Alison O'Riordain New Hampshire ski trip

Dennis the Stone

Our first port of call was Loon Mountain

Sounds like she'd be right at home there.

Nodin

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

There is, or at least there was, a very well spoken homeless man that resided in the Stephens Green area. Irish times reader too...

......beard, suit jacket, about 5.5-5.7 in height?

brianthebard

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Thats an ad for topflight, nothing else. Its likely the trip was paid for by them.

The trip must not have been this year either because the slopes in New Hampshire aren't open yet http://www.skinh.com/ski-conditions.cfm . Did the trip take place at all?

I very much doubt she went anywhere tbh. It reads like a piece from the brochure, she hardly even uses the first person singular pronoun to describe the events of the trip, which points to a distancing from the reality of the trip. There's not even a picture of her there, which surely would be the least you would expect from such a trip.

Tbh I've come to the conclusion in the last day or two that the vast majority of her articles are just made up or rehashed from other sources. All of her stuff could be considered plagarism whether it be plagarising her own writing by repeating the same article, stealing articles on drugs, or borrowing notes from travel brochures. Its all the same, she is there to fill in space in a newspaper that isn't interested in giving you the news but in trying to stay afloat and in promoting FF.

nice1franko

It's convenient that some of the biggest arséholes in the country
(namely:
Kevin Myers
Alison O'Riordain
Brendan O'Connor
Ian O'Doherty
)
all write for the same rag, thereby making it considerably easier to avoid their collective shíte.

Now, if only people would stop perpetuating it on boards....

jimthemental

Getting into the American way of life immediately, we started to use the words like "powder" instead of snow, which got a giggle from our tour guide.

She must've found drugs outside her hotel room door as well :pac:

Dionysus

Nodin wrote: »

You don't work for the Indo, where apart from getting sent on ski trips, you get to mix with intellectual heavy hitters like alison, Brendan O'Connor, Ian o'Doherty and Kevin Myers....its like the west bank of the seine in there.

hehe. Now there's a wordsmith! Nár lagaí Dia do lámh.

stovelid

I enjoy laughing at her as much as anybody but it's getting to the point now where we're doing the bidding of that rag by producing such a large volume public opprobrium about their carefully constructed hate figure.

Same with Kevin Myers, O' Doherty and O' Connor: same rag; same platitudes designed to provoke.

brianthebard

stovelid wrote: »

I enjoy laughing at her as much as anybody but it's getting to the point now where we're doing the bidding of that rag by producing such a large volume public opprobrium about their carefully constructed hate figure.

Same with Kevin Myers, O' Doherty and O' Connor: same rag; same platitudes designed to provoke.

I'm starting to agree, especially if most of her writing is made up. Its no skin off her nose to have us bitch about her writing style or article choices in that case and she continues to get paid to be the indo filler writer, so there's really nothing to be gained from further mockery. On the other hand it is a nice stress relief after reading terrible articles to be able to complain about it online.

bonerm

In that vein could we have a moratorium on starting threads featuring the Orange One for, lets say, the next 20 years?

Thanks.

Nodin

bonerm wrote: »

In that vein could we have a moratorium on talking about the Orange One for, lets say, the next 20 years?

Thanks.

Expose?

stovelid

brianthebard wrote: »

On the other hand it is a nice stress relief after reading terrible articles to be able to complain about it online.

I hear ya.

yeahme

Getting into the American way of life immediately, we started to use the words like "powder" instead of snow,

why does she have to sound like a, Dumbašš......... its called sneachta.

reminds me of those j1 students who used to come over, and within one month start speaking with american accents.
ok i hold up my hands american sayings will slip out from me still, like cell, gas, sidewalk etc...then usually a blank stare followed by huh?
but I lived there for a lot longer than one summer.......
oh yeah she probably came back with the OC accent, even though she went to the east coast!

Degsy

In an hour's dash around the shops, I purchased three pairs of Nike, rather akin to the Nike high-top sneakers Jedward so eagerly jump around in on stage

Whats wrong with this sentence?

Read it aloud..

stovelid

Degsy wrote: »

Whats wrong with this sentence?

With its grammar or its very essence?

Lando Griffin

In an hour's dash around the shops, I purchased three pairs of Nike, rather akin to the Nike high-top sneakers Jedward so eagerly jump around in on stage

Degsy wrote: »

Whats wrong with this sentence?

Read it aloud..

She didn't declare the goods on entering Ireland?

Luxie

bluewolf wrote: »

I don't know, the port unfolding was in a class of its own!

Or Porto Banus no longer being the Monte Carlo of Europe.

mikom

Quote:
In an hour's dash around the shops, I purchased three pairs of Nike, rather akin to the Nike high-top sneakers Jedward so eagerly jump around in on stage

Degsy wrote: »

Whats wrong with this sentence?

Read it aloud..

Should have read.......... In an hoor's dash around the shops, I purchased three pairs of Nike, rather akin to the Nike high-top sneakers Jedward so eagerly jump around in on stage

Luxie

Degsy wrote: »

Whats wrong with this sentence?

