Mr Mercedes (TV series & book review)

Disclaimer...I am a huge Stephen King fan and also love Brendan Gleeson so this is a slam dunk really.  The book & TV series are a delight and should be near the top of your pile to experience.  This is a review combining both the book and TV series (Although I have only watched episode 1-4)

We have the perfect pairing of writer and main character, Stephen King, who turned 70 a couple of weeks ago and Brendan Gleeson, a little younger at 62.  Two veterans of their art.  Brendan Gleeson is the perfect actor to fill the role of the vexatious retired detective who won’t leave that one unsolved case alone and Stephen King, has written a fantastic tale of intrigue with a little bit of reality and of course his trademark violence (but not too much).

The TV series reunites producer David E. Kelley with Brendan Gleeson, they previously worked together on Lake Placid, another great film with the delight of Gleeson’s sarcastic humour probably baffling some audiences but genius to Irish viewers.  I loved the part when they were looking for Gleeson’s deputy and found a toe.  When Gleeson was asked “is this the man that was killed?” Gleeson’s sarky answer was “He seemed...taller”.

Mr Mercedes is a departure for King (I will blog later in the month on the evolution of King’s work) but still remains true to his style of lovingly developing characters (whether they live or die) with a slathering of ugly reality.  The violence is portrayed brilliantly in small sharp bursts, it’s chilling and realistic, not like the boring “blood n guts” disgusting journey one takes with the likes of Saw & Hostel.  King’s use of violence is measured and dealing with the aftermath is as important as the act itself.  The reason I have always loved King’s work is that the psychological thrillers/horrors like Cugo, Misery & Dolores Claiborne are realistic; you can imagine these things actually happening.

The book is well balanced, developing the different storylines of the characters and then drawing them together with ease.  This is another characteristic of King’s writing, a well crafted plot that intertwines beautiful, and yet, is never predictable.  I also love the play on words, for example when the killer is contacting Bill Hodges he uses the name “merckiller”.  This can be read in two ways...Mercedes Killer or the more literal Mer...C...Killer, i.e. mercy-killer.  Little things like this are not accidental and to me are moments of genius.

A trademark style of King at the beginning of a novel is to introduce and develop characters, but as a veteran reader of King I know not to get too attached as I expect some of them will die...and Mr Mercedes does not disappoint – pigs in blankets anyone!  Most other authors only spend time developing characters that will remain, those characters who will die (or are the mass murderer) are looked over and only covered in a cursory manner.  For those who have read/watched the Stand you know what I mean...When Harold sets of the bomb you never expected Nick to die (Oops, spoiler alert). 

The TV series has been adapted really well.  This is aided with a simple story by King and the skills of the director David E. Kelley who has worked on some awesome series like LA Law, Chicago Hope & Ally McBeal to mention a few of his award winning hits.  The only criticism I have is the casting of Mary Louise Parker in the role of Janey Paterson.  Parker is a confident brash actor, fantastic in Weeds & one of my favourite series – The West Wing - but, in my opinion not a good match for the character of Janey Paterson.  Maybe that’s a problem only in my mind or maybe she is a little typecast in the role of a strong and confident lady, whichever is the case, she doesn’t work for me in this role.

In the last couple of years we see TV series taking over the entertainment industry.  Simply put, if this wasn’t the case so many top actors wouldn’t be moving into TV rather than the big screen.  This evolution has only been good for writers of the longer novel that lovingly develop their characters and plots for our enjoyment.  King has already had the adaptation of Under The Dome and 11.22.63 and you can clearly see the input he has had into these 2 productions and Mr. Mercedes.  Gone is the day where Hollywood buys the rights to the book and can then run off and do what they want.  (Unfortunately Under the Dome had one huge flaw...both in the book and the TV series, the ending was dreadful)

Anyway to summarise, the book is awesome, the TV adaptation is true to the book and really well crafted.  With only one negative of the casting of Mary Louise Parker, I give Mr. Mercedes a rating of 9 out of 10 planets.

John "The Captain" Ryan

My Fascination with all things Star Trek.

by John "The Captain" Ryan

As a child of the 80’s I remember watching re-runs of the Original series and being constantly fascinated with the different worlds & ideas.  For me Star Trek is the embodiment of science fiction, the big what-if scenario with a dose of science based stuff thrown in.  It was a glimpse into the future.  As Roddenberry put it…Wagon Train to the Stars.

