Let my voice talk to you.

May 14, 2007

Irelands Eurovision Woes

And so another Eurovision has past, next year Serbia will be doing the hosting, and congrats to them, but what the hell is happening to Ireland. Last year we started to see a slight comeback to the halycon days of Irelands song writing, and we let it dwindle away so quickly by getting the amazing postition of last place on Saturday night, jesus even that shite camp fucking plane song from the UK beat us. But leaving that aside I have to say although the show has become a farce our very own Terry Wogan is the main reason I will still watch it.

His commentary is brilliant, his sarcasim fantastic and his wit, hillarious, and when you see the silly goings on with the voting from the blocs, you need this humour to get you through the night.

Jonny Logan for next year has already been mentioned on other parts of the internet, personally I think we should not bother with it or at least get U2 to perform, being an island really does have disadvantages, I say boycott it and let the blocs fight it out with themselves.

May 1, 2007

How to vote in Irelands General Election

Ok so the election has been called in Ireland and in 3 weeks time will all be over. Amazingly the placards, handshakes, leaflets, canvassers are out in full swing and this is why I, who is not a scholar of politics have to decided to point out how I am thinking of voting this year.

On the bus this morning I went through 3 different voting areas and I knew that due to the amount of posters up along my bus route (the much talked about 145), and an idea came into my head, since all politicians are the same as each other and don't give to flying fucks about the general public, and are more interested in their own pay packets this makes voting quite tough!

Cue trumpet fanfare....

I have a solution use the posters for inspiration.

I will start off in my own constituency, Wicklow.

For the Greens we have

Deirdre De Burca - Her image is a bit soft and also the colours seem unnatural her face has a hint of green going on.

For Labour we have

Liz Mc Manus - All in all labour have done an excellent job in the photography of its members from what I can see the colours of the people seem natural and each candidate is in a very natural looking environment.

Fianna Fail

Dick Roche - As the outgoing minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government he really should lose that smarmy look he always seems to have and as for the heavy dose of St Tropez that the Fianna Fail party seem to have adopted for their images, it really does not work for me, more on the orange brigade later.

Joe Behan - This man has not put any posters on lamp posts etc but has billboards all around Bray he looks like a decent character, he avoided the suntan look and lo and behold the colours of his face seems correct, is this the right way to decide how to vote?

Fine Gael

Dunno whats happened here but these guys are obviously pretty bad looking as there are no images at all of them up on lamp posts etc the same applies to the PD's at the time of writing this post

Sinn Fein

John Brady - He again looks like a nice guy, the posters are colour corrected nicely, his image is sharp and he is smiling in a warm way. You never know that smile may make women swoon and vote for him.

So onto the rest of my journey to town. I am going to go party by party here not constituency

Fianna Fail

Barry Andrews - his picture is oompaa loompaish and if thats the sort of quality we are talking about for his printing, he would not get my vote.

Jim O Callaghan - He looks like a criminal enough said

Chris Andrews - Whats with all these Andrews anyhow poor ole Chris he has Jaundice from what I can tell according to his poster.

Fine Gael

Sean Barrett - When I was growing up in Killiney I liked this guy, he seemed like a good man and his picture on the posters seems to be as I remember him so thats good.

Eugene Regan - He seems happy but a bit on the blue side, I mean his photograph has a very light blue cast over it which I find quite cold.

John Bailey - I think this poor candidate looks petrified of the camera and seems to have a face of fear, not that great a quality for going into government.

Lucinda Creighton - She is the cute hottie Fine Gael have put forward in Dublin, so please tell me why plaster loads of orange shit on her face and put her in a countryside environment this makes no sense to me.

The Progressive Democrats

As twentymajor put it these guys are portraying a sense of intellectual beings, so why the hell did you have a flash right up at you face for the pictures. This applies especially for

Fiona O Malley - the picture is mental white so much so I cant tell if I like her or not, she is smiling, I know this due to the fact her lipstick did not over expose.

Liz O Donnell - For such an attractive woman this photo does no justice for her once again a victim to the flash gun or possibly built in flash maybe the PD's went the cheap route.

Labour

Ruari Quinn, Eamonn Gilmore and Oisin Quinn not much to be said that I did not mention above except Labour nailed the opportunity for some good photos, obviously a pro photographer and an excellent print house these guys will get votes from me according to how I am going to vote.

