The Italians have come up with this poster for The Guard. Who will want to see it there, now that they’ve given away the whole plot?

Via

Basically, my thought process is that by being informed I could go to see the film and sort out the fact from the fiction. Hollywood is very clever you see. I believed that I could fly if I squeezed my eyes tight and tried really hard enough. I believed that nice guys eventually got the girl. I belived in Unicorns (actually I still do, and no one will convince me otherwise). I believed in happy ever afters. Getting the picture now of someone easy to fool? That’s me. I’m not about to let Hollywood pull a fast one on such a serious topic as the end of the world. Armed with scientific fact, I could happily go to see 2012 and not come away with the weight of impending doom on my shoulders. In a fit of ebook buying one evening I was attracted to the following title:

This blurb appealed to my inner Bear Gryllis:

The purpose of this book is to help those who now agree that time is of the essence. It does this by offering a practical 2012 tool kit of how-to survival knowledge, for those who’ll be left to fend for themselves. Regardless of whether you can afford to build a bunker or can barely afford a shovel, the information in this book is designed to be equally useful. This is because the key to surviving 2012 is more about what’s in your head than what’s in your wallet.

So I plunked down my dollars on the interweb and downloaded the book.

I’m about half way through at this point. In a nutshell, there’s this undiscovered planet/brown half dwarf with pointy ears lump of rock out there. Scientists have been looking for it since the 1800′s. The writers of this book firmly believe it is out there, and will pop out from behind some black hole and head towards our solar system. Once here, it will interfere with the sun and induce a solar storm of epic proportions.

This would naturally have a big effect on our little planet’s well being. Satellite systems and communications knocked out. No more internet – OH NO!!! We’ll have floods with hundreds of millions of deaths. Disease will be rampant. Civilisation as we know will come to an end. Survivors will have to rebuild from scratch. Think Kevin Costner’s Waterworld and you’re there (what, you didn’t watch that film??). So far, so apocalypic.

Anyway, I’m reading the book and realise I’m wasting my time (can I hear a DUH). Other than satisfying a curiosity, it’s not really going to help me survive which is one of the aims of the book. When it comes down to it, I don’t think I’m the surviving kind. I reckon faced with impending doom, I’d just shrug my shoulders and sit down to a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. If I was on that plane that went down in the Andes and people survived through cannibalism, I’d have been the first to say “here, shoot me and be done with it but don’t eat my eyes or heart”.

Survival at all costs is a basic animal instinct. Sometimes you just have to accept when the game is up. Intelligence and reasoning is what marks us out from the animals.

So I’m not going to continue reading the book. I won’t be doing a “Back of fag box review to it”. Life, literally, is too short and if the shit hits the fan at some point in the future, you’ll find me with cup of tea in hand ready to face whatever the cosmos throws at me.

So, Blathaid Ni Chofaigh wasn’t there at the launch of the RTE Autum line up and there were no answers forthcoming as to whether or not she would be fronting The Afternoon Show again.

Maybe it’s because she has other plans. What plans you say? Well, perhaps she is auditioning for the role of an Irish Nanny in the next Sex and the City film. The producers are looking for a

"naturally sexy big-boobed Irish nanny called Erin"

Is there any more perfect role for her? She ticks all the boxes. If you showed a picture of Blathaid to 100 people in New York and asked her what nationality she is, I’d bet 90% would say Irish. Blathnaid could become the Irish Mary Poppins and wouldn’t we all be proud as punch to see her on the silver screen?

Yes, I think Hollywood beckons for her, most definitely – unless there is someone else for the role. Suggestions?

What are you doing tomorrow night around 8.01pm?

A good number of the Irish Twitterati (like myself) will be watching The Princess Bride and tweeting about it and everyone is welcome to join in.

I’ve never seen the film myself so I’m looking forward to seeing it and why it is a cult classic.

Roll on tomorrow. Culch.ie has the lowdown. Oh, and in case you haven’t guessed – the hashtag is #asyouwish

The definition of creative advertising? Has to be this ad for Coraline.

“Shown in the tunnel between Metro Center and Gallery Place in the Washington DC subway system”

After doing a bit of searching, I found the website of he agency responsible for promoting the film in the United States. They have an incredibly detailed and fascinating account of their advertising strategy.

Part 1 of this strategy was to “activate influencers”. They came up with the idea to create 50 one of a kind, hand made “influencer boxes” which were sent to targetted bloggers. The boxes contained relics from the set and passwords to unlock behind the scenes footage.

Super Punch has photographs of the various boxes, and links to the bloggers that received them.

What is so brilliant about the boxes is that they were tailored to appeal to each blogger and their passion. The agency came up with 5 target influencing groups :

• Fans of Selick, Gaiman and anyone involved in the creation of the film (“Creators”)
• Fans of the craft of filmmaking and especially the type used in this film (“Craft”)
• Comics, animation and collectibles geeks (“Geeks”)
• Folks who we knew would be excited about the themes/aesthetics of the film (“Culture”)
• People in the video game world (“Gamers”)

Is this campaign the best example of marketing/pr engaging with bloggers? I don’t know, but it sure as hell impressed me.