(Laika, Keystone/Getty images)

Even now, over 35 years later, if my dad (now 73) sees me watching any kind of science fiction he starts telling me, for the zillionth time how when he was young they read comic books about going to the moon and then they all watched the space race.  Comic books were becoming reality. He, and many others, followed with rapt attention the first satellites to orbit the planet, the first dog in space (Laika, 1957 and how the bloody Russians didn’t care about getting him back), he laughs at the antics the American crews used to get up to when contacting Earth and retells the story of Apollo 13, as if anyone on the planet doesn’t know the story at this stage. “Houston we have a problem”

But for me, Star Trek could be the same.  Is Star Trek a window into our future?  In the late 80’s when RTE broadcast the Next Generation, I remember watching it thinking…”It’s Star Trek but not as we know it”.  At the tender age of 11 I didn’t understand the idea of a series reboot but I didn’t care.  This was something new, crisp, clean and fun.  Exploring space and travelling – for the first time – where no ONE had gone before, as opposed to the Original series where no MAN had gone before.  Obviously women were superior in the 1960’s and had gone there first, much like the American’s beating the Russian’s to the moon.

The ideals in Star Trek, did and still attract me.  Equality, free medical care, free education & a society devoid of money.  Futuristic ideals that sound fantastic (albeit naive), some would say sound Communistic (go Russia!) and others who think it’s all just fiction.  But since Star Trek aired over 50 years ago we see laptops and handheld computers, Mobile phones (cell phones if you’re American), 3d printers (aka replicators), mass freely available worldwide communications and freedom of information, universal translators – there’s an app for that called Voice Translator by TalirApps which understands 71 languages, androids like Data, the list goes on…

(Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro (right) and Geminoid HI-1)

So what’s next?  Research is currently being funded into FTL, (Faster Than Light) travel so will we see warp speed any time soon, I hope so.  The Mission to Mars is probably the most exciting project of our time.  Mars is the stepping stone of the human race on its voyage into the universe. Human settlement on Mars will aid our understanding of the origins of the solar system, the origins of life and our place in the universe. As with the Apollo Moon landings, a human mission to Mars will inspire generations to believe that all things are possible, anything can be achieved.  I like this idea.  Will we get there, who knows, but what will we accomplish on the way; we will inspire young people to become scientists, engineers, doctors, jet propulsion experts.  In the mean time what will they discover and invent.  That’s the ball game folks.

The social and political debates that Star Trek explored are the most important things to me.  In the Original series, there were constant debates about society and they were the only TV series that got away with it because it was based in the future so wasn’t real.  TV history and real-life history changed when Kirk and Uhuru (Nichelle Nicholes) kissed, but Roddenberry got away with it whilst planting the idea of interracial relationships in the psyche of Americans.  Don’t forget this was the 1960’s, race riots & protests...

Star Trek was the first show to cast an African American woman in a role that was not a servant/maid or second class citizen.  In an interview, Nichelle Nichols, who played the black female communications officer, said that the day after she told Roddenberry she planned to leave the show, she was at a fund-raiser at the NAACP and was told there was a big fan who wanted to meet her. Nichols said,

I thought it was a Trekkie, and so I said, ‘Sure.’ I looked across the room, and there was Dr. Martin Luther King walking towards me with this big grin on his face. He reached out to me and said, ‘Yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan.’ He said that Star Trek was the only show that he, and his wife Coretta, would allow their three little children to stay up and watch. [She told King about her plans to leave the series.] I never got to tell him why, because he said, ‘You can’t. You’re part of history.’

When she told Roddenberry what King had said, he cried.  She went on to recruit & influence generations of African American astronauts. Check out this video -

Nichols also influenced another of my favourite actors – Whoppi Goldberg – a regular in the Next Generation – to become an actor.  Nichols has said in multiple interviews that Goldberg told her that as a child seeing Star Trek for the first time, she ran around the house screaming, “Hey Mom! Look! There’s a black woman on the TV and she ain’t no maid!”

 Throughout the three year run, individual episodes made strong comments on sexism and feminism, racism and improving race relations, as well as militarism and peace, all major social issues during the late 1960’s, and to a different degree, social issues of today.

In the Next Generation, the idea of ownership, freewill and sentience were constant themes for Data’s character to explore, which, for me made his character so much more interesting.  In fact, it was probably the characters redeeming quality (as opposed to Wesley Crusher who was annoying all the time).  In today’s context, this equates to slavery and the trafficking of people/children for prostitution.  In my college years I remember conversation about philosophy and faith – Star Trek being a constant reference.

