The Olympics are a phenomenon that just passes me by -- like the Super Bowl, bowling, Lost (sorry, Kristen) and the Jonas Brothers. But this ad made me feel happy and patriotic. Best rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" EVER. Apparently Coach K played the song for the U.S. men's basketball team during practice for inspiration.
Nice.
The lovely people at This Recording, my favorite blog, have an ongoing series of posts about the things they find funny. Molly was the latest to post, but Lucas, Karina, Danish, Elisabeth, Tyler, Georgia and Alex have all thrown their hats into the ring as well.
My turn. Join in if you feel the urge.
Julia Louis Dreyfus in The Adventures of New Old Christine, Bob Newhart, mom bloggers (Heather Armstrong, Eden Kennedy and Chris Jordan), Judd Apatow's television series (Freaks and Geeks and Declared)
the scene in Fearless Freaks where Wayne Coyne has the kids reenact the Long John Silver robbery, Rushmore, someecards.com, As Time Goes By
Natalie Portman rapsI wish I could be in the room when the campaign staffer screens this (comes via Boing Boing) for McCain.
I'm guessing they'll be a fair share of nervous laughter and, if the staffer knows what's good for him, he may not want to stand within striking distance.
"Are they f*cking with me? I mean, is this a good thing?"
The British Royal Family has launched their own YouTube channel. Tune in on Christmas Day for the Queen's annual Christmas broadcast. In the meantime, the thrilling (and three part) A Day in the Life of the Prince of Wales is riveting.
The League of Conservation Voters thinks that the Sunday morning news show hosts are neglecting the climate change issue when interviewing the presidential candidates. Head over to What Are They Waiting For? if you think 3 of 2275 questions just isn't enough. Sign the petition. Tell a friend about the site. Get more information. Donate. Keep the media accountable.
Finally, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released their latest report on teens and their use of social media. Lots of good data (as always), but few surprises. The number of teens who are online and creating content is on the rise. Social network use is on the rise, as is blogging, with the latter particularly on the rise among teens from lower income and single parent families. Teens are posting more photos and video than adult internet users. And, whatever you may think, teens who are heavy Internet users are also active offline. And those who are most plugged in are the most communicative and social of all.
This song is on my iPod. I let it play twice today when I heard it in the car. And I sang along. And, yes, I cried. And I made a note to myself to look for it on YouTube so I could share it with you.
YouTube has everything.
For those of you not blessed with hippie parents who bought you Free to Be You and Me when you were a mere tot, you may not be familiar with Rosey Grier. You may not know that he was a football player, as well as a bodyguard for Robert Kennedy and that, well, I bet he cried like a big sloppy baby the night that Kennedy was killed.
Go ahead, you heartless bastards, cry.
Or, at least, sing along.
Speaking of ass kicking, this is almost a year old and it's essentially the equivalent of America's Funniest Home Videos, but it still cracks me up every time.
My dad brought me to an Italian street festival in the south end of Hartford CT in, I guess, 1984, because Geraldine Ferraro -- the first woman vice presidential nominee -- was speaking.
At the time, I don't think I really "got it" that it was a big deal that Ferraro was on the ticket and I don't think the importance of it really sunk in until about four years ago (20 years later) when I had the opportunity to hear Walter Mondale speak about the decision to pick Ferraro as his running mate when he visited a grad school class I was TA'ing on the presidential campaign.
Both Mondale and Ferraro were back in the news yesterday, as Mondale endorsed Hillary Clinton and Ferraro, who is also endorsing Clinton, said something that makes me want to vomit in my shoes.
(I don't think the fact that her statement caused me to have intestinal issues is the newsworthy part, but you understand what I mean.)
In response to the debate last week during which poor defenseless Hillary was the target of criticism by her male opponents:
“'John Edwards, specifically, as well as the press, would never attack Barack Obama for two hours they way they attacked her,' said Geraldine A. Ferraro, the 1984 vice presidential candidate who supports Mrs. Clinton. 'It’s O.K. in this country to be sexist,' Ms. Ferraro said. 'It’s certainly not O.K. to be racist. I think if Barack Obama had been attacked for two hours — well, I don’t think Barack Obama would have been attacked for two hours.'
You have got to be kidding me! First of all, it's pretty damn okay to be racist in this country (Dog Chapman notwithstanding). I'll introduce you to some kids in Jena, Mississippi if you're feeling doubtful of this fact. Or maybe I'll just share a really dumb statement that Senator Joe Biden made earlier this year about Senator Barack Obama being "clean."
But, come on, can we PLEASE (I am begging you) STOP this nonsense. They are picking on Hillary because she is the anointed front runner. If they weren't picking on her, THEN, I would be concerned that they were being sexist. And, please, dear G-d, let us hope that she can take the jibes. My guess is that, if she is elected president, she's going to need to stand up to so much more.
