While walking around Temple Bar one evening, a poster for Experimental Film Club caught my eye.

The experimental film club is an afternoon of discussions and screenings of classic and rare alternative cinema conceived as an informal arena where diverse practitioners can meet and explore avant-garde film culture. It takes place once monthly upstairs at the ha’penny bridge inn, dublin.

It sounds very tempting since i was looking for Dublin’s underground Cine scene; did a quick search on Interweb and found out that they have simple yet neat blog too. What it says,

The Experimental Film Club is founded by Aoifa Desmond, Alan Lambert, Esperanza Collado, Donal Foreman and Katie Lincoln. They are each involved in different aspects of filmmaking and share a desire to create a forum for exploration of diverse film works. It is perceived that there are a large number of people interested and engaged in aspects of experimental filmmaking in Dublin but no meeting point to build on this shared interest ans knowledge. The club is open to all and will present a different series of screening each month.

Anyone had a chance to attend any screenings? Could be very interesting if you are into parallel cinema.

Link

To give our readers better content and experience visiting MB Dublin, we have got some new stuff for our readers this week and also in doing this we want to make MB Dublin as happening as some of other big cities in MB network like LA, NY, London etc..

First of, we have a new author - Thomas Lau. Welcome to MB Dublin Tom.

Secondly, we have a new facebook group (LINK) [need to be a member on facebook]. Some people have complained about the signing-up for leaving comments but as that issue is not in my hands, we thought we might setup a fb group to start with and take it to next level from there :). Join us on facebook.

Thirdly, we also setup a “Restaurants in Dublin” Google Maps (LINK) for all the restaurants we blogged and reviewed. All in one place for our readers to easily find and read about it.

View Larger Map

Last but not least, we are brainstorming on various other topics to improve MB Dublin and the readership experience, and we would release them in coming weeks. If you wanna be a part of it, join the discussion on facebook.

Have anyone gave a read to today’s Irish Times Pricewatch article (premium content, subscription needed) about Irish consumers being ripped off, not just by virtue of high prices but also by losing out in the process of currency conversion?

Many of the retailers within the city are part of UK chains, such as Topshop/Topmen, Oasis, Coast but to name a few, and often times, you do see the prices on the tag, being in Euro and in Sterling. Some European retailers such as Zara and H&M would have pricing in Euro as well as other European currencies not within Eurozone.

In facing this, how many consumers are actually asking if we’re being charged accordingly?

Given the strong Euro at the moment, we should rightly be paying less for our purchases. However, such currency advantage is not being passed on to us at all. If anything, should the conversion rate be following the other trend, I can bet that the price would be hiked immediately to reflect the market situation. “We have no choice” would be the mantra of the retailers. But of course, the current situation is one that shows stronger Euro, and these businesses simply have no wish to pass on the benefits and rather keep the profits higher to themselves.

Such discrepancy is more apparent when dual pricing tags are operational. To that end, some retailers are now moving to display only single currency unit (i.e. Euro) and remove the Sterling for comparison. A tad sneaky really.

I have switched a good bit of my purchasing to online shopping of late, particularly those of books and CDs and the likes. By being exchange rate-aware and choosing the appropriate currency for payments to be charged, not only am I paying a cheaper price to start of with, I’m also making a saving through the currency conversion. Even with the delivery costs associated, I’m still paying less.

It pays to be price aware, and don’t let bad business practices flourish!

The World Economic Forum released its annual Global Competitiveness Report (here) yesterday led by the following top 3 -

Ireland has an healthy score of 5.03 and stands at No. 22 in the world. Ireland ranks 4th (5.41 out of 7) and 5th (5.91 out of 7) in Goods market efficiency and Financial market sophistication respectively in the world. And ranks lowest at 49th position for (no price for guessing this one) Infrastructure (4.03 out of 7). Highest points for Health and primary education at 6.28 out of 7.

The most problematic factors for doing business were as follows (here):

• Inadequate supply for infrastructure
• Inflation
• Inefficient government bureaucracy
• Restrictive labour regulations

Some of the notable advantages mentioned it the report were:

• Strength of auditing and reporting standards
• Telephone lines (hard data) [under infrastructure]
• Quality of the educational system
• Business impact of rules on FDI
• Brain drain
• Nature of competitive advantage
• Availability of scientists and engineers; Quality of scientific research institutions; University-industry research collaboration

Some of the notable disadvantages mentioned it the report were:

• Wastefulness of government spending
• Quality of port infrastructure
• National savings rate
• Flexibility of wage determination
• Hiring and firing practices
• Broadband Internet subscribers (hard data)

Also yesterday report by ESRI said, the Irish economy has good chances of rebounding after the global market slowdown ends (offcourse with right policies by the new PM).

Last night, we were at Globe on Georges Street and we met some people who wanted to get the word out n loud about Saving Hill of Tara (i.e. opposing the routing of the motorway through the Gabhra (Skryne) Valley in Co. Meath). If you support the campaign, follow some of the links below for more information.

Wikipedia article on Hill of Tara.

Another useful link - savethetara

Or sign the petition here.

Today is the first day this year that I left my house without a coat, in my tank top and putting my sunglasses on. How glorious to feel the warmth of sunshine and just basking in the joy of a beautiful day like this. En route to work, wanting to maximise my time out in the sun, I even strolled over to St Stephen’s Green park and sat there for a wee bit.

