Say NO on YouTube!

I was quite shocked the other day when I stumbled across Darragh Doyle’s blog post promoting a “good detective agency in Kilkenny” and his idea that the Pinkertons were the answer to all your detective needs!?

Firstly, I was delighted to see the first ever non-Mycrofilms’ ‘Vultures‘ related video on the internet. But I think it was Darragh’s unashamed promotion and questionable involvement with the scourge that is coming to town that really turned my stomach.

That’s why I was delighted this morning, when Vultures Private Investigations continued their “Say NO to Pinkertons” campaign, by spreading their important Public Service Announcement on YouTube.

Please help V.P.I by spreading their public service announcement throughout the “cyberweb”, posting it on your blogs and your Bebo/MySpace pages. ‘Say NO to Pinkertons‘ and say ‘NO’ to Darragh Doyle too!

Vegetarian Kilkenny – ‘No Meat & Greet’

The first monthly Vegetarian Kilkenny ‘No Meat & Greet’ will take place on Saturday 24th January at 6.30pm in the Cartoon Saloon, the Maltings, James Street.

I can’t seem to find any kind of online activity for Vegetarian Kilkenny, a flyer for the event was passed along to me yesterday, but I have to admit I’m very excited about meeting more veggies from Kilkenny.

I’ve been a vegetarian for about 12 years now but I’ve never really had much contact with other vegetarians. I know lots of other veggies but I can’t say I’ve ever really been in a situation where the focus of the meeting was being a veggie or a vegan.

The flyer says; “Get to know other vegetarians/vegans in your area. Bring a favourite veggie dish to share if you can. Omnivores welcome but no meat please!”

Can anybody else point me towards some online presence for Vegetarian Kilkenny? Has anybody attended a meeting like this before? Is anybody interested in heading along to this one?

Vegetarian Kilkenny, 1st Monthly ‘No Meat & Greet’, Saturday 24th January, 6.30pm at the Cartoon Saloon, the Maltings, James Street, Kilkenny.

Devious Theatre – A Highlight of 2008

Following up from my last post; Devious Theatre were back in the newspapers this weekend, this time thanks to John Cleere of the Kilkenny Advertiser. In his list of highlights of 2008, John wrote;

On the theatre scene there was only one word to describe the year: The Devious Theatre Company (ok, four words). Their first production, “Heart Shaped Vinyl”, had me hoping they weren’t going to be a one-hit wonder, but I needn’t have worried, they repeated the success not once, but twice, in 2008.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the film “Trainspotting“, but the stage version by Devious Theatre in The Watergate was the highlight of the year. They quickly followed it up with an original play, “Smitten”, by John Morton. I’ve no idea what their plans are for 2009, but already at this early stage of their development, a Devious Theatre production is a guaranteed good night out.

John Cleere was probably the first person to write about Devious Theatre, way back in the early days of our first production, Heart Shaped Vinyl, and he’s been a keen follower ever since. His reviews have undoubtedly helped attract attention to Devious and our work, last year we were on his list of Highlights of 2007. It’s great for us to be listed once again, so thanks to John Cleere in the Kilkenny Advertiser.

Devious Theatre aside, the weekend flew by in a blur of filming Vultures episodes 5 & 6. Early morning call-times into late night shoots, there were trains, there were castles and there was plenty of rain, wind and chavs, but above all else there was plenty of comedy. I’ll have more news throughout the week.

Devious Theatre – Scruffy Daddy Interview

The weekend has almost landed, for most people this will mean things slowing down for a day or two. If this is the case then in your downtime check out Scruff Daddy.

Scruff Daddy is a new online magazine dedicated to showcasing new and upcoming Irish artists. The reason I’m pointing it out is that there’s an awesome interview with Devious Theatre’s own John Morton.

The interview gives a bit of insight into all our productions to date, the inner workings and philosophy of Devious Theatre and more. For any fans of Devious Theatre, then it’s well worth a read.

