I'm sorry, but Ireland is gay

There'll be quotes aplenty from that not-entirely-safe-for-work video! "I'm sorry, but Ireland is gay" - so begins the ad for GCN's 21st birthday in Tripod - tickets €10, going fast - on February 19. I found this over on Climaxxx, Chewy Chewerson's newly revived blog. Go on over and say hello.

Obligatory budget post: Ah well that's all right then

That's from yesterday evening's Evening Herald. It makes me think that Whoopsadaisy may have a point.

"I’ve had a crap day - let’s go to the pub, sure it’ll cheer you up to get pissed.

I’ve just lost my job - let’s go to the pub, we’ll commiserate with you.

I’ve just had a baby - let’s go to the pub, to wet the baby’s head.

I feel a bit ill, too much to drink last night - let’s go to the pub, another pint will sort you out."

Ireland's economy has gone to hell, the banks are in a mess, medical cards for old age pensioners are affected, unemployment is up, taxes are up but sure as the Herald says, the pint is safe. Wahey.

It really makes me wonder about the Herald's journalistic policy and the country's priorities.

What do you think? Is that important enough to warrant the front page of a national newspaper? Is it a sign that we, as a nation, are far too dependent on drink?

Interview with Sophie Merry, BandyToaster

Sophie Merry isn't dancing today. Following what sounds like a painful landing poor Sophie is on crutches.

However, sitting in Dublin's Lighthouse Cinema, participating in the Viral Marketing symposium during the Darklight Film Festival, she seems at times bemused by her video, which I imagine she's watched a few hundred times now, and genuinely appreciative of the warm applause she receives at the end of the showing.



Sophie, 26, is of course one of Ireland's best YouTube stars. With almost 3 million views on her Groovy Dancing Girl video and with over 3,854000 views on her YouTube channel, Sophie's experience is a viral marketer's dream, a fun idea that went truly viral.

Hers is a story I have been enthralled with since it's come to notice. From the talk she comes across as being very down-to-earth, not at all positioning herself as a "morketing expert" (despite her presence with such luminaries as Bebo's Philip McCartney and Strategem guru Fionn Kidney) and her accent is pure Dublin, not in any way affected or "put on". She speaks well - plainly and forthrightly with the authority of her experience.

Indeed it is this groundedness that makes her so endearing. She doesn't feign any special knowledge or expertise, rather using the truth of her story "I did it to have fun" to show just what a success it was. Her case-study is the hightlight of the talk.



In what Grannymar has now termed "doing a @Darragh" I sat down with her to find out more.

The background:

"I was doing animation in college and listening to Daft Punk on the iPod on a bus home when I thought of doing something. Basically it was filmed out in my friend Billy's garden. I watched the video and decided to speed it up.

Billy recommended I put it up on YouTube. That was February 2007. It took about a year to reach one million views and hit 2 million a month later. That's pretty much when I started to get contacted and it's gone from there."

Sophie, an animator with a Dublin based animation company (she describes them as "a bunch of legends") is now the face and body of French clothing line Etam. Featuring on a dedicated website, the site shows Sophie modelling the jeans and featured a well promoted competition for others to show off their own dancing skills, with the winner receiving a year's supply of jeans for herself and 10 friends.

On the viral aspect

"To be honest I didn't really know that much about You Tube - to me for years it was one of those places you went to watch a guy fall off a bike or a funny cat or something. Now though it's become such a depth of content and creativity it's almost preferable to TV.

I didn't set out to make a viral - I set out to do something I'd enjoy and I did it honestly. I do it because I love to do it. If people like it that's a plus. It was when the positive comments started appearing and sites like Dailymotion and BoreMe featured the video that I began to see it happening.

We've put up other videos and I've also seen the animations, the mash-ups and the tributes. I'm really glad people seem to like what I do."

On creating a viral video:

"Anything you depend on other people passing on to each other can fail. Trying to create something artificial specifically for people to pass on is a lot more difficult than doing something that there's a lot of fun in that people will respond well to. You have to give value to the viewer as well."

On friends, family and being recognised:

"Oh the folks are very proud. My friends think it's savage - they call me the Irish Crazy Frog. I'm not really recognised much though I was in Tripod recently and because it was a younger crowd I got noticed a lot.

I have a MySpace page for my fans where I post the videos online and people get in touch with me."

Finally, advice for fans or people with an idea:

"Do something with feeling, whatever that is, from the heart and without an aim. Enjoy it. You'll have fun."

Sophie's MySpace is here and YouTube channel is here. Thanks for the interview! It was a real pleasure :)

The people who post on The Lives of Others

Almost

"I realised over the weekend that I’ve been clinging onto a number of friendships, that have been dead for a while now."

EVERY

"I have come to the conclusion that people don’t want to hear about your accomplishments. No matter how good of a friend your friend is, no matter what they say, they really don’t want to hear about it."

post

"I change my mind at the last minute about a promise I make, for no reason... Am I a bad person, or am I just a person?"

