So, the Republic Of Ireland is leading the global fight against music piracy with news just out that one of the country's biggest internet service providers (ISPs) has announced it intends to block websites which facilitate file-sharing, specifically peer-to-peer (P2P) sites, making it the first ISP in Europe, if not the world, to do so. So from now on, if you live down south you're going to have to pay for your music, movies and games just like God intended. That's that solved then, sure it was great while it lasted.

At this stage, Eircom's decision is still only a pledge but it's exactly how they will begin to implement their policy which will prove most interesting. We do know however, it's neither going to be cheap nor straightforward. It's easy enough to restrict access to certain sites, but there are ways that anyone with average computer skills can circumvent these blocks and, as they block-off one leak, another springs open. How are they going to stop people downloading from legitimate sites such as Rapidshare or Z-share for example? How are they going to stop people using MSN and AIM to swap music on a one-to-one level? It's just not possible, is it? I'd imagine the software needed to cover most of these methods of sharing is similar to that which ISPs use to prevent access to child pornography, software which is reportedly so expensive and difficult to deploy that amazingly, not all ISPs are willing to pay for it. So if the ISPs won't 100% prevent access to this kind of stuff, what hope have the record labels in getting them to prevent the illegal sharing of music?

Eircom have reportedly buckled out pressure from the Irish Recorded Music Association who were threatening court action over illegal file-sharing on their network. The size of the market we're talking about here is so small it's almost laughable. According to recent figures, half of Ireland's 4m plus inhabitants have internet access, with Eircom providing services to 57% of them, so we're talking a little over 1m users' services here. Subtract from that figure the number of users who don't actually illegally fileshare and we're left with a couple of hundred thousand users. The cynical among us will look upon it as Ireland being used as a testing-ground for other larger countries with much bigger ISPs to assess the implications of such a strategy, i.e. the bottom line. The record companies will do everything they can to protect their bottom line, but so will the ISPs. Looking at it from the other side of the fence, what if ISPs were suddenly to turn round and start asking the record companies for money because it's their product hogging all the bandwidth? They tried it on with the BBC when the iPlayer was launched with claims that their networks were struggling to cope with the extra demand being placed on them as a result of the huge amounts of data-rich content being streamed.

IRMA have also threatened other Irish ISPs with legal action though it remains to be seen how many of them will meet their demands. They are also reportedly adopting a 'three-strike' policy which cuts off services to individual offenders who download from illegal sites. This is a policy which last year was implemented by a number of UK ISPs in a deal with the British Phonographic Institute (BPI) before eventually, and perhaps inevitably, falling apart.

The whole thing is such a mess, it's difficult to see a viable solution and with services such as Last.fm and more recently Spotify popping up all the time it may soon reach the stage where we'll have access to all the music we want for free, legally. These are sites which give you unrestricted access to millions of songs for free, that you can also share with your friends and you won't get a criminal record for using. The difference being that advertising revenues filter down to record companies and eventually the bands see their small slice, although in Last.Fm's case their Artist Royalty Program has caused some debate.

While it's easy to criticise, coming up with solutions to the problem is a more difficult proposition. One of the most forward-thinking solutions brought to the table however, is the one proposed in the Isle Of Man. Under their proposals, people who live on the Island would be able to download unlimited amounts of music in return for a 'broadband tax' of around £1 per month with revenues eventually filtering down to the copyright owners. These are the kind of initiatives we need to be seeing more of as opposed to the draconian blanket approach currently favoured by the record companies.

The fight against internet piracy has been running for over 10 years now with no sign of the record companies defeating the pirates. Every approach so far has failed and will continue to fail until they realise that it's not a fight that can be won by carpet-bombing the perpetrators, by prosecuting children or by forcing companies to disconnect their customers. The longer the record companies adopt these strategies the worse it's going to get and the less important their increasingly tenuous role in the distribution of music will become.

A couple of weeks ago we asked you, dear reader, to send us your take on Rigsy's cheesy publicity shot where he's pointing in proper Jerry Maguire fashion to the public at large in a way that says "I understand your needs and I want to fulfil them with my remarkable radio show, so tune in". Well, when I say we, I mean Paul McClean did it because Rigsy was off for the day.

Quite a few of you responded with pictures that appear to ridicule our main man. Naturally that was not the intention at all, ok? But, as a public service, we feel honour-bound to publish them anyway.

Keep sending your entries to [email protected] and we'll stick them up here, provided they fall within our strict guidelines of taste, decency and making Rigsy look mildly foolish.

Stupid Adverts

Now I don't want to sound like Peter Griffin, but do you know what really grinds my gears? Adverts on telly that say ridiculous things without any hint of realising how ridiculous they sound. There are the old classics of course, like ones for cosmetic or laser eye surgery that, after relaying the benefits of their treatment (being able to play tennis, be sexy etc), reassure you that "our procedures are carried out by fully qualified surgeons". Really? I sort of assumed that. If I need any of that stuff doing, I think I'll go with a firm that doesn't feel that having qualified surgeons performing their surgery is one of their main selling points thanks all the same.

