The Dublin Community Blog

Last week, Universal Pictures Ireland invited some of your favourite bloggers to attend a screening of the 1941-movie-classic The Wolfman at the private Denzille cinema ; a promotion event for their upcoming remake of the same movie featuring Benicio Del Toro.

Even though I’m not a big film buff, I did enjoy watching such an “old” movie on the big screen. Especially when comparing the cinematic techniques then and now: where most movies today are not so much about camera angles and facial expressions but more about blowing things up and animate blue-skinned aliens with computers, the classic movies of the 30ies and 40ies had to transport their story with much more detail. No wonder people like Lon Chaney became big stars wearing outfits that by today’s standards can only be called ridiculous – their audience had nothing to compare it with except their imagination.

So I’m really looking forward to see the remake, officially released to Dublin cinemas on February 12th. But as Benicio Del Toro is not only starring but also acting as producer, and the film also stars Sir Anthony Hopkins I have high hopes that it will do justice to the original. Here’s a glimpse:

A big thank you to the folks at Universal Pictures and Simply Zesty for a great evening.

Be sure to have a look at this year’s Temple Bar Trad Fest programme lineup if you haven’t already. Looks to be another great festival (27th-31st January). While you’re having a look around the site, be sure to check out the food trail. It’s certainly an enticing way to get people down to Temple Bar for the festivities. (Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard.) What better way to spend a cold, dark, wintery evening than in a pub taking in some phenomenal Irish music!

Here’s a ‘food trail’ sample:
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Big thanks to Declan for letting us know about a gig happening in The Button Factory this Friday night to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. Attention Bebe and Mob Fandango headline the show and The Button Factory have offered their venue for free so that all proceeds can go to Partners in Health in their efforts to bring relief and humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti. CLICK HERE to see the Facebook event page. Tickets are €10 at the door.

If, like me, you’re passionate about coffee, and you want to meet like minded people, learn a load about coffee as well as taste some of the finest that Dublin has to offer in a fantastic new venue, I suggest that you make your way along to the Third Floor Espresso (3FE) launch party this Sunday, the 24th.

Our own Colin Harmon, who is the current Irish Barista Champion is the man behind 3FE, and by all accounts, the venue is the place that you really need to be if you’re seeking some of the best coffee that Dublin has to offer.

There’s more details on the launch event, including an outline of some of the guests of honour in Colin’s blog about the launch party

No doubt everyone is aware of the massive earthquake that occurred recently in Haiti, one of the worlds poorest nations. Reports coming out of Haiti at the moment are staggeringly hard to comprehend, with the Haitian Prime Minister stating that over 100,000 people may have died as a result of the quake.

The International response to aid the people of Haiti has been swift, with governments, companies and aid agencies all scrambling to help. The general public too have been generous and forthcoming with aid, with social networking coming to the fore once again.

However, the more help and assistance that can be provided the better. There are numerous ways you can donate any spare cash to the relief funds, some of which are listed below:

Donate to UNICEF or CARE via Google
Donate to Concern
Donate to Oxfam
Donate to Goal
Donate to Trocaire
Donate to Irish Red Cross

Being snowed in can have it’s advantages. After doing the laundry and cleaning the living room, I will no try to summarise the year 2009 on the Dublin Community Blog.

Gloomy January showed us that the recession is in full swing, as Dublin indie institution Road Records was forced to close its doors (which thankfully re-opened later due to massive support from many a successfull Irish musician) and Dublin Bus announced massive cutbacks, laying off 200 staff. Add some snow causing massive disruptions to traffic and you had a very bleak start into the new year.

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Dublin Bus has announced that it will be suspending its services this evening at 8pm, so make sure you are on your way home long before then. The Luas, both the green and red lines are reported to be working as normal and there doesn’t seem to be disruptions to rail services. Once again take care when you are out and about, and unless a car journey is an absolute necessity, leave the cars at home.

Following more snow this afternoon in Dublin the city has been thrown into chaos. The buses have been off since the afternoon and thousands of commuters are struggling to make their way home. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere near a Luas line you may have a chance of getting home. But be warned the trams are filling up from the first stations at both Stephen’s Green and Connolly so try to make your way to the first stop as much as you can. Apparently Dublin Bus tickets are also being accepted (the Luas information said so).

At the time of writing this, all roads are treacherous so don’t make any journeys you don’t have to. The pic shows the ice on O’Connell bridge and this is reflected throughout the city.

Also at the time of writing Dublin Airport is closed with thousands of passengers affected, according to the news, work is taking place in an attempt to open the airport again by 8pm.

It is mad that such a small snowfall can bring the city to a halt and even more so given the complete breakdown of all transport in the city in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Hopefully you are reading this from home, but if not, please take it easy out there.

A fall of snow last night means Dublin Bus has withdrawn all busses from service for today Friday 1st January 2010. They are also monitoring the weather conditions for Saturday 2nd. Check the Dublin Bus website for updates.

I suppose the good news is the government has refused to give permission for fare increases in 2010.