tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3631885920636821062024-03-13T17:03:55.608+00:00>between ideas<distractions in media, technology and the rest.Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-38217979202476659372016-08-30T09:30:00.000+01:002016-09-15T09:31:00.496+01:00Shackleton's Mythical Ad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It seems that this legendary ad taken out by Irish adventurer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton" target="_blank">Ernest Shackleton</a> might just be that: a legend. (Shock, horror 😱))<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YVZSW68mMIIko7b2C3uix7qyKSeJSllwVRyyVm7-0fEBdwx9eIwqf8Ay6e_toRCJu8RSTlMkl67VfxyeNcbmEu7gFDoV1v27k4fDL77SsqmC7Zy2Q80pwCCfnEIppJZbuFKqbKFf9go/s1600/09_10_2013_shackleton-e1378828023512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7YVZSW68mMIIko7b2C3uix7qyKSeJSllwVRyyVm7-0fEBdwx9eIwqf8Ay6e_toRCJu8RSTlMkl67VfxyeNcbmEu7gFDoV1v27k4fDL77SsqmC7Zy2Q80pwCCfnEIppJZbuFKqbKFf9go/s400/09_10_2013_shackleton-e1378828023512.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/shackleton-probably-never-took-out-an-ad-seeking-men-for-a-hazardous-journey-5552379/?no-ist" target="_blank">Smithsonian.com</a> has a piece that despite extensive searching with a diligence Shackleton himself would have admired, no one can find any record of it appearing in print. Nor indeed, perhaps, even the 5,000 supposed applicants.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">Apparently the archives of </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">The Times</em><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> from 1785 to 1985 (oh and he died in 1922), the </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">South Polar Times</em><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">, </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;">The Blizzard and</em><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> the </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><i>Geographical Journal</i><span style="background-color: white;"><i> </i>among others have turned up nothing.</span></span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
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The rest of the story is here: <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/shackleton-probably-never-took-out-an-ad-seeking-men-for-a-hazardous-journey-5552379/#dq9slIFSPFMcRFIF.15">Shackleton Probably Never Took Out an Ad Seeking Men for a Hazardous Journey</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6BenQaRRd-4dkReUAETveo8X4N9NzjI-ZdeRLVjHq8cDtTtaq1mPe9VIHXE2-6YCWsjhA5GBkE6-52wY_HeA9hvOQReJ7JT8LT4Ooy1NLg42BGeOAhuTiH2HHOdJHgemipdhhWqPOR0/s1600/17e647845a5a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6BenQaRRd-4dkReUAETveo8X4N9NzjI-ZdeRLVjHq8cDtTtaq1mPe9VIHXE2-6YCWsjhA5GBkE6-52wY_HeA9hvOQReJ7JT8LT4Ooy1NLg42BGeOAhuTiH2HHOdJHgemipdhhWqPOR0/s400/17e647845a5a.jpg" width="297" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Good job then Shackleton was able to immortalise himself otherwise with what's probably the greatest survival adventure of all time after <a href="http://www.shackleton100.com/endurance/" target="_blank">The Endurance</a> became ice-locked. It culminated in his rescue of the entire crew from Elephant Island on this day 100 years ago, August 30, 1916.</span></span></span></div>
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Below is master-photographer, <a href="http://www.greatwar.nl/frames/default-hurley.html" target="_blank">Frank Hurley's</a> famous "all safe, all well" shot of that rescue. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/aug/22/arts.artsnews" target="_blank">Or is it?</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQWPNLSTMX7WnyjiMADnO54DNbsXsBHnsZv8qedRKgTvxgk8WL7V9FT_YddElQYhZ_vjLtIWgouYjbH1yDXFpY1P0UFOes8D2uZir5FfzZrsLNJKEUeMr7DY5acWQQfeKzxQHtPWxYvzc/s1600/AllSafeAllWell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQWPNLSTMX7WnyjiMADnO54DNbsXsBHnsZv8qedRKgTvxgk8WL7V9FT_YddElQYhZ_vjLtIWgouYjbH1yDXFpY1P0UFOes8D2uZir5FfzZrsLNJKEUeMr7DY5acWQQfeKzxQHtPWxYvzc/s320/AllSafeAllWell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Always <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=363ZAmQEA84" target="_blank">print the legend.</a></div>
Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-32003013247232078802016-08-01T00:14:00.000+01:002016-09-15T00:16:19.870+01:00Expressway with feeling<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How a coach journey might make you feel.<br />
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Enjoyed making this spot for Expressway with <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601382/" target="_blank">John Moore</a> again for <a href="https://www.strategem.ie/" target="_blank">Strategem iLabs</a>. And yes, we actually did stick <a href="http://www.millenniumfx.co.uk/" target="_blank">Big Red</a> on a rig with gorgeous little Isabel Connolly in his arms and race up and down the M11 a couple of times. This is John Moore after all.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/171553702?color=000000&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/171553702">Expressway - "Way Better"</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/russellcurran">Russell Curran Productions</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-19421799252234661612016-04-29T09:30:00.000+01:002016-09-15T13:22:57.584+01:00Introducing NFL Star, Tom Brady to the Easter Bunny<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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NFL star quarterback, <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/tom-brady-259541" target="_blank">Tom Brady</a> (eh, AKA Mr <a href="http://www.giselebundchen.com.br/" target="_blank">Gisele</a>) was a great sport to muck about with our Easter Bunny in this web film for <a href="http://getunreal.com/pages/world" target="_blank">UnReal Candy</a>. Along with top illustrator, <a href="http://stevesimpson.com/" target="_blank">Steve Simpson</a>, we've been working with the all-natural confectionary brand in the US for a couple of years on everything from developing the creative strategy to packaging & merch design to online content creation. Great opportunity to work with the remarkable <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/72992/educating-michael" target="_blank">Michael Bronner</a> too.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-48331351381583345652016-01-14T15:21:00.000+00:002016-03-18T16:18:14.702+00:00Wearable Tech: the rise of the fitness tracker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the world of technology, there’s possibly never been such a rapid and concentrated proliferation of ideas, designs and iterations as with wearable technology in the last five years. Here's my quick round-up of some of the latest products for <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/fashion/wearable-tech-the-rise-of-the-fitness-tracker-1.2495406" target="_blank"><b>The Irish Times</b></a>.<br />
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<i>"Even the phrase itself would have provoked much head-scratching until recently. Now it’s not unusual to see friends casually comparing step counts on their smartphone’s app while the launch of the Apple Watch prompted a mainstream media feeding frenzy. There are personal monitors to measure everything from sleep patterns to heart rates, to nag wearers to do more exercise, even some which track periods."</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/fashion/wearable-tech-the-rise-of-the-fitness-tracker-1.2495406" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqEvTFGdzzjpx_vcm3pamCcCvHpOIebqq8d0j6xKeiexCOCibyRAovfSJe9ZgU7RazTZ8KhodD75wIAQa_pqC2uOEurcauQkqJzDdQMpRa7buywKt3SEmcP2LRYyPHfkyZjuFeoWlszRo/s640/Wearable+Tech.jpg" title="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/fashion/wearable-tech-the-rise-of-the-fitness-tracker-1.2495406" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/fashion/wearable-tech-the-rise-of-the-fitness-tracker-1.2495406" target="_blank">The Irish Times, Jan 14, 2016.</a></td></tr>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-71073596757481187592015-12-18T14:45:00.000+00:002016-03-16T15:18:04.433+00:00Christmas Homecomings with Charles Dickens<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's a simple little low budget film I directed for <a href="https://www.strategem.ie/" target="_blank">Strategem iLabs</a> for its clients, <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/fleet-first-expressway-buses-to-offer-4g-wifi-in-30m-rebrand-1.2092894" target="_blank">Expressway and Bus Éireann</a> to celebrate all those Christmas homecomings they're part of. <a href="http://richardkendrick.ie/" target="_blank">Richard Kendrick</a> shot the pix, with additional footage from <a href="http://www.intercuts.com/" target="_blank">Hugh Chaloner</a> and Conor Smyth cut it.<br />
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The text is an extract from <i><a href="https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54pp/chapter28.html" target="_blank">A Good-Humoured Christmas</a></i> by that up and coming writer, <b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/christmas-a-dickens-of-a-time-1207068.html" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a>, </b>read rather beautifully by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0219329/" target="_blank"><b>Ned Dennehy</b></a> (himself no stranger to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1BV0vH2JsWR4hSsqdPpmwRk/cast-and-characters" target="_blank">Dickens</a>) and recorded at <a href="http://beaconstudios.net/" target="_blank">Beacon Studios</a>.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-46091084365567380302015-12-01T13:01:00.000+00:002016-03-16T14:44:18.229+00:00Getting UnReal in Time Square<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It was also great to collaborate with the mighty <a href="https://www.behance.net/stevesimpson" target="_blank"><b>Steve Simpson</b></a> on a 60m tall digital screen for <a href="https://www.instagram.com/unreal.candy/" target="_blank"><b>UnReal Candy</b></a> in Time Square NYC. Part of its Halloween campaign, we created a 30 second animated loop with Steve's fantastic Day-of-the-Dead inspired skull and kinetic text elements. The animation and post was done by <a href="http://designwest.ie/"><b>designwest.ie</b></a>.<br />
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(This is only a mocked-up comp as the actual screen burned out when filmed at night.)<br />
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And here's Steve throwing shapes in Midtown.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-53196989008798608242015-11-25T12:19:00.000+00:002016-03-16T13:03:28.646+00:00NFL Star makes Halloween Stunt Fly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
NFL star quarterback, <a href="http://www.patriots.com/team/players/roster/tom-brady" target="_blank">New England Patriot's</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Brady" target="_blank"><b>Tom Brady</b></a> was a great sport to go incognito to help us out on a Halloween video which I wrote and CDed for all-natural US brand candy, <b><a href="http://getunreal.com/" target="_blank">UnReal</a>, </b>as well as creating content for packaging, web and POS.<br />
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What do you think of my Halloween quarterback sneak?? UnReal #GetUnreal<br />
