Edition 2

27 January 2016

NEWS

THE

SPORT

14 Students from BCFE to go to Finland for Work Experience

by Sean ClintonThe students are from the sec-ond year Business and Jour-nalism courses. Joshua Reid, a journalism student spoke about the trip. “It will be my first time undertaking work experience in another country. I’m looking forward to publishing some ar-ticles in English for Good News from Finland,” he said. He add-ed that he wanted to gain some experience “working online”. Meanwhile business student Gillian is looking forward to ex-periencing a “different culture”.

BCFE Gig Raises €1,300 for Charityby Anne Buckley

A BCFE charity gig has raised €1,300 for a homeless charity. First-year student, Eamonn Mooney, who plays bass, spoke about the gig: “It is part of the course, usually the money for the gig each year goes into the kitty to pay for the next gig,” he ex-plained. The event took place at the Cobblestone TRAD in Smithfield in Dublin 7 on 15th December 2015, and the chosen charity was the Cap-uchin Monks Charity. The successful event was organ-ised by the students.

SHAG Week to Go Ahead at BCFEby Anthony Neville

BCFE may finally get its own SHAG Week in February 2016 as the Student Union and ISU are hoping to organise one by Valentine’s Day. SHAG Week is an annual event that is organised by the Students Union of third level institutes throughout Ireland to promote awareness of student sexual health through talks, guidance, social activities and free STI screenings funded by the Irish Student Union (ISU). Being a Further Education College, BCFE has not yet had the opportunity to have its own SHAG Week. However, the President of the BCFE Student Council, Vinny Flynn, with the support of his peers and BCFE management is working with the ISU to organise

BCFE’s first ever SHAG Week. The BCFE Bulletin decided to ask the students of BCFE through online surveys about their knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The survey found that 57% of students who participated in the survey have had unprotected sex with a stranger, while 56% have never had an STI screening before. Twenty-six people who took part in the survey are not aware of any STI clinics around Dublin. Many of the students who took part in the survey are aware of the common STIs such as HIV, hepatitis B, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and herpes. But at least 6% of students believe that there is a vaccine for HIV, and 28% believe there

is a vaccine for gonorrhoea. The only two STIs that currently have vaccines are hepatitis B and HPV. While the majority of people believe that getting tested is the most obvious thing to do during an STI scare, a shock-ing 12% believe that taking a shower will get rid of an STI. In 2014 there were at least 10,000 reported cases of STIs in Ireland. The most frequently reported STIs in Ireland are chlamydia, anogenital warts, gonorrhoea and herpes. If you are worried that you may have contracted an STI, contact the GUIDE Clinic in St James’s Hospital by telephone at (01) 4162315 or visit the web-site www.guideclinic.ie.

BCFETrio Reel InAwards at DAFF2015

Inside: Kim O’Leary investigates new government loan schemeand how it affects students

Inside: Joe Murphy and StephenDuffy talk Euro ‘16 with BCFEstudents

Disability Restricts Student from Work Placement

by Stephen Duffy

A BCFE student was left devastated when she could not join her class on a foreign work placement due to high insur-ance costs because she had a disability. The student in question, Emily Barr said: “I suffer from epilepsy and cerebral palsy. I signed up to do the travel and tourism course in BCFE as I have always wanted to work in the hospitality indus-try.” Continues on

Fever Solstice Battle for the Titleby Ruairi O’Hehir

BCFE’s own Fever Solstice competed, last Wednesday, in the Semi Final of the King Kong Club’s Battle of The Bands. The bluesy rock hybrid managed to push their way to the semi-final of the competition, judged by a clap-o-meter by blowing audi-ences in the Mercantile on Dame Street away with their energy. The band, which plays regularly at college gigs, is fronted by vocalist Grainne Swanton and backed up by Roisin Barret on bass and Mat-thew O’Brien on keyboards. The band will be back in the Mercan-tile again on February 2nd for the annual BCFE Rock School end of year gig.

Edition 2 | January 27 Edition 2 | January 27

Editor Ruairi O’Hehir

Deputy Editor Josh Reid

News Editor Kim O’Leary

Life Editor Jessica Donohoe Sports Editor Joe Murphy

Sub/Designer Kevin Gillespie

Marketing Anthony Neville

Special ThanksWe here at The BCFE Bulletin would like to give a special thanks to all who made this year’s publication possible. It would not have been made possible without the help of our class tutors and coordinators, fellow BCFE students and all the generous staff members of BCFE. Over the coming months, we plan to produce another edition and you can expect the release of our final edition February 25 2016. To all, we extend our thanks.

Friends,

The first edition of the BCFE Bulletin was a complete success for our strong team; we received positive comments from staff, students and the guest speakers at our launch. Many of you have noticed, I am sure, the spelling mistake in one of our headlines. Needless to say it was one of very few and it was a source of laughter for our editorial team for many days. In this edition we have tried to right our wrongs, making it more colorful and interactive with other students. Our big focus here is to bring a sense of community to the college for the better and I hope that we are succeeding in that. As we are all in our last leg before the final assignments and exams, I wish all of you the very best in your studies.