Yesterday on This Week, George Stephanopoulos referred to single women as the "new evanglical Christians." We are the most powerful voting group in this election and we like it that way. We have stood up to more in our lifetimes than getting criticized by a group of politicians and so has Hillary.
Like Kirsten Dunst once stated so eloquently, "Bring it on."
YouTube has launched their new service for nonprofit organizations: Broadcast Your Cause.
The folks over at EchoDitto have created MyCommitment.org for the Clinton Global Initiative. Bill's not just asking world leaders and corporate CEOs to take responsibility for making the world a better place -- he's asking you. (By the way, CGI is taking advantage of Broadcast Your Cause.)
BiroCreative has a nice portfolio of public interest interactive projects.
A Donkey and an Elephant Walk Into a Bar is a new social bipartisan social network. It's difficult to check out the site without becoming a member, which just means I won't become a member. It's like asking me to buy a car without allowing me to take a test drive. I can only create so many profiles, folks.
Fimoculous reader Daniel thinks that Charlie Rose's interview with the Beastie Boys was his worst ever.
I disagree.
But I'm biased.
(in three parts)
Katrin Verclas at Mobile Active catalogs sex education programs in the United States, UK, Australia and Indonesia using mobile technology to reach young people. If you know of any more, I'm sure Katrin would be happy to hear about them.
Verizon Wireless is now enabling its customer to upload and view video via YouTube. (The news comes via Nino Marchetti at 9:01AM.)
Politics 2.0
Earlier this month I posted about how Mike Connery over at MyDD was a little concerned about the fact that young progressives aren't engaging with political blogs. Apparently, folks weren't pleased and, alas, Connery came back last weekend to respond to the critics, attempting to answer the question, "WHY do youth groups need to engage the blogosphere?" as well as giving advice on how these same groups can make better use of blogs they already have.
Mother Jones has dedicated their latest issue to how technology is changing politics and Joe Trippi, Howard Dean, Jimmy Wales, and (sexy) Larry Lessig -- among others -- pipe in with their own perspective. Remember the Iowa "Dean Scream" video that helped to bring the campaign down? Well, if YouTube was around in 2004, says Dean, "We would have had something out the next day, saying, 'This is what really happened'."
The Kaiser Family Foundation has launched Health08.org, dedicated to the issue of health care in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Search
The Economist reports on the increasing popularity of vertical search engines -- among users as well as marketers. While two-thirds of Americans who use search engines to research health issues use general engines like Google and Yahoo!, vertical engines that are dedicated to health (like Healthline and Healia) are growing in popularity and drawing in the healthcare industry, which spent approximately $14 billion in online marketing in 2005 in the United States alone.
South Koreans count on Naver for their search results, with real humans -- and not algorithms -- churning out answers.
Transparency
Take it off. Take it all off. From back in March, Clive Thompson at Wired thinks it's worth opening up the curtains and letting the customer in.
The Myth of the MySpace Generation - Research from Synovate suggests that young people (18-24) in Europe are not all that "techno-savvy" after all: 76 percent have never used MySpace, 90 percent have never blogged, 94 percent have never downloaded a ring tone for their cell phone.
But There's Hope - Facebook use is on the rise -- 89 percent in the past year -- and the new users are in the 12-17 and the 25-34 year old age group. So says ComScore, via TechCrunch.
Doing the Right Thing - Fast Company reported on the recent Geneva gathering for the UN Global Compact, including the release of three new studies that all suggest that corporate social responsibility is good for the bottom line. This may repulse those of you who think we should all do good because it's the right thing to do have my sympathy. I wish the world was ruled by justice, but, alas, it isn't. By the way, my former advisor at the Kennedy School, John Ruggie, designed and oversaw the Global Compact as Assistant Secretary General and chief adviser to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for strategic planning.
A Higher Power - Speaking of the good ol' days in Cambridge, I found this Men's Vogue article about another one of my Kennedy School profs, Samantha Power via sk*rt (a site that I mentioned in passing recently, but which I have grown to love). I'd like to say that I would like to be Power when I grow up, but I think it's too late. I enjoyed the article, but I am feeling devastatingly mediocre right about now -- and it's not because she gets to play basketball with George Clooney, I assure you.
Google (Rules the) Earth - Mashable documents Google's efforts -- some successful, some not so successful -- to take over the world (or the market) for search, advertising, video, blogging, mobile, start pages, communications, social networking, photo sharing and office suites.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? - Jessi Hempel at Business Week's Next: Innovation Tools & Trends likes what Obama is doing with online video, specifically that he's not doing what Hillary Clinton is doing: treating online video like "traditional tv." But Obama, says Hempel, is no David Cameron, who I was giving my love to (for his use of social media, not for his politics) back in October 2006.
Not a Joiner - Also from Business Week, take a look at what U.S. online users are doing with their time. I like the breakdown of user types because it demonstrates that we're not all getting the same thing out of social media: creators, critics, collectors, joiners, spectators and inactives. I'm a creator, critic, collector and spectator myself. And you?
