During last night’s tweets and emails segment on Late Late Show, a viewer asked Craig:
If I’m not famous before your last show in December, can I still be a guest?
Craig said yes.
BUCKET LIST!!!
Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Television
Tagged bucket list, celebrities, comedy, Craig Ferguson, emails, entertainment, Humor, Internet, Late Late Show, late night, life, Television, tweets, viewer mail
Referencing tweets in term papers?
Apparently, it’s a thing.
The Modern Language Association (MLA), the guide for academic paper etiquette, now includes a tweet citation format in its handbook. But anyone who uses tweets as foundation for a scholarly work probably doesn’t want to manually type the info…
Right — there’s an app for that.
Tweet2Cite is a web-based tweet citation generator.
Paste your tweet into the field provided, and it spits out an MLA-approved citation!
I for one can’t wait to see if any students cite tweets this fall in my university class.
If they don’t, that may mean they aren’t reading my blog.
Bummer.
Posted in Education, Humor, Internet, Life, Writing
Tagged academic papers, app, blog, college, education, Humor, life, little birdie, MLA, Modern Language Association, scholarly work, term papers, tweet citation, Tweet2Cite, tweets, Twitter, writing
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:
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.
Posted in Broadway, Commentary, Entertainment, Family, Humor, Life, Movies, Technology
Tagged Ahmanson Theatre, Andy Blankenbuehler, audience, Avenue Q, bragging rights, Bring It On movie, Bring It On: The Musical, Broadway, Broadway stars, campy movie, celebrities, cheerleader movie, choreographer, commentary, composer, cult classic, DVD, DVD player, entertainment, family, Great White Way, Humor, In the Heights, Jeff Whitty, life, Lin Manuel Miranda, Los Angeles, Movies, national tour, Next to Normal, technology, Tom Kitt, Tony Award, tweets, Twitter, VHS, west coast, writer
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.
Posted in Commentary, Education, Entertainment, Environment, Internet, Life, News, Weather
Tagged castrophic event, commentary, Coney Island, entertainment, evacuation zones, Facebook, gratitude, hurrianes, Hurricane Irene, Internet, life, Mayor Bloomberg, news, snark, snarky comments, status update, Television, tropical storm, tweets, Twitter, weather
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.
Posted in Airplanes, Humor, Internet, Life, transportation, Travel
Tagged 30 Rock, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, airplane, banner, Capital, commentary, downgrade, Humor, Internet, jumper, Kirwood Missouri, life, Lower Manhattan, Lucy Nobbe, Manhattan, New York City, New York City skyline, Quest Love, Roots band, S&P, S&P downgrade, Top of the Rock Observatory, tweets, Twitter, Wall Street, Washington DC, you're fired
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…)
Posted in Blogs, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Life, Movies, Television, TV
Tagged About a Boy movie, actors, autograph hound, autographs, Barnaby Jones, Batman tv show, blogs, Catwoman, celebrities, celebrity tweets, Chris Weitz, comedians, commentary, direct tweets, Ed tv show, entertainment, Everybody Loves Raymond, Facebook, Humor, Internet, Josh Malina, Lee Meriweather, life, Men of a Certain Age, Michael Ian Black, Mike Royce, movie directors, Movies, New Moon movie, Sports Night tv show, Television, The West Wing tv show, TV, tv show directors, tweets, Twitter, Twitter feed
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.
Posted in Blog, Blogs, Celebrities, Commentary, History, Humor, Internet, Life, Philosophy, Writing
Tagged blog, blogging, bold accessory, bold lip, celebrities, chocolate kiss, commentary, Foods, hershey kiss, home design, Humor, Internet, jeans and a t-shirt, less is more, life, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, philosophy, quotes, Roger Babson, smoky eye, technology, text messages, The finest command of language is often shown by saying nothing, tweets, Twitter
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
Posted in Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Commentary, History, Internet, Life, News, Politics, Television, TV
Tagged 9/11, AMC, blog, blogging, blogs, Boston, CNN, commentary, Facebook, Facebook status update, Internet, John King, life, Mark Twain, New York City, news, Osama Bin Laden, presidential address, Television, texts, The Killing, TV, tweets, Twitter
Social media, I love you.
But you’re killing the very entertainment you seek to promote.
Movie trailers already reveal far too much about the plot of most films. By the end of some promos, you know everything but the specific dialogue for each plot point.
Now Twitter and Facebook are doing the same for television and movies, posting spoilers and clips galore. It’s almost impossible to be surprised.
Here are just a few examples from this morning alone:
I didn’t watch the Harry Potter clip. I want to experience that in the theatre. I love that moment when the lights go down and the saga’s logo fills the screen. Its rendering has been unique to each movie and always foreshadows in a small way what’s to come.
Watching those two minutes now, sitting here at my laptop, can’t touch that.
Sure, I could ‘unfollow’ the Facebook and Twitter feeds of these entertainment sites. But I’m interested in the news that they regularly report. I’m just asking for a bit of restraint.
Tease the entertainment that’s to come, absolutely.
Just don’t give it all away.
Posted in Advertising, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Life, Movies, News, Television, TV
Tagged AMC, blog, blogging, blogs, commentary, entertainment, Entertainment Weekly, EW, Facebook, GLEE! tv show, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part II, Harry Potter logo, Humor, Internet, life, movie clips, movie theatre, Movies, Parenthood tv show, social media, spoilers, Television, The Awful Truth, The Killing tv show, TV, tv clips, tweets, Twitter
The name game
Is your name Chris? Or Audrey? Or Dominic? There’s a Diet Coke out there with your name on it.
Literally.
I found this bottle with Chris’ name on it at a hoagie shop near the Amtrak station in Paoli, Pennsylvania. When I asked the employee at the counter about it, he had no clue what Coke was doing.
Which was helpful.
So I searched the bottle’s #ShareaCoke hashtag on Twitter and found a large community of people who had tweeted pics holding a bottle of Diet Coke bearing their own name! How lucky for them.
I tweeted my Chris pic. Hopefully he (or she) will appreciate it. And if someone out there finds the elusive Carla bottle, comment/tweet/email/Facebook me.
This is suddenly very important.
Leave a comment
Posted in Advertising, Food, Games, Humor, Internet, Life, Restaurants, Shopping, Travel
Tagged #shareacoke, advertising, Amtrak, Audrey, Carla, Chris, Coke bottle, comment, community, Diet Coke, Dominic, email, Facebook, food, hashtag, hoagie, Humor, Internet, life, marketing, Paoli Pennsylvania, promotion, social media, soft drink, the name game, Travel, tweet, tweets, Twitter, with your name on it