Last Halloween I slaved over my Gaga costume, but it just wasn’t what I wanted it to be in the end. Which one should I be? I HAVE always loved her outfit from the dancing diner scene in Telephone. That way I can somewhat pretend I’m just dressing up as an American gladiator or something and people won’t judge me too hard.
OK, I’m just going to start off abruptly here. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH 50 CENT RIGHT NOW? If he’s just scheming to get publicity before his new movie comes out next year, I think he is a damn genius and should be praised for his social media miracle. He should give seminars. He should go in the history books. And his new movie, Gun, should be played on the big screen!
That’s right, friends, I have recently learned the sad news that Gun (written by and starring the man himself, 50 cent) will be sent straight to DVD. We can’t let this happen, people! I happen to be personally invested in this movie. More specifically, its trailer. My bestie is going to be making it. So as much as I want this to become a cult classic and become a part of everybody’s DVD collection, as long as everybody watches the trailer I’ll be totally happy as well. But let’s just watch the trailer AND the movie, hokay folks? Oh, and just to pique your interest, I’ll give you this little synopsis: A drama set in the world of drug dealing. Tagline, you ask? One Gun. Many Lives Lost.
Oh, and just because I like you guys, here’s the poster:
Also. You MUST start following 50 on twitter. You’ve gotta. His tweets can’t be missed. They’re so good, in fact, that the founder of twitter, @ev, called @50cent and let him know he’s the best thing that has ever happened to twitter. But that’s all according to 50’s twitter. Which is why you should really follow him.
Warning though, 18 and older readers only.
I may or may not have retweeted that.
The past week has brought about a lot of discussion on the true Achilles heel of my generation, the Millennials. The generation that has been the most obsessed over, over processed and over exposed generation to date? Yeah, that’s me. It’s so embarrassing.
Just today, as I clutched my cell phone while huddled in my car in the midst of a giant electric storm in a Target parking lot, I told my father, in complete exasperation, “Just be grateful that you don’t have to live in my generation, Dad. It’s just awful.”
He admitted that nothing could be worse that that.
The New York Times seems to agree. From all its scientific research we can conclude the following: damn it sucks to be them [read: us]. I have been obsessively contemplating the Emerging Adulthood theory brought up in this article. I look at myself, a successful young career woman, and think, I loathe adulthood, it’s nothing but paying bills and cleaning and buying groceries and washing dishes and doing laundry, I do it all, but as I italicized before, I loathe these adult duties.
Slate asked us, “What’s the Matter with Twentysomething Kids Today?” through an exploration of some very successful 20-somethings’ perspectives on their stage in emerging adulthood. I felt of all the participants, I related most to Samantha.
Samantha Henig
I pay my own bills too, Noreen, but I don’t feel like that makes me as an adult. I have plenty of grown-up responsibilities, but I’m not responsible for anyone but myself. If I want to live a totally selfish life (which arguably would still include paying my bills, for the selfish reason of wanting to avoid late fees and keep my utilities running), I can. No one is counting on me, and any wrong moves—romantic, career, financial—only hurt me. It’s that, more than my bank account or job title, that makes me feel like I’m not quite a grown-up. The stakes are just too low. And even though I’m not one for trips to Asia to find myself or whatever, the fact remains that if I wanted to and could afford to take one, there’d be nothing truly standing in my way. Like, say, a hungry toddler.
I do not meet the criteria for a full-fledged adult in one huge way: I am not married and not with child. These were never, in my mind, prerequisites for a successful journey through my 20s. Now I’m left dumbfounded, thinking I have failed to bloom to my full potential in some way or another. However, I’ve found another great validation for my failure to launch into full adulthood. And, unfortunately there’s really no other way to put it: it’s the girl power theory.
The Atlantic knows What’s Really The Matter with 20-somethings. The women don’t need the men anymore.
Women and College
In 1970, women accounted for 36 percent of college graduates. Today they account for the majority. College educated women marry later, have fewer children, and are less likely to view marriage as “financial security,” according to a 2010 Wharton study [PDF]. You can’t explain delayed marriages and older mothers without talking about college.
Well, if that wasn’t like looking into a fortune-telling crystal ball I don’t know what is. Women became fed up with performing manual “adult” labor all day long while the men got to make all the money and become big fancy executives. Screw that. I hate laundry. I hate dishes. Oh wait, I end up doing all of those things anyway because I’m not in the market for a husband or child! We have screwed ourselves over, women, and we’re still not real adults. This sort of thing would happen to a Millennial.
I have one final proposal for the development of the Emerging Adulthood stage. This theory, completely theorized by yours truly, is quite simple. We’re complex. We are digital natives. We want to text and listen to music and check Twitter and watch Anthony Bourdain all the time. We want to surf the web constantly. While we’re talking to you, keeping up a text conversation and playing a Word With Friends game. To put it simply, we all have mild to severe Attention Deficit Disorder.
I can imagine how young adults used to pass the time back in the old days, like say the 80s. They would listen to a record, or maybe watch a movie together — two common activities even these days. But today these simple joys have taken mutant form — I am playing you an iTunes genius playlist via my iPhone however I keep skipping through each song that lasts longer than 3:00 minutes because at that point I’ve lost my patience and can’t wait to see the next song. Or while we’re watching a movie downloaded instantly on Netflix, I might just text all night or concurrently finish somebody off in a virtual Scrabble game. Or comment on my friend’s new Facebook photos. You get what I’m saying here. ADD.
People who have known infinite options and quick fixes all their lives don’t need to commit to things. If some internship or job is unbearable, you get out of that situation and find some new opportunity. Discomfort is not worth the damage it can create — we’ve been conditioned to bail when the times get unbearable. I don’t think my parents felt the limitless options that we do; they found a good job and that was it. Financial stability is important to them, because their own parents grew up on the tail of the great depression. Us Millennials, well, we’ve known and seen opportunity and fortune — and money can’t buy us love or happiness. But joining the Peace Corps can.
Not only was Dobie theatre the home of great indie flicks and and first-runs, but it was the only place on the University of Texas campus where students could really go to the movies. It was really the only option when my friends and I all lived on the UT campus absolutely none of us owned cars. The Dobie was always just a few blocks away, and of course the West Campus frat houses acted as our bars. We were 19. But those early years weren’t even the greatest for me at that place.
The beginning of the spring semester in 2007 was uncannily marvelous. Austin was hit by ice storms. The roads were slippery, and the first few days of school had to be canceled due to inclement weather. And we didn’t know what to do with ourselves!
The first day we had off I stayed inside my 4-bedroom house on Enfield Road, and my roommates and I huddled together on the couch watching Project Runway, I can imagine. By the next day I had to leave the house, I took my chances and drove to Dobie, where I met up with my best pal, Naila, who happened to live in the private Dobie dorms. We walked sockless in ballet flats across the dead, frozen drag and into West Campus to meet up with Jeff. We later walked back to the drag, in hopeless search of an open restaurant. We settled on Austin’s Pizza (literally the ONLY thing open!) and went to see Pan’s Labyrinth at the Dobie Theatre. Because, duh, even in the frozen winter, it was open when everything else was closed.
