Below is a video Connector recently produced for HP Snapfish.  Although this video is for the UK market and used in a large marketing campaign with the Daily Mail, we had a happy client for this ‘How To’ video produced here in Dublin.

The lovely voice you hear is from the excellent voice-over artist Nicola Lyndsay sourced from Piehole.ie

George Hook will be on Camden Street tomorrorw at the Age Action shop sipping tea to help celebrate October 1st UN International Day of Older Persons.  I hope to pop down and share a cuppa with George and anyone who pops in.  Age Action is calling on the nation to stop what they are doing at 11am on the 1st October and share a golden moment with an older person over a cup of tea.   Not that I am saying George is old or anything like that … but it is great to support our older and wiser family, friends & neighbours !

Writer Maeve Binchy launched the campaign with a hot cuppa and spoke of positive ageing: “”I support the Share a Golden Moment like I support everything positive! We are getting older so why not try to enjoy it and help others to do so?”

“This campaign is special.  It is calling on the nation on a specific day at a specific hour, to connect with an older person to let them know that you care,” Age Action’s Head of Advocacy and Communications Eamon Timmins said.

“October 1st falls during Positive Ageing Week and so we are calling on businesses to help promote the spirit of the day by purchasing boxes of tea bags from Age Action and distribute them amongst their customers and staff during Positive Ageing Week.  Age Action is also encouraging communities to have their own tea party at 11am on October 1st to mark the day,” Eamon Timmins said.

Please go to www.ageaction.ie or contact  Dee Clare at (01) 475 6989 if you want to help out tomorrow or at any stage.

With the All Ireland Football Final on Sunday, this is the time when it can get embarrassing that you don’t know the National Anthem in English, let alone in Irish! Are you one of the many people who stand in the crowd at sports events, miming the Nation’s favorite song because you don’t know the words – Olé Olé is not the National Anthem!

Nokia in conjunction with Gaelchultúr have launched an application where you can learn the words of the National Anthem on your Nokia handset. Logon to store.ovi.com to download this Karaoke style application for free! You can now learn the National Anthem in a fun, funky way with friends and family. The application will teach you the words line by line, by following the highlighted Irish text, while the English translation is featured underneath.

There are lots of ways to access “Amhran na Bhfiann” for free. If your handset is preloaded with the Ovi store application already on your Nokia device, click on it, go to applications and download “Amhran na Bhfiann.” Don’t worry if you don’t have OVI store on your phone, just go to the download folder, refresh the content and you will find the Ovi store application, download and install onto your device. You are now ready to start singing!

As my mother is from Macroom, I have to nail my colours to the mast and shout “Come on the rebels” !!

Connections Made
- May have some free tickets to the Irish Derby from Maria @ Kildare Village
- Was at the opening party on Fri night for BANG! Studios in Dublin 1 … welcome Vassilis !
- Connected Niall Harbison with some advise on T-shirt printing (from my site www.conman.tv)
- Connector’s good mate Alex has started a new site called www.eclicks.eu – talk to him, he’s good !!
- Was at an Nokia inter agency day with Eighty:Twenty, DDFH&B, Direction JWT, Mediacom
- Helped Don Mullan showcase his interview with the last remaining Titanic survivor – thanks to Nokia
- Heading towards 500 followers on Twitter … hope I ain’t boring them I don’t like qwitters !
- Met my mam for dinner in TheChurch.ie plus met Barbara McCarthy there too

Connections Wanted
- We’re looking guests for Connector No.11 on Friday12th June in TheChurch.ie …
- Seeking people or companies looking for Digital & Social Media Training or workshops …
- Celine Mullen is running an event designed for those made redundant or seeking new job opportunities …
- I would like to find a cool car/van asap – any one some connections for a bargain Connectormobile ?
- Looking for volunteers in Web TV, Blogging & Event Management … are there summer interns out there ?
- Anyone up for a Galway Races break (28 July-2nd Aug) as I may rent an appt or house for Connector

Connecting You / WLTM
- Who would you like to meet & why ?

Please email connect [@] connector.ie for more info

… and the Triple Crown and the 6 Nations Championship trophy … and Craig Doyle … and Paul O’Connell’s dad … and Gordon D’arcy …and Brent Pope and John Baker … !

