David Maybury | Blog

It was a night of dapper suits, funeral processions and dancing. Lots and lots of dancing.

And the winners of the bloggies were announced – including Best Arts and Culture Blog – No Ordinary Fool! (Serious kudos!)

Kudos to for the other finalists – Average Film Reviews, kDamo, and Women Rule Writer.

There were lots of new faces, old friends and some very interesting ideas being thrown around all night – with one idea being tantamount – blogging ‘aint dead.

Thanks to Damien, Ryan, Steven, the awards sponsors and everyone involved for a great night. Looking forward to next year all ready!

Whoop! Someone was kind enough to nominate the site for an Irish Blog Award – and it has been announced as one of the 5 finalists for the Best Art and Culture Award!

Say hello to the others in the category:

• Average Film Reviews
• No Ordinary Fool
• kDamo
• Women Rule Writer

Thank you to whoever submitted the nomination – I really appreciate the effort of voting for me – and thanks to the judges who are (as we speak) reading and well… judging.

The awards are a fantastic chance to celebrate what we do and I’m shocked and delighted to have been chosen as one of the finalists.

The 2010 Blog Award nominations have opened.

That’s right, the only awards ceremony to encourage cake throwing is back – and they want your votes!

Having been banished from Dublin and Cork the awards will be in Galway later this year. Keep an eye on awards.ie for the particulars.

And in the meantime – why not nominate your favourite blogs. Ah g’wan.

Fiona McCann collecting her award from an escaped Yeti - picture by the talented glasseyalley.com

I’m only crawling out from under my dark shadowy rock now following the debauched and thumb breaking madness* of the Blog Awards.

Damien and everyone involved put an incredible night together, bolstered by the diverse and always welcoming 400+ of Irish bloggers. Congrats to the winners – all listed here – and a special nod to Fiona, Raptureponies, Kate, beaut.ie, Sweary and the queen of bloggers Suzy. It was great to meet so many friends, to make some new ones, and of course to receive the highest honour -  giving away Ciara during the proceedings.

Right – so down to business…

David Walliams – the celebrity Kids book champion (along with Harry Hill) gives a candid interview, covered in the Independent UK.

I managed to miss Amanda Craig’s ‘best of what is out there so far this year’ list in the Times UK a few weeks ago – well worth a read.

Nicolette Jones reviews Chris Wormell’s Ferocious Wild Beasts

Impressively skilful in the way its pictures make the creatures realistic as animals, yet human in their attitudes and expressions, this tale is both delightful and suspenseful and has a punch line that will encourage children not so much to disobey their mothers as to respond without prejudice to the people and creatures they meet.

And sticking with the Times UK, it carries det

ails on the Oxford Literary Festival – including 33 events for young readers with appearances by Philip Ardagh, Francesca Simon, Malorie Blackman and David Almond.

And in the Guardian – deep breath now -

Alison Flood looks at Waterstone’s 12 ‘new voices’ for 2009.

Philip Pullman presents an audio slideshow discussing Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.

Siri Hustvedt visits artist Annette Messager’s first show large show case in the UK – in the Hayward Gallery, London until May 25.

Lucy Mangan continues her Book Corner series – this time The Wombles by Elizabeth Beresford

When does that receptive little corner of our minds start to harden and grow impermeable to such simple common sense and make us into the people Great-Uncle Bulgaria will never understand, “Not even if I live to be three hundred”?

Meg Rosoff reads Morris Gleitzman’s Then “the latest in that shadowy sub-genre of children’s books, the Holocaust novel.”

Gleitzman offers his characters consolation in the form of love, but does not allow them (or us) to believe that love trumps evil. The average 10-year-old will leave this book sadder and wiser about the race of men – but, like the very best children’s books, Then should be read by adults as well.

The bright star of Christopher Nolan gets the send of any Whitbread winner would be proud off in the Independent, Guardian and Irish Times.

And finally – elsewhere on the web – Eoin Purcell poses a question. Authonomy: Good Or Bad?

*The ‘auld thumb is not in fact broken… just sprained. What can I say? I’m a man – we need to exagerate these things.

The Irish Blog Award nominations are out – and it makes for a very long list of blogs… Thank you to whoever nominated me for the Best Art and Culture Award!! Congratulations to the very deserving list of other nominees and I hope to meet all of ye in Cork in February!

The Film Talk
Scamp: An Irish Illustration Blog
Pearls And Rubies
Asylum
Skint
Stony River Farm
An Art and Ecology Notebook
Raptureponies
Pursued By A Bear
Izznit
Arts Management Ireland
Confessions Of A Film Critic
Fair Maiden Of The Mindful Blossom
Musical Rooms
Eoin Purcell’s Blog
The Anti-room
An Cathach
Crime Always Pays
Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Weblog
Éagsúil- Arts Show On West Limerick 102
Bluebirds are so Natural
Fustar – Recycling Cultural Waste Since 2005
A Doubtful Egg
The Red Scrapbook
The Devious Theatre Company
Caricatures Ireland
Chris Judge Illustration
Self Interest And Sympathy
Circa: Now!
[ Irish Kc ]
Dante And The Lobster
Music Roadmusic Road
Fin Keegan

But wait! There’s more – there are plenty of other categories all with long lists of potential winners, the judges have their hands full this year. Get yourself clicking and read some great blogs.

