If you're a Tori Amos fan you know her long-awaited new album, "American Doll Posse," is being released this coming Tuesday (5/1). As written in a previous post I plan on being cooped-up in my apartment all week, enjoying the blissful sounds of the new material. Actually, the entire album is already available to hear on Tori's MySpace page, and it's quite good.
In honor of this new album, I am going to do my best to put up one post per day--for the entire week--devoted to Tori. Sound a little psycho? I don't really think so, I just want to try to do my best to promote the album, and help spread the word. I also want to hear about Tori stories from other folks, so if you've got one please tell me about it by leaving me a comment! And feel free to spread the word to other Tori fans you might know of...send them back over here to my blog!
I've recently become slightly obsessed with vlogging (or video blogging). It seems to be the "next big thing" in social media, and I admire folks who put themselves out there in front of their audience -- video blogging is engaging, reveals the personality of the video blogger, and lends itself to have the audience be more active.
One of my favorite new video bloggers was brought to my attention by a "Postie." What the heck is a "Postie," you ask? Well, if you know me or follow my blog you know I work for a company called PayPerPost. Whilst extremely controversial by nature, the company has established a fairly loyal following and customer fan base; those who actively use the PayPerPost platform are lovingly referred to as "Posties." Get it? Well, the vlogger in mention is Cali Lewis, host of GeekBrief.TV. It's primarily a video blog/podcast containing "geeky" content, which I'm not inherently interested in, but Cali is so darn cute and energetic I can't help but be a loyal watcher of her show.
Like I mentioned in my first posting, I'm sure it will take a little while for my blog to develop its true identity. My intent is to provide relevant thoughts on pop culture, social media and things in American life. (Hello...read the header!) And, of course, to develop an interested audience.... That will come, hopefully. Anyway, I've given much thought to my posts...hoping not to be too negative about the content I write about -- I don't wanna dog people and tear 'em down. That's not my style.
On that note, I decided my next post is about celebrities I feel are wasting my air*. Doh! I know that's pretty brutal but I'm so sick of seeing these people in the media. Sometimes I have a hard time really understanding what it is they're contributing to the entertainment world.
1. a famous or well-known person. 2. fame; renown.
Unfortunately, I'd have to say these people meet this criteria, and here they are in no particular order:
Ashlee Simpson Yeah, um...fess up to the friggin' plastic surgery, eh? We all know, and quite honestly we don't care...mostly because you look much better.
Jessica Simpson (John Mayer by association) Not quite sure what to say here. I've been bangin' my head up against the wall, trying to think of ANYTHING she contributes to the entertainment world. Now my head hurts and I still got nothin'. (Although I do know why he's with her.)
Paris Hilton Hmph....
The Cast of "The Hills" I'm torn here because I still watch the damn show, but I hate it. Ridiculous show. I can, however, identify with the chaos surrounding a reality show, since I'm on one.
Al Roker
"And here's what's going on in your neck of the woods." Please get a new shtick, Al. By the way, I live in the city.
Nancy Grace Uh, why are you on CNN? You ain't no journalist.
Kid Rock I can smell you from here.
Angelina Jolie Is it me or does this chick seem to get more and more dull with every media appearance? I mean, I realize she's doing great things for underprivileged children, and that's really important in the big scheme of things, but did you see her at the Golden Globes this year (not shown photo)? Jeez. We put you where you are, and we can take you down, too! Enjoy your celebrity!
Jessica Alba Have you seen "The Fantastic Four?" She's pretty, yeah...but the girl can't act. Sorry.
Honorable mention:
The Cast of "The Real World: Denver" I couldn't really put these guys in the "official" list because I think much of my dislike for them is because I'm getting older, and simply can't identify with the darn kids. But seriously...are these people just getting more uninteresting, or is it really me? And is this the LONGEST season of the show or what? I feel like these kids have been on the air for a year.
Anyone associated with "Dancing with the Stars" In my opinion, the only exciting thing about this show...EVER...is that there's a one-legged woman competing.
Am I missing anyone? If I am please drop me a comment.
* While these are certainly my feelings, I don't truly feel these people are wasting my air, or should not be alive. They just shouldn't be famous!
Last weekend I was having a yummy dinner (12 oz. Sirloin, thank you very much!) at the downtown Sam Snead's--where the service is ridiculously slow, if you ask me--and I received a text message on my LG CU400. Now, when I opened-up the message it wasn't immediately clear who the sender was, but I later figured out it was from my friend Sean. When I played the media file that was sent I nearly lost my s#*t! Here's what was waiting for me:
You might recall a post of mine a few weeks ago, about the rage (in a good way, that is) over Twitter. I wasn't terribly familiar with it at the time so I decided to check-it-out and see what's going on.
