Posts from — January 2009

Not everyone likes Twitter. Not everyone gets it. Just like blogging, which has suffused the net with people writing about their cat’s breakfast and their love of knitting, it’s seen by many as just another way to gaze at your navel, and tell the world about it. Saturday’s Guardian described it, derisively, as merely a way of following narcicisstic celebs – ‘A micro form of blogging that allows users to text (or “tweet”) their followers and tell them they’re on a bus or, alternatively, their innermost thoughts.’

And yes, the celebs are there. Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross, Jeremy Clarkson, they all tweet, some more than others.  It’s a technological Marmite, you’re either among the droves of followers who love it, or the thought of it makes you retch. But it’s a bit more than that. Journalist Adrian Weckler (@adrianweckler in Twitter-speak) gets it. He wrote a good post about it on Sunday in the Business Post, including an interview with @micheleneylon who has used Twitter as a business tool, dispensing free domains and offering online advice – proof it has application in the real world.

And as for myself, tomorrow I’ll be doing my first interview arranged directly through Twitter. I’ll be meeting Olympic silver medallist boxer, and avid Twitter fan, @KennyEgan, another man who has used social media to boost his profile considerably, and whose agent/manager, @steoreilly is also on Twitter.

If you’re feeling dead on your feet due to the downturn (or as it’s portrayed on the radio – the Apocalypse/Armageddon/Financial judgement day) it’s time to put it all into perspective. And nothing puts death into perspective like a few rooms full of bona fide corpses.

Bodies opened at the weekend in the Ambassador, showcasing a range of cadavers turned into waxwork-like figures through a process called plastination. The process was developed by Mr Live Autopsy himself, the crazy German in the black hat, Prof Gunther von Hagens, but refined by American Dr Roy Glover, who curated this macabre show.

The show has hefted along with it plenty of controversy. The bodies used in the exhibition are of unknown provenance. The website states that “All of the bodies were obtained through the Dalian Medical University Plastination Laboratories in the People’s Republic of China.” Glover said that he is happy that the bodies are ethically sourced, and, to be fair, a lot of the controversy could be an inheritance from Prof von Hagens, who had to return bodies to China in 2004 after bullet holes were discovered in their skulls.

Regardless, this is a stunning show. The techniques used to preserve the bodies are clearly highly advanced and the result is a natural spectacle. Entire cadavers, with everything stripped away bar the blood vessels. Bodies dissected in all manner of tranches, vertical slices, horizontal MRI-like slivers, and with muscles ‘exploded’ from their points of origin to show how they work.

The spin put on the show to counter the controversy is that it is an educational exhibition, and that’s fair enough. Tidbits of information are dropped all around the exhibition space, organs with cancer and tuberculosis and the lungs of smokers (with a deposit box for cigarette boxes) sit beside clear white non-smokers’ lungs.  The show will open your eyes to what goes on below your skin, and even the most squeamish will find this scintillating. (I went along with my squeamish girlfriend – she kept dinner inside her insides, thankfully).

I spoke about it on Phantom FM’s The Kiosk on Saturday morning, hosted by Nadine O’Regan and ably assisted by fellow panelists/researchers Patrick Freyne and Johnnie Craig. It got five stars from me then, and it gets five stars from me now. Go see.

Just a quickie post to INSIST you go and see Dr Glover’s ‘Bodies – The Exhibition’ in Dublin’s Ambassador theatre.

Last night was opening night, and after a light snack (it’s not a show to see on a full stomach) I had a good nose around. It is absoutely stunning, the dissections they have pulled off are incredible, and aside from all the shock reactions it has garnered (largely due to questions over where the bodies have come from, it’s hugely educational.

A word of warning: The room of embryos and foetuses is not recommended for anyone who is, or has, been party to a crisis pregnancy. It is utterly shocking, and can only serve to swing views on abortion one way, in my opinion.

I’ll be on Phantom FM’s The Kiosk, talking about it with Nadine O’Regan, and also reviewing @Wossy’s (Jonathan Ross) reappearance on television after his prank call with celebritranny Russel Brand.

Exhibition site is here: www.bodiesdublin.com. I’ll blog a full review over the weekend.

“And to the right we’ll have gluten-free hosts suitable for coeliacs.”

Originally uploaded by seminarianvoitus

With that sentence, according to old Christian doctrine, will my soul may have been cast into the eternal fires of hell, as it signalled the end of my belief in holy communion.  It’s quite a bizarre feeling, fiery damnation. Uncomfortably warm. But, by the old rules, that little PC slip of the tongue, if you’ll excuse the pun, would have put the priests doling it out in Satan’s company too. Confused? Amen to that.

