This must be the some of the worst, most obtrusive advertising I’ve seen in a long time. Last night while watching Family Guy, TBS ran a lower-third banner ad, which paused the whole show, to draw attention to the advertisement. Seriously TBS? Pausing the programming to get in more ad time? This is a serious low, and turns me away from TBS even more - their other persistent annoyance is broadcasting a stretched 4:3 image as 16:9 on their HD channel. You can tell because the TBS Logo is always stretched out on the sides, and the whole image looks warped.. especially when panning.
I just read over on TechCrunch that “micro celebrity” videoblogger Sarah Meyers just launched here latest project. Pop17, as its called, is a videoblog looking directly at the age of the internet micro celebrity. Her first official interview is with Jamie Wilkinson, who teaches a class called “Internet Famous” over at Parsons New School for Design. The interesting bent on his class is that his students actually get graded on how “internet famous” they can make themselves. Pretty cool.
Check out Sarah’s first Pop17 interview!
One interesting not about this current age of the “internet micro celebrity”, is that the online an offline worlds of celebrity are slowly but surely merging. It was just a few years back that you could be a huge star on the internet.. but yet have pretty much no recognition walking down the street. Now, I think we’ve entered a stage where internet micro-celebrities are fast becoming internet-macro celebrities, and at the same time becoming “on the street”.
Example? Sure. How about Jessica Rose’s “Lonelygirl15“? She started off with regular supposedly non-fictional video blog posts detailing unfolding drama of “Brie”, a 16 year old videoblogger who frequently gave shout-outs to her online friends. Beginning with those shout-outs, as well as compelling content, “Brie” quickly gained a following. And when the jig was up and people realized it was all fiction, her star power, instead of being stripped, skyrocketed. And now, you’ve got Carmen Electra spoofing her, and Jessica Rose appearing in the ABC Family Network TV show “Greek“. Posting grainy video clips to a then-fledgling site network all the way to syndication on a major TV broadcast network.
Update Update***Sarah Meyers had a talk with Steve Chen, who confirmed that yes, there will be LIVE VIDEO on YouTube this year. ReadWriteWeb has it too. Now you can become “Internet Famous” in real-time.
The Dozens, the band that I do marketing for/help out with is playing a gig this Friday, February 29th at Connolly’s, in NYC. Come on out this Friday for “A gig so awesome, it could only happen once every four years”.. or so they say.
Here’s the “blurb”… Imagine putting the last 40 years of high-grade, head-nodding rock music into a blender, hitting spin, and pouring the mixture into a New York City four-piece. The Dozens set “standard” rock formulas on their ears, with melodies and chords that sound both utterly unique and familiar. While daring to forge new musical turf, they haven’t forgotten the value of an old-fashioned guitar hook, sing-along chorus, and well-pounded beat.Led by songwriter Eli Musser, The Dozens will be releasing their debut record - pleasing both head and heart - in 2008. However, their raucous live shows truly define this band’s exciting, contagious energy. The Dozens are quickly capturing the attention of music fans in the New York City area, and working hard to spread their message: Real rock is back.
Event Details:
Who: The Dozens
Where: Connolly’s, 121 W 45th Street, NewYork ,NY
When: Friday, February 29th, show @ 10pm
Last Friday Snoop Dogg appeared on Larry King. This surely must be the most amazing thing I’ve seen all day. I’m always interested to see how Larry handles his various guests. He kept things rolling well with Snoop (video-talking politics), even though he ended up “rolling out” in the middle of the meal. Also, during Larry’s talk with Bill Maher last night, he expertly managed to keep the ball in his court, and deflect attempts by Bill to turn the interview around and ask Larry questions.