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Tom hid personally autographed messages and other goodies like match tickets for young fans in 3D Day-of-the-Dead inspired Halloween buckets, featuring fab illustrations by Dublin's own <a href="http://stevesimpson.com/" target="_blank"><b>Steve Simpson</b></a>. Steve also designed the amazing <a href="http://stevesimpson.com/unreal-halloween" target="_blank">skulls</a> too and a whole heap more. The buckets were then stashed in <a href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/" target="_blank">Whole Foods Markets</a> all across the Boston/New England area.<br />
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Needless to say, TB12's profile meant the promo and the video - shot on the run and cut by <a href="https://vimeo.com/user1750150/videos" target="_blank">Mark Higgins</a> - really took flight on social and mainstream media as you'll see below, with almost 500 million impressions.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z5IhgC8I6hQ" width="560"></iframe>
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See what happens when you believe Everything is Possible.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-85975613856186801522015-10-05T16:56:00.000+01:002016-03-18T16:57:34.166+00:00Hiking Alta Via Dolomiti<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Five special days in the <a href="http://www.visitdolomites.com/en" target="_blank">Dolomites</a> in September, hiking from <i>rifugio to rifugio:</i> <a href="http://www.pederue.it/en/alpine-guesthouse-refuge.html" target="_blank">Pederü</a> to <a href="http://www.rifugiolagazuoi.com/" target="_blank">Lagazuoi</a> to <a href="http://www.5torri.it/rifugio-averau/?lang=en" target="_blank">Averau</a> to <a href="http://cortina.dolomiti.org/?lang=en" target="_blank">Cortina d'Ampezzo</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAp2YB6gJzzTU8aIK8HtASHMMdmJTikk1v82c50Qkp-qr3UHpxQvVAAilJByBSSncnPaqMiUe4siLgdo-KGhZ9HmiYF0w30W5fWTvQ91GuLrQt0NhyphenhyphensvWYMYXBleaTEC8fhdni64XMgkk/s1600/img_4853_21827471282_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAp2YB6gJzzTU8aIK8HtASHMMdmJTikk1v82c50Qkp-qr3UHpxQvVAAilJByBSSncnPaqMiUe4siLgdo-KGhZ9HmiYF0w30W5fWTvQ91GuLrQt0NhyphenhyphensvWYMYXBleaTEC8fhdni64XMgkk/s640/img_4853_21827471282_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's us lower right having just come through the cliff, over the high pass behind.</td></tr>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-85038260565961907492015-07-20T15:42:00.000+01:002015-07-20T15:42:00.361+01:00Istanbul: City of glittering riches<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In 2010, Istanbul was honoured as the
European Capital of Culture. Even a brief sampling however, and you'd be
forgiven for thinking that was about 2,000 years overdue. Indeed that perhaps
it was somewhat short-changed on the continental front as it could easily claim
the designation for Asia too. Because this is more than a gem, it's the
proverbial crown jewels, encrusted with historic architectural and cultural
riches beyond the imagination of even the most ambitious of city builders. And goodness
knows, Istanbul has had more than a few of those across 25 centuries.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheE0YkQiAp_3C9EJRKE_qbG6UCiDkaDovZXWWeB7oHYdX4_ilzXRGm73AMfv3kJEhpKQX0ykzZU1NwnpsjFaChyWYRxhDPa81i606_LjMQ2H5AKhsXXgRFO18AZP6p_B3ItNiPXiuLd-Q/s1600/image-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheE0YkQiAp_3C9EJRKE_qbG6UCiDkaDovZXWWeB7oHYdX4_ilzXRGm73AMfv3kJEhpKQX0ykzZU1NwnpsjFaChyWYRxhDPa81i606_LjMQ2H5AKhsXXgRFO18AZP6p_B3ItNiPXiuLd-Q/s1600/image-1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #515151; font-weight: normal; line-height: 15px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Golden hour as the sun descends over Istanbul. Photograph: Getty Images</span></span></td></tr>
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It's all about water. <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/Rgv3d" target="_blank"><b>The Bosphorus Strait </b></a>to
be more precise, and its 32km trade-lubricating connection between the Mediterranean
and the Black Sea, between West and East. Istanbul is the fulcrum about which
Eurasian business has pivoted since Byzantine times. It's a thriving waterway
still, along with the Golden Horn, an estuary which cleaves through the city to
meet the Bosphorus at the Sea of Marmara. This maritime geography is thrilling
revealed in the Raika Bar's wrap-round vista from the 20th floor of the luxurious
<a href="http://taksim.themarmarahotels.com/" target="_blank"><b>Marmara Taksim</b></a>. There's the promise of a fabulous way to explore the city
afresh.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The bustling port at Eminönü near Galata
Bridge has several piers with ferries going in all directions. However I fancy
a shorter, less-cruised alternative and stroll down from my hotel on Taksim
Square to Kabataş. From here, you'll find rapid catamarans which speed up and
down the Strait, and out </span><strong><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">to Prince's Islands.</span></span></strong><span lang="EN-GB"> While more traditional ferries make leisurely crossings to
Istanbul's Asian side, with payloads of commuters, shoppers and blow-ins. Small
open cafés line the waterfront and where better to sip a sweet </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande";">ç</span><span lang="EN-GB">ay</span></i><span lang="EN-GB"> (tea) from a tulip glass as you plan a trip. In front, a perpetual
shipping show traces back and forth, as this remains one of the world's busiest
commercial waterways. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzc27x0HgcIA9gWbXSqmjkRgsi6jazXgBrnFNI4vcrPqOpdgAJHJl2WyQAxLvMfps9W0UAuJV970_UfApemIiiddQNDK_ejcjJTu36OQeIenmJVd69OSFaBTSgwYr44OCvhw4x_NWpio/s1600/P1030387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfzc27x0HgcIA9gWbXSqmjkRgsi6jazXgBrnFNI4vcrPqOpdgAJHJl2WyQAxLvMfps9W0UAuJV970_UfApemIiiddQNDK_ejcjJTu36OQeIenmJVd69OSFaBTSgwYr44OCvhw4x_NWpio/s200/P1030387.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><h4>
<span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">Land like a sultan at <span lang="EN-GB" style="text-align: left;">Dolmabah</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="text-align: left;">ç</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="text-align: left;">e</span></span></h4>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I decide on a hop-on, hop-off Golden Horn
Tour, but with an hour to kill before departure, start my water adventure at
nearby <a href="http://www.dolmabahcepalace.com/" target="_blank"><b>Dolmabah</b></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Lucida Grande";"><a href="http://www.dolmabahcepalace.com/" target="_blank"><b>ç</b></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><b><a href="http://www.dolmabahcepalace.com/" target="_blank">e Palace</a>.</b> Less well known than Topkapi,
it is no less beautiful. With a series of spectacular gates from its gardens opening
directly onto the Bosphorus, sultans could arrive by barge just a few metres
from their Palace's steps. </span><span lang="EN-GB">Built in 1856, it's splendidly ornate with
almost 300 rooms stretching along the waterside. Dolmabah</span><span lang="EN-GB">ç</span><span lang="EN-GB">e is full of surprises: it looks as if it's built of stone, but is really
plastered wood. There's an actual Baccarat crystal staircase that we pad up in
surgical slippers and each enormous reception room is more dramatic than the
last. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopRLM6NqQiqX68Ku85rnKU9chYpSCdQpKhG_Xwbt4uoyoTPCBvD8vsOZysWXlhv4di_gCmrZx07cV0xDgA2lIry_pHpLjlcnlXnJxztdT2P5LsQxqthzf8xZZEeQMVPWJyVBy4USKBz4/s1600/IMG_4112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopRLM6NqQiqX68Ku85rnKU9chYpSCdQpKhG_Xwbt4uoyoTPCBvD8vsOZysWXlhv4di_gCmrZx07cV0xDgA2lIry_pHpLjlcnlXnJxztdT2P5LsQxqthzf8xZZEeQMVPWJyVBy4USKBz4/s320/IMG_4112.JPG" width="240" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">Cruising up the Bosphorus later, the idea
of arriving home by barge doesn't quite seem so glamorous as it's no glassy
pond, rather properly lively. But the views are immense. Istanbul is another
city said to have been built on seven hills as the Byzantines, the Romans and
the Ottomans all expanded its reach and left their marks. We pass <b><a href="https://www.google.ie/search?q=sultanahmet&espv=2&biw=1209&bih=958&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMIjpLBkuzfxgIV6BXbCh3DiQOA&dpr=1" target="_blank">Sultanahmet</a> </b>and
Seraglio Point, a soaring riot of minarets and domes, with three world famous
sights - The Blue Mosque, Haghia Sophia and Topkapi - all in a row, a
breathtaking cultural jackpot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VSo9LV9j0Nhta88XMHSEuIW4K2RmB3McD0aPTg2eEotbwVt_znwA5O-ucCQlcgmmWGA5VmyD3bmphJZdePYhysQoTR9JjSaUHXNghJjE-Pq4f0aAtsNDOBU0nybPwbf9ney6ovNDa7g/s1600/IMG_4048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VSo9LV9j0Nhta88XMHSEuIW4K2RmB3McD0aPTg2eEotbwVt_znwA5O-ucCQlcgmmWGA5VmyD3bmphJZdePYhysQoTR9JjSaUHXNghJjE-Pq4f0aAtsNDOBU0nybPwbf9ney6ovNDa7g/s320/IMG_4048.JPG" width="240" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">There are remains of towering aqueducts
that brought water here and stored it in reservoirs such as the extraordinary underground
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern" target="_blank"><b>Basilica Cistern</b></a>, its 336 columns like a fantasy from Harry Potter. The mighty
Theodosian walls, once stretching from the Marmara to the Golden Horn dissect
the city still. It's not surprising perhaps given they stood protecting what
was then Constantinople for almost 1000 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Istanbul looks defiantly forward too. Contemporary
Turkish life flourishes along the Golden Horn. Buzzing cafés and bars bask in
sunlight with Galata Tower behind. The upper tier of Galata Bridge is lined
with fishermen and the occasional fisherwoman, whilst the lower walkway is a
hive of activity lured by cheap street food and floating fish stalls. No wonder
it's one of Nobel-winning <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">İstanbullu</i>,
<b><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/26/christopher-bellaigue-orhan-pamuk-turkey" target="_blank">Orhan Pamuk</a>'s </b>favourite haunts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Next up, the modern towers and cables of
the Golden Horn Metro Bridge which can swing open to allow taller ships
through. Everywhere there's some eye-catching diversion. Our captain has to hit
the brakes (metaphorically) as a sea plane lands in front of us. The decommissioned
submarine tied up at a museum on the banks. There are ramshackle ship yards and
great houses. One waterfront </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">yalı</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> (or<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span><span lang="EN-GB">mansion)</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> was
for sale here for €100m back in 2013. </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Fellow
passengers board and disembark at various stops. <a href="http://miniaturk.com.tr/homepage/virtual-tour/photography.aspx" target="_blank"><b>Miniatürk</b></a> seems particularly
popular: a model of the city with 100 miniatures of famous Istanbul landmarks. We
carve a gentle u-turn and hum back towards </span><span lang="EN-GB">Kabataş</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. The sinking sum gives buildings
the other-worldy glow that compels cinematographers to the magic hour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Suddenly,
