Everybody knows this job market is one of the worst since the Great Depression. I’m not going to harp on about that…it’s freaking depressing. Everybody knows that the current generation of 20-somethings is full of existential angst, has a short attention span, and has no idea where it’s going. All the pundits are saying, “Kids today, blah blah blah, get off my lawn.” The kids themselves are freaking out over the fact that they’re having to live in their parents’ basements while they hunt for a job—any job—and try to pay off some of their student loans. Parents freak out over having to support their kids when they themselves are already stretching every dollar.

I know. I’m one of those kids. Moved home. Having to defer my student loans. Repeatedly. Biting my nails and arguing with my folks about money, jobs, and who does the dishes. And it sucks. It really sucks, not knowing what’s coming next. I’ve always hated uncertainty of any kind and it’s worse this time, because there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. No more “when I go back to school in the fall” or “when I graduate,” because I’m done with school. No more “when I save up some money” because that’s probably not going to happen. For a long time.

It’s really easy to get depressed about…well…everything. But I came across this article on an education blog the other day with a really thought-provoking title: “Dancing Towards Uncertainty.” The author, Josh Barkey, a teacher, describes a confused student:

“I think Brandon is confused because he is living in a confused world. Like most young people, Brandon is searching for a passion equal to the raging tornado of yearnings that perpetually spins inside him. Yet he knows that as a privileged member of a privileged class he is gifted with a lot of potential and wants some meaningful way to live it out, but what he sees with his razor-sharp mind is a collapsing house of cards…Brandon is left wondering why he has bothered to conquer the academic mountain in the first place. He wants his life to matter, and is told that the way to do that is only to keep on climbing.”

Barkey goes on to theorize that perhaps our current obsession with security, with success, with finding that perfect, meaningful, lucrative path as quickly as possible, is what is keeping us in the dark. Perhaps we are too focused on looking for one CERTAIN thing, and as a result, we are missing out on countless wonderful opportunities.

“I…am tired of the coldly constructed educational approach that demands a clear answer to every question. I believe that before growth can happen there has to be a period of doubt and uncertainty. Certainty kills innovation, and while I need a degree of certainty in the surgeon poking around in my brain or the pilot flying my airplane, I also hope that somewhere along the line they have learned how to be creative. When problems develop for which they have been provided no textbook answer, I need them to be able to step back, take a breath, and lose themselves in the dance of the moment.”

By insisting on certainty, we are killing innovation. If we could bring ourselves to calm down and explore the uncertainty for a while, perhaps we can discover something new. Penicillin was the result of moldy bread, and microwave ovens were the result of melted chocolate in a researcher’s pocket. After all, research has shown that the main distinguishing characteristic between lucky people and their less fortunate counterparts is being observant. Yep, just being able to spot an opportunity.

So maybe we should all just relax and enjoy the dance.

I was going to write a snarky post about this Onion article and how I’m totally sick of the tired old copy about how “it’s a new way to connect in meaningful ways! Content! Connect! Blah blah blah!” and how I would like one of these new social network upstarts that claim to be revolutionary and provide real-world results to do something that actually translates to the real world…

But then I saw this HILARIOUS book trailer for Meg Cabot’s new novel, Insatiable, and my snarky mood vanished! The trailer manages to describe the plot of the novel while making fun of itself and the genre of teen-hormone-fueled vampire fiction spawned by Stephenie Meyer and her (bloodcurdlingly awful) Twilight Saga. This trailer does two HUGELY AWESOME things for me:

1. It makes me want to read the book. And I haven’t read a Meg Cabot book in 10 years (sorry Meg, I burned out on Princess Diaries).

2. It makes me believe that publishing is not dead. People will want to read this book. They will buy it. Hardcover, paperback, Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Nook, and every other format you can think of. They will buy it. They will read it. And they will want sequels.

So what’s the problem? Why are you worried?

Because so few people are seeing them and even fewer books are using them. If publishers spent more time and energy creating deliciously exciting, funny, enticing things like this, and empowering their authors to do projects like Cabot’s crowd-sourced zombie-couture Fashionably Undead audiobook (co-written by the author and 50 of her Twitter followers, for BBC Audio), instead of having conference after conference bewailing the end of the industry as we know it, they’d be doing just fine. Readers would be excited and engaged, and above all, they’d KNOW about the fabulous books being written ALL THE TIME instead of drooling endlessly over Robert Pattinson fansites.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some FANTASTIC transmedia projects, book trailers, and crowd-sourced book clubs:

It’s a Book! Trailer, explaining the difference between books in dead-tree vs. ebook form.

