#stuff we know

...and why we should not feel negative and assume Dina is going to be dead and that we know everything that’s going to happen. (Bear with me here.)

1. The story told in that trailer is not linear. It’s easy to see where they’re fucking with us. The disembodied gunshot, Dina is missing, there is a new faction of cultists among us, etc. But none of it is knitted together in a neat fashion. There is no concrete story in this story trailer, only pieces and fragments and what’s going on. This is part and parcel for Naughty Dog. I remember seeing somewhere that Naughty Dog is trying to create a sort of big, massive atmosphere and story trailer that exists around all the trailers in combination with each other. But it’s all just a big, unfinished mosaic, and there’s so much missing. We cannot make any sure calls yet. All we have is some general idea of what might be going on....sort of. TBH, there’s still so much mystery surrounding Joel--where he is, whether he is dead or just like, a figment of Ellie’s imagination. We may know less now than we ever did.

2. Anna? We have still learned nothing new about the buff woman from the second trailer. Who is she? Is she Anna? Is she Ellie’s fucking mom? Is Ellie’s fucking mom alive? Is this a flashback? She’s like the star of her own trailer, and she has her own poster, so we know she’s important, even as she is not shown here. I get the sense this story may have multiple POVs, and/or it is not fully linear. This game may be a lot bigger than the last game. Also, remember that the Firefly insignia can be seen on the stop sign in the original teaser. Some fans deduced that the teaser takes place in Seattle, which is where Ellie seems to be headed in the last trailer. So...what if something crazy happened? Like what if Ellie finds out that Marlene lied, that her mom is alive and was just like left for dead somewhere, and Ellie was abducted as a baby and sequestered basically until she came of age, to be harvested for her immunity? What if it was Marlene who wrote that letter, pretending to be Anna? What if Ellie learns this? If she thinks the Fireflies killed her mother, that’s enough to send her on a fucking rampage. And that also really complicates Joel’s lie. Like, thank god he didn’t let her go under the knife, dying for the cause that took her away from her mother. This could potentially catapult her relationship with Joel and their journey together--which I think will be a journey of reconnection after some years of strain. Now, this brings me to...

3. The Fireflies. Ellie talks to Tommy about her plan in this past trailer, not Joel. Why? Tommy warns her about the “faction” she’s going up against, and how powerful it is. We then see her fighting the uber-religious cultists, and so maybe the quick assumption is that Ellie is going up against THEM. BUT. Tommy used to be a Firefly. If there’s anyone who knows about what to expect from the FIREFLIES, it’s him. SO like, it is very possible that Ellie is going after the FIREFLIES, the faction that she thinks killed her mom, then tried to kill her, that perhaps they’re HQ’ed in Seattle, and that this new faction just sort of...gets in the way. Also, the second trailer makes associations between our Mystery Buff Woman and the Third Faction of uber-religious cultists. She is fighting them, too. If she’s Ellie’s mother...we’re in for a fucking hell of a reunion.

4. Dina’s Bracelet. Ellie is wearing Dina’s bracelet in both the gameplay and the latest trailers. Okay, this makes it seem like she may be “avenging” her, but a couple more things to remember here: We don’t know Dina that well. Yes, she’s cute and bubbly and sweet and maybe like, a little bit of a rebel to Ellie. Like she knows herself in ways Ellie does not. BUT. It’s unlikely we’ll meet her and then five minutes later, genius writer Neil Druckmann is going to kill her off, and then somehow expect a character we JUST met to drive an entire revenge plot. Like, no. Trust the writers. They have a stellar track record. They are very smart, and very talented storytellers. Trust Neil!

Personally, and this is just my two cents but...I have thought that Dina is probably okay. They’re making us think Dina is dead, but like, why not just say so then? If it’s that simple and that straightforward, what’s with all the subterfuge? Here’s what I think: Dina’s disappearance is a red herring. Dina’s bracelet could be like a symbolic ribbon or a scarf that a lady would give to her knight before he rides off into battle. Something to remember her by, as she knows Ellie can’t be stopped, but she cannot go with her, or else Ellie won’t let her come, because she’s learned a lot from her old man, whether she likes it or not, and one of those things is, you protect the things you love, at all costs.

Okay, so that’s all I got for now. My number one take-away for you here though should be: TRUST THE WRITERS AT NAUGHTY DOG. They’re good at what they do. Let them be, and let them work. They’ve got this. 