RUAIRI’S ROARNEWS

EDITORAL STAFF

New Year’s Resolutions

by Laura Slattery

A new year marks a new begin-ning, but what are BCFE students hoping to accomplish in 2016? “I would like to learn three new languages including French, Spanish, and Italian,” said Dmitry Avkhadeev. Another student, Bill Bailey, said: “I’d like to start driving, getting a kick-start into my television career and to lose a stone in weight.” He added that resolutions are a “fantastic idea”. Meanwhile, teacher Fergal Hardiman said that New Year resolutions “don’t really mean anything” for him.

Little Things Campaign 2016

by Kat O’Connor

The HSE’s latest mental health and wellbeing campaign #Littlethings recognises that we all go through difficult times, but that doing small things can make us feel better. The campaign was launched in October 2015 on TV, online, and radio. The campaign is full of helpful tips from getting a good night’s sleep to going on an early morning run. BCFE student Laura Kelly has praised the campaign. “Seeing their tweets gives me a nice positive boost,” she said. To find out more visit www.yourmentalhealth.ie or call the Samaritans on 116 123.

Government to Introduce New Drug-Driving Legislationby Jessica DonohoeLife EditorThe government is set to in-troduce new legislation in an effort to combat drug-driv-ing in Ireland. The new legislation which is in its early stages could see drivers found under the influ-ence face a possible €5,000 on the spot fine or a 3-year jail sentence. Under the legisla-tion, the Gardaí have now the power to carry out additional roadside tests. The five main impairment tests include the Pupil Dila-tion Test, Modified Romberg Balance Test, Walk and Turn Test, One Leg Stand and Fin-ger to Nose Test. The BCFE Bulletin has recently carried

out a survey on 100 students to find out what students’ thoughts are on the new legis-lation. The survey found that 51% of students admitted to having tried drugs; the most popular substance was in fact cannabis which 60% of stu-dents claimed to have tried. One student John* spoke about the new laws: “I un-derstand why it’s obviously being put in place, it’s a precaution. But driving while smoking weed isn’t as bad as people think; I do it all the time,” he said. Many students said that they would feel safer in a car driven by a person under the influence of drugs rather

than alcohol. “My friends are just more comfortable driving while stoned,” said Luke* another student. However, other students condemned those who drug-drive, criticising it as “very dangerous” and “stupid”. The Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe has said that the new legislation will “integrate everything together into a single overall legisla-tion”, and to “reduce the risk” of drug-driving accidents. For more information on drug-driving check out the RSA anti-drug driving campaign at www.rsa.ie.

BCFE Student Left Devastated After Work Experience Refusal

by Stephen DuffySecond-year tourism students are required to do work expe-rience abroad, but Emily was devastated because she could not go. “I received the devastating news that due to my disability, the insurance was too expensive and they were unable to acquire the necessary insurance for me,” she said. When asked if she had previ-ously been made aware of the possibility of not being able to travel abroad for her work place-ment, Emily replied: “No, nothing was ever said when I took up my place, and the first time I knew of any problem was when I was told I would not be able to travel.” Emily and her parents were

“very upset” but she decided to complete the course after a meeting with BCFE management. Ninety-one students currently at-tending the college are registered as disabled. Students with disabilities are put in touch with a disability of-ficer who will assess what support they need.

BCFE has issued a response to this particular case. The Vice Principal, Kevin Devine, de-scribed the incident as “unfortu-nate” but was pleased that Emily had found an alternative place-

ment in Dublin. Asked if there were any reasons why a student could not take up a place on a course, Mr Devine said: “In general at BCFE if an applicant has a disability the college will put in supports to enable students to benefit from the course.” In Emily’s case, she went on to get a work placement in a Dublin hotel and she graduated alongside the rest of her classmates. Since graduating, Emily has successfully found full-time employment in the hospitality industry. “It is good to hear that Emily has done so well after leaving BCFE, and we are not surprised given her ambition and abilities,” added Mr Devine.

Post-Grad Success for BCFE Animatorsby Kevin Gillespie

Three animation degree gradu-ates have been hopping borders with their animation short “The Teacup” which has been featured in an array of festivals and award shows globally. From honourable mentions at the Dublin Animation Film Festi-val (DAFF) 2015 and appearances at the Warsaw Film Festival 2015 to invitations to Anime Arte 2015 in the heart of Brazil and Special Mentions at the 20th annual Bos-ton Turkish Festival, the Teacup trio has clearly attracted the right kind of attention. The group were ecstatic to have been awarded by BCFE’s own Tomm Moore of Cartoon Saloon at the 2015 DAFF. Lynn O’Reilly, project animation director, hailed Moore as one of her “Irish anima-tion heroes.” Elif Boyacioglu, project writer/director, expressed great praise and that the “grins stayed on for quite some time.” The trio are ac-tively advancing into their careers with Francesca Saunders, project background artist, now working

with esteemed illustrator Chris Judge on his new children’s book, Boyacioglu working freelance shorts with “a few projects in [her] head” and O’Reilly working away as a Production Assistant with Irish multi award-winning

animation company Boulder Media. When asked about how she dealt with the stresses and pres-sures of working in a massive group project, Saunders stated that “communication” was most

important in keeping things on track. Boyacioglu comments that students should tell the stories they “want to tell” and to always listen to the advice and feedback offered. Hard work and having a “rock solid team”, claims O’Reilly, is a recipe for success and being passionate and determined to finish, holding a high standard for

quality, is a rewarding experience. She added: “All in all, it was definitely worth it.” You can keep on track with the girls by visiting their group blog over on http://theteacupfilm.tumblr.com/.

