2008 – what a year, eh. Hope it’s been good to you. Just want to say a sincere thanks to you for visiting, commenting and emailing over the time since the blog started in March.

Short video above has a few of the graphics that adorned various blog posts during the year. It’s a bit self indulgent of me I know, but then - what’s a blog if it’s not that?

Enjoy the celebrations if you’re heading out. If you’re not – enjoy your own company too. Happy New Year.

Looks like you might be a new visitor to le craic. If you like what you see here and fancy some daily diversions delivered to your favourite feed reader, why not click to join Club le craic. Go raibh maith agat! Thanks a thousand!

Much head shaking was done when I read that the top watched programme on RTE over the Christmas was – THE NEWS….

760,000 people tuned in to watch it. That’s 760,000 people who haven’t heard enough about the depressed economy, the latest stabbing in Dublin or another fatal traffic accident. Surely it’s a day to switch off from all that. It’s a day to  settle back and watch popcorn movies, play a game of scrabble, read a book, go for a walk – do something other watch the news. There’s a whole 364 days to concern oneself with the affairs of the world. Take a frickin’ break for one day, for the love of all that is Christmas.

After going on about it being time to give Father Ted a rest from TV schedules, here I am using Father Stone to illustrate this blog post. I can’t think of anyone better to do it as I have a picture in my head of 760,000 brain dead Stone-a-likes sitting on the sofa watching the news on Christmas Day. It’s a bit sad. Maybe not as sad as writing a blog post about it, but still - sad.

No more Father Ted

TV schedulers finally decide (after 10 years) that the public has had enough Father Ted on TV. One scheduler said : “There is no law that says Monday night comedy has to include Father Ted. We will let it rest until 2018 and the 20th Anniversary. Meantime, there are plenty of other good shows out there we can cheer everyone up with on a Monday instead.” Graham Linehan takes out a full page ad in the London Times to say thanks.

Dail babes calendar

Liz O’Donnell returns to the Dail in August to strip for a charity calendar. HB oblige by providing a refrigerated truck to ensure a suitably nippy photograph. Mary Harney loses 10 stone in an effort to become Miss December and don a special Santa outfit. Diplomatic photographer takes photo and spends a mammoth 12 hours photoshopping it.

Church rising

Irish consumers turn back to the church in their droves when retailers unilaterally decide to suspend Sunday trading indefinitely. Embued with a new sense of purpose, the church embarks on a recruitment drive to get young men into the ranks. Colin Farrell stars in a campaign called “Vatican Vice” which later falls foul of advertising guidelines. Apparantly, the priesthood is not alll about fags, booze and nuns.

Blogger stops blogging

Another Irish blogger stops blogging. Irish blogosphere goes mental. Office bound workers wonder how they will manage without their daily fix of the blog in question. The gaping void is soon filled and normal service resumes.

Scorcher of a day

July 17th will be an absolute scorcher. The sun will shine, the beaches will be packed and shops will run out of Ambre Solaire.The great Irish public will believe that Summer has arrived at last. The weather forecast at 9.30pm will shatter the hopes and dreams of a nation soaked to the bone. RTE suspend weather forecasts after 10,215 complaints are logged. Weather forecast stings now include “Terms and conditions apply”.

Hello, Happy Happy launched

A new magazine is launched which provided an antidote to doom and gloom. Joe Duffy is the brains behind “Hello, Happy Happy” - a 32 page glossy filled with good news stories from around Ireland and further afield. Duffy said the idea came to him after yet another whingefest on his radio show. “I’m actually fed up with all this whingeing”, said Duffy. “Ireland needs something different and Hello, Happy Happy is just what the doctor ordered. It couldn’t come at a better time. If I had to keep listening to all this shite on the radio, I might just shoot myself. The magazine allows me to look on the bright side of things”.

Newspaper nationalisation

The Irish Times, Irish Independent and Irish Examiner all go into receivership. In a radical step to ensure publication of a daily newspaper, the government buys out all three titles and a new paper is launched. “Ireland, Ireland, Repub-a-lic of Ireland Today” is an instant hit. The 64 page tabloid has 16 pages of PR fluff and photographs of Rosanna Davison - 32 pages of puzzles, recipes, death notices, ads and sport. The remaining 16 pages are blank and perforated - designed to be used as toilet paper.

Psychics bomb

Premium rate psychic telephone lines become a thing of the past as the Broadcasting Commission decide that advertising for their services can no longer be broadcast. In a ruling, the BCI said that belief in angels and psychic prediction in general can be considered a religion, they had no option but to ban the ads. Veritas have the last laugh, when the BCI show some flexibility and allow “real meaning of Christmas” ads to air in the run up to Christmas 2009.

Shaky world

A big earthquake hits somewhere in the world and there is speculation that the re-run of the Large Hadron Collider experiment has caused the tremor. The tabloids have a field day with the story which results in rocketing sales for tinned food products. A bit of a mudslide in Killarney on the same day fails to make headlines but sees 24 hour Novenas being said at the local shrine.

Twinkletoes

Twink becomes regular host of Podge and Rodge and releases an official charity single of “Zip up yer mickey”.

Apprentice

Bill Cullen isn’t hired for the second series of the Apprentice when he publicly declares that one of the sponsors of the show, Snap Printing, are “Mad expensive and wouldn’t get my business if they were the last printer on earth. They’ve got some liathroidi to charge those prices”. TV3 hold open auditions for a new Bill and after a 3 week search they settle on Joanna Murphy who relishes her role as a black haired Ann Robinson.  In other Apprentice news, Paddy O’Dea sets up his own voiceover business and finds a niche in selling products for insomniacs on a teleshopping satellite channel.

