Happy Christmas 2006
November 30, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Check out our lovely snowy scene on the home page…doesn’t it make you feel all festive? Break out the mince pies, I smell mulled wine, now where’s me ice skates?…
I had a particularly enjoyable Dublin Christmas moment the other day. I had to dash out to the GPO to get something. It was busy at the counter I needed, and the queue was a long one. Normally this would involve a bit of stressful waiting around, but on Wednesday it was a wonderful moment.
The GPO was celebrating putting up their Christmas decorations, and they had 2 ould lads playing music - one on piano, one on the fiddle. They were positioned up there beside the place where the crib used to be - now they are ecumenical and have moving reindeer - their brief was to play some carols, but they had a bit of a fan club going on, and let’s just say that the 2 guys were rising to the occasion!
The fan club comprised 3 ladies, all in their 70’s if they were a day! One was tall, slim, and had white hair recently done up in a ’set’ (if you don’t know what that is, you may want to google it - historical hair styles), one was shorter, plumper, with straight grey ‘no-nonsense’ hair style. And the third, was a fashionable grey haired lady. All looked quintessentially Irish, Dublin maybe, certainly women who’ve lived to see great changes in this city of ours.
What charmed me was that they were acting like young ones! They were all coquettishly singing along to the carols, and blushing when the guy on the fiddle drew attention to them! While I stood silently waiting for counter 20, the music changed to an Irish jig and before I knew it, tall one and small one were Irish dancing in the GPO! They knew the moves alright and were certainly light on their feet. When the jig finished up, all the on-lookers gave them a big cheer. All of us Asian mommies with kids in buggys, African workers posting stuff home in time for Christmas, Irish women queueing for visas, ….Dubliners all of us, new and old.
I came away with a strong sense of warmth. I really hope that when my generation becomes the older generation . . that we have time and inclination to dance around the GPO, that we take pride in giving directions to people who look lost on our streets, that we interrupt foreigners on the bus to help them get off at the right stop . . and wave at them as they walk away. I love the fact that my home town has become internationalised. My wish is that we don’t lose what makes us uniquely what we are - warmth, friendliness, a certain degree of nosiness, and a people with the time to down tools and do a jig!!
I just hope we haven’t become too cool for school!
What do you think?
The Same Old Shit in 2006
November 24, 2006 at 9:51 am
Anyone seen this month’s Business Plus magazine? It’s a disgrace. The ‘Top Ten 2006″ issue - the usual top 10 entrepreneurs, top 10 mishaps, etc etc. Included in all of this is the Top Ten PR Shots - or more accurately models in bikinis. And that’s pretty much all that Business Plus has to say about women for 2006.
Flick past the 4 men on the cover, peruse the contents and you’ll see a shot of Peter Stringfellow and his girls, one of the bikini beauties on the left, and lots of hard hitting serious men. Turn the pages and your heart will sink. It’s all about the lads. There’s another ‘lovely lady’ on page 35 but she’s the girl from the Fas ad… Page 37 we finally get to see a woman in business, but she’s with her husband, she’s an ‘ambitious robson’.
It’s very sad that the only representation us women have in that magazine is of the PR girls holding other people’s products. Disbelieving, I actually looked hard to see if the PR shots were published for some other reason - like the photography, or the product, branding…but no. It’s just for the flesh in the shot.
This is the same magazine that Siobhan O’Connell works for. She is the Advertising Manager who regularly features on the breakfast show on Newstalk. She’s bright, articulate, and a breath of fresh air. She’d be a good role model for any young woman who is starting out in business, media, whatever. It’s sad that this piece of ‘journalism’ that is more akin to 1976 has come from the publication she works for.
And it’s the same everywhere. I’ve just started reading the amusing and well written ramblings of The Swearing Lady from the Arse End of Ireland and in one of her rants about coked up tiger Ireland, she says “I know a lot of young fellas who had trades before they were twenty-one, setting them up for at least ten years in the concrete boom of Celtic Tiger Ireland (less luck if you’re a girl, though. I hope you like the smell of till receipts!).”
Permission to Podcast Sir
November 17, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Do you think it’s right to let people know when they’re being recorded? Or would you be of the opinion that stealth brings out the truth?