Goodbye, sweet theater. Thanks for the good times!
It’s been eight months since Apple’s acquisition of Lala, and today CNET reported more disappointing news from the monster tech company: its plans for launching any cloud-based music services in the coming months will not only be “modest in scope,” but will lack key functionality the company had promised to music labels in past meetings. I’ll give you one guess as to what that functionality is — well, actually, I’ll just tell you — users will not be able to store their music on Apple servers. So basically, the service won’t be functional at all.
My question for Apple is simple: WHAT IS THE FREAKING HOLD UP? Apple users are patient people to be sure. Patient and masochistic. I admit I tend to gravitate toward using Apple products over its competitors. This is especially true when it comes to laptops. My seemingly retro MacBook (circa 2007) worked flawlessly for three years, but I was in desperate need of a new hard drive. I got that taken care of a few months back and the laptop works like new.
Then came the iPhone. When I switched from a Sprint Instinct to an iPhone I was undeniably blown away by the functionality. But I mean, come on, you gotta admit that was quite the upgrade. Twelve months later and I have grown quite self conscious to be carrying a piece of hardware that’s so unjustifiably proud of its place in the market. In four words: I have Droid envy. My stupid 3G doesn’t have video capabilities and the camera can’t even zoom or flash. My freakin’ Sprint flip phones could do that. Why must Apple keep functionality from its customers?
I believe that Apple has no excuse for keeping cloud-based music services from the public. Not only did they commit a huge burglary of thousands of users’ music libraries by shutting down Lala, but they are preventing the public from technologies that are current, achievable and that should be standard.
Why is there no hope for an Apple music cloud eight months after the Lala acquisition? And why would Apple take away existing growing technology and then stunt its growth? Because Apple’s interest in selling hardware is too high. Why do you think their iPads, iPods and iPhones come in sizes? To get true value out of their products you have to super size your product, because I mean come on, who wants a phone with only 8 gigs of space when you could have 32? And why would Apple take away its own ability to super size its customers?
I think it’s a super-sized travesty. How dare a company call itself innovative and cutting edge when it keeps innovation away from the market just so profits can run higher? Apple’s loyalty is already faltering, and I wouldn’t be surprised if their hold on the phone market is slowly sabotaged by companies who are willing to keep an open perspective and freedom for developers and customers. Oh, and p.s., Google is developing some musical cloud plans of its own. Good for you, Google. May the cloud be with you.
Next time I’m looking to pop an inflated ego I’ll need turn no further than to the New York Times. Or just make sure it’s the end of the month. And yes, I realize that it’s already May but it still feels like April to me, or something. Because then I’ll know it’s time for the monthly shine-light-upon-beautiful-successful-youths piece. Last month it was The Rising Stars of Gossip Blogs. This particular article hit too close to home. I read through the name of contempt, high-and-mighty bloggers posing for their NYT photo shoot, who were probably dying to reveal the shit-eating grins they kept bottled inside in favor of cool indifference. I suddenly froze on one of the names. The spelling, her face, dear god, my ex-boyfriend’s sister was staring straight at me from inside nytimes.com.
The same girl who’d politely asked 18-year-old me to not address her by name in her comments was now featured in the New York Times. And I was some dweeb lame enough to read an article about rising blog stars in the first place. Where did I go wrong? And what had she done that made her go so right? I’ll admit, it’s a fantastic blog my ex’s sister runs, but that’s not THE POINT. The point is, I need to not personally know the current bloggette star clogging up the NYT’s traffic. Mainly because it just freaks me out.
Today the blow came in New York Times Magazine form. A bigger beast in almost every way. The article, titled All the Obama 20-Somethings brought about inspiration more than jealousy. And when I talk about inspiration, I mean by Ashley Parker, the author of the piece. Her style refreshed me and her story-telling was too legit to quit. And sadly, when I tried to Google search for her twitter page, all I found were results for Ashley Parker Angel of O-town fame.
No thanks.
And the stories about the young White House assistants were absolutely endearing. They’re just like us, but all fancy! And they get to look at sacred American treasures and hoop it up with the White House staff (if they’ve got the cajones to play, that is). Parker hints that only men are welcome participants on the b-ball court. Boiz Club.
But still, to be writing about such incredible 20-Something in itself makes a person, in my eyes, an incredible 20-Something. Parker gets to describe Obama in her work. What do you do?
“It was as excited as I’d seen anyone since election night, since inauguration,” Favreau later told me. At one point, he saw Axelrod and Gibbs telling Obama some jokes. “He was laughing so hard,” Favreau said. “I’d never seen the president laugh that hard.” Adam Frankel — the history buff of the speechwriting staff — asked if perhaps he could see the Lincoln Bedroom. “Before I knew it, the president was like, ‘Who’s coming on the Lincoln Bedroom tour?’ ” Favreau recalled. Obama showed off the handwritten Gettysburg Address and said, “I’m just here by myself tonight, so you can come in, check everything out.” (Michelle and their two daughters were in New York for the weekend.)
The night ended at close to 1:30 a.m. “We finally realized we should probably let the president go to bed,” Favreau said. Obama thanked them all again and they trickled from the White House residence and into the cool early morning.
A combination of Glee and my ever-flattening sing-along-with-the-radio-voice, I’ve been feeling inspired lately to put my pipes back to work. I happen to know two of my co-workers are former high school show choir nerds as I was. I could sing Alto 2, My other co-works are mezzos I believe, all we need is a soprano. Hell, I guess we could find guys, too. My mind delights in the possibility of forming an a capella group for 20somethings. In Burque. Again, coolest or lamest thing I’ve ever suggested? I don’t know.
But I miss singing! And anyway, these men have received my stamp of approval. Introducing the University of Oregon’s premier male a capella group — On the Rocks. (See above.)
I can’t believe there is a #mediamiragegroupie, y’all. Today I got this tweet that totally blew my mind.
I started thinking that maybe I have been taking my ability to publish whatever I want to my lil’ Web site (keeping it old school until I get called a granny, don’t even care). See that there? I can still say “Web site” here. Suck it, AP Style! (But not really, you know I love you.)
There is a short list of reasons why I have found myself abandoning the blog. I could list them out, but I’ll spare the details. For the most part it comes down to three main causes:
1. I just don’t think anybody’s reading this.
2. I’m bored with blogging about the state of the media.
3. Believe it or not, SXSWi killed my new media mojo.
There I was, a first-time SXSWi attendee. I had high hopes — I was going to watch a keynote by Evan Williams, get my QR code scanned by hundreds of new people that I networked with and my twitter friends list was about to be BLOWN THE FUCK UP! But alas, that’s not how things went down.
Twas the night before SXSWi and I slept at my parents’ condo in Canyon Lake. We ate at the same restaurant we always do for dinner, my parents played on Facebook with their BlackBerries all night, and then I lay awake until deep into the early morning, contemplating my jaunt back to Texas. I should mention that I’d traveled all day from Albuquerque to Austin and woke up very early to vomit-inducing excitement and anxiousness about my trip back to Austin. And when I say vomit-inducing I am being quite literal and serious.