It’s that time again, another JNLR day rolls around! We’ll have some more interesting factoids to provide over the next few days but until then, here’s your JNLR Jul ’12 – Jun ’13 Top 5

  1.      On national, nearly everyone saw change book on book (national all adults listenership)

a.      RTE Radio 1 went up by 3,000 to 1,325,000

b.      2FM went down by 17,000 to 800,000

c.       Lyric went down 10,000 to 254,000

d.      Today FM went down 17,000 to 879,000

e.      Newstalk went up 6,000 to 553,000

  2.      The Dublin arena remains competitive but FM104 stays on top with 318,000 listeners with Spin 103.8 coming in second at 201,000

  3.      The Youth arena (adults 15 – 34) paints a similar story with FM104 staying flat and reaching 33,000 more young listeners than Spin 103.8

  4.      Morning Ireland is of course still the top breakfast show growing their base by 7,000 to reach 450,000 listeners

We love nothing more than a decent game of tennis here in Starcom. In fact, so much so that each year we host an annual tennis tournament to battle it out and see who has the finest back-hand, volley and serve.

  Last Friday in the office we saw Nadal battle it out with Djokovic, in a highly competitive game for a coveted place in the French Open final against Ferrer. Popular sporting events like the French Open, Six Nations and Champions League provide an attractive platform for brands to showcase themselves in front of large audiences. Recent research carried out by Halpin Sport showed that in Ireland alone in 2012, sports sponsorship spend was approx. €98 million.

  With recent mumblings about the ethics of drink brands sponsoring sporting events it’s certainly a hot topic in medialand.

  The tough question is how long do you sponsor an event for? At what stage does a sponsorship lose its relevance? The June Bank Holiday saw over 40,000 women hit the streets of Dublin to take part in the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon. Flora have been the title sponsors for the last 30 years.

  Then there is the successful Heineken Cup sponsorship which has been going strong since 1995. And not forgetting the RBS Six Nations since 2003 (with an extension until 2017).

  But when do you call it a day? From 1979 until 2008, the Queens Club Championship (often referred to as the Wimbledon warm up) was sponsored by Stella Artois, and thus called the Stella Artois Championships. After almost 30 years they decided to end the relationship. The event is now sponsored by Aegon an international investment company.

  Becoming a main tournament sponsor is expensive. The more feasible option might appear to be in sponsoring an individual sports team or player but that can leave brands exposed to teams or players who may become embroiled in scandal – Lance Armstrong anybody? And then of course there are the misdemeanours of Tiger Woods and Ryan Giggs that can really undermine a brands image. Sponsoring a single team or player also runs the risk of alienating opposing fans.

  Sponsoring large sporting events avoids accusations of playing favourites and prevents brands from being associated negatively with any poor performing team or player.

  Sport is emotive. Pride watching Katie Taylor winning gold in London 2012. Shock watching the Thierry Henry Handball incident 2009. Disappointment for Sonia O’Sullivan in Atlanta in 1996.  Anger witnessing O’Driscolls spear tackle on the Lions tour in 2005. And the ultimate emotion cracker – the Keane/McCarthy Saipan Saga in 2002.

  Sponsoring a sporting event creates an emotional connection with people which is valuable to all brands.

  At Starcom, we think that the most value to be gained from a sponsorship comes in the form of activation. Tapping into initial consumer interest with additional activations such as social media can help drive brand engagement and brand awareness by allowing consumers to feel part of an experience.

  As Joe Tripodi, chief marketing officer of Coca-Cola said ‘“In sponsorship it's not what you have, it's what you do with it, it’s all about activation”.

A good hostess should always make visitors feel at home in her hometown or country and with that in mind, here's a list of boring, but important phone numbers and information you should have saved in your phone

Cabs the main licensed cab company in your town, an affordable, reliable minicab firm, and in London, a private car company

Bars know which bars in your town have a late license (you won't be starting your after party 'til at least midnight), know which ones have a cover charge, know what the music policy is. It's a good idea to have the following options - somewhere you can get trashed and dance, somewhere you can sit and drink and hold a conversation, somewhere cheap but not skeazy, somewhere the band can drink without being recognised. Don't just look this up, party at these places.

Food This is paramount - boys must eat. Almost constantly. When a male's blood sugar drops he gets grumpy and emotional. He will never connect this with low blood sugar so it's up to you to gently point him in the direction of pizza. Trust us. Have the numbers, vague menus and prices and closing times of as many varied and reputable take aways as possible.

Shops For American bands, know where Topman/Topshop, Uniqulo and any other British fashion stores are, does your town have a good skate/street boutique? useful. For essentials and basics: Primark (socks, underwear, skinny jeans), American Apparel (shirts, hoodies), electronics stores (PC World, Maplin for laptop cables), phone stores (for chargers, broken iPhones), Boots (toothpaste, other intimate items), a good guitar store (leads, strings important stuff), a large supermarket (cheap alcohol, road snacks, late night *stuff* runs). Know the address and closing times.

Miscellaneous karaoke bars, free museums, tourist attractions, bowling alleys,  things that might break the monotony.

118118 , Google maps: know how to get the most out of these services.