Exposed

More TV3 news. Expose is axed. Nobody notices.

————————

It’s going to be an interesting year.

This week’s header image is a digital painting showing part of the pattern on the entrance stone to Newgrange, Co. Meath.

“Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Newgrange was constructed over 5,000 years ago by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne Valley.”

Every year, the inner chamber of the tomb is lit up during the Winter Solstice. This year, the Winter Solstice took place on on December 21st. A lucky handful of people are selected in a lottery to be inside the chamber to witness the magnificent event. The gradual spreading of light into the chamber marks the end of the longest day of the year. It marks the beginning of the end of winter and brighter days ahead.

Here’s to brighter days for us all.

[Newgrange]

Text of review reads:

Christmas 2008

There was giving. There was receiving. There was family. There was food. There was more food. There was TV (mostly shit though). There was recovery. There was rejuvination. There was praise. There was thanks. There was peace. There was quiet. There was much needed sleep.

Who could ask for anything more?

Rating : 5 stars.

I subscribe to a newsletter by Daphne Gray Grant, The Publication Coach. Daphne helps people write better, faster. I know Daphne through a small business marketing forum called 5000bc, which proved to be an invaluable resource to me.

One of Daphne’s newsletters in November said that she was sick and unable to post her regular newsletter. A subsequent newsletter explained that Daphne had suffered a stroke. It was the second she had in six years.

The newsletter had three incredible lessons that are worth sharing:

1) When you have words, use them.  I’m a gabber. I usually talk a lot. I write a lot. And I read a lot. But I seldom see words as precious. They are. Write and speak as if you might never be given the chance again. Don’t waste time; don’t waste your words. Really communicate.

2) Plan your time so you use each minute in the way you most want to. Sometimes you might need to be walking or running. Or other times, you might need to abandon making dinner so you can write a sonnet. (OK, I just made that up.) But do whatever it is you most need to do. Don’t compromise; don’t take second place. Think hard and act harder.

3) Never forget every day is a gift. I’m grateful to be alive and I’m spectacularly grateful to my patient and thoughtful husband, Eric, and my wonderful kids, Claire, Duncan and Alison. They make my life interesting and challenging and engaging. I’m also grateful to you, all the readers of Power Writing — some of whom I know well enough to visit or chat with — others of whom I know only by their email name in my database.

Life is a gift. Use it. Write with it.

These words by Daphne came to mind earlier this week when I received an email via the Talk to le craic page. The sender of the email took time out to comment on a post about Dublin port advertising. Here’s an extract of the email from “Arthur” (verbatim) :

“Viv a vis your opservations on port Ad if you read anything other than ads you would know that there is a plan to move dublin port out of dublin to a yet to be decided venue at a yet to be decided cost to the tax payers ( not sure you qualify probably spend your worthless life on line looking for a life)”

What “Arthur” fails to understand is that this blog, in common with the many others out there, is not about someone “looking for a life” – it’s all about communicating. The communication can be words, pictures, video, music or a combination of all of those. It’s what our ancestors have done throughout the ages. From drawing on walls to drawing on blogs – the medium has changed but the basic need to communicate hasn’t. It’s a need that is hard wired into our systems and I think it’s great to have a blog as one way to fulfil that need.

So, “Arthur”, why not join the conversation and enter into real meaningful dialogue via your own blog, rather than hiding behind an anonymous email address.

As Daphne says : “Life is a gift. Use it. Write with it.”

Thanks to Daphne for permission to use the newsletter extract. You can sign up for it on the Publication Coach website.

Photo owned by kubina and adapted under the terms of a CC License.

For the season that’s in it….

It’s been a hectic week so blogging and twittering has been very light. Steeling myself for the last few days of retail madness before the shutters come down on another season – which is being sponsored this year by Benylin Cold and Flu remedy. I will look forward to 5pm on Christmas Eve when the music is switched off in the shopping centre and the noise subsides. That will be a relief. Much as I love Christmas songs, they lose their appeal when they’ve been playing since the beginning of December and there is no off switch.

You know it’s almost Christmas when … The double edition of the RTE Guide hits the shelves. There can’t be many households in the country that don’t get a copy of it. Back in my schoolgoing days we always got the RTE Guide, TV Times and the Radio Times. If I remember correctly, each guide only carried certain channel listings so the purchase of the triumvirate was a necessity.

Ryan Tubridy is there again this year. He must have something in his contract that ensures a place on the bumper edition. Good to see Kathyrn Thomas making an appearance. Someone said to me she looks pregnant. Not in this picture though. See they’ve given the legend that is Larry Gogan a spot on the inside cover. Way to go Larry! Have to say his photo looks a bit “Weekend at Bernies”.

And the Photoshop geek in me has to mention that Pat Shortt is holding a mocked up RTE Guide on the cover, but when you zoom in on the magazine cover he’s holding it’s just blank. It’s fixed on the cover story article on Page 16 though Yep. I know what you’re thinking – but I don’t actually have too much time on my hands. Really I don’t.

Haven’t had a real good look through the programmes that are on yet. Won’t really watch a whole ton though. Hope Oliver and Willy Wonka are on. Most definitely won’t be watching Killinaskully – can’t get my head around how this is so popular and will probably top the ratings again this year.

What’s on your must see list this Christmas? Will you even bother with the goggle box? Do tell.