Read it aloud..

A pair of Nikes akin to a.....pair of Nikes.

Well I never.

Morlar

GETTING THERE

ALISON travelled to New Hampshire, via Boston, with Topflight, Aer Lingus and the New Hampshire Tourist Board. Topflight’s new winter ski brochure is out now, featuring the five mountains of New Hampshire. Prices with Topflight start from €549, including Aer Lingus return flights to Boston, and seven nights’ accommodation. Airline taxes are extra.

At the end there I was kind of expecting it to say "Alison flew with aer Lingus, paying €87,649.00 for a one way economy ticket".

humanji

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

There is, or at least there was, a very well spoken homeless man that resided in the Stephens Green area. Irish times reader too...

Is that not Michael D. Higgins?



I don't think people should be worrying about giving the Indo or poor Alison any more exposure on this forum. It's a safe bet that it doesn't matter a toss what anyone here says about her. She'll be working for the Indo for a long, long time.

There's enough doom and gloom in After Hours that it's nice to have a regular topic which brings everyone together with the common goal to laugh at an idiot. I say, "Write on, Alison! Write like the chill wind!".

Luxie

Luxie wrote: »

A pair of Nikes akin to a.....pair of Nikes.

Well I never.

She got so excited about using such a fancy word she forgot to make any sense!

senordingdong

Her England is improving goodly.

Idbatterim

Well Im just glad she got a free trip, if she had to pay for it, it would have probably been the same as her yearly property management fee!

oppenheimer1

Nodin wrote: »

......beard, suit jacket, about 5.5-5.7 in height?

Yeah, thats his description alright. Used to see him getting the paper from the spar near the nassau st gate entrance to trinity in the evenings after they had cut the barcodes.

Gunsfortoys

I realised that virtually all they have in common are snow and the general practice of sliding down the trails.

Welcome to skiing Alison.:rolleyes:

Degsy

With plenty of activities for the non-skier, the area is perfect for families in which one or two members do not want to hit the slopes. Instead, for instance, they can take part in a 300-year-old ritual, maple tapping,

You heard it first folks..if kiljoy members of your family dont want to go on a skiing holiday tell them there's Maple tapping available and watch them pack thier bags in frenzy.

I can imagine how surly teenagers could be kept occupied for the duration of the holiday indulging in this "300 year old ritual".

Truly,the area has something for everybody..

Fluorescence

That really is an awful, badly-written piece of journalism. How on earth did she ever get a job in this field? My English teacher in secondary school would have graded me poorly if I'd handed in such a brochure-esque article :rolleyes:

Nodin

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

Yeah, thats his description alright. Used to see him getting the paper from the spar near the nassau st gate entrance to trinity in the evenings after they had cut the barcodes.

Aye, well educated fellah, whatever happened to him.

df1985

she manages to stick in how shes a "veteran" on the european slopes......yet shes so badly off apparently.

Skiing holidays aint cheap.

I was hoping that story was going to end with an avalanche.

brianthebard

fluorescence wrote: »

That really is an awful, badly-written piece of journalism. How on earth did she ever get a job in this field? My English teacher in secondary school would have graded me poorly if I'd handed in such a brochure-esque article :rolleyes:

That's because it is a junket/brochure piece. All the places she named are listed on the top flight website. She mentions kid's not being able to get alcohol and stuff because top flight is geared towards school tours and parents want to know that they won't be up to mischief. The rest is just fantasy or stuff she got off pamphlets at the hotel, depending on whether she actually went over there or not (I don't believe for a second that she did). I'm guessing the maple tapping **** was from one of those pamphlets or another website, and the Nike-Jedward connection was a ploy to get 'teh kidzzz' excited about spending money over there. Not going to actually link to the company cause they're getting enough publicity out of this.

Cranky Mc Funhouse

brianthebard wrote: »

That's because it is a junket/brochure piece. All the places she named are listed on the top flight website. She mentions kid's not being able to get alcohol and stuff because top flight is geared towards school tours and parents want to know that they won't be up to mischief. The rest is just fantasy or stuff she got off pamphlets at the hotel, depending on whether she actually went over there or not (I don't believe for a second that she did). I'm guessing the maple tapping **** was from one of those pamphlets or another website, and the Nike-Jedward connection was a ploy to get 'teh kidzzz' excited about spending money over there. Not going to actually link to the company cause they're getting enough publicity out of this.

+ 1. Heres hopin she comes back in a body cast! (If she ever went)

Degsy

The lying <SNIP> you cant go Maple Tapping this time of year...does she ever even write ONE article where she doesnt make stuff up.


BOARDS.IE EDIT: No Abuse please.

mikom

Degsy wrote: »

The lying<SNIP>.you cant go Maple Tapping this time of year...does she ever even write ONE article where she doesnt make stuff up.

She's such a sap....

Degsy

mikom wrote: »

She's such a sap....

