As has been noted across the Irish blog community, Damien has announced the date for this year’s Irish Blog Awards – 3rd March.

If the date is good for you head over there and let them know; it might be an idea to sub the blog too as the next to months are sure to see it heat up again after a period of relative “down-time”.

If I do make it along (and I have every intention of doing that) it will be my first blog-gathering – that is unless some other meet ‘n’ greet comes up in the time between. I was away for the last Awards but by all accounts it was a successful and enjoyable event, and one of the first incidents that really gave the Irish media something to talk about in the realm of blogging (and its multimedia brothers).

In general the Blog Awards should be taken as an opportunity to honour and congratulate those that have done something unique with their own little virtual spaces, be it to educate, humour or entertain.

For me the Awards are also a chance to expand my horizons beyond the relatively miniscule portion of web-reading I currently partake in. It’s likely that many of those nominated will be the better known amongst us – the cream of the crop that even the most passive of blog-readers is aware of. That said, the wide range of topics ensures that there’ll be plenty I have missed or overlooked and flicking through the nominations will be a great way to pick up on those blogs quietly tucked in the corner. The Best Newcomer award only makes this outcome all the more likely.

Then, of course, there’s the event itself which is as good a chance as any to meet up with the people behind the CSS and pseudonyms; something I’m really looking forward to as well.

Will 2007 see even further advancements for blogging in Ireland? Who knows… but there’s no reason why blogging won’t become far more widespread by the time the Blog Awards 2008 make their way around. I certainly have my own ideas for the next 12 months and events and landmarks like the Awards themselves will only help those who could benefit from blogging realise that fact.

Those of you with BBC Four (and with nothing better to do for the next while) could do worse than switch over around now (half 9 onwards) for an interview with Armando Iannucci (who has worked on Alan Partridge, Friday Night Armistice, The Day Today and most recently, Time Trumpet) followed by the Christmas special of his political mockumentary ‘The Thick of It‘.

The original episodes followed a fictional British minister in a fictional department as he stumbles and bumbles through his work with the help of his civil servants and forever under the watchful eye of Malcolm Tucker, the Prime Minister’s “Enforcer” who bears more than a passing resemblance to Alastair Campell.
The show has so far had just six episodes (which aired on BBC Three and BBC Two last year) but a further ten are in development for this year.

Due to a number of very serious charges laid out against Chris Langham he won’t be returning for tonight’s episode or those in the pipeline, so it’ll be interesting to see what direction the show will take. The Wikipedia suggests it won’t simply be a situation where the main character is re-cast.

It’s a superb show, though, and despite only having such a short run to date it has been heralded as this generation’s Yes, Minister. Oh, and the man behind Arrested Development has signed up with Iannucci to work on a US port of the show, which has every chance of being equally superb.

In late November I posted here and on Irish Election looking for book recommendations to help me gain a better understanding of politics, society and everything that comes with it.

There were plenty of responses and pretty much all of them went on my list for Christmas, along with a few of my own ideas; as a result I now have a decent pile of books to keep me reading throughout the coming months.

The one I picked to tackle first is Andrew Marr’s My Trade and have Freakonomics, The Tipping Point, Preventing The Future and Alan Bennett’s Untold Stories waiting to be read next. In terms of fiction I still have We Need To Talk About Kevin, which I started reading in September, only to drift away from it for no apparent reason shortly afterwards.

There are still plenty of books on the list that I didn’t get, as well as ones that I’ve been drawn to since November but I suppose I should put them to one side until I break the back of the ones I’m already faced with. That said if anyone has any other ideas please do keep them coming, I’m sure I’ll run out of things to read eventually!

Otherwise a big thanks to everyone who made the suggestions in the first place; it’s always good to get introduced to great books you might otherwise have ignored.

… And now to get over my terrible habit of reading three quarters of a book and then never finishing it!!