BCFE Co-Ordinator to Take on TXFM Radioby Josh Reid

MND co-ordinator Simon Maher is going up against his arch-nemesis Denis O’Brien for a BAI radio license. Maher was one of the founders and original presenters of Phan-tom 105.2, which was originally set up to offer an alternative to mainstream music stations with an emphasis on alternative music by giving new acts more on-air coverage. But things changed for Ma-her’s radio career when Phantom radio station was purchased by Communicorp in 2011, which is owned by media mogul Denis O’Brien. Many of the founding members of Phantom radio station were told that their services were no longer required, and Phantom was re-named TXFM. Simon decided to leave the sta-tion a few months later, and other former presenters include Alison Curtis and Cormac Battle. Since leaving TXFM, Simon founded his own radio station 8Radio, which primarily broad-

casts online and via an app, but it is also broadcast on radio at weekends.

Simon is determined to rival Denis O’Brien’s TXFM, but it is taking some time for his licence to be granted from the Broadcast-ing Authority of Ireland (BAI). “The [BAI’S] application pro-cess is more lumbered towards the incumbent,” said Maher, speaking of his long wait to receive his licence. But once he receives his licence, Simon is hopeful that his new mu-sic station will be ready to take on TXFM, the station that he helped to set up. We say, go on Simon.

Success for BCFE Bulletin First Edition

by Kim O’LearyNews Editor

An array of media profes-sionals attended the launch of The BCFE Bulletin. The special guests included RTE crime correspondent Paul Reynolds, radio documentary maker Pat O’Mahony, and radio journalist and BCFE graduate Shona Murray. “The newspaper looks great and you should be proud of yourselves,” said Pat O’Ma-hony, praising the newspa-per. Shona Murray spoke of BCFE’s excellent reputation for media students and how she “really enjoyed” her time at the college.

Ruairi O’Hehir,Editor.

“

“

Nothing was ever said when I took up my place.

Disadvantages for Students with Disabilities?

Happy Campers at the DAFF: Elif (Left) and Lynn (Right)

Edition 2 | January 27 Edition 2 | January 27

LifeLifeAffordable Breaks to the U.K.

by Niamh McDonnell

BCFE students, looking for an affordable break during the February mid-term? Check out these Ryanair return flights from Dublin to the U.K. Dub-lin to Manchester 16th -18th February for €19.98, Dublin to Edinburgh 14th- 16th Feb-ruary for €24.98, and Dublin to London 13th -16th Febru-ary for €19.98. Hostel prices start at €14 per night and for more information visit www.hostelword.com.

Healthy Diet Resolution

by Vanessa Manunga

A 20-year-old BCFE ani-mation student is the latest person to try the Atkins diet plan for his New Year’s reso-lution. The Atkins regime is a low carbohydrate diet, often used for the treatment of dia-betes and obesity. Christian Keogh’s new diet involves fasting and exercising at the gym. “I feel sick in the morning, I can’t eat breakfast but drinking water makes it okay,” he explained, carrying his sports bag for a trip to the gym.

BCFE Students Facing Delay in VTOS Scheme

by Stephen Duffy

BCFE students who have applied for the VTOS grant are now facing a delay in receiving their grants. The delay is due to the increased number of students applying for the VTOS grant and dif-ficulties in processing ap-plications. BCFE’s VTOS Officer Frank Berry spoke about the process. “The way in which payments are processed has been changed. Now colleges are sent a certain number of cheques on a weekly basis,” he said. VTOS is working to solve the issues.

BCFE Students Will Not Have to Pay 15-Year-Loans

by Kim O’LearyNews Editor

The Vice Principal of BCFE has said that current BCFE students will not be affected by the government’s pro-posed 15-year-loan scheme. Kevin Devine went on to describe the proposed scheme: “It’s early to say. BCFE charges are not tuition fees but they are costs related to materials and equipment used on the course,” he said. Mr Devine also said that BCFE students will not have to pay increased fees but that the scheme may result in a rise in fees for universities and ITs. “It’s a good thing if it will help to improve the quality of education, but it will be diffi-cult to implement it,” he add-ed. The draft report released

by the government could see graduates paying €25 per week for 15 years by the end of 2016. Under the proposed scheme, college would be free at the point of entry and graduates would start to repay their loan once their in-come reaches a certain level. The average graduate level of income would be around €26,000 and graduates would pay around €1,300 per year according to the draft report published in December 2015. But the new scheme has been criticised by institu-tions and students as a way of bringing back full college fees “through the back door”. The President of the Union of Students in Ireland Kevin Donoghue spoke about the proposed scheme.

