BALCONYTV HAMBURG LAUNCH TOMORROW!!!

After more than one year of BalconyTV, BalconyTV will be launching in Hamburg Germany tomorrow!!! Final preparations are being made. Be sure to tune in tomorrow to see the launch at both BalconyTV.Com and BalconyTV.De.

How we did it, no man knows.

DELAYS AND CHANGES

Sorry for the delay in todays BalconyTV upload. We've been having some problem with our hosts.

You may also notice some changes to the main page. We now have a link that takes you to BalconyTV Hamburg. If all goes well that should launch officially on Saturday. Touch wood.

And if you go into the BalconyTV Archive, you will see YouTube have now added a very useful search facility especially for the archive.

Brill.

RIP OFF DUBLIN

I went for lunch/breakfast today with a friend to the Avoca Cafe on Suffolk Street. We were going to go to Filmbase for lunch - Dublins best kept secret - 7.50 for a top Sandwich and a meat or veg soup, but instead went for the Avoca option.
The whole thing came to 23.37! I had mushrooms on toast which consisted of mushrooms on one small piece of toast, and my friend had pancakes with bacon which consisted of two flat out-of-a-packet-looking-pancakes with a couple of rashers. Added to that one hot chocolate and one regular cappucino.
23.37!!
Has this city gone mad. My friend isn't from Ireland, and I think its getting to a stage where the prices are actually embarressing. I'm beginning to wonder what anybody overseas thinks when they visit here. What are offering them?
Ofcoarse the service charge was added. I hate the way restaurants have the trend of automatically adding the service charge. There was once a time when you only tipped if the service was especially good. Now you have to tip. What are we tipping for? The service in Avoca was fine. Nothing special. They didn't drop our food. Does that deserve a tip. We were not greeted with any smiles. No hellos. No how are yous?
This rip off Ireland culture really is beginning to piss me off.
Let me go on. In the Georges Street arcade there is a shop that sells 2nd cds and DVDs. It charges 19.99 for second hand DVDs. It charges more for 2nd hand DVDs that you can buy them brand new.
Has everyone gone mad?
Well I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take anymore!

VIDEO OF THE DAY

YOUTUBE LAUNCH ADVERTS

We are not sure how much this may interfere with BalconyTV if at all...but here is the news today...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6958103.stm

YouTube introduces video adverts

YouTube has more than 130 million unique monthly users
Video advertising has started on the YouTube website, its owner - internet giant Google - has confirmed.
Google said it had designed the way the adverts work on the video-sharing website to be as unobtrusive and undisruptive as possible.

The adverts will begin 15 seconds after a user has started to watch a video, but only on 20% of the screen window.

Google said the advert would then disappear within 10 seconds if the user had not clicked to watch it.

'Providing value'

While YouTube already carries advertising banners, the introduction of video adverts is Google's first big push to increase revenues on the video-sharing website, which it bought for $1.65bn (£831m) last November.

"The philosophy at YouTube is pretty much core to what we at Google do generally, which is that all the ads we serve need to provide value to the end user," said Eileen Naughton, Google's director of media platforms.

The first video advertisers keen to tap into YouTube's more-than-130 million unique monthly visitors include Warner Music, News Corporation, 20th Century Fox and New Line Cinema.

The adverts will be connected to music videos and other selecting postings.

According to market expectations, the value of video advertisements on websites will soar to $4.3bn a year in the US alone by 2011.

MR KEVIN

Check out Mr Kevins videos...He may be our youngest viewer. He could also be our biggest competitor!

BALCONYTVS GLOBAL REACH

BalconyTV seems to be having an appeal much further affield than Ireland. Todays show feature Elliot Roche who rang our doorbell out of the blue. He claimed to have travelled from Mineapolis via London just to be on BalconyTV. All he had to go by was the small picture of the Balcony he found on our MySpace profile. He wandered the streets of Dublin looking for the balcony. How could we turn down such a request to perform?
And this man may be BalconyTVs first Russian Fan.

OVER 700'000 VIDEO VIEWS!!!

