Trust Tommy

I read a very interesting article from the BBC about so-called Spyclists – worth checking out!

In the summer of 1937, when tension was rife in Europe, when satellite photographs weren’t invented yet and in a time when Ordinance Survey (OS) Maps were hard to come by, English country lanes were full of foreigners cycling their way between historic monuments and spending their nights out under the stars in fields (Famous Five style).

The only problem with an idyllic thought like that is that some of those groups were teenagers who belonged to the Hitler Youth.

Their itineraries were usually built round visits to the great English historic sites – Oxford, Cambridge, London, though one party was touring Scotland and another finished in Wales.

In May 1937, British newspaper the “Daily Herald” published an article based on a translation of the Nazi Cycling Associations’ guidelines for cycling abroad:

“Get into your head all landmarks like steeples and towers and all fords and bridges and acquaint yourself with them in such a way that you will be able to recognise them by night”

And one of the senior figures in the Hitler Youth had moved to London at the start of the year, ostensibly to study. MI5 suspected that Joachim Benemann’s real object however was to develop the Hitler Youth in the UK.

He tried to develop links between the Hitler Youth and the Boy Scouts, albeit unsuccessfully.

The Hitler Youth who travelled to Britain had been specially selected – a number had even had been to training camps before the visit. Some of them met or shared camps with British Boy Scout groups. The most striking was the Tamworth Scout troop – for whom this was a return visit. They had already been guests of the Hitler Youth in Hamburg earlier in the summer, thanks to their very pro-German Scoutmaster.

“It was like a Roman legion”
-Les Fardon, former Boy Scout

They had stayed at a Hitler Youth camp and even taken part in a torchlight rally. One of the boys, Les Fardon, told Radio 4’s Document Programme ten years ago: “It was like a Roman legion,” he said. “You had these long banners and you were marching to tune… it was very stirring and frightening”

Link to full article

Poster wording translates into: “Youth serves the leader. All ten year-olds into the Hitler Youth.”

Despite agreeing with some of the points he makes about religion, I’ve never liked Richard Dawkins. Not only does he force his beliefs on others, he does in such an annoyingly smug manner that I don’t see why or how anyone stands him.

Why am I blogging this interview? Well it seems to be an exception — to me, he seems a lot calmer in this interview than others. More ‘these are my beliefs’ instead of ‘these are my beliefs, they’re right and you’re all fools for thinking anything different’.

No, I’m not getting Google Ads put in — they’re awful.

Advertising has always interested me. While I never considered a career in advertising to be the one that I’d choose, I still love it and think it’s a very cool area to be in.

The picture is of an ad for the iPod Mini, scanned from my English book for demonstration purposes.

Firstly, the copy reads:

Little. The next big thing.

Meet iPod Mini. It’s the world’s smallest 1,000 song player,
comes in 5 colors and works with Mac or Windows. Just $249.

Let’s look at the overall picture first. The iPod doesn’t take up a large area of room to underline how small it is, the background color is neutral so as not to distract from the main feature. Despite coming in 5 colors, this iPod is silver so as not to alienate potential buyers (old versus young, males versus females).

The copy is concise (only 26 words) and laid out in 3 sizes. The biggest text is the one that’ll be read furthest away and it’ll be read more than the copyright notices at the bottom.

The copy also uses many subtle devices to help us familiarize ourselves with this product. “Meet iPod Mini” portrays the product as if it were a person. “Just $249″ is portraying this as a small price.

The ad also informs us that the product will work with both Mac and Windows, thereby refuting any worries potential consumers may have referring to compatibility.

Despite being short, the copy has given us a wealth of information including comparative size, song memory size, colors available, compatibility and price

**

As you can see, a lot can be taken out of this ad and I think Apple are geniuses when it comes to marketing and packaging.

Have you any other examples of effective ads or has anyone had any experience working in advertising?

There is no getting around the fact that it’s an odd concept. I’m not going to get bogged down in phrases like ‘consumerist frenzies’ or the like, but I don’t think you could say that it’s stayed particularly true to its roots.

