Daragh Lally’s Blog

Come September 3rd, I’ll be setting out on a journey from central Dublin to Electric Picnic 2010, at Stradbally, Co. Laois.

The difference from previous years? This year, I’m cycling it, along with 999 others.

The organisers of Electric Picnic have been generous enough to donate 1,000 tickets to the Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street. The aim is to help raise much needed funds for the purchase of medical equipment, developing new services and treatment facilities, and for research.

So please help me reach, and hopefully exceed my minimum target, donate via this link (find the green ‘sponsor me now’ button on the left) and your money will go directly to the charity.

Want to do the cycle yourself? Find out more here.

Dublin’s newest occasional alternative gay club. The first is on the Friday 18th June, the first day of the 10 day Dublin Pride Festival 2010.

Disclosure: I’m involved with both of the above events.

This is pretty amazing. Thank you Ricardo Autobahn.

It’s that time of year again – time to nominate your favourite websites for the annual Irish Web Awards.

Do you own, run or have you designed a site that you’re proud of? Even more reason to nominate it. Friday 6pm is the deadline. NOMINATIONS NOW CLOSED.

I’m proud to be involved in this year’s awards in a sponsorship role – Maximise is sponsoring the Best Online Publication category. Who will be the winner? You decide!

Sometimes it’s nice to go somewhere for a chat that isn’t a pub, but as Dublin isn’t exactly overstocked with late night coffee joints, here’s a list of possibilities to make life a little easier. The two main critera were that the places must be open after 10pm, and they must not be pubs (though they can serve alcohol).

In no particular order:

Sufi’s Café

Open til 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights (10pm Sunday – Thursday) with a great selection of teas and coffees and food. Last orders taken 30 minutes before closing time.

Botticelli’s

Popular with tourists, Botticelli’s has a small handful of tables, and serve good coffee and delicious (but expensive) Italian ice-cream til midnight.

Irish Film Institute

As well as the arthouse cinema and bookstore, the IFI houses a cafe that serves teas, coffees and food until 10.30pm.

Tea Garden

Open til 11pm 7 nights a week, Tea Garden is 100% dedicated to tea. The place is run by a friendly Slovakian guy, who has gathered a vast range of every imaginable variety of tea go choose from. You’ll hardly notice that they don’t serve coffee. Open til midnight, doors shut at 11pm.

Insomnia @ Spar

Open 24 hours, so if you don’t mind the fluorescent lighted environment of a convenience store, then this is for you. As convenience store cafes go, it’s not bad, with an elevated seated area looking out onto the hustle and bustle of Dame Street. Insomnia usually have great combo deals, like a sandwich and coffee for €5, and their coffee is one of my personal favourites, as it comes with a double espresso shot by default.

The Gigs Place

More of a diner than a cafe, the Gigs Place is popular with the alternative music crowd, who pile in after Whelan’s and the Village close. In existance since 1970, it was popular with feminists in the early days, and more recently celebs such as Bono and footballer Robbie Keane have been spotted within. Open from midnight every night, until 5.30am Sunday-Thursday, and 6am Fridays and Saturdays.

Manhattan Café

The Manhattan is a pure greasy spoon, with fry-ups, tea/toast, and a sketchy clientèle but it’s usually peaceful enough and the prices are reasonable. Only open at nighttime and the queue sometimes goes around the corner.

Carluccio’s Caffè

The coffee here is seved in continental type small cups, which doesn’t satisfy everyone (me being one).  This place is quite popular however for its food, and there’s often a queue for tables. Open til 10.30pm every night except Sundays, when it closes at 10pm.

Café Moda

Not strictly city centre, but worth a mention as it’s open til 5am on Friday and Saturday nights. Open til midnight all other nights.

Joy of Coffee

Havana

Havana is a tapas bar, but they also serve tea and coffee until 10.30pm Sunday-Wednesday, and 11.30pm Thursday to Saturday.

It’s good to see that after Philips Electronics were an official partner of Earth Hour in 2008, that they did their bit here in Dublin this year.

The Philips Store conserving energy on George's Street in Dublin at 9.15pm, 28th March 2009

But who am I to talk, I did keep my laptop switched on.

It’s day 6 of Blackout Week, which is a protest at the deal the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) have struck with eircom, Ireland’s largest telco. The deal means that eircom will disconnect any internet customer who is accused 3 times of illegal file sharing. No proof will be needed or provided, simply an accusation by IRMA is a black mark against you, and there is no right to appeal.

A similar “three strikes and you’re out” system was rejected in Germany, and a blackout protest in New Zealand probably helped the system being abandoned there too.

Part of the deal also means that torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay will be blocked by eircom.

The world must find a solution to copyright theft. Musicians, Composers, and Record Companies are facing tougher and tougher times as a result of people illegally downloading music. The days of big budget music videos are over, simply because there’s not enough money to produce them anymore, due to piracy. But a solution must be found that is fair and doesn’t trample of our rights to freedom of speech, a fair hearing, and right to appeal.

It’s not enough to simply black out your avatar on Facebook, Twitter or Bebo to show your displeasure – the most important thing is to email the decision makers – your ISP, your TDs, your MEPs, and Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan TD.

The question is now whether the other ISPs will cave in a similar fashion to eircom. So far they’ve remained silent. Get emailing and keep our internet free from censorship.