Or the ad for InjuryLawyers4U - the Toys'R'Us of the legal world - where the bloke who was a bit nasty in The Bill and Eastenders (and what sort of message is that supposed to convey?) lets you know that the people who will be representing you in your quest for compensation are "real lawyers". He actually says that. He actually says "they're real lawyers". In an advert for a law firm! Have I gone mad? Is there a firm offering to represent people in court proceedings that doesn't employ "real lawyers"? I would guess they're struggling.

The latest is the advert for RAF careers that shows loads of random stuff from civilian workplaces coalescing into a cool looking fighter jet before informing us that "you don't have to be a pilot to fly in the RAF". ARE YOU SERIOUS!!?? WHY NOT? Let's hope for Britain's sake that there's not another major conflict fought in the air then, because I don't reckon that a motley crew of nurses, telephonists and health & safety advisors would be able to emerge victorious.

What next, you don't have to be able to sing, play an instrument or write songs to be a famous and popular musician?

Hmmm? Eh? Oh. I see.

And don't even get me started on Iggy Pop. Dear, oh dear, oh dear.

I'm posting for no reason at all other than I was listening to this today and have always thought it's my favourite song ever...

It has beats. It has strings. It has weird lyrics. It has everything!

More so than usual, there's an infectious buzz about the Across the Line office, most of it starting life at the work station of producer Paul McClean.

Since being approached by the city council (specifically our good pal Adam Turkington from the Waterfront Hall/Trans), Paul has worked insanely hard on 'Do You Remember The First Time', a collaborative gig on March 9th to help re-open The Ulster Hall, but the gig has taken on a life of its own.

Something else has got involved.

It started out as your standard, ludicrous concept - a gig in that most wonderful of venues - with Northern Irish bands playing songs of their own and bands they'd seen at the Ulster Hall at some point in the past. A great, if overly ambitious idea for sure. McClean is only one man, after all, and it didn't help that every time the poor sap headed down to the Mace to grab his tobacco product of choice, he'd have to walk past the Ulster Hall and be reminded of just how massive, grand and vaguely intimidating it is inside.

We'd both recall The Strokes playing and the din from two thousand grateful punters drowning out the guitars of the best indie band of the last ten years. We're thinking about The Chemical Brothers and those beautiful visuals which almost overshadowed that enormous pipe organ.

I'm personally recalling the night I actually got to stand on the stage and perform myself, as the band I played keyboard and sang with supported The Thrills a few years back, what it felt like to look out across that sea of heads, feeling like there was an actual proper chance part of me might burst with joy.

Story time with Stuart Bailie has often brought up memories of legendary Ulster Hall shows by the likes of The Clash, while older friends have often boasted about seeing Rage Against the Machine. Imagine that, like.

So we're nervous about even attempting to do a 'work thing' inside somewhere like this. It feels like organizing a kick about with your mates, but doing it in front of a full house at Camp Nou.

Having said that, things began to look up pretty quick.

"Neil Hannon is onboard", says Paul, the same way your housemate might inform you that he has some leftover chips in the pan, should you want them for supper. Keeping in mind that I genuinely believe Neil Hannon to be the greatest songwriter since John Lennon (and I don't care if that sounds ridiculous, I've actually thought about this long and hard, as one tends to do, and I can't think of anyone else who has a bigger collection of songs I absolutely adore), this was not the type of news you expect to hear casually thrown across the office.

"Peter's onboard and he's covering *****" (spoiler removed)

I'm thinking how massive Duke Special is, how he actually sold this venue out on his own. I'm sitting across the office, displaying the type of wide-eyed bemusement a child would if a cartoon character wondered out of the TV, onto your lap and handed you a sweet. Things are starting to snowball.

The newer acts picked themselves. Panama Kings, Lowly Knights, Fighting with Wire, Cashier No. 9... they've been hammered on our playlists the last year and earned their place on this bill by being great.

Which isn't to say there's loads of omissions. Certain bands being left off the bill is nothing shy of scandalous, in my eyes, but there was only so much room.

"Therapy? now onboard, going to close the gig" - even Paul couldn't help but smile at this one. They'll be savage.

"Iain Archer... Foy Vance... Jetplane Landing"

Now we're both beginning ot think that every single band from this country who've sold a few records and made a decent racket in the last twenty years are going to end up on the biil for our wee gig. With a couple of exceptions.

"Ash... aren't going to be doing it."

It's good to get a little bit of perspective at this point, to be reminded that we're not actually dealing with a magic wand here, we're dealing with agents, with budgets, with management, with tour schedules, with riders, hotel rooms and airlines.

24 hours later though - "Ash are doing it."

So it is a magic wand after all. Great! That's helpful! Currently, we are waving that wand in that last little corner. Amazingly, it still seems to be working.

If anyone reading this can imagine how it would feel to get a load of your favourite bands to play a gig at the same incredible venue on the same wonderful night - well it's the same for Paul and myself.

