I'm Totally "Over" It

      

A few years back, I began an epic journey into the realm of print journalism, working for the LA Times Community News Bureau (what I say to impress people) otherwise known as the Daily Pilot (what it's actually called). Starting from the bottom floor (calendar writer), I worked my way up to daily coverage of crime and safety in the Newport-Mesa area and along the way had many a writing tips passed onto me from my colleagues and managing editors, one of which stands out more so lately than ever. 

One of my favorite editors, the "rampacious" (a word created just for crazy, headstrong red-heads obsessed with pirates, who I want to be) Carol Chambers reprimanded me, only once, that's all it took, for my use of the term "over" where "more than" was more appropriately applicable. "Over" she said, implies a physical designation, not a quantity. Well, maybe she said it more like, "'Things' go over other things, not quantities. You're not trying to say that the amount is physically hovering in space above something are ya, kiddo?" 

I kept mindful of the advice, using the accurate designation when called for, while noticing increasing misuse of "over" all over the place. yes that was intended. Billboards, wall posters, online advertisements, promotional emails, letters from friends who studied the language, reputable news websites, and print pieces, anywhere and everywhere - "Over" has weaseled its way into common usage as a quantitative descriptor. Wrong sir, I say. 

When I first moved to the city, a few months ago, I joked about it with friends. It was my little verbal pet-peeve. Everyone has one. I get rousted about when I feel the need to correct someone. But, seriously, I feel that pull "more than" twice to 10-times-a-day. How is it that this many people are just mucking up the works in their speech? I mean, I know I can't expect everyone to be this cognizant of the ins and outs of grammar, just as a doctor can't assume that the common man knows the nomenclature for all valves of the heart. But, when I see paid professional copy writers, journalists, and the like go the easy way out, and in high-up companies... 

Then let us consider the current hiring situation in the country / at least on my peninsula, where obtaining a job is so difficult (not "hard") within one's field. It gets a bit insulting that these doofs are those that made the cut. Do they talk about "these ones" and "those ones" (redundant) rather than just "these" or "those"? Do they constantly use gerunds, slapping "-ing" on the end of words they can't think or reasonable alternatives for? Do they still rely on "to be" because they simply can't think of any of friggin' verb to fill the space, and.... Ahhha hahha. Ok I just geeked out. Sorry that won't happen again, for awhile. 

Anyways, piece said. I know language changes and grows, it's a living thing, understood. But I'm bout to start carrying round a red pen and correcting e'rybody, cuz they dumb, they really, really dumb. 

This has been a service message. Beep.

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See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Caldera Highway in Costa Rica Closed Indefinitely

Hola, A major section of new Escazú to Caldera highway (27) from Atenas to Orotina is closed indefinitely following a series of landslides that caused at least seven serious injuries and one death. You cannot travel from San José to the coast on highway 27.  Traffic is being redirected to the Aguacate highway (3) for the southern beach destinations of Jacó, Manuel Antonio and Dominical or the  PanAmerican highway (1) for the beaches around Puntarenas or on the Nicoya Peninsula and Guanacaste. Work has begun to shore up the hillsides that were excavated during construction to prevent future slides and rockfalls.  Optimistic estimates by the construction company predict two to three months before reopening and we'd expect that every effort will be made to re-open this shortcut to the Pacific beaches before the main tourism season in December. If you're traveling in the next couple of months and have questions about how this may affect your plans please reply to this message orcontact us. On behalf of Toucan Maps and the Costa Rica Guide Team ¡Pura Vida!

- Major bummer as this is the quickest route to 90% of my favorite Costa Rican destinations. I have no idea what this even means, but indefinitely seems substantial in the time bucket. I know this has little to do with either Social Media or entertainment, but its' all I got right now.

Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

"When I get back from Hell again..." (Little Rock, Las Vegas, and other film fest escapades)

This weekend I descended upon two towns known for their oppressive heat during the highest temperatures of 2010. Why you ask? Well, once to speak, once to party, both because of something I greatly endear - FILM. Yes, lit folks, there's the connective tissue, our motif in the land of making meaning of things. Coincidence, maybe. Or kismet. (shoulders shrug). Let's just go with it for now.