we're in the movie, Istanbul as its exotic central character, hiding the
labyrinthine Grand Bazaar* showing off myriad mosques, its riches and mysteries
playing to us across this ancient waterway. And we've the best seat in the
house.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMGrPRLcbi1Uyi5TaDim86x-2RJLxTKBwKmSux1oouILBIClbcNVgzbd67NIOZ5nLK9ZDBeN2HcQ-j2d8eECPYfiFUe2TY7ILYF4sbpGPGfA9iFw_Ju5OdCIqTm1juXeuULJOjnRmWwAE/s1600/IMG_4234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMGrPRLcbi1Uyi5TaDim86x-2RJLxTKBwKmSux1oouILBIClbcNVgzbd67NIOZ5nLK9ZDBeN2HcQ-j2d8eECPYfiFUe2TY7ILYF4sbpGPGfA9iFw_Ju5OdCIqTm1juXeuULJOjnRmWwAE/s640/IMG_4234.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h4>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Bosphorus </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">from the Marmara Taksim bar</span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">with </span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; text-align: left;">Sultanahmet's minarets to the right</span></h4>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">(</span>*<span style="font-size: x-small;">explore it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHRLX8jRjq8" target="_blank">via James Bond</a>)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This appeared in the <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/istanbul-city-of-glittering-riches-1.2245893" target="_blank"><b>Irish Times Magazine</b></a> on June 13, 2015.</span></i></div>
Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-8660023587695032522015-07-16T12:47:00.000+01:002015-07-16T12:48:44.945+01:00Chewing the cud with a Master Butcher<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's a short film I made with artisan butcher <b><a href="https://twitter.com/pat_whelan" target="_blank">Pat Whelan</a></b>, who is at the vanguard of a revolution in Irish beef from his Tipperary family farm and <b><a href="http://www.avoca.com/home/explore/stores/" target="_blank">Avoca's Food Market</a></b> counters.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/119434847?portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="600"></iframe>
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A man with strong views about happy cows and Ireland's food culture, Pat's always passionate about doing things the right way - <a href="http://www.jameswhelanbutchers.com/info/resources/beef-dripping-review/" target="_blank"><b>winning awards</b></a> aplenty while he's at it. And along with leading Irish food writer, <b><a href="https://twitter.com/katymcguinness" target="_blank">Katy McGuinness</a> </b>has produced the definite book on his pet subject, the aptly-titled <b><a href="http://www.avoca.com/home/products/?pid=2818" target="_blank">The Irish Beef Book</a>. </b><br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-697748003799509812015-06-25T17:37:00.000+01:002015-06-25T17:37:14.715+01:00Seoul purpose: South Korea's cultural metropolis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The view from the immaculate hotel lobby is frankly breathtaking. Well, we are on the 24th floor, with the vast metropolis of Seoul spread out around in all directions, framed through floor to ceiling glass walls. I've just arrived in South Korea's capital and the scale of the city from the luxurious <a href="http://www.seoul.park.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html" target="_blank"><b>Park Hyatt</b></a> is truly electrifying, banishing any jet lag with a powerful zap of wonder.<br />
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This megacity is officially called "Seoul Special City" and its greater reach, Seoul Capital Area. The former is said to have a population of about 10 million, with latter metropolitan region reckoned to be home to 25 million people, making it the second largest globally after Tokyo. Banks of towering apartment blocks and business skyscrapers roll off in seismic waves, undulating as far as the eye can see. Cutting through the middle, the mighty Han River or Hangang ribbons a broad swath of dark, a momentary natural break in the thrilling urbanscape.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from N Seoul Tower<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For many of us in the West, South Korea and more particularly Seoul, swept into our orbit in 1988 with the Summer Olympics. It was something of a watershed for the country, an economic springboard and validation for its people. The Olympic Stadium is still a landmark, as is Seoul's World Cup Stadium from 2002, a competition we largely remember for the infamous <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/roy-keane-ultimately-i-lost-the-battle-of-saipan-1.1954678" target="_blank"><b>Saipan</b></a><span id="goog_1769956831"></span><span id="goog_1769956832"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a> incident. But I won't be going there: those civil war wounds are painfully deep.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpdvWJ76-tvxy85dsLMXb2QFBVSq1ueut16x8fgN1-fk-LbI5D2H0RtC8Ln4pCBLhUr-kBGAZ5hW8BJ3_7obuc_e_eGndaN9Rs5JbMKWtfl-2dkrUrobB-oXzrpyYnQ_8j2rsza0PBSQc/s1600/IMG_4385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpdvWJ76-tvxy85dsLMXb2QFBVSq1ueut16x8fgN1-fk-LbI5D2H0RtC8Ln4pCBLhUr-kBGAZ5hW8BJ3_7obuc_e_eGndaN9Rs5JbMKWtfl-2dkrUrobB-oXzrpyYnQ_8j2rsza0PBSQc/s200/IMG_4385.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">making kimchi in the market</td></tr>
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More recently, the cultural tsunami that is K-Pop (that's Korean Pop, daddy-o) flung Psy with his monstrously addictive <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0" target="_blank"><b>"Gangham Style"</b></a> video into our mainstream. The Park Hyatt sits in Gangham, which means south of the river, and the upmarket, glossy style that the song celebrates and parodies is quickly evident. This area is buzzing, and the locals friendly and open - this is their default mode. I wander into <a href="http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=736121" target="_blank"><b>COEX Mall</b></a>, the world's largest underground shopping mall, featuring every sort leading brand along with lots of unfamiliar intriguing retail. Plenty of restaurants too and I tuck into my first taste of Jeongol, a delicious spicy broth you cook yourself at the table on gas burners, with thinly-sliced meats, fresh vegetables and exotic funghi, and served with lots of sides, including the ever present spicy kimchi.<br />
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Flavours apart, straight away there's another distinction from Chinese or Japanese eating. The chopsticks are metal - often stainless steel, but also brass, aluminium or even silver - and narrower and shorter than we'd be familiar with. There's usually a spoon set out too, which the locals often eat their rice with. And of course, forks are also presented happily everywhere.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOorF3w8lBtan5EyC8WZFkr9glTAeIK_FxIAh2j-c7HUf1L19B16t7q6WPBGkhy7sfgmZreUskZwSyx-mq38-CCibuVkebOM_HETOxyrja21LRnKT3qhWmDUIZjDQChZp4Ao2HXefNT1U/s1600/P1030462.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>Next morning is a very early start. It's no chore as I'm excited to visit the <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/features/world/asia/north-korea/dmz-text/1" target="_blank"><b>DMZ</b></a> - the Demilitarised Zone - on the border with North Korea. It's formally the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a name that's pure Orwellian doublethink. The DMZ is a 2km buffer zone on each side of the partition line, controlled by Korea's two parts, along with the US and United Nations, and running right across the peninsula for about 250km. It's the rump of unresolved geopolitical aggression from the Cold War. In short, Russian/Chinese-supported North Korea under Kim Il-sung (whose grandson, of course, is ruling the roost up North now) invaded the US-backed South in 1950. The bloody three year <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War" target="_blank"><b>Korean War</b></a> that ensued eventually resolved into an equilibrium at the original partition line again, roughly along the 38th Parallel - but here's the kicker, there was no truce or peace treaty. It's only an armistice: the war is simply on hold since 1953.<br />
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Trips to the DMZ are easily organised from Seoul, though it's all a bit surreal, like booking a day trip to a war waiting to happen and a tourist attraction rolled up in one. We're briefed on the strict dress and behaviour code. No sandals. No shorts. No gesturing to North Korean soldiers. No photographs except when told. It was hard to take seriously and yet, deadly serious on the part of our friendly guide. The drive takes less than an hour. We soon see the hills in North Korea are stripped bare of vegetation and are told it's all been used as fuel because of desperate shortages. There's belief among Southerners that their Northern "brothers and sisters" are in dire straits, famine-stricken.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOorF3w8lBtan5EyC8WZFkr9glTAeIK_FxIAh2j-c7HUf1L19B16t7q6WPBGkhy7sfgmZreUskZwSyx-mq38-CCibuVkebOM_HETOxyrja21LRnKT3qhWmDUIZjDQChZp4Ao2HXefNT1U/s1600/P1030462.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOorF3w8lBtan5EyC8WZFkr9glTAeIK_FxIAh2j-c7HUf1L19B16t7q6WPBGkhy7sfgmZreUskZwSyx-mq38-CCibuVkebOM_HETOxyrja21LRnKT3qhWmDUIZjDQChZp4Ao2HXefNT1U/s640/P1030462.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the staring match into North Korea at the JSA</td></tr>
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We lunch at Imjingak, where despite a rather bizarre funfair, there's a touching memorial for the dispersed families whose relatives have been stranded out of reach in North Korea. There's a plaintive power to the closed-off Unification Bridge here, where South Koreans tie ribbons and other personal mementos as a sort of shrine to a reunified nation. Next stop is <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Security_Area" target="_blank">Panmunjeom</a> </b>or the Joint Security Area (JSA), right on the divide. We transfer to military-controlled buses and our passports are checked by soldiers as we pass anti-tank traps on a narrow road that tiptoes between land mined fields.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaICpYvescELygJd2iyluEFHy3g-I_ZVBU5svs6ThonUXYoumnq0chyX-P78mOyn_rzJHNmGuGGfWKNkBeVYdfMaX87V-z7FMID0mWrUiyTQej9ncSHHOS8oPoghFzYbEmU_un_IM1x94/s1600/IMG_4288.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaICpYvescELygJd2iyluEFHy3g-I_ZVBU5svs6ThonUXYoumnq0chyX-P78mOyn_rzJHNmGuGGfWKNkBeVYdfMaX87V-z7FMID0mWrUiyTQej9ncSHHOS8oPoghFzYbEmU_un_IM1x94/s200/IMG_4288.JPG" width="200" /></a>Three blue huts straddle the actual border, looking for all the world like the temporary classrooms of a primary school somewhere. This is where the North and South hold meetings under UN auspices. There's a perpetual staring match between very sharply uniformed and sunglassed South Korean military and their less dapper Northern counterparts across the way. We shuffle into the middle hut, its conference table bisected by the Demarcation Line, with a door out into North Korea on the opposite end, the rabbit hole to a wonderland. I can literally put a foot in both camps and have a selfie-op with the impassive guard. It's fascinating and baffling in equal measure.<br />