Myself and John will be out and about on the streets of Kilkenny, filming ‘Vultures‘ episodes 5 & 6 throughout the weekend, so it means I won’t get a chance to post a blog. But I should have some behind-the-scenes photos and a new video blog ready to go online next week. Here comes the weekend…

***NOTE***

This is possibly the shortest blog post I have ever written. It makes me kind of sad but time is not on my side today.

Vultures – Location Scouting (Video Blog)

There was quite a good response to my first attempt at video blogging, so I thought why not try another one!? Thanks to everyone who watched the first one, and especially to everyone who left comments or sent me messages and feedback. As I’ve said I can’t release any material from behind-the-scenes during shooting until episode 4 goes online, but hang in there, it won’t be long.

A couple of people have been asking questions, so I thought I’d continue with the pre-production side of things. Video blog number 2 offers a little insight into our location scouting, from finding the locations to getting permission to shoot there. Oh and drinking a hell of a lot of tea! Please bear in mind that I’m only learning to edit for the past few weeks, but it’s certainly a step up from the first attempt. Enjoy.

Oss237.com reaches 100,000 hits!

According to my statcounter, Oss237.com reached 100,000 hits this morning. It seems a milestone worthy of a blogpost.

Over the past two and a half years, there’s been over 63,000 unique visitors to my site and I have to say I’m still amazed by hits coming in from all over the world and countries I’ve never even heard of. I’ve happily received hundreds of comments (good & bad) on my work and more importantly attracted more people looking to work with me.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on ideas for a long needed face-lift to the site which will hopefully get underway in the next few weeks, with a whole new look and some new features including a new video section, which will host what I can only describe as a shitload of content including music videos, documentaries and more that I’ll be releasing throughout 2009.

All that’s left for me to say is thanks to everyone who has visited my website, thanks especially to those who come back and to those who have provided comments, feedback and encouragement.

Video Blog – A tour of Mycrofilms

My first experiment into video blogging, one that was so technically frustrating that I gave up on credits and indeed anything fancy, simply uploading the file as it was.

A quick tour of the Mycrofilms‘ office, as we’re deep in pre-production for Vultures episodes 5 & 6, some quick chats with series co-creator John Morton, work experience student Richie Cody and series producer Alan Slattery.

Video blogging, I’m not sure if I’m bothered to be honest. But hey, at least I’m not some fat kid bitching about how people shouldn’t like comics because he doesn’t want to be mainstream cool!? The only reason I’m even attempting “vlogging” (as the cool kids call it), is in an attempt to keep me occupied until we release Vultures episode 4 along with a whole host of behind-the-scenes content.

Anyway, here’s a first attempt at video blogging. As usual any comments, feedback and criticism are welcome even if your a fat kid and want to bitch at me!?

Vultures – The beginning of the end…

As of yesterday morning, filming has begun on the final installments of the Vultures series, with episodes 5 & 6 being filmed back-to-back throughout January and February.

This is our biggest undertaking so far, but one I’m more than confident we can achieve, as we take things up a notch in 2009. In between filming, we’ll also be in the edit suite working on episode 4 ‘The Case Of The Poisoned Dates‘ which is due to premiere later this month.

I have to admit the most frustrating thing about being involved in the production is having to hold back on information and photos until it’s appropriate to reveal them. I can say that I’ll be resuming my role as director for the remaining episodes and that we’ve got more crew members than ever before. We’ve also got a whole host of brand new characters that will continue to bring new craziness to the series. The plot is about to thicken, the shit is about to hit the fan and we’ve got so much awesome content coming at you.

The wheels are now in motion, it’s hard to believe we’ve come this far and that the end is in sight but I’m quite confident that 2009 will be the year of the Vultures. Stay tuned.

Devious Theatre’s ‘Trainspotting’ – Spud’s Accident

Devious Theatre have just released the second video from our production of Irvine Welsh’s ‘Trainspotting‘, performed in the Watergate Theatre, last June.

Check out the second scene from the show featuring Stephen Colfer as lovable acid-head ‘Spud’, as he reveals the horrors of his “accident”.

You can read all about my experiences during Trainspotting here on a previous blog post. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Devious Theatre Youtube for plenty more video clips to come.

