DIT Graduate Photography Show 2011

http://www.ditgraduatephotography.com/

Just in from the official opening of this exhibition in the National Photography Archive and the Gallery of Photography in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin. It's the annual final year/graduate showcase of the photography students at DIT, and I happen to know one of the photographers in this years class.

So, vested interest mentioned, I just had to give these guys a wee plug - if you are in the city, and have a passing interest in photography, it's worth a view. The photos are amazing, if you're like me you mightn't like them all but they are all high quality and evidence of a huge amount of work. Some are documentary, some are constructed images, some projects use double exposures, others use slides - the variety and imagination alone are impressive!

To reiterate, it's well worth a view - it's on in Temple Bar till June 26th. More details here, on their facebook page, and on their twitter feed, @ditphoto2011.  Enjoy! And best of luck to the 23 exhibitors.

Free Music!

Readers (both of you...), what better news could I have for you than I have found some (good) free music for you! Miracle Bell are an up and coming band from Co. Kildare, and as part of their promotional activities they are happy to let you download their track called "Future Kings" for free (in exchange for your email address..).

Future Kings comes off their album "Light Shape Sound," (as pointed out by anonymous, below [thanks!!]) and you'll have heard one of their feelgood tracks "Love Sounds" in the Jervis Shopping Centre Christmas ad on the radio and d'telly.

Really, it's a no-brainer. A free 3 minute and 40 seconds of happy music. You might even like it and consider buying the album afterwards (I think that's the point - do it!).

If you didn't click on the link on my title, here's another one: CLICK HERE FOR FREE MUSIC

Edit: I edited this post because I was wrong. Don't tell anyone. Nah, I mixed up the song title from the ad with the album title. Which is totally different. But it was in my mind as the next thing to type, and that's what happens when it's cold.

Another site to lose yourself on...

Hey all, I discovered www.freesound.org today, it's a collection of sounds (as you might have thought) that people upload onto the site, and (I think) they're all free for users! Today I was listening to the bells of Santa Croce in Florence.

You might lose yourself there. You might not. Particularly if you don't look at it. But sure it might be of some use to you!

Feed the world!

Generate self satisfied-smugness, and sending rice to the needy hungry people. Yay! Apparently, every correct answer sends 10 rice grains (by means of the site sponsors) to needy people. And, you can gloat that you got to level 45 of 60 in the vocabulary test!

It can hardly be A Bad Thing, can it?

IKEA?

Dropped up to IKEA Belfast today. What a place, its ginormous! To find it, if going from Dublin, go around Belfast towards the George Best airport (that's Belfast city airport, not the International one....) and it's just beyond that. Huge though.

First of all, you park. Then you go into the shop. After that you pick a trolley, but you don't really need a trolley for a bit. So you follow the arrows on the ground, perusing their furniture, furnishings and generally clever products, storage-wise. You choose what you like, and what you want to buy, then you note the storage aisle and location for the flatpack box (though some smaller items, like breadboards, and small storage boxes, are laid out more like ordinary goods in a shop than the bigger flatpack stuff), and continue on your way, probably noting more product locations.

You then pass through a part of the shop selling the smaller stuff, then into the warehouse area. Most of the packs are there for you to lug onto the trolley, but I got the impression that some of the heavier pieces would need help from a co-worker (There are no staff members, or personnel, or assistants - they're called co-workers and responsibles in IKEA). Then through the magic laser scanner bay with you (it's not that magic, it's a lot like the supermarket) where you hand over some money (real or pretend, depending - they take Laser/Maestro "up there", for your information)

All the measurements are there for you on the item's ticket - both for the assembled item and for the flatpack package, so you can get an idea if it'll fit in the car. I recommend bringing a car with folding rear seats, at least. I also recommend putting aside a fair chunk of time for your visit, if you don't know exactly what you're buying. A browsy visit will take maybe 3 or 4 hours, it's huge. And there's a coffee shop, bargain corner, and a swedish food shop too. Crazy.

More on buildability later.

Oh, and Coldplay are offering some songs free on an album, here.