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Seoul’s roots lie in prehistoric times and it's had many masters. The longest unbroken stretch was under the Joseon dynasty who ruled for 27 generations from 1392. Their heritage is seen in five magical Grand Palaces in the Royal Quarter. The second oldest, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changdeokgung" target="_blank"><b>Changdeokgung</b></a> is a World Heritage Site dating from 1405. A magnificent gateway with ornately painted beams and curving, fluid-tiled roof gives a taster for the treats beyond. Changdeokgung is particularly beloved for its Secret Garden and I follow a guided walk winding round the 72 acre bucolic paradise, with its lotus ponds and exquisite pavilions. No wonder a young bride and groom join us in traditional wedding costumes to take their photos against the garden's delights.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcC6_PvuPUNlXSkBiZRuvt7aQHC66BGKk2cmf1UHn2J3F8l5-SZ14Vnd-SHgRf5RLn4XpxXjVvH7hlJKb_875fmQgn95RHQm_1MmcQilcq2HGjX1KPumeNSaAeelg_FLOqC-G4PxXZrU4/s1600/IMG_4365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcC6_PvuPUNlXSkBiZRuvt7aQHC66BGKk2cmf1UHn2J3F8l5-SZ14Vnd-SHgRf5RLn4XpxXjVvH7hlJKb_875fmQgn95RHQm_1MmcQilcq2HGjX1KPumeNSaAeelg_FLOqC-G4PxXZrU4/s200/IMG_4365.JPG" width="200" /></a>I'd had another perspective on the Palaces earlier when I'd joined a popular weekend pilgrimage for Seoul inhabitants: trekking up <a href="http://www.visitseoul.net/en/article/article.do?_method=view&art_id=740&lang=en&m=0004003002017&p=03" target="_blank"><b>Mount Namsan</b></a> to climb N Seoul Tower. I cheat as time's our enemy and catch a ride up, zigzagging past throngs of family and friends in the latest gear to the soaring communications tower at the summit with its 360º observation deck. There's romance in the air too, as it's a regular date for young couples leaving tens of thousands of colourful padlocks clipped to the Tower's fences to mark their commitment.<br />
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Seoul food (eh, sorry) is fabulous, whether it's scrumptious freshly-made mandu (dumplings) in Gwangjang market sitting next to a local eating still-wriggling octopus tentacles or the sublime presentation of <a href="http://www.siwhadam.com/" target="_blank"><b>Si Wha Dam</b></a>, a leader among a new generation of restaurants, where I enjoy one of my most spectacular meals ever. Each course is literally a work of art and the flavours, sensational. <b><a href="https://ko-kr.facebook.com/pages/Chicken-In-The-Kitchen/284956334888716" target="_blank">Chicken in the Kitchen</a>,</b> made famous by the UK's Hairy Bikers is different again, a favourite venue for Seoul's hipster generation, with craft beers and baskets of unbelievably good beer-fried chicken to share. Eclectic boutiques and stalls fill the neighbourhood around it beneath the noisy chatter of mysterious neon signs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge18YgoNPzq-Eh4Tn4tffh_Q6aQE4iX2SWYuR01oArjOb2rB5isFRidDVTl-EgsrYsMEaWPTTy8bx46bo4w4t6-IaS47DTIgq86zgvlqmMIsBEU5avSRHbZDIEKG76x659SrRxd2kK0SA/s1600/IMG_4379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge18YgoNPzq-Eh4Tn4tffh_Q6aQE4iX2SWYuR01oArjOb2rB5isFRidDVTl-EgsrYsMEaWPTTy8bx46bo4w4t6-IaS47DTIgq86zgvlqmMIsBEU5avSRHbZDIEKG76x659SrRxd2kK0SA/s200/IMG_4379.JPG" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia24tO0DWr1ngo1c6i_9KtNn9QPlQxznLpn4528GRmrfF4qrBK5dMIYvpN1tNsX_nRnQ7vTpLsaAN881O_PQhBZqglJSiPwTPXxOunYqf68T2NCRyT7C5oXgEzC9V_Dh_dapgIDrtrSks/s1600/IMG_4384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia24tO0DWr1ngo1c6i_9KtNn9QPlQxznLpn4528GRmrfF4qrBK5dMIYvpN1tNsX_nRnQ7vTpLsaAN881O_PQhBZqglJSiPwTPXxOunYqf68T2NCRyT7C5oXgEzC9V_Dh_dapgIDrtrSks/s200/IMG_4384.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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At the glamorous<b> <a href="http://seoul.grand.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html" target="_blank">Grand Hyatt Hotel</a></b> which is hosting a sparkling party with a veritable who's who of Seoul's celebrity strata, it's the event's backdrop out the windows that leaves me spellbound. At night, the city expresses a different persona, that of sci-fi megalopolis, as if Ridley Scott is in charge of urban planning and <b><a href="https://www.google.ie/search?q=Blade+Runner&espv=2&biw=1336&bih=958&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=6_uLVe6ZCaiR7AbA6LjADg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ" target="_blank">Blade Runner</a>,</b> simply his visualisation tool. Huge TV screens beam out silently from the tops of skyscrapers, while the kilometre-wide Han is criss-crossed by 27 bridges, some with 5 or 6 lanes each way of blazing red and white streams.<br />
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En route to Incheon Airport on my way home, in contrast, I've the chance to visit the idyllic <a href="http://www.jeondeungsa.org/" target="_blank"><b>Jeondeoung-sa Temple</b></a>, the oldest Korean Buddhist temple, founded back in 381. Monk Ildae is the model of soothing serenity as he pours tea and discusses all manner of practical and spiritual matters. Temple stays can be arranged with over-nights to immerse you in the meditative rituals here. I get to ring the heavy ceremonial brahma bell marking dusk as the light also comes down on my own time in Seoul, regrettably.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwTZvplH1BvjEtUCM3hDeVrtDNZ-t9xL5SKELDvpsc73ZU821NcIAVgxsY32UATO98wa-l05kI2Zs5R600oy5TpvfAiZMY2u8T8P5sGRF_bKE734G342LLyEJxNsma-T4u2fPdbw3w7t0/s1600/1869910_image2_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwTZvplH1BvjEtUCM3hDeVrtDNZ-t9xL5SKELDvpsc73ZU821NcIAVgxsY32UATO98wa-l05kI2Zs5R600oy5TpvfAiZMY2u8T8P5sGRF_bKE734G342LLyEJxNsma-T4u2fPdbw3w7t0/s640/1869910_image2_1.jpg" title="copyright Korean Tourism Organization" width="640" /></a><br />
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This is an astonishing dynamo of a city, one that's charged to its current starry economic heights and scale in a little over half a century. And it's spinning faster still. But its roots and traditions run rich and deep, as does its welcome for strangers. Seoul is indeed a very special city.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>This appeared in <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/seoul-purpose-south-korea-s-cultural-metropolis-1.2238745" target="_blank">The Irish Times Magazine</a> on June 6, 2015</i></span><br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-34462025351747233902015-05-18T18:19:00.000+01:002015-05-18T18:19:00.170+01:00Google Earth on Steroids<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For a moment, it seems like I may have wandered into the auditions for some exotic <em>Next Top Model</em> TV series, as an unfeasibly glamorous troupe of girls and boys in their 20s passes through the hallway in front of me, all in matching red jumpsuits. In fact, it’s a new generation of airline flight crew in the middle of a rigorous induction programme. I’m visiting <a href="http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/" target="_blank">Turkish Airlines</a> Training Centre at Istanbul’s <a href="http://www.ataturkairport.com/en-EN/Pages/Main.aspx" target="_blank">Atatürk Airport</a> to see its state-of-art flight simulators; and for a boy who likes toys, it’s like Santa’s accidentally left the whole sack at the bottom of the chimney.</div>
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It’s not just Turkish Airline’s own crews who get put through their paces here: this vast facility is the go-to resource for training in the region, with dozens of other airlines using it for their pilots and crew too. Before I’ve even seen the flight simulators, frankly, I’m buzzed. In a huge hanger-like space (and it needs to be), there is a pair of sectioned plane bodies (an Airbus A340 and Boeing 737 for partial plane spotters) like giant half-completed Airfix kits, with wings and tail sections still to be glued on.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #515151; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">These aren’t flight simulators as such, they’re Crew Emergency Evacuation Trainers – CEETs. Inside each is a full cabin set- up as you’d expect, from the pilots’ cockpit to the crew kitchenette, with screens showing the notional outside view on the window portholes to complete the conceit. The trainer is up on massive hydraulic jacks and it can reproduce all sorts of potential emergency situations. Smoke in the cabin. Severe turbulence. Fire in the hold. These on-board conditions change at the press of an iPad, like it’s running some sort of </span><em style="color: #515151; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Tru</em><em style="color: #515151; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">man Show</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #515151; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #515151; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">app, summoning up the elements and controlling the weather at the slide of a finger. The experience is so completely immersive, my brain surrenders to the fakery in an instant and I find myself bracing for a generated landing on water.</span><br />
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These CEETs even allow practice evacuations by slide – with a huge pool beside one of the planes and another pair sliding onto terra firma. The inflatable slide has to be tried, needless to say, just to be entirely professional and conscientious. All heads swivel as I interrupt the trainees’ concentration around the hanger with an involuntary whoop. It’d be rude not to.</div>
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The cockpit flight simulators are housed separately behind secure doors. It’s not surprising, with each one costing upwards of €13.25 million. Turkish Airlines has six full flight simulators and I’m getting to go in one of its A320-200 units. Looking like shiny-white space pods ready for take-off in a sci-fi movie, the simulators are the size of very large caravan, perched on tall, spindly legs. You get into one via a detachable gangplank, as these expensive high tech babies buck and toss and tilt viciously to create the on-board sense of movement.</div>
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Even more mind-codding than the CEET, the cockpit is totally accurately recreated, with a projected 3D video rendering the outside world through the windows on all sides. This virtual reality is compounded by the six-axis motion that matches the moving pictures with the simulator motion, which responds to the pilot’s actions. We start rolling down a runway, picking up speed, feeling every vibration, till the ground begins to slip away beneath us and Atatürk Airport falls away gently below. Banking around, we tilt and the buildings’ 3D perspective seamlessly changes with startling realism.</div>
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In an instant, we’re on a dizzying flyover of Istanbul, straddling <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=bosphorus&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=f-dZVaWmBqHa7gbomIDQAw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1355&bih=891" target="_blank">the Bosphorus</a>, the historic fulcrum of Europe and Asia. We fly up the busy corridor far lower than would be permitted in an actual aircraft and slant, banking smoothly again to circle world famous landmarks like the soaring minarets of <a href="http://ayasofyamuzesi.gov.tr/en" target="_blank">Hagia Sofia</a> and the exquisite <a href="http://www.bluemosque.co/" target="_blank">Blue Mosque</a> below. The detail is seductive, like the studding of the virtual waterway with cargo ships and ferries, and the landscape beyond apparently stretching out as far as the eye can see. The nerd in me starts wondering about how much data must be processed to create this amazing simulacrum. This is Google Earth on steroids.</div>
