They'll hate us for saying it, but the Internet just isn't sexy anymore. All that web-tastic multimedia ballyhoo - so two years ago, chaps. Not that we're trying to be party poopers or anything, but there were some stifled yawns when a lavish Telecom Eireann launch - presaged by levels of hype usually reserved for Papal visits or first contact with aliens - fizzled towards its denouement on Tuesday night.
So, there we all were, cooly admiring the starkly attired basement bar of Hugh O'Regan's latest venture, the smartly minimalist Morrison Hotel in Dublin. This silver and black leather architectural film noir might have been siphoned from the bleak imaginings of sci-fi artist H.R. Gieger but was actually conceived by architect Hugh Wallace and designer John Rocha. Lots of enigmatic green screens invited us to "Take Part", DJ Paul Webb (fresh from a birthday party gig for U2 manager Paul McGuinness) laid down great wodges of suspension building trip-hop and, until the official hour of 7 p.m., not a word about why we were even there. It was, you see, a surprise. Fortunately, there was a free tab to occupy the 600 or so business/arts crossover types who turned up. Playwright Conor McPherson arrived with producer Rob Walpole of Treasure Films. The duo are working on a new project, although with the financial side barely sorted out it was too early to give away any details. They were joined by Temple Films boss Ed Guiney.
Furniture designer Simon O'Driscoll, responsible for the hotel's cream leather stools, made it, as did Jay Bourke, owner of Eden Restaurant in Temple Bar and the Bodega pub in Cork, and hotly tipped young fashion guru Marc O'Neill, who created the Barbarella-esque cutaway numbers sported by the Corrs at their sell-out Lansdowne Road gig last week.
Entrepeneur Robbie Wooten was sipping complimentary wine and giving away little about his new venture with hulking Restaurant Peacock Alley proprietor Conrad Gallagher other than its location - Charlotte Quay - and name - Ocean. Token comedy presence was provided by Today FM's mysterious Navan Man, while dance promoters Trish Brennan and Rob O'Neill of Powderbubble fame announced plans for a big beat tent at September's Homelands Ireland dance festival in Mosney.
Alison Doody - she was in one of those Indiana Jones films, you know - and hubby Gavin O'Reilly popped in to say hi before dashing off for dinner at Browne's restaurant. RTE jack-of-all-trades Shay Healy, taking a break from Beastly Behaviour - and jocular Pop on 3 frontman Darragh Purcell were spied sharing a laugh by the stairs. And what was it all about? Oh, some multimedia thingamy. Telecom's new "digital publishing house", it was announced amid fireworks, explosions and techno overkill worthy of a U2 concert, goes by the name of Rondomondo (so quirky, these computer people), is headed by the company's boyish on-line overseer, Barry O'Neill, and will publish, among other things, video, audio and text-based products. We cheered uncertainly and galloped off in the direction of the free bar.