I have read

"I cant believe what a difference hair has made to my well being. i didnt think it would matter, especially after going through the entire cancer thing - you figure any hair is better than no hair and it shouldnt be a priority, but you know what? how you see yourself in the mirror really does have a huge effect on how you feel even if you ‘logically’ know it shouldnt."

here today

"We’d met through a friend, we were both single and she was obviously a thousand times too beautiful to be hanging around with someone like me, yet she did".

could have been

"i’ve never felt so lonely. Actually I’ve always felt an undercurrent of loneliness but it’s just so terrible right now".

written

"My friends think I’m this wonderful self-less saintly human being and I’m nothing of the sort. I”m selfish, I’m a terrible friend, I am cynical and bad tempered at times, egotistical and impatient."

by me

"All I want is to wake up next to someone who looks at me and makes my heart stop beating. I don’t know who that is. She may not exist."

If you can, please go over and read The Lives of Others. Leave a comment to let the people who share their secrets there know that they are not alone. Or to thank them for sharing. These are only some of the amazing posts over there. There are many more.

I'm going to more often. Thank you all. Knowing I'm not so alone has made my day a lot better.

Josh Thomas's first time

Josh Thomas hasn't got a girlfriend. It's an important part of his show, The Adventures Of Josh Thomas and The World’s Greatest Love Machine, a title which, he says, is often misread.

"The title is me AND THE world's greatest love machine. no one ever reads it properly and thinks I am saying I am the world's greatest love machine. I am not. Don't get me wrong though, I am a very, very very generous lover."

About six foot tall with a mess of blonde hair and quite baby faced, Josh gives a great performance of a socially inept, awkward and shy young man with a keen sense of humour and observation, something the younger ladies in the audience really seem to appreciate.

It's his first time in Ireland and his first time at the Cat Laughs Festival. He's just turned 21 - literally, on the flight over from his native Australia - possibly not how you'd envisage the start of being 21, something he references at the start of his show.

When I was younger I thought with puberty that would be it - my voice would get deeper, I'd have hair on my face and I'd become a man. The older I've been getting the more I've realised that's unlikely to happen. So I'm just stuck as I am.

It's a very personal, direct and honest view of who an how he is. "I don't have a girlfriend, I'm not very good with 'the ladies'" he tells the audience, "It's a true story, but I had to break up with my last girlfriend via SMS. We'd been getting intimate when she said "You don't have very much hair on your face Josh. You don't have very much hair on your body Josh. Sometimes for me it's a bit like being with a woman..."" The audience laughs in a huge wave of sympathy.



Josh has been doing stand up for the past 4 years - at the age of he was the youngest ever winner of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s RAW Comedy Competition in 2005. He also made the finals of So You Think You’re Funny, the Edinburgh Festival’s RAW equivalent. He thought he was the King of the world.

He's done 6 shows at the Cat Laughs, appearing with names including Jason Byrne, Neil Delamere, Tommy Tiernan, Craig Hill and Karl Spain.



I sat down with him for a couple of minutes to have the briefest of brief interviews - five quick questions:

His advice for young comedians:

"Don't do it! Why would you hate yourself that much? Ah no, no.

Just do it. Get out there and just do it. I got in by just getting up and saying "I'll do a routine" and it started like that. Just go and get it done."

On the Internet:

"Ah I love it. Love it. What more can I say? You can find me on my website and on MySpace. I sometimes sit there just refreshing. There's also videos of me on You Tube":

Favourite thing about Kilkenny:

Well I was slightly ambitious, arriving on Tuesday. I've toured the castle (45 minutes), I've walked over the bridge (by accident but it's a nice bridge), I've seen Dunnes and - ooh I was interviewed by Glenda Gilson, is that her name? She was scary. But I really like the place.

The most commonly asked question he gets:

"What's it like being a comedian so young? Which is a silly qestion really cos I don't know the answer, come back to me when I'm older and I'll tell you. I mean, c'mon journalists... seriously!"

Finally, what question he'd ask if he was interviewing:

Er, I don't know. I'd never, ever ask a comedian what it's like to be a comic. There's no real answer to the question. I'd probably ask one to write a joke for me.

And with that he's gone. Given the reaction of the crowd and respect of fellow comedians, here's one comic with plenty of stories to tell to plenty more audiences in the future.

Josh can be found online at:

• His MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/mynameisjoshthomas - his blog about being in Kilkenny is here.
  
  
• His website: http://www.joshthomas.com.au - sign up for his newsletter and get a duck - here's mine:
  

I'm 50% bogger - how about you?

Image by Jason Tammemägi

The email I got today very much amused me. A spreadsheet seeing how much of a bogger you are. I'm not at all ashamed of my rural background, but the questions really hit home:

• Have you seen "Ear to the Ground" more than 3 times?
  
  
• Have you ever heard the death notices on radio?
  
