Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Clontarf Promenade
Today was Day 2 of my new fitness régime; I went for what was supposed to be a 4km jog along the Clontarf promenade, across the Wooden Bridge and onto Bull Island, but my body gave up after about 2.5km. I wasn’t out of breath, I wasn’t in pain, but my body just seemed to override my mind and just… stopped jogging! I tried to keep going, but after a few seconds of each attempt, I realised that my body wasn’t up for it. I really should point out that I’ve never been a regular jogger or runner, and so I’ve always been at a ‘total beginner’ level. As pathetic a distance as that may seem to the experienced runner, it was better than not doing it at all, I think.
This evening involved me interviewing Senadee, a London-based singer/songwriter who has his début single, “My Fault” coming out later this month. Senadee was a really nice and funny guy to interview, and you can hear the interview on my radio show, “The Cosmo,” on RTÉ Pulse tomorrow evening from 8pm (GMT).
In the meantime, this is his début single, “My Fault” -
Filed under: Ireland, Radio, media | 2 Comments
Tags: Clontarf, DAB, Digital Radio, England, Fitness, jogging, music, pop, Pulse, Radio, RTÉ, running, Senadee, the cosmo
Busy Busy in 2010!
Thing have gotten so hectic in my life recently! Ever since we all rang in the New Year, I’ve been nothing if not constantly busy!
Last week, I was asked tobe interviewed on Imeall, the arts programme on Irish-language television channel, TG4. I had never been to the TG4 studios in Galway, and was delighted to travel there for the day to record the programme. While I had travelled almost four hours to get from Dublin to Baile na hAbhann in the Galway Gaeltacht, I was only in the TG4 studios for about an hour! I talked about the arrival of DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting, or digital radio) to Ireland, my own radio show and my writing and blogs.
Cormac de Barra, musician and host of 'Imeall' on TG4
Photo courtesy of Guy Arbell
I absolutely loved every second of being in the television studios! I have known the programme’s presenter, Cormac de Barra, for a good few months now, and the fact that we’ve been friends for a while meant that I was totally at ease when we recorded the interview. The programme aired on Wednesday night (January 20) at 11:30pm on TG4.
The following day, I got a call from the PR officer of the Cúirt International Festival of Literature. While the smaller details still have to be confirmed, I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be reading my poetry at the festival in Galway this April! More information on this event as I find out… watch this space!
In other news, my radio show – The Cosmo on RTÉ Pulse – is going from strength to strength. I cannot believe that I’ve been presenting and producing the programme for over 15 months! With the New Year, however, I’ve decided to make some changes. The music of the show will become more mainstream over the coming weeks, while still maintaining its upbeat atmosphere. I’ve made the ‘National Scene Guide’ segment even better, with correspondants from Munster, Galway and Northern Ireland reporting on the hottest upcoming events on the various gay scenes around Ireland. I also am delighted to be working with the talented Dublin drag queen, Davina Devine, as she announces the upcoming events and listings for the Dublin region.
Finally, I’m working on a novel in English that I intend to have finished and published by 2011. It’s a coming-of-age story about a young man who leaves his home in Rural Ireland to attend university in Dublin… but that’s all I’m saying about it for now. There’s also been talk of a screenplay version of the novel already, but that’s way down the timeline.
Right, that’s all I’m telling you for now! Take it easy. 
Scott x
Filed under: Gaeilge, Gaelic, Ireland, Irish, LGBT, Radio, media | 1 Comment
Tags: audio, Blog, blogging, broadcasting, DAB, Digital, Dublin, Gaeilge, Gaelic, Galway, gay, Ireland, Irish, LGBT, literature, media, novel, poetry, Pulse, Radio, RTÉ, Scott De Buitléir, TG4, the cosmo, writing
Being Vegan/Vegetarian
I’ve been vegetarian since the age of seven years old, when who key moments occured in my life. The first was when I was a few years younger; even though fish fingers were once my favourite food, I soon became quite confused when I realised that fish had fins, not fingers. I asked my mother what fish fingers were, considering fish didn’t naturally have those body parts, and she told me the truth about them. With that, and in my innocent five-year-old way, I claimed;
“Okay, that’s it – I’m a vegetarian to fish!”
To an adult, such a statement didn’t make too much sense, but I knew exactly what I meant. I wasn’t going to eat fish fingers anymore because it meant that fish had to die for me to eat them, and I didn’t like the idea of killing anything – from the smallest insect to the largest mammal. That is something that has remained part of my moral code to this day.
The second key event was the BSE (AKA ‘Mad Cow Disease’) epidemic that hit Britain and Ireland in the early 1990s. I was still a young child, and I had seen the images of cattle being culled on the Irish news because of this epidemic. This event turned me off eating meat for good, as I felt that I wanted nothing to do with the slaughter of so many animals.