At least she's not "tapping" on the streets of Dublin anymore..

Copper23

Ok, I'll bite given that I've been doing some work in new England recently...

How exactly did she manage to do this ski trip or is it all infact some lame attempt at advertising?

Loon Mountain is predicting a late November start to their Ski season and their webcam today is showing lovely green slopes, not an inch of snow.

I'd give anything to know how to get to 5 resorts in one day up there. Go down the kiddy slope once on each is it?

I won't mention the hotels she stayed in and the trips to the mall being so broke.
Also nice to know how cheap flights from Boston to Ireland and vise versa are according to Alison. I certainly couldn't find anything that cheap in the past 12 months.

4zn76tysfajdxp

US slopes do skiers a powder of good ...

What?

jmcc

So the intellectually challenged people in the Sindo see that since Alison has written about "snow" on the doorsteps of young professsionals in Dublin then she must be an expert on skiing? There's an insane, room temperature IQ at work in the Sindo - unfortunately it is shared between the lot of them.

Regards...jmcc

RoundyMooney

Degsy wrote: »

You heard it first folks..if kiljoy members of your family dont want to go on a skiing holiday tell them there's Maple tapping available and watch them pack thier bags in frenzy.

I can imagine how surly teenagers could be kept occupied for the duration of the holiday indulging in this "300 year old ritual".

Truly,the area has something for everybody..

Degsy, are you being sarcastic?

:pac:

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

On a smaller note one of her facts were wrong. She said Loon was the biggest resort there with 49 runs, its actually Bretton Woods with 101.

loobylou

.. and she only paid $5000 for the Nikes....

brianthebard

THFC wrote: »

On a smaller note one of her facts were wrong. She said Loon was the biggest resort there with 49 runs, its actually Bretton Woods with 101.

Top flight don't offer deals with BW though....

ColeTrain

I think she is a fine journalist. Fair play to her.Only messing, she's shi*e.

mudokon

Hazys wrote: »

She must have went last year, because there isn't enough snow anywhere in New England at d mo, not for another month at least

She had a year to think about the article and the best analogy for American/ European skiing she could come up with was different flavoured ice-cream.

Scuid Mhór

mudokon wrote: »

She had a year to think about the article and the best analogy for American/ European skiing she could come up with was different flavoured ice-cream.

can't rush perfection.

Pet

nice1franko wrote: »

It's convenient that some of the biggest arséholes in the country
(namely:
Kevin Myers
Alison O'Riordain
Brendan O'Connor
Ian O'Doherty
)
all write for the same rag, thereby making it considerably easier to avoid their collective shíte.

Now, if only people would stop perpetuating it on boards....

I love all of these Alison O'Riordan-related threads.

Her "writing" is offensive, vacuous tripe and she is an insult to real journalists everywhere, but threads about her are always a breath of fresh air and pure comedy goldmine. Nothing like the indignation of boardsies to take her down a peg or two, and in a loltastic fashion, too.

Nodin

Pet wrote: »

I love all of these Alison O'Riordan-related threads.

Her "writing" is offensive, vacuous tripe and she is an insult to real journalists everywhere, but threads about her are always a breath of fresh air and pure comedy goldmine. Nothing like the indignation of boardsies to take her down a peg or two, and in a loltastic fashion, too.

If her editors made 1/100th the effort, she might even have learnt how to be a proper journalist by now....

PeakOutput

Idbatterim wrote: »

There I was thinking Alison was broke! Ill have to do with Dundrum on ice this year!

http://www.independent.ie/travel/winter-holidays/us-slopes-do-skiers-a-powder-of-good-2410854.html

they havnt had a snow there yet this year so it was at least a year ago when she went

edit; already said

jmcc

Nodin wrote: »

If her editors made 1/100th the effort, she might even have learnt how to be a proper journalist by now....

Well she's a freelancer rather than a staff journalist from what I read. However in the journalism business those who do lifestyle journalism are sometimes referred to as Polly Filla and Phil Space. The private colleges and some universities produced too many lifestyle journalists/PR flacks during the Celtic Tiger. Says a lot for the quality of the fact checking in the Sindo when one of its lifestyle journos goes skiing on green slopes with no snow unless it was last year or a recycled brochure.

Regards...jmcc

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

brianthebard wrote: »

Top flight don't offer deals with BW though....

aaahhh.... Apoligies.

Nodin

jmcc wrote: »

Well she's a freelancer rather than a staff journalist from what I read. However in the journalism business those who do lifestyle journalism are sometimes referred to as Polly Filla and Phil Space. The private colleges and some universities produced too many lifestyle journalists/PR flacks during the Celtic Tiger. Says a lot for the quality of the fact checking in the Sindo when one of its lifestyle journos goes skiing on green slopes with no snow unless it was last year or a recycled brochure.

Regards...jmcc

Fact checking in the Sindo/Indo? Better chance of me growing tits and turning into Angelina Jolie.

(....or maybe just leave it at "turning into Angelina...")