Neil Gaiman’s Instructions trailer, narrated by the author.

Meg Cabot’s magnificently insightful blog entry about her Insatiable trailer.

Meg Cabot’s celebratory online Dracula reading group, working up excitement for the new book, complete with prizes!

My personal favorite, the #1b1t discussion group, the first Twitter-wide book club, currently reading Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, started by Jeff Howe, the inventer of the term “crowdsourcing.”

Hear that, publishers? Quit sending your people to nonsense conferences and quit writing articles about how the industry is dying and DO SOMETHING TO SAVE IT.

Or get Zach Galifinakis to be in your book trailer.

Following up on Mike’s previous post about Google Buzz, I totally get the furor about it. The service definitely needs work, and Google has definitely made a whole lot of big mistakes.

But hey, it’s new. That’s the downside of a service being released by such a huge, publicly visible company. Twitter and Facebook were NOT famous when they were released. They weren’t globally famous for years after they were founded. They had plenty of time to make changes, fixes, and tweaks based on quiet user feedback. Google Buzz had the disadvantage of going very public, very quickly. It wasn’t finished. And it got slammed. Now I wonder whether Google will have enough time to fix it and realize its potential before it gets laughed out of existence.

I think it would be nice if Buzz went back to beta. Google definitely needs more time to tweak it, and they need a setting to get real constructive criticism instead of media snarking. I still think the service has a lot of potential. I like Pete Cashmore’s take on it. If you insist on using an analogy to define Buzz, try this one. Think of Facebook as the local bar, where you go to hang out with your friends, play some games, and just shoot the breeze. Think of Twitter as the village square where you get all the news and have public conversations. It’s a public forum. Then you have Buzz, which SHOULD eventually become a place to focus detailed conversations on IDEAS. Not news, not people, not “what are you doing” or those awesome photos you took on your trip to Cabo this spring, man. It’s a platform to talk about content and have major brainstorming sessions about concepts and projects.

If Facebook is the local bar and Twitter is the town square, Google Buzz (I hope) will be the local college campus.

I’ve said before that I like Google Wave as a productivity tool–an easy way to keep work projects neat, tidy, and collaborative at the office. I don’t find much utility for connecting with friends about random things. It’s a business thing, and I like it that way. I think Buzz will end up being sort of similar in market, although I hope more concept-oriented and less business-y.

If it lasts that long.

To be completely honest, this should probably be Part 1.5. This isn’t actually a blog (it’s a shopping site, I think) and I don’t actually know what they’re saying because it’s all in Dutch. I don’t speak Dutch. However, I think the animation on this site is absolutely gorgeous. Click on the site and just wait and watch. The animation will start in a second. Really fantastic, I promise. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

http://producten.hema.nl/

Oh my God, did you click? Did you watch? It’s amazing, RIGHT? I have no idea exactly what the little pop-up at the end is advertising, but I just LOVE this concept. It’s like an online Rube Goldberg project. It’s fun, engaging, and visually beautiful. It doesn’t hurt that it shows off the technical expertise of the site builders, as well as the fun aesthetic of the people who own it. I think business would be a LOT more fun if everybody incorporated this kind of sense of humor and attention to detail.

On an only-vaguely-related note, anybody who speaks Dutch want to tell me what the site is ABOUT?

I think I’m going to do a series on blogs I like. Some of them might not seem like they have much to do with media or advertising at first glance, but stick with me. I promise they’ll be relevant.

For Part I in this series of Blogs I Like, I’m going to start with Put This On. Their tagline, “How to dress like a grownup,” pretty well says it all. This is a style blog aimed at men, and probably most resonant with guys in the business world who want to look professional, polished, and modern, without looking like a) their dads, b) Steve Urkel, or c) douchebags. It’s a fine line.