In the Outcast (117th Episode, S05, E17) there is an interesting story of a race called the J’naii.  They are a race with no gender.  When the main character of the story admits to identifying as female after being seen kissing Riker (that bloody kissing again) it leads her down the path of receiving, against her will “Psychotectic Therapy”.  Basically being changed to having no gender.  During the episode Worf admits to being uncomfortable with the J’naii due to pre-conceived ideas of gender but changes his mind by the end of the episode.

There’s not a lot of difference between this story (aired in 1992) and the constant struggle by LGBT people for equal rights.  You need only look at countries like Qatar that put LGBT people to death and most of the African countries where “Conversion Therapy” is regularly used.  Whilst sometimes, the treatment of LGBT issues in Star Trek have been clumsy (and some would say haven’t gone far enough) hopefully this is all about to change with the new series, Star Trek; Discovery, which has just hit our TV screens touting an openly gay character played by a gay actor who should understand how to play the part.  Let’s hope it works.

Constant complaint I hear include...We shouldn’t care about LGBT stars coming out...We shouldn’t care if LGBT characters are on TV...What do the Gays need Pride for?...These questions I will blog about next week.

The older I get (over 40 now) I have become to realise that the themes explored in Star Trek endure for decades after their first airing.  This makes Star Trek timeless and always relevant.  At this stage it should be put on the leaving cert curriculum.

John "The Captain" Ryan.

#Sci-Fi #geminoid #sxsw #StarTrek #LGBT

Tintern Abbey Exhibition

(Thing 7 - part 2 of 2, see methodology here)

Tintern Abbey, Wexford.

(Source - Flickr - Photo by Stewart Black - CC BY - further info)

The Cistercian Abbey of Tintern Minor in Co. Wexford was established over 800 years ago so tracing any documents about it's foundation, is, as you would imagine difficult.  The original charter is based in the UK but this amazing find was unearthed in the depths of the Wexford County Library Local Collection and is the only catalogued copy of this document in Ireland.

For a short how-to video on finding and downloading available material in Wexford County Council Public Library Service digital archive watch this: 

Tintern Abbey is a wonderful place with beautiful grounds and I would urge everyone to pay it a visit.  Here is a photo taken there...

  

(Photo by Marek Czerwinski - CC BY SA- more info here)

The scanned document above and many more fascinating items in the local collection can be viewed by making an appointment with Susan Kelly (Local Collections Librarian).  The Library Archive also houses some amazing material, appointments can be made with the County Archivist Grainne Doran to view some of these items.  Contact both through Library Management Services:

Wexford Library Management Services
Co. Hall,
Carricklawn,
Wexford.
Y35 WY93
libraryhq@wexfordcoco.ie
Tel: +353 53 919 6561

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John "The Captain" Ryan

#Rudai23

Online Exhibition - Methodology (Thing 7 - Part 1 of 2)

This is a lesson I have been looking forward to do, I’m the only member of staff that has been working on creating new content for our on-line archive which is here. 

A lot of the existing content was copied over from Hyperion which was our previous DAMS – Digital Archive Management System.  Most of the issues we have been asked to consider for this lesson have already been resolved in Wexford.  Between our Archivist – Grainne Doran and our Local Collections Librarian – Susan Kelly they look after both the hard-copy and digital-copy of our material and since the funding/resource restrictions are finally lifting they are developing programs to make more of our collections available.

I was also part of the team creating content for the World War 1 archive on the Europeana Collections website when we took photos of objects, photos of the people telling the stories of their family members that took part in the war (as they now became part of the narrative), scanned documents provided and recorded Oral History interviews.  This material can be found on the Europeana website.

Whilst fulfilling a request to source material I found a document about Tintern Abbey.  It is theonly catalogued copy in the country (on Sierra anyway) so I’ve decided to create a digital copy.  However, our existing DAMS – Vital – is currently being assessed as to how we are going to continue using it, where our data will be stored and how it’s being paid for.  This means adding new material is on hold. 

So I am going to create a Tintern Abbey Exhibition and

1. Create an online exhibition showcasing this document and a few other photos of the site.  

2. I wanted to create the document in PDF so the text will be searchable just like all other documents containing text available in VITAL but had problems embedding the file after uploading it to my Google Drive so I scanned the document and created images.  

3. I double checked with our Local Collections Librarian as to what documents were free from copyright

4. Create a screen-cast video on finding and accessing other documents on VITAL

5. My Exhibition is here

John “The Captain” Ryan

#Rudai23

My journey so far doing the Rudai23 course (Thing 6)

This is a reflective blog based on the first 5 elements (Things1-5) of the Rudai23 course. Blogging lends itself nicely to being reflective and putting a structure to your thoughts and before knowing about Thing 6 I had already done one here.

