Lads I just wanted to say I havent been on the letterfrack site for while. It is beautiful, its so clear and great. Yeah ok I stop licking your arses now, but I just wanted to say it. Well done!

This special morning, like so many before, the rays of the morning sun shone down a 5000 year old neolithic structure and grave in ireland: a passageway tunnel called Newgrange. This unique structure, which is 500 years older than the pyramids of Egypt and 1000 years older than its more well known Pagan English neighbour Stonehenge, has been a sacred space on our little island which has been celebrating life, its cycles, the connection between the energy from the heavens and the life bearing capability of mother earth since the times of neolithic man. We may not fully understand the understanding our ancestors had of the mystery that is life, but many believe that they lived in a more "ecological" time, understanding, working with and celebrating the cycles of nature. Today, Friday the 21st of December 2007, is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of the next year, 5000 years ago early man had the mathmathical, astronomical, spiritual, construction skills to build this structure. AND, its still watertight!!! This year for the first time: Newgrange solstice broadcast on web you can watch an hour long documentary about it and the live webcast at 8.30am (GMT)here (View the archive for the film)

EASA was previosly told about this structure / old clock in paraplu @ EASA04-Roubaix / la condition publique and in an earlier post: Living

Christmas falls at this time of the year after Christianity spread and incorporated existing pagan festivals. With the solstice the longest night passes and the new phase starts, this led to what we have today: "A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included less agricultural work needing to be done during the winter, as well as people expecting longer days and shorter nights after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere."

So this is just a little bit about the island you will be spending EASA2008. Im glad that the 08 team have put so much effort into what I imagine will be an excellent EASA, well done to one and all. Things have moved on a long way from those early INCM days of 2001 in Berlin. I feel they are commited to thorough investigation into some of the most pressing issues for both Ireland and also our world.... how we can adapt to live in a way that works with and celebrates life and nature... how it was on the island all those years ago; our returning to the start of the cycle...

As a few little presents for you I share a bit of music, links, articles, documentarys about the island I love, my "home", Eireann. Let me introduce you to some of my heroes...

vids: William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle "Cities as trees, cities as forests" cradle to cradle eco architect William McDonough speaks for 20 minutes on TED on how to build a sustainable world...eco cities in china to healthy happy people

Father Ted...DRINK, FECK, GIRLS....shave a bullock: Welcome to the pure manic comic genius that is Ted, this is one my favourite clips, My Lovely Horse

D'Unbelievables - A Right Funny Man Darcy Pat Shortt as headmaster in Glengooley National School: Now a word of warning to those of you heading west, or WESSHHTT, as it is pronounced out letterfrack way, accents vary hugely in ireland and from this very rich world has come the legendry madness of D'Unbelievables: accurate portrayels of village life; the GAA, teachers ways, mass, women.... one of my mates in askeaton, west limerick had pat shorts brother as a teacher and the above apparently is a right take on him. EASA ye might not fully understand the phrases or the nuances, but i hope you enjoy it none the less.

And finally that which is probably most known from ireland: U2

• U2 Anthem of the 80s, a very good World in Action docementary from when Ireland was poor, lacked spirit untill U2 broke out of that with something new: angry pacifism, looking at heroin abuse, unempployment, war a response of HOPE.
• U2 - Angels in Devils Shoes, Documentary aired in Australia in either 1989 or 1990

Music: The amazing music archive other voices, irish artists and a few from beyond playing in an old church, Bell X1, mark lanagan,

a bit of modern groovy music and smart design: Redneck Manifesto-We Still Got It

trad and folk

Waterboys The band has played in a number of different styles, but their music is a mix of Celtic folk music with rock and roll, or folk rock. Their songs, largely written by Scott, often contain literary references and are frequently concerned with spirituality. One of my favourite tunes: This is the Sea see also, Waterboys - Jigs with Sharon Shannon and a lovely vid of Mike Scott playing The Whole Of The Moon for an audience of schoolchildren in Clifden (the town next to letterfrack), Connemara, Ireland in 1987.

Planxty the no-disco planxty documentary: the irish trad beatles : 6 part show ..."The group's first major performance, opening for Donovan in Galway, was a huge success. Neither the audience nor the band knowing what to expect, were both pleasantly surprised. Irvine, unable to see the audience through the lighting, was worried that the crowd was on the verge of rioting. It took him several minutes to realize what he was hearing was enthusiasm."

The Legend Of Liam Clancy Liam Clancy, the man whom bob dylan referred to as the greatest folk singer ever..a legend. Watch intro to fine RTE doc above and a recording of one of the greatest gigs i was ever at, Liam Clancy live, kilkenny 2005 from RTE

Sin é anois (pronounced shin-ay ahh-nish, means thats it now)

enjoy 2008, I think its going to be a very memorable year

Slainte agus go mbeirfuidhmuid beo ar an am seo aris agus go bhfaidhfidhmuid bás le siochain

gaeilge for: (y)our health, and let us be well the next time we are together and let us die in peace.

dunk

(posted on december 21, subsequently re-edited)

hi all we, as "andagere+associates" design& build , young architecture firm from Bangalore(India) offering an opportunity to be part of our organization(part or full time) currently we are working towards enriching our country vast traditional building techniques, material resources,diversified culture, history, social economical status to cater to the modern world needs in terms of build form. it is a great exposure one can have when u be part of this. for more clarity please contact,

www.andagereassociates.com

thanking you.

hello EASA body mass!

A question for you all. We have been discussing our programme of events for EASA 2008. There was an idea to host a movie night in Dublin. It would be held in an outdoor cinema, with other screens in-doors. This outdoor space is of some architectural merit and it is very enjoyable to actually watch a movie there. We would like to show Movies set in around, and based on {adaptation}. Some of us like this idea, some of us don't - so please let us knwo what YOU want.