My trip back to Austin was heavily delayed by traffic. I had totally forgotten what it was like to sit bumper-to-bumper for an hour. That sure doesn’t happen in New Mexico.
I finally got my dad’s huge red pick-up to West Campus, and I drove to my default tow-free parking lot in a friend’s apartment complex.
The sun shone brightly across the shady streets that intersect with 30th Street. My skin felt warm and the air felt perfect outside. I hadn’t spoken to my friend yet, but I knew he’d be home. Day one of SXSWi abandoned. I couldn’t bear the thought of being yards away from Tim and not visiting. The thought sickened me. Made me want to vomit. I spent the afternoon sitting in his courtyard and visiting with he and his brand new dog. Wouldn’t trade that day for the world.
I finally went to the festival the next day. I arrived late. I went to panels. Nobody talked to me. I’ll admit I didn’t bust out conversation with others either, but for good reason. It was like a staunch college lecture hall where nobody dare chat with a stranger. I managed small talk at some panels, and on the next day when I wore a low-cut dress I almost instantly regretted it upon entering the Convention Center. My breasts were the focal point of nearly every nerd that crossed my path. The nerd-to-girl ratio was appalling, frightening and disturbing. And every set of eyes that crossed my path and didn’t check out my rack were almost certainly looking at their iPhone screens. Checking their mayor status on Foursquare. Important shit, and shit.
That’s cool though. iPhones are cool. Social media is a powerful tool. HTML5 is going to kick ass. Geo-tagging and QR codes and barcodes and check-ins, they’re all fabulous and fancy. But I’ll be honest with you, after one spin around the trade show I couldn’t help but think, “How in God’s name are all these exhibitors gainfully employed?” How is it possible that there’s a real need for all this garbage? How are virtual services and internet-based tools so valuable to us?
After five-plus hours of attempting to shield cleavage I went home hungry and disappointed. Disappointed by the hype. Or the hype’s inability to live up to itself. The people I’d met either schmoozed me or looked down upon my noob status. Both of which I don’t enjoy. I did have a pleasant run-in with an ex-colleague, but that, of course, is a whole different story. Of course a journalist would be a pleasure to have as company.
But PR people and marketers and all these tech savvy folk in general have a way about them — a way of destroying a gathering of humans and a way of making fascinating technology unattractive to me. They make me want to run away from their group. They only want my friendship if there’s a definite gain for them. Guh, why did I sign up for this shit?!
I have lodged myself into a career that’s full of journalists working hard for a bunch of PR agencies. What does that make us, anyway? Are we still journalists when we constantly have to surrender our AP Style intuition to our client’s fancies? I’d say no, we just edit press releases. We’re working for the dark side now, feeding the PR to journalists. I loved the way new media was used for journalism. I loathe the way it’s used for PR.
I don’t know where the future will take me or anyone else. You included, dear readers. I don’t know where technology will take us either. I don’t know if I need technology to be taken anywhere. I had big hopes and dreams for my digital career, but let’s be honest, Corporate America doesn’t have room for free-thinking new media lovers. It doesn’t have employees who tweet or the flexibility to listen to your ideas. There are a few radicals out there, but for the most part things stay as the way of the establishment. There is an order of things. Everything stays in its place.
Is my place in this established life or in the innovation of the future? Direction is hard to come by these days. Seems like most of us are just trying to get by.
This week I was tipped off to the cutest, most ironic and totally underground Web site I’ve seen in quite some time: hipster puppies. (btw, thanks for the link, @rachelwentcrazy!)
Now I must admit that in general I am much more partial to funny cat pics on the Web, but I’m sorry to inform you that cats just don’t look as funny in hipster clothes as dogs do. However, you be the judge: there’s also hipster kitties for all my fellow cat lovers out there. You’ll find that they just took (internet) famous cats and made them seem like hipsters. But I think those kitties are way too mainstream for the site, IMHO.
Here’s an adorable sampling of the pups.
barney is more concerned with “dynamic range compression” and “the loudness wars” than the fact that he has shitty taste in music
no one is angrier than walter that you can’t buy sparks in san bernardino anymore
for tillie, having a mad men premiere party means dressing up, drinking manhattans and being totally fucking insufferable
trigger says the words “bike culture” out loud at least once a day
butters is going to stand directly in front of you and snap pictures for an hour straight because the perfect shot of dave longstreth isn’t going to take itself
perry could have easily informed the waiter that his order was wrong, but has decided to just write a bad yelp review instead
Check out the rest at http://www.hipsterpuppies.tumblr.com!
In case you missed this story like I did, the Internet has in fact been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. According to Mashable.com, “The nomination was made after a petition by the Italian version of Wired Magazine, which cited the Internet’s contributions to “dialogue, debate and consensus through communication.” Signatories include Iranian activist Shirin Ebadi, and organizers say the nomination will make for a legitimate entry.”
Two nights ago I stumbled upon a letter from Riccardo Luna of Wired Italy to Pete Cashmore of Mashable. He brought up some beautiful points about the internet’s new nature with the rise of social media. It’s like a living, breathing creature propelled by each individual user’s thoughts, hopes, comments and, let’s face it, rants. After reading Luna’s letter I started to feel completely differently about the Web. In my mind it has become like an ocean reef — it’s not in fact an inanimate object, or a Web site or an index of facts, it’s a new, super-human entity, created by us, which can immortalize us forever.
And as noted by Luna, Web access can now be considered a universal right. (After all, if Hillary says it, IT’S TRUE.) Our right to express ourselves on the Web makes its nature more human. Says Luna:
[The] Internet is not about computers, but living. It is the greatest social interface humanity has ever had. It is a weapon of mass construction. As we have put out in the official manifesto of the campaign, “digital culture is promoting a new kind of society through communication and education.” And communication and education are the roots of a peaceful world. One may not see it clearly now, but in the long run, new generations growing up in this increasingly digital world will bring ahead values of cooperation, sharing of knowledge, mutual respect.
The Internet has definitely been an equalizer among us, which I believe has brought a high degree of peace on our fair planet. But when considering whether the ‘net can really win this I question all the violent crimes and murders that have come about from creepy old men stalking young pretty girls through the same social interfaces that connect us all as one race. Can an entity really win the award when it also opens up a playground for pedophiles and killers?
Since 2003, at least 4,251 flag-draped coffins have arrived from Iraq. Since 2001, at least 584 have come home from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.
[AP]
Today Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to announce that news photographers will be able to capture these tragic homecomings. Soldiers who come home in the ultimate defeat will no longer be hidden from the public eye. However, the photographs may only be taken if the family of the deceased comply.
Critics of the Pentagon’s old policy said the government was trying to hide the human cost for our wars abroad; is that really the case?
This 20-year-old Nebraska man, Acea Schomaker:
Stuffed this cat, 6-month-old kitten Shadow:
Into this homemade bong:
The AP says Schomaker wanted to “mellow out” his cat by stuffing her into his homemade bong — and now he’s facing criminal charges (GOOD!)
Read the rest of the story here.