It happened at a funeral I attended recently, where gluten-free communion was offered. What a bizarre world we live in when a holy wafer the size of a 50cent piece must meet special dietary needs. However, let’s not look into the recommended daily allowance of gluten in your average communion wafer. That would be silly. More importantly, didn’t we learn in school that the wafer is no longer just a wafer after the benediction? Is it not – shazam – entirely composed of the body of Jesus Christ? Surely, if that’s the case, there’s no need to provide for coeliacs, because the process of transubstantiation would, miraculously, remove the gluten in the ‘fleshing’ process? Not so, and neither is it right to suggest that the ministers of the eucharist, on this occasion, were flirting with fiery oblivion.

Back in the olden days, apparently, anyone who would deny transubstantiation was deemed a dangerous heretic, and was to be subjected to an excommunication so severe, so irrevocable, that it could only be carried out by the Pope himself. If you presumed that the wafers were not eclusively made up of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, you were punished by anathema and cast out of the church for eternity. Scorching damnation awaited anyone who “denieth, that, in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue”

A pretty severe penalty, but with the inconvenient advent of ‘science’ and an rise in the questioning of holy authority, an increasingly unlikely one.  Salvation’s retail outlets began rolling back their definition in the light of atomic science, offering a new deal. They began defining transubstantiation more figuratively. The host was now something not phsyically derived from Jesus’ physical person, but imbued with his metaphysical properties, while remaining bread-like in this, human, world. Convenient.

Convenient, in the current world of dietary sensititivy, because it meant that when the priest provided a coeliac option, he wasn’t suggesting that Jesus Christ’s carcass came in a wheat-free form. THAT would be crazy, and mean instant death. He was merely suggesting that the bread which was imbued with the metaphysical properties from Jesus would not inflame the gut of anyone with a gluten intolerance. It was stomach-friendly soul food, but soul food none the less.

All of which makes perfect sense, a religious work-around you can believe in. If, that is, you can swallow it.
Update: When the Staff of Life is Toxic

This is what happens when a flood of Irish heads south to escape the economic winter. The headlines from the Irish Echo are filled with stories of drunken altercations, car crashes and a litany of drunk, stoned and plain stupid backpackers and should-know-betters doing what comes naturally.

Ask yourself what news you’ve heard of the Irish antipodeans lately, and apart from Qantas head honcho Alan Joyce and the Irish cyclist in the Tour of Adelaide, it’s all rampaging pikeys and drunken affray.

Get it together, lads.

Read the full stories on the Irish Echo news blog here.

It’s Blog Awards time. We have a month to go until the cyber-swarm descends on Cork, so prepare yourself for a barrage of masturbatory online self-promotion  the nominees get whittled down to a shortlist, then further by the public vote.  Vote for me! Vote for me! Vote for me and get your friends to vote for me! Vote for me and I’ll give you a sweetie! Vomit.

Despite the end result, in which the deserving cream has inevitably risen to the top thus far, the clamouring for votes and faux-modesty with which people surreptitiously clamour for votes belittles the awards process and the blog community as a whole. It turns it into Pop Idol. I hate Pop Idol/X Factor/You’re A Star/I’m a talentless miscreant, dig me out of my deserved obscurity.

So I’m pleading with you, here, judges. Spurn the beggars. It’s unlikely to happen anyway, but don’t let me through to the shortlist stage, either. Vote for one of the other candidates in my category that are more worthy.  It’s a great category, and I’m honoured to be in the company of some of the writers below. But fuck it, I shouldn’t be here. I nominated Crime,Ink for the category, a stunning newcomer to the blog world and a fantastic window into the toughest area of journalism in Ireland. If I could have nominated two for the category, I would have nominated the Irish Times Politics Blog. Seasoned blogger Harry McGee fits in here like hand in glove, and gives a regular peek behind the scenes, sharing personal opinions on the politics of the day and how he covers it. But the star, for me, is Deaglán de Breadúin. Deaglán is an Ivory Tower stalwart, a long-serving member of the establishment, but has taken to blogging like a duck to water. It’s great to see traditional Irish media waking up to the blog world, and I’d love to see Deaglán and Harry on the podium earning the recognition they deserve, even if it does mean the award going to madam’s minions for two years straight.

They’re my top picks, but they’re not the only worthy reads, so the category is divvied up below. Get stuck in, but don’t fucking vote for me. Don’t vote for my friends. There are no sweets in it for you. Do us all a favour, and vote for the good guys.

