Hello. My first blog post. What do I talk about? Who inspires me? Well, that list is a long one. My father of course for being such a great driver who constantly brought the Kelleher siblings and I to the cinema. My mother who allowed me read and watch what I wanted - within reason of course and off to bed before Benny Hill ruined our minds. She was right though, that old rascal would never be allowed on TV today. But as a film student and a film fan what started my interests about what was going on in front of the camera as well as behind it? Enter Timothy Dalton, Maryam D'abo, John Barry, John Glen and lots of detention. Let me explain. Around 1985 video rental went into overdrive. Everyone had a video recorder and now the race was on to rent out the latest video copies of recent cinema releases. I remember the local video rental shop in my home town of Millstreet having five copies of Rambo: First Blood Part 2 and about ten copies of Lethal Weapon. All due back "At any time" and "If they don't bring it back soon I'll have to go up there". Good luck trying to get back Lethal Weapon copies from some characters more crazy than Gibson's Martin Riggs. Anyway, no one was renting the latest Bond movie The Living Daylights. I got it, I loved it. I watched it again..and again, and again. Years later it still looks amazing. The locations, the action, the spy story dating back to Beria operations in Stalin's time, the acting and the direction. Yes, who inspired me? It was these four people. Dalton for his gruff no-nonsense get it done histrionics. There was something in his eyes that connected with me as well. Compassion maybe? Wait, I hear you say. Wasn't he the grumpiest of all the Bonds? Not so. The Royal Shakespearean, Wuthering Heights Heathcliff was stirring somewhere underneath. Dalton was action man at home but Dalton was also an excuse to read some Merchant of Venice from the school Shakespeare reading list and Dalton was definitely Kate Bush's Heathcliff when she screamed "It's Me. It's Cathy, I'm Coming Home Now". Meanwhile I got into trouble at school for whatever reason so insignificant now I can't remember. Detention loomed for hours in the library but lo and behold first edition copies of all the James Bond novels were within arms reach. Fleming's Bond was Timothy Dalton's Bond. Paydirt. As a teenager my reading and viewing life was merging. Perhaps my analysing skills. John Barry, along with a-ha and The Pretenders provided the soundtrack of my summer of 1988 and when Michael Kamen came along and nearly destroyed film soundtrack sales forever with 1989s Licence To Kill a return to listening to The Living Daylights was necessary. Then there is John Glen - wonderful John Glen. Every Bond movie directed by this one man in the 1980s. How we owe him for his Hitchcockian flair for extreme close-ups of ticking time bombs and unique visual trope of Bond being scared by an animal in every one of his films. I think British and I think John Glen. And Maryam D'abo. With her cello and bob haircut she became the most graceful thing I'd ever seen. Although playing the damsel in distress for a lot of the running time she always appears to be having one heck of a time. So there you go. Decades later I analyse films in college and at home and try to put that knowledge into practice making my own films. As you get older you accept a lot of stuff and I accept that all the Bond movie techniques throughout the decades are a benefit to anyone interested in making a film or trying to capture the zeitgeist of an era. Yes, some of them are terrible but there are always wow bits and pieces scattered about. When you start filmmaking yourself if you can get even one or two wow moments be it a writing piece, a shot selection, a piece of editing then that is true creativity in action. Who else inspires me? Oh that's a long list. Family members, friends, loved ones all shape one's life. From the past and the present many film directors, cast and crew have inspired me but no one wants to read a boring list of inspirational figures. Everyone has their own. But if anyone asks about Kieran Kelleher tell them I blame The Living Daylights.