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is moving up in the world! No longer does this shameless man have to sign blonde boobies outside of Chicago Cubs games. But, you know, just because he’ll eventually move on to bigger and better signing materials, (OK, so maybe not bigger!) like freshly-bound books published on the dime of a “six-figure” book deal with Phoenix Books, doesn’t mean he’ll be all books from here on out. I can definitely see more boobies in Blago’s future.
The book, to be titled The Governor (more like The Former Governor, LOL!) will outline his “downfall” and all of the “factors” that were “involved” in the “decisions” he “made.” And yes, all those scare quotes were very necessary.
This is what I don’t get, Americans, why are we PAYING this criminal after we hand him federal charges for trying to get PAID to pick a senate seat? Are you out of your mind, Americans? Have you gone bonkers? It was bad enough that you watched him on The View, or let him sign your boobies or whatever it is you let him do. Shame on us for paying attention to this governwhore turned attentionwhore.
I am going to lose sleep for months over this garbage. Well, Blago, your indictment’s coming in April, so you better be a quick writer.
Bust out your tissues. This post contains sensitive material.
Last night I had a thought — it went something like “omigawd I haven’t blogged in like four days and I have no clue what I should write about next!!!!”
Well, have I got a doozie of a blog post topic now.
Today I got laid off. Or, rather, my “position was eliminated.” To be completely honest, I knew it was coming. Last week we gained word that web producer positions had “been eliminated” in Dallas and D.C. If those two cities were down to three web producers, there was no way Austin would get to keep four.
I guess I should back up for those who didn’t know, but I worked at the local FOX TV station here in Austin. I was a web producer. I LEARNED TO READ A LOT OF SCRIPTS, E-MAILS, ETC. IN ALL CAPS THERE.
I learned a lot of other things, too. But the all caps thing was definitely a big adjustment for me. It’s all about being flexible.
The real kicker for me, though, is that I feel like I taught a lot while I was there, too. I was the official AP Style guru to one of my close colleagues, I created a Facebook account that began generating about 20 percent of our daily page views, oh yeah, and I taught the reporters how to use Twitter. Now I already know what it will feel like when I teach my child how to ride a bike someday.
When we heard about the layoffs last week, a colleague and I went into states of complete shock and paranoia, but he kept telling me (ever so sincerely) that I deserved to stay because I was smarter, more skilled, more attractive and generally cooler that he was. I hope he knows how much I appreciated those comments, and I’m glad that all the hard work I put in went noticed by my superiors, but those who mandated the layoff on the national level didn’t know me — I am just the entity that fills a position — and I was the newest one on the team. The “position elimination” was solely decided by the fact that I was most recently hired. And that’s fair, I guess.
But you know what wasn’t fair? I worked so hard to become a journalist since the day I switched my liberal arts major over to multimedia journalism. I did everything I could to gain experience, learn new skills and become a concerned, involved and accurate journalist and citizen. I went from general newspaper reporting to web editing to radio reporting looking for a way to become a part of the media. And once I got my job as a web producer I felt like it all paid off. I’d always thought of myself as a jack of all trades but master of none in the worst way. But when I was hired as a web producer everything clicked — all that I’d done had perfectly prepared me to be where I was.
But now here I am at home. At the end of December I had two jobs — my web producer job and another freelance editing job with a local magazine. Now it’s March 9th, and I have zero jobs. The magazine folded and my position was eliminated.
I’ve worked so hard to keep ahead. I graduated a year early and put myself out into the industry as fast as my little feet could take me. I wanted to succeed and grow as a professional as fast as I could, but you know, maybe I jumped the gun. After all, I SHOULD STILL BE A SENIOR IN COLLEGE RIGHT NOW! (Oh my gosh, I guess the caps lock skill really DID stick!) But instead, I’m laid off. Laid off at 22.
SPRING BREAK 09!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, really though, I have come up with a few options for my future, and I’d like some feedback, so please read this list of possible jobs/ventures I will be looking into over the next few days and tell me which one I should choose.
1. I could become a full-time snarky Gawker commenter. My cynicism index has recently broken through the glass ceiling, and now that I have become “just another statistic” I can really relate to their daily (soon to be hourly) posts about media layoffs. So that’s an idea.
2. I could put myself up for sale on eBay like this Austin family did. (Sorry, I have this bad habit of shameless linking to myfoxaustin.com to generate more page views. I need to stop doing that!)
3. I could go live with my parents in Katy!!!!!
OK I can’t really think of any other options at the moment.
Um, SPRING BREAK!
Yes.
I was reminded of a piece I worked on back in October 2008 called “Are you ready for a layoff?”
Hmmm….
So glad about that nest egg I’ve saved up over the years.
Tell me if I’m wrong, but is it a sign of the times that Old Navy is using mannequins in their commercials instead of real actors and actresses? I was watching this commercial earlier today and the thought crossed my mind. (And made me giggle a lot.) I would really, really like to know how much money Old Navy saved by using mannequins in their commercials.
Support the mannequins! They deserve their cut, too.
Haha I forgot to mention how ridiculously sassy they are. So I wanted to find out more about the mannequins (technically they’re called Supermodelquins, you know, since they’re stars of Old Navy commercials.) Kinda like these guys:
Something makes me think that Travis the chimp was in a very similar Old Navy commercial star situation. Unpaid acting. It’ll drive a chimp crazy!
Back to the mannequins, I found this REAL CELEB STORIES video that gives a look into the mannequins’ backgrounds. Let’s be honest here, I didn’t watch past :39. BUT, I thought I’d leave the option open for those who are interested.
[Since I've got so much more taste and class than the New York Post, an unintentionally potentially racist phrase has been removed from this post. Sincerest apologies to anyone who may have been offended by the phrase.]
Blessed are the hipsters, for they shall inherit the Earth. Oh, wait, wrong verse.
I ended my glorious week of SXSW in the teenie tiny Green Shoelace Garage for a very special party featuring a “secret” guest, the widely celebrated and loved MSTRKRFT. I was so pumped to see them, last time I saw them they blew me away and I expected the same last night. Let’s just say I fell vicitim to hype of my own making.
The whole performance wasn’t really about dancing or listening to some high-quality electro music, no, it was about the entourage. It was about being seen passing a bottle of Crown Royal from one sexy person to another. And taking sexy photos of all the beautiful drunk girls willing to drink their away their dignity in exchange for the chance to dance on the stage with a cool DJ guy with a crazy design on his T-shirt.
I’ll admit that I sound more bitter now about the entourage than I actually felt at the time. They were annoying, yes. But not to the point where my night could be ruined. Still, I couldn’t help but think that it was a little sad to end my SXSW with pretentious New York hipsters who think it’s OK to invade our city with their “hawter than thou” party mentalities.
Anyway. lastnightsparty was at the show. I’m pretty sure I’ve linked the man behind the lens:
Sure, he seems all right on stage, innocent enough. But my friend and I left the show early (sheer exhaustion, it was going on 4:30 a.m., ah). We rode our bikes back around the garage and I spotted the same cameraman crouching behind a dumpster, coaxing an intoxicated topless woman to pose for some photos.