In My Reader:

Adam Maguire: http://adammaguire.com/blog
Gavin’s Blog: http://gavinsblog.com
On The Record: http://irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord
I Have Grave News: http://johnniecraig.wordpress.com
Crime, Ink: http://irishcrimereporter.blogspot.com
Ireland, From A Safe Distance — Expad: http://expad.ie
David Mcwilliams: http://davidmcwilliams.ie
Politics: http://irishtimes.com/blogs/politics
Techno-culture: http://techno-culture.com

Not In My Reader (yet):

Pursued By A Bear: http://irishtimes.com/blogs/pursuedbyabear
Unarocks: http://unarocks.blogspot.com
What Will You See Next: http://mediangler.com
Pricewatch: http://irishtimes.com/blogs/pricewatch

Utterly New To Me:

Community Voice Musings: http://communityvoicemusings.blogspot.com
Freelance Writer Ireland, Copywriter Ireland, Calvin Jones: http://blog.cjwriting.com
Techwire: http://yourtechstuff.com
Stony River Farm: http://stonyriverfarm.blogspot.com
Blog Of Revelations: http://wordpress.hotpress.com/petermurphy
BBC Will And Testament | William Crawley’s Broadcasting Diary: http://bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni
Malachi O’doherty: http://modoherty.wordpress.com
Limerick Leader – On The Beat: http://limerickleader-onthebeat.blogspot.com
Bbc News | The Reporters | Mark Devenport: http://bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport

Darragh was quick off the mark with Obama’s inauguration speech. It’s all here, and not a single ‘Yes We Can’ in there to keep the catchphrasers happy.

Obama could read out a steamy girl-on-girl Mills & Boon passage and the world at large would swoon and blog furiously about how great he is. This wasn’t quite so salacious. It was, and needed to be, more conservative than anything he said during the election campaign. His delivery is always strong and confident and imbued with stately gravity. The passage in the middle relating to America’s future dealings with challenging governments around the world was telling of a change.

“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

This puts the ball squarely in the court of the likes of Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad (and bankers from Anglo Irish who hide their loans), and it’s a far cry from ‘You’re either with us, or against us’. Change, eh?  Go The Rock Banana.

I’ve been nominated in the ‘Best blog by a journalist’ category for the Irish Blog Awards, which is hilarious/depressing, because at the moment, I’m more embroiderer than journalist.

Whoever’s responsible for this flattering fiasco – thanks.

There’s a massive wave of protest sweeping through the blogosphere at the moment, hoping to wash radio darling Rick O’Shea back into prominence.
Rick’s show, from 2pm to 5pm weekdays, has been pared back considerably. The complainants are lamenting Rick’s reduction to mere ‘human jukebox’ status in recent weeks. His show, which fused music with a grand exercise in filtering quirky web content, enjoyed a high level of audience interaction and discussion of pop culture, but now does little more than churn out chart music.

Rick has certainly proved his nice guy status, working hard for his chosen charity, the Irish Epilepsy Association. Rick himself is an epilepsy sufferer and has done a lot to raise the profile of the condition. He’s a radio lifer, having worked for FM 104, Atlantic 252 and others before joining RTE in 2001, and has built up a loyal following online and on the airwaves, using any means possible. He’s on Facebook. He’s on Bebo. He’s on Myspace and Twitter and his daily-updated blog. He’s hosting a Blog Awards here or there, working for charity and somehow, amidst it all, he’s hosting a radio show and dealing with kids and a marriage. It is, regardless of your opinion of the show, a miracle that Rick O’Shea doesn’t collapse out of exhaustion more often. The guy is spread wafer-thin. Perhaps the decision was taken by the RTE board for health reasons, purely because Rick wouldn’t slow down. [Read more →]

My reader is crammed with goodies at the moment, so I though I’d share five of the more recent additions.

First up is the Guardian’s Writers’ Rooms series, which features in the Saturday edition. Gives a great insight into where great writers do their stuff. Sebastian Faulks is the most recent, but it includes Gillian Slovo, Anne Enright, Roald Dahl and Charles Darwin.

Along a similar vein is Sinead Gleeson’s Musical Rooms, which does the same thing for musicians great and small. Can’t believe I’ve gone so long without bookmarking either of these first two.

University Diary comes from the keyboard of DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski. Great to see high-level academics really understanding the blog’s purpose and tone of voice.

The Editors’ Weblog is a must-read for journos and media types, and comes with less dross than the Columbia Journalism Review feed, which I’ve axed as it was just too much (go find it yourself if you must).
The Guardian’s Belief blog is good if, like me, you’re a bit obsessed with thoughts on religion. Great diversity of opinion.

Sail Mike is like the Trust Tommy of the sailing world, a teenager who’s sailing non-stop around the world, on his own, and blogging the whole trip. Pretty damn impressive.

Subscribe at will.