  
• Have you ever used the phrases "Jaysus" "By god" or "Oh Lord"?
  
  
• Should Blackie Connors have got an Oscar?
  
  
• At any stage during the summer can you step out your door and get the smell of freshly spread slurry?
  
  
• Have you ever taken fresh eggs from under a hen?
  
  
• Do you only have RTE1, NET2, TV3 & TG4 or less on your television?
  

and then my favourites - the real telling ones:

• If by choice you could marry a local would you do so?
  
  
• Would it be desirable that he/she was an only child to a wealthy farmer?
  
  
• Do you know who Miley is?

and the real real test:

• Do you ever look up in the sky when you hear a helicopter?

Brilliant! You can download it here (Excel File, 26k) - let me know how you get on. :)

Take Enda With You

(Image taken from Ice Cream Ireland's Caught With Ice Cream Series)

I don't often join Facebook groups, nor do I spread the invitations to "join because my friend says she'll eat a live mouse" type. I don't see the point really. I'll add my name to a high profile campaign because I believe every vote counts, but unless it's specifically relevant to me or my interests, I tend not to subscribe.

When I got an invite from Damien Mulley to join the Take Enda With You Facebook group, I hesitated a couple of days before clicking on the link. I needed to think about this - it would have been dead easy just to say "Ah sure grand, have another signature, it doesn't matter" but as those who know me well will tell you, I never do things the easy way.

I've never met Enda Kenny. I've seen him on TV a few times, read stuff about him in the papers but overall I really don't have an opinion on the man. He hasn't struck me as being worth noting, not really.

And that's the problem.

When Pat Rabitte was campaigning or involved in politics, the man seemed to be everywhere. From Newstalk to the Last Word to Metro to the Ploughing Championships, he was there. Much as I think that Labour is now a largely ineffective party that has little grasp on the fundamental problems with today's society, a far cry from its origins, I did appreciate the man's personality and voice in the political arena.

Bertie, similarly had a great presence. I don't know if he was corrupt. I don't know if the Mahon Tribunal has cost the country more than the taxpayer's money and the career of this man, but I do know he was at as many events as possible, always willing to shake hands, kiss babies and most importantly be seen. And sometimes being seen is a great thing.

People may have scoffed at his thanking people for mass cards in his goodbye speech, yet anyone 'down the country' who had done that no doubt appreciated the sentiment - it gave them something to say to the neighbours - "did you hear Bertie said thanks - well I sent him in one and he must have got it", etc. All these little things have an impact.

(Photo from Maxwells)

In stark contrast to Enda, but from the same party is Senator John Paul Phelan (beside Enda, above). I went to secondary school with John Paul - we were in the same class for 6 years, and he was always a likable, gentle guy. Powerful on the sporting field from what I remember, but affable, genuine and decent. Hearing he'd gone into politics held no surprise for me.

The difference between the two for me is stark - John Paul uses Bebo, the local press and the web to get his message across - does Enda? Not that I know of.

In fact Phelan's Bebo page is a great example of how it should be done - here are my details, this is what I do, this is how you get in touch etc. I'm sure politicians are busy but even giving supporters/followers or interested young people a way of contacting a representative that they're comfortable with is important.

Ireland needs a change.

I'm not politically educated or aware enough to be honest. I know the country needs a change in the way it's doing things, in how things are done and in how people are treated.

Grannymar pointed me towards this event this morning as highlighted on Steph's blog - I hope to go along.

The Health Service is one political topic that's very close to my heart, given my parents' medical problems. Charity aid is another. Education a third.

Darren gave a good view on Bertie's resignation, and while I may not entirely agree with his "just a man" summary, I do appreciate that there's a lot more to Irish politics than him. Turlogh puts it really well. And back on Darren's blog, Gary offers a comment including

Bertie has done a lot of good for this country, and was very personable to many world leaders. Which in turn gave Ireland a brighter place in the spotlight.

Can you imagine Brian Cowen having the same wit, and charm when met with leaders such as Bush, Brown or Putin?

Which brings us back to personality, to connections, to people and to communicating. All things I think the Fine Gael party don't get their leader to do enough of, or at least don't tell people (like me) about in an engaging, memorable and remarkable way.

Whether or not Mulley's Facebook Group is out to 'achieve' anything, it's worth noting that at the time of writing it has 163 members since last week - a stark contrast to the Young Fine Gael one which has 95 members (live since at least July 2007) and the main Fine Gael group (live since at least March 2007) which has 110 members.

Bertie, take Enda with you.

This country needs people that do. Not just say they will but actually do. It deserves a decent healthcare system, a higher standard of education but also charismatic, trustworthy leaders who are seen to be willing to connect with people, to be honest in their dealings and to get the job done. I don't believe Enda is someone who is getting the job done.

I joined the group and I'm linking to the website. It may not make a difference but in some senses it's better than doing nothing.

Will you?