Last night we were at the IIA Awards and our table had a disproportionate number of podcasters - a pod of podcasters? It seemed like there were mics all over the place - lurking in the bread rolls, under the salt shaker…there were lots of leading open ended questions being asked, and with the wine a flowing, I just couldn’t help myself - setting forth my opinions, putting the world to rights. It was only when the innocent seeming interrogator kept glancing down at the bread rolls that I saw the mic - switched on, little green light blinking as it lapped up my words. Shocked. Aghast. Thinking what the hell did I just say?
Don’t you think that there should be some sort of podcasting etiquette? I just think it would be polite to let someone know that every word they say is being recorded and will be available for download from a site near you. I know natural is good, free flowing is fun, but at least give people a chance.
At least they can’t podcast bad dancing!!
Taking Bets
November 15, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Anyone know how much the new Bus Eireann website cost? View site here.
We think it’s shocking! And the really sad thing is that it probably cost a fortune to develop.
And another thing.. we’d like to know why Bus Eireann has 7 buses on one of our desired routes between 3.30-5.30pm, and then after that they have 1 at 7pm and 1 at 11pm.
Coverage of the Webbys
November 15, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Thanks to our favourite PR client, Simpson FTPR, we’re getting some good coverage about the Webbys. Latest one here.
Webbys for Ireland Site live!
November 13, 2006 at 6:52 pm
Live and luscious. Sharp and not twee. Check out the Webbys4Ireland site that we’ve just put up to promote the Webbys. Thanks to webhost.ie for providing the hosting, always reliable and a pleasure to deal with!
If you know of a great Irish website that you think could hold its own on the global stage, please let me know. There are over 100 categories to enter, and if you’re feeling a little put-off by the potential high calibre of the competition - don’t be. Check out last year’s nominees, they’re not all good. Yes, many of them are, but there is plenty of talent this side of the Atlantic that could know spots of these. That’s why I became involved as Ambassador - because I truly believe there are some serious Irish contenders.
More news on social networking
November 8, 2006 at 8:43 am
A new social networking site has just come to my attention. You’ll either love it or hate it: it’s a social networking site for cats. And I’m not talking the hip and cool variety. No, if you’ve got 4 legs and fluffy hair and an ability to purr, then Catster.com is for you!
Meet Karma Kitty! Karma Kitty is very young, she’s black (or should I say African American?), likes playing with balls and on the affectionate scale, she rates a high 10!
Interested? I’ll bet you are!
So what can you do on this site? You can browse the profiles, read the day in the life stories and if you would want to make friends with Karma Kitty or indeed donate a fish treat, you just need to become a member, and then click on a cute icon to donate or reach out to make friends.
Strictly in the interests of research, we logged on. There are some very strong warnings about how you MUST actually have a cat, no pretenders here please, and how you MUST NOT load up any pictures of people, it’s an all-cat show. Presumably this is to stop the lady cat owner brigade from posing with their cute pussys? Our entry, Harry the Shitty Kitty was up just a few minutes before a concerned member flagged the page as being rude and offensive. There’s a team of legal experts battling it out in Ohio (or some other middle American state) right now about whether Harry, 8 months, from Kildare, will be allowed to stay on the site. Keep an eye on how Harry’s doing, click here.
And if you’d like to join the campaign to set Harry free, please add your comment below. Free the Kildare 1. Support freedom of speech for all kittys - no matter how shitty!!
And I’d like to thank. ..
November 3, 2006 at 6:29 pm
everyone who voted for me! Am so thrilled to be shortlisted for the Internet Marketer Award of the Net Visionarys. This is down to you lot who voted for me, thank you.
I’m particularly pleased because I’m up against Brendan Hughes of VHI and Fintan Lonergan of Aer Lingus. They’re both client-side so Brightspark is the only agency shortlisted. Does this mean then that we’re the best agency in Ireland? {You may comment below!}
Now this all throws a huge amount of turmoil my way over the next couple of weeks. What does a girl wear to such a glittering event like this? Heidi and I will be attending the event, sure it’ll be a great night out. I’d just like to say for the record here that I think Heidi should have been shortlisted for the best designer award actually. Please make sure you vote early and vote often when next year’s awards come round.
Thanks again everyone!