It’s not like I haven’t seen the topless party photos before. But seeing it in person and seeing that poor drunk girl’s confused face just really put me over the edge. Go home, New Yorkers, we Southern Belles try to keep it a little bit classier than that.
Yesterday U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) introduced a bill that would allow newspapers (smaller ones, not the huge media conglomerates) to run just like a non-profit — tax breaks and all. They’d become kind of like public broadcasting companies.
Newspapers would still be allowed to report on political issues (dear God, let’s hope so) but wouldn’t be able to make endorsements anymore. Here’s what Cardin had to say about his brainchild:
The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy.
See, rest of the professional world, our industry is doubly screwed! Our business model is “BROKEN!” Too bad for all of y’all, because now your “DEMOCRACY” is going to be “BROKEN.”
Seriously though, I do like this idea. Too bad the rest of Washington hates it; Cardin has yet to attract any co-sponsors. Tell me, mediafiends, what do you think?
TGIF — Thank God I Facebook. I don’t think people my age will ever be able to organize any sort of coalition, protest or any grassroots movement without it. And if we actually do figure out how to bring an issue to people’s attention without creating a group or event, well, chances are the cause will never be quite as successful.
Thanks to this Keep Richard Finnell at The Daily Texan Facebook group, all of us concerned Texan Exes were able to do something about Texas Student Media’s troubling proposal to consolidate positions and layoff six people in an effort to shrink TSM’s deficit for the year. Within a span of 48 hours the page was filled with our comments and encouragements to each other to flood the TSM board members’ inboxes with e-mails pleading them to vote no on a proposal that would get rid of an advisor that has molded so many of us into the passionate journalists we are today.
wuddup world.i’d just like to say that joining a facebook group is akin to wearing a save darfur shirt and that everyone should take 15 minutes to write all these people a quick dissent.
When the board meets Friday we will discuss the projected revenue shortfalls and explore options for cost efficiency.No decision has been made, or will be made without thoughtful consideration of all possible alternatives regarding the future of the staff members involved and the financial best interests of TSM and its ability to serve UT students.
Cash said it would be a great disservice to students if the board did not address the real challenges facing media industries.
“It would create an artificial world for the students,” Cash said. “I think a lot of this is consolidation, which makes sense from a business model.”
Cash did seem affected by our presence in the meeting. And while TSM director Kathy Lawrence laid out her layoff agena, Cash asked thorough, aggressive, tough question after thorough, aggressive, tough question. Just like she’d taught us in her infamous reporting class (self-proclaimed as the hardest course offered within the journalism school). In the end, Lawrence’s own lack of preparedness cost her the vote.
She had a powerpoint presentation ready to explain what the new positions would entail … but those descriptions didn’t match the agenda. After a good amount of discussion, Cash moved to postpone the vote. We’ll have to wait until April 24 to see if Lawrence can convince the board to make the cuts.
Daily Texan’s editor Leah Finnegan and managing editor Vikram Swaruup made some comments after Lawrence’s powerpoint went bust. They expressed a deep concern over the lack of transparency and communication between the board and the students who are running The Daily Texan. They said they heard the news about Richard Finnell’s potentional layoff from the man himself, not from the board. Swaruup said he thought the two most influential students running the paper should have a chance to see the proposal on paper before it becomes a part of the meeting’s agenda.
The two then brought up the fact that there are board members who have admitted to not reading the Daily Texan regularly. Finnegan pleaded with the members to spend some time in the basement and learn what the publication is really all about. She said that nothing rang more true than the opening line of Swaruup’s opening to his progress report to the board: “Everytime I write one of these, I end up wondering how many people actually read it.” If they’re not even reading the Texan, who’s to know?
Earlier a friend of mine asked me, “Did you know one in every eight couples married in the U.S. last year met online?”
I didn’t; did you know that? Save yourself five minutes at the end of the day to watch this video about “pace of innovation.” [via @mashable.]
It’s a trip. What struck me most was the classification of an event that occurred “B.G.” — before Google. I’ve never heard this before. It got me thinking: OK, Google was founded in 1998, just around the turn of the millennium, two thousand years after the birth of Christ. Are we going to start measuring time on a B.G. basis instead of B.C.? Is Google becoming as important as Christ in our human history?
Don’t worry, y’all, I also know about the BCE/CE classification system. I guess that would change to “Before Google Era” and “Google Era.”
A little something I whipped up for BurntOrangeReport.com. I hope you all enjoy it!
I have been a lazy blogger lately, sorry. Just trying to enjoy my free time before it’s cruelly ripped away from me. Anyway, I wanted to share this ad created by this group called RIM: Restoring Integrity to the Military and Marriage. They have an awesome name for their Web site, it’s http://rimsjob.org. I shit you not. Here’s an ad they put out recently, it’s a must-watch:
I couldn’t help but notice how similar it was to an ad I read about last week that made me laugh and cry all at the same time. This group goes by the name of NOM: The National Organization for Marriage and it was released in the launch of their Religious Liberty Ad Campaign. Shyeah.
Oh, and just for fun, NOM NOM NOM NOM.
I love being able to talk about teabaggers. Tee hee hee. Today was Tax Day. I guess that’s the best day to describe it? I honestly don’t think any description that I could whip up in less than 20 minutes would do justice. Today was crazy. Basically, people decided to protest the fact that they have to pay taxes. First of all, here’s the best response to the protests that I’ve seen today:
Moving, right? I enjoyed it. I tried to hop over to some of the Texas Tea Parties today, but I ended up being a little late to both of them. Curses! Still I was able to experience them (I feel) through the twitpics and news coverage of them that I saw throughout the day. Here were my favorite two twitpics:
This one’s from KT Musselman. @karltm #Austin #teaparty best sign? Got fascism?
This one’s from Elise Hu, @elisewho A wide shot of all the marchers headed set from the Capitol to dump tea into the lake.
The Statesman’s multimedia coverage of the event was pretty awesome. And I just have to say, I would have enjoyed the whole ordeal much more if there were more people dressed up in their proper 18th Century tea party attire, but whatever.
I’ll leave you with the words of Paul Krugman and the footage I was able to catch — but I must warn you it’s not too thrilling since I arrived late to the City Hall party AND the marching party. I guess Conservatives haven’t heard about being fashionably late.
But the charge of socialism is being thrown around only because “liberal” doesn’t seem to carry the punch it used to. And if you go back just a few years, you find top Republican figures making equally bizarre claims about what liberals were up to. Remember when Karl Rove declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to the 9/11 terrorists?
Found a new exciting Web site today called MuckRack.com.
What if you could get tomorrow’s newspaper today?
Now you sorta can, by tracking the short messages on Twitter written by the journalists who do the muckraking for major media outlets.
Muck Rack makes it easy to follow one line, real time reporting.
If you are a journalist on Twitter or know of anyone not yet included in Muck Rack, please let us know.
I was so close to signing up. And I probably will. But in the process of signing up a big, glaring YOUR stared me in the face.
TYPE “SELF” IF YOUR ADDING YOURSELF!?! Please, I beg of you, fix this spelling error, MuckRack.com! A site representing journalists that made a your/you’re error? Not OK.