“Student loans are not the right way to raise third level funding. Ireland already has the second-highest fees in Europe,” said Donoghue. “It’s free at the point of access in the exact same way that a mortgage is free at the point of access,” he explained. If the scheme is implement-ed, graduates could pay in the region of €19,500 over a period of 15 years according the draft report. BCFE students also voiced their opinions: “I don’t think that it’s a good idea at all. You’re still paying the full amount just through the back door,” said Richard Fahy, a recent graduate. For more information visit www.usi.ie.

SUSI Grants Backlogby Peter Hickey

Students at BCFE recently saw a delay in receiving their SUSI grants this year, but now they are being warned that the problem is not likely to clear up anytime soon. Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) is a grant set up in 2012 to replace funding from local authorities. The grant offers to pay for stu-dents hoping to enter higher and further education, with their fees and costs taken care of. The SUSI grant has been largely successful with many school leav-ers and mature students applying for the grant online. According to SUSI, the body has

59,000 grants so far this year with another 23,000 to award after receiving more than 106,000 appli-cations. But the SUSI grant system has been plagued with difficulties in terms of processing and this has caused long delays in students receiving their grants, with some waiting up to a year. The President of the Union of Students in Ireland, Kevin Dono-ghue, said that SUSI is still having “huge issues”. There’s an enormous backlog and it doesn’t look like it will clear up anytime soon,” added Mr Donoghue. The USI president furthered that they are receiving an influx of reports from students eagerly awaiting the arrival of their entitled financial supports.

BCFE Graduate to Perform at Mental Health Festival

by Jamie Moans

A former BCFE radio student is set to perform at the First Fort-night Festival 2016, Ireland’s Mental Health Arts Festival. Alison Spittle is a comedian who’s had stints on radio, comedy shows and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She will perform at the Smock Alley Theatre on January 14th for a three-night run. Spit-tle’s show revolves around taking an imaginary journey to Hawaii. First Fortnight was set up in 2009 as a mental health service and is now a festival featuring music, dance and comedy acts. For more information visit www.firstfort-night.ie.

Good News for Movie Buffs

by Shane Whelan

Students at BCFE could get a new film club in the coming weeks. It has been two years since BCFE last had a film club, but stu-dents from the IFC and ITC courses have suggested the idea to their co-ordinators. “It’s a great way to bring students together across different courses,” said John Molloy, co-ordinator for the IFC course. The film club is expected to take place after college hours on Wednes-days, but a date has not yet been confirmed.

Keane to be GreatKeane to be GreatTo say I was surprised when

I was greeted with a hug by my interviewee would be an

understatement, but for Lorraine Keane she’s used to people hav-ing the wrong idea of her; “Over the years I’ve come into a compa-ny that I don’t know and they’ve already got this preconceived notion of who I am and what I’m like and it’s really frustrating,” she explained. For the workaholic mother, her job is considered nearly as impor-tant as her family: “I absolutely adore my career and if I didn’t have a family I’d happily work seven days a week--and that says a lot!” she laughed heartily. But the industry is tough she ex-plained and not for the faint-heart-ed, it’s her passion for it that truly keeps her going, “I’m definitely one of the people that do what they love to do.” After her five

by Laura Kellyyear break from working to spend time with her two daughters, she’s landed herself a new chat-show with UTV and she couldn’t be more grateful, “it’s a privilege to be paid to be curious. The sit down one-on-one is just bliss.” Like all perfect jobs, they can have their negatives. It took hard work and perseverance for Lorraine to break into the industry and it’s not the nicest one to be in, “at least once a week I say to myself, ‘this is a horrible indus-try, what the hell am I doing to myself?”

When asked about the F-Word (feminism) she told me how

sometimes it’s ourselves that are our hardest critics. “I never once went to bed thinking I’ve done a good job that day,” she admitted looking slightly guilty. With so much sexism happen-ing in different workplaces it can be tough when that criticism is coming from another woman, “unless women start supporting each other properly then that [sexism] is never going to change!” she said with conviction. That’s where the basis of Keane on Style came from. It’s an evening for women to get dressed up, have fun with hair and makeup presentations, a fashion show and topped off with Spanish Tapas. Lorraine wants it to be the start of showing how women need to sup-port other women, “there’s a real feel-good atmosphere in the room but I couldn’t do what I do without the support of other women.” What started it all off was her want to be like “the greats,” as she put it. Terry Wogan and Michael

Parkinson had always inspired her when she was growing up, “I wanted to be the person that can be in the business with longevity and make a proper career out,” she said with such inspiration.

