A loud laugh bespeaks a vacant mind

I just watched the above clip literally eight times. It's so brilliant, I cannot stop laughing. This type of thing entertains me no end. Writing that down makes me feel really sad. None the less it is fact and here's proof. A selection of shots of me and my lovely ladies photo-boothing ourselves. I also have a series of videos but I have been forbidden from sharing "for my own health and safety". The clip above is much more awesome that we could ever have achieved, we spent too much time fighting over who was getting a look in. Also I have a really big hunch that we think we're much funnier than we really are in reality. Hey, as long as we're happy.

Please note that these shots are old and from a period I like to refer too as "what the F were you thinking". I have since return to my blond* roots.


*chemically enhanced

Super Grannies

This is so fricking cute it’ll make your heart melt into marshmallowy gooey goodness. Photographer Sacha Bada photographs his granny in some seriously cool set ups. With this series he has made super gran a reality, not just an awesome 80's kids TV hit. 


I find it really endearing that he took the time and effort to make his gran feel this special, it's a bonus that his images are so super (sorry about that). Check out the whole series on his site. Here’s a little background: 
“A few years ago, French photographer Sacha Goldberger found his 91-year-old Hungarian grandmother Frederika feeling lonely and depressed. To cheer her up, he suggested that they shoot a series of outrageous photographs in unusual costumes, poses, and locations. Grandma reluctantly agreed, but once they got rolling, she couldn’t stop smiling."

She's an amazing lady. The whole series made me think of the time I spent with my granny and also of a series of photographs I took. My effort was much more pathetic by comparison (damn you Sacha) but I'm really pleased I have them to look back on now. It also should be said that granny was a much less willing accomplice. There is also the argument that she hadn't really any idea what she was doing. It's no wonder she became irritated at my persistence that "these are your actual glasses granny, honestly". She was on to me. Anyhow, enjoy these and I'll sign off before 'Friends of the aged' catch up with me and have me put on some sort elderly abuse offenders list.

Ask me anything? (please)

Someone? Anyone out there use formspring? Well, either it's just not taken off in Ireland or it just hasn't taken off anywhere. Surely it's implausible that no-one would want to ask me anything, ever. Scoff, scoff. Isn't it!?! 


What's really tragic about my formspring profile is that I still continue to answer the computer generated questions in a vain hope that a real person may eventually ask me a real question. (Ultimately allowing me to warble on about myself to feigned interest from real person). Please be that real person. I'd love to share my favourite colour with you. 

Offsetting my drama

I spent some weekends past at offset in Dublin's Grand Canal theatre (pretty). How very cultural of me, I know. Anyhow, my inspiration was undermined by the dark cloud hanging over me having essentially crashed the company car earlier that morning. It's a long story, one which (incase anyone from work ever comes across this) I refuse to make any further comment on until I see my lawyer. Oh fuck it. Here goes.... The main thing you should know is that I made it to my destination alive, but not before proving how utterly incompetent and generally mentally unstable I am.

The actual incident itself is pretty unmemorable, the bottom of the car was hanging low due to absolute negliance of a company pool car, this coincided with the sheer hard luck of a slow puncture meant the damn thing would not clear a speed ramp coming up to a roundabout. Some spine chilling screeches later and I have essentially torn off the bottom section of the car. It looked pretty bad- some little black wires, the lights and small springy bits jutted out from underneath adding to the "holy fuck" factor. That's about as much technical information I can give you. 


So I'm sitting awaiting my brother to my rescue with a hammer, or a wrench or something from a tool box and I'm feeling useless. I decide my flat buster tyre, broken lights and hanging off bonnet are not enough to be concerned with and 'feeling sorry for myself' should get a look in too. So I have a good cry to myself, demolish a pack of Mega Monster Munch and shamefully half a packet of malteasers someone had stowed away in the glove compartment for god knows how long (they were slightly chewy).


I soundtracked this eating/weeping fiasco with some Johnny Cash on repeat. "Hurt" was particularly poignant because my pride was so very hurt-ed. I was beginning to enjoy the drama and melancholy of it all when I realised I'd probably flatline the battery. iPhone to the rescue, I found the ultimate power ballad- featuring Bonnie Tyler and Meat loaf (WOW)- wait for it "Have you ever seen the rain". Power ballads are so empowering (hence the name I suppose). About 38 secs into the track I realised Bonnie was talking to me and no sooner had I realised but I was imagining myself as some kinda of tragic heroin from a movie who would despite everything would over come all the odds before being carted off by a handsome prince on a white steed.

