THE MIRROR AND INDEPENDENT

There is a nice piece in THE SUNDAY MIRROR AND THE INDEPENDENT today all about BalconyTV. It's quite good, but it gets chopped off at the end in the MIrror. I've noticed that happen before in papers. Infuriating it is.

They seem to exagerrate a bit with our viewing figures though. Never believe what you read in the papers!

I hope you like the TV3 pose Tom and Pauline did especially for the Mirror.

On a seperate note, The Diet of Worms of YouTube Dublin Stories fame have made a very impressive article on the front page of the Tribune Review section.

Just type Dublin Stories into YouTube and you should get desired results.

And then ofcoarse there is bad publicity...

http://fakeempire.blogspot.com/2007/06/balcony-tv-awards-thingy.html

Gulp.

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE REVIEW

I was prepared to be disappointed by The Simpsons Movie. Afterall, I haven't enjoyed the show for years. I think something happened to it sometime back, like what happens to all great TV series that go on too long; characters become too ridiculous, the situations increasingly far fetched. This happened to The X Files, Friends, even the last series of Father Ted. Simply put, the writers run out of ideas.

So my thinking on The Simpsons, the first ten years amazing, the next eight years, not so amazing.

Luckily the movie was better than I thought it would be. Quite enjoyable actually. Its seems too long, while being too short. I don't know why that is.

It has some really clever moments that are worth going for.

The opening credits and the closing credits were the best bits for me.

And look how many Asian animators are on that credit list!

Crazy.

You just want a star rating don't you? Or a mark out of ten.

Hmmmmmmmmm,

7.5 out of 10.

3.5 stars.

I always wanted to be a film critic. But this is terrible writing.

I'll get better.

PHOTOS OF BALCONYTV HAMBURG

Its coming. Soon.

Before...


After

FLOODS

As I sit here the rain has just started falling again. It really is nuts. I think thats about 50 plus days in a row.

Looking at the situation in Britain, I'm wondering why Dublin never floods. Why does the River Liffey never offerflow? It must have got close in recent days.

I can certainly imagine the balcony overflowing. Thats a distinct possibility.

If you don't know, the balcony is not the best designed balcony in the world. It has no drainage system. So the water level just rises and rises.

It really is raining crazily now.

Its going to require buckets to clear the water from the balcony for tonights tapings.

There is a bit of thunder.

It the end of the world as we know it. Its the end of the world as we know it. Its the end of the world as we know it. (Michael Stipe Voice)

I feel fine.

TRANSFORMERS

I went to see Transformers yesterday while Pauline was at LoveBox.
I'd give it a 6.5 out of ten. Although my friends gave it a 7 and a 8.
For me it was weighed down with cringe worthy cheese.
This is because its directed by Hollywoods cheesiest director Michael Bay. No shot is longer that 4 seconds. Its like a 2 hour music video. His films look like beer ads.
Examples...Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Island, Con Air...etc etc...
Ahhhh, its not that bad.

YOUTUBE PROBLEMS

Apologies if people are having difficulties watching BalconyTV today. It seems YouTube is having some problems. Doubtless they will have things up and running soon. Hopefully.

BALCONYTV HAMBURG

Hey folks.

So BalconyTV will launch in Hamburg hopefully by the end of the month.

If any Irish bands or performers are visiting Hamburg they are more than welcome to contact our new Balcony.

You can contact Johanna at BalconyTV Hamburg at this email address...

johanna@balconytv.de

Or at their myspace...

http://www.myspace.com/balconytvhamburg

The website is currently in the works. We will keep you posted as things develop.

BALCONYTV TO REPRESENT IRELAND

BalconyTV has been chosen to represent Ireland in the e-Entetainment category of the World Summit Awards (WSA); a global contest for selecting and promoting the World’s best e-content and applications. The WSA is held under the framework of and in cooperation with the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society.

Its true, is all true.

Congratulations again to all the acts who have performed on BalconyTV who have made this possible.

Heres some linkage...

http://www.wsis-award.org/

BALCONYTV CAR

Toms talking about covering his car in BalconyTV decals. Look out for that.
Heres episode 6 of the fantastic Dublin Stories.

Over 600'000 Video Views For BalconyTV

Thats over 1600 views per video. Not bad.

NO SHOW

Sorry for the lack of a show yesterday folks. We had some technical mishaps that we could figure out for ages. Added to that the bleedin road works. They have been messing up Dame Street for weeks now. More on that tomorrow!

VIDEO OF THE DAY

LIVE EARTH HAMBURG REVIEW

Live Earth Hamburg. What can I say about it?

It rained most of the day. The stadium was half empty. It took ages to get in because the venue was clearly under staffed.

There was little sense of saving the planet. It was more like a music showcase. Although that could be due to the fact that I just don´t know the language.

Luckily we did get in on time to see Shakira shaking her hips that don´t lie. (See vid)

Most of the acts were German. They were not bad. There was one rock band called Silvermond that got the crowd going. Good looking lead singer too.

Snoop Dogg did the usual bling bling, and then left the stage.

Katie Melua, has a really good voice.

Chris Cornell did that much under-rated Casino Royale tune which I was very happy about.

And Cat Stevens performed his first gig in ages apparently, wrapping up the event. I love Wild World so I was very much looking forward to it.

He has a very sympathetic face now. So when the organisers completly messed up the sound on him, it was hard not to feel sorry for him. I can´t help but feel he deserved better.

Don´t be fooled by the video below, the sound was dire.

There was a lag of about 10 minutes betweens acts aswell. And when you take into account that there was about 20 acts, the day did drag. While you waited you watched live feeds from around the world. Especially London, where the sun shined and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Co entertained the crowd.

Hmmmmmm...

Over the course of the day I had 4 Beers, One Coffee, One bag of sweet popcorn, One German sausagey thing, One fish sandwich thingy, One spicy pretzely thing. Needless to say by the end of proceedings, I felt like our climate. All over the place.

LIVING IN OBLIVION

Im heading to Hamburg today, where some friends are interested in setting up a BalconyTV Hamburg.

Im going to take in the Live Earth concert while I am at it. Not the best of lines ups in Hamburg but I am looking forward to Shakira. I love that line from that song...I forget its name...but it goes something like this...

´look at my breasts they´re small and humble so you dont confuse them with mountains´

Thanks to Ronan, who negotiated with the drillers to stop for Danielle Smiths show today. The drillers have been on Dame Street for weeks now. Its a real pain.

They are now drilling directly below the balcony. So taping over the next period of time should be very hairy. And scary.

Movie tip of the day - Living in Oblivion.

DIE HARD 4.0

Sorry for the lack of blog action over the last few days. No inspiration. Nothing to moan about.
I went to see Die Hard 4.0 last night. Surprisingly brilliant. Exactly what stupid over the top Hollywood action fare should be. Go see it. Two thumbs up.
I wonder will they print that on the Die Hard poster. Stephen O´Regan, BalconyTV ´Two Thumbs Up´.
Now that would be cool.
I shall dream on.
Very happy to see the guys at Dublin Stories have made the front page of YouTube. They deserve it. Super stardom is just around the corner.