My mother and father, who were already vegan and vegetarian respectively, had no problem with my announcement. My mother thought that I wasn’t serious at first, and proceeded to continue cooking lamb chops for my dinner over the following few days, but soon realised that despite how young I was, that I was fully serious and aware of what I was saying.
My own body presented a few extra challenges to the table, however. Since birth, I have had the exact same allergies as my mother; I cannot drink cow’s milk (nor comsume anything that contains it) and I am also allergic to eggs, white flour and certain nuts. Because dairy produce is the primary difference between vegetarians and vegans (i.e. vegetarians will still eat dairy produce, while vegans won’t) I decided that it would be easier to just call myself vegan.
Many ask me what I eat (especially around Christmastime!) thinking that I can only have lettuce and carrots for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Thankfully, this could not be further from the truth. Most health stores in Western cities (especially those of the English-speaking world) will sell vegetarian foods, i.e. products usually made of soya protein to act as a substitute for meat. The most common examples are vegetarian burgers and sausages (the Linda McCartney brand is quite popular in the UK and Ireland) but this can be extended to chicken-style nuggets, ‘mock duck,’ and so on. The Quorn food range is also quite popular for meat substitutes, but I personally don’t eat them as they contains egg, which I’m allergic to.
Here’s an example of what I would have to eat throughout the day:
Breakfast:
- Two slices of brown bread (with Flora margerine)
- 3 Hash Browns
- 2 Vegetarian Sausages
- Some fried mushrooms and onions
- A glass of apple juice
Lunch: (Note – I’m in university today, so I’ve brought a packed lunch)
- 2 Sandwiches, with chicken-syle strips and a tomato & herb sauce.
Dinner:
- Durum wheat spagetti
- Chicken-style nuggets
- A selection of cooked vegetables (red peppers, onions, etc.)
Dessert:
- Dairy-free ice-cream – Swedish Glace is the best on the Irish & UK market, in my opinion! Tofutti is also quite nice, however.
Swedish Glace Ice-Cream is a delicious alternative to dairy ice-cream!
As I hope you can see, I am far from starving myself or putting myself through some sort of torture. Being vegetarian/vegan in Dublin has become increasingly easy in recent years, thanks to the rise and development of health food stores such as Holland & Barrett and their Irish partner, Nature’s Way. Major supermarket chains have noticed the demand that these stores get for vegetarian/vegan foods, which have led Tesco (in the UK & Ireland) along with SuperValu and SuperQuinn in Ireland to make similar (if not the same) products available in their stores.
So, to sum everything up on one statement; no, I don’t eat rabbit food. 
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Tags: allergy, BSE, dairy, diet, Dublin, eating, food, Health, Ireland, lactose, Mad Cow Disease, nutrition, vegan, vegetarian
The Isle of Sins and Scandals
(Originally published by British LGBT magazine, Polari on January 14th, 2010)
Ireland was once romanticised as being called The Isle of Saints and Scholars. Indeed, with the amount of both that came from Ireland – from St. Brendan’s voyage to America around the Year 500AD to the sublime poetry of William Butler Yeats in the early twentieth century – I’d like to think that Ireland deserved this title for quite some time. Thanks to recent events, however, I begin to wonder if this is the case any longer.
As the Irish government released the Murphy Report, an investigation into the decades of child sex abuse by members of the Catholic Church, shockwaves spread out from Dublin to all over the world, especially to America and Britain where a large proportion of the Irish Diaspora reside. Bishops were strongly encouraged to resign, and it finally came to light how corrupt the Church, once the backbone of Irish society, truly was…
The rest of this article can be read on the Polari Magazine website.
Filed under: Ireland, LGBT, Politics | Leave a Comment
Tags: adultery, child abuse, christianity, Dublin, homosexuality, Ireland, Iris Robinson, LGBT, murphy report, northern ireland, protestant, sin, unionist
Bachelors and Married Men
(This article was originally published by British LGBTQ magazine, Polari Magazine, on July 4, 2009.)
Getting married is something that I have always dreamt of. When I was younger, I imagined myself marrying a woman and having kids, because that is what society expects of men, and that is the expectation that I was taught as a child.
When I got older, however, and once hormones started kicking in, I still dreamt of getting married and having a family one day. The only difference is that I realised that I’d want to marry a man instead.
Currently – as most will know or presume – gay marriage is not yet legal in Éire (or to use the English term, the Republic of Ireland). When the UK government allowed civil partnership, the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) recognised that it would not be too long until they would have to pass a similar bill. As a British citizen (A dual citizen of both Éire and the UK; I was born in London to Irish parents) raised in Ireland, however, I count myself as one of the lucky ones; I could easily take a trip to the British Embassy in Dublin, or take a small trip across the border into Northern Ireland and marry my boyfriend. Having said that, I’m only with him a short while, so maybe I could wait until the Oireachtas pass a law for the Irish.
