TOWIE comes to Cardiff? No....

I'll be very up front about this: I hate Reality Shows! This is in part because I don't see the need to know everything that goes on in everyone elses's life. You will hence guess from this that I am also not a regular buyer or subscriber to Hello! magazine, in part perhaps because as a man with a streamlined hairdo, I never need a hairdressers.

But I don't mainly like reality TV shows because in actual fact, they have naff all to do with reality. If you read the media press these days, you will note from their "Wanted" columns that they audition for "actors or contestants" for reality-type TV shows.

Reality is reality: take camera, walk down street, film what you see. Exploited by many great photo journalists from when the camera was developed to now. Reality TV is just a market-concept title, where by you the viewer enters an unreal world concocted by the producer/director of that (un)reality production.

The "greatest" (no, can't use that word, makes people think that I could actually like this tosh....). OK then, best known reality TV show is Big Brother. You see, in the show's title, they already tell you that its not reality, its made for TV in a confined space, sat somewhere in West London.

So imagine my disapointment today, when I read in the online version of the South Wales Echo that Cardiff is to get its own version of the latest reality TV craze, the thing that is known as TOWIE. "The Only Way Is Essex" seems to have been written by a combination of advertisers, comedians, non-PC politicians and shot by a series of "even Five wouldn't have us" TV producers and directors to create something which is....

Well, what? To me its not even worth watching, even though it seems that every newspaper I pick up, online forum I read and person I talks with would now make you think that TOWIE was a word in the English dictionary. From watching and reading the media coverage, it is clear that the show appeals to the young and upcoming types, in other words the type of people that advertisers want to advertise to. So whether its who is coming in/out of the show, who is dating who, the latest gossip or that now regular debate amongst post 16 teenage girls - should I get a boob job done - its all reported. Just for extra column inches, and hence readership, and hence advertisers.

There is a theory in modern marketing, and its that if you don't get it, then its not aimed at you. Its called extreme traget marketing, and in this case - me on relaity TV - it works! I hate it with abundance!

So imagine my distasteful upset when it was announced that a company was casting for a new relaity show called Cardiff Born Cardiff Bred.

Wannabe reality stars will have to impress a judging panel searching for characters who are more “real” than the likes of Mark Wright and Lucy Childs – made famous by the Essex mockumentary. An eclectic mix has already applied for “CBCB”, including a full-time clown, a Backstreet Boys tribute band and an ice-cream van man. And if they make the cut, they will be appearing in 10 half-hour episodes which will be streamed on CBCB’s own website and has already received interest from BBC3 scouts.

So, a mockumentary featuring a full-time clown, a Backstreet Boys tribute band and an ice-cream van man is the best that we can offer to represent Cardiff? The article later goes on to highlight Ben Harley, 22, from Caerphilly - so clearly it is!

The Cardiff I knew from the 80s/90s is gone. But the impression that most people have of Cardiff who have not been here is of some dirt-riddled semi-London copy, only useful for people from the former coalfields and mining communities of the Valley's to come to ad admire our relatively better streets and lifestyle. The reality is that Cardiff his now one of the UK's top six shopping destinations, and comes in the UK's top5 places to live for quality of life. Better not make too much of that though or the rest of you will come and spoil it for those of us who already know this.

But do I want a mockumentary mucking up people's impression of one of my favourite cities in the world? No. So please, don't go down to Cardiff Bay and join teh auditions, and if you are a BBC3 scout, then please make the right decision and ignore this piece of trash and leave it on the internet. We don't need more trash TV, and we don't need it giving a bad impression of Cardiff or Wales.

Taffy-bye!

St Marys Street = fail!

As is my want on a Saturday, I took the bus into Cardiff on a Saturday afternoon - I used to take the Vespa, but Cardiff Bus makes things as easy and ought to be supported - and had a wander around.

If the last visit that you made to Cardiff was more than 2years ago, you would be shocked at the changes. If the last visit you made was 20 years ago, when the docks and Tiger Bay were a no-go area for anything but adult pleasure seekers, then you wouldn't recognise the place. It really has changed that much.

