College-ness

One area I didn’t really go into a lot of detail in my original blog was what I get up to in college. There’s a pretty hefty amount of stuff to cover so I’ll get right to it, beginning with the course itself and what modules I’m studying at the moment!

Video Production Pretty much the main practical element to my course, and the section I’ll be focussing on the most when it comes to my final year (next year! *gulp*) You see, in 1st year we did a bit of Video, Radio and Photography and you choose which one of those 3 you want to major in for 2nd and 3rd year. This consisted of getting practise in both shooting elements (using video cameras, recording equipment etc) and editing elements (Final Cut, Photoshop etc). Even though I’d say I’ve probably spent much more of my time both inside and outside college working in radio, I decided to go with video for two reasons. The thing about radio or photography is that I could always teach myself in the future how to use photoshop or pro tools if it’s something I want to work at more. But with video because of the equipment involved if I didn’t do it now I’d never get to do it. On top of that, photography was never an area I was particularly fond of while I already get enough radio experience through working with DCUfm. So far in video we’ve just done a lot about forming ideas and documentaries and all that, but I imagine it’ll be much more hands-on after Christmas.

Research Methods Ah, this little bugger. I don’t think I’ve ever underestimated the sheer amount of work involved then I have for this. I thought at first it’d just be something like Info and Study Skills from last year; nothing too difficult and with a bit of work can be passed with handy enough score. Eh, no! A 7,000 word research report done in groups of 3, which requires weeks upon weeks of work and preparation. The subject we’re doing our report on is “How do people read online news in comparison to print news” and it’s looking like a handy enough topic, but there’s still a trojan amount of work to get through for it.

Media Studies This is an odd one. It sounds like the most broad and far reaching module in the world, and in some ways it is, but it’s mainly focusses towards analysing photography, with a few documentaries and even poetry thrown into the mix as well. It’s the only one with an exam after Christmas as well, so I can see myself tearing my hair out at this come January. But in the meantime it’s pretty harmless so far.

Current Affairs Again, it pretty much does exactly as it says on the tin. 2 hours every Wedneday morning discussing issues around the world, ranging from political topics like the US role in Afghanistan to more ethical subjects like the debate of capitalism vs socialism. This requires a 1,000 word technical report with a 10 minute presentation which I’ve chosen to do on space exploration. From the little I’ve researched it it’s pretty interesting stuff, which always helps when it comes to assignments!

Social History & TV Drama Easily my favourite of the 5 modules, both inside and outside the lecture. Even though it’s a bone-crunching 3 hours long (at 9am on Friday morning no less!) it’s fairly engaging and enjoyable so far. We’ve watched episodes from programmes such as Madmen and Brasseye as well as discussing pretty much all forms of TV Drama and how it relates to the social context that it’s set. The assignment here was 2,500 words and “The West Wing” which just happens to be one of the best TV shows I have ever seen (must remember to blog about that in the future!)

So that, ladies and gentlemen is CS2 in a nutshell so far. There is one important element I’m missing though, and it’s probably taken up more of my time than one of those above modules. I am of course talking about DCUfm!

DCUfm is one of Ireland’s best college radio stations, particularly in terms of the quality of the software and studio we have available to us. The station itself runs the same platform of software as Today FM for example, and it really can’t be underestimated how cool it is for students like myself to have the ability to use these kind of facilities before I hit the big bad world of the real life. After doing bits and bobs with the news crew when I was in 1st year, I’ve now focussed solely on the sports side of the station, and now find myself as DCUfms Sports Editor. What does this mean? Well I present a weekly sports chat show every Wednesday evening, while I also do daily sports bulletins on Mondays and Thursdays. Of course there’s no way I can do all this by myself so there’s a great sports crew on hand for co-production and co-presenting on the day. Intruiged? I know you are! All you have to do is tune into dcufm.com and give a listen!