Pros;

• enjoyable place and space to be in
• located in the city centre so people can go away for a little bit to one of the many nearby bars
• will happen on the night before we spend all day travelling on coaches, so the less hangovers the better
• there is a rich series of movies we would like you all to see

Cons;

• it might (ie it WILL) rain
• it's very hard to keep EASA people still for 20 minutes, let alone 90 minutes
• some of the movies even we find hard to understand
• the logistics of getting 400 people in and out of a location bang in the centre of the city (might have to get buses or something.....)
• people will just get bored, and then, get drunk

so, let us know if you reckon it is a good idea, or a waste of our time to pursue.

Easa Ireland invites you to the opening of the 'Adaptation' exhibition on Tuesday 13th November at 7pm featuring student projects from over 30 European schools of Architecture.

There will also be a presentation on Easa Ireland 2008 {Dublin-Letterfrack} followed by wine reception.

Work from the easa007.gr 'BEAM' workshop, tutored by Sandor Lilienberg (Budapest), will be displayed throughout the evening.

This event is kindly sponsored by the UCD School of Architecture and UCD ArcSoc

www.easa008.ie has launched

there is still much work to do on the website but there is some useful information available and you can download the presentation we gave in motovun and some other 'packs'

I've also set up a 'forum' which is different to a blog in that you can follow a discussion more easily. also you don't need to register to use it.

www.easa008.ie

if you have any suggestions you can email me personally ronan.kenny[a]easa008.ie or team[a]easa008.ie

Hi, I study architecture in Brazil and I´ve taken part on the organization of a National Architecture Students Meeting (ENEA, in Portuguese)this year. I´m intereseted on going to EASA 2008, and trade some informations about it...is it possible? Can you tell me how many participants usually go to EASA?

Sorry about the bad English ;) I´ll be waiting for your answer.

Thanks, Marilia COMORG - Comissão Organizadora XXXI ENEA- Florianópolis 2007

greetings from beautiful busy barcelona, the clowns home has been destroyed. ¿but who knows what that might lead to? perhaps the following...

ADAPTION "adjusting to dramatic shifts in society" or the unfolding story of the ecological spiritual revolution, ¿from Eire to New York to Sarajevo to India to Vis to Banja Luka to Frilande to la Condition Publique to Venice to Barcelona to ...?

EASA 2008 - Ireland + pirate hijacking of Venice architectural bienalle 2008

"Old Irish folklore associates the past with the West, while the future lies in the east. In the vernacular architecture of the countryside, houses turned their back to the west and face east towards the bright future, the rising sun." EASA 2008 - Ireland - easa.antville.org

irish (architecture) in venice architecture bienale 2006 www.architecturefoundation.ie www.irish-architecture.com photos, discussion

irish (pirates) in venice architecture bienale 2006 easa.antville.org

irish (pirates) in venice architecture bienale 2006 www.irelandvenice.ie

ADAPTION intro... "adjusting to dramatic shifts in society" id propose the argument that finding how to live sustainably is what matters, and from finding out the theory, putting it into practice. difficult, yes. possible, yes

hijack growing idea... we are talking about the ecological spiritual revolution which has been underway for some while, and came from a lovely discussion in metavilla with Lucien Kroll and our Cuban pirate friends Lucien Kroll: Moments D`Architectures easa.antville.org

from that 2 things are the arguments that make up this pleasent story; 1 - the paradigm shift in society that fritjof capra mentioned www.ecotecture.com (see west to east thinking as base of shift in terms of revolutionary change in worldview, thesis of his book tao of physics - www.amazon.co.uk ) 2 - "the signifigance of the global ecovillage movement", an essay by Ted Turner from EUROTOPIA, directory of intentional communities socialwork.arts.unsw.edu.au

from reading and researching these intros, we will take you to the second part of the project: 2007, a year of ecological spiritual revolution joining 2 bits to the equation: 1- 50 years on from Vinoba Bhave´s (Mahatma Gandhi´s successor) proclamation "let the year 1957 be the year of revolution (a pacifist, sustainable, poverty aleviating one) www.rmaf.org.ph 2- 1936 and the year of the successfull anarchist revolution in the city of Barcelona: Anarchism in Spain (wiki) en.wikipedia.org The Spanish Revolution (1936) struggle.ws

who knows what next year will lead to... presently there are circus occupations of Barcelona´s main square and the tearing down of squatted social centre circus and theatres: La Makabra is being evicted! barcelona.indymedia.org Barcelona: 3 early morning raids on 3 squats, including MAKABRA indymedia.ie

pirate hijacking of Venice Architectural Bienalle, plans underway and preparions being built in the pirate university which is presently based out of Barcelona, but soon to be expanded through the harambee project:

Pirate University (barcelona, but sure to quickly spread) www.universitatpirata.org

HARAMBEE : widening the discussion www.indymedia.ie GLOBAL RADIO NODES ON WSF: wiki.radiolivre.org building up the RADICAL radio network indymedia.ie

this is just to get things going, we have not had time yet to edit and make more clear concise and easy to understand, we hope you can sift through the ideas and links, like the idea and help us, as changing the world does require a fair amount of donkey work, but it pays off: "le pur plaisur d´exister".... so if you want to help us to...

radically change the world

so your babies babies babies.... have somewhere safe, beatiful, healthy, enjoyable to live. please hop onboard the idea and plug into the network...

like all these projects it is an open system, so all are welcome to participate and enjoy...

over and out, back now to the streets

messy pirate, dunk and/or little donkey worker clown, Asinito Mc'Asal

allez les pirates