...the blog that goes with everything. Your daily source for a hilarious take on social media, marketing, ketchup, Michigan and pretty much whatever else I feel like.
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I don't know what lock box this gem has been sitting in for the last 15 years - but Tom Brokow's 1994 Dateline special on "the Internet" is sure to be an instant classic. (Bonus points awarded for his reporting from the annual "Computer Convention" in Vegas.) I mean, this is right up there with Bill O'Reilly's "fuck it we'll do it live!" shenanigans.
You can imagine my surprise Tuesday morning when I received an email from Clear Pass (aka my golden ticket of travel that allows me to bypass long security lines at undesirable airports) informing me that effective that morning, Clear Pass lines around the country would cease to exist. Cause stated had something to do with lack of funding from a senior creditor.
Are you FUCKING kidding me? First of all, lack of funding? This isn't some SV start up by a bunch of college kids! Clear Pass had been collecting 10 cards and ocular scans from hundreds of thousands of people at $135 a pop. This has to have been the biggest scam since Cash 4 Gold. I'm so so pissed. Make that doubly pissed because I have to fly out of the hell hole that is Dulles Airport on Friday.
When I was at SXSW I was introduced to Yim Gnome, a traveling garden gnome who made his way around the country from person to person having interesting experiences and adventures.
Recently Yim teamed up with Whrrl.com (through my home girls at Swarm Collective), and Yim's national and international travels are now officially being documented on the site - which allows you to upload images and text in a story board format in real time. (Effectively you can create a slide show of photos and captions as they are happening, days of waiting until you get home to upload to Flickr or Facebook are gonzo...)
Yim Gnome is an awesome viral experiment that takes many of the principals we apply to generating online WOM and proves them out in the real world. It's all about human to human connection (the physical kind, in this case) and creating something that's fun and quirky enough that people will care to share with others both online and off.
Yim and I chilled with my dad, who was in town for the weekend - click below to see a snapshot of our time with Yim.
Next Yim is headed to my good friend Paul McEnany - I truly can't wait to see what happens next! (PAUL. TAKE. CARE. OF. YIM.)
Tonight is Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals and Red Wings first shot to cinch the Cup. I'm trying REALLY hard to keep the smack talking to a minimum.
After all, we all remember what happened back in August 2007 when I mockingly wrote about Michigan's pending season opener "against Mount Holyoke Appalachian State".... yeah, we don't need to reopen that wound.
So, on the eve of this game, where the Wings will attempt to go back to back for the second time in the last 13 years I will let my boy Sidney Crosby do allllllll the talking...
Edit: 6/12/09 NOT A FUCKING WORD!!!!!!!!
I've been hearing good things about Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Most recently when WIRED Magazine did an article, Jimmy Fallon is out of Beta, talking about how the show has hired G4 Network's Attack of the Show producer Gavin Purcell in order to give the show more of a techie insider bend. Apparently Fallon is bowing down to the echo chamber, and it seems to be working out pretty well for him.
Then, this morning I saw this little gem floating around Facebook. Any show that literally brings back Zack Morris and attempts to organize an on-air class reunion gets an A+ in my book. I don't want to spoil anything, but Zack may or may not sing the Zack Attack hit, "Friends Forever"...
The other week I rededicated my life to fitness for the gagillionth time. The upshot of this is that I am now exposed to a vast array of crappy summer programming that comes on around 8pm while I'm at the gym.
Last night I caught some sort of Bachelorette back-to-back episode thing. Despite the fact that it totally blew I was sucked in. It's been awhile since I had a good Rant...so here we go.
This woman Jillian is such a wet rag - so far I do not find her dynamic or interesting. Apparently she was some cast off from The Bachelor that everyone loved. She does seem like a real person - which is a plus - just not anyone I'd want to hang out with. Case and point, it is discovered one of the guys on the show still has a girlfriend, and there is some mystery over who it is. Instead of walking into that room, dropping some F-bombs, and grab, twist and pulling until she found the dirt bag she states that this is the "rudest, rudest thing I've ever known in my entire life." O RLY? C'mon Jillian, grow a pair, kick that loser to the curb and don't forget to kick him once in the face before you walk away. (And, who goes on national TV with a girlfriend?!)