Highlights of 2008

And so 2008 comes to a close, it was a year that was a truly awesome year for me, one that was completely jam-packed with adventures and projects, a year of constantly learning by doing. My portfolio of work continued to grow, and aside from a variety of photography and film making experience I have so many great memories and proud moments, but here’s my highlights of 2008 (in chronological order);

1. Finishing College
After 3 long years commuting back and forth to Carlow I.T, endless hours in the library, a thesis and some very epic celebrations, I walked out into the “real world” with a First Class Honours Degree.

2. Devious Theatre’s ‘Trainspotting’
Straight out of college exams I plunged into an intense six week process of learning monologues, researching drug-use and mastering a Scottish accent. It was our biggest production to date, my biggest role to date and as I’ve said several times, “easily one of the greatest weeks of my life“. The response to Trainspotting was nothing short of overwhelming, firmly injecting the name Devious Theatre into the veins of Kilkenny theatre goers. We received rave reviews, standing ovations, I still get people coming up to me in the street to talk about the show and my performance attracted quite a bit of interest and future roles to play.

3. The Clive Barnes & Jeff Lang Tour
With no time for the scag to even leave our systems, myself and Ken embarked on our first venture into national tour promotion, getting to work on the road with two internationally acclaimed musicians, Clive Barnes (Legend!) and Jeff Lang (Legend!). The tour was a great success, but for me the highlight was getting to hang out with the lads on the road and after the gig in Sligo as Clive, Jeff and Grant(Jeff’s bassist, also Legend!) provided countless hilarious stories from years on the road, in between songs that left me in awe of their musical abilities.

4. Holiday in Crete
It had been a long time since I took a holiday, but my trip to Crete was easily a highlight of the year. A well needed adventure full of sun, sea and lots of drink. Hanging out in the sun with Daw and getting to know my Dad a little better.

5. Devious Theatre’s ‘Smitten’
Straight off the plane and into rehearsals for Devious Theatre’s second production in 6 weeks, ‘Smitten‘. People though we were crazy, near the end, so did we!? But much to our surprise ‘Smitten’ enjoyed a sold out run with many people left trying to beg, borrow or steal a ticket for a brand new play that nobody had heard of 6 weeks previously. Wrapping up the truly epic summer with more rave reviews and a truly epic aftershow party.

6. Studio Training & Experience
Since September I’ve been gaining invaluable studio training and hands-on experience thanks to Benny in Hot Shotz Photography. The past few months I’ve been able to learn about all aspects of studio photography from the business side to lighting and framing. Unfortunately the studio is relocating to Callan in the new year but I’m more than eager to begin putting what I’ve learning into practice in 2009.

7. Cartoon Saloon’s ‘BlueBeard’
My recent adventure working on Cartoon Saloon’s ‘BlueBeard‘ was easily one of the greatest experiences of the year, working with a professional steadicam team, shooting in huge Castles or on huge green-screens. Pro actors, awesome make-up and special fx, from start to finish it was a one of the biggest highlights of the year.

8. Vultures
A week before Christmas 2007, we began shooting Mycrofilms’ flagship production ‘Vultures‘. The pilot episode went online Christmas Eve and since then ‘Vultures’ has slowly but surely began to take over my life (in a good way!). The past year has been a real learning experience for everyone involved as we continued to shoot the web-based sitcom and the whole process has been a highlight of 2008. With my directorial debut due to premiere in early 2009, whilst we’re already in the middle of shooting episodes 5 & 6, it looks set that Vultures will continue to be a highlight well into next year.

I have plenty more highlights from 2008 but I’m afraid there’s far too many to list, so many great adventures and projects, too many people to name and thank. The year has gone by so quickly but 2008 has been so full of great moments and achievements. I’m not big on making new years resolutions, I can only hope 2009 is as big a success as this past year. The wheels of several new projects are already in motion and life shows absolutely no sign of slowing down, I’m looking forward to the new year and everything it brings with it.

For now, I just have to say thanks to all of you who have checked out my work, thanks especially to those who have provided any comments or feedback. I hope you continue to do so in 2009 and i hope this year has been as good to you as it was to me. Happy New Year…there’s plenty more to come!