Defacing is always funny...

No matter how old I get it seems it's still hi-lair-ious to lipstick deface the drunkest person at the party, here is case and point. We are 28. That's all I have to say about that. In other news, more proof defacing is funny is this poster of Jennifer Love Hewitt hanging proud in Harolds Cross Road. Look's like Jennifer Love Hewitt's had some work done or better again is infact Gail Platt's long lost daughter. Sources have refused to comment on Hewitt appearance in Corrie

Sounds glamourous

So it's been a busy busy week for me, and stressful also. Not stressful in the sense of I was saving babies lives, tackling global warming issues or solving the world hunger. No, stressful in an advertising sense. So think of nightmares such as having to brief a stylish to source 10 t-shirts in tonal range of Pantone ref #f15a22. And wondering if 1950's styling would work within the brand guideline whilst still maintaining contingency with the TV. And wondering if we should shoot those roller boots in studio or natural light to get the most believable result and briefing retouchers so that we can achieve the perfect reflection. That type of stress. Anyhow upon complaining to my lovely mum she informed me that it didn't sound stressful at all. Infact it sounded glamourous, and she had spent the week building a ramp in our back yard so that Monty (our aging arthritic dog) could get into his bed properly. It's great having family, instant perspective, so you don't get caught up in the hype of your own industry. It also makes you realise how frigging lucky you really are doing your glamourous job.

Good news-Only the best bit's get in.


Have the guilts after my earlier rant. I'm going to counterbalance with with positivity. It's doubly good news. Here's why.
Firstly, we just got news we won the Club Orange Pitch. Woo hooo...
Secondly, I have an idea here that isn't going to the graveyard. Wayhey...

Check out our cheeky idea. Can you guess what it's about? It's not just gratuitous use of breasts. Ok it is, but there is some fun behind it. Club Orange is all about the bits and let us invite you to Club Bits. Every 19 yr old males fantasy factor operated by juicy ladies making fruity club orange with only the best bits. Ta da. Much more positive post. 

****Warning, rant below****


So is it just me or is it getting seriously effing annoying that brands are assuming that we have eff all better to do in our tragic little lives than log onto their online version of their mediorce site, developed as a spin off from their mediocre idea, of which was ultimately created to apply and tick all the boxes in......(drum roll please).......... you guessed it folks- social media. Whatever ever happened to a good old fashioned great idea? I miss them, they were.... great. They brought us fun and laughter and a little chuckles to break up the monotony. Then I liked them, and remembered them and you know what I even went and bought the products they endorsed because I thought- that's my kinda product. Shucks.
Anyhow, this cadbury's ad- spots v's stripes triggered this rant. Brands should never be arrogant enough to assume that people are interested. But good news if you actually are interested (loser) because you've been invited to log onto www.spotsvstripes.com and if that's not enough for you remember you have the TV, print, online, events, social media, with separate Facebook pages for Stripes and SpotsTwitter and YouTube. How lucky are you (loser).

Just some things I've learned from Niamh's Leaving do


  1. Drinking beer and then progressing to captain morgan and coke will make you dee-runk. Fact. Adding Jagerbombs to this, will make you invincible. Just saying.
  2. You can be uninvited to your friends celebrity house warming party. All you have to do is continue to refer to it as a "celebrity house warming" and threaten to turn up in a "I heart _____ (insert any celebrity name here)" t-shirt with potential tattoos of the same nature in inappropriate places.
  3. If you've spent all your money on alcohol and haven't any to get home, never worry. You can pay for the taxi home with an umbrella. Just keep insisting and then exit rapidly leaving all inside utterly confused. And yourself one umbrella down.
  4. Even though you think you're hilarious on the night, the cold sober light of morning soon makes you realise otherwise.

Tis the season to get married...

I've been a busy weekend of partying. We were off to another wedding. I've been taking more pictures. It's becoming like a second job for me- wedding photographer/ annoying guest who never leaves down the camera. I have the annoying part down to a fine art.
Here's a couple of shot's I took, I will upload more to flickr soon.

Coors Light since 1873


Today we lay another idea to rest. This time it's a outdoor authority campaign for Coors Light. I'm somewhat saddened to say goodbye (mostly because I made the effort with pretty scamps). RIP Coors Light scamps.

Jealousy, such an ugly trait.