Like the rest of us having finished school at just 17, her friend read about Ballyfermot College of Further Education and when she heard of the one-year Journalism course, she knew it was, “just me all over,” she smiled thinking back. With the help from BCFE Lorraine has gone on to become an IFTA nominated journalist with a huge list of achievements under her belt and oh her way to becoming one of “the greats”.“” “”

I absolutely adore my career. It’s a privilege to

be paid to be curious.

The struggles of modern day musicians in Irelandby Kim O’Leary

The music industry in Ireland has changed rapidly in the last decade with the intro-

duction of new Irish musicians and bands. While some singers and song writers have landed record deals, it is very challenging for many to break into the industry. For one BCFE former student, this has proven to be a long journey. John McCormack is a 64-year-old singer and songwriter origi-nally from Meath Street in Dublin. McCormack has worked in various jobs such as security, but his true passion is for music. He grew up in a large family of ten children and music was hugely popular in their home. “I’m singing since I was around eight years old. I went to school in Rialto and I joined the choir. I really enjoyed it. My mother was a wonderful singer and my sisters, too.”McCormack now has a family

of his own with thirteen children and twelve grandchildren. “My step-daughter is doing a course at BCFE. She loves it there, and I know that they have an excellent music department.” Although pas-sionate about singing, it has taken him a few years for his career to take off, things changed for Mc-Cormack when he auditioned for Season 4 of The Voice of Ireland in 2014. “My kids encouraged me to go for it.

It was a great experience for me to perform in front of so many people, and I had a great time,” he

says. McCormack did not make it past the Blind Auditions of the show, but he said that he “still had a good time” while on the show. Ever since his appearance on The Voice of Ireland, McCormack has gigged in pubs around Dublin and now he is working on his own album. “I’ve written over 400 songs myself. My idols would be Elvis Presley and Englebert Humperdinck; I enjoy rock-and roll and love ballads, too.” He is currently not signed to a label but he records his songs at radio stations located in Blanchardstown and Clondalkin. “It’s terrible because some of the radio stations don’t have any inter-est in playing your music; it’s very frustrating for me.” Speaking of his struggles for radio stations to play his songs, McCormack is not yet giving up on his dream. “I’m hoping to do an Elvis-inspired album and maybe a long song inspired album for

2016. I am also on Facebook and Myspace, and I’m hoping to get a few more followers,” he explains.

McCormack is also looking for sponsorship and has offered BCFE music students the chance to collaborate with him in the studio. “I’d be delighted to give vocal lessons to any of the music students if they want it; I’m looking for

someone to possibly collab orate with on my album too,” he says. In terms of advice for young musicians and singers hoping to carve a career in the music industry, McCormack says: “If you have a dream to be-come a musician or a singer, just go for it and don’t wait, always do what you love and you’ll nev-er be unhappy.”

”“”“I’ve written over 400 songs myself.

I’d be delighted to give vocal lessons to any of the music students.

BCFE Supports a Smoke Free Campusby Ruairi O’Hehir

BCFE Vice Principal Kevin Devine has said that he supports a smoke free campus in light of the students union attempt to construct a smoking shelter in the social area. A recent survey conducted by the BCFE Bulletin has revealed that 37% of BCFE students sup-port a smoke-free campus. Devine stated that “the college totally supports a smoke free campus in the best interest of staff and students.” A number of colleges through-out the country have followed this direction. Most notably in June 2015 UCD introduced their policy by banning the sale of cigarettes on campus and allocating strict

designated smoking areas away from entrances to buildings. Simi-larly, Sligo IT was one of the first colleges to become a “breathe easy” campus in 2013. Both these campaigns have been hugely successful and Mr Devine hopes to continue the implemen-tation of a similar policy: “At the moment we are largely smoke free apart from a few designated areas.”The Vice Principal also hopes to introduce supports to help students and staff quit smoking by having guest speakers to talk about the health implications of smoking. Needless to say, the students un-ions plan to construct a shelter in the social area, will not go ahead.

Student Loans Not the Right Way to Raise Funding: USI President Explains

College Flings

fATEdition 2 | January 27Edition 2 | January 27

FItKevin Gillespie recounts his year-

long journey of almost five stone in

weight loss, leading a healthier physical and mental lifestyle, and

lends some useful New Year’s diet

and exercise tips.

2

For those of you wishing upon a weight loss in your New Year’s resolution this Janu-

ary, you may be finding yourself stuck in a bit of a rut in terms of how to move forward; worry not, because the way you feel now is perfectly normal for many individu-als when starting off. For years I had

listened to many say that the hardest part is beg- inning and then keeping up with it consistently; listening to others say it and experiencing it my-```````````` self, however, were two vastly different things. By the time I hit twenty last year, I had decided to stop listening and start acting. After reading up about exer-cise and diet plans online and finally establishing a workout and dietary regimen, I decided to spin my plan in motion. It was now time to purchase some equipment which would do the job I wanted it to without

ely enough, with good re-search there followed even greater bargains. I ended up purchasing a set of weights for just under €60 from Argos, which have lasted this long despite being tossed and thrown around during intense workout sessions. As far as general fitness and cardio go, spend about 15 min-utes skipping and increase it by about 2 and a half minutes each session until you can manage about a half hour. This burns unbelievable amounts of fat, while building muscle on your calves, quadri-ceps and hamstrings. Because I wanted to combocardio and weightlifting I opted