I can recommend this little trick to any emotionally unstable ladies out there. Suddenly your situation is less pathetic and strangely epic. Thankfully this is the point, where imagination and reality would have collided. Patrick, said brother arrived and sorted everything out. Not silently of course. He moaned and groaned, because he's my brother and I'm an idiot. Thankfully I've mastered the technique of selective hearing learned from my father and his instruction to "drive very slowly on the motorway" as I had "a temporary tyre on and it was very hazardous in the wet conditions" was absorbed and all other lecturing dismissed.


Off I headed chugging along through the apocayltic rain at 40KM per hour down a MOTOR-WAY. It took about 6 minutes before it dawned on me that he was actually trying to fucking kill me. Motor-way's in torrential rain at 40mph per hour are not a safe place, let me tell you. I guess this was his pay back for all those years spent torturing him, hogging the front seat, making him play Flower Fairies, calling him out on a Saturday morning to come and rescue me from a motorway with a flat and a busted light. That type of thing. People are crazy fricking drivers now a days. One truck practically forced me of the road, this is fact. I wish I had evidence apart from 01-DL-1962, just kidding. I've no idea of the plates I was too busy trying to save myself from imminent death. It wasn't all bad though, I quite enjoyed when speeders let me know I was only doing 40km in my tricycle by sitting on the horn whilst rearending me for 99.9% of the journey. That wasn't stressful at all. When I arrived in Dublin, 3 hours later I realised I should probably have put on my hazard lights. Let's never speak of this again. 


All this trauma made it difficult to concentrate on offset, which is a shame. I will say though that Chris Haughton was my highlight and Gary Baseman was my lowlight. You can see an interview with the lovely Chris here. And hopefully never ever have to endure Basemans creamy love without previously consenting to it. 

 

Check out me re-design

Got me some large image display going on now. Magic, though I may need to call upon the trusty photoshop for all future shots of my lovely self featured. Either that or I'll politely request you only view this blog drunk (it'll be much funnier then too) or without your glasses/contact lens in tact. Drunk is my preference though, beer turns 'bow' into 'wow'.


That is all.

Focus Ireland

I meant to post these sooner. Some work I've just finished with photographer Liam Murphy for Focus Ireland job. See my previous post for an unprofessional look at our lovely model Ciara

Nerd happiness

I'm currently experience a euphoria I can only describe as tragic. A blog post of some notebook sheets I found on etsy and shared has just went viral. In the space of a day 1,600 people have visited my blog. My wee dashboards having a coronary. My anayltics, previously guilty of flat-lining have went into anaphylactic shock. And I feel strangely proud. I mean, it's not my work that's going viral, but I'm reaping the rewards- how cool is that. I now owe the universe something. Please accept the dinner I concucted last night from left over fajita's mix and a potatoe and two peppers. It was ok, someone somewhere would be thankful. I'll put it in a portal I call the fridge and throw it out in two days time if none-one wants it. 

I should say too thanks to you RetroNaNa for coming up with this super fabric and making the blog word love it but mostly thanks to myself for being a serial shopper and discovering it on the ever fabulous etsy. Todays a good day.

Ps: 1,670 since I started writing this post.

A little group...

of nerds, on route to the pub on a Fri night like American teenagers in a gang.

Notice Keith's most excellent sparkling accessory. I'm jealous. Would have looked much better on Poppy. Just saying, is all.

Mumkin the pumpkin

Carving fun from work brings out incredibly competitive (and dark) side to creative. Check out the pumpkin fun. John and Kerry were the winning team with their visual commentary on Dublin's North side, missing from the shot are the benefit cheques.

I'm kinda of ashamed to admit that Keith and I made the massacre at the end. We didn't win, the word disturbed was used a lot. Happy Hallowe'en.