The biggest difference up until a few years ago was the Bay Area development, which is till isolated from the main part of Cardiff. The Bay Area bendy bus service is great, but why not invest something in the linking streets between Cardiff and the Bay? Its a lovely walk, it just - like what has happended either end - needs tidying up.

Now the latest thing is St Davids 2, which has put Cardiff up into the UK wide Number5 slot for places to shop. Yes, we now have the fifth largest amount of shopping area in the UK.

Now this is great, and the combination of St Davids, the re-pedestrianisation of Queen Street, and now St Davids 2 has turned nice ltlle Cardiff into nice little and bustling Cardiff. The old Hayes which was once quiet, is now full of cafes and Jamie's restaurant - oh yes, he's even got to Cardiff!

So to extended the effect, Cardiff City Council have tried pedestrianising St Mary's Street, to bring the Millenium Stadium into the centre of the town. Opps, big fail!

Although St Davids 2 has made the Hayes buzz, the buzz on St Marys Street, and through the arcades, was always from bus passengers. You would alight at St Marys Street, and then wander back through town. Some days you could vary the routine and do it the other way, getting off at Queen Street and then meandering to St Marys Street. That's why both ends of the town were full of buzzing little cafes serving London-esque priced coffee and croisants, and the occasional Welsh cake.

But sadly for the traders of St Marys Street, the malaise which was isolated to the small block of buildings between the stadium and town, has now spread to all of St Marys Street. The problem is not that the plan was wrong - in theory - its just that the revamped Hayes is so much more modern and nice to sit in. While the Hayes was quiet because of taxi's, now its St Marys Street that looks like the old Hayes: slight faded, full of taxi's, dying. I walked down there yesterday, and it was piled high with rubbish bags at 15:30 - ah, no!

So here's a thought Cardiff Council: bring back the buses to St Marys Street. Accept that the urbanisation experiment failed, and let the buses go one way down St Marys Street: not both ways, just one way. Then let the people again meander from one end of Cardiff to the other. At the moment its just a mess, and all that happens is that everyone gets confused - and so St Marys Street is dying.

Nice plan, time to reverse it. Quick, quick!

The 100 most in Wales.... aka, pub lists!

This early part of the year is most often, strangely as the first part of a new year, the part of the year when we look back at last year. This is most obvious in the film, television and theatre industry, with the BAFTA's last week, and the OSCAR's next week.

In Wales, we have similar traditions. But to spice things up, our version of The Times - better known as Media Wales through its South Wales Echo and Wales on Sunday publications - has regular through out the year awards and ceremonies.

Now, when I first came across these, I thought there was some thought and seriousness about them. But now I conclude that they are not much more than pub lists, debated over a couple of pints of Brains SA, by a few hacks who long for what was Fleet Street.

The traditional list is the 100 most beautiful women in Wales. Now, I am certianly NOT saying that Wales doesn't have any cracking looking women - its part of the reason that I live here - and no they are not all called Catherine or Zeta or Jones. Some of then are called Sian, and if there's been a bit of Gavin and Stacey shown in the past 18months - yes, even a repeat - then a Gower girl called Joanna zooms up the charts. But I started questioning who put this list together when the various news readers of BBC Wales and ITV Wales would seem to inter change like handbags trying to be matched with the latest trendy dress.

The lastest list is the 100 best networkers in Wales. Now quite how you are supposed to rank one persons network against anothers person network is a new science to me: I always though the question was, does your network do what you want it to do for you/your business/your career? Some English idiot last week tried to suggest that the answer to Silicon Valley employment now was completely held within your Klout ranking, but that's Silicon Valley and he was a leading Social Networker in 2000, but in online terms that's ages ago.

Amusingly part of the "ranking" used in this latest hacks pub quiz must include LinkedIn. How do I know this? Because they refer to in some of the rankings. For instance, the ever wonderful Alison Hoy, CEO of leading Welsh law from Berry Smith, has the comment: "Alison has a relatively small number of connections on Linkedin in a classic case of quality over quantity." Then over on the J's section - we are Wales, so a lot of J's - is the ever insightful and driven Ron Jones of Tinopolis (like many good business people, if ever you get the chance, go listen to Ron talk - passionate about his sector and business, highly entertaining plus insightful), on who it is commented: "Ron is an active user of both Twitter and Linkedin."

