The controversial replica famine ship the Jeannie Johnston in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. (Stunned Indo login stunned@Burn-In-Hell.zzn.com , letmein)

The Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures is on this weekend, here’s some of my pictures from Saturday.


Dublin’s own Oficina da Capoeira give a spectacular display of Capoeira in the Peoples Park.

Masamba bringing a little bit of carnival to Dun Laoghaire

Firedance at the Harbour Plaza

Officials call the fire brigade to deal with the unofficial firedancer – I think she got the biggest cheer of the day.

Some of my photos from Bastille Day in Paris

On the anniversary of the liberation of Paris a history of the occupation and liberation of Paris and photographs of the liberation by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa from Magnum.

I Saw the White Stripes supported by the New York Dolls last night the stripes played a short set – just over an hour – and while they were good they were more self indulgent and less entertaining then when I last saw them but still better then most. The surviving New York Dolls -David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain – were surprising good and amazingly healthy looking David Johansen now looks like like a cross between Steve Tyler, Mick Jagger with a touch of Iggy Pop – you know the look, body of a 40 year old, face of a 140 year old.

Bug me not the easy way to bypass site registration – I have it as an extension for Firefox, right click and you get your password – is gone, I found that it had many registrations for the Irish Times websites probably one of the reasons it’s gone. While not as fast mailinator is a useful site for quick emails addresses without having to go through the hassle of another hotmail account.

Yep it’s that time of year again, the Perseid meteor shower can be seen tonight from about 11.30pm. There is no moon and so far today in Dublin there’s not a cloud in the sky so perfect for sky watching.

I went to see the Sophie Calle exhibition at IMMA. It was a good show and I like her work but I was struck by the fact that Countdown to Unhappiness would have worked so much better as net art, it needed an intimate environment which hanging in frames along a corridor doesn’t provide.
Now at the risk of sounding like I’m getting on my hobbyhorse – OK I am – I was taking a digital snap as I tend to do in galleries, I keep a digital diary which I use as an aide in developing new ideas for my art. When suddenly in rushes a security guard (he must have been watching on a surveillance camera) to say that all photography is forbidden in IMMA. OK photography is permitted (without flash or tripods obviously) in the Pompidou, the Louvre, Musee D’Orsay, Palais de Tokyo, MOMA, MACBA and most other museums which makes me wonder why IMMA has to ban it, there are no good reasons other then a victorian desire to enforce rules for the sake of it.
Unfortunately though this is an attitude that still pervades art galleries in Ireland, when my kids were small I used to bring them to see exhibitions in IMMA but we would be very obtrusively followed from room to room and if they came within a few metres of anything would be told not to touch the art. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so bloody annoying, so in the end we stopped going. While it’s a small enough thing it is indicative of an attitude in IMMA that unless it’s tackled will prevent IMMA being a truly popular, engaging venue.

Mike Wilson is a documentary film maker who doesn’t agree with Michael Moore, in fact he feels so strongly on the issue that he’s making a film called Michael Moore hates America. US TV show the Daily Show send up his Michael Moorish attempts to ambush Michael Moore to appear in his movie.

Henri Cartier Bresson probably the most influential photographer ever has died. His work inspired generations of photographers and despite his protestations to the contrary was important in the acceptance of photography as art. Even though his doctrine of the decisive moment has fallen out of favour in the world of photography once you have seen his photographs they remain with you for ever.