This process is supposed to enhance my learning and application of skills through critical thinking and self-reflection.  Self-reflection is something I have been doing for years, being a gay person has made me reflect on who I am and what I want to do in life.  Whilst being gay is a little more normal now, it still causes one to think about one’s family, faith, place in your community and society.  It challenges one to step outside of society norms and plough your own path.  For a lot of Irish gay people losing your faith is a major life changing experience but it is necessary as in their eyes we are “inherently evil” and one cannot be happy with that hanging over your head.

The critical thinking element of this lesson is more difficult for me.  In work, I deal with (& love) data, spreadsheets, reports & the facts to be reported.  I know it’s a rather singular mindset but it’s what is drilled into us from doing our Junior & Leaving Cert exams... i.e.

·       Here is a list of facts. 

·       This is what the examiner wants in the answer...even though the question says “What is YOUR opinion”, they don’t want your opinion, they want their “correct” opinion regurgitated back.

·       Do NOT think for yourself.

·       Do what you are told

·       And here’s the next list.

·       Wash, rinse, repeat.  

When you look at how every month we report statistics to the LGMA, it’s no different really.  The Service Indicators - footfall, issues, events, new membership, active membership – do not measure the intangible, the uncountable elements of the job.  But for me these are what matter, like nurturing a love of reading in children, providing outreach to isolated communities and even speaking to a lonely person.  This lesson asks us to do something that we never learnt in school or have to do in work.  This will be a challenge.  I will also give observations about the course and (cheekily) suggesting some small improvements. 

Things 1-3.

Every day I like to learn something new, I read every day (not trashy newspapers), I try to expose myself to new authors (currently reading Zero World by Jason M. Hough) and I’m an avid Scrabble player so love learning new words.  Play Scrabble for a while and rejoice when you see RETAINS on your rack and smile when you can recall all 11 anagrams.  I volunteer to help run the Wexworlds Festival in Wexford, this keeps me on my toes with current and new trends.  The last couple of years have been a steep learning curve for the festival as all of the committee are learning new skills.  If something crosses my path that I do not understand, I educate myself and make a decision as to how I feel and what my informed decision is.  (I hate that quote “Everyone has a right to an opinion”.  No they don’t!  It could be a stupid, racist and a hurtful opinion.  Educate yourself and have an informed opinion)

I consider a day that I haven’t learnt something new, met someone new or tried something different to be a waste of a day.  

(source - here)

Some will have noticed that my blog is a little bit different that most other people doing the course.  Most have approached the project from the point of view of being a librarian, some people’s “Thing 2” was their journey on becoming a librarian and they will be using the course to learn new skills and eventually enhancing the experience of the person visiting the library (either walking through the doors or engaging on-line).  Whilst I will be learning the same “Things” I will not be doing this.  Why? 

I am not a Librarian, I am a clerical officer and have worked in many different offices in Wexford County Council since 2001. There are other staff in Wexford County Council Public Library Service assigned the duties of website management and different social media platforms.  I have very little input into our existing web presence.  I provide I.T. support to our branches but this is not seen or experience by the public, although this has given me a lot of knowledge and I.T. experience.  I have had to learn and upgrade my I.T. skills due to volunteering with local LGBT groups and the Wexworlds Festival, so this has also given me a lot of I.T. knowledge and experience. 

I will be using this course to tie together a mix of my existing knowledge and the new things I learn.  I hope this will then manifest through my blog and promotional work I will be doing for the Wexworlds festival.  Knowing beforehand that my approach would be different than a lot of people, I decided to blog about what I know and love.  This made Things 1-3 easy, mostly consolidating my existing knowledge.  I’ve had in the back of my mind to start a blog for a couple of years so now I have the perfect opportunity and reason to do it. 

Things 4 & 5

For Things 4 & 5, things (excuse the pun) got a little more complicated, but not outside of my ability.  From the start of the course it has been quite cumbersome to use the different elements due to heightened security measures following the Wannacry ransom-ware virus.  This is unavoidable from both our point of view and the course providers.  It requires staff where I work to get a member of I.T. to download and install each program/app and unblock different websites, for example Youtube, Blogger, Flickr, Powtoon & Screen-o-matic.  There are 11 of us doing the course in work so this is a lot of work for the I.T. department.  Neither Powtoon or Screencast-o-matic for Thing 5 would work at all for me. It will be hard for some people to persevere with the course if this continues for all of the lessons especially if they are fitting the course in between their normal hectic duties.

