Tag Archives: tweets

Spirit stick

Posted on November 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Do you remember the very first DVD you ever owned?

I do.

I had just bought a combo VHS/DVD player — back when they were still pretty pricey — and a friend gave me the campy cheerleader cult classic Bring it On.  (It wasn’t a classic back then; just campy.)

It also wasn’t a musical, but it is now, and not on Broadway. My west coast friends have the bragging rights to this one.

Bring it On: The Musical may be playing at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles through December 10th, but they have recruited a bunch of Broadway award-winners to their team:

  • Tony Award-winning writer Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q)
  • Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (In The Heights)
  • Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal)
  • Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler (In The Heights)

It’s gotta be good, right?

Tweets from audience members, both celebrity and ‘regular folk,’ have been very enthusiastic. The critics appear to have their doubts.

But it’s early yet.  There’s lots of time to polish.  Bring it On: The Musical is on a national tour, although no Broadway dates appear to be scheduled.

Yet.

I’m sexy, I’m cute,
I’m popular to boot.
I’m wanted, I’m hot,
I’m everything you’re not,
I’m pretty, I’m cool,
I dominate this school,
Who am I? Just guess,
Guys wanna touch my chest,
We cheer and we lead,
We act like we’re on speed,
Hate us ’cause we’re beautiful,
Well we don’t like you either,
We’re cheerleaders,
We are cheerleaders.

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Posted in Broadway, Commentary, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Life, Movies, Technology

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Snark week

Posted on August 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Catastrophic events can bring out the best in people.

But if they don’t materialize as predicted, boy — it can bring out the snark in them as well.

Where’s the relief that Hurricane Irene didn’t gain strength?  That she was only a tropical storm when she entered New York City at Coney Island?  That the mayor evacuated those areas of the city that currently have water standing in the streets?

Instead, Facebook and Twitter are full of complaints from New Yorkers about how ‘lame’ this hurricane is.  How they wasted a Saturday preparing their homes and backyards and families.

Come on, people — how about a little gratitude that we were spared from what could have been?  Sure, the media spent 24/7 reporting on the storms, but it’s their job to keep us informed.

If they hadn’t, we would have complained about that.

It’s time to feel lucky, people.  I certainly do.

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Posted in Commentary, Education, Entertainment, Environment, Internet, Life, News, Weather

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Friendly skies?

Posted on August 11, 2011 | 2 Comments

The Manhattan skyline is pretty awe-inspiring, even to the most casual observer.

But this week?

It’s been a virtual smorgasbord of spectacle!

On Tuesday morning, a small airplane buzzed past the S&P office in Lower Manhattan, pulling a banner that read:

“Thanks for the downgrade. You should all be fired.”

Lucy Nobbe, a single mother from Kirkwood, Missouri, paid for the fly over.  She simply wanted to send a message, and when she discovered she couldn’t do it over the Capitol in Washington, she settled for Wall Street.

Soon tweets were flying, too.

Then on Wednesday, the folks at 30 Rockefeller Plaza were treated to their own aerial show.

A young man in his 20′s stepped out on the ledge of the Top of the Rock Observatory — some 70 stories up — and threatened to jump.  (Quest Love, the drummer for the Roots, was one of the first to tweet the incident.) Police arrived on the scene and talked him down some 45 minutes later.

Now, we all know things like this happen in three’s.  (They just do.)  So, we’ve had a plane.  We’ve had a Superman of sorts.

Did we miss the bird?  Or is some scary, spooky critter on its way?

Don’t. Look. Up.

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Posted in Airplanes, Humor, Internet, Life, transportation, Travel

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The new get

Posted on July 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

I was never much of an autograph hound.  But now?

I collect direct tweets from celebrities.

I follow quite a few on Twitter.  Most of them are actors or comedians who tweet funny or bizarre things about their lives. Sometimes I comment on what they say…and they actually reply to me.

It’s so cool.

I’ve also added directors of favorite movies and TV shows to my Twitter feed.  They’re fun to follow because they sometimes answer questions via Twitter about their current projects.

I’ve gotten personal responses from them as well.

I’m amassing quite a collection of celeb direct tweets.  From folks like comedian Michael Ian Black (Ed); actor Josh Malina (The West Wing, Sports Night); director Chris Weitz (About a Boy, New Moon); series creator Mike Royce (Everybody Loves Raymond, Men of a Certain Age); and legendary actress Lee Meriwether (Batman, Barnaby Jones).

Lee Meriwether even started following me on Twitter.

(Bet she’s blogging about that right now…)

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Posted in Blogs, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Life, Movies, Television, TV

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Say…

Posted on July 6, 2011 | 2 Comments

As I sat down to write this post, I happened upon a quote:

“The finest command of language is often shown by saying nothing.” – Roger Babson

Made me wonder if I should write at all.  (Obviously, that didn’t happen.) Instead, I vowed to follow the direction of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe:

“Less is more.”

Such a wonderful philosophy.  It’s probably why blogs first became popular (and are being rapidly replaced by the even briefer tweets and text messages).

It’s why one bold accessory works best.  Why you do either a bright lip or a smoky eye (but not both).  Why minimalist home design will always endure.  Why classic jeans and a tee will always be the perfect outfit, no matter the occasion.

And why just a kiss of chocolate is always enough.