PS; Nothing could make it happier than this- Favourite. Commercial. EVER:

Having a cardiac arrest at 20... something

My idea of a hike isn't really a hike at all. In fact it's more like a casual stroll in the wilderness, dressed inappropriately but justified by the fact I have wellies on and am therefore being pratical (they're hunter, incase your interested). It's a look I like to coin as countrival (country/festival) chic. It's compulsory I take my camera with me as I need to document my life constantly to the annoyance of others (except Rachel, who is fabulous and never tires of posing).


Anyway, back to our "hike". We typically wander round, appreciate natures beauty but mostly our own in the form of a country chic photo shoot. I like to think of myself as a photographer and Rachel is an excellent and willing subject. Usually we round up our afternoon with hearty lunch in some quaint country pub. Rachel is normally my accomplice in these expeditions and an excellent one at that I might add, the last time we "hiked" we ended up in Dundrum shopping centre in our "gear" and actually managed to by-pass all exercise altogether progressing on to our country pub. To be fair, the escalator wasn't functioning and we dig have an exhausting trek up and down the stairs of Berskha. My shopping bag was so damn heavy. I include a pic of Rachel and I on one of our most recent hiking trips. 


The point of recalling this magnificent trip is for comparative purposes. This weekend I received an invite from another friend to hike. That friend is Niamh (the ball breaker) O'Loughlin. The first clue I should have ran for my life was when I turned up (at my leisure) for our 10 o clock call (anyone else think she's getting too into her new teaching role). Upon arrival I was informed that I was inappropriately clad and late. Guilt-ridden I hastily changed into something I can only describe as waterproof. I felt like a child who had just broken the good ornament so I sat suspiciously quite and incredibly agreeable in the car as we literally set a new land speed record in a 1990 VW golf to Glendalough. If I thought for one second that was going to be the low point of the day then I can only look back as my little naive self and shake my head in pity.


Check out the little moodboard I've created. How very art director of me- using pictures to tell the story, it does give an indication of the vastness I have travelled, I also like to think of it as proof incase you don't take my word for it. 

According to sources online this Glendalough walk is 9km long, f*ck you online source. Have you ever actually walked this route? Are you purely referring to the distance from the car park to the beginning of the trek? It must be at least 9-fucking-k of an actual climb. Then take into consideration that you're with gym bunny Niamh, her gym bunny friends and Freddie, her psycho ADHD dog. My only saving grace came in the form of Grainne (the smoker) with whom I formed the deepest bond of my life. At one point when I thought I was going into cardiac arrest a pair of (at least) 70yr old ole biddies passed us on the climb and sympathetically patted my back using the words "go easy pet, it's a terrible climb", with which I immediately responded with a lie mumbling the word asthma.

I do have to admit though that I really loved the day. Having got over the shock of the climbing Everest on 4hours sleep and a hangover the down hill process was a breeze. I got some sweet pics and the opportunity to try out my new lens- see here and best of all 

I had thee most delicious soup from Avoca followed by a heated cinnamon scone with cream and jam. Nothing builds up an appetite like a walk/hike/trek/expedition in the country.

The meme, blogged

This is my Mam posing it up in our hall. This just came through on my email. There's no real reason for this mail other than she likes to let us (the family) know she's fabulous, and generally to get some attention. Mostly though, this is just the type of thing she likes to do when she has an audience (the family). She's regretting it now though as I've told her it's been blogged and even though she has no idea what this actually means she does know that this, not the most flattering photograph ever taken, is now on the world wide web somewhere. So, Hi Marie. You're looking good, but as Granny would say- your skirt's far too short. 


Here's a teeny little collective of just some of the meme working her magic.

United we're useless.

The Social Network has re-inforced our inferiority complex. I speak for us collectively, when it's probably only me. My friends are equally inferior (heck that's why we're friends) so they should have felt it too, even if they didn't. Trust me on that. No-ones been near Harvard.  

Anyhow, rather than go home and do something constructive having seen it, we went to the pub. On one hand, it further endorsed our fruitless existence, and on the other Mark Zuckerberg did actually come up with the genius 'facemash' when smashed (see what I did there) and I was willing to investigate my own intelligence when intoxicated, in the interest of social science of course.