Not Good

Good

Obviously it’s a good idea to dress well if you are attempting to make a business deal or get a job or impress people in any way. But it is also a good idea to keep things simple and classy, which is where Put This On comes in. In addition to giving sound style advice (and trust me, gentlemen, I am a GIRL and, as such, I am fully qualified to expound on what looks good on guys), the blog promotes smaller clothiers, vintage shops, and other style blogs. They are also working on videos about specific style subjects, though to date they have only completed one (with excellent production values–Denim).  The thing I really like about this blog is that they practice what they preach–they keep the aesthetics of their site clean, polished, and classy, while providing exceptional content.

And NOW we get to my point about this site. Quality content, sound advice, beautiful aesthetics, and generous cross-promotion. This is the model all websites should adopt. Take heed, media folk. Take heed, and Put This On.

In case you missed it the Grammys were on CBS last night. I say in case because not many people missed them, the ratings were up 33%… I was part of that 33%.

My wife and I weren’t going to watch the Grammys, neither of us ever have. In general we are not huge fans of award shows and our dial rarely ever goes below Channel 4.  However last night something happened. As we were on twitter and Facebook we took notice of all the post’s talking about how crazy this Gaga person looked. Other posts were highlighting how amazing the Black Eyed Peas did, and still others that poked fun at every opportunity.  It was at that moment we realized we had a choice watch the Grammys or find ourselves irrelevant.

Last night CBS added eyes via Social media are you?

CBS is beginning to head down an interesting path in its ad placement for the SuperBowl. They have turned down two “gay-themed” ads so far: one is from male-male oriented dating site ManCrunch.com and the other is from web-hosting service GoDaddy.com. The ManCrunch ad shows two men watching a football game (presumably the SuperBowl) and munching chips. Their hands touch as they both reach for a crisp, and suddenly they can’t hold back any longer–they smooch! The GoDaddy ad is more surprising…it does feature a flamboyant ex-football star, but it also features women in lingerie. Doesn’t that usually get any and all content a free pass? (It does for American Apparel)

In any case, both ads were rejected on the grounds that they don’t meet CBS’s content standards for the SuperBowl and they might offend people. For ManCrunch, the broadcasting company went one further and claimed that they couldn’t verify the firm’s credit (the rejection letter is up on Scribd as well as being reproduced on the Mashable article). However, it DOES look like they’re going to air the Tim Tebow pro-life ad, which is guaranteed to offend at least some people…which people is it okay to offend, and which have to be kept happy? CBS is sending a pretty clear message about what audience bracket they value, which is fine–First Amendment and all that. But still, what about all the gay-friendly sports fans? Seems like a bit of a business mistake to alienate such a vocal consumer group…

Thoughts?

Alright, I’ve had my winter vacation, I’ve seen the movie, and I’ve finished the game. I liked the movie a whole bunch. A WHOLE BUNCH. Lots of fun, witty banter, and all the things one would hope for in a collaboration between Robert Downey Jr. and, well, anybody. Mark Strong was also enjoyably lugubrious and Rachel McAdams was cute.

The ending of the game? Not so much. The answer to the last code was guessable from the trailers and the reward was a video response from Inspector Lestrade hinting that Scotland Yard would be calling on Holmes and Watson in the future for help with the mysterious Prof. Moriarty. Rumor has it that Brad Pitt might be taking on the chalk-dusted jacket, but I would rather see Colin Farrell.

So, to sum up: fun game, great movie, slightly lame ending. All with impeccable production values.

And not one deerstalker in sight (thankfully).

OMG. OMG.  take a deep breath.  i had my 2nd reality celebrity sighting (my first was Madison from Million Dollar Listing) last night…at Souplantation!  there I was mid-tomato bite and I spot a “hello there” looking fella.  that fella was Slade!  i quickly scanned the room, as i knew his fair haired maiden had to be only a soup bowl away.  and, there she was in all her beaming blonde beauty - Gretchen from The Real Housewives of Orange County.  no make-up, velour jumpsuit and size 00.  wow she is tiny.  out of the Housewives, she is my OC fav.  i don’t care about all that nonsense with what Tamra says.  i feel like Gretchen may have the capacity to grow and learn, whereas the other wifey’s - not so much.   Read the rest of this entry »

my take on the 2009 AMAs.

i thought the award show was trying too hard and it showed.  way overly theatrical for me, and i have a high threshold for over the top.  all the light beams, the costumes, gravity defying sequences, over choreographed dance moves, badly scripted presentations.  don’t mix too many “best of” components from all the award shows and then throw up on me.

j lo - i didn’t see her fall, but I did see her outfit and the boxing number.  that was brow arching enough.  that louboutin song is ridiculous. Read the rest of this entry »

The next film in the Twilight series came out at midnight. And it’s already grossing off the charts.
The thing that eludes me is that there’s been little to no branding for the film (that I’ve seen) and it’s still the most popular thing EVARRRRR (according to my 16-year-old sister). At this point I can only chalk it up to the unholy power of teenage girls. Someone please enlighten me.