for something known as HIIT (or High Intensity Inter-val Training). In es-sence, this workout style prefered short durations of aggres-sive cardio, with say 20 second breaks bet-ween—during which I’d slow down and stretch. As with every suc-cessful exercise plan, there comes an even more important dietary one. Having learned a bit about the various misconceptions of weight loss, I would eventual-ly find out that eating healthi-er, less enjoyable foods than the ones I would be used to, would not necessarily lead to weight loss. Instead, by averaging a number based

on my then-weight, height and age, I found out what my daily caloric intake was. I then subtracted about 500 calories from it and aimed to con sume the remaining amount daily. For instance, in order to remain the weight I was, based on my height and age, I would consume about 3,100 calories daily. So by severing that to about 2,600, I would be aiming to lose a healthy 1-2 pounds per week. Most people believe that it is impossible to get the body they want; like there’s something holding them back. When the only person holding them back is themselves. My journey began a year ago, and it still continues. There’s no reason yours shouldn’t begin today.

You may not have heard of King of Aces Produc-tions, but this starter film/

media production company is full of talented ex film students from BCFE. Tom Byrne, a graduated student of film at BCFE is one of the founders of the independent production company. He says, “The ultimate goal of King of Aces is to have a successful production company with a large staff bringing out pieces of work ranging from film to music videos regularly.” He also mentions that his time at BCFE helped him to determine the ins and outs of setting up a company like King of Aces, he says, “it was great for networking and knowing the people you can work well with, in my [Tom’s] case, it was my classmate Aaron, which lead to us starting our own com-pany [King of Aces]”. Aaron O’ Connor, Tom’s partner

and co-founder of King of Aces, as well as their partner Rebecca Dunne in-dependently run King of Aces pro-ductions, and they are not short of work, at-least for a self-funded starter company involved in an industry that most would agree is difficult to remain busy in. Together they’ve amassed a body of work that is as impressive as it is unique, working for local companies creating advertise-ments and making music videos for budding Irish musicians, it seems King of Aces is dead-set on making a mark on the industry. Arguably, were it not for their time at the BCFE, we might not have such a brilliant set of inde-pendent features to look forward to from this unique production company. Rebecca, or Bekkah (as she eloquently requested to be called), is an actress that has acted in almost all of the films to date cre-ated by King of Aces, but she also plays her hand in other aspects as she tells, “I love each part of it! Ac-

ting in the films is always great fun and I love my job as a make-up artist so doing that on film shoots is amazing.” The team draw a lot of their inspiration from music, and Tom says that, “I can’t write a story to be as original as I’d like if a film storyline inspired the idea, because I can’t seem to get that movie out of my head then and it just doesn’t work for me”. Bekkah howeverwill draw

inspiration from almost anything, as she says; “Everything! Movies, a TV show, art itself, sometimes random objects, fashion, periods in time, dark styles like dark/creepy things, the occult, the Addams family!”

The pro-cess is no doubt difficult when self-funding, but King of Aces proves that great things can happen for students that are in the positions that the King of Aces founders were before, students of film looking to aspire to create and become apart of the film industry, despite the difficulties of such an industry. So far the company, managed by ex BCFE students Aaron O’ Connor and Tom Byrne along with their partner Rebecca Dunne, have created media for retail stores such as Abana Jewellers, a tattoo artist called Chopper’s Artwork and Irish River Jewellery, as well as for a children’s basket-ball team in Tyrrelstown called the Dublin Sonics. They have also created music videos for independent budding musicians and bands, such as MFM (who have since split up), TADGH, Andy Duff and RNKN. It is partially because of these pro-jects that King of Aces can fund it’s own independent work. The

body of work from King of Aces Productions is ever growing. Aaron has directed short films such as ‘All The Time In The World’, ‘The String Of Life’ and ‘Tragic Static’, which can be found on the companies Youtube page. Tom too has directed his own short films beginning with his wartime tragedy ‘Casualties Of A Pointless War’, ‘Lifeline’ and his more recent work ‘Bloodshot’, and Bekkah stars in most of those features as well as being the make-up artist. There is more to come from King of Aces Productions in the future no doubt, and to find out about the company and watch their films you can search for them on Youtube and Facebook; ‘King of Aces Productions’, or by typing in the names of the afore-mentioned film work of King of Aces Productions in this article on either Google or Youtube, and help to show support for our budding creators and our fellow students.