A little background to this video. So I recieve an email from 'the secret husband' this morning. Yes, I'm on the Josh Ritter mailing list. It said this:
Sorry for the interruption folks, but this was too cool not to share. During Josh's show at The Tarrytown Music Hall this past Saturday night, the audience had quite the surprise for Josh and the band.  Thanks to an unknown fan (who are you?) who handed out glowsticks - with instructions - to the entire audience before the show, the performance of "Lantern" was a concert moment not to forget. It was really amazing. Here's the video.
Can you imagine my face right now when watching this. Let me paint a picture for you. It started off like being one of pure elation, literally grinning from ear to ear. So excited to see this video. Jaw dropped a little when all the glow sticks came out (I admit I'm a quite excitable). It progressed to full opened mouthed gawking and rapid eye movement, drinking it all in. And it ended up with a semi-discusted curled lip, head turned away from the screen but eyes still fully focus on the spectacle that some smart fecker pulled off. I'm really jealous I never thought of it
Ok, I have to admit it really ended up again with a huge grin watching Josh do his wee jig and getting so excited to the camera. Cute. 


Ok bye.

It's not goodbye...

Say hello to my friend (and also work colleague) the lovely and entertaining and not quite all there- Ms O'Loughlin- as she will be referred to as from now on. She leaves us (most importantly me) to go off teaching. I'll miss you Nivo, who else will I have to fight with over too small dresses left over from shoots. I trust you will continue to raise fashion standards (and hemlines) in the staff room. And always remember to conceal the crazy

Auld Irish postcards.


I took this shot on my way home this weekend, it reminded me of those old Irish postcard's my Granny used to sell in her shop. I thought I'd make my own version using this shot. I've included the original so you can see what I've done. I think it looks quite convincing I think. I think there's an idea in this somewhere... watch this space.

HEADLINE: Snow Patrol caught smuggling cheese

That headline could be an innuendo for a fart joke but instead it's a lead in to a concept for Coleraine cheese campaign (see more on previous post). Can you tell the client didn't buy any of my ideas. It's somewhat worrying but I'll encourage myself by showcasing it here instead. So my family and friends and perhaps a random surfer might smile. It think it could be a potentially funny campaign. 

Here's the science bit- In order to motivate affinity with Coleraine cheese and Northern Ireland consumers, Kerry foods set us the task of making Coleraine cheese synomous with Northern Ireland.  Who better to choose the NI born n' bread Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol. The campaign would take local celabs (as the say in NI) and show them feeding their Coleraine addiction. "Part of who we are" sign off further enforced the heritage of Coleraine cheese in NI culture. 

For all you no advertising/marketing type... just eat Coleraine. It's yum. 

Free idea-er's.

Concept thoughts for local cheese, Coleraine cheddar. The thinking behind it involved looking at sub-cultures within Northern Ireland and reflecting these in a photographic campaign. Northern Ireland has a proud heritage and an insular mentality so all countries have very much their own identity. For example Derry girls are notorious fashionista, similar to what North England (Liverpudlian and Manchunians) would be famed for. My favourite of the three is the ice-cream van. It's such a typical irish scene. It was a potentially sweet and funny campaign, but at the minute it's still just thoughts :(

Deception


So.... went to see Inception last night. Yip. Lots of questions. None of them answered by the way. I'm in a confused state. I was glad to see this from college humour. They didn't answer anything but I did enjoy that someone shared my bewilderment. Upception (above) on the other hand makes perfect sense. 

Montgomery Burns stars as Yoda


This post is dedicated to the loveliness of Monty aka 'The best dog in the world'. Poor wee man has arthritis which is a shocking reminder that he's getting old. He's twelve in human years which makes him about 196 in dog years. I hate to hear this. Anyhow I don't want to dwell on it and at least it's not anything more sinsiter. I just wanted to share this sweet pic of Monty doing his best Yoda impression. Posting this could be his big break into celebdogdom. Lassie watch your tail, Monty has more talent in his (slightly arthritic) left paw. xx

Upular




I just came upon this (get it, up-on). Scoff, scoff. Whatever, it's super cute, don't judge me- just watch it. I'm a big fan. I have no clue that they're saying. I hope it's in a foreign language otherwise I'm turning into my mother and I think it all music sounds like they're singing in foreign. Personally I like to think they're singing in Irish. Carl sounds like he's rapping "Go raibh maith agat" , so you're welcome Carl and you're awesome. Or as we say here in Eire, Ta tu go maith, agus an bhfuil cead agam dul go dti an leithreas.