All I know is that I will be avoiding the movie theater like The Plague, and hiding under my bed, with a stake in one hand and a big plate of garlic bread in the other.

This is just a short post to say:

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! You can now report spammers on Twitter with just a click–in the actions tab on any profile you can report the profile as spam! YAAAAAY!!

The details are available on the official Twitter blog. On the one hand, ABOUT FREAKING TIME! On the other hand,

YAAAAAAAAAAY!!

Now Graham Spam Spam Spam Chapman can finally have his breakfast without spam.

Hello Kitty and I have been friends since I was in the 1^st grade.  I met her on a pencil set that was gifted to me and since that moment, we became best of friends.

Whatever she had, it always matched, was insanely cute and I coveted it all.  If the pencil was pink, so was the sharpener, the case and the eraser.  Same logo and color palette throughout and thoughtfully packaged.  Hello Kitty taught me about Branding.

Then she introduced me to her friends, Little Twin Stars, Tuxedo Sam, and My Melody.  Hello Kitty taught me about Product Extension.

When I needed appliances and interior decor, she had her with her own toaster, TV, bedding and more.  Hello Kitty taught me about Brand Extension.

When I went through a “Goth” phase, she started to don more black.  Consequently, she got a slew of new friends and a lot more popular.  Hello Kitty taught me about Brand Revolution.

You would think that Hello Kitty and I would drift apart over the years, but we didn’t.  Maybe because we were born the same year we seemed to grow up together. When I got my first Nirve beach cruiser, so did she.  When I started wearing MAC makeup, so did she.  When I entered into my career and needed a Mimobot USB flash drive, so did she.  Hello Kitty taught me about Brand Partnership and Brand Evolution.

HK is one wise little kitty.

We’ve all seen trompe-l’oeil paintings in neighborhood Italian restaurants and antique shops. My favorite nail salon has a great painting of a Tuscan vineyard. It’s fun to look at, but nothing special, right?

Wrong.

This video of an installation at a German museum shows what happens when trompe-l’oeil gets a 21st Century makeover.

Talk about augmented reality. I don’t know how anyone could find the motivation to go inside–I’d just sit there and watch the museum change shapes.

We, like the mass majority of people in the world, are saddened by Michael Jackson’s untimely death. Its hard to imagine life without MJ. His music was a major cornerstone to my childhood soundtrack. It’s still sinking in how big of a thing this is. If people think I’m a bit off, just think of these things going on as I type:

MTV has stopped airing the Hills, Real World and all of it’s tween based ad gold mine to do an homage to MJ.  And guess what they’re showing actual videos!!

MSNBC, CNN, PBS, NPR,, WSJ,, and Fox News all are running 24/7 coverage on his life and legacy. I know there is a news angle to his life, but this type of coverage is normally only given to Presidents - not Pop Icons.

MJ via Twitter (at the time I typed this) was receiving over 30% of  “tribute tweets”.

Its really an odd and sad time. Hopefully some of Jackson’s amazing life resonated with you.  Take some time and think about it. Thanks Mike.

Here are a few classics and if you want more check this link. Probably the best link out there we’ve see.

Nothing.

When I watch my favorite reality TV shows, I experience the same giddiness and delight I felt when eating the pepperoni pizza that used to be sold inside Fedco.

My addiction started with the debut of The Real World, The Swan (extreme makeovers for the “aesthetically challenged”) and Survivor. Then I became mesmerized by shows like Wife Swap, and Flavor of Love. I have now developed a much more sophisticated palette for “serious” content like Project Runway, Top Chef, The Housewives of (OC, NYC and ATL) and the newer seasons of The Bachelor/ette and Millionaire Matchmaker. And one new – don’t hate me: Jon & Kate Plus Eight.