Wedding RingstoIt’s not usual we’d see a col-

lege fling go any further, but this certainly isn’t the case for

Glenn and Orla who first set eyes on each other in a classroom in BCFE. After just celebrating their wed-ding, October newlyweds Orla and Glenn O’Connor reminisce their past ten years together, starting from students to married life with a three year old kid. Orla started in Ballyfermot in 2004 completing her diploma in Reception Tourism and Business, she then went to do her Higher National Diploma in Business where she met Glenn, three years her senior who went back to col-lege as a late joiner of the course. “I remember the first day he came into the class I was ex-tremely hungover I was after being in DIVA, I didn’t really know him to begin with because he was friends with the lads and I had my group of friends that came through the first year of college… then our classes got split.” Orla and Glenn along with three other friends cliqued into their own group and it was then people noticed their chemistry. Orla and Glenn were both com-mitted to different people “He was with a girl and I was with a guy at the time, and everyone used to tell us that if he was single and I was single that we would make a great couple.” They both realised their feelings after a class night out in SPIRIT near Parnell street, Orla laughs away thinking about the night:

“We got very drunk and when we were both dancing I fell on the dance floor, I was doing I’m a little tea pot and I just fell… he tried to pick me up and some guy and him were giving me a leg and a duck on the dancefloor.” More events led them closer together such as a time they were paired up for a project, they both were in hysterics remembering but it was these moments the two became close and exchanged numbers. Orla giggles about the first night they kiss-ed “Glenn tried to impress me when we were up the lawns playing football, I ran up to the

goalpost and tipped it, Glenn did the same but Glenn flipped and broke two ribs.” At the start of May 2006 Orla broke up with her boyfriend, two days later Glenn broke up with his girlfriend, and the two of them started going on dates but not locally as they wished to keep their romance a secret from their classmates.

During the summer they went on a car trip around Ire land and at a 21st, Glenn asked Orla to be his girlfriend. Thinking back on second year Orla and Glenn shamefully remembered skiving off classes to spend time with each other, one particular class they decid- ed to ditch would result them going to the local bar Chasers: “I remember we had Lisa’s class the following morning but we’d be too hungov- er so we wouldn’t go.” Glenn thinks back on how the teachers started to become suspicious of them, which resulted in

the couple to start becoming paranoid around their teachers, “I remember Lisa used to make comments whenever Orla was out that I was out or vice versa. The teachers started to know anyway I think Margaret Carr our course coordinator copped on too.”

Ten years after graduating, Orla and Glenn are now happily mar-ried with a three year old son. Both have successful careers, Orla is currently a Human Re-source manager while Glenn is currently an IT Developer. Ten years on and they still think back with many drunk fuelled and giggling stories on how that very first day in a class-room in BCFE changed their lives forever.

“Some guy and him were giving

me a leg and a duck on the dancefloor.”

“First day he came into the class I was extremely

hungover.”

Cocaine, Profanities

& W

eed-In

duced

Ins

an

ities

Fat moths, bags of white and slipping into paranoid psy-chosis; it is no wonder Bal-

lyfermot College’s Alex Sheehan has achieved cult online status through satirical rapping. This is a guy who not only weaves sentence after sentence of coherent, lucid words together, but a man that actually manages to turn these rhymes into comical stories featured in even funnier videos. Just ask the 600,000 people that have gone before you, if they didn’t sit in front of their smart phones with ridiculous grins slapped on their faces as they watched a pair of scauldy looking

stoners get chased around by a head-case in a Shrek mask. Alex Sheehan (20) from Ringsend Dublin 4; has been producing and co-starring in his very own satirical rap group versatile music videos since he founded it over two years ago. Whether it’s lamenting the paranoia that occasionally accompanies the smoking of “the devil’s lettuce” in “Whopper Trips” to coming to the hilarious realisation that it’s occasionally well-founded, you will find yourself both laughing along at the ridiculous nature of the personas on-screen to even sometimes relating to the loveable head-cases. We see the pining of a self-de-scribed run-around (the person amongst friends who’s sent on the small tasks the others are too lazy or stoned to go on themselves) for a girl firmly

in the grips of the local hard bas-tard in “She goes out with a red- hot.” Versatile takes us to places we’ve prob- ably never even dreamt of but they do it in a setting and through situations we’re all probably, given our age, somewhat familiar with. The Youtube success has taken Alex by surprise who was laughing as he said (him and his friends) were just doing it “for a laugh and for everyone we knew, we didn’t really have a target audience, just people sort of started liking it and it blew up a bit.” Intentional or not he’s very much the heartbeat of a group that’s managed to achieve cult online status with just three videos to date. No easy feat. There most recent video hit 100,000 views within a month, given that it contains a session with a whole heap of white and ends with a Garda being hanged it isn’t surprising that these videos are gaining notoriety. His favourite video is the first one he made “all of us like the first one the best, just because of the

buzz we got out of filming for the first time and from the reaction we got.” Interestingly it was not just the lyrics Alex and his friends came up with, but the beat in that first video, “Whopper Trips” is an Alex Sheehan original. He laughed in a self-depreciat-ing manner at his former self who along with his friend and co-star Casey Walsh “were originally try-ing to be serious rappers, being all serious and all, it was the cringiest thing ever.”

However it was ultimately that initial interest, combined with their natural inclination, for lack of a better phrase, to take the piss that led Alex to mess around with different beats.

