The Dublin Community Blog

As of the 1st of this month, Ecocabs are back on the roads in Dublin city centre. Not only are they environmentally friendly, they’re free! Presumably funded by the ‘moving billboard’ nature of each cab, I have a feeling that you’re also handed a large packet of advertisements when you use the service. The cabs are available at designated ‘pick-up points’ in the city centre and cover a radius of approximately 2 km from O’Connell bridge.

So next time you have to walk between Green and Red LUAS lines, grumbling all the way about the fact that the lines don’t connect (okay, so I’m speaking to myself at this point), find an Ecocab and let them do the exercise! If you’ve used the Ecocabs service, tell us about your experience in the comments section.

Also, there are still job openings as Ecocabs riders. So if you want a job that will keep you in shape and give you lots of opportunity to meet people, go to www.ecocabs.ie.

Tonight, from 8-9pm, Dublin will be participating in the global Earth Hour. 24 major cities around the world are participating this year, including Sydney (where the idea apparently started), Copenhagen, Chicago, Atlanta, and Toronto. Businesses and individuals are being asked to turn off all non-essential lights and appliances for the hour as a way of communicating the need for action against global warming.

Have a look at these links for more:
DublinCity.ie
EarthHour (Dublin)
CNN Report
Dublin Chamber of Commerce

There’s certainly something for everyone in Dublin for this year’s St. Patrick’s Festival – even for parents who miss their clubbin’ days! I took my daughter to SS Michael and John in the West end of Temple Bar yesterday for her first rave party, where ‘the only drug is calpol,’ according to the group’s MySpace page. The Baby Rave is being put on by Belfast arts charity, Young at Art.

If you’re a parent of a child 0-4 years old, I would wholeheartedly recommend taking him/her/them to this multi-sensory experience. Even at five-and-a-half months old, my little girl was wide-eyed in wonder as she watched the colourful flower-shaped lights float up the walls and across the ceiling. The music was just the right volume to “thump,” but not so loud that I felt my little one’s ears were at risk. The staff were also very helpful, friendly, and sensitive.

The Baby Rave continues today and tomorrow. Be sure to visit the St. Patrick’s Festival site for details (CLICK HERE). You can pay the EUR 8.50 charge (per person) at the door like we did, but to guarantee your entrance, you’re better off booking in advance the day before. So book now for one of the three raves happening tomorrow. Given the wet weather Dublin seems to be getting, an indoor event such as this is sure to be very attractive for young families!

While it’s good to know that there is a tight community of adventure sports fans in Ireland, it’s unfortunate that none of them seem to own a computer with decent video editing software.

Last week, I attended half of the Wee Adventure Film Festival in The Sugar Club. I had planned on making my €10 entrance fee go all the way, particularly to see Shakinda’s VJ mashup of the film highlights at the end. However, I decided during the break, after having watched the first 8 films, that being forced to stand for another 2 hours through dodgy home-made movies was just not worth it. It seemed that virtually all of the seating at tables in the club were reserved for the 16 teams of people (and their friends and family) who had submitted films. The rest of the space in the aisles and at the back was filled to capacity with the rest of us, holding our beers close and apologizing to others around us anytime we shifted our weight or brought our pint to our mouth.

While most of the films were given minimal time in cheap editing software, much of the footage was indeed an adrenaline rush. In particular, the second film portrayed skydivers falling backward out of a perfectly good hot air balloon. Despite the shoddy camera work and annoying, deafening sound of the wind in the microphone, a collective gasp swept over the room as the festival audience obviously caught a glimpse of what it’s like to free-fall into wide open spaces.

Other highlights of the first half of the festival included the poetic way in which the first rock climbing film was narrated. Also, a kayaking film shot in Norway was probably the closest thing to a professionally produced adventure documentary and an orienteering film included some quality filming and artistic presentation.

I’m sure the organizers of the event were well-pleased with the turnout to this festival debut. I can only hope that the buzz and excitement from this year will motivate the organizers to give incentive for more quality offerings at the next festival, should there be one. I imagine there could be endorsement deals from various equipment/clothing companies as a result. Best of all, a growing, ever-improving festival such as this could go a long way in promoting adventure sports in Ireland.

But for heaven’s sake, don’t let the athletes themselves shoot or edit the films. At least not without sending them to some sort of adventure filmmaker’s seminar first.