There was a lot more I wanted to go into, like my activities with the squash club and music soc, but I’m near 900 words at this stage. I’m beginning to think actually I should learn how to condense my blogs a bit more, had I written the same amount during this time for my research report I’d be nearly 1/7th of the way there 😦

Coming up next time on LUE, what it is about Muse that I love so much. I just know you’ll be dying to read that one!

FAI – for once getting the criticism they don’t deserve

I’m not going to beat around the bush with this one, because this is important. Thierry Henry’s handball against Ireland in our World Cup play-off 2nd leg last month was one of the worst acts of cheating any of us will ever see in our entire lives. Given the context of the occasion, the setting, the importance, for a player of his calibre to deliberately (yes, deliberately) handle the ball not once but twice goes against everything the sport stands for. If the French captain was on a volleyball court it still wouldn’t be allowed! As if the action itself wasn’t bad enough, the way he arrogantly celebrated the resulting goal was the final nail in the coffin for his once untarnished reputation.

What happened on the now infamous date of 18th November 2009 has rightly sent shockwaves right across the world. The image you see on your left made headlines in every national sports paper in Europe, while even the great Pele felt the need to stand in and let his opinion heard on the matter. Questions were asked regarding the usage of video technology, of extra referees and of the subject of fair play and decency in the sport. It’s times like this the leader of this great sport needed to stand up and make himself known. His sports reputation was becoming increasingly frayed and he needed to address the serious questions that were consuming debates all over the world.

Arise, Joseph “Sepp” Blatter.

To be fair, Blatter is not one to stay clear of the headlines. If he’s not fighting off allegations regarding corruption in FIFA, he’s sustaining torrents of abuse for suggesting women footballers where smaller shorts to gain larger TV audiences. But now, exactly 2 weeks after Henrygate occurred, he has once again managed to falter at the times he’s needed most. Have a look why…

Now, frequent radio phone-in listeners or readers of boards.ie will notice that the majority of the Irish people seem to be aiming their abuse not at Blatter, but at the FAI for making the suggestion regarding becoming team no.33 in the first place. There is a lot of misinformation being thrown around the place, so let us be clear about the facts.

• The FAIs request came at the end of a 90 minute meeting with FIFA in which they aired their grievances. The suggestion, which was part serious and part tongue-in-cheek, was made off-the-cuff. There was no formal written request made.
• John Delaney, Chief Executive of the FAI, was given assurances their remark would remain confidential.

Now, barely 24 hours after said meeting we have the most powerful man in sport openly sharing (and laughing) at a private discussion to the media gathered from around the world. And Delaney is meant to be the bad guy in this saga?

Lets be serious here, the FAI had every right to ask what they did. I would imagine even they would’ve been surprised had FIFA let us go to South Africa as team 33, as would the entire country who, to be honest, none of whom think we deserve to be just handed a place on a silver platter. Also, what is it with the Irish people when it comes to self-indulgence? You won’t believe the amount of people telling me we’ve been embarrassing ourselves to the world, that we’ve looked like idiots for harping on about it 2 weeks later. Pardon me, but I don’t care if we became the most hated country in the world if it meant succeeding in some way at promoting the issue of fair play in football.

I can understand some of the criticisms levelled at the FAI, in particular for their handling of League of Ireland issues since they took over the running of the league a couple of years ago. But they are not at fault here, simple as. Yet because of the actions of a certain Swiss, the FAI have been made to look like crybabys while Blatter in general continues to be the focus of public ridicule. Losers all round? Well not exactly. Both Henry and the referee look set to escape punishment. A farce once again.

Just as I was about to conclude this article, I quick visit to bbc.co.uk/sport is telling me Blatter has since apologised for his actions in South Africa yesterday. All well and good? You wish. I’ll bold the part you may find troubling.

“In this connection I would like to express my regrets – my regrets to a wrong interpretation of what I have said in the Soccerex.

“I have only announced they have asked it, but the presence in the Soccerex they don’t took it very, I would say, seriously.

“So I regret what I have created and especially towards the Irish Football Association, I am sorry about these headlines going around the world.

“Contrary I have nothing against the Irish, they were very sporting people when they came to Fifa and it is a pity that it has been now communicated in this way.”