Before I go any further, I’d just like to say that I’m not one of those people who doesn’t partake in traditions (such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day) and therefore goes and writes an angry/sarcastic post about it and thinks that because they dislike it, it should be banned.

It’s a case of..

I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it

Why don’t I like Valentine’s Day? Well, what about every other day? Yes, you bought me flowers that were probably 50c in Dunnes, very romantic. If couples are so insecure in their relationship that they need flowers and chocolate and weekend breaks to substantiate their feelings for each other, well you’re going to have a problem.

Also, I’d like to make it very clear that I don’t feel this way because I’m single. I don’t see this as a ‘fail’ on my part, or some sort of ’sin’.

So in closing, I never really ‘got’ Valentine’s Day, but if that’s your cup of tea, you’re more than welcome.

I’m not totally devoid of romantic feeling though — I agreed to cook dinner for Mom and Dad as a treat. Then again, my cooking style couldn’t be described as anything near romantic… unless yelling obscenities at frying pans is your thing :)

As you do, right?

Taken in France in 2009.

If you’re wondering what I’m staring so intently at.. I can only equate the light show to…

I tried to catch up with the blue box but it got away :(

I enjoy almost all aspects of the second-level English course. Media studies, journal entries, fiction, you name it, I’ll enjoy it.

Except poetry.

For the most part, I enjoy reading poetry. I just don’t enjoy studying it. Don’t worry, this isn’t one of these teenage angst posts about how ‘the Irish secondary school system is a farce’ and ‘as if I’ll ever use trigonometry/chemical bonding/ox-bow lakes in later life’, it’s just that poetry isn’t my thing, as it were. I’ll put effort into it and everything, but don’t ask me to like it.

Anyhow, I’m showing you a poem from my English book. Why? Because I like so few of them, finding one I actively enjoy should be noted!

War and The Simpsons – Hilary McKay

The really good thing about war is that they generally put
it on at 6 o’ clock.
Same time as The Simpsons

And nowadays, of course, war is quite safe.
It stays in the TV and makes no mess.
Even if it gets too noisy you can just turn down the sound.

(If you can find the remote.)

Also it is very clean,
No dust, nor smoke, nor blood leaks through the screen.
And when it gets boring you can switch over and watch
The Simpsons

(If you can find the remote.)

The only trouble is, it still goes on.
(The war, not The Simpsons. The Simpsons lasts for
twenty minutes — unless it is a special.)

The war still goes on. The noise and the smoke and
the leaking blood. The dirt and the boredom and the fear.
You cannot switch it off with the remote.

(Even if you can find the remote)

You have to switch it off another way
You have to say, No
No
No war
You have to say No To War.

Then you can watch The Simpsons
In peace.

I think I like it because it’s a poem on an everyday subject, and not something difficult to relate to. I think that’s why I enjoy this poem of Sinéad’s so much. (Check out her other stuff, it’s good too)

Photo owned by Bramus! (cc)

In the olden days, when you ordered a pizza, you ate it and that was that.

So why, in 2009, is this any different?

It is for me, anyway.

Did I miss the changeover? because when I order pizza now, there seems to be a rigmarole associated with that I go through each time.

There’s the tweet:

…and the Facebook picture:

This is the thing, though. We no longer do these things on their own. I know several people who never watch TV any more – they watch it with a laptop on their knees and they’ll be following the #XFactor tweets or MSNing with their friends about how Ryan Tubridy looked like he was on caffeine pills during the Late Late Toy Show..

Today, we bought a smoothie maker, and much hilarity ensued. Here is how to make one, Collison style:

Frozen fruit, only 2€ per packet from Dunnes Stores. Why struggle with fresh fruit when you’re going to be eating it cold anyway?

Next, natural yoghurt. That squiggle on my hand was testing whether a pen works. It did.

Either milk or orange juice can be used.