There’s nothing that online journalists love more than interactive google maps, so it makes sense that a multimedia and graphic designer from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Erica Smith, would take on the huge task of launching Paper Cuts, a blog tracking newspaper layoffs across the country. Click on the map to the left to search around the site. Zoom in, click on a city and get the numbers on individual papers. It’s even color-coded, but of course, by number of layoffs. So far the current count for the number of layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers is — get ready, y’all — 8,484+.
Did that seem like a large number to anybody? We’ve nearly completely the first 1/3 of 2009 and we’re up to about 8,500 layoffs in newspaper alone, I would love to see the numbers for other media outlets (like, let’s say TV, cough).
You can also browse layoffs from 2008 and about half of 2007 (Smith started the project halfway through that year). Additional listings include newspapers that have ceased publication, papers making the switch to “dot com,” and, but of course, layoff rumors. Make sure to contribute any layoff tips if you’ve got ‘em.
Oh and in case you were wondering, the corny headline comes from Wikipedia’s definition of a paper cut.
Today I learned that a 26-year-old woman landed a managing editor gig at The New Yorker. Amelia Lester, an Australia native, graduated from Harvard and began at The New Yorker as a fact checker. She left to edit for the Paris Review. Now she’s back and the envy of, um, well, me at least.
Things may not be perfect in the media world right now, but God damn it, if we’re not hopeful and we don’t at least try to make things work, well then we deserve our plight, now don’t we?
An anonymous contributor published this heart-breaking piece on Gawker today. It really got me down. I may not be an official member of the media in my current position, but my title includes the word “editor” in it and I’m going to jump on the first opportunity I find to get back into the writing game. Or at least that’s been my plan as of late. I thought that as a recent journalism graduate I was in one of the worst positions possible amidst the media meltdown.
There I was, a rookie ball player waiting on the bench and so ready to finally get my first chance step up to the plate. I made the cut got placed into the line-up, and by some grace of God I got a hit and ran my little heart out, slid into second base and MADE IT. Then some old fart who followed me in the lineup hit a grounder to third base and I was tagged out. Cut from the game.
The other rookies and I never even got our chance! Yet Gawker’s quoting a guy in his early 30s working for a glossy Conde Naste publication who said, “All these young kids still wet from college complaining about the lack of media jobs—at least they’re young enough to figure something else out. It’s the guys like me, who’ve been doing this shit for a decade and don’t know how to do anything else, who are fucked.”
You know what I have to say to this bitter old man? First of all, If you’re gonna call me a young kid “wet from college” I won’t hesitate to call you old. Second, STFU. Srsly. You want my job? I’ll teach you how to do something else.
Here’s what a “friend” says of Ms. Lester: “she got this far the old fashioned way — hard work and smarts.” Hopefully with enough motivation and journalistic prowess all of us “wet from college” (what does that even mean?) can slowly but surely replace all the whiny old farts.
Tao Lin is a really funny guy. I’m going to go ahead and tell you about his new book now. It’s called Shoplifting from American Apparel.
Seems pretty good. I wonder if it has a twisty plot. Or a surprise ending. Something tells me neither will be the case.
An excerpt of the book was posted on hipster runoff. I’m going to have to admit that the portion he chose to share hit close to home. Here it is:
“You know those people that get up every day, and do things,” said Luis.
“I’m going to eat cereal even though I’m not hungry,” said Sam.
“And are real proactive,” said Luis. “And like are getting things done, and never quit their jobs. Those people suck.”
“We get shit done too,” said Sam. “Look at our books.”
“I know, but that brings in no money,” said Luis. “Are we, like, that word ‘bohemians.’ Or something. Our bios: ‘They lived in poverty writing their masterpieces.’”
“We are the fucked generation,” said Sam. “Someone release the press release announcing this. Look at that typo.”
The word “announcing” was almost twice as long as normal.
“I’m laughing,” said Luis. “That is a good typo.”
“How do we get out of this,” said Sam.
I want to read it. I do. But I would feel so much less awkward about giving the dude money if he wasn’t always coming up with online marketing schemes and/or selling his possessions on eBay.
But then again, I read his Hipster Runoff blog and give him ad sales at least weekly. So maybe I should just suck it up and do it.
But then I see then again maybe I shouldn’t.
And if you need any help deciding whether to love or hate Tao, here’s a sampling of one of his poetry readings. Dare I say, “hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe?”
That’s right, because most journalists are three times more likely to be out of a job. (Or into something else.) According to a study by UNITY: Journalists of Color, while the rest of the country is losing its jobs at an 8 percent rate, journalists are being shed at a 22 percent rate. I couldn’t help but wonder who UNITY’s 2009 Layoff Tracker Report was really tracking. I mean, was I tracked? Because if so, I most certainly was not notified.
Either way that means we have three times more the reasons to wallow and complain.
I especially enjoyed what Onica N. Makwakwa, executive director of UNITY, had to say about the study.
“These numbers confirm that the economic downturn has hit the news industry very, very hard.”
It has finally been confirmed officially, guys. We’ve been hit very, very hard. But wait, there’s more!
“As the news industry shapes a new future and companies battle the financial storm, it’s important to remember that it’s about people too,” said Makwakwa.
Oh my goodness, good point, brah! What about the families?
But before you get too worried about the people battling the raging financial storms, just know that in the end, I finally read down to the last paragraph of this UNITY story. I learned that the report was compiled using SEC filings and self-reported data from media outlets.
But I still kinda wonder how many lost journos there are out there, unrecorded…
And in case you’d like to read a copy of the report, by all means, knock yourself out.
What can I say?
When you’ve had to stay late to edit out video footage of some reporter’s poorly played faux paux, or worse, cut out the live shots that include factual errors and misreportings, you really do learn to relish bloopers like this one.
And since it comes from FOX I just can’t help myself.
Both via an old friend from the Valley.
That was the subject of an e-mail sent to me by my Papa 12 hours ago.
I found humor in it. My initial gut reaction was: “OMGSPAM”
So I still haven’t opened it.
This video will probably cheer you up. And it reflects my real life in so many ways! Which I think is really neat.
Eric Prydz is the man.
Blog revival!
I’m glad to see some discussion on a topic that could make or break my ability to bring home the bread and butter for the next few years: SMRs (Social Media Releases). Over at his Don’t Fear the Firehose blog, Paul Armstrong, introduced to me via @themediaisdying, has opened up the following question: Are SMRs worth the paper they’re printed on?
I work in an industry that sends out SMRs (we can also call them MNRs, Multimedia News Releases) in a similar manner as a traditional press release, only these are rich in multimedia and optimized for social media. In my opinion optimized actually isn’t quite the right word to describe these releases, they give you an option to optimize their product through del.icio.us or technorati, but really all the bells and whistles don’t do much to inspire a journalist to write about it. Here’s what some of Paul’s members of the Firehose Brigade had to say:
“If the story’s rubbish, no. If the story’s good, yes. JUST LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE IN PR. Social media is not a magical way in which to polish fecal matter.”
- Matt Muir / Hill & Knowlton
————————————————————————————————–
“Save the paper, shoot the bird. Tweet. Save the rest of us from reading your business jargon with no more than 140 characters.”
