Here’s the thing – if you get Google Alerts or have an “ego search” in your blog reader, sometimes you can come across some very unique, odd, upsetting and just weird posts associated with your search.

I get lots of news from Ireland (as you might expect with my last name) including a bizarre murder story there (very sad) and tons of rugby information.

Another more recent example, the movie and TV actor Jerry O’Connell (no relation) is naked in a new movie called Piranha 3D (the title of which leads me to ask “were there so many unanswered questions in the first two movie installments, there needed to be a third? j/k)

I know this because for the past several days I have been getting pings that highlight “o’connell” (which is one of my search terms) followed closely in these announcements by the word “naked” (which again to be clear is NOT one of my search terms).

Evidently in this movie, Jerry O’Connell’s character’s man bits are shown getting eaten by a piranha. Which one of those images would you like erased from your brain first?

Except the man bits are not Jerry O’Connell’s but some CGI handy work. I know that won’t fully help with the erasure but oh well.

I have seen Jerry O’Connell in interviews and he seems like a very affable guy and I saw his lovely wife in an interview/parody on swimsuit models years ago in which she showed terrific comedic timing. So my thought is I’m fortunate to share some search with him as he doesn’t seem as wacked out as some of his peers may appear to be.

But my other thought is I wonder if he checks his searches and wonders who or what the heck audio’connell is? Probably not.

What about you…do get seaches back about famous people with your name?

Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, silliness, social media // Comments Off on to be clear – peter o’connell is NOT naked, jerry o’connell is…sort of…I guess

Can I write a snappy blog headline or what?!

Sorry this won’t be a salacious as you may have been expecting but it’s still pretty cool because another airline has redone its logo (including repainting their planes). And what Virgin Atlantic created really looks a thousand times better, I think. Thanks to Brand New for the tip.

What do you think?

By the way, ever see a plane get painted? It’s kinda cool.

Virgin Atlantic plane livery time-lapse movie from johnson banks on Vimeo.

Tags: advertising, branding, logo design, marketing, video // Comments Off on a new virgin

You’ll remember from my May 3rd post about the merger of United and Continental Airlines that I said there would be a new logo sooner rather than later based on the way the two companies slapped to together a logo combining United’s name and Continental’s font style and icon.

Well, look at the new logo above to see….I was right; just sayin’ 😉

How fitting that this post was published while flying back from Seattle…in the air, ON the plane. Airborne Wi-Fi, oh yeah! (It’s US Airways though, not United or Continental).

Tags: advertising, logo design, marketing // 2 Comments »

Male Voice Talents Scott Nilsen and Peter K. O'Connell outside the original Starbucks in Seattle, WA

Seattle is simply lovely…flying over it or driving around the lakes…it is stunning. Make fun of its rain all you want but it is a special place.

Made all the more special when my fellow voice talent and friend Scott Nilsen met up with me for a visit this evening down by the waterfront. While Scott lives and works in the OC, he is a Seattle native and was up visiting his family while I was here.

He was kind enough to show me the location of the original Starbucks -which we didn’t go into because it was packed with tourists who think THAT store’s coffee will taste different from any other Starbucks store.

Besides, everybody in the NW knows that Starbucks is no Tully’s.

Tags: commentary, community, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups // 7 Comments »

Depending on your point of view, technology is either a help or a hindrance. For me it is mostly a help.

It’s also a help now for my voice over friend Mahmoud Taji who called me all the way from Cairo on a new low cost internet phone service he found.

Smartly, he’s expanding his contacts in the US so they know him as a person and not just a web presence.

It was a nice surprise and I appreciated his kindness.

Tags: international voice talents, voice actors, voice over workshop, voice talent // Comments Off on unexpected long distance call

Just caught this – Faffcon – the voiceover unconference taking place on September 11 & 12, 2010 in Portland, Oregon, now has a full line of official Faffcon tee-shirts, mugs, mouse pads – everything a professional voice talent needs to prove his or her worth!

Some of the designs are destined to be classics. Check them out here.

Tags: commentary, faffcon, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups // 2 Comments »