Getting higher. Slowly. The day we get to the million mark will be a day of celebration. Ahhhhhh I can see it now...confetti falling from the balcony!

SILICON REPUBLIC

Thanks to the legendary Denis Mulcahy who pointed out that we got a small mention in a recent SiliconRepublic.Com article. Its brief mind...

- Internet TV is not just any Random Thought

Former sports journalists Eamon Carey and Daire Whelan, co-founders of Random Thoughts, stumbled into the world of internet and mobile TV and have no intentions of leaving.

“We set up originally as a traditional TV production company with a view of keeping half an eye on the digital space,” says Carey. “But within a few days we realised that the digital space was our future.”

Random Thoughts is the production company behind Dunphy’s Last Word on Football on 3’s mobile network and last year did a show with Brent Pope and George Hook for the Six Nations on O2’s network.

Carey says it’s all about pushing the boundaries of TV beyond the living room. The company won a €50,000 prize from the Korean Broadcasting Commission in the Content 360 Awards in Cannes.

Going forward it is focusing on internet TV opportunities and is in talks with YouTube about creating a branded IPTV channel in the tradition of the eponymous Temple Bar show Balcony TV.

“Independent production companies are carving out a new future and look to internet firms like YouTube, Joost and Babelgum as key to a future that allows them to bypass the traditional commissioning editors at the BBC and RTE,” Carey says.

By John Kennedy -

Thanks again to Denis. And if you've never seen Denis on BalconyTV. Here he Denis last Summer giving the BalconyTV weather.

400 SHOWS

Stats, stats, stats, what do they mean? Not alot really. But according to YouTube stats, because we've stopped counting, BalconyTV now has 400 shows archived. We should probably have some kind of celebratory show, but we didn't really get around to it.
Thats because Tom has been in Frankfurt, and Pauline in New York City. Both spreading the word of BalconyTV to the masses.
I went for very late drinks last night with Tom, and I have the mother of all hang overs now. Something I'm really not in the mood for. Although it is giving me some inspiration to write some random guff.
We went for drinks to the new Baggot Inn. You go downstairs and the tables have beer taps. So you pour your own Guinness and Carlsberg. Clearly its all been very thought out. I liked the novelty factor, but you get over it quickly when you see the drink prices are still generally high. And if your pouring the beer and its very high (foamy, suddy), then it counts as alcohol poured.
Blah blah blah.
Added to that the service was pretty dodge. You can have gimmicks all you want, but if you don't have the service, whats the point.
I am very moany today. Typical cynical Dubliner. I need to snap out of it. Peace and love.
I should probably do a spell check. I should probably shut up.

BALACLAVAS

What do you do when your musical guest wants to wear a balaclava? Well my gut reaction was one of ´oh no, whats going on here?´.
But then, who am I supposed to say no. It´s only a piece of clothing at the end of the day. And it´s not for me to question the acts on their motivation, lyrics etc. So I said, what the hell.
Although I did fear the whole time he might pull a gun on us. The song is good, what can I say?! No more defending us.
Jinx got away with it...

A CONVERSATION ABOUT GOD

Since its Sunday...
PART 1

PART 2

Almost like an Ali G for its day. With a touch more wit.

TONY WILSON RIP

Sad to hear about the passing of Tony Wilson. I learned about Tony through the film 24 Hour Party People, and I most recently remember his cameo in A Cock and Bull Story.

Here is the Beeb obit...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6941105.stm

I guess he will be meeting God again so...

HWCH FESTIVAL

I noticed a bit of a fluffle on the message boards yesterday regarding the announcemnet of what bands would appear at the Hard Work Class Heroes Festival. This is an event that has clearly come to mean something to mean something to the music community in Ireland. Congrats to all the bands that made it from BalconyTV, particularly those who have appeared on BTV to date including...

Chrome Horse
Declan de Barra
Eric Eckhart
Evil Harrissons
Ham Sandwich
Jenny Lindfors
New Amusement
Ray Heffernan
Straglers
The Flaws
The Kybosh
The Sensors
White Noise

In a way I´m surprised there are not more. Clearly alot of great bands have missed out. They shouldn´t be disheartened though. Always remember íts all a scam´. Perhaps BalconyTV should set up a festival of its own.