Pour the orange juice into your concoction, which admittedly doesn’t look particularly appetizing. Just you wait… :)

Nope, it’s no more appetizing this way up. Anyhow, put the lid on, and T minus 30 seconds until….

Vroom vroom.

Do I realize that they’re Christmas themed glasses? Yes. Do I know it’s still November? Yes. Do I care? No. In fact, I’m listening to Christmas music right now. I regret nothing! :)

Viva la Navidad!

So, one’s for me, who wants the second one?

Yes, very odd and incredibly out of character post, but whatchagonnado.

I’m in Hungary this week, you may have noticed/heard. I met a Hungarian women who’d married a Scottish man who owns a Scottish pub here. Because she learnt English in Scotland, she has a rather heavy accent.

Hearing her speak was a rather funny occasion, simply because of the absurdity of the situation. I felt it unwise to laugh but boy was it difficult.

For those who’ve been in a similar position; I hear ya, and this is for you.

Tommy’s Top 5 methods for not laughing at inappropriate moments

1. Induce physical pain

Bite your lip. Grind a piece of your cheek between your molars. If anything squashes the urge to LOL quickly, it’s physical pain. That sounds so masochistic, but it’s all in the interest of remaining PC, I assure you.

2. Empty your lungs of air

If you’ve no breath, there’s nothing to fuel the lulz! :)

3. Use reverse psychology

By telling yourself something like: “This is funny! Laugh some more!” you end up finding that it was never that funny anyway.

Photo owned by Lucy Boynton (cc)

3.5. Get back in control

With point 3, the problem with uncontrollable is the fact that it’s just that: uncontrollable. If you choose to laugh, you can then stop it.

4. Recite

Throughout 15 years, I’ve been able to recite, word for word, curtain to curtain, 3 stage shows. When I’m bored, I’ll often begin one and see how far I get through it. It works wonders in waiting rooms and such. It also works while you have a fit of giggles – you can’t murmur ‘we begin on Christmas Eve…‘ while laughing, or even ‘I really don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about...

Recognize those shows? Mini competition in the comments, first correct comment wins a prize!*

5. When all else fails…

Claim a neurological impairment.

*Prize not included

I’ve always loved going to see shows. I’ve always loved acting, even if I knew I’d never do it for a living. It’s one of those things I want to do in my free time, like riding a motorcycle.

One thing that I never understood about shows and the theatre are autographs. They’re barely legible and your 15 seconds spent in the company of the star are spent with him with his head down in concentration, while you think of something witty to say. They mean so little to him.. I don’t know why they mean so much to fans. In short, I think they’re bad mementos of your brief meeting with your hero. I’d prefer something more personalized, like a photo with my favourite actor. Of course, this means nothing, and you’re perfectly entitled to like and collect them.

Photo owned by net_efekt (cc)

Granted, they make sense. You have a stage door and (based on the only time I ever found myself outside a stage door after a performance) about 30 adoring fans, signatures are probably the best way of imparting some part of you to them.

But that’s just it. Autographs are something this guy does daily. It’s probably something he’s practiced on old napkins since the age of 12. What’s personal about that?

I think pictures are better. If you’re in the photo all the better. If you’re not in the picture, it’s still a visual testament to you being there, and him being there, and you now have something concrete from that event. Autographs are just so much less personal than that. If the picture in question is of you and your favourite actor, well that’s so much better, right? It’s you, and him, together.

I’ll be the first to admit this has been a weird post. What brought it on? Well, I’m incredibly superstitious when it comes to these things, afraid if I say too much about a glimmer of a plan, I’ll jinx it. All I’ll say is me meeting my favourite actor is less unlikely than it was 24 hours ago. Here’s a hint, of sorts. I know I’m being all weird, but this is what happens. I say too much, it all falls to pieces and I’m left with the disappointment. So, we’re going to remain tight lipped until some more of my latest hair-brained scheme becomes concrete.

What do we think about autographs though? Silly or worthwhile?