Slan

Toy Story 3- epic


We've just seen Toy Story 3 (3D) and I'm not afraid to say EPIC. I intentionally capitalised this too. It was an emotional rollercoaster, I was laughing, I was crying, I was happy, then sad, then happy again. At time's I had to consciously relax my cheek muscels as I sat like grinning at the screen like a deranged lunatic. It's really super. I won't put out any spoilers here yet it's still a new release but you should definately see it. Look how happy it mad Fergal. Bonus happiness points due to the fact that he matched everything. 

Sneaky-da-boys


When my youngest brother was very little he christened our two dogs, Homer (Simpson) and Monty (Montgomery Burns) collectively as "Sneaky-da-boys". They always seemed to be constantly up to something, sneaking off together, sniffing round somewhere they shouldn't, chewing on something they shouldn't and generally up to no good. My Mam is very house proud so neither dogs have ever been allowed past the utility room ( as far as she knows anyhow) and certainly never on any furniture.

Lovely Homer has since passed a couple of years ago but Monty is continuing to fly the flag for sneaky-da-boys. I got this email from my brother this morning with attached pic:
"Monty stayed over in ours last night on his holidays unannounced. Therefore he did not have his overnight bag or any stuff with him. We let him sleep on the sitting room floor as it was warmer than the tiles in the kitchen and he was fast asleep. Evidently he decided that the leather couch suited him better. This morning we spotted him through the glass. When he heard the kettle boiling (and realised we were up) he gingerly got back off the sofa and lay back down on the floor again. All the while we were watching him. When we came into the room he was full of affection and innocent as you like "
This pic is evidence of the guilty perpetrator carrying out the sinful deed. Wait till Mam see this. Good on ya Monty. Long live sneaky-da-boys. 


ps: Myles, you could do with cleaning your glass. 

My secret husband


We went to see the wonderful Josh Ritter last night, otherwise referred to as "my secret husband"**. The 'secret' part of that phrase is key, Josh himself is completely unaware of my undying love. I like to think this makes it all the more romantic- shakespearean type love- the unrequited kind. 

Anyhow, it's rather tragic the amount of Josh's gigs I've been too and up until now I've cunningly avoided taking Fergal (my actual manfriend) with me- I couldn't risk him cramping my style if Josh spotted me. This time however I voluntarily offered him a ticket. What can I say, I must be getting kinda fond of him. 

As usual Josh crooned and I swooned and although Fergal typically doesn't pay a blind bit of notice, he did himself admit to actually questioning his own sexuality a few times that night. Josh Ritter, a man who can whisper sweet nothings into a crowd of hundreds and make everyone feel like it's solely directed at them, men and women alike. Now that's special. 

**reference only ever made by me. 
ps: check out the unimpressed expression on the randomer behind Fergal. I may or may not have been singing along too loudly. 

Cruising (for a bruising)

Today I went cruising with my homeboy- well my wee bro to be exact but he loves it when I use cool terms like 'homeboy' and 'chill-laxing', 'dude' and what not. Of course he plays it cool and pretends he feels really uncomfortable. Kinda like we do when our parents dance, or sing, or talk to other people. Anyhow, I'm sure he'll also love me posting a pic of him on the pink princess for all the world wide web to appreciate. I should mention that Johnny's only back from a year living in Amer-ika. So his tolerance for me at the moment it quite high. It's great, I feel kinda special, maybe even loved. In other news we discovered a chicken nugget the shape of Ireland. Can you imagine how interesting this was after one or two (hiccup) glass of vino. Good times. Welcome back Johnny.

Gone fishing

This is one of my boyfriends boats. This weekend we're going fishing in it. I'm concerned about how structurally safe this vessel is, however he assures me it's fine. This could be a clever and elaborate ploy to get rid of me, I've been doing inordinate amounts of nagging this past while. I'm writing this as my insurance policy should I go missing never to be found again. Pin it on him. He doesn't read my blog so we'll be safe in the anonymity of the web.


You may notice also that rather than focusing on the actual parts of the boat that concern me I took a pretty pic on my iphone instead. What can I say, I'm an artiste 'till the end.