- Stephanie Yang / BetaWave
————————————————————————————————–
“SMRs seem to currently be dominated by wire services which get everyone awfully excited but offer poor value for money. Compared to building a personal relationship with a blogger or journalist, these wire services soon look expensive – who wants to pay a hundred pound for a hundred page views?!”
- Jonathan Welsh / Biss Lancaster
I couldn’t agree more with all three remarks. But let’s combine: come up with a twitter update that will leave your audience with no choice but to click on your link, and link to a page with such spellbinding content that your readers will simply die with laughter, get chills from inspiration or just think it’s a great tidbit of information to share. The content moves virally; the PR professionals get their word out successfully. Let’s be honest with ourselves here, word of mouth through twitter can have a much more powerful impact than a handful of journalists picking up your content and writing a piece in their paper.
It’s still always valuable to include multimedia content. I believe there are a few journalists out there who might be able to make use of it. But for God’s sake, it simply must be embedded in a page beside the text. What’s the point of including a video that’s only represented by text? The same goes for images. They can’t be linked. They’ve gotta be embedded.
So it’s recently come to my attention that an old ex-colleague of mine has offended a huge fan-base of this month’s featured blogger on 20something Bloggers, Liz from It’s Unbeweavable!. I guess my pal sort of attacked her (by some bloggers’ perspectives) in an open forum, and suddenly he was running for hills after Liz’s entourage went after him. It was all a very dramatic experience and I’m sorry that one thoughtless thread post could cause a nightmare of day — by the end of it he was no longer a member of 20something Bloggers. In fact, I just checked, and his blog post detailing the event is gone, too, but basically he shot down Liz’s ability because her blog was pink and girly and she wrote about fashion.
But it’s not easy being pink.
Yeah, we’re 20something Bloggers and we’re women now, but we’re still not men, god damn it. And if it’s necessary to write in all black type and keep things conventional and masculine-looking in order to be a worthy blogger with important things to say and content that will keep you coming back, then I guess you can count me out. Pink is not a color to be taken lightly.
Pink says I am a girl. Pink says I enjoy being a girl. Pink says ballerinas are beautiful and I love me some stiletto heels. Pink says I’m not one to mask my passion for lip gloss.
I felt bad that my friend ruined his reputation and chances within the 20something Blogger community. In one regard it is a bit disappointing that the forum can’t be controlled a little bit more, a network like 20SB should try to hold onto its users as much as it can. But it really did get ugly.
Anyway while working on my new site redesign I kept that whole situation and Liz’s deserved respect in mind. I went through dozens of color palettes to find the perfect hue of pink. And I vow to publish things that represent the pink well. And hope all those smelly boys dare try to taunt me from their big boring black blogs.
It seems inappropriate to preface this post with anything but the following video.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
I know, it’s quite difficult to watch. And she is eerily reminiscent of Britney Spears. In the baddest way possible.
What is there to say on a day like today when I was so freaking swamped at work and totally tied up all evening that I missed the most vomit-inducing news I’ve experienced in this lifetime? It’s baffling. The Washington Post tried to help me 12 hours ago. And I was too god damn busy to read my e-mail today? Really? I had access to the internet and my phone ALL DAY LONG and I missed this? I am baffled. Floored.
That there’s some photographic proof to you that I need more iPhone and twitter breaks. Boohoo cry weep.
So as many know (especially my twitter followers) one of my favorite musicians passed away early this morning. Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., also known as Jay Reatard, was one of the most talented garage rockers of all time. And I can’t even describe to you how much his 2006 album, Blood Vision, influenced my life. Some of those songs got me through some really hard times. As cliché as that sounds, it’s true. Jay Reatard was a mastermind musician and although his life was cut so short, I am sure his music will live on for ages.
One regret I must share: I never did see one of Reatard’s live shows. Back in the summer of 2008 (college! woo!!) I went down to Red 7 to meet my boyfriend for a Jay Reatard show. I had just finished my late night copy editing shift at the Texan (again! college!!) and rushed downtown for the show. I was pumped, but I had been feeling under the weather all day and could only feel myself getting sicker and feeling worse about being out. I toughed it out for, oh, maybe 20 minutes and went home before Reatard came on.
“I’ll always have the chance to see him again,” I told myself. “He comes to Austin all the time and I’ll have thousands more opportunities to see him.” Yeah, no. I never did get to see him.
I hope we can all learn from my idiotic decision and trust me, never pass up a great show! It may be your last chance.
If you haven’t heard Jay Reatard’s music you really should give it a listen — Blood Visions is seriously an iconic album. You won’t be sorry you did. You’ll just be sorry you never got to see him live when you had the chance.
I will always cherish the music Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. did produce over the years, I’m just so sad there’s no more to come. This really is so tragic for the music world. Goodbye, Mr. Reatard!
Online sources are reporting that on January 27 the New York Times will begin charging its readers for access to online content. This change in accessibility is coming the same day Apple’s much-anticipated tablet (well, it looks like we may be calling it the iSlate) is rumored to launch. New York Magazine reported that NYT Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. may “strike a content partnership for the new device, which could dovetail with the paid strategy.”
The exact details of how the pay wall system haven’t been announced yet. Times spokesperson Diane McNulty said: “We’ll announce a decision when we believe that we have crafted the best possible business approach. No details till then.”
Journalists crafting a business approach? Aye, this could take quite a while. With 10 days to go until the rumored pay wall is raised high, we won’t have to wait long to see what the final approach will entail. Sulzberger needs to have quite a few conversations with Jobs pronto.
The Telegraph reports, “Mr. Sulzberger is believed to favor a metered use policy similar to The Financial Times, which allows readers to access some articles for free before they are forced to subscribe.”
Personally I’m completely comfortable with supporting the dying art of journalism (it feels a bit like supporting your local community theatre). I’m also happy to pay for quality news and reporting. But I do hope the Times gives some sort of mix’n'match deal. No Dowd for me, please.
Also… DO WANT THE TABLET. Holy jeez it looks amazing.
For the record, I started working on this post BEFORE Lady Gaga posted this on twitter. Now the cat’s really out of the bag, so I’ll just be outright — Lady Gaga has been baked.
So, so awesome. For more, visit fashionindie.com.
Hi all. Being the young 20something that I am in the fresh, beautiful beginnings of my brofessional career, I have done most networking in my life the new-fangled way. If we’re talking networking that doesn’t involve a [computer] screen and text then I’m a little inexperienced. It’s intimidating being a n00b in the big scary world of grown professionals, amiright? Being young in the business world definitely leaves you feeling vulnerable, but there are a few shining qualities we share that we MUST EXPLOIT. And the most important of those is the fact that you have a fresh-thinking, creative mind fathered by the 21st century. We’re gifted, it’s true!
In the dark ages there was nothing for me but horrible networking opportunities in the form of communications career fairs in college. You stand in line in a business suit with a fancy black folder and a stack of resumes and try to think of a way to stand out. These events were especially sad for the journalism majors when we realized that none of the companies represented at the fairs actually wanted to hire us. I remember frolicking up to the Statesman’s booth only to find they were only seeking advertising interns. But I digress.
