The Dublin Community Blog

You should get yourself along to The Camden Court Hotel at 6pm, as Joe Rospars, founding partner of Blue State Digital and New Media Director of the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign will be giving a talk on how he worked to get Barack Obama into the Oval Office, and partaking in a Q&A session on same.

More details are available over on the Strawberry Media website, but if you are thinking of going along, make sure that you register in advance, as places will be limited.

UPDATE by Dervla 25/02: On the face of it this sounds like a great event, however, what the Strawberry Media website neglected to mention was the talk was hosted and run by Fianna Fail in relation to their website relaunch which Mr Rospars company assisted in designing. Far from “open seminar” as billed. Theres a lot of disgruntled bloggers out there feeling a little ambushed. Further details relating to what transpired at the event here and here.

So, I was at Taste of Dublin in Iveagh Gardens on Sunday (btw, absolutely grand, it was my first time in Iveagh Gardens). Hm…..let’s see: 25 euro one ticket, pretty expensive perfumes in the air, “Made in Brown Thomas” people, etc, etc. I will always be on the popular festivals side, like Maritime&Food Festival which took place a few weeks ago.

Taste of Dublin, maybe I’m wrong, but for me it seems to be a place for specialists, not for the real foodies. I’m a real foodie, I just love food, but………but, I will always love the events for everybody, not only for “some people”. My view.

Some other pictures, here.

The weather has been perfect for the Docklands Maritime Festival this bank holiday weekend. I took my family in to the festival on Saturday and came away with a sunburn and a full stomach. In fact, we’re going back in today so I can get my hands on some of those garlic potatoes and jumbo prawns (which I had to pass up on Saturday due to already having stuffed myself with bratwurst.)

Here’s a little video clip of just a few of the things on offer at the festival. And I’m looking forward to seeing what RedMum and the Flickr group captured from the meet up yesterday!

Africa Day at Dublin Castle took place yesterday and was great craic altogether. A celebration of African culture and tradition, the place was packed to the brim – there was a 20 minute queue to get in when we arrived at around 3pm. According to RTÉ, over 7, 000 people attended. There were stalls displaying traditional crafts, clothing and everyday utensils, short films and exhibitions, South African wine tastings and sporting events. The main stage hosted a great mix of African and Irish acts – from traditional Malawian Dance Performances to Irish hip hop group Millionaire Boyz and Irish trad lads Kila.

it ended with performances from Mundy (who opened his set by saying “Should I just sing Galway Girl and go home?”), Republic of Loose and Sinead O’Connor.

According to the 2006 census, almost 42,000 of the people living in Ireland were born in Africa.

There are a few more pics on the Dublin Blog Flickr.

Some pretty cool stuff going on in Dublin this weekend if you’re about.

The second annual Dublin City Soul Festival is in full swing and lots of events will be taking place in various venues around the city.  These include a Soul Jam and a (completely free) Soul Picnic! Click here for a programme.

Then there’s Africa Day @ Dublin Castle. Another great, free event, you enter through an African village, filled with stands from Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. Then there will be some cracking live performances from Sinead O’Connor, the wonderful Kila and those crazy but brilliant boys from Republic of Loose. There’s lots more and you can download a PDF of the programme here.

Over the weekend a big gang of photobloggers met up at the George Bernard Shaw pub Toe Jam carboot sale. Its a small venue with a small number of stalls selling all sorts of weird and wonderful things and certainly one to look out for, I think the next one is planned for July, so if you are a member of Facebook you can join the group (in the above link) and get notified when the next one takes place.

In keeping with the outdoor market theme we then headed to the Temple Bar farmers’ markets for more snaps. Here’s some shots of the day and you can see more of everyone’s in the dedicated Flickr group, go on and get lost in some excellent photography. And if you fancy joining us the next time, keep an eye out as I will post details here.

The Dublin Improv group are at it again tomorrow on Henry Street. They’ll be hosting an ‘egg and spoon race’ and anyone is welcome to join in for 2pm. The starting line will be Butler’s Chocolates near O’Connell Street. Go to the Dublin Improv Ning site for more details (LINK).

If you like your fashion with a side of science or something more serious then this is a good week to be in Dublin.

Opening at the TCD Science Gallery (if you’ve haven’t called in yet, go, go go!) is Technothreads, an exhibition about “the creative sparks that fly when the worlds of fashion and science collide”. What to expect? Shirts that hug you, the mathematics of design, 3D fabrics and ‘living’ clothes. Some more:

“The exhibition offers viewers a glimpse into the future of fashion in a world where Biotech and Nanotech are combined with traditional craft and Haute Couture skills. With work from designers such as Walter van Beirendonck, Yoshiki Hishinuma and Freedom of Creation, it promises to show off the most innovative, cutting edge and exciting designers the world has to offer as well as raising issues for global debate, such as the use of tissue culture to produce semi-living clothes.”

It opens on Saturday.

Two nights before Technothreads, on Thurs 24th, Fashion Evolution is happening. It’s a public debate about ethical fashion and it’s taking place at The Button Factory from 6.30pm. Speaking at it will be Katherine Hamnett, the lady behind all those political tees, the most recent of which is “no more fashion victims”. It will be followed by music from the very fab Dirty Epics, Star Little Thing and a few others. Tix , from here, cost €12. Get updates about the goings on by joining the event on Facebook.

The Rathmines Festival kicked off on the 14th of this month and will pick up again today, finishing late on Sunday night. The festival features a variety of events, workshops, and galleries, all happening along Rathmines Road (Upper and Lower) just south of Grand Canal. Most events are free and those that come with a price tag (like some music performances) never rise above a tenner. Dance, theatre, literature, music, photography, film, sports, history – there really does seem to be something for just about everyone!

For more, including a downloadable schedule, surf over to the festival website at www.RathminesFestival.com. Alternatively, the good folks at Cafe Moda have agreed to allow the use of their coffee shop as the festival club house, so if you happen to be in the area, stop by for brochures, booking, or any other information.

As written about in the previous post, last night saw Dublin’s participation in Earth Hour. I was at the Customs House to watch the lights  go off and the pics below show before and afterwards. A video of the lights going out is available here.

According to news reports today there was a drop of 50 megawatts nationwide in energy demand last night in comparison with last week. You can read more on Ireland.com, on the Earth Hour blog and the official Earth Hour website.