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My pilot trainer generously lets me have a brief go on the controls and I succeed in not landing us in the drink nor pranging an ancient minaret. We get to play weather God once more and conjure up a wicked storm for the landing. Rain lashes the windscreen as our cloud-addled visibility drops away. The runway lights suddenly hurtle into view and we land with an expertly light bump as the engines roar up to throw out the anchor. The virtual weather switches quicker than a Connemara summer day, and Istanbul airport clicks into sunshine again. I’m vaguely dazed leaving the simulator, like emerging from a dark pub into bright sunshine. What a blast. Santa, I haven’t been too bad: how about another go?</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>This was in <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/flight-school-is-like-google-earth-on-steroids-can-i-have-another-go-1.2212711" target="_blank">The Irish Times </a>Magazine on 16 May, 2015</i></span></div>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comYeşilköy, Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST), 34149 İstanbul/Istanbul, Turkey40.9829888 28.81044250000002240.9350408 28.729761500000023 41.0309368 28.89112350000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-76619235885260430402015-03-25T13:38:00.002+00:002015-03-25T14:11:28.111+00:00I am my Camera.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I never need much of an excuse to replay Broadway theatre critic, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-walter-kerr-1359527.html" target="_blank">Walter Kerr's</a> infamously brief put-down of the play, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Camera" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">I am a Camera</a>: <i>"Me no Leica"</i> was Kerr's unflinching critique.<br />
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Later adapted to become the musical, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068327/" target="_blank">Cabaret</a>, the play's title came from the opening line of the 1939 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(musical)" target="_blank">Christopher Isherwood</a> story - <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/760702.Goodbye_to_Berlin" target="_blank">Goodbye to Berlin</a> - <i>"I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking"</i>. How accurately that reflects much of our interaction with contemporary culture. And indeed beyond.<br />
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So much of life is only being experienced vicariously through the screens of our smartphones. We are becoming our cameras. Nothing has happened unless it's been shot and tagged and shared and logged.<br />
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Concert-goers are watching the gigs on their phones rather looking at the stage. Sight-seeing is selfie-shooting. The visceral and the emotional are compressed and filtered. Nothing is first hand.<br />
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Recently I came across another version of the phenomenon. Visiting a couple of New York museums last Summer, time and again I watched visitors run up to a painting, bang off a quick wide shot of it and then another close-in of its caption card. And on to the next piece The whole interaction, if you could call it that, took about 15 seconds.</div>
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Of course, this was also combined with galleries of selfies using the exhibitions as backdrops. And enthusiastic parents who were snapping their kids in front of artworks, making them imitate their subjects' poses in a sort of odd homage. But at least they were paying some attention to it.<br />
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Are these haphazardly snatched photos of art and captions ever going to be looked at again? Probably not. But MoMA or the Met or the Whitney had been done. Tagged. Distilled to an iPhoto event.<br />
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What's for sure is that there's little living in the now. Appreciation, absorption, immersion is deferred. Ignored. Perhaps archived to a digital album on some hard drive, with uploaded pixels that will never see the light of day again.<br />
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We need to store memories, sure, and hopefully look back at them; but to do that we need to make some first.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><a href="http://liamfranciswalsh.com/cartoons.html">http://liamfranciswalsh.com/cartoons.html</a></span></td></tr>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-31950654958983265532015-02-12T14:35:00.000+00:002015-02-24T14:38:57.633+00:00A thought for Darwin Day, Feb 12<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-30695648463506930612014-11-14T14:19:00.000+00:002015-02-24T14:24:04.094+00:00A couple of short films for Avoca<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I recently had the opportunity to help <a href="http://www.avoca.com/home/explore/news/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Avoca</a> tell its food story through a couple of short films I made. They were shot by young photographer, <a href="http://benricemccarthy.com/" target="_blank">Ben Rice McCarthy</a> and edited at <a href="http://www.intercuts.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Intercuts by Hugh Chaloner</a>. We'd only a couple of days in total behind the scenes in <a href="http://www.avoca.com/home/explore/our-company/food/" target="_blank">Avoca's Rathcoole and Bray</a> kitchens. So thanks to the chefs, bakers and everyone there who made life easy as we got in their way; and to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=36652438" target="_blank">Monique McQuaid</a> & <a href="http://www.guides.ie/blog/year-avoca-cookbook-simon-pratt" target="_blank">Simon Pratt</a> for voicing them.<br />
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As Monique says of Avoca's traditional approach to baking - "We don't do short cuts, because if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right."<br /></div>
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"What sets Avoca ready meals apart is that they are made by hand and they are made by chefs... just the way you'd make them at home." - Simon<br /></div>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-71040432940445287232014-09-08T13:48:00.000+01:002014-09-08T13:51:25.580+01:00Amy, Rob and "An" on why Education Matters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sometimes a project gestates for so long, you think it might never happen as it sits "in development" in Hollywood-speak. We'd a long, but ultimately very worthwhile pregnancy* for this recently released web film I worked on for <a href="https://www.focusireland.ie/" target="_blank">Focus Ireland</a> from <a href="http://www.javelin.ie/" target="_blank">Javelin</a>. Focus Ireland takes on such a challenge on our behalf, it's always great to have a chance to help. Its <b>Education Matters</b> initiative supported by <a href="http://www.aviva.ie/" target="_blank">Aviva</a> looks to break the vicious cycle of homelessness and lack of education. So it's attacking a key cause as much as the despairing aftermath of becoming homeless.<br />
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Thanks to the generosity of everyone who got involved, starting with the "talent" of course, who were completely up for it from the get-go. And especially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rawle" target="_blank">David</a> who came back for a second day's shooting in <a href="http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/splash/" target="_blank">Government Buildings</a> where everyone was so helpful. Here he is on the hot line in the seat of power.<br />
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A big call-out also to Dara from <a href="http://bigfish.ie/" target="_blank">Big Fish</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0280416/" target="_blank">Ian Fitzgibbon</a> and <a href="http://www.speers.ie/commercials/" target="_blank">Jonny Speers</a> who pitched in with that most precious of resources: their time*. And all at <a href="http://www.screenscene.ie/" target="_blank">Screen Scene</a> to get it over the line. It's not the first time Jonny and I have stepped out on a Focus Ireland spot together. Here's one we made earlier as they say, directed by <a href="http://www.speers.ie/longerform/lennyabrahamson/" target="_blank">Lenny Abrahamson</a> and featuring <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1677886/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t22" target="_blank">Louise Lewis</a> back in the day.<br />
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Oh and here we are with a gang of mates, smiling delusionally through the exhaustion on Lugnaquilla at the end of the exhilarating <a href="https://www.focusireland.ie/fundraising/events/the-four-peaks-challenge" target="_blank">Four Peaks</a> challenge a couple of years ago.</div>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-73148153206864584472014-08-06T09:43:00.002+01:002014-08-06T12:03:45.564+01:00Written in stone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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These words are literally writ large on New York's 8th Ave. Post Office:<br />
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Neither snow nor rain nor heat </h3>
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nor gloom of night </h3>
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stays these couriers from </h3>
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the swift completion </h3>
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of their appointed rounds.</h3>
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Now that's what you call a mission statement... though apparently, it's not. Nor a slogan, a motto, a credo nor a creed; not even a brand truth.<br />
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It's actually largely an architectural detail added by<a href="http://eng.archinform.net/arch/1368.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> <b>William Mitchell Kendall</b></a> when he was designing what's now the James A Farley Post Office Building in 1912. So the US Postal Service has this wonderful <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service_creed" target="_blank"><b>language</b></a> and inspirational sentiment incised in its stone, but it seems, doesn't claim it as an institutional manifesto. Many a brand would savage you to own such a declaration. No matter, it's magnificently realised, chiselled into the architrave - and a powerful expression of intent.<br />