Plenty of things happening in the real world these days – and I managed to detach myself from the keyboard and tag along to a few…

First was the Irish Pen event last Thursday on Writing for Children. I had a lovely chat with Sarah Webb and Carbags, as well as a quiet drink with Steve Simpson, of Scamp.ie fame, and Brian Gallagher, a very brief hello/goodbye with Oisín McGann and PJ Nolan, a chin wag with the Hungry Caterpillar and the beautiful letter writer Karl O’Neill. Sarah has a comprehensive review of the night – including stats and notes on what everyone said. And she called me lovely. Yup, I’m lovely. (Not quite on the cute-boy list yet but I’m working up to that)

Saturday saw the inaugural (and amazing) Irish Web Awards. And what a night that was. Lovely to meet the regular gang of cohorts (you all know who you are) and to see some others I don’t get to talk to so regularly – including – Sineads, Jen, Deb, Sabrina, Redmum, Martha, Lexi, Suzy, John, Paula, Ciara, Peter, Niall, Aoife, Keith, Ken, Ross, Alan and hello to Jen – who I sadly didn’t see.

Damien surpassed any and all expectations and put together an amazing night and the Grand Boo-Bah did a stand-up job (see what I did there?) on the mic. Congrats to everyone who won (or was nominated – winning isn’t everything you know). There are plenty of pics out there – so far this has been my favourite:

Caught up with some bloggers (Darragh, Sinéad C – who seemed genuinely distraught by boyish face – and Laura) over the weekend – but managed to miss The Spanish Exposition’s look at the Irish Blogosphere until today. Rosie’s post hits on/near something, I think, that needed to be said – and some of the comments make for interesting reading.

There used to be a time when all Irish bloggers could fit around three tables in the Market Bar. The Irish blogging community is larger now and I doubt that most know who blog in various niches now. – Bernie Goldbach. (BG’s site)

As for the blogosphere itself this is an interesting post. I wrote something vaguely similar a couple of years ago. As the scene matures it’ll will splinter, that’s normal. – Twenty Major. (Twenty’s site)

Others have takes on it too: Le Craic, Alexia, Darragh, Colm, Jazz Biscuit – and more…
Update: Rick O’S has an interesting post take on things too…

And in other news:

> HAPPY BLOOMSDAY!

> Sinéad G is leaving the Sigla blog – the best Arts and Culture blog, three years running.

> The Dublin Writers Festival Blog has some reviews – Esther Freud, Tom Stoppard and the Irish Values Debate.

> Rob got a haircut. (In case you missed it, this is an all inclusive Irish bloggers post)

> Rapture Ponies is excited. Really excited. You will be too, when you see the trailer for the new Coen Brothers movie.

> The Sunday Tribune website has gotten a clean up. (It looks very like Independent.ie)

> And, not Irish, not even a little, but well worth reading. Sigmund Freud vs The Male Nurse.

The mandatory post that covers all things awardsies:

It’s all over for another year and all across the country the nation’s finest are coming-to with some severely sore heads. There was no queue of limo’s outside but there were 400 people in a room watching when Rick cried. (Congrats again).

So much happened last night but here’s a few highlights:

Sinead winning – AGAIN!
Kevin won a blog-dinner – free masala for all!
Feeding Una + Damien some tequila shots. How can a man that small drink so much??
Meeting Lili + Corina: they take pictures of pretty ladies for a livingsies.
Asking Rick to blag Deb into a job in RTE – I haven’t forgotten.
Talking about Elly’s eyes. Honest.
Simon winning the Contribution award – and teaching me how to break people.
Telling Stephen he was from Ballina.
Grandad and Granny Mar’s acceptance speeches.
Wearing Keith’s name tag at the end of the night – no one noticed…
Jason giving me his badge. It may not sound like much but I was damn excited at the time.
Twenty threatening to glass me. Twice.
Drunkenly meeting Annie at the very end of the night and not being able to pronounce Bjarni’s name.
Asking Colm for microsoft’s money – Microsoft, supporting the arts?
Meeting the Humble Housewife and finally getting the joke.
Ken and Ross in Burger King for the after party.

I was looking forward to meeting Aoife, Sinead, Nialler9, Gareth, Bock, Rob, Jen, Shane, and so many others – damn the nerdish shy embarressment. Congrats again to all the winners – the full list is over on Maman Poulet and Irish KC has a run down of the night. Thanks to everyone involved – well done on a brilliant night.

Three cheers to Damien for making it all happen. The man is a legend.

A nerdish link dump – on par with the Grand Poo-bah* himself.

> Never be caught in the embarrassing situation of mispronouncing a writers name again: Hold your head high at parties.

> Since you’re already sounding smart – why not drop a reference to the Large Hadron Collider (The Atom Smasher) and the new developments in atomic physics. Sinead can enlighten you.

> Eventually at this party nature will call. Don’t get caught out by the urinal game – use the divider provided.

> And finally once you’ve had a skin full: Get mad and demand that everyone at the party be versed in interweb etiquette.

*Rick O’Shea is NOT affiliated with name Grand Poo-bah, yet. Who knows, he might stick it on his name tag at the blog awards. Or he might not.

The short list for the 2008 Blog Awards is up online. Congratulations to everybody listed – here’s quick look down the list for Best Arts and Culture (sponsored by Poetry Ireland) :

• Bookmark
• Scamp
• Asylum
• The Sigla Blog
• Eddie Mullan’s No Clarity
• Tuppenceworth.ie
• Dear Dead Beat
• Dermod Moore
• The New(ish) Journalism
• American Hell
• Stunned

Could it be three years in a row for The Sigla Blog? Or will there be a new winner this year? Either way, I’m looking forward to meeting everyone at the awards in March. Best of luck!