Unfortunately the only talent we did reveal was that of the hipstamtic's atmospheric capture lens and Ciaran's creepy ability to appear dead. All is not lost though, we managed to convince Phil (below) into wearing tights for Hallowe'en as an evil (gay) jester, and harrass Will into organising tickets for a post house Hallowe'en bash, which none of us we're initially cool enough to get a personal invite too. Productive evening after all, take that Zuckerberg.

Ps: It's a cool film, very well cast. Go see it. 

MINI Countryman launch

Some outdoor work Phil and I created for the launch of The new 4 door MINI countryman. 
This is the first bit of MINI business Chemistry have created since winning the pitch last month. 
I am in love with this car. Not least because I've been staring at it all day everyday for the past couple of weeks but also because I've never taken an interest in any car as much as this. I have a very indepth knowledge of this machine. For example, it's got four doors and it's silver, it's really shiny and cute and it's got a 1.6L 4cylinder with twin-scroll turbocharger, direct fuel injection and fully-variable valve management based on BMW group's valvetronic technology. Yip. I just don't really know what that does. Did I mention it's cute?
What I can tell you is that I'll be taking this on a weekend test soon and I've promised the mammy we'd be cruising in style round our wee town. Windows down, beats on. Now all I need to do is continue my harrassment of client services to make this dream happen. 

Brrrrr it's cold outside.

Here's some MINI cuteness. MINI's are a bit like a puppy or a kitten. They're already so lovely, accessorising them just accentuates this- here's further proof if you need it. 


To recreate this 'look' you'll need a giantantic ball of yarn, a free month of your life, some superb knitting skills, and last but not least your very own MINI. 


Alternatively cheat like me, and befriend some excellent retouchers. hey presto! Instant cuteness.

Barnados charity

Photo submission that raised €775 for charity. Way-hey

The Town

Everyone should see this. It's a great film, I have little comment on it otherwise... except that I now want to move to Boston- but not to the projects. And also that Ben Affleck is seriously hot. Why did I not know this before. If The Departed with a dose of 8 mile are right up your street then you should definitely see this. Ok. Bye.

What I've been up too...

Loads. That's what. True story. I've just completed our launch campaign for the new MINI countryman which means I can now concentrate all my efforts trying to weasel a weekend test drive on the new Countryman. Mammy, watch this space! We'll be cruising in style yet. I've also completed our advocacy campaign for Focus Ireland (homeless charity) and it's looking swell if I do say so myself. You can get a little taster on the attached shot from my iphone, but don't let that put you off. I worked with the very talented photographer Liam Murphy. I'll update both campaigns soon.


I've also being working away in the background on ilikecreative.com. It's beginning to really take shape. It's averaging 100 hits a day but given that it really only started as a way for me to bookmark and share and has naturally evolved, I'm kinda proud and kinda happy. It's a terribly nerdy happiness but happiness nonetheless. A comparison I can make that other nerds will appreciate is when receive a personal response on twitter from one of your idols or as I call them- people that I stalk.


Oh and I have quite a few doodles completed that I can share soon as well as a new photography project. But for now, slan x

biggest regret?

That time I laughed nervously then ran away when Josh Ritter said "come to Glasgow tonight with the band". True story

Ask me anything

A sad goodbye

I've been putting of posting this, but I guess it's time now. We lost our lovely Monty, two weeks ago now. It's very sad and we're all a little heartbroken. He was so lovely. There is a very lonely corner of the kitchen that used to be permanently occupied by our wee man. I don't think anyone realised how much we chatted to him until you suddenly find you can't anymore. As my mam so eloquently put it "he listened to some amount of bullshit in his wee life". He was a great listener. It's funny how much dogs become part of your life, part of your family.

It seems he had cancer in his wee leg and not arthritis as originally diagnosed. It's hard when you don't see it coming, then again it could have been harder if we'd to watch him suffer. 

Johnny wrapped him in a wee blanket and we laid him to rest in a little corner of our garden under a large oak beside his wee pal Homer. I like to think that there both playing in a meadow together, tails wagging, tongue hanging out up there in doggy heaven. Just like they did so often in our garden. 

RIP Monty, you were completely wonderful. xxxxx

Here, here Brian

An open letter to the advertising/ marketing industry that's making it's way around the blogosphere. It could have been written by anyone- but it was probably someone in advertising. Still, makes a valid point. One in which I completely concur. No further comment.