On Saturday, my family and I ventured in to the city centre to see a friend from Prague. While we were there, we caught some of the traditional story-telling that was happening in conjunction with the Irish Trad Festival. It was interesting, but not really much more than your typical street performer. In fact, there was a busker in Temple Bar Square doing improvisational humour in between the story-tellers and he was actually far more entertaining. With that said, it worked well for the trad festival and seemed to be a hit with the kiddies.

For dinner, we headed West to the edge of Temple Bar for Dublin’s finest kebab at Zaytoon’s (arguably also Dublin’s dearest kebab – a tenner and some change for a meal combo.) After dinner, in my pre-fatherhood days, it would’ve been straight across to The Porterhouse for a pint and some Irish trad. But alas, a 4-month-old can only take so much action in the city.

(Note to parents: Bit of a rough ride taking a pram through Temple Bar, unless it’s got big wheels and state-of-the-art suspension.)

Tomorrow evening, the Temple Bar Irish Trad Festival kicks off with a host of concerts, workshops, children’s activities, and other events. For some of the shows, you must book tickets, but a good number of the pubs in Temple Bar (more than usual, anyway) will be hosting trad sessions at no charge. Festival goers will also have opportunity to meet the various musicians and performers each night at 11pm in the Project Arts Centre for conversation and craic.

My family and I are also looking forward to the action out on the street where there’ll be bagpipes and traditional storytelling. Hopefully the Dublin weather forecast will stay favourable!

Walking down Grafton Street on a clear day, you’re likely to run in to a crowd surrounding a street performer outside Stephen’s Green shopping centre. Usually, I peer over the heads of the onlookers for a moment and decide it’s not worth my time as I head back to the LUAS or to whatever meeting I’m already running late for.

Today, however, I stopped briefly for a routine glance at the unofficial “Grafton Street Performers’ Stage” – and got hooked. It wasn’t the fact that your man with a Kiwi accent was doing an impressive job of juggling basketballs or that he could also balance himself on a unicycle 3 meters high. I think I was most impressed with the way he made people a part of his act.

For example, at one stage, he called on a 5 year-old boy to hold the basketballs. Now, the sight of a small boy holding 3 basketballs, each one twice the size of the boy’s head, is funny enough. (See picture below.) But as he interacted with the boy and joked around with him, he cleverly made the boy a participant in the act without patronizing him. He did the same with the other 3 adults that he pulled from the audience.

Brilliant stuff. Makes me look forward to the next Street Performance World Championship next summer! It also makes me wonder what it takes for YOU to actually stop and watch these performers, if anything at all. What do you think? Feel free to leave some feedback or stories in the comments section. And we’ll gladly pass along your suggestions to Daragh for his next visit to Dublin with his juggling hedgehogs act. =)

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to stop in at a brilliant new(ish) art gallery in Dublin called Gallery Number One across from Leo Burdock’s chippy. It’s got a cool vibe with chairs and sofas to lounge around in and flip through the art books or surf the internet on the gallery computer and check out the latest on DublinBlog.ie. =) There’s an obvious music theme that connects much of the work on display. (Their website even lists their Last.Fm profile.) Art and music . . . seems like a winning combination for Dublin!

If you haven’t already done it, I highly recommend getting over to St. Stephen’s Green for a free open air performance of The Taming of the Shrew by Public Shakespeare. (LINK) After seeing it today, I can say that it’s a brilliant show! The actors did an excellent job of making the play come alive (which can be a great thing if you’re not a big Shakespeare fan.) Often they walked through the audience and even interacted with them, evoking both laughter and applause. It’s been on twice every day, at 1 and 4pm, since 26th August. This Saturday will be the final performances, so there are only a few days left.

Be sure to have a tenner or something on you since they are only able to offer these free performances as a result of donations. Today most of the audience members seemed to enjoy the performance so much that they were more than willing to throw in a few Euro at the end of the hour long production.

The second annual Dublin Culture Night is happening next Friday (14th September) involving 82 venues (museums, galleries, theatres, libraries, etc.) and 100 free events. Events will include such highlights as free tours of Dublin Castle, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Croke Park, lectures on Dublin literary figures, art exhibitions, a film making workshop for kids, and loads more. Whether or not you decide to attend any of the free events, Dublin Culture Night will be difficult to avoid with guides and street entertainers spreading out across the city to answer questions and point people in the right direction.

As a preview to Culture Night, The Dubliner Magazine are holding a debate this Friday night exploring the notion that Ireland has lost its cultural identity. The lively banter will involve writers and musicians such as Mik Pyro from Republic of Loose and Sunday Independent journalist Victoria Mary Clarke.