from the New York screening of Building A House and it seems to have gone well. Haven't talked to him yet but he seems to have enjoyed himself. Also, when he got back our acceptance into Cork Film Festival was waiting for him. Cork's a pretty big deal for us and not just because it's home territory. It also happens to be one of, if not the number one festivals for short films in the world. We'll be entered in the Made In Cork programme, which Ed won last year. I'm looking forward to this because I really haven't been to the festival in years, I don't think I even went to see The Lump when it was screened, and I used to really enjoy it. I remember(I use the word in the loosest definition) my eighteenth birthday at the festival and going to see Fear of a Black Hat, which we thought was the funniest film of all time but, all things considered and consumed, we'd probably have laughed at The Pledge. For news of the screening times, you'll just have to keep checking back on the blog.
Funny thing - I went out on the rantan last Saturday week. Met a buddy at half twelve to watch Liverpool play Everton and staggered home some time in the region of two in the morning. Very little memory of any of it but just about everyone I met this weekend remarked on how exceptionally pissed I was. People who I rarely ever talk to were making cracks about it. Now, of course, that's not the funny bit. No, what got me was that alot of these people were surprised because I was pissed - at all. One of the barmaids in Freds said to me she'd never seen me pissed until that night and made some remark about everyone having their limit. Now the fact is I'm kind of fond of a gargle, once in a while like, and all these people have met me, encountered me or served me when I've been a little the worse for wear. Yet they seem completely oblivious to the fact that I might be a little tipsy, so to speak. Which makes me wonder - what sort of gurning, insane imbecile do these people think I am? While we're on the subject, why not warm your cockles with a smooth Bif Sniff or maybe suggest a more appropriate recipe. I've never actually had Swedish Punsch but I'm not a big man for spicy liqueurs - no matter what my brother-in-law tries to contend.
Bob Byrne's Robots Don't Cry is available to buy. Bob's the guy who did our last Valentines cartoon and someone still thought it was a good idea to let him do a book for children. If you know any children, you should buy this book for them - it can only be good for them.
It seemseveryone'stalkingaboutThe Wire, some more often than others. Season Four hasn't reached these shores yet but repeats of season three have just finished, so it won't be too long. The Wire has evolved from an exceptional cop show into probably the finest television ever made. It's just the most fascinating and well constructed show you'll ever find. It's a very rare thing to watch a show and actually dread the final credits coming. There are, and have been before, good shows that you walk away from with a great sense of satisfaction. The dialogue is crisp, the characters are engaging and the storyline keeps you interested. But when they're over, they're over and that's fine. The Wire, however, is that rare animal that you just wish they'd run every episode back to back, once a week. Chances are TG4 are going to repeat at least season two of The Wire again and I'll watch it again. If they show season one again, I'll watch that too. Because even though I've seen it before, more than once, it's still streets ahead of most new television. And yet, having said all that, the viewing figures for the show are pretty poor. I don't think I've met anyone yet who watched the show without my prompting or, at least, the promting from someone I prompted. No terrestrial British station picked it up. Over here only TG4 took to it. How on earth could that be? Some try to suggest that it's just too clever or complex but The West Wing was a smash and fuck knows what they were even talking about half of the time. I don't get it. I really don't. Either way, a fifth series has been commisioned and that'll keep me happy for now.
I recently rewatched the entire series of Pure Mule and was quite impressed by the improvement in the later episodes. So I was pretty interested in seeing how RTE's new series, Legend, would turn out. Now I watched the first episode twice and the second episode, which was on last night, just to give it a fair shot. And I quite like it. Again it's not the most original but it's done well and you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you get behind the camera. At times it seems to be trying too hard to be quirky, though more so in the first episode than the second. Writer Ken Harmon does seem to have a good ear for dialogue, which is where an awful lot of Irish drama really falls down. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how it develops and, at the very least, it's not a chore to sit through which is more than can be said about alot of RTE's output.
Am I the only one who can't pass those sitepal ads, mostly on technorati, without getting them to say something obscene?
A business student from around these parts, Cork, has set up a website to raise money to buy a house because he wants to be a property invester. Does the world really need another one so badly? Curses on you milliondollarhomepage, curses! Seriously though, do those ads have any actual value to anyone?
Since we started doing the cartoons for Irish Election, and it turned out that I actually enjoyed doing them, all sorts of other ideas started crossing my mind. I considered a sports related cartoon series but since Frank was always the weird looking kid wearing a beret and reading Albert Camus that no one ever wanted on their team, it seemed unlikely that he'd get into the idea. So then I thought you could do something pretty nifty with a tech news related theme - you know like pulling cartoon ideas from the blogosphere and stuff. That's when I started to take a more keen interest in sites like Problogger - which is when, entirely by coincidence, Chris Pirillo and Brad Fitzpatrick just made a new enemy. Actually none of the above is really that accurate, except the bit about the beret and Albert Camus. I think Frank would wet himself if I suggested we do more stuff anyway. Either how, Blaugh seems like a good idea, they'll certainly get more links back than we do, and I thought I'd mention it because Brad was the guy I stole the idea for cartoon feeds from. Not surprising then that they've got a range of different Blaugh feeds.
Emmet got back from the New York screening of Building A House and it seems to have gone well. Haven't talked to him yet but he seems to have enjoyed himself. Also, when he got back our acceptance into Cork Film Festival was waiting for him. Cork's a pretty big deal for us and not just because it's home territory. It also happens to be one of, if not the number one festivals for short films in the world. We'll be entered in the Made In Cork programme, which Ed won last year. I'm looking forward to this because I really haven't been to the festival in years, I don't think I even went to see The Lump when it was screened, and I used to really enjoy it. I remember(I use the word in the loosest definition) my eighteenth birthday at the festival and going to see Fear of a Black Hat, which we thought was the funniest film of all time but, all things considered and consumed, we'd probably have laughed at The Pledge. For news of the screening times, you'll just have to keep checking back on the blog.
Don't how well it translated or even what language it is but someone went to the trouble and that's pretty nifty. See the original here.