One suggestion I would make is to give a complete list of all programs and apps that will be used so participants can be better prepared.

Ease of Use & Practicality

The first thing I want to mention is the size of the text in the emails is too small.  Font size 12 is the acceptable standard size for text, course emails are in Georgia 6.5.  Please make it bigger.  (For those printing, Arial 12 is a good balance between readability and ink-economy.) When thinking about the ease of use and readability of my blog, I use font size Calibri 11 which I like and the size is good. However, whilst I love the graphic on the top of my blog...

I don’t like the layout further down the page, the picture that defaults is too big and I would like to see the first couple of lines of text of the blog so I will need to play around with the layout and templates a little to get it more to my liking.

This would be the first constructive reflection I have that I need to work on.  I will probably have to lose the image at the top for a more favourable template.

I am fairly computer savvy so for the staff that do not have the experience the course is a little more difficult.  I suppose that’s part of the point in the whole course, learning skills you do not have, but for some the learning curve will be huge. I remember coding on a Commodore 64 in the 80’s so have grown up with computers.  Oh how I loved Windows XP!

As with life, you need to move on or become a dinosaur.  This course has been great for me.  It’s been an easy way to bring together the scattered I.T. knowledge and experience I have gained over the last 30 years.  I really enjoy having a blog and fully intend continuing it after the course. As the saying goes “Write what you love”.

I really enjoyed Thing 4, and can see huge potential.  I am an amateur photographer & making a video of photographs was fun and easy with Quik. I can see this having a practical application when there has been an event on in the branch.  Thing 5 has also been useful making video screen-casts.  I plan on making a whole series of how-to-videos for patrons about all of our e-services.  Hopefully management will like them. I had to source a different program to use other than Screencast-o-matic and eventually found CamStudio.  This was another great program to use and was very intuitive.  The ability to add text and speech, ensuring both deaf and visually impaired users can follow the video is good.

In conclusion, I’ve enjoyed the course so far and am looking forward to the rest.  I still have a few gaps in my knowledge, like how to tie-in and manage different social media platforms and twitter but will be adding these to my repertoire.  Next thing to do is have to look at the layout of my blog to make it more appealing, then onto thing 7 and apply for my Visual Communicator badge.

(from Library Association of Ireland’s point-of-view, maybe consider changing the size of the text in the emails and providing a list of programs/apps we will be needing our I.T. depts. to give access to and install)

Live long and Prosper

John “The Captain” Ryan

  

#Rudai23

We're QUEER and we're HERE (to stay)...Part 3

Part 3 of 3 (Part 1 is here & Part 2 is here)

The YES campaign. 

To learn more about the amazing journey read this book - Ireland Says Yes - and even see a picture of me in it somewhere.

Around the country following the Noble Call, many groups were setting up (or re-energising existing groups) to fight. 

This was the only fight that mattered...

There was a sense of dread, anticipation and hope... 

But many had one thought in common... 

Let’s do this once, it might nearly kill us but let’s do it once... 

Get it right and WIN the first time... 

Lay it all out on the battle field... 

I could not have lived with myself if I didn’t do everything in my power to win this fight... 

The lives of all my LGBT friends and future LGBT people in Ireland were at stake... 

If we lost, there would be devastation...

It would precipitate a mass exodus of LGBT people...

It would send a message that Ireland didn’t care...

It would send a message that LGBT were NOT equal...

It would embolden bullies and homophobes to continue their actions...

No, too much was at stake and we couldn’t lose this time.

Looking back, I never thought of myself.  I never thought I would meet someone and get married, I was fighting for that fundamental, inviolable, inalienable right of Equality.  See at the end of my blog how ironic this was.

In Wexford we were a little slow to get going.  This, I’m sure is partly due to the work EAGLE had done about a decade before.  Outside of Dublin, Wexford had a huge LGBT population and it was a favourite place for LGBT people to visit.  As we know there has always been an acceptance of LGBT on stage so boosted by our popular Opera & Light Opera festival this provided a backdrop for LGBT people to gather outside of Dublin.

Everything kicked off in earnest on 29^th March 2015 in the Riverbank Hotel in Wexford.  Patrick Morris, a native of Crossabeg working in Dublin set the ball rolling with a volunteer information evening.  He created and managed the social media channels for Wexford. He gathered support from all corners including political parties and the church.  There was a huge, positive response and things quickly gathered pace.  I had saved my energy and came on board at this stage knowing that there would be a 2 month marathon and lasting until 10pm on 22nd May was so important.  I’m not going to go into the whole campaign but there were a few moments that cannot go unmentioned...