We're not promoters, we don't put on gigs for a living - so we're as blown away by the prospect of this show as any of you lot would be if you happened to be in charge. We can't believe our luck that it's all come together, although there is the slight niggle that the whole thing will go belly up on the night to make up for the fact everything went so incredibly well in the build up. A monumental banjax in front of our bosses, our peers, our parents, our favourite bands - it's literally the kind of thing that would happen in some daft technicolor nightmare. But lets not even go there.

We hope this gig works. Not just for the people who were lucky enough to get tickets (that doesn't include most of our mates, by the way) but for anyone who tunes in to listen on the night or watches the TV coverage, which is set to be broadcast on St. Patricks Day.

We are extremely grateful for ATL's legacy - mostly the work of Mike Edgar (who is, as it happens, heavily involved with this gig in his role as head of production), helped out recently by the current team (who's four ugly mugs appear at the top of this blog), Donna Legge, Joe Lindsay et all. It's given the words 'Across the Line' a certain, notable weight among Northern Irish bands, to the extent they are willing to drop everything and come have a bit of a laugh with us to celebrate the greatest venue in the country. It's something we are endlessly proud of and will never take for granted.

We're doing everything we can to honour that legacy and make for what we honestly think could be the greatest gig this city has seen it years.

Bring it on.

Ok you've seen them online everywhere. There was the dancing girl. There was Peter Crouch's amazing spider-kick, and now the boy who looks like a thumb. Internet phenomena like this are amazing. When groups of people who should be doing far more important but much less creative things for their paymasters become fixated with warping images then great things happen.

What happens when Rigsy takes a day off? Well, we simply post a pic of him and ask you, dear reader, to think of the most head-melty scenario to drop our man into. E-mail your pics to [email protected]

Should you be unable to find yourself bothered to do this, why not try a witty or insightful caption in the reply field. Thanks to daft former colleagues behaving badly, we are unable to offer a prize for your valiant efforts but the kudos and plaudits you will surely receive will be reward enough, we are sure.

So here is the pic...

We want to make this a regular ATL blog feature, so get busy... and remember keep it clean and keep it country.

I was at my parents' house the other week scooping the proceeds of their oft-vaunted but more often procrastinated clear-up of the attic. Basically, my windfall contained some spare baubles I could maybe hang on my Christmas tree, some embarrassing singles from my youth (Shakin' Stevens' Green Door anyone?) and an absolute shed-load of old comics and annuals. The experts on the Antiques Roadshow will not exactly be rubbing their hands.

Naturally, leafing through old copies of The Beezer, The Dandy, Whizzer & Chips and The Beano (not to mention Oink which, did you know, Marc Riley once drew for), took me on a bit of a nostalgia trip that I won't bore you with, but it also got me to thinking that I probably haven't bought and read a proper comic in at least a decade. But no matter, like most things these days, you can now get your comic fix online.

***WARNING: The pages of TV Go Home, Unnovations and Get Your War On linked to below all contain strong language and adult themes***

For me, the fun started with the discovery of TV Go Home back in 1999 during the first job I had that provided internet access (the fools!). It's a bit more edgy than the Radio Times, granted, but it totally cracked me up and marked my first encounter with the genius of Charlie Brooker. It was also the original home to one of his more well-known creations, Nathan Barley. At that time I was working for an internet start-up in central London, so I could see how accurate the Shoreditch / fake wide-boy / media jerk caricature was, simply by turning round in my chair and taking in the 'charms' of some of my colleagues.

As is the genius of the web, a small and innocuous link on the navigation of TV Go Home led me to another Brooker creation (along with his Zeppotron pals) - Unnovations. Again, in true Brooker style, it's not exactly one for the easily offended, but it confirmed me as a follower of a writer who has latterly brought further amusement and insight with his Screenburn columns in the Guardian newspaper and the brilliant Screenwipe on BBC Four.

Probably the greatest comic discovery you can make on the web though, is David Rees' Get Your War On. Sometimes you are just fortunate enough to idly stumble upon greatness. It provides an acerbic and insightful commentary on American government in digestible chunks that surfaced around the time of the outbreak of the 'War On Terror'. It's one collection of cells that former president Bush probably wasn't counting on providing savvy opposition. Sadly, no new cells will be appearing as Rees brought the strip to a close in January 2009 but, like TV Go Home and Unnovations, it has by now 'graduated' to hard copy and is available in all good bookshops (and a few rubbish ones). Online is still the best place to digest it though, especially given that the vast archive does not appear together in one volume anywhere else.

Of course, these three comic masterpieces were all some time ago. These days there is a proliferation of new online comic strips (such as XKCD or Explosm, to name but two), as well as many of your old favourites brought to a new platform (hey, maybe I don't need to leaf through all those issues of Roy of the Rovers to find the one where the brothers out of Spandau Ballet signed for Melchester Rovers). It's like keeping it old skool, in a new skool way. I also found, when having a hoke about the Guardian website for the revival of You Are The Ref (a former staple of Roy of the Rovers), news of an alarming new publishing empire about to hit whatever the digital equivalent of the newsagents' shelves is. Happily, it's already being lampooned, even before it's started. The comic tradition lives on.