Connect with the EU

by Conor on September 22nd, 2009

This is a cool idea from Phillipe which seems to be going very well judging by the qualityof the video entries to the competition.  I’d like people to check out these great videos from good friends of Connector Martin Moylan & Dan Dalton who came first & second respectively in the recent Canon Digital Video Contest we ran.

The Proposition …  Make a short film, inspired by the notion of Democracy & Dialogue. Go on… It doesn’t matter if you record it on your mobile phone, a state of the art digital video camera, or create your own DIY animation – the idea’s the thing. Make it a comedy, a tragedy, a documentary, an animation – whatever takes your fancy. It’s about self-expression. And if it gets people thinking, even better.

The Prize … The winning entry will win a state of the art HD Digital camera worth €1400 and have their work screened this October at the 2009 Darklight Film Festival. There are also runners up prizes for highly commended entries.

Here are the videos from the lads and give please them your support by viewing it, rating it & passing it on if you like their work.

Just 1 Vote – Martin Moylan

Green People – Dan Dalton

Be Heard – Martin Moylan

Connector @ Galway Races

by Conor on August 4th, 2009

Finally I made it down to the Galway Races after years of hearing about the Fianna Fail tent in Ballybrit !  And bejaysus when I got down there was no Builders & Developers Tent anywhere to be seen … very mysterious – might have been trimmed back by An Bord Snip Nua … hmmm ?   Well at least the Owners & Trainers still could have their own private VIP area so with a bit of luck I’ll have connections in there next year ! ;-0

I just had a couple of hours looking around on the Sunday afternoon as it would normally not be my scene but I am always open to trying something new.  My last horse racing day out was in sunny Sydney & a Galway downpour was what we got on Sunday.  Plus I think most of the fillies from Ladies Day on the Thursday had long since departed with their hats & feathers and left the equine variety commanding the attention.

While there I chanced upon the Mad Hatter winner (annual crazy hat contest) & some runners up plus the highly talented young Mulkerrin Brothers who played trad music for a group of rain soaked young fans.  Well done to the lads !

Overall it looked like a very well organised event and I willtry and get to see more of it next year.  And here is my first photo of a horse connection whose name I do not know in case you’re wondering.  And the rest of the weekend was spent with lot of old & new friends in Salthill & Shop Street sampling the wonderful atmosphere that is Galway in the summer.

Connector meets The Apprentice Team

by Andrew Sigle on July 6th, 2009

Last week the connector team was in a meeting at The Church in the upstairs part of the balcony. It was brought to our attention that the entire cast of Ireland’s The Apprentice had taken a break from shooting to enjoy lunch on the balcony of the restaurant.

At first I had no idea who this party was until Eugenia from Shinawil approached Conor at our table. She was a producer for the company that also produced the show Dragon’s Den. She actually recognized Conor from his appearance on the show.  It was pretty cool that I ate lunch with the whole cast of The Apprentice right here at The Church.

I am a fan of the American apprentice show with Donald Trump; however I have still yet to see the Irish version. I hope to look into it now that I have witnessed all of the contestants eating lunch in person.

Connect with Darragh Doyle & Aoife O'Driscoll

by connector on May 5th, 2009

Canon Connections

by connector on April 28th, 2009

More details from Jonothan Sultan from Canon on the ‘Lights Canon Action’ contest for our digital video enthusiasts … enter here >>

Nokia – Connecting People

by connector on April 22nd, 2009

Ok, so Nokia started connecting people first … I give that to them ;-0

However, I must also say they put on a good event too and one such event was on this evening in Gallery One in Dublin.   It was to launch the world’s first mobile phone photography exhibition featuring the inspirational photos of Don Mullan all taken with his Nokia phone.  The exhibition was opened by the FAI CEO John Delaney who generously gave a ticket to the Ireland v Italy World Cup match in October to everyone in the audience … what a great result !!

Well done to Aoife & the Nokia team for such as well organised and attended event. The photos are on view to at the Gallery One until the 28th April & I helped promote the event on Pix.ie (with Marcus MacInnes in attendance tonight too) & Facebook with Eighty:Twenty.   I am pictured with Don & Aoife & some of the amazing mobile phone photos.

Connecting with Michael & Marty Lynch

by connector on April 12th, 2009

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 >>

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Dragon's Den Connections ?

by connector on March 22nd, 2009

On the 6th January I went to the filming of the Irish Dragon’s Den in Rathfarnham in Dublin. This is an Irish version of a hugely popular TV show from the UK, of which I am a big fan.  You may have seen the Irish Dragon’s Den on RTE1 on Thursdays recently.

Do you want to know how I get on ?  Does Connector get the cash or do I just make some new connections ? To find out, watch RTE1 on April 2nd (Thursday) @ 10pm (approx)  … and watch this blog for details of a meetup to watch the show in town that evening.

I went to the filming with 5 of my Connector buddies namely, Niall Whittle, Brendan Phelan, Conor Maloney, Natalia Kostrzewa & Tania Zorilla.

I went with these friends from Connector for the following reasons -

1 – It would best explain what Connector is all about – people connecting on personal projects
2 – I could share the experience of a full scale RTE production with them
3 – They were free to take some time off work /study to join me
4 – They could give me some moral support !

I went on the show to pitch them ‘Connector’ as an investment opportunity they could invest €50,000 in return for 10% of my ‘business’.  I hope to explain to them and the audience why it was worth investing their hard earned money in Connector.

While I knew that Connector was in very early stages and it would be hard to win over the hard-nosed Dragons,  I decided to go ahead with the show anyway. I had a business idea with a nice logo, a blog and some events under my belt … I thought it would be a great experience no matter what happened.

The Irish Dragons are successful entrepreneurs and business leaders who have been there, done that.  They are: Gavin Duffy, Bobby Kerr, Sean Gallagher, Niall O’Farrell and Sarah Newman.

Did we connect ??  Watch & find out !

Connector Swop Show – Flash skills for 3D logo

by connector on March 8th, 2009

Depending on how difficult this is to do or how much time it takes, I would design/create a 3d logo/animation of similar value in return for these services.”

Contact Martin on info [@] progressiveproductions.net

Here is what he has in mind … !!

The excellent Connector 3D logo work in this video is done by Martin -

Zurich Connections

by connector on February 1st, 2009

Friends of mine will know I love to travel and am a big fan of metro maps.  Of course the Connector logo was even based on a metro map overlaid with people, not places.

So on my recent trip to Zurich I brought back some photos of the locals, their lovely city & and their metro map !

And the people I went to see are my cousin Peter, wife Liz & daughter Olivia.  The Hallorans live in Zurich and I previously lived with them in Holland when I was a tearaway while nowadays I am just dangerous near skis !  I had a really nice break and here are some photos of yours truly and my hosts.