It's now official! I'M A TWIT! I realize this might not be a legitimate term for those who use Twitter but I think it's funny so I'm stickin' with it. I first decided to set-up a profile for my company, and mess around with it. Adding friends. Making updates throughout the day. Asking questions. Honestly not putting forth too much effort because...well...I have a lot going on at my job right now! But I've been pleasantly surprised to find that with that small effort I've seen some traffic coming through to the various sites I've been promoting. Pretty cool!
Now I've decided to establish a personal profile, although I'm a bit more reserved, shall we say, with who I engage with when it's me personally. It's still a great way to meet folks with similar interests though, and will hopefully lead to some new traffic and readers.
Are you a TWIT? If so, drop me a note and introduce yourself. I'd love to know how you've been using it.
I'm always keeping my eyes open for folks who are doing new things or looking for new ways to be creative!
Will Ferrell is still at the top of entertainment news, even though his recent comedy "Blades of Glory" was just knocked out of first place at the box office. While I haven't seen the film (not my kinda movie), Mr. Ferrell launched a website last week dedicated to viral video (which I do love!). The site is called Funny or Die. Now, some people have the opinion that true "viral marketing" can't be created or forced, and must be initiated and generated by users based on their interest. I say you gotta give someone credit for being creative, and somewhat original.
So one of the first videos to be featured on the site is called "The Landlord," and it's flippin' funny. I'm sure somewhere in the world, some extremely conservative parent is gonna find this video very offensive. I say "lighten up."
Here's the video (unfortunately I can't use the one from their site -- it's not compatible with my Blogger profile):
This post, please excuse me, is really two-fold: firstly, it's a shameless self-promotion for the company I work for and secondly it's a testimony that viral marketing WORKS!
I do Internet Marketing for a company called PayPerPost. I won't go into detail about the business model here (I'm sure that'll come later in the future) but I will talk about something awesome we're doing! Well, really two awesome things! There's the Blogger's Choice Awards, which soft-launched on April 2nd. It's a unique blog voting site, with somewhere around 34 or 35 distinct categories (we've added a couple since it went live so I can't recall how many). There are your standard categories, of course, like "Best Political Blog," "Best Corporate Blog," and "Best Sports Blog," but we're PayPerPost so you know we have to do some crazy stuff! A couple of the crazier blogs are "Hottest Mommy Blogger" and "Worst Blog of All Time." Ha ha!
And I have to tell you something very entertaining, with regard to the "Best Celebrity Blogger" category. Apparently "The Tonight Show" intern Ross had his blog nominated, and he is SO excited! I must commend him for really campaigning himself, and reaching out to his blog readers to help him get to first place. You go, Ross! (I'm secretly hoping Ross will win, and come to PostieCon, where the winning blogs will be recognized and awarded! Ooohhh, maybe he'll even bring "The Tonight Show" with him! How cool would that be?)
Oh, and before I leave this thought a few of my new favorite blogs have been nominated:
Since launching the site has rocketed in visitation! (Of course I'm not sharing the numbers with you!) And most of this is simply based on word-of-mouth (although I've been promoting it on MySpace and GoingOn).
If you have a chance, and have a few favorite blogs of your own, you should head on over to BloggersChoiceAwards.com and get to work!
I'm at home sitting at my dining room table, E!'s Daily 10 on as background noise. Then I hear something about Alanis Morissette which, of course, peaks my interest. Such a fan! And the girl has just taken her talent to the next level -- I didn't even think that was possible.
If you haven't already seen this video you must tuck away a few moments to watch it:
This, my friends, is what pop culture is all about! Taking something that inundates American culture and elevating it to such a level of popularity it becomes disgusting! I'm actually surpised I didn't see anything about it on PerezHilton.com (if it was it was buried somewhere deep beneath the front page). It did, however, appear in one of my new favorite blogs, Carmen Van Kerckhove's Racialicious.
Granted, Alanis's move is a tad late in my opinion, but a hoot nonetheless. First of all, "Humps" has got to be one of the most absurd songs ever written, recorded, and awarded. Seriously! Ha ha! And by having Alanis interpret the song as a ballad merely proves that point. I'm sure this is exactly why she did what she did.
You can be the own judge of what position you think Alanis is taking. In the meantime, I would like to revisit the catalogue of our Canadian friend, and list my favorite 10 songs, with #1 being my most favorite!
I currently reside in Orlando, Florida, where I've lived for the past nine years. Time flies when you're trying to have fun.
Personally, I'm interested in anything which challenges me--my mind, body, or spirit--and which might help me become a better person. As of late this has been more difficult than usual so I'm attempting to reprioritize some things!
Professionally, I'm very interested in technology as well as various social media outlets, and all the newest "things" in the market.
I enjoy anything relating to pop culture, entertainment, and social media. Hence "Nifty Nation."