Since graduation my tactics have changed — I mean since graduation Twitter changed everything — and I really only network with other media professionals via social media. (I guess technically my co-workers are media professionals, too, but that’s not networking — that’s just plain old working.)
This will all change in March. I’m taking a plunge and hopping a plane to SXSW Interactive Fest this year. Long story short, I am going to need all the help I can get with this in-person networking. I want to make a lasting impression. So, I’ve decided to come up with an unforgettable business card. I’ve come up with a few winners, I believe. Let me know which ones you like best.
On that note — I’m also hoping to find a way to tastefully and zingfully insert a last name joke. I mean my last name is Blewitt. There’s gotta be something there.
And without further ado, the selection of biz cards from which I will suck out all my inspiration:
I’m leaning toward a combo special between two, three and four. What do y’all think!?
I have concluded that I will witness World War III in my lifetime. Before coming upon this realization, I was always scared to witness the third World War. I was certain none of us would get out alive. But now that I’ve realized it will in fact be almost completely virtual and involve a minimal number of nuclear bombs, I’ve decided to sit back and enjoy the show.
In one corner, we have the veteran champion, Google. From its search engine to its e-mail to its incredible mapping system and documentation of our ENTIRE GLOBE, Google has consistently out-performed itself in the past decade.
Not only that, Google never shows its flaws. Google doesn’t pump the internet full of rumors for months, make a big fancy announcement of a product and then wait a few months to release it. (I’m looking at you, ya goofy iPad-releasing Apple execs!) Instead Google makes a small chink in the internet, and slowly trickles the information down just the way it wants the information trickled, from the utmost elite nerds down to the educated tech-savvys down to, oh, let’s say the tech-savvy people’s parents and friends. For the moment Google doesn’t need lowly AOL or Hotmail users. Not a good target market.
Google not only knows how to market, Google knows how to deliver. Apart from Google Wave, I’ve found most Google services to run flawlessly. The tone behind Google’s minimalist style and cutesy comments keep the company always friendly, always helpful, and always striving to provide the best of the best. For example, after Gmail chat is disconnected it returns by triumphantly announcing, “…And we’re back!” These little details win the hearts of users like myself.
In the other corner, there’s Facebook. Once a hero, the company has turned sinister and has unleashed its “Good guy gone bad” scheme into the world with striking terror. Facebook slowly gained a userbase among American college students, soon broadening the base to include high schoolers. I remember the outcry against such a move, and since that change Facebook’s objectives in staking claim in the social media world have morphed into an unidentifiable, power-hungry beast. The small online community (even in a campus of 60,000) created by my Texas network on Facebook really did work charmingly during my beginning years of college. Facebook helped us plan parties, organize photos of our friends, create groups for our dorm floor, create groups to perpetuate inside jokes and most importantly, post drunken wall notes after a night of bonding over jungle juice. Facebook was a community.
Now with more than 400 million users, Facebook is the internet. It’s the most common topic I overhear being discussed in my workplace. But the networking has changed — it’s almost non-existent. Groups are no longer a friendly spot with a few message threads and wall posts, they’re now formatted like a Fan Page that makes announcement after announcement with no real interaction — just announcements, related comments, and a number of thumbs up given to the post.
Facebook has become a one-stop shop for most of its users. It’s the shop around the corner that has everything — addictive games, information about every human being you deem to be an acquaintance, and even updates about products, businesses and public figures you adore. The problem? It’s cluttered with trash and the interface is buggy and, well, if you’re not careful your religious great auntie might see a post you wrote about women’s reproductive rights. I want all Facebook users to get this because I’m only going to type it once: in two years you won’t even want to speak Facebook’s name. It’s the Myspace of tomorrow and that’s final.
It’s only a matter or time before the anti-tweeters come around. They all came around to Facebook. They’ll come around to Twitter. And they will almost certainly find refuge in Google Buzz. I must admit Facebook’s foray into e-mail is a bit worrisome to me, but I don’t believe it will take off. Facebook can’t get chatting right and after the 12th redesign or so I just don’t care to relearn the navigation.
Facebook has turned into a public announcement fest — some say it has turned into Twitter, but I think that’s false. To me, Twitter is truly a conversation, a network with natural niches and webs built in. Facebook’s not cut out to defeat Google and it never will, because it just can’t deliver. So come on, Google Buzz, knock out Facebook so I can just delete that account already and move on with my life of buzzing and tweeting.
OK, so I’ve got to hand it to Mark Luckie over at 10,000 words, he’s got quite a site running. Not only is he a great source for journalists and students alike, but he’s got a great sense of humor! Today Luckie posted a screenful of punny, beautifully designed Valentines for journalists. My favorite feature — they’re 100 percent cost-free, environmentally friendly, and easy to post into an e-mail or message at work to give your colleagues and friends a quick day-warming. I’ve posted a few of my favorites below. Be sure to check out the rest at 10000words.net.
And finally, my personal favorite:
This means you may arrive at my heart, take a look around, maybe a photo or two, and ask me some juicy questions. It’s not quite a VIP pass, you’ll notice, so please don’t abuse it as such.
I realized something just now. No matter how many Twitters and Facebooks and Buzzes there are out there to help us communicate to everybody with whom we have kept mostly friendly relations, I don’t think the loudspeaker feel of social networking will ever impact the way I communicate with friends online like instant messaging and chatting have. Really! I realized that with Google Buzz now all of a sudden all my friends who I never see on Facebook or Twitter have been shackled and thrown into the a prison cell of social media slavery. A few examples (and for the protection of my friends and this social study, I have cloaked the participants’ names with conspicuous photoshop spraypaint).
Exhibit A:
Yes I realize my friends are especially resistant to the practice of thought broadcasting. But you know what’s fascinating? That girl who was forced into social networking by Google used to stay up late nights chatting with me on AIM. We all stayed up all night talking to each other, entering random chatrooms together and creating our own private chats where we all planned gatherings, admitted deep, dark secrets and gave each other updates on our current crushes, with whom we were most likely also chatting.
In middle school, AIM was pretty much the afternoon hangout. We could pretend we were doing homework on the computer, we could talk to all our friends at once in privacy (this was a time before cell phones — you had to use the home line) and we LOVED it.
So what is it about neo social networking that is so repulsive to those same individuals that loved chatting online? Is it the vast openness of them? The fact that it’s all public?
Ashton Kutcher claims that his own HUGELY public twitter page, @aplusk, is keeping his life calm, the tabloids Ashton-free and the paparazzi off his back. But honestly, just face it, Ashton, you used to be a hottie, and now you’re a nottie. SIMPLE AS THAT.
Plus we know this wasn’t the case for all celebrities. Take Miley Cyrus, for example, the pressure she faced while on Twitter was so intense that not only did she quit the network, she also released this deliciously wrong YouTube video. Please excuse the unfortunate girl who typed the subtitles to the following video. In fact, you can just pre-hate me for this:
I just had to use it because it works so well. And now it’s so clear: my non-networking friends are just being Miley.
Thanks for reading my blog. I love y’all <3 <3 <3
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