I’m still smiling at the memory of such little pleasure.

Perhaps this is how Mother Earth is trying to gently remind me that today is Earth Day and we really should be more proactive in looking at this planet that we’re living in. Just being aware is not quite enough anymore.

Wicklow mountains in spring

Ireland in general has been very good in staying green, with various initiative over the years including free recycling facilities (although we could do with more, at convenient locations), “green transportations” namely the Luas, and plastic bag levy (it does encourage more people to bring reusable bags with them).

However, are they sufficient?

We still have a long way to go in educating people to be more involved with green initiatives. There is still too much traffic on the road, often with just single occupants within the vehicle. Why not encourage car-pooling between colleagues and neighbours? There is still too much paper waste in the city, particularly with the free Metro or Morning Herald distribution, not to mention a whole lot of flyers and leaflets. Why not provide green bins in around the city that people can leave these paper waste in, instead of throwing them in the regular bin or worse, just leaving them anywhere.

It is easy to think that a small effort to go green has little overall effect. That could not be more wrong! Every little contribution goes a long way accummulatively. Moreover, that also means one less person who thinks his/her effort is going to naught. That should be viewed as a very positive move.

Happy Earth Day folks!

A friend of mine forwarded this link to me, and at the first glance, my thought was “surely this can’t be true - a property in Mars?”… Of course you would be curious too as to what they are offering. So go on, click on the image and have a peek at it yourself!

I have to say, this is a well thought out marketing strategy. Intriguing idea, fresh look. The website is sleek and simple yet beautifully designed, deigned to capture one’s imagination. I wish I can do some web designs that are this sophiscated. Well maybe one day, when I finally take the time to learn how-to properly.

And no, I am not paid to promote this site. It’s just the whole idea that appeals to my geeky side that I couldn’t resist bringing this to your attention. ;-)

A recent survey by UBS Wealth Management Research has put Dublin as the third most expensive city to live in, with an index of 105.2 (including rent expense - I just don’t quite buy indices that don’t include rent, especially if it’s to reflect accurately the cost of living of a city) following comparison with New York as the base index of 100. Coming out ahead of Dublin are London (120.2) and Oslo (112.3), while Copenhagen (102.6) trails closely behind Dublin.

A good thing though, according to the same survey, that those living in Dublin has a relatively strong earning power, ranking fifth in gross pay and second(!!!) in net pay with indices of 111.7 and 132.3 respectively. Really? Certainly, I need to find a job that pays this well.

Just in this month’s issue of The Dubliner magazine, John Lowe reveals that it costs an average of €33K per annum (gross salary level) to live in Dublin. And he gives a breakdown of how the expenses (monthly) may be incurred.

Rent €650
Mobile €100
Food €350
Gym €55
Utilities €70
Dubliner Subscription €50
Health Insurance €30
Pension €200
Fun €300
Travel €70
Clothes €200
Banking €100
Holidays €150

Looking at the breakdown, I agree on the observations with regards to rent, utility bills, mobile expenses (although it definitely can be a lot less if one be more aware of his/her phone usage), food, transport, health insurance and pension.

Fun, clothes and holidays, they are equally important but I guess if cutbacks are required at any point, these would be the first places to look into a reduction of spending. As for the gym, well, surely there are other way to get fit at lower/no costs such as jogging at the park? Nonetheless, it is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle and I’m all for spending the amount for this than to spend the same on, say, a few pints at the pub or another couple of cocktails in a fancy pub in town.

Mind, I did find the €100 for banking/credit cards somewhat unrealistic, as that is based on minimum payment of 5% on a €2000 balance. This means no matter how you’ll always be owing the bank on your credit card balance and hardly ever going to be able to clear this out. I’d rather stick to the principle that if you can’t clear your credit card balance by at most 3 months, particularly after a large credit transaction, then you’ve overspent!

To be honest, I am a little scared that I know of quite a few people who are living very much on credit. I was once told by a colleague where I held a part-time job with, that she wouldn’t be able to pay her credit card bills even if she put all of her salary that month towards the payment. And yet right the next day, she was out shopping during lunch break again. What’s even more amazing was, the bank would have no qualm giving her increases in credit limit, as long as she doesn’t miss any of her minimum repayment requirement.

So, how much is it costing you to live in Dublin?

Last weekend, I went to céilí (Irish dance) with friends of mine. We went, which I believe looked like a community center in Monks-town, don’t know the name. Until after we payed and enter the hall, I had no idea that we would actually be dancing, I thought it was more of a show like “little Riverdance”. But no.

In the beginning, there were just too many people and everyone was just bumping into each other. It looked like a Intro to Irish Culture sort of thing, as there were lot European students from Germany n France etc. in there, as you see below.

One of really cool thing and a bit funny too, had a tea & scone break from organizers in between all the drinking we were doing :). The best part, after the break, half of people left and the dance part became lot more fun and by the end of we are enjoying it a lot.

The pic below shows the dance routine called The Siege of Ennis (if i am correct) and i liked it a lot.. very cool :D. It was great fun by the end of the night.

I can highly recommend you to try céilí, its a lot of fun and lot of moves :)

In next few days, i’ll write (read: rant) about different queues, that i have noticed in/around dublin, which are not going anywhere.

Stay tuned (post ideas/comments in the meanwhile).