BlastBeat, where were you when I was in high school?

You know how when you are in high school, adults always want to ask you three basic and boring questions just so you feel included and relevant?

1) When do you graduate?

2)What's your favorite/best subject?

3)What do you want to do in college?

You know how you always give the same generic answers in hopes this will satisfy them and they will leave you alone?

Well I only wish I had something as cool as BlastBeat to brag about to these silly adults.

What is BlastBeat, you ask.

BlastBeat is the coolest resource for wanna-be musicians and those interested in the industry since MySpace, and it's designed specifically for high schoolers.

According to the website, BlastBeat is designed for teens interested in Music & Multimedia business projects. It is offered to high schools around the world to teach entrepreneurial business skills, promote young musicians, and support youth communities on a local and global level.

In other words, the program allows everyday teenagers to form their own independent labels and market music to their peers.

How much fun is that?!

It is actually two competitions in one. What teenager doesn't like a little friendly competition.

Interested students go to the website and apply to become an MMC [Music and MultiMedia Company] "with each member of the company taking on a different job description such as CEO, Sales & Marketing Manager, Talent scout, Web Manager, Video Crew, Photographer, Journalist etc ultimately producing a Battle of the Bands concert in order to identify the best musical talent in their areas. There are 2 competitions in 1, an enterprise competition for the MMCs and a Battle of the Bands for the musicians." (BlastBeat)

The competition is worldwide, and students have opportunites to network with eachother via the website. BlastBeat's website in the hub for most of the activities the students parttake in. Each MMC has a personal page to update and videos are occaisionally uploaded offering advice or sharing the latest news with other BlastBeat members.

BlastBeat is one of the more innovative programs I have come across. Giving teens the responsibility of fostering their own dreams with a little professional guidance is more than a great idea, it is a method that should be put into practice all over.

Oops, I did it again!

Drunk Dialing is so 20th century.

Our generation has far more advanced ways to embarrass ourselves and we are all for taking advantage of them.

After that first bottle of Shiraz or third glass of Texas Tea, it sometimes seems like a good idea to pour out every feeling you ever experienced about a certain person. If you are over drunk dialing, an text message is great, but an email is even better!

However, as you arise the next morning, wearing the same clothes and wondering why your face was glued to the keyboard, you begin to possibly regret emailing your mother pictures of your 21st birthday at that questionable establishment featuring scantily clad females. You decide that need NOT happen again.

Google agrees.

The innovative (particularly in recent months) Google employees have engineered an application that will (hopefully) prevent inebriated people from permanently scarring their reputations.

Mail Goggles is designed to halt any drunk emailing entirely. The application is simple: it makes you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you're in the right state of mind.

Unless you become a very fast, very talented math whiz while under the influence, Mail Goggles may be quite a force in drunk communication prevention.

Mail Goggles may be targeted at drunkies right now, but this could also help you not send that angry email to your mother-in-law or your boss...no matter what state of mind you are in. Emails are forever, after all.

Kudos Google, for identifying a problem of the everyday man and attempting to solve them.

Just for Kicks

Ha. It has now happened to YOU.

Never Gonna Give, Never Gonna Give.....

"You never think it will happen to you. Then it does, and you can't believe you fell for it," says Amy Shypailo. 

Amy Shypailo, 21, recently became yet another victim of a sometimes cruel -- but always entertaining -- internet meme. 

Amy Shypailo was Rick Roll'd.

The Rick Roll is no new phenomenon. However, it's effects are considerably long term. It can take a Rick Roll victim years to recover. Once that vaguely familiar synth beat enters the brain, and that velvety baritone voice fills your earbuds, it may never leave. 

I have shared this story with you because Rick Rolling is touted as a simple Internet Meme [a neologism used to describe a catch-phrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the internet] when in reality it is much more than that. 

Rick Rolling is the result of someone's creative abuse of the video sharing network You Tube. However it does not end there. Rick Rolling quickly spilled over into real life. Red-headed men in trench-coats and black dress shoes popped up in public places, regaling the crowd with stirring renditions of the 80's tune. The internet meme literally came to life.

Rick Astley must be more than happy that someone did for free what a PR professional would be paid thousands of dollars to do. Someone made Rick Astley relevant again. 

Still not clear on what Rick Rolling is? Don't worry, one day it WILL happen to you. If you need a more explicit definition of the term, wikipedia does a pretty good job of laying it all out there.

Blogger Blues

I think I might be bad at this whole blogging thing.

According Technorati, there are over 112.8 million blogs. 112.8 million!!!! I am just one blog in a sea of blogtastic blogging blogospheres. That is incredibly intimidating.