Funny that. I never realised the governing body of football in Northern Ireland (IFA) have been getting involved. The FAI meanwhile, await their apology with interest.

And so it begins…

My lecturers told me I should start one. I’ve seen numerous people both in and outside CS in the last number of months start one. One of the aforementioned went as far to say this form of media could in time replace the conventional form of reading and gathering online news. A quick post out on Twitter finally confirmed to me it was time to make the jump. So here you are, my very own (and possibly short-lived) blog! Can I have a smiley for that?

So what should any of you readers (both real and robotic) expect from my ramblings in the coming months/weeks/days? Well how about a little background of myself first and you can probably gather from that what you may or may not be hearing from me in the future!

Lets start with the musics, because that’s probably one of the biggest parts of my life. I started playing piano when I was 5/6 years old, did a few grades, gave it up when I was around 12 and started getting back into it when I was in TY. Since then I mainly just dabble myself with the odd melody and stuff, nothing classical or anything! I took up the cornet when I started secondary school which in turn leading onto the trumpet and flugel horn, although none of those I continue to play as much to this day. Singing was something I always did quite a bit of although that would mainly just consist of school choirs and such, but after joining the IYC (Irish Youth Choir) last summer it’s definitely something I plan on keeping up for the years to come!

As for bands and the like there are just too many to name, but a quick glance over at my last.fm page tells me my favourite bands are Muse, the Killers, Coldplay, Radiohead, Guillemots, Fleet Foxes, Sufjan Stevens, MGMT, R.E.M., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mark Ronson, Glasvegas (told you there were too many to name!)

I may as well get this out of the way now, to warn you for the future. I love Muse. I love Muse a lot. People saying bad things about Muse does not make me happy. Does that make me a petty fanboy? Hell yeah it does. Do I care? Not really, I like to think my friends know me well enough not to question my motives here. But those fed up with my random texts to people alerting them of changes to their setlist at a gig half way across the world will be happy to know that since seeing them in the O2 last month (near the front of the pit, queued 6/7 hours) that I am indeed branching my listening out a bit more. I’ve recently discovered the awesomeness of Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”, while after one or two listens Mumford & Sons debut album sounds very promising, so there is light at the end of the dark, Muse-filled tunnel. Expect a blog in the future of how this branching out tries to succeed but just ends up with me returning to my headphones blasting out “Map of the Problematique” for the 146th time.

Ok my nifty little word counter is telling me I’m already well over 540 so lets get on with it! If Muse are my band of choice, then the exploits of Mullane, McGrath and co. with the Waterford hurlers are and will continue to be my team of choice forever. I’ve been through my few ups and many downs, dating back to the summer of 98 when I saw us lose to Kilkenny by a single point in the All-Ireland semi final. Little did I know then! That day on 7th September 2008 when we were utterly humiliated by that same team in our long awaited AI final will rank as one of the worst of my life, but they haven’t been all bad believe me, and in some future blog day I’ll subject you to all the memories that are stand out above all others. Of course I’m not just completely hurling-orientated. I’m also an avid Manchester United supporter while I’ve had the luck to witness some of the best rugby matches to take place in Croke Park, some of which I’ll touch on in the coming days.

Just to brush on a few random bits and bobs that may interest you, I currently present a sports chat show every Wednesday from 5.15-6.30 on DCUfm, some of my favourite websites include the always entertaining boards.ie, I do take a keen interest in politics, both local and international, you can catch up with me on Facebook or Twitter (can you tell I’ve learned how to hyperlink?), while to many peoples amusement I can still put my feet behind my head. But for now I’ll sign off on my inaugural post, and after a good 20-30 minutes of writing whatever came to mind I can safely tell you this place is either going to be my new best friend or the page that finally signed the death warrant to those grade A results in CS this year. Joy!

One final, final point. The ‘b’ in the URL you see at the top of your web browser there stands for Brian, my middle name. Take the following ‘n’ out and you’ve got StephenBlog. Coincidence?…..Probably.