·       The NO side on a regular basis threw out propaganda, lies and red herrings.  Our response, headed up by a fantastic team was factual and was always positive.  Our campaign from the outset was one of positivity and love.  I was so proud to be a part of the campaign.  A brilliant moment was touring Hook Lighthouse with the team, including Wexford man Colm O’Gorman looking out to the sea for red herrings.

·       Blocking traffic with the YES Equality bus on Castle Hill in Enniscorthy was funny.  We wanted the bus under the castle for the photo opportunity.  We ended up pushing a car up the hill as the driver couldn’t perform a handbrake start.  It could have turned into a bit of negative press but we didn’t let it.  Badges to all the people stuck in traffic and a smile soothed the massing crowd.  After the official photo op the amount of people who stopped to get their picture by the castle was crazy.

·       The turnout was amazing, the canvassing fun although harrowing.  It was the first time that straight people had a tiny window into the world of hate and discrimination LGBT people experienced.  It was really important to have a debriefing every evening after the canvas.  I always made sure to talk to newcomers, to thank them for their help and support.  It was very emotional. 

·       Myself and Shauna Scott knocked on every door in Castlebridge and spoke with people, we didn’t just put flyers in doors and run like our opponents were doing.  It was really important for me that my neighbours would see me & speak with me.  The personal touch was an important part of the whole campaign.

·       Social media was amazing and played a huge role in the campaign, for the first time energising young people to vote.  Remember the whole home to vote campaign.

·       The ballot box in Senator Jim Walsh’s village recorded one of the highest YES votes in Wexford.  I have the tally slip from that ballot box framed.  Vindication at last!

My favourite moment was this photo, myself and my dad just after 7am when we had voted on 22^nd May.  We couldn't wear our badges inside the polling station but once outside we could. (Harvey Milk day, not by accident)

My favourite story also involves my dad.  Martin Ryan, now 73 is a man of strong faith and goes to mass every week.  I found out he told my mam “if the no side wins I will never go to church again”.  I still get a lump in my throat when I think about this.

But now to the best part of my story.  Remember I previously mentioned Conor Vaughan Buggy.  Well Conor was an amazing activist and campaigner in Dublin during the campaign.  He also has an OCD for organising and timetabling.  He had organised our day during Pride, where we were meeting, walking, eating and drinking.  What busses to take.  Everything.  The whole kit n’ kaboodle.

27^th June 2015 my life changed.  I had finished my journey and fight for equality.  During the campaign I had learned to speak about myself and came to respect myself.  The campaign made me a stronger, better person.  And then I kid you not, over a crowded bar I saw someone with his shirt hanging open flying across the floor like a little hairy superman.  I thought to myself “I need to meet him and get his number”.  Ten minutes later after a snog, exchange of number and jumping onto the last bus on the quay Conor said something along the line “What the f$ck John!”

We were a steady item within weeks.  After about the 3^rd date my mother asked me had I met someone.  My answer was yes and you will get to meet him soon.  Within another couple of weeks we had met each other’s parents and by November 2015, Noel had left his job in Cork and moved to Wexford.

And finally.  3^rd November 2017.  I married Noel Cunningham.  We became John Cunningham-Ryan and Noel Cunningham-Ryan.  My best man was Val Scallan Walsh, far right of photo below who started the journey with me back in 2005.

(left-right. Best man Adrian Lemon, Noel Cunningham-Ryan, John Cunningham-Ryan & Best man Val Scallan-Walsh

Fini.

John "The Captain" Ryan

Video Presentation (Thing 5)

My first attempt at a screen capture video presentation as part of the Rudai23 course.  Enjoy

#Rudai23 #Thing5

We're QUEER and we're HERE (to stay)...Part 2

Part 1 is here

(Part 2 of 3)

There was a seed change happening in the political establishment, due in no small part to the Labour Party, Brendan Howlin’s Civil Union Bill in 2007 another small step in the struggle, one of the main reasons why I am a proud Labour member. (check for the Labour Party’s history on LGBT issues - Labour LGBT ). I remember sitting in the gallery of the Dail and feeling so dejected when the Fianna Fail led government blocked, yet again, a bill giving fundamental equality rights to LGBT people.

In 2010, the Civil Partnership Bill was passed giving many rights to LGBT people, although not full equality.  Still it was a huge step in the journey of equality.  Of course, another Wexford political dinosaur, a Fianna Fail Senator Jim Walsh from New Ross vowed to do everything in his power to stop the Bill.  He failed (in so many ways).