But what makes us want to get married in the first place? Is it purely a social construct, or is their genuinely something in our hearts that lets us now when we’ve found ‘the one’? What does a piece of paper signify, if one were to ignore the practical aspect of tax benefits, etc.? On the other hand, why do some – both men and women alike – seem to end up happily single for the majority of their lives?
The rest of this article can be read on the Polari Magazine website.
Filed under: Ireland, LGBT | Leave a Comment
Tags: civil partnership, gay, government, Ireland, Irish, LGBT, marriage, oireachtas
The Fall of Iris Robinson
Iris Robinson has been a woman that Irish gay people – both in the Republic and Northern Ireland – have disliked for quite some time now, ever since she called homosexuality an ‘abomination’ and compared it to child abuse.
Karma is such a Goddess.
Most people now know about the recent news that the woman has having an affair with a 19-year-old man. Now whatever about homosexuality, isn’t adultery a sin in the eyes of Christianity? Isn’t it?
Even worse (or better, depending on your point of view) she later attempted suicide. Now, I’m not Christian, so I hardly know the Bible cover to cover. But, I think suicide is one of those ‘mortal sin’ things, right?
Ah yes, karma is a bitch. And a beautiful, feisty, adorable one at that. British gay rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell has branded her a ‘hypocrite,’ and I have no resitation in agreeing with him.
Filed under: Ireland, Irish, LGBT, Politics | 1 Comment
Tags: affair, gay, homosexuality, Iris Robinson, LGBT
Being Gay in Ireland
Filed under: Ireland, Irish, LGBT | Leave a Comment
Tags: gay, Ireland, Irish, kerry, LGBT, queer, Radio, rural, Scott De Buitléir
The Big Gay Musical in Dublin
The Irish Film Institute in Dublin will be screening The Big Gay Musical on Monday, December 14 at 8:30pm. Proceeds of the ticket sales will go to the Absolut Gay Theatre Festival taking place in Dublin in May 2010. Here’s a preview of what’s to come on Monday evening – enjoy!
Filed under: Ireland, Irish, LGBT | Leave a Comment
Tags: Big, Dublin, Festival, Film, gay, IFI, Institute, Irish, LGBT, Musical, theatre
The Cosmo needs YOU!
First of all, allow me to say a big THANK YOU to all who’ve supported The Cosmo in its first year of broadcasting! Hopefully, this is only the start of the programme! It’s time, however, to reveal a few facts about the radio show and with that, to ask for your help and support.
As most of you will know, The Cosmo is broadcast on RTÉ Pulse, one of RTÉ’s six digital radio stations. Digital Radio doesn’t recieve any funding from RTÉ for advertising or payment. This means that any work done by presenters and producers on the DAB stations is totally voluntary.
With this in mind, the PR department in RTÉ can only do so much, while the majority of publicity is done by myself via Twitter, Facebook, and occasionally on the LGBT forum QueerID.com. While it helps to have a Facebook page, there’s little else I can do on my own, especially as I’ve other responsibilities like being in college and my ‘day’ job.
This is where you come in, hopefully. ‘The Cosmo’ is a radio show for Ireland’s LGBT community, but it cannot be effective in any way if it does not have the support of that community. I’d really appreciate it if you could spread the word about the radio show to your friends, especially those who are part of the LGBT community. One easy way you can do that is by clicking ‘Invite People to Join’ on The Cosmo’s Facebook Page, or simply by telling your friends about it.
If you are, or know anyone involved with PR, advertising or Gay clubs/nights, get in touch with me (and/or them!) so maybe some deal could be made to advertise the radio show on the gay scene around the country. Co-support is always important with me; I’ll support a gay venue by announcing its events if they’re willing to mention the radio show somehow.
If you have any other ideas on how to publicise the radio show, I’d be delighted to hear from you; get in touch via Facebook or by e-mailing thecosmo@rte.ie. All details about how to listen to RTÉ Pulse or the other digital radio stations are available on The Cosmo’s Facebook Page.
If you’re living in Ireland and part of the LGBT community, then The Cosmo on RTÉ Pulse is YOUR show. If you can, your support would be very much welcome.
Grá Mór,
Scott
Filed under: Ireland, Irish, LGBT, Radio, media | Leave a Comment
Tags: DAB, Digital, gay, Ireland, LGBT, Pulse, Radio, RTÉ, Scott De Buitléir, the cosmo
Kenneth Keegan Photography
A close friend of mine is a new and talented photographer that I really feel I should talk about. Kenneth Keegan is based in Dublin, and has done numerous photoshoots for RTÉ Pulse, GCN magazine and for my own personal use. Here’s a sample of his work with me;
As he, of course, done a lot more than just these couple of images. But at the time of writing, I couldn’t get in touch with him to ask for permission to use images that weren’t associated with me on this blog. His MySpace profile is currently the best way to both look at his work. You can e-mail Ken at kmjk90@hotmail.co.uk.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: Dublin, Kenneth Keegan, photography
IrishBlogs.ie
Recent Entries
Categories
Archives
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- August 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- August 2007
