Author Archives: Steph

About Steph

Web designer & developer, blogger, bogger, singer, dancer, gardener & general good-timer. www.iamsteph.com

Refresh Dublin

  By Steph | October 15, 2009 - 11:07 am | Events
3 Comments

The first Refresh Dublin is taking place on Thursday October 29th at 6pm at the Science Gallery. Refresh is a global initiative to get people in various aspects of the web, multimedia and New Media industries together to share ideas, visions, discuss, debate and learn from each other. Or as Refresh put it: “Refresh is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical, and professional culture of New Media endeavors in their areas. Promoting design, technology, usability, and standards.” The theme “State of Play” - what’s happening in Ireland in the web and interactive media industries. The speakers: The Playhouse Dublin Team - Interactive Installation Design & Development Sabrina Dent - Website Design Eamon Leonard - Web Application Development Mercury Girl Inc. - Augmented Reality (Layar) and iPhone Development Best of all it’s free to attend but you do need to hot foot it over to … There’s more →

Absolut Fringe review: Group Therapy for One

  By Steph | September 18, 2009 - 1:59 pm | Featured Post, The Arts, The Culch, Theatre
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Last evening I saw one of the most interesting shows I’ve seen at Absolut Fringe thus far. It’s Group Therapy for One by a young and exciting theatre company called TheatreClub. “Shane’s a bit fucked up. He wants us all to go to his gaff, where he’s holding an inquest into his life. With the bravado of his father and the softness of his mother, he will tell you things he doesn’t want you to know. Some say he’s comedy gold. Other’s think he’s self-indulgent. Why don’t you decide? If you’re lucky, he might even invite you to his 21st!” So we meet as directed on O’Connell Bridge where we’re then taken by bus to Shane’s house by a few of his friends, including the director of the show. We’re given an introduction to who Shane is, or rather the good side and attributes of Shane as a counter-balance to … There’s more →

An Evening of Reading, Music & Conversation with Nick Cave

  By Steph | September 9, 2009 - 5:20 pm | Books, Music
6 Comments

“To celebrate the release of Nick Cave’s new novel The Death Of Bunny Munro, there will be a tour of live events throughout Europe. Taking place in intimate theatre settings these unique shows will be a mix of readings and live music, with Nick joined by Bad Seeds’ Warren Ellis and Martyn Casey.” [official blurb ] With only a handful of these shows being organised, Irish Nick Cave fans are in for a rare treat on October 12th at Vicar St. You can read some extracts from the book or listen to chapters in audiobook format on the official website thedeathofbunnymunro.com. Tickets are on sale tomorrow morning at 9am via Ticketmaster.

Point Blank at Absolut Fringe 2009

  By Steph | September 6, 2009 - 11:52 pm | Featured Post, The Arts, Theatre
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Fascinatng, disturbing, engaging, thought-provoking and encouraging. These are some of the words I would use to describe my first Absolut Fringe Festival 2009 experience - Point Blank at the Project Arts Centre. Upon finishing high school, Nada is faced with the challenge of deciding what she wants to do with her life. Despite the expectations of her peers, Nada doesn’t want to go to university. She finds the notion that she is expected to know what she wants to with her life at such a young age absurd and thus decides to leave home and head into the unknown to figure out her path. She takes her camera (which has a powerful zoom lens) with her and begins to secretly photograph people from a distance observing the lives of others in an attempt to decide what kind of life she wants to lead. From her travels she has so far collected … There’s more →

Cois Fharraige 2009 gets the green light

  By Steph | August 6, 2009 - 5:57 pm | Gigs, Music
1 Comment

The veil of uncertainty over whether or not the Cois Fharraige festival was going ahead this year finally lifted today and it’s all systems go according to promoters MCD. It’s the third year of Ireland’s music and water sports festival taking place down on the west coast in Kilkee, Co.Clare over 3 days from September 11th to 13th. Thus far the music line-up sounds fantastic featuring Doves, The Zutons, Newton Faulkner, Noah & The Whale, The Hold Steady, Stereo MC’s, Lightning Seeds, and Jerry Fish with more acts to be announced in the coming days. Kilkee is hugely popular with the surfing community the whole year round and while you’re there you can try your hand at some surfing lessons or try out some water-skiing or diving or even just head for a swim in the refreshing Atlantic ocean. And if you’re not feeling the ocean vibe, there’s some amazing … There’s more →

Galway Arts Festival 2009

  By Steph | June 23, 2009 - 2:07 pm | Comedy, Music, The Arts
1 Comment

The annual 31st Galway Arts Festival is just under 3 weeks away and once again they’ve got a huge programme of music, dance, theatre, comedy, street performance, literature and visual arts events to satisfy all appetities. It takes place in Galway from July 13th to 26th in various venues around the city featuring both Irish & international artists. Here’s a small taster selection of the acts you can see there over the 2 weeks: Music Bon Iver @ Festival Big Top David Gray @ Festival Big Top Hot 8 Brass Band @ Roisin Dubh Spanish Harlem Orchestra @ The Radisson Spiritualized, Primal Scream & David Holmes @ Festival Big Top Theatre & Dance A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ Town Hall Theatre DNA @ Nun’s Island Theatre Druid - Synge Centenary @ St.Nicholas Church Furioso @ Black Box Theatre The Gigli Concert @ Druid Lane Theatre Comedy Dead cat Bounce Wired … There’s more →