Two landmark things happened in 2011.  As part of the Program for Government, Labour and Fine Gael agreed on a commitment to establishing a Constitutional Convention which would report on a number of reform issues including same-sex marriage.  A wide-range of other commitments to support LGBT rights was included in the Programme for Government.  This LGBT agenda was lead by Eamon Gilmore and without these commitments Labour would not have entered into Government in 2011. 

Also in 2011, Senator David Norris ran for President and I got involved (of course).  Firstly, there was a huge problem with him even getting nominated with the establishment trying to block him.  I, and many others thought this was ludicrous, believing that everyone should have the right to run for office and let the public decide.  That's what democracy is all about surely. Eventually Norris got the necessary nominations but with a dreadful team around him, that ignored the political operatives & volunteers on the ground his campaign was doomed.  Some very nasty press put a depressing end to the whole endeavor.  At least we had the brown envelope that may or may not have existed that stopped Gallagher getting elected and we elected an amazing (and former Labour person) Michael D Higgins to the office of President.  I was a happy bunny. 

In 2012, the Labour Party Leader and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore became the most senior government minister to publicly say that he wanted to see same-sex marriage introduced in Ireland. 

“I believe in gay marriage. The right of gay couples to marry is, quite simply, the civil rights issue of this generation and, in my opinion, its time has come.” – Eamon Gilmore TD

Over the next few years, I attended several same-sex civil partnerships of my best friends, one - Conor Vaughan Buggy married his long term partner David – who I had known for over 30 years and the aforementioned Val married David Scallan.  During all this time I never had a long term partner, for me it just didn't happen and all my friends were getting hitched but that's the way the cookie crumbled.  Fast forward to 2014, a catalyst moment in the battle for equality. HOMOPHOBE!

Panti-Gate as it became known happened on 11 January 2014, Rory O'Neill appeared on RTE's The Saturday Night Show with Brendan O'Connor where they discussed homophobia and O'Neill alleged that some individuals (in his opinion as a gay person) involved in Irish journalism were homophobic.

John Waters, Breda O’Brien and the Iona Institute threatened RTÉ and O'Neill with legal action. RTÉ subsequently removed that section of the interview from their online archive and shortly afterwards paid €85,000 out to the aforementioned homophobes.  This they probably used to support the NO side during the referendum (IMHO).  However, there was a bigger problem on the horizon.  This payout by RTE signaled, by them, a fear and unwillingness to deal with the debates that would be happening in the next year.  Basically the supporters of Marriage Equality were being censored and would not be allowed to call out cowards and homophobes for what they were.  Instead, gay people were being branded as homophobes. HELLO! (click your fingers and sash-aaa away) 

On 1 February 2014, O'Neill (as Panti) gave a speech at the Abbey Theatre in response to the events surrounding the RTÉ controversy which garnered over 200,000 views in two days and nearly a million in the next couple of months, translated into many languages via subtitles.  If you have never seen it, watch it.  If you have seen it, re-watch it.  This was the tipping point for most (including me)...

Youtube link here

The “Noble Call”, dubbed as such by Stephen Fry on his twitter account to his 12 million users propelled Panti’s speech around the World and support poured in.

There was a sense of revolution in the air.  RTE could try silence us, but the World of entertainment that many LGBT people lived in could not be silenced.  Neither could the WWW be silenced.  If RTE continued in their censorship of those supporting Marriage Equality it didn’t matter, we didn’t need them.  There was an excitement and burning desire to “get the party started”.  Of course the whole debacle from 11^th January to 1^st February gave us something else that was very important and the following year would prove a huge help.  

Unplanned by O’Neill it gave families and friends the opportunity to talk about equality and the rights of LGBT people.  I’m sure in every household there was some degree of discussion and argument.  And the normal rule of not talking about politics in the pub was postponed as many discussed it over a pint.  Public discussion, discourse, disagreement and debate was happened, exactly what the NO side and RTE were trying to stop.  

#Equality #LGBT #Wexford

Communicating Visually (Thing 4).

Below is the blog of my journey experimenting with photo based apps as part of the Rudai23 course (Thing4).

Step 1.

After looking at what was on offer I’ve chosen Quik to experiment with as I love the idea of making a video of a series of photos. Having an interest in photography this is more in my wheelhouse and I think will be the most useful of the options for me.  It will prove useful when stitching a series of photos together that have been taken at an event. (Adding text to an image is something I already know how to do anyway).  I’m also a fan of the go-pro and really like & trust what the company is producing.