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Posted in Blog, Blogs, Celebrities, Commentary, History, Humor, Internet, Life, Philosophy, Writing

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Virtual reality

Posted on May 2, 2011 | 2 Comments

Waiting for a refrigerator to be delivered to my apartment in Boston — that’s where I was on September 11, 2001.

Last night I was watching, appropriately enough, The Killing, on AMC, when tweets and Facebook status updates hinted of an upcoming presidential address.

I never dreamed it would be the death of Osama Bin Laden.

CNN’s John King remarked — repeatedly, I might add — that last night would be another moment in history where people would always remember “where they were” when they heard the news.

For me, it’s more interesting how.

In 2001, the television networks were my primary news source.  I sat huddled in my apartment, told to remain there by my employer and by the city of Boston, my television set my only real connection to the tragic events in New York City and Pennsylvania.

Last night, I learned as much on Facebook and Twitter as I did on the television networks.  Obama’s announcement at 11:35 served only as a more eloquent confirmation of what I had already gleaned from my own sources.

Bin Laden was dead.

Although I was alone on my couch in both instances — a decade apart — I definitely felt a real sense of community last night. Yea, Facebook!  Yea, Twitter!  Yea, Texts!

Bin Laden is dead.

‎“I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” — Mark Twain

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Posted in Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Commentary, History, Internet, Life, News, Politics, Television, TV

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Tweet this

Posted on April 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

It’s no secret that Conan — and, for that matter, all the late-night talk shows — are taped much earlier in the day.

(Sorry.  I thought you knew.  Oh, and the Easter Bunny?  He’s really Russell Brand.)

Lately Conan has been taking advantage of the early taping by having members of his staff ‘live tweet’ the show during its East Coast air time.

It’s pretty fun.  They open a thread on Twitter, make comments as events unfold on the show, and reply to tweets sent in by viewers.

Last night, Conan himself decided to lead the conversation.  It was quite the event; they announced it hours ahead of time.

Then he live tweeted the show…on Facebook.

Now, I know some people use the two social media interchangeably.  Their tweets post on Facebook and vice versa.  I’ve complained about it before in this space.

But Facebook fans of Team Coco, back me up on this one:  the endless stream of out-of-context one-liners that Conan posted from 11p-12a ET last night didn’t belong on Facebook.

They were tweets, not Facebook status updates.  There is a difference, whether we like to admit it or not.

The Twitter audience is different.  The expectation in language and content is different.  The frequency, for cripes sake, is different.

I know I can hide Team Coco status updates on Facebook, just as I can hide Twitter feeds.  I can also walk away, which is what I chose to do.

I’m just surprised that an entertainer who has been so social media savvy throughout his career — and even more so when his career tanked — would make such an amateur mistake.


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Posted in Blog, Blogging, Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Television, TV

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Duck and cover

Posted on March 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Can you quack like a duck?

Then Gilbert Gottfried’s loss may be your gain.

After the comedian’s insensitive tweets about the Japan earthquake and tsunami, Gottfried was dismissed by insurance giant Aflac as the voice of their iconic duck.

The company has said a nationwide search will be held in the near future for a new ‘quacker,’ but no dates have yet been announced.

That hasn’t stopped folks from getting their ducks in a row — sorry, couldn’t resist — and uploading their audition videos on Youtube.  America Online is further encouraging the practice by promising to have a professional voiceover agent review any videos tagged “aol jobs aflac video” and posting their favorites.

Quack me up.

Personally, I think Aflac is going to have to find a pretty perfect match to Gottfried’s distinctive squawk, or the switcheroo will just be a distraction. Everyone is aware of the circumstances and the timing, and folks are going to be listening and comparing and critiquing and no doubt finding fault…

Even if there’s none on the bill.

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Posted in Advertising, Animals, Business, Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Shopping, Television, TV

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Manners

Posted on February 16, 2011 | 3 Comments

Have you seen what’s trending on Twitter?

MEAN-SPIRITED CYNICISM

Seriously.  I check Twitter’s Worldwide Trends each day, and at the top of today’s list was “RIP Mick Jagger.”  I hadn’t heard that the Stones front man had died, so I suspected it was hoax (although it wouldn’t be the first time Twitter was my news source for celebrity death).

I clicked the link to see what folks were saying — yep.  Hoax.  And a whole lot of jabs at Mick Jagger, too.

“RIP Mick Jagger“? He isn’t dead, he just looks like he is.

“RIP Mick Jagger“? Nice try, twitter, but you can’t kill a zombie.

Just because there’s more meat on a chariot’s whip than on Mick Jagger doesn’t mean he’s dead.

Why would someone trend RIP Mick Jagger? I mean really, he may have looked dead at the Grammys, but he’s very much alive.

Wow.  I’ll bet Mick Jagger feels vindicated, now that all his fans have spoken up in support of his being alive.

A walking dead zombie, of course…but very much alive.  You can’t buy support like that.

At least, I hope not.

Would the tweets have been that much different had he really died?  Would they simply have said they weren’t surprised since he was so old and/or skinny and/or had lived a hard life?

Do we no longer keep any thoughts to ourselves to spare another person’s feelings anymore?  Does a celebrity’s choice to live a public life mean they are stripped of every nicety?

I think not.

Live in peace, Mick Jagger.


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Posted in Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Life, Music, Relationships, Television, TV

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