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Coming across it for the first time recently - and struggling to photograph it - one would have to admire the <i>chutzpah</i> to strike it out so proudly across the whole length of the facade. Though it must be acknowledged, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=168112909033" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Seinfeld's Newman</b></a> was less taken by it.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-77914129753286629912014-08-01T20:30:00.000+01:002014-08-15T14:39:25.763+01:00Mythbusting Apple and what we might learn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There were a few interesting insights from one-time Apple designer, <a href="https://twitter.com/markkawano" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Mark Kawano</b></a> in a <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/3030923/4-myths-about-apple-design-from-an-ex-apple-designer" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>recent article</b></a> in Fast Company dispelling some of the mythology which surrounds Cupertino's design success. Apple just seems to have been able to tap into the humanity of technology better than most and certainly more often than most. User friendly is an unfriendly phrase, but cuts to a chase.<br />
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How Apple does it is still wrapped up (= clouded) in Steve Jobs' extraordinary aura which is never more manifest than in his messianic keynote addresses. I have to confess I was a sucker for them all and can still recall the audience reaction when he <a href="http://youtu.be/t4OEsI0Sc_s?t=1m21s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">unveiled the iPhone in 2007</a> - <i>"Today we're introducing three revolutionary products... An iPod. A phone. an internet communicator... are you getting it yet?". </i>Well, we're all getting it now.<br />
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Of course we all also get it now from <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jan/12/who-was-steve-jobs/" target="_blank"><b>Walter Issacson's biog</b></a> and others that Jobs was more than a bit of a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-jerk-2011-10?op=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>bastard</b></a> in the workplace. Kawano defends his old boss to some extent saying Jobs <i>"had a low tolerance for people who didn't care about stuff." </i>Indeed.<br />
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But a more revelatory observation is his view that it was Apple's culture that makes the real difference, not that it has the best designers. Rather he claims that the context within the organisation was to value and support design. <i>"Everyone there is thinking about it." </i>Not sex, but the interface, the engineering, the feel. He backs this up by suggesting this is why so many Applytes who are poached never seem to be able to conjure up the creative, design magic again. <b><a href="http://macdailynews.com/2013/04/12/are-apple-executives-set-up-to-fail-after-they-leave-the-cupertino-colossus/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">They've fallen out of the halo of positivity</a>.</b><br />
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So a nurturing creative context, a supportive petrie dish of openness is central to its virtually pre-eminent design chops. Hmmm, whatever the Jobsian fear-factor, what a contrast with so many businesses here. Design is too often seen as cost, a sheen, superficial; tangental, not fundamental. Innovations can be dangerous and change, not to be trusted.<br />
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Even within the creative services industries, where the idea should champion all, there can linger a sterile pragmatism that's inhospitable to fresh thinking. It's like the conditions described by HI in <i><b>Raising Arizona</b></i> when he confesses that his wife, Edwina's "<a href="http://youtu.be/ITzOSwZjYAM?t=25s" target="_blank"><i><b>insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase."</b></i></a> There's many a rocky place in our boardrooms. (Note to self: Must not pursue metaphor.) Instead we need more businesses where there's a genuine receptivity to design and where creative proposals can find purchase. <a href="http://www.ted.com/speakers/steven_johnson" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Steven Johnson</b></a> talks of hunches needing to connect with other hunches. Perhaps the culture is as important as the people. It's the sort of environment that served Apple well: we should all learn from it.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-74881105651827583772014-07-01T12:52:00.000+01:002014-08-01T12:55:37.078+01:00Like the car. Only better.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's May 2014. We have Hollywood action <i>helmer</i>, Louth's own John Moore. A rain-swept Mondello Racetrack. A pair of Alexas. Flames. Mirrors. Strobes. Smoke machines. No flock of birds. And one of Expressway's shiny new coaches, crisply-fresh from the paint shop. What could possibly go wrong?<br />
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Expressway for <a href="http://www.strategem.ie/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Strategem iLabs</b></a>, produced by <b><a href="http://www.russellcurran.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Russ Russell</a>,</b> directed by the unhelmable <a href="http://vimeo.com/75755249" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>J. Moore</b></a>, picture & audio post in <a href="http://www.screenscene.ie/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Screen Scene</b></a>. CD by TK.</div>
Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-3974750782713042382014-06-20T09:25:00.000+01:002014-08-01T11:32:29.934+01:00The Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Been trying not to be mesmerised by the flashing feet and frantic pace of one M. Flatley for the last couple of months as creative director for a new identity, graphics, print and promo TV for the global launch of his reimagined show, <i><b>Dangerous Games</b></i> with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonfarrelldesign" rel="nofollow" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Simon Farrell</a> and<b> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0641204/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ned O'Hanlon</a></b>. <a href="http://www.mutegrab.com/" rel="nofollow" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Jonathan Parson</a>, lately of Rathravane generated the 3D animation; with <a href="http://www.intercuts.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Hugh Chaloner</b></a> shooting stills and steering the editing machine. Shoots were completed with the LOTD crew in Dublin, Brixton Academy and ITV's London Studios. The <a href="http://www.lordofthedance.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>extravaganza</b></a> kicks off in London in the Palladium in September 2014 before embarking on a worldwide tour.<br />
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-60069610364323083112014-01-14T19:04:00.000+00:002014-08-12T11:55:05.151+01:00Karibu Kenya<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-GB"><b>Karibu Kenya</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Jambo! The all purpose greeting rings round
Nairobi’s </span><span class="st"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jomo Kenyatta Airport, the hub of East Africa. As ever, it’s
a chaotic, bustling mass of transiting humanity, but our driver, Fred’s warm
welcome and quick hands as he loads the bags into his high suspension, long wheelbase
Toyota Landcruiser offer an instant touchstone of certainty: this is going to
be great. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Dodging the Kenyan capital’s infamous rush
hour logjam courtesy of a nexus of off-road shortcuts, we’re soon arcing
northwest away from the city, sometimes shepherded by plantations of tall Tasmanian
Blue Gum trees. Each town and village we pass through is a hive of rickety <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matatu</i> action, the sometimes decorated
but perpetually packed private minibuses that keep the population moving.
There’s a certain freestyle frisson to the driving, with the occasional vertiginous
pothole competing with random wandering wildlife to keep everyone on their
toes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Our destination on day one is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.418212924889127.91864.153136898063399&type=3" target="_blank"><b>Kiboko LuxuryCamp</b></a> on the shores of <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/9lS2F" target="_blank"><b>Lake Naivasha</b></a> where the animal life is said to be
magnificent. However the journey has already taken on an exotic quality. Herds
of cattle and zebra intermingle and graze nonchalantly along the roadside, like
sheep in Connemara. And with the same apparent disregard for their own safety
or that of oncoming vehicles. One or two unfortunate hyena haven’t crossed
safely, but vultures will lead the clean-up crew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxX5tzOYoyJ-bsAv_ztWqaROSzE6Uf7bNrgqQujJ_D9LOHya771IGlTuT8xegwCz5btQWdBKepyeI4-CF5FzrzEKlXQnnhqdD_WPeytpZrIk9k5mtL4G5diOjhYfnMy6PQ01dg9QCPOcY/s1600/Great-Rift-Valley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxX5tzOYoyJ-bsAv_ztWqaROSzE6Uf7bNrgqQujJ_D9LOHya771IGlTuT8xegwCz5btQWdBKepyeI4-CF5FzrzEKlXQnnhqdD_WPeytpZrIk9k5mtL4G5diOjhYfnMy6PQ01dg9QCPOcY/s1600/Great-Rift-Valley.jpg" height="270" width="320" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">We’ve been climbing steadily and as we
round another bend, suddenly the land falls way sharply, cleaving a vast escarpment
to the west. This is the Great Rift Valley, which cuts some</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> 6,000 kilometres
(3,700m) from Syria in the north to Mozambique to the south of this enormous
continent. The panorama is truly stupendous. This is our planet’s dynamic,
shifting geology played out on the grandest stage, as Africa is pulled asunder.
The so-called Nubian and Somali tectonic plates are drifting apart by a couple
of centimetres a year – if that isn’t too inconsequential a verb to describe a monumental,
continent-breaking action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span>One
result of this geological divorce will eventually be a new sea. Or rather a new
stretch of an ancient one. Shifting plates also mean sleeping volcanoes and active
hot springs. From a human perspective, even more seismic events have been
recorded here: this is where archaeological remains of some of our earliest
ancestors have been discovered. We’re all children of Africa, born of the Great
Rift Valley.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
tents of Kiboko Camp perch on stilts over Lake Naivasha’s shores, connected by
a web of elevated wooden boardwalks. There’s a sound practicality to the rather
romantic architectural expression: the freshwaters rise and subside year on
year. Some 400 species of birds are said to live here and it looks like they’re
all out to play when we arrive. From impassive Great Cormorants to circling Fish
Eagles, brilliant Pied Kingfishers to the aloof Black Heron. It’s a squawking,
honking, flapping, whistling, hooting ornithological paradise.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIwLxSnpmgg7B4dpCHP6owti5WKFVgljyc2lyoWlaG7JSM7oACPrMbuKjhxB9xbdFhF-q0lEyIET_Evs4c4mgXOgNhRugWwrBYRpfz6p5rne5K0HL1mc-PpqVHfp8LLjZ8DVoOUobQ4E/s1600/P1020459_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisIwLxSnpmgg7B4dpCHP6owti5WKFVgljyc2lyoWlaG7JSM7oACPrMbuKjhxB9xbdFhF-q0lEyIET_Evs4c4mgXOgNhRugWwrBYRpfz6p5rne5K0HL1mc-PpqVHfp8LLjZ8DVoOUobQ4E/s1600/P1020459_web.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a>Our
accommodation is made with canvas, zipper doors and taut tie lines, but that’s
where the resemblance to my previous camping experiences ends. These are luxurious,
tall-ceilinged and spacious, with bathrooms, running water and electricity.