Previously taunted when mentioning these avant-garde shows, I now find support in friends and peers who have finally come out and proclaimed their obsession with “bad” reality TV. We appreciate the lack of intense intellectual stimulation and revel in the hilarity and chuckles that these shows provide. Laughter, as you know causes us to release good endorphins to help our immune system, raise levels of T-cells, B-cells, etc. and decrease stress.

Yes, Reality TV can help fight disease.

In my opinion, there needs to be more music and dancing integrated into advertisements on television. GAP had an enthusiastic campaign promoting their line of khakis, jackets and pants in the late 90’s and early millennium. The commercials were filled with different genres of music and dance techniques. Highly appealing and fun to watch. Here are a few more commercials that have incorporated dance, resulting in entertaining and memorable advertisements. Enjoy these videos, and notice if you find yourself itching to move around in your seat.

“

T Mobile - probably the most number of dancers ever used for a commercial. makes me wish i was there with my T Mobile phone. Read the rest of this entry »

While Twitter has been growing on me at a very steady rate (especially as a means for businesses to supplement their traditional CRM methods), I am in the camp that thinks politicians are misusing the service.

Far too many of them use it superficially for campaigning, or worse yet, to regurgitate talking points from partisan pundits (a la Newt Gingrich plagiarizing Rush Limbaugh regarding Sonia Sotomayor’s comments at Berkeley). While these tendencies are disheartening, the real problem with politicians’ use of Twitter is that the very essence of the medium perpetuates a growing problem in the political arena. That is, a real political conversation cannot be had 140 characters at a time.

Now I’m not trying to say that the use of Twitter for political activism by everyday citizens and the conversations that brings are problems at all. Those are a two of the very best aspects of Twitter. Everyday people are busy; quick and easy 140-character messages keep them in the loop and spark ideas. However, politicians should be engaged with issues and their constituents in a deeper way. Using Twitter personally (i.e. tweeting about family, hobbies, and vacations) would be a good way for politicians to humanize themselves. Also, the staff of members of congress could use the service to link to audio, video, and text of their boss engaging in in-depth, academic, and professional duties of their job – of making our government run better for our citizens.

All I’m really trying to say is: blatant campaigning and that alone, as well as curt and divisive rants are improper ways for politicians to behave, online or off. I appreciate them recognizing the value of social media, but most politicians are not adding anything to the conversation by being there. While it by no means needs to be so, their actions are making important political issues, and social media as an entity, seem petty. Twitter should be used to expose people to politicians’ real work, not as a replacement of it.

Dance has been used for quite some time to promote new products, events, places, brands and elevate campaigns with a different artistic approach. I decided to visit a few of my favorite commercials and ads I have enjoyed, both old and new. Below is my first compilation of those commercials that have incorporated the art of dance in a unique way. Various styles can be seen and some have mixed in humor to generate laughs. It seems you can’t go wrong with dancing and music - it is usually a winning combination that’s fun to watch, appealing, and for me, triggers my outgoing perspectives. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s start by introducing you all to an artist i just discovered on Imeem, named Jamie Lidell with a song to lift up the Monday spirit.

Another Day - Jamie Lidell

I barely listen to the radio now. I honestly don’t know when I started to tune out the radio stations but in the past years, I’ve transitioned to other sources to provide for my listening enjoyment. Pandora and Imeem are common music sites I go to when looking for new music to play and unwind to. Pandora is great, because it uses the GENOME effect in which it finds music based on your current favorites, styles, influences and sounds. It literally pick pockets artists and songs catered to your taste. Imeem was also a great discovery for me as it introduced me to more new music and artists that I had never heard of. The more I search for music on these sites, the more I get addicted to discovering and researching new talent not typically found in the mainstream scene.

I also realize that this generation is all about the iPod and the iTunes. Don’t get me wrong, I admire and use both but sometimes I find myself staying true to my old fashioned roots with CDs (but not THAT far to when i collected maxi-singles and albums on cassette tapes). I do purchase CD’s of artists that I fully support and enjoy. Plus buying songs on iTunes does not get you the fancy CD booklet of pictures! But in regards to iTunes, it is also a fulfilling way to discover new music, as well as re-discover old tunes you grew up to which can now be easily purchased through the web with the click of a button. Read the rest of this entry »