Not only is it intimidating, but also time consuming. Blog readers are a demanding bunch. They want what you have to write, and they want it now and they want it often. Blog readers thrive off instant gratification. This forces the blogger to become an ever-vigilant partaker of the webworld. That can be exhausting.

The responbibilites of a blogger are so much more than expected. I don't know how some people do it, but I need them to teach me.

Paul Bradshaw's "Five Stages of a Blogger's Life" accurately depict what can happen to the ill-prepared blogger.

Blogs can be an amazing resource -- both personally and professionally. I would like to say that it has become an asset to me. I'm sure it will at one point, but I know I was not cut out to be a blog writer. A blog writer cannot spend 2 days writing one entry. A blog writer cannot write 2 entries every 2 weeks. I'm working hard on these and many other things blog writers cannot do, but its a slow process.

I have to thank Dr. Weisgerber for her link to Bradshaw's page. It's nice to know I'm not the only one realizing blogging is not as easy as it looks.

So fellow blog writers and readers, this post is a disclaimer: bare with me. I'm taking baby steps, but hopefully one day I can take off running with this whole blog thing.

FedEx Fouls Up

You are now viewing pictures that belong to a man affectionately (only by some and you will discover why soon enough) referred to as the "FedEx Furniture Guy". His real name is Jose Avila. His story is old news according to today's internet standards, but his story is a prime example of corporate stupidity. Let's review FedEx's foul up. Here's a quick summary of how Jose Avila's penchant for FedEx turned into an internet fiasco: Jose Avila vs. FedEx

Avila. You can read the details for yourself, but the three main points are the following:

1. FedEx is stupid
2. Jose Avila is smart (and a cutie. Who doesn't love a man with pink hair?!)
   
3. FedEx is stupid
   

In other words, FedEx screamed a big ol' "You Got Served!" to dear Jose Avila, and pulled some legalese out of there bums to make sure the resourceful young lad could no longer share is architectural prowess with the world. The lawyers quickly wrote letters and threw around acronyms like DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) citing copyright infringement (totally bogus claims, in some people's honest opinions). 

This is another example of companies not understanding how to adapt to the ever changing consumer culture. Avila's penchant for cardboard led him essentially create a brilliant marketing campaign for FedEx. This is a commercial I would watch. Those come few and far between for marketers. I do not understand FedEx's sheer aversion to Avila's ingenuity. For what I can make out, the company thinks it is protecting itself, but Avila comes out on top. 

Avila 1, FedEx 0

Mind Your Manners, Blogger.

Miss Manners covered elbows on the table, proper fork choices, open-mouth chewing vs. closed-mouth chewing, belching, soup slurping, and a continued litany of table manners few people thought would ever matter. However, the etiquette guru is a missing a key niche in the 'manners market'. 

Blogging Etiquette has become a hot topic with the internet crowd (the polite ones, anyway). 

Although Miss Manners has yet to guide us through the blogging by-laws, Dr. Corinne Weisgerber has enlightened her classrooms as to what is or is not internet appropriate. The general internet population expects a few key things from a blogger, and these things include updating regularly, using grammar correctly, sharing thoughts respectfully, etc. All successful bloggers adhere to the regular updates mandate, as well as trying their best to use grammar correctly. The tips about sharing thoughts respectfully may be another story. In fact, some bloggers believe ignoring blogging etiquette completely will get them more hits to their site. I give you every celebrity gossip site in existence as an example. These blogs pride themselves on offending, bullying, and even harassing celebrities and people like you and me eat it up daily. 

So this leads me to ask you the following: What's so great about Blogging Etiquette?

Perez Hilton is infamous for his atrocious, albeit hilarious, blogging sensibilities. The Superficial writers pride themselves in their ability to clearly discredit anyone that has ever achieved any fame. Ever.  

Blogging is cathartic for many, therapeutic for some, and downright entertaining for most. Blogging etiquette works for some, but it may get in the way for some. I agree that some basic rules should be adhered to without question. Do not blog if you have no basic grasp of language, any language. Do not blog if you only update once a year. Do not blog if you can't deal with people criticizing and disagreeing with you. However, sometimes a blog that offends or stretches the truth can be wholly entertaining. Now, these characteristics do not work for a professional blog by any means. Social media used for means to promote a company, product, or client should remain as professionally composed as possible. Sometimes though, a downright mannerless blog is great reading!

You know what, it feels better to eat with your elbows on the table. Sometimes chewing with your mouth open just feels better and sometimes ignoring blogging etiquette is just what feels right. Miss Manners might not like it, but I sure do.