There are mesh windows on three sides with fabulous views, and the whole front
“wall” is really a series of three huge doors with canvas outers and mosquito
mesh inners. I zip closed the flap and start unpacking, only to find I’ve an
early visitor. Simian fellow, hairy, sitting on a side table, cool as a
cucumber. The vervet monkeys here are smart and cheeky. I go for my camera and
he skedaddles. Only later do I discover he has methodically stolen four apples
from my tent.<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB">Across the lake is Crescent Island, the
curved lip of a part-submerged, long-dormant volcano, still scattered with black
shiny shards of obsidian. The abundant game here exists without the threat of
big cat predators. So herds of waterbuck, zebra and giraffe wander the 8 sq. km
unworried. Not quite tame, you can walk among them, getting oh-so-close. A baby
giraffe skitters about after its mother, looking like it’s running in slow
motion. Gazelle munch away unconcerned by the gaping interlopers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBnKU-Sz1jIoZZMsip5zXZJD9p-kPQpHEsEBQWaR4lDsWOdZlwq3Kptf4j6VllqX61GitCHtLWxDuknnm7ga1RwSO9VAhFhyTfw_zkfSi5sG-KveMMbpmpdtwGqhk0yM1Y8pZiTzQvh1U/s1600/P1020503_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBnKU-Sz1jIoZZMsip5zXZJD9p-kPQpHEsEBQWaR4lDsWOdZlwq3Kptf4j6VllqX61GitCHtLWxDuknnm7ga1RwSO9VAhFhyTfw_zkfSi5sG-KveMMbpmpdtwGqhk0yM1Y8pZiTzQvh1U/s1600/P1020503_web.jpg" height="425" width="640" /></a><span lang="EN-GB">On-board again, we float among a serene
squadron (yes) of pelicans, their beaks a glorious Van Gogh yellow. A couple of
flamingos stop over en route to nearby Lake Nakuru whose alkaline waters famously
play host to a million of them each year to feed on the algae. We nudge through
a wide bed of floating hyacinth as if travelling across land, like a sedate
version of James Bond’s motorboat chase in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
Live and Let Die</i>. Hippos wallow close to the jetty as we come in and later
that night after we’ve enjoyed a great dinner, they come on shore to trundle beneath
our tented platforms. It’s hard to imagine these rather benign looking creatures
are among the most aggressive and dangerous animals in Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Striking out for Samburu National Reserve
the following day, there’s a brief detour to visit an inspiring community
project close to Nakuru. Post-election violence in 2007 had displaced hundreds
of thousands. Now families are being repatriated and given new homes with plots
to farm. Supported by a local resort, it’s a way for visitors to get another
view of Kenya in what Gillie Kipchuma, our excellent guide calls Community
Tourism. It’s moving and uplifting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Later we pass a number of small
establishments which promote themselves as offering “Hotel & Butchery.” It
doesn’t seem like a compelling selling point, but Gillie assures me the area is
famous for its meat. Next stop is on the Equator. We actually cross it a couple
of times as our road sashays along 0º latitude. We’re shown what purports to be
a demonstration of the <b><a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/rotation-earth-toilet-baseball3.htm" target="_blank">Coriolis effect</a> </b>(where the rotation of the earth affects
the direction water spins.) SPOILER ALERT: a reasonably convincing show at the
time, a doubting Thomas Google reveals it to be hokum, though I hang on to my
“certificate” of having seen it. And straddle the equatorial line for
photographs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBFRlbXWfQt-jN7st5dr8aZaOUW4sSUsuLx54onJ8wvmtpmVNL2D97pC4xM2yG3ID9knZIGDLjfkIYuyhZa5W6F2ZWaAyELqBYDje0BMHkmVg20jCUYtOrEPzLIAn2-0JBk6nKQiUl62w/s1600/P1020770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBFRlbXWfQt-jN7st5dr8aZaOUW4sSUsuLx54onJ8wvmtpmVNL2D97pC4xM2yG3ID9knZIGDLjfkIYuyhZa5W6F2ZWaAyELqBYDje0BMHkmVg20jCUYtOrEPzLIAn2-0JBk6nKQiUl62w/s1600/P1020770.JPG" height="188" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">What a landscape Samburu National Reserve defines,
with the low scrubland marshalled all around by distant mountains, receding in
misty layers. <a href="http://www.atua-enkop.com/#!elephant-bedroom-camp/cunp" target="_blank"><b>Elephant Bedroom Camp</b></a> is dotted along the sandy banks of the </span><span class="st"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://goo.gl/maps/xhdJM" target="_blank"><b>Ewaso Nyiro River</b></a>, the brown water. Again our tents are on stilts and the charming owners,
Nagib Popat and his wife Nima relate how they’d recently to move and rebuild
the whole camp after a tidal surge had swept up the river and swamped
everything. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR85A-tQbJfzyyWJyaYQ-2W1NJaRna3vA03XsBxiIjLP7ZEvXfFTvbcI_YCCiYFi6dPrmu9dwaGxBrJ6038QCo7ye9VyDi105QJxnPFPx59pmABMAGlwarQnIcekxWyPj0IxXw9-b2nFM/s1600/P1020652_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR85A-tQbJfzyyWJyaYQ-2W1NJaRna3vA03XsBxiIjLP7ZEvXfFTvbcI_YCCiYFi6dPrmu9dwaGxBrJ6038QCo7ye9VyDi105QJxnPFPx59pmABMAGlwarQnIcekxWyPj0IxXw9-b2nFM/s1600/P1020652_web.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span class="st"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The name isn’t just a whimsy of evocative branding either:
elephants roam all round the encampment and we’re under strict instruction not
to leave our luxurious tents after dusk without an escort. Nagib’s men patrol
the river all night. And given we find a crocodile lounging on the opposite
bank the next day, we’re in no hurry to ignore the advice. Everything here is perfectly
realised and feels in harmony with the environment. It’s wild, yet comfortable,
our hosts are generous and there are stories to be exchanged late into the
night.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="st"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Too late, as it’s another 6am start and we’re off on safari
with Samburu guide, Julius, who frankly looks like he’s stepped off the pages
of a fashion magazine, with a colourful wrap, combat sweater and ornate
necklace. There’s a low buzz and he whips a smartphone out of the folds. He has
the eyes of a hawk and we are soon gently bumping our way round herds of elephant.
A dry river bed reveals a pair of snoozing lions – like teenagers, they sleep
up to 22 hours a day. We come across a Gerenuk, sometimes called the
giraffe-necked antelope with good reason. But even evolution hasn’t quite got
it to where it likes to graze and they balance on tippy-toes to reach the higher
branches. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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On our way to a bush airstrip where a small plane will fly
us the next leg, we strike safari gold not once, but twice. Firstly, finding a
cheetah preciously guarding his recently killed gazelle (less than 20 minutes
old Julius estimates) and then with a leopard up a tree, apparently indolently
resting his foreleg on the branch. Closer inspection reveals though that it’s
actually the remains of an impala he’d dragged up there. His gaze is
unforgettable.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUiakspD0AT-VkQ4VFivtO1sY8-QmzZRg5WCo_h-D1cBP6ZyddeUL9ZJ9uShlgRrI-PaTIaZA0C84Bpytvg7raNqvhRZfncWcopuecyVIW-JlQ6or3pX1efbHoKtmc9aqp-X6qUoIMXg/s1600/Leopard+and+impala+up+tree_WEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnUiakspD0AT-VkQ4VFivtO1sY8-QmzZRg5WCo_h-D1cBP6ZyddeUL9ZJ9uShlgRrI-PaTIaZA0C84Bpytvg7raNqvhRZfncWcopuecyVIW-JlQ6or3pX1efbHoKtmc9aqp-X6qUoIMXg/s1600/Leopard+and+impala+up+tree_WEB.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still
buzzing from this amazing natural theatre, arriving in Diani opens another gateway
to Kenya. South of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, white sandy beaches link up for
hundreds of miles and the thermometer goes up a notch. The <a href="http://www.pinewood-beach.com/virtual_tour/index.html#/entrance/" target="_blank"><b>Pinewood Beach Resort</b></a> offers a welcome respite from the heat, with a cooling courtyard pond
where Koi carp shimmer below, whilst above, weaver birds endlessly renovate
their grass-ball nests. We’re soon snorkelling from a glass-bottomed boat among
Diani’s shallow reefs of coral. The balmy sea is blazes with bursts of colour –
fearsome-looking devil firefish, vivid star fish, pufferfish, black-needled sea
urchins – it’s hard to know where to look.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps
you could say that of Kenya as a whole. I’ve only skimmed through a couple of
destinations and still seen so much. If Africa seduces, Kenya may be her
temptress-in-chief. Every journey here is an adventure; every vista, a scene
from David Attenborough. Does it grip us so powerfully because secreted away
deep within our DNA is some strand of our far distant African memory? All it
takes is a visit to spark it and wonder at it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/karibu-kenya-the-temptress-in-chief-1.1634438" target="_blank"> The Irish Times Magazine, 28 Dec 2013</a> <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oq2jhjrbnjrnc6q/AAAlaBIXN4MLb7uZCxbRa3Z0a" target="_blank">Download pdf here.</a></span></i></o:p></span></div>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-37331652570989781852013-06-28T09:36:00.000+01:002013-06-28T09:36:46.334+01:00How Working in a Box Works.<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As well as picking up electrifying performances in all manner of venues, <b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYGt3i1DjFA" target="_blank">Under Great White Northern Lights</a>,</b> a tour video following <a href="http://whitestripes.com/lo-fi/news.html?year=2013" target="_blank"><b>The White Stripes</b></a> across Canada in 2007, is compelling because Jack and ex-wife, stage-sister, Meg are so unguarded at times. And Jack particularly is full of insights on making music and what works for him creatively. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8F7ih808hYkVDoZey368lD-tZrzo9EVdtGtXrPOznsvW8Vcrow1gaNfrz99vYTGi593Fkwnz5G82l2vQKSVYXTf-7Wc9i8hOTCG5uRWrigSgT2a-ktXfOcHEPsHXk4fv6kU8CtK2VWQ/s415/the-white-stripes-poster_280x415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy8F7ih808hYkVDoZey368lD-tZrzo9EVdtGtXrPOznsvW8Vcrow1gaNfrz99vYTGi593Fkwnz5G82l2vQKSVYXTf-7Wc9i8hOTCG5uRWrigSgT2a-ktXfOcHEPsHXk4fv6kU8CtK2VWQ/s320/the-white-stripes-poster_280x415.jpg" width="215" /></a>He tell us that in the early days, his ambition simply to get a chance to perform on-stage used to inspire his work; the hunger keened the edge. But obviously, success has dulled that ache. <a href="http://youtu.be/4MOQg5u_sk4?t=3m1s" target="_blank"><b>"I don't have those inspirations now anymore."</b></a> So now White forces himself to "work in a box", setting strict limitations and restrictions within which he has to operate. Like he'll book a studio for just four or five days and "force yourself to record and album in that time".</div>
