Videos That Changed My Life

There are a few a points in my youth that I remember very clearly. Most involve embarrassing encounters with lady folk or emasculating confrontations with the big boys. But some, and far more than I'd care to divulge, revolve around the small screen in the living room.

I really did spend a lot of time in front of the TV as a child. A large chunk of that was MTV. Partly because they actually showed music videos all day in the 80s and partly because my brother was a teenager and that's pretty much what you did as a teen. He was bigger than me (7 years bigger) so if he wanted it on, Sesame Street had to take a back seat.

As a result I took an earlier than normal interest in music videos. They were mostly crap. You remember how MC Hammer used to look. It was all just shapes and moving colours to a child of my age. But two stick out in my memory as making me go "woah..." Keanu style.

Rock And Roll Superstar Aaron: The Early Years

I Heart Graffiti: Angel In The Alley

After giving you some background information on my love for street art last week, this is the first new addition of pictures to the cause.

This beauty has been sitting on South William Street in Dublin for more than a year. You can tell this was commissioned and while I often hate corporate graffiti this one is too pretty to begrudge.

Click to see larger image

Word-A-Week Vocabulary Vlog #5: Prurient

There are many things that I love about Widgett Walls. His beard. His singing voice. The way he makes me feel so warm in the mornings. But today he has won me over once again with his insane writing.

Don't believe me? Just read the intro he wrote for this week's Vocab Vlog. I thought I was going to be the weird one this time with my video's oddness but he managed to out-do me once again. Of course, you realise, this means war.

Also he seems to have tagged the video "sex". So true... so true...

Click the banner to see what I'm talking about!

Arthur's Day And Mic's Heyday

It's Arthur's Day! Which means essentially it's the day the marketing executives at the Guinness company have decided we should celebrate the black stuff made by the man himself. There are lots of events going on tonight in Dublin and other cities around the world. I, however, have work to do. But I did have a big long talk with the folks in my office concerning the event.
I wrote an article about it over at FRED but I managed to make it more about the Guinness TV adverts and a musician by the name of Mic Christopher than the day itself. How did I manage to waffle about all that in the same article?

Click the big man's head below to read more.

I Heart Graffiti: Do Something To Be Proud Of

This is the first in what will (hopefully) be a regular update here on the blog. I felt I needed to make something exclusive to here.

I've always loved graffiti. Living in Dublin city centre as I have for the last 8 years I've seen lots of cool work as I walk around. Recently, I've tried to capture my favourite ones as they are rarely around for long.

So I'm going to update this blog with a new piece as often as I can in order to share my appreciation for the art form.

This week, I've collected some of my favourite's from  the past. Next week I will start with the new stuff.

I walk by this one on my way home from work. It's on a wall beside The Bernard Shaw pub and this pub is notorious for it's connection with graffiti and has plenty of wall space like this dedicated for artists.

Click to see larger image

Word-A-Week Vocabulary Vlog #4: Bedraggled

And so the march of education continues as I bring you another word you can use in your day to day conversations. We're past the halfway point in September and Summer is officially over, so this week's word might come in handy in the future.

I hope. Otherwise, I'll be annoyed that I got pelted in the face for nothing.

You can see the video by clicking the banner below.

HANDS DOWN #14

This week I decided to write my artist out of the comic. Thats right! I'm taking over this shizzle.

However, the characters of the comic may not be pleased with this.

Click the banner to see what I'm talking about...

DragonCon 2010: Make the Bad Men Stop, Part 1

This is the second of my Dragon*Con stuff to show up on the internet (the first being the video below of my wailing with Ken Plume). The wonderful folks at NeedCoffee (and particularly Jon Boutelle who moonlights with The Unique Geek) managed to record one of the many panels we did, this one on Saturday afternoon, and is now putting it out into the void in podcast form.

I'd go into details about what the panel contains but Widgett Walls does a pretty good job of that at the start. 

To listen, click the banner below!

CABIN FEVER #100: And Now...

For three years I've been recording this podcast. It feels like longer but then again the last few years have been a bit of a blur so I can't really judge.

I've had a great time and the show has given me so many great experiences. Unfortunately, for me, it had to end some time and this is my last episode. Brian will continue on without me.

I just want to thank all the listeners who have made recording the show so much fun. And Ken Plume for taking us on when we were starting out. Maniacs, all of you.

This last show is a bit of a crazy one. It was recorded at Dragon*Con with friends. Hope you enjoy it.

Click the picture to listen.

Word-A-Week Vocabulary Vlog #3: Carouse

My quest to bring back real words to the internet continues. Dragon*Con has created a kind of vortex where we've somehow skipped a week without actually skipping a week but nevertheless, the crusade carries on.

The examples used in this week's edition were lovingly donated by my good friends at the 2nd annual Post-Dragon*Con BBQ at JK's house. They weren't scripted but you could probably tell that.

Click on the NeedCoffee logo to be taken to the video.

Islands In The Stream

Myself and Ken Plume (with moral support from Brian Fitzpatrick) sing our hearts out during the FRED panel at Dragon*Con 2010.

If you missed it (and boy did you miss it) here it is in all it's shame.

HANDS DOWN Competition Winner

We asked who wanted to be in Hands Down and we were shocked to find out that, actually, some of you did! We got a bunch of great entries but only one could be crowned winner. So without much fuss or a do, here it is.

Click the image to find out who it is.

Hello!

I set this up to just keep track of the different things I do online. After coming back from Dragon*Con, I realised I needed to be able to point at them easily. Considering I work on a few different web thingies, that's not easy to do.

Hopefully, this works.

And obviously, this site is still under serious construction.