water

Did Dublin Airport and back for the second time in five days last night, and it's safe to say that thanks to Twelfth-related diversions, it was an experience. I do like getting to drive at 120km/h though... my R's come down in less than a fortnight so it's not all bad anyway.

Spent some of today arguing with the only audio cassette deck I could find with a line in, as it wasn't co-operating so well with the Mac. Have resolved to circumvent the high level of skipping on my car's CD adaptor by just putting all the best ones on some good old hi-quality ferric tape... it's not the only tech problem at the moment either. Someone gave me their Samsung VP-U10 to fix [constantly ejecting as soon as it's turned on] and a google-trip later reveals that this is a perversely common issue with the model. Anyone who's got an 8mm camcorder and wants to donate it so i can upload some stuff...

My second cousin (tenuous link) is involved with an absolutely incredible charity called, simply charity:. Founded just last year by a New York media-guru (but don't hold that against him) their first project, 'charity: water' has been so successful that in one year they've dug 158 new wells across five african nations. Each well services on average 500-1000 people, so do the math and that's a lot of lives changed, at just $2000 a time. The website is glorious too, but that's hardly even an aside - definitely a case for why content is king. I can't recommend it enough. If you have a moment on it, click on the link to Zurich School - Flavia's the sullen-looking one in the middle...

Made the mistake yesterday of cracking out Season 5 of The West Wing yesterday to fill a couple of hours. Eight episodes in now - and this is the weakest series, I remind myself... I've missed you, Jed.

showtime

Have spend the last couple of days gathering up stuff to attempt to hack together my first proper showreel, to highlight what i'm (theoretically!) capable of with film-making. It's a daunting task:

(a) because I've (theoretically) made a huge amount, and
(b) because so much of it is unusable.

Completely unusable. Years ago, when I got the bug and was shown how to hack stuff together by my crazy-ass cousin, we didn't have anything digital - it was done with an uncle's '80s cassette video camera and two VCR's - and lots of mistakes. So that stuff's all out. Later stuff shot on digital but that I only have on VHS - out. Pretty much anything produced using the world's WORST edit software (not including anything that ever came bundled with Windows) Pinnacle Studio (more glitches than... something with a hell of a lot of glitches) - rendered usually in a horrendous low-res. Plus the titles etc. are so bad i can hardly bear to look at most of it myself.

Which has left me with a few things to throw in: all the uni stuff (thankfully backed up as very high-res mpgs and movs over the years - now that's foresight), a couple of shorts from the last year or so (humour level: high. film quality: hmmm...) and I guess I'll bite the bullet and try and use some of the other stuff sparingly. I guess the result will never look like anything beyond a laptop screen or a VHS, but considering my target market, that's probably not the worst evil.

To work!

---------------

I finally got my dirty paws on the glorious Parallels Desktop 3.0 for the MacBook; but I can't yet use it because those expletives at Dell don't see fit to include the Windows XP installation disc (which I believe you've probably paid for, yes?) with the PC when you buy it. So I'm currently trying this procedure... the evil's of dial-up mean it's going to take a couple of days to download XP Service Pack 2 off the Microsoft website though; but I'll write up how this adventure turns out in the end.

[This note's really just for you, Dave, to keep your currently tech-deprived brain ticking over...]

---------------

Finally got a year's worth of analogue film photographs developed this week. Loads of horrendous shots, but got very nostalgic with a few from the COISC's Weekend Retreat from last October.

it's raining

...just for a change. Really big powerful rain: I was in barcalona whenever the mass flooding happened last month so I missed out on that experience. On the way back from leaving d'mother down to Aerfort Bhaile Atha Cliath [Dublin Airport for the heathens] the heavens really opened a couple of times. It got a bit hairy outside Dungannon and the traffic piled up; bit shocking for a Sunday lunchtime.

Anyway, home appears to have escaped so the raft stays in the nissen hut for a wee bit longer.

Did a design job during the week, was a bit thrown together (actually it was a lot thrown together) but apparently it was exactly as desired so it's all good...



preview's obviously a bit smaller res - like 100th-size - cause of the evil dial-up warlock that lives in my connection...

whatever you do, do it well

Graduated today. Whole lots of fun: up at 8.15, in gown by 8.50. One lengthly Harry Potter joke later (about an hour or so) and I found myself sitting in the Whitla Hall at QUB (named for Sir William Whitla, though I still can't remember who he was or what he did. Unlike Sir Hamilton Harty, prominent Queen's music lecturer about a century ago and who you should definitely find out more about.) I can't say I was enthusiastic, but still nervous. Then it became apparent that our Honorary Graduate was Desmond Tutu and it all became much more interesting. Being a globally recognised voice of peace and reconciliation, I could've probably told you exactly how his speech would go beforehand. But it was all in the delivery, and I definitely feel that much wiser for having heard the great man. It doesn't do any damage that he was so funny, even my sister laughed either. It's worth checking out his short bit from tonight's BBC Newsline.

first things first

I can't explain it, but I've had a lot of trouble thinking of what to post first on this, the new blog page. Which is very silly, as no-one will read it anyway [other than those who see it in their facebook notifications and click on it out of boredom.] As a new project, it doesn't feel like you can just continue on with previous strings and waves of thought, but like you have to start again.

So I thought I'd go for an explanation. Someone working beside me just leant over and asked, "Why are you giving the impression that you're speaking on behalf of an organisation or something, when it's your own personal blog?" That sounds like as good a place to start as any.

I've been a volunteer youth worker for nearly six years. It sounds very long, but I spent the first four of those usually getting it drastically wrong. No court cases though, so it's all good. [Dangerous jokes, last of those I'll make...] I've spent the last three 'reading' Film Studies at Queen's University, Belfast - for many, an enormous waste of time, but there was something useful imparted every now and again. Through a long-time interest in film - completely extra-curricular - I've been making films for, interestingly, about as long as I've been with the youth work, and luckily, in the last couple of years the two have intersected every now and again; even expanding to photography and radio on occasion.

Mediatree is really an umbrella to combine all these things. Right now, I'm about to begin a year of teacher training. It'll be a tough old year, but if I still like working with teenagers by the end of it, it's a very good sign. By working together all the different elements of media stuff and the youth work, I hope to someday fulfill the Mediatree ideal, working resourcing, corporate media work, and youth work as facets of a single setup. It's a big ask, but it does have a bit of a calling/obsession element to it.

Make sense? Probably not.

I'd really like to be able to earn some kudos back at this point, and stick a couple of film clips up to win your undying approval; I'm kinda worried though that if I put up any of our final uni project, it'll get me in trouble with Film Festival people who are funny about that kind of thing the world over. And I can't put up any of the youth work stuff because of Child Protection legislation.

So instead, here's one from a couple of years ago with some chop socky.



[If you can't see the video, click here instead.]

prior offences

Over here is where I used to blog. It was ok, but this will hopefully be better.