The guys are not that much better - exactly the ratio of good guys to bad guys to boring guys we've come to expect from these shows. Profession-wise there is the usual smattering of brokers, restauranteurs and real estate developers - and then a bunch of dudes who have jobs that are TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY ABUSRD and a clear attempt to "diversify" the profession pool. A vintner? Do you REALLY know any 29 year old vintners? Let's be real. Pizza entrepreneur? Uhhh, what? Break dance instructor? I was not aware that break dancing was still legal. Baseball camp owner?! Holy hell, paging Tom Emanski...
At any rate, clearly I'm DVRing this show - I have to find out what happens to these asshats.
Don't forget to check out episode 4 of That Social Media Show for your weekly Catch Up fix. Like every week, John Stauffer and I take on all the hottest social media news in a quick hit, up beat format.
This show is SO hot and SO upbeat, you'll find yourself inadvertently blowing smoke off your fake finger gun when you're finished listening.
This week we covered:
Just click play on the BlogTalkRadio player on the left side bar. Yes that's it right there. Nice work.
The non-stop coverage of the "Cup Raise" commercial has compelled me to share my all-time favorite tear-jerker sports commercials.
I'm not ashamed to say that all of these have caused me to tear up and one time or another. That's right folks, don't be fooled by my bitchy demeanor (and don't ask me about that AT&T commercial featuring a run away, I STILL cry when I think about that one - but apparently it's too lame to even be on YouTube.)
#4: Nike's Red Sox 2004 World Series Commercial
#3: Cup Raise
#2: Nike "Move"
This is my all-time favorite commercial ever - but because I've only become misty eyed once watching it, it does not top this list.
#1: Visa's Derek Redmond Commercial
If this doesn't make you choke up, you are certifiably dead inside. Derek Redmond was favored to win the 400m in the 1992 Barcelona Games - 250 meters from the finish his hamstring snapped. As the stretcher was being brought out, he got up off the track and started to hobble on one leg towards the finish. His father, who was in the stands, fought his way through multiple security guards** on to the track and the two finished the race together. You can watch the full race here. Seriously, if you don't cry you fail at life.
**If someone's father had tried to storm the track in Beijing they would probably still be in some sort of Chinese prison camp... oh the 90's, those were the days.
Noah Kalina has taken a photograph of himself every day for the last 9 years as part of an ongoing digital art project that focuses on the subtleties of aging. He began taking daily photos when he was 20, and posted a video chronicling year 1 - 6 a few years ago. Noah intends to post a video on the 10 year anniversary and then every five years thereafter. You can check out the video below, which has over 12 million views. Pretty cool (though you can practically pin point the time that he moved past college aged years, and developed big ass bags under his eyes like the rest of us... try clicking around in the video stream to compare his age.) Via HeeHaw Marketing Blog.
Behold, The Crapper - where I dump all the random post-lets that couldn't stand on their own.
"I'm Never Drinking Again" - My bestfriend totally called BS on me this morning when I uttered that famous phrase, "I'm never drinking again." She then challenged me to guestimate how many times she herself had heard those words pass my lips, days - sometimes hours - before returning to the bottle. I figure: 10 years of friendship --->52 weekends ----> 1 awful hang over a month for the last five "grown up years" and 5 a month during the first five collegiate years ----> Um, I can't do the math with my hangover - let's be real. But it's a lot, and if there isn't a comma in the final number then just tack on more until you get there.
Voicemail FAIL - Ok, I am totally fucking sick of the voicemail prompt at the end of people's personal greetings. "When you are finished recording you may press 1 for more options. To leave a call back number, press 5." Yeah, thanks, collectively as a society we have the whole press 1 for more options thing down. And what the hell is a call back number anyway? Do you know ANYONE that has ever used that feature? The number is on your god damn call log. I want this whole situation remedied as you can tell from my use of multpile profanities. Can you hear me now?
Cold Case - I love this show, but the opening music scares the ever loving crap out of me. It's essentially just this person wailing in an absurdly scary, my murder case hasn't been solved for over 20 years kind of way. It seriously makes my skin crawl and I always attempt to mute before too much damage is done. Check it out, but don't say I didn't warn you.
