Barack Obama's standup at the White House Correspondents Dinner last night

Funny guy. Loved the Dick Cheney reference.

Chat with John Spillane plus live performance at Tower Records

I've just published my Culch.ie interview with John Spillane in Tower Records this morning. It was a brilliant chat - over 20 minutes! Spoke about everything from Cork to accents to Óró se do bheatha abhaile to Senegal to RnaG to ballet to more!



He was in Dublin to promote his new album So Far So Good, Like - The best of. It's a fantastic Irish album - I hadn't really known much about his music before I bought it yesterday (HMV, €14.99) but the authentic sound from the songs and the lyrics is quite something.

Some of the videos I shot of his performances today are songs from the album:

The Dunnes Stores Girl:



Passage West:



The Dance of the Cherry Trees:



Johnny don't go to Ballincollig:



There was a Man:



Will we be brilliant or what?





John's album is available in all good record stores now. The track listing is as follows: 1. Passage West, 2. The Dance of the Cherry Trees, 3. Lovers Leap, 4. All the Ways you Wander, 5. Johnny don't go to Ballincollig, 6. Everything’s Turning to Gold Cathy, 7. Will We Be Brilliant or What?, 8. Magic Nights in the Lobby Bar, 9. Hey Dreamer, 10. The Dunnes Stores Girl, 11. Buile mo Chroí (Beat of my Heart), 12. The Wounded Hero (Iníon Deichtine), 13. There was a Man, 14. Rise up Lovely Molly, 15. Beidh Aonach Amárach 16. Óró Sé do Bheatha Abhaile

The full, unedited interview can be seen on Vimeo here.

A huge thank you to Paula from EMI Music and Lorcan, John's manager, for helping arrange the interview, to Tower Records for the space and of course to John himself for being so great to talk with and listen to.

Barbecue, Odessa Club, Dublin 2, Monday 11 May

What are you doing after work on Monday? Fancy coming to an evening barbecue in the Odessa Club, Dublin 2?



Jane Russell from Jane Russell’s Original Irish Handmade Sausages is kicking off the summer in style with a bit of food, chat, drink and of course some sausage samples from 7.30pm in the roof garden of the Odessa Club.

She'd like to invite bloggers, online people and anyone who'd like to come along and have a bite to eat. She's one of many companies engaging in social media at the moment to get the company name out there and would love to get the chance to talk to you - and for you to try her food!

The company, going since 1994, uses only prime cuts for their sausages. According to the website:

Being the 5th generation of a prize-winning pork & bacon curing family Jane trawled through her grand-father’s diary of recipes to create her Original Irish sausage.

Forays to French markets allowed Jane to develop her Toulouse sausages while memories of sausages eaten in London inspired the magnificent Beef and Guinness sausages.

It is this ability to create new and traditional flavours that sets Jane Russell’s sausages apart and assures her that her products will always be in demand.

Why am I involved? Well, a friend of a friend asked me to invite people so here I am, inviting you. Apparently Jane's "straight sausages" (the company name) are sausages you can trust. Something to do on a Monday night?

That's the Odessa Club, 7.30 pm, Monday 11 May. See you there?

Who has time to destroy a creme egg?

This guy, apparently.

It took six months to make the Rube Goldberg machine and three days (around 200 hours) to film. This is an entry in Cadbury's "Unleash The Goo" competition, in which entrants must find the most creative way to break a creme egg.

All for a viral ad? Jaysis. Brings how do you destroy yours to a whole new level.

Irish Spencer Tunick photos to be exhibited online in June

People who got naked for Spencer Tunick, the wait to see yourself in a photo is finally coming to an end. News today is that from June 8, the photos will be available online.



For Dublin participants, the lovely people at the Dublin Docklands Authority will be posting the limited edition photos out to participants. Those who participated in the Cork installations will be able to pick up their artworks at the Cork Midsummer Festival Box Office based at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork City.

Each participant will receive one photograph as their personal memento, chosen by the artist, from the day they participated. People who took part at both the South Wall and Treasury Holdings Altro Vetro Building in Dublin will receive two prints, as will the people who took part in the Blarney Castle and White Street Car Park installations at the Cork Midsummer Festival.

Each photograph measures 8 x 10 inches and is printed on the same high quality photographic paper that Spencer Tunick uses for his larger artworks.

In addition, they'll also be up on a website. The DDDA and Cork Midsummer Festival have jointly commissioned artist Spencer Tunick to create a website exhibition of the Spencer Tunick Ireland Installations. This is set to be a "visual documentary" of the installations, featuring artworks from each city and video works made by the artist.

Apparently it's the first time Tunick's work will be available exclusively through a website. It will of course allow participants to be proud of being naked on the internet.

Right? Right. Something to tell the parents about...

Good luck to all in the Cinemagic Festival

Today sees the start of the second Cinemagic Festival in Dublin, or, to give it the full title : The Coca-Cola Cinemagic Film and Television Festival for Young People in association with AIB.



This is a not-for-profit festival and charity that brings the magic of film, tv and all sorts of moving images ‘to entertain, educate and inspire’ young people.

Established in 1989, Cinemagic has developed a worldwide reputation for excellence in children’s programming. Over the last 18 years the festival has grown in stature, gained international recognition and we are now the largest festival of our kind in the UK and Ireland.

Having volunteered with them last year and done a bit of promotion for them this year, I know how much work goes into the festival and how much it is enjoyed by the young people attending films, masterclasses and workshops.

I wish I'd had something like this when I was younger - at that age access to the people (Ray D'Arcy, Don Conroy, Rachel Kavanagh, David Caffrey, Aidan Power) or workshops (a news journalism workshop, one that is a pauper's guide to film making and classes in Storyboarding and Claymation for 7 to 11 year olds) would have been invaluable and inspiring.

The festival caters for all young people (aged between 4 and 25) with any range of film and television interest – whether they want to watch and enjoy, create their own work or take things a stage further and find out more about a possible career in the film or television industries.

I've posted on Culch.ie about the festival. It's also worth pointing out you can win tickets to films both on Culch.ie and over on Boards.ie.

Best of luck to all those helping, volunteering and above all participating. I hope you all have fun and enjoy it as much as I have.

Download Julie Feeney's Love is a tricky thing for free

Julie Feeney is due to release her new album pages on May 29 this year. The lead single is called Love Is A Tricky Thing and you can download the MP3 here.

Choice Music Prize winning singer, composer, multi instrumentalist and windsurfing enthusiast Julie Feeney returns with her second album, pages, on May 29th, 2009.

The album kicks off with the release of the lead single Love Is A Tricky Thing, on May 22. A nationwide tour will be announced shortly.

Darren has it up over on Culch.ie where you can have a listen.

A story about a big squirrel and a baby squirrel.

It may be a miserable day out there, but have a look at this. UCLA students helping squirrels. Strangely compelling four minutes. Aww