Review: Gardiner Street Gospel Choir @ The Helix

  By Steph | June 9, 2009 - 12:40 am | Gigs, The Culch
4 Comments

I started going to Gardiner Street Gospel mass in March. Why? Multiple reasons: I had heard their recordings & warmed to them. I live within walking distance Gardiner St. My head was all over the place, needed some sorting out & I thought “it can’t hurt to try this”. At the risk of sounding a little nutty, I came out of that church a changed person & I’ve been hooked ever since. I was gleeful when I saw they were doing a gig in The Helix, DCU, partly because it meant a lot more GSGC than you’d get at a mass but mainly because they would reach a wider audience - after all, mass just ain’t everyone’s cuppa The gig opened with the fabulous Conor McKeon & The Legends of Swing who got us in the finger-clicking mood with some Rat Pack & Van Morrison tunes. GSGC opened with Pride … There’s more →

NCAD Graduate Exhibition 09

  By Steph | June 8, 2009 - 3:11 pm | Events
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The annual NCAD Graduate Exhibition is taking place this week at the NCAD campus and the Digital Hub, both on Thomas St, Dublin 8 (near Guinness Storehouse for those not Dublin-wise). I’ve popped along to this every year for the past few years and it’s always been thoroughly enjoyable & inspirational. On show is work from graduates of both the undergrad and postgrad courses covering everything from fine art to ceramics to jewelry design to video installations to industrial design and much much more. Fine Art postgrad exhibitions (MA & MFA) are are located in the Digital Hub while all other work is at the NCAD campus. Map with both locations is here. The exhibition has been running since Friday and continues through the week from 10am to 8pm every evening, finishing on Friday June 12th.

SweetTalk 35 @ The Sugar Club

  By Steph | May 25, 2009 - 10:34 pm | Events
3 Comments

This Thursday evening sees SweetTalk 35 hitting The Sugar Club with a feast of graphic design & illustration deliciousness. 3 amazingly talented designers/typographers/illustrators will be speaking about their work: Alex Trochut (work produced for Nike, Coca-Cola, the The Guardian, British Airways, Addidas) Ian Stevenson (MTV, E4, Paul Smith, Perrier) Gaetan Billault (Jo’Burger, Bodytonic, Snyth Eastwood, Mongrel magazine) I’ve been to a few SweetTalk evenings and always find them really inspiring, especially the Q&A session afterwards with the speakers. Not to mention the comfy factor of The Sugar Club! But be warned - it’s a very popular event so either grab your tickets now at www.tickets.ie or get there in plenty of time on Thursday and grab them on the door. It’s €10 in, doors open at The Sugar Club at 7pm.

Dublin City Soul Festival hits town

  By Steph | May 19, 2009 - 10:50 pm | Events
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It’s that time of year again - the days are getting longer, the sun is coming out to play (well hopefully) & there’s soul in the air! The 3rd annual Dublin City Soul Festival hits the capital this week from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th of May. There’s an amazing array of musicians from all over the world hitting the streets, cafes & bars of Dublin this week bringing soul to the masses. Here’s some of the highlights: Rising Stars @ Meeting House Square: Taking place on Friday 22nd from 5pm, the Top 10 Rising Stars will be providing soul food from the stage while a BBQ, tapas & cold beer will be on hand to get you weekend off to a fantastic start! Tickets are free & available by emailing your request to [email protected] Soul Jam @ The Sugar Club: Ms.Nickki & The Memphis Soul Survivors with Vince Johnson … There’s more →

Gardiner Street Gospel Choir @ The Heilx

  By Steph | May 14, 2009 - 2:00 pm | Events
5 Comments

The fabulous Gardiner Street Gospel Choir are performing at The Theatre @ The Helix, DCU on Saturday June 6th. The choir have been together for just over 9 years & are at the centre of the weekly Gardiner Street Gospel Mass at St. Francis Xavier’s church in Gardiner Street since they formed. They’ve gone from strength to strength over the years with radio broadcasts on RTE to recording with Luka Bloom & Juliet Turner to their wonderful opening of the 2009 Irish Blog Awards. I’m ashamed to say that after 7 years living in north Dublin city centre I only first saw the choir sing live about 6 weeks ago at their gospel mass & fell completely in love with them. I’ve heard recordings over the years but as you might expect, they don’t do them justice. I’m now hooked on it & Sunday evening without hearing them sing just throws … There’s more →

Dance, break a world record & change lives

  By Steph | May 6, 2009 - 1:55 pm | Events
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That’s essentially the message behind Special Olympics Ireland’s latest fundraing event. Taking place as part of the opening festivities for Fleadh Nua 2009 in Ennis, Co.Clare on Sunday May 17th, SOI are looking for people to help them break the world record for the largest ceili ever. What can you do? It’s pretty easy to get involved: Buy the DVD Sell the DVD Donate Volunteer (stewards etc required for the day) Tell everyone you know! If you want to purchase the DVD in advance, you’ve only got about a weed to do so with shipping etc. The DVD is only €10 and proceeds go towards a fantastic organisation. More information is available at the website www.siegeofennis.com. They’re also on Facebook, Twitter & Bebo so spread the word! And don’t worry about your dancing skills - anyone with a pair of legs and a pair of arms can dance the Siege … There’s more →