What the full list demonstrates further is the incredible amount of bands that are out there. I thought I had a sense of how many there were, but looking at the list, there are names I don´t even recognise.

On with the show.

HEATHER THOMPSON GUEST PRESENTER

So Pauline has headed off to New York, Tom has headed off to Frankfurt and suffice to say I was stuck in a qwandery for presenters. What a qwandery is I´m not quite sure.
I was approached by a model/dancer recently who was interested in presenting. But she was unreachable. Kieron Black of Sunday Roast and King Kong Club was otherwise engaged. My friend Maghnus Lally was at Transformers again. I offered the role to otherwise suitable candidates who were out of town. I thought to myself, why don´t I contact a modeling agency and see if they want to drop us a model presenter...but they were small minded and wanted money, thus standing in the way of their clients potential presenting career. Things got desperate, until Kieron Black recommmended I contact Heather from The Sensors. And in the end all worked out well. It was very short notice, but I think she did an "Awesome" job.
Speaking to Heather before the show she told me that she is actually from the town of RoughnReady in California. That is no joke.
Anyway basically I would like to thank Heather for presenting BalconyTV. And if you haven´t seen Heathers band the Sensors, here they are on BalconyTV.

DEMPSEYS DEN

I enjoyed being interviewed by Ian Dempsey on the Breakfast Show yesterday morning, bright and early. I couldn't help but get a dig in before the interview though. They never showed my art on the Den when I was younger. It made me very upset. Just having a look on YouTube now I can't find any Ian Dempsey Den clips. I recall they used to call it Dempseys Den for a long time. Infact my grandmother still calls it that. Just like every packet of crisps is called Tayto.

'Go to the show and buy a bag of Tayto'

'Ok, what flavor?'

'Tayto'

'I know, but salt and vinegar, cheese and onion, smokey bacon?'

'Tayto'

And so on.

I've gone a bit off topic now. The internet once again proving a good outlet for useless ramblings.

Now focus...and think...video of the day time.

BTV HAMBURG COMING SOON

BalconyTV.De live from Hamburg we expect to be launching on September 1st. We think. Don't quote us on that.
In the mean time here is a coming soon video...its translates as...

- You could be sitting here...
- Or you...
- BalconyTV...
- Coming Soon.

Its a working project for Johanna and Lars in Hamburg, so bare with them as they figure out the the tricks of the balcony trade.

www.balconytv.de
www.myspace.com/balconytvhamburg

SERAPHIM FALLS REVIEW

The rain is back. That sun spell didn't last long. And the drills are back. They are cutting up the new footpaths they just put down!!!

Anyway, yesterday I saw Seraphim Falls, which stars Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson.

The film has a basic cat and mouse set up. Liam Neeson is chasing Pierce Brosnan. The reason we are told half way through the film in cheesy flashback fashion.

Liam has numerous opportunites to catch Pierce throughout, but for some reason always misses. Blah de blah blah.

As you watch the screen you think to yourself 'just shoot him, hes right there infront of you, you can't miss, come on, get it over with, shoot him'.

And thats pretty much it.

It's watchable nevertheless. I would describe it as OK in the extreme.

However, this is brilliant in the extreme...

ANOTHER BALCONY ARCHIVE

It seems there is another Balcony Archive online.

This one is a video movie review archive featuring the reviews of legendary American critics Siskel and Ebert.

http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/

Quite a good resource for movie reviews I think.

MEETINGS AND PROBLEMS

Sorry for the lack of blog action in recent days. Suffice to say its a very exciting time for BalconyTV. Different things are happening left right and centre. Meetings, meetings and more meetings. It will be interesting to see how it all develops.

On a seperate note, it seems that some BalconyTV videos are downloading especially slow from YouTube. Hopefully this won't last long.

It could be just are internet connection ofcoarse.

But my gut feeling is its YouTube. So sit tight on that one, and hopefully all will be working well later.