On a side note, from the libraries point of view when an event is on, it’s important to make a visual record of everything; don’t only take pictures of the guest hosting the event.  If you are at the front of the room taking photos, turn around and take photos of the whole room. Try and include the staff. In future years when the photos are being looked at the size of the crowd and even the fashion is a source of interest.  If you have lots of events on it’s useful to also take a photo of the brochure and event poster.  Try and capture the mood, the everyday man (or woman) in the street, even the weather.  Also try to be flattering, delete the pictures of people grimacing and messing about.  Remember that converting to black and white is a good option if someone is having a “bad skin” day. (if you want a visual record of a children’s event but are worried about getting parental permission etc, take a picture behind the group only showing the backs of the children’s heads so you are still showing how well attended the event was)   

An interesting exhibition in Wexford every year (that Wexford Library sponsor) is a project called “A week in the life of Wexford”.  Members of Wexford Camera Club take photos of people, things and the landscape/streetscape of Wexford during the same week every year.  In years to come this will be a cool snapshot of Wexford, its place and people.  Sometimes there will be something interesting on during that week, a festival or such but other times there is nothing special on, which is itself a challenge for the Camera Club but what they come up with is sometimes a more accurate depiction of everyday life.  Always remember a photo may look boring today but in 50 years might have significance.  50 years ago the first car in the street was of huge interest.  Today it’s crazy to look at what is now a busy thoroughfare and try to imagine no cars zooming by.  In 50 years times cars will fly just like in Back to the Future. 

Step 2.

Before I started, it struck me that having a series of photos on my phone together in the one folder would lend itself to easier experimenting rather than browsing through my phone of over 1000 photos.  So, for suitable photos to edit together, and bearing in mind our previous lesson on copyright material I sourced a selection of my own photos of Wexford.  I also installed the Flickr app on my phone and added the photos to my Flickr account and created a new folder all using my phone.  The album is here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/151489524@N03/albums/72157686585209331

Step 3.

Installing the Quik app.  This was very fast as it’s a small program and installed on my Samsung S6 without any problems in about 20 seconds. 

Step 4.

Now the fun begins. I opened the app and got the following screen.  

I clicked on create a new video and was asked to allow Quik to access photos, media and files on my device. 

(I clicked Allow but this is something I not do automatically.  I am always wary of allowing apps access to my data as you do not know what personal data it will steal.  This is where trusting the creator of the app comes in.)

I was then brought to my photo stream so could choose albums and benefit from my earlier preparation of creating a folder with all the photos I wanted to use (ie Wexford Photos album).

I clicked on the folder, the 11 photos in that folder and then the large blue tick to continue.  I added a title for the intro and continued...

This showed me my video and I could choose from a few styles...Grammy, Action, Boxed, Lapse & Slice.  My favourite was Lapse as it gave a more relaxed editing of my photos.

I could then choose the track to go with the video and browse a selection of more music which I did and opted for “Turn Over”

I increased the duration of the video from 35 seconds to 48 seconds to give a longer duration for each photo

I changed to cinema view rather than square to show the original crop of the photo.

I chose not to change the filter or look of the photos as I was happy with them but this is a very handy option if you wanted the photos to have the same “feel”.

I then clicked the blue icon on the bottom of the screen hoping this would download the finished product either to my phone or give me an option to save it or post it to my social media.

My intuition was correct and I chose to save the file without sharing. Having the option to save the file without sending is handy, especially if you need approval before posting anything to the work account.

I closed the app and re-opened to see if I could find my file which I could.

I then clicked on the share icon and was given a load of options of where to send it.  I chose my Gmail so I could easily add it to my blog.  Rather than sending the video to my gmail account what this action did was upload the file to the Quik website and provide a link to it.  

My finished product is here

I’m reasonable happy with it but as the school report says "could do better".  I would give my first attempt of creating a video 6 out of 10.  I needed to play around with the options a little bit more.  It is still a bit jumpy and the music doesn’t suit the subject matter.  With more time, I would play around with the number of photos used and the chosen track to create a smoother, gentler video.  of course the feel and presentation depends on the type of photos you have and you could also consider having no music at all.  Apparently there is also some coding built-into Quik that will give more time and zoom in on elements of the photos it deems interesting or important.  This could be fun (if true).

I would give the app 10 out of 10 for ease of use.  It was really intuitive and with no instructions one could use it straight “out of the box”.

(Rating - 10 out of 10 planets)

#rudai23 #thing4 #wexford #review