Eventually he put a beat together that he said “had this mad alien vibe, so I thought f**k all this serious shit, just take the piss and make a video about getting chased around by an alien, just for the craic.” That was that. What followed over the next two years was the release of just two more videos, and to say they blew up is an understatement. The release of their second song“She goes out with a red-hot” confirmed that they were no one-hit wonders with the song being viewed over 120,000 times more than their first attempt at comedy and with equally hilarious results. Now a few months on from the release of their latest song “Mad Scene” Alex isn’t really expect-ing anything to come from the versatile videos, but that doesn’t mean he would not welcome it and he says they are “going to keep making videos, and whatev-er happens, happens.” The next video should be avail-able soon, which is a mockumen-tary called “The Life of Sid”, a 14 minute short which going by its official trailer that’s up on Versatile official Channel, Outburst Produc-tions, is a must see.

“”Their most recent

video hit 100’000 views within a month.

by Shane Wheelan

by Anthony Neville

by Richie Quann-Dowling

We Asked...

Edition 2 | January 27

SPORTFAI to Contact BCFE in March by Joe MurphySports Editor

The FAI are to contact BCFE in March about the college putting forward a football team. Mark Scanlon, who is the national co-ordinator for schools and third-level foot-ball for the FAI has said that he, along with the FAI, ‘’en-courage’’ further education colleges to enter the leagues along with other third-level football teams. Mr Scanlon also said that that the FAI are “always open” for more teams to join. There are currently ten further education colleges that currently play within the CFAI (College football Asso-ciation of Ireland), including both Crumlin and Inchicore College of Further Education.

BCFE vice Principal Kevin Devine has recently said if there was “sufficient inter-est amongst students” this is something the college would be interested in. When asked about who could take charge of a poten-tial football team Mr Devine said: “Perhaps a person appointed as a sports officer might be a solution. This would need a specific budget which could be a problem.” Mr Devine also stated that if any students are interested they should contact the stu-dent council who will in turn bring the matter of creating a BCFE soccer team to the principal.

BCFE Graduate Jonny Stapleton Invites Students To Write For His New Websiteby Keith Duffy

Former BCFE student Jonny Stapleton has plunged himself into the media world with the exciting new football website the Junior Soccer Portal. Jonny studied in BCFE and completed the Broadcasting and Journalism course in 1998, then did the two years HND in Radio before going onto the degree. Jonny suffers with dyslexia but felt the college helped him overcome problems he faced and believes “the lecturers who ran the classes seen I had a bit of flair for writing and encouraged it.

They gave me a confidence that stood to me when I went into local journalism and then on to freelancing for papers and maga-zines all over the world.”

The soccer fanatic is also the editor of www.irish-boxing.com. His experience grew since leaving the college also becoming the Sports Editor of the Tal-laght Voice, he then worked as a freelance and had work published in all the Irish Nationals as well

as publications over the World. The former graduate was the UK and Ireland correspondent for the Manny Pacquiao magazine. The Former BCFE man was keen to advise current students looking to get into the media business:

“simply get your foot in the door and be proactive. There are no barriers to breaking into the me-dia and that was something I was told especially by Bernard Evans (who it turns out is a genius) but for some reason ignored it.”The Dubliner also talked about

how The Junior Soccer Portal has paved the way for “people who contributed to The JSP on a regu-lar basis have also secured jobs in the industry. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to work for free and the intern system goes against my

principles, but sometimes I just think if you want to do what you love you need to make sacrifices,” he stated.

Jonny and his business partner Derek McKenna are currently looking to take a full time reporter on their popular fast growing football website. The former student says he is “genuinely shocked at how little sports journalist hopefuls don’t use the site. We would never turn away anyone looking to gain ex-perience and I am sure that is the same for numerous media outlets across Ireland”.The graduate who has earned his trade in the college feels” there are always temptations to go back and study even more”. The foot-balling enthusiast is paving the way for students to gain experi-ence in the media world.

”““”There are no

barriers to breaking into the media.

We would never turn away anyone looking

to gain experience.

With the European cham-pionships on the hori-zon and with two warm

up games confirmed by the FAI, (Slovakia and The Netherlands), the buzz can be felt throughout all of Ireland. The sports team here at the BCFE Bulletin talked to some members of staff and students to see what their take was on Ireland’s group and how far they think the Boys in Green will go.

We Asked...What do you think of Ireland’s group

and how far do you think we’ll go?

“I think the group is very tough, and identical to the last Euro-pean championships. We’ll do well to beat Sweden. I believe we’ll qualify with the third best

place.” - Dylan Byrne

“The group is a tough one, but not as tough as the last one. I reckon it’s possible we can qualify, but I

don’t think we will.”- Sean Kearney

“I don’t think we’ll do well in the group. Belgium have a collection of Premier league players, Sweden have the best player in the tournament in Ibrahimović and Italy always seem to do well. We won’t qualify.” - Kevin Devine

“I think we will qualify from the group, and possibly push further.” - Kim O’Leary

Stapleton at Work with Boxing Promoter Eddie Hearn