Yearly Archives: 2014

award

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m76ighn8mKM

[Top from left: Derek Mooney, Presenter of the Secrets of the Irish Landscape; Barry Donnellan, director of photography and Colm Crowley, head of RTE Cork, and, above, a trailer for The Secrets of The Irish landscape]

Rugged. Distinctive. Dramatic.

Derek Mooney is all these things.

Karen Fitzpatrick writes;

The RTÉ Cork series Secrets of the Irish Landscape, presented by Derek Mooney which was broadcast on RTÉ One last May, has won gold at the final of one of the world’s most prestigious film and television competitions – the New York World’s Best Film and Television Awards 2014, for the best documentary series in science and technology, competing against entries from 36 countries. The three-part series follows in the footsteps of Robert Lloyd Praeger, Ireland’s greatest naturalist and author of the iconic book ‘The Way That I Went’.

Fair play though in fairness.

(RTE)

Unofficial-Game-Of-Thrones-Lego-Minifigs gotlegUnofficial Game Of Thrones minifigs (branded as ‘Dragon Sword Fighter Force’ for copyright reasons)

€160 for a set of 12 (with inspired bonus ‘Sir Typesalot’) from Citizen Brick.

Related GoT Minifiggery : Game Of Bricks and Throne Of Bricks

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Dog Pound.

By Madeleine D’Arcy.

Claire Buckley writes:

Frank Kelly at his best in a short film written by 2010 Hennessy New Irish Writer Madeleine D’arcy. ‘Dog Pound’ is essentially a monologue filmed in Kehoe’s pub [South Anne Street, Dublin] that captures that unique relationship between a patron and his barman [played by actual Kehoe’s barman – and Russell Crowe chum – Ian Murray]. The film has been nominated in the Galway Film Fleadh.

Director Tara Quirke; Producer Audrey Brennan; Director of Photography Cathal Watters; Editor Niall Campion.

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[Jules Thomas and Ian Bailey, with their solicitor Frank Buttimer, outside the Four Courts in 2012 – after Mr Bailey won a two-year legal battle against his extradition to France over the 1996 killing of Sophie Toscan du Plantier]

Yesterday, the Government announced the terms of reference for Supreme Court Judge Nial Fennelly’s Commission of Investigation.

The investigation will look at the recording of calls, other than 999 calls, to and from Garda stations between January 1, 1980 and November 27, 2013; the Garda investigation into the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier and the sequence of events leading up to the stepping down of former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan last month.

Under the terms of reference, Judge Fennelly will also establish whether any of the recorded material has been destroyed and establish “any instances during the relevant period where the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions made use of the data and information produced by the said telephone recording systems for any purpose”.

Further to this, Ian Bailey’s solicitor Frank Buttimer has told the Irish Times today that he believes the role of the DPP, the Department of Justice and the Attorney General in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case should be included in the terms of reference.

Mr Buttimer maintains the DPP was aware of concerns surrounding the case and the handling of witnesses – Marie Farrell and Martin Graham – back in the late 1990s, while he said the DPP has also been aware of three senior gardaí meeting with the State solicitor for West Cork, Malachy Boohig, allegedly trying to secure a decision to prosecute Mr Bailey.

“We want to know why were these sleeping dogs let lie by the DPP office, the Department of Justice and why did the DPP/Department of Justice knowing all this, allowed the French state come here to seek to remove Mr Bailey from the jurisdiction in what we believe was an unlawful action.”

Bailey solicitor calls for DPP’s office to be included in Garda inquiry (Barry Roche, Irish Times)

Full terms of reference here

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Three of the sixty finalists shortlisted from 50,000 submissions to the 11th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Competition

Above: Americana category – A champion bucks a champion at the  Helmville Rodeo Montana, by Carol Lynne Fowler (September 2013); Natural World category – an Eastern screech owl at Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia by Graham McGeorge (April 2013) and in the Altered Images category ‘Babylon’ by Dina Bova  (October 2013).

See all 60 finalists here.

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