OMG !! So many connections at the Irish Rugby Players Union Awards last night … Brian O’Driscoll deservedly wsept up the main player awards and a great night was had by all … thanks to Malachy from Another Avenue for the invite … more soon …

As you may or may not know, I am a bogger blogger. I am from the sticks in Oldcastle, Co. Meath and I ventured down for Easter to see the family. I also popped in to see my neighbours, also the Lynchs and ended up stumbling upon this excellent impromptu trad music session for some visitors he had at the time.

Here I feature some videos I made today of Michael & his son Marty playing a few tunes. Micheal is a local living legend on many fronts including being a former TD and a Meath County Councillor for 40 years.  On top of this he is well known and loved for his musical prowess & released his first album called ‘Story of Life’ in 2008 – please let meknow if you would like to buy a copy for €10.  For many years the Lynchs has a very successful and famous traditional music pub called the Ceili House Bar and the spirit of that pub lives on next door.

I had the pleasure of watching him effortlessly switching from instrument to instrument and here he playes the clarinet, double bass, saphone and the tin whistle !    Michael’s other son & also a living legend, Lorcan featured in this blog a few months ago. Read more >>

I recently blogged about the launch party of the St. Patrick’s Festival which probably the best launch event I have been at in my short connector history !

I really like the way it has seamlessy become a week long festival and not a day of celebration !! At the party, Marcus MacInnes, founder of Ireland’s top photo sharing web site pix.ie was telling me about how they have teamed up with Ireland’s top festival as THE official photo sharing location for festival goers photo sharing.

As part of the Irish community, it is great to now be part of Ireland’s fast growing photo blogging community and especially on such a great day to be Irish !  To join in, all you gotta do is check out the events page, head down to some of the great events and upload your photos to the St. Patrick’s Festival Pix.ie group >>

Here’s what Pix.ie have to say about some super prizes !

To make things a little more interesting, we’ve created a competition (more details to follow) and will be selecting three lucky winners whose photos capture the spirit of the festival. Canon have very kindly offered to sponsor some of the best prizes we’ve seen in a photo competition and with a total value of just under €1,800, these are very generous prizes!!!

• 1st Prize – Canon EOS 1000D digital SLR camera, Selphy ES3 photo printer, 150 Euro photography training course, adding memory card and photo printing paper. Total value €1,050
• 2nd Prize – Powershot E1 digital camera and Selphy ES3 photo printer. Total Value €480
• 3rd Prize – Selphy ES3 photo printer. Total Value €240

A great idea and a great coup for Marcus & his team … now there is even more … how about this for an amazing photo blogger initiative … this is top notch Marcus, check out this great party too !

“”To celebrate the Guinness 250 year anniversary, the Guinness Storehouse are inviting 250 Pixie users, bloggers and photobloggers to continue the Pixie Party after the parade and join in the fun at the Storehouse’s annual Paddy’s Day festival on March 17th:

“On St. Patrick’s Day, Guinness Storehouse will host an electrifying global celebration of Guinness and the Irish national holiday with over 250 entertainers of every description. Prepare for a barrage of rock, soul, roots, swing, jazz and traditional Irish, as well as international street performers and marching bands. Learn how to Pour the Perfect Pint of Guinness like a true Dublin connoisseur, savour the taste of Guinness variants and try some food with a Guinness twist.” – More details of what to expect!!!  “”

Credit too to the Guinness Storehouse & Canon !!

For my part, I just have to tell you about this highly innovative idea and I hope you will see me snapping as one of the chosen photo bloggers ! Click here for my new Pix.ie Connector profile >>

I was a guest of Catherine Egan (PR) for the launch of the St. Patrick’s Festival @ 51 St. Stephen’s Green.  As well and Minister Cullen with RTE News, there was a great turnout and it was a very good event.

Hi to all I met including those photographed namely ex-World Chamion Athlete & great character Eamon Coughlan, Flowergirl Faeriemae, Lisa from Live By Love, Julien, Ronan from Kila and fellow bloggers Darragh & great photoblogger Darren with their festival balloons !  Thanks to Darren & Daniela for the other photos and more here >>

Not in pictures are Marty, Leone, Susan, Sarah & Marcus from Pix.ie

Make sure to check out the Festival Road Race / Fun Run that Eamon was telling me about.  It is on the 15th March with loads of great prizes on offer and a great way to see the city centre !

Here is ashort interview with Brendan Phelan from Crewger.ie telling us about his web site for independent Irish film makers.  A very good friend of Connector.ie, Brendan will speak also at the February Connector Meetup.