Now being inquisitive on the scheme used to rank people in this scheme, I checked Alison's and Ron's connection levels on LinkedIn. As Alison has 52 connections and Ron 57, I can only assume that the difference between "quality over quantity" and "active" in this ranking system is around 5 connections. Lordy, what must my lack of quality with 3500+ connections be seen as from the bottom of a second pint of SA? I will just take this thought a bit further:

Dan Langford: group marketing director of Newport-based recruitment and training company Acorn "has more than 400 connections on LinkedIn."

Russell Lawson: public affairs manager for the Federation of Small Businesses in Wales has "embraced Social Networking." (150 connections) Last tweet on 8th December 2010 was "Sainsbury's overcharged me £1.58 on a four pack of tuna last Saturday. It's still playing on my mind. Land pirates..."

Bill Main: Chief Executive of one of Wales’ fastest-growing indigenous businesses MSS Group has "more than 50 connections on LinkedIn, and twet's regularly." I don't know when his last tweet was, his feed is protected

I could go on, but honestly just beyond the M's and N's, it got depressing and wholly laughable! The only other people I will pick up on are:

Jeremy Salisbury: Chairman of the CBI North Wales branch, who has "registered on Linkedin but has yet to cultivate any contacts." So why is he on the list then?

Wil Stephens: CEO of media company Cube, who "uses Linkedin (195 connections) and Twitter the latter where he has more than 800 followers."

Richard Thomas: CEO of development network business Cardiff & Co., who "is equally comfortable communicating to his network via Twitter and Linkedin (465 connections)."

I'll give you a thought on how this list was "created" on some substance, beyond the local hacks drinking hole. Every year, Media Wales who own the South Wales Echo and Wales on Sunday produce a "Who's Who in Welsh business." Its a vanity directory, in that almost every entry has been paid for. The first time I saw it was at a Welsh business exhibition, where they were giving away what I had been told only the day before in a sales cold call was a "quality directory distributed to key influencers in the Welsh buisness community." Yet now it was being given away to the few UWIC and UCC students who had been bothered to get up that day, as they toured an empty event looking for inspiration for their next assignment - I believe they call it research! Browsing my copy showed huge lists of local members of each of the busines sbanking teams that could be found on a 5minute walk down Queen Street, and the occasional secretary ofor a new business start up, but one of the key influencers who from my then short time in Wales I knew I had to have in my address book to get anywhere or anything done.

So how was this list created on some substance? PS: its time to renew your subscription to "Who's Who in Welsh business!!!"

The problem with this list is that it is reflective of an old Wales business culture. One thing as an incomer that I noticed, was the huge gap betwee the old boyo's, and the new Welsh buisness culture. It's hugely youth driven (sub 30), online, and when person drinks and discussion based. Its why Wales has more BNI groups per head of capita than most parts of England. Unable to get into places like the County Club - actually, not wanting to join stuffy and dusty places like the County Club - they drive new agenda's using new social media. I'll pick two people out of this new grouping, and ask how they didn't get on the list:

Elio Assuncao: Cardiff Ambassador, CEO Wales Connects International - 500+ on Linkedin 3000+ on Twitter, and tweeted today

Bernie Jackson: ILM trainer and coach, a Cardiff Council Member at South Wales Chamber of Commerce, 500+ on LinkedIn, 1500+ followers on Twitter, tweet'd today

Part of Welsh culture and Welsh life, is proud of being Welsh - I get that, its why I live here. While much of the rest of the UK has lost its drive, strength and uniqeness, Wales has not. Part of that Welsh cultural revival is through its language - and even though I speak less than 10words of the sacred bardic language, I will defend it and its teaching to the hilt. As apparently will most of the incoming non-Welsh speaking parents, who in Cardiff que outside Welsh-medium schools just to get their children into what are proven to be better learning institutes.

But please, don't decry and insult your readership and country by producing a vanity list, created on a criteria of needing to fill a few column inches, thought up while downing a few pints in a hacks driking hole. Either do it properly or don't do it at all!

A little bit Taffy

Welcome to A little bit Taffy - a incomers sideways view of life and living in Wales!