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It extends to live performances too he admits. So he puts his spare guitar picks way at the back of the stage, making life deliberately difficult if he needs one. Plays guitars that go out of tune easily. Keeps instruments just out of reach. No set list. Hundreds of little difficulties that add a tension, mixing in an extra channel of risk to the on-stage energy. <br />
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Of course, anyone who knows The White Stripes will be familiar with the strict visual template they followed rigorously too: wearing only red, black and white. Voice, guitar, drums. It's all about just Three. Less choices make for better ideas. Constrictions to create he calls it at one point.<br />
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<a href="http://www.enoshop.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Brian Eno</b></a> agrees: "the act of feeling frustration is an essential part of the creative process". The electronicist/producer/collaborator suggests the endless possibilities of digital tools in the studio, all the electronics, the samplers, sequencers and editors, can limit inspiration rather than spark it. There are too many routes to explore. So Eno also introduces difficulties or as he calls them, "<b><a href="http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/brian-eno#video" target="_blank">option cancelling devices"</a>. </b>(See around 26:45 in)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/65663692" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/65663692">Lecture: Brian Eno (New York, 2013)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/redbullmusicacademy">Red Bull Music Academy</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span><br />
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For example, a recording session in which there can be no artificial multiplication or duplication - so no echoing, no reverb, no sampling. If he wants a sound repeated, he plays it again. And again. Or he'll only allow instruments on one side of the studio space to be used. "Before there is a breakthrough, there has to be a block."<br />
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It's an element of <a href="http://www.jonahlehrer.com/" target="_blank"><b>Jonah Lehrer's</b></a> thesis too, in his now <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/03/jonah-lehrer-imagine-withdrawn-sale" target="_blank"><b>discredited examination</b></a> of where ideas come from, <a href="https://vimeo.com/38626605" target="_blank"><b>Imagine: How Creativity Works</b>.</a> He took little too much creative licence when it came to quoting others, but on the importance of creating a challenge to trigger inspiration, he's on the same page. <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16.796875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You break out of the box by stepping into shackles,” he writes, reflecting for example, on the constraints poets put themselves under, the scanning, the rhymes. The 17 Japanese <i>on </i>of the haiku<i>.</i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikacisjNln1sVxOexqoAPh6-gTg-s8elscEz-VMkhnd9a1NyhwNkOJX8a8472G2E37wDKGb3dD6Mq1tNB8w6gOiBGzjv0MxiZtQKTDRmg4Mbu-TZtZro8V11qvHm2F79a8d0TVvUEcP9M/s1600/Anders_Zorn-Wet-793427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikacisjNln1sVxOexqoAPh6-gTg-s8elscEz-VMkhnd9a1NyhwNkOJX8a8472G2E37wDKGb3dD6Mq1tNB8w6gOiBGzjv0MxiZtQKTDRmg4Mbu-TZtZro8V11qvHm2F79a8d0TVvUEcP9M/s320/Anders_Zorn-Wet-793427.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 16.796875px;">Swedish painter, <a href="http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/anders-zorn" target="_blank"><b>Anders Zorn</b></a> has had the limited palette of colours he's credited as working with named after him. This turn of century artist, probably best known for his nudes, used only 4 colours: <a href="http://webartacademy.com/palettes-of-famous-artists-the-anders-zorn-palette" target="_blank"><b>Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Ivory Black and White</b></a>. Out of these he summoned up a seemingly limitless spectrum. These basic colour building blocks can flavour any subject, but it requires discipline, trial and error, inspiration. It's not hard to imagine the tension when Zorn was looking to evoke a subtle skin tone and needed to find it among his frugal four blobs of paint.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 16.796875px;">Just as Eno admires the musician who can master every corner of their instrument and explore it right to the margins, unlike the digital composer who can never exhaust the reconfiguring of ones and zeros, Zorn knew that restricting his palette forced him to be more creative. "Inspiration and the work ethic ride beside each other" is how Jack White sees it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 16.796875px;">Setting ourselves parameters can force the best out of us creatively. Sure, there's a time to dream untethered, but putting one's self in the box, cancelling the options fires up a powerful creative energy that can make a difference.</span></span>Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-34111664127598086992013-04-16T15:03:00.000+01:002013-04-16T15:03:46.537+01:00Telling the story of AvocaThe Mill at Avoca Village is Ireland's oldest weaving mill, going since 1723. Here's a short film I made with Hilary and Donald Pratt, who have seen it become what's arguably the country's most interesting brand. It was all very different back in the mid-70s when the place was falling down, the looms were largely idle and a young lawyer and his teacher wife went to see it in the pouring rain. "When I think about buying the Mill... it gives me vertigo. It was so crazy."<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/62274419" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="600"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/62274419">The Story of Avoca</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/avocaireland">Avoca Ireland</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-53314909298257297812013-03-28T13:35:00.000+00:002014-08-13T20:40:56.836+01:00Haiti Revisited: Glimmers of Hope.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was back filming in Haiti last month for <b><a href="http://www.digicelhaiti.com/" target="_blank">Digicel</a> </b>again, having previously visited it in 2009. Haiti shares the island of <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola" target="_blank">Hispaniola</a> </b>with the Dominican Republic, but in having the western third, it often has the misfortune to face the fierce brunt of Caribbean hurricanes stirred up in the Gulf of Mexico, like the one that battered it in 2008. On January 24, 2010, it'd also been struck by a <a href="https://www.google.ie/search?q=haiti+earthquake&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=M2DrU-acEuSe7AaD34DQCg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1483&bih=959" target="_blank"><b>massive earthquake</b></a> that killed perhaps 200,000 people and affected upwards of 3 million. The hotel we'd stayed in the previous year was destroyed and everyone in it lost.<br>
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When they eventually put the terrifying political heritage of the despotic <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1966/01/23/books/greene66-comedians.html?_r=0" target="_blank"><b>Papa Doc</b></a> behind them, one might have hoped for a better future the Haitian people, but its rank poverty exacerbated by this relentlessly unforgiving climate and geology has kept them on the back foot. It's the poorest country in the West and is ranked 168 countries on the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/HTI" target="_blank"><b>Human Development Index</b></a>. For all of that, the capital, Port au Prince, even recovering from the '08 hurricane had been an exciting, vibrant, colourful city in 2009 with a bustling street economy and a real sense of danger - and not just in the imagination. So what would face us in 2013?<br>
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Well, three years after the earthquake, the devastation is still monumentally evident. And this is despite much of the rubble having been cleared. Whole streets are simply empty lots of wasteland. The cathedral, a crumpled shell of concrete angles and cameos. Nothing is properly familiar as landmarks have been erased; the cityscape smudged.<br>
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Undiminished though, is the spirit of the people, who trade away furiously in front of what would be promoted as a "prime development site" in another western capital. And weaving through the throng, women carry everything on their heads, impossibly balanced, in an unmistakable African inheritance. Kids skip over the precariously ruptured pavements on their way to school, impeccably turned out, with gleaming white socks and shirts, the girls' hair in intricate braids.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It can seem though, that there's little escape though from the terse economic reality of the place. But there are surprises. As dusk slips off to darkness, we visit an isolated site far out of the city, down a track, off a track, off a road to God knows where. It's beyond the boonies. Digicel customers are so constrained here, although they've phones to run their lives and businesses, they've no electricity to charge them. Infrastructure is a luxury. (But why would they have mobiles at all you might reasonably ask: every 10% of mobile penetration in the developing world can boost <a href="http://www.proparco.fr/jahia/webdav/site/proparco/shared/PORTAILS/Secteur_prive_developpement/PDF/SPD4/SPD4_Christine_Zhen_Wei_Qiang_uk.pdf" target="_blank"><b>GDP by .8%</b></a>. Each phone is a catalyst for growth.)<br>
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At a clearing, there's a small gathering. A solar panel on a tall pylon feeds a junction box of recharging points managed by a local village woman. Everyone's coming miles on foot to pay a token fee to get powered up. Phones begin to glimmer in the half-light. And hope springs eternal.<br>
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Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363188592063682106.post-65761885057957035232013-01-09T12:31:00.003+00:002013-01-09T15:01:27.399+00:00Living in the moment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Even a big brand like The North Face can get to the heart of it. Good film here from TNF about what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi" title="Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi">Mihály Csíkszentmihályi</a> calls <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29" target="_blank">Flow</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jWx6ds5-pnk?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
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Here's his talk on the idea of Flow, the secret to happiness at
TED.<br />
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Here's to a new year of moments. </div>
Tom Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00461346726554357382noreply@blogger.com