Online Health Fair - RevolutionHealth.com has launched their first "health fair," featuring health-related nonprofits, to which Revolution will make a donation based on the number of clicks through to their "booth." The pay off is a little lame, with the booths not particularly well-designed and the user experience falling flat. (Did Revolution give the groups a template and let them do their thing? Maybe a little quality control would have done the trick.) (Thanks to 901am for the heads up.)
Glam-orous Life - iVillage no more. Glam is now the number one social network for women. Yet another club that I have no interest in joining (via Mashable).
CoCreating CSR - Working Assets has been doing it for years -- asking its customers to tell them what they care about and then putting the funds behind the cause. It's a great idea (I unsuccessfully pitched a similar idea to an unnamed client a year or so ago) and something that American Express is currently undertaking through The Members Project. If you are a Cardmember, you've got eight days to weigh in with your idea for what "will do some good for our world." On July 3, an "expert panel" will pick the top 50 ideas and then throw it back out to members to vote on the best, which will receive up to $5 million in funding. Cause related marketing -- and corporate social responsibility -- should be in line with your customers' values (as well as your core brand values), so why not just ask them?
No Thank YouTube - YouTube is launching in China, but like the comments generated on the Mashable post sharing the news suggest, Western companies need to do more than provide translation -- and acknowledge that there is already a thriving world of homegrown web 2.0 sites that are doing fine without them, thank you very much.
Global Mobile - The world's top mobile web users live in the UK, the U.S., South Africa, India and Indonesia (via 901am).
If You Threw a Party and No One Came - MiGrito, the bilingual (Spanish/English) social network, has launched Tu Grito 2008 to allow presidential candidates to communicate with members. Unfortunately, so far, only Hillary Clinton has bothered to create a profile. Wait, I take that back. George Phillies has created a profile as well. But can someone tell me who Phillies is, please?
Putting Good Will in the Bank for a Rainy (Snowy) Day - Former CEO Dave Neeleman may be out of a job, but Jet Blue is still flying high. Despite the spanking the airline received earlier in the year when they left customers stranded on tarmacs in the name of weather delays, Consumer Reports says the company is still considered to be one of the best for customer service. As Spike at Brains on Fire points out, companies that start out with a good rep -- but encounter a little turbulence -- can pull themselves out of it if they continue to rely on their reputation for honesty and transparency and putting the customer first.
Yes, I said I would never get the iPhone after reading this post from Center Networks, but every time I watch those commercials, I experience a rush of giddiness. So, if you figure I could develop a drug habit to pursue this same rush, the $1,900 might actually be a bargain.
Update: The commercials are on YouTube, so you don't have to click through to the Apple site (although there's other stuff there). (Comes via Logic + Emotion.)
Pretty Pictures. Flickrvision is like Twittervision (also from David Troy) except that, instead of inane comments that say absolutely nothing about what people who have too much time on their hands are doing, photos pop up. Still not as hot as the Flickr Related Tag Browser -- which is desperately in need of a better name.
Caught on Film. It's like Alberto Gonzales getting pissed at the Democrats for posting CSPAN videos of him testifying in front of Congress on YouTube. Except that Gonzales is the Croatian Interior Minister and the Democrats are the primary opposition party in Croatia. Read Boing Boing. Mrak will explain everything.
Whoever is Reading This. Remember those notes that your roommate posted on the refrigerator door, asking you not to eat their food, which they have now labeled with masking tape and a Sharpie? Yeah, there are more like it on the Passive Aggressive Notes from Roommates, Neighbors, Co-Workers and Strangers blog. Good stuff.
Truth is More Convenient. Mashable lists 10 social environmental sites, some of which have been listed here before. At least a couple of the sites are walking the talk and hosted on servers that are powered by renewable energy. Green is everywhere, folks.
I Meant to Do That. Andrea Learned posts — at Marketing Profs Daily — about new research from Packaged Facts about what it means to be single in 2007. We're older than you think and, yes, some of us actually choose to be this way. And, oh yeah, marketers might want to think about the fact that we have more money to spend than our younger singles and our married and parenting peers.
Fancy Name for Democracy. Business Week has launched a new blog — Next — about trends in innovation. One of the bloggers, Jessi Hempel, is looking for ideas from the crowd, coincidentally, on crowdsourcing. He wants to know which web sites are using crowdsourcing strategies in the most "promising" way. Help him out.
Come All Ye Faithful. MSNBC reported this past week on the new trend of religious social networks, including Xianz (Christian), Shmooze (Jewish) and Naseeb (Muslim).
Small Favors. Marketing Vox reports that China is not going to require bloggers to register with the government. A victory for free speech!
Not So Much. GM's Vice Chairman, Bob Lutz, wants to assure you that, no, he is not bored with blogging. He just has a day job, folks.
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