Category Archives: DIY

What to do with CDs?

In this digital age, many people have long since ripped any CDs they have onto their computer/ portable player, then buried their music pile behind the couch or in the attic.

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Vinyl albums are making a comeback as people once again appreciate the emotional response that comes from holding a large interactive, holdable, foldable, readable, viewable work of Art (never mind the more controversial matter of what sounds better).

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Vinyl album sleeves and cases are can be beautiful. These have always had a value separate to the quality of the music that lies within.

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Unfortunately, CDs never had this. In the quest for slimline, stark, neat and efficient reduction, much was lost. Sleeve artwork on the whole became a necessary byproduct, a utilitarian descriptor rather than a thing of beauty in and of itself.

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As a result, CDs and CD cases are small, characterless and unloved.

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As a result, these CDs are now mostly hidden -out of sight- behind the couch or clogging up the attic.

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But I’ve found a nice use for them (well, for those nicer sleeves at least):

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Lightshades:

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It’s just some LED Christmas lighting wrapped in circles and stuck onto a plastic front that holds some CDS. I designed them and asked Tom Deevy at T&T Shopfitters (Cork) to make the ‘racks’.

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I can’t claim credit for the bits in-between though.

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Depending on mood or the latest colour scheme on the wall (ya right), the CDs can be swapped out and replaced. Or even taken out and played if such a drastic notion occurred to you.


Your Country My Call

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I read and re-read the email sent to me by the organisers of the Your Country Your Call competition, trying to figure out what it was saying. Maybe I was too excited to concentrate on the multiple paragraphs.

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It read like a kiss-off/ thanks-and-tough-luck email, but I couldn’t find where it was actually stating that.

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…Then I spotted it on my third-time round. Why these people don’t put “Dear Sir/Madam, You didn’t make it” as their first line instead of burying it in side-mouthed form-letter compliments I’ll never ever know. 🙁

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(It reminds me of people in a cinema opening a packet of popcorn slowly instead of quickly out of misplaced, pathetic sympathy.)

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The list of semi-finalists is posted here and mine isnt’ on there. Aww. 🙁

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Best of luck to the winner I say, but at a glance at least, it looks to me like the same old “corporate vested interest” notions that crop up time and again rather than a proper decent, simple, original thought.
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“Ireland should be a hub for online gaming” …Now why didn’t I think of that??
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“Green Ireland – a new brand for developing Irish Food and Tourism” …wow this is cutting-edge this is!

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“YEATS INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE” -well we must make it look like we at least give a damn about these things I suppose.
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Shoulda known. 🙁

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Now, I realise good ideas can sometimes come across as ridiculous or ill-considered when given a quick description, so there’s a possibility some or all of the above aren’t as stoopid and uninventive as they look.

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With that in mind, I’m not going to divulge my grand idea in a 1-line descriptor, but if anyone is interested you can read my proposal in full here.

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