The Greens

Ciaran Cuffe - Ok the one thing I should get off my chest is, Are the posters these guys are using recyclable???? Anyhow back to Ciaran, ah good old Senor Ciaran he has been sunbathing far to much another for the "this is Ireland not Spain" campaign.

Now onto the leaders

Bertie Ahern - He has that lost puppy look in his photo, drawing us in and making us feel sorry for him, well I saw the same look in that interview with Bryan Dobson and I ain't falling for it "Now, the next steps" is the line Fianna Fail are using for this election campaign personally I am hoping its their steps out of government.

Michael Mc Dowell - His image leaves me feeling kinda dirty, spooked out or something he obviously gave out shit to the photographer when he/she tried to put the flash is his face as he ain't overexposed, but he does look evil. Of course the PD's have gone for the threatening line "don't throw it all away" throw what away, my money, my pacifier I am confused, maybe they mean the work of current coalition.... nah

Pat Rabbitte - Silly Name, great photo as all the images from Labour have been. I like Pat, I have met him once or twice and he is a lovely man. Labours Mandate "Ireland can do better with Labour" I don't agree with since I work my tits off already thanks very much there is also no talk of extra pay, do I get time off in lieu or something.

Lastly Enda Kenny - Oh my god, does this man think he is a God or something, there is something dictatorship about the photo love me or else, also it bears no resemblance to the man, this guys has dark hair and chiseled looks so I think photoshop, botox, face surgery or something came into play here. Also I have no idea what lines Fine Gael are going down other then "for a change" better healthcare "for a change", safer streets "for a change" heres my suggestion decent real politicians "for a change" perhaps?

So I know I have left some out but I could not write shorthand on my phone very well of my notes. Anyhow it looks like labour win my vote for their photo prowess although when they call to the door that may change. Lastly my good friend Damien has some tips on those said door canvassers give it a read its well worth it, I also look forward to Insidethemindofanidiots views on this election crap.

April 18, 2007

Generating revenue.

So I am now into my fourth year with this webpage and I have never really given it much thought but with over 330 photos now on my Photoblog I think its time this site gave me something back.

I have options open to me go down the advertising route but adsense made me all of 19 dollars in 2 years so I dont think its a runner, mainly due to the fact that I am not a writer but a photographer so what ads would you see take todays image I can see the ads now Buy your blossom trees here etc. So I have 2 options left for me

1. Sell prints of the photos online that I have put up. I see plenty of photoblogs going down this route, my question would be "do they sell" I have never heard of any one mentioning that they have suceeded but there again why would they tell me its not really something you would openly talk about.

2. Photo stock sites. I also see alot of familiar names in the photoblogging community on sites like istockphoto and shutterstock. Obviously the returns are quite small but is it worth more then the 19 dollars over 2 years I imagine it is.

So if anyone can offer any sort of help I would greatly appreciate hearing what options you may have gone down and your experiences.

Lastly I dont plan on becoming a corporate whore or have advertising all over my page but why let it sit there doing nothing, when I may be able to generate more cash to pay for that next lens or whatever.

March 23, 2007

Twenty Major got a book deal!!!

It was bound to happen at some stage that Mr Major was going to get noticed by either a publisher or an advertising agency for his writing skills.

Well Sinead Gleeson announced he got a 2 book deal from Hodder Headline, and sure enough Twenty himself has confirmed this.

I am thrilled for him, and I without sounding to wanky am thrilled for the blogging community in general, this once again shows the power irish blogs are having in Ireland nowadays.

March 21, 2007

Tagged, why oh why!

Ok Sandy is responsible for this and normally I would not bother with it but since everyone else in blogworld is doing it I thought to heck with it why not.

I have to tell the world 5 things about myself that people may not know about me, so here it goes.

1. This is really weird, the hairs that grow above the second knuckle down of your hands I hate them and spend a long time plucking the little blighters. I dont know why this is but you will not find any hairs there.

2. I should open a record store, I have over 2000 cds now in my posession ranging from death metal to classical music, the majority of them are now stored away in the attic after I found mp3s to take up so little space

3. I pick my nose.

4. I love solpediene, this is sad but I do find them refreshing nowadays.

5. I am nearly 35 years old and I have never driven a car, and get this my father is a driving instructor.

I am meant to send this on to other people so the chain can continue, and I do have to say that being so perfect makes this a hard thing to do.

So I am going to send this to Oyvind, Anna and Kathryn