Could this weekend go down as the busiest of my career. Possible, running only close second to the infamous Daily Strodl of April 2007 when I covered a gang shooting, a body washing up onshore, the NB Junior Lifeguard's Pier Jump, and the Opening Night of the 8th NBFF (dominated the Daily Pilot Page 1.) 

Ok so, flight out of SNA (JWA) 6:45 am (PST), Thursday. Connecting flight through Dallas (DFW), where my father always said baggage goes to get lost/hijacked. Leave 20-30 mins late, as the stewardesses decided to harass a youngish looking 13-year-old lad. Land in Little Rock around 2:30 pm (CDT) to the cries of the fest driving coordinator remarking on late I was, as if I flew. Driven directly to the Riverdale 10 Theaters in township of the same name. Met Levi Agee (@camsontheradio), Emily Reeves (@reeves501) and Carol Dysinger (@CampVictory) at the BBQ joint, the name of which has something to do with a hog, but is escaping me nonetheless. I will remember and take with me the meeting and time I spent with this woman more than others, I feel. Connection, interaction, reciprocation, good conversation, integration, non-condemnation mixed with sagely deliberation. But that's not till later. 

4 pm. (CDT), the four of us speak to a semi-full house on the uses of Social Media in Marketing for Film Festivals. It went rather well. Exchanged numerous business cards. Shared and received gads of useful connective tissue for the film maker and festival professional. Friend Danny Buday, director of Five Star Day, attended and asked some interesting questions. We spoke about so many mini-topics that still surprise me that others don't have the knowledge of in this almost untapped resource, infinitely useful for indie film professionals with little or no marketing budget. What does it cost to post an update or event? Right!

A slew of new friends made in the AR. The Little Rock Film Festival staff that (Brett, Levi, Eli, Kelsey, and of course Hilary - Ryan Hougardy!) A Bill Clinton action figure (talking) that I've decided to reprogram to say less-than-politically-correct things. "I did not inhale." Or "Define 'is'." Party with a strange band that danced in all purple. Walks and talks, Joey Lauren Adams, freaking awesome pizza - one of the many things sneakily swiped off the counter by the bartender. Breakfast with Carol. Geeking out over social media with her for her film Camp Victory, Afghanistan (amazing, first doc to make me openly shed tears.) Race to catch 4:25 pm. (CDT) flight. Connect again in Dallas where I met the Taco Bell angel who subsequently helped me sneak Bill onboard, as I had by then exceeded the two-bag limit, accumulated an entire bag o' swag in my travels. 

Land in Las Vegas 8 pm. (PST). Picked up by Alicia and Danielle and proceed toward a slew of stories, reconnects, moments of extreme humor, and horror (as I was apparently first to pass out and then get photographed), markable conversation, attempted conversion. Few of which amused me more than the end of Friday evening, on exodus from the Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay Hotel where I spent my last few minutes coaching a young bachelor on the most important piece of advice anyone will throw at him - Eat, that's it, and make sure she does too - and maybe a few other tidbits. At which point, our friend began to tear, and tell me how he simultaneously loved and hated me, but would never forget me. I then entered the elevator with him, made sure he had his friends, and deviously jumped out. Goodbye friend, fair journey down matrimony.

Drove home Sunday through hours of shameless sleeping, 105 + heat, milkshakes and ridiculous leaving-Las-Vegas traffic. 

Met up with my childhood companion and cohort (@peterbuttwater) whom I've been absent from for one decade, but we're all fine like nickels on a dime. Enjoyed a good meal and conversation, one that seemed not missed, rather ten years on pause. 

I tell you all of this in relation to the song quoted in this post's title, the lyrics to which finish "...I'm gonna be so elegant." And wondered as I listened to this verse ten too many times during my trip, and pondered my journey and other ups and downs, how I would come out the other end of too much to do, too little explanation for my voracious brain, a compacted amount of interactions and a chipping sense of silence in other areas. Well, the world can be an unfair place at times, but your lows will have their compliment of highs.

I met and did unfathomable things in this passage of moments. They have been lost in the movement of time and progression of me, but still reside and stamp their entrance and exit in this definitely comical, and currently, at 10:41 pm. (PST) seemingly less-than-fair state of...things.

Well, Life: Don't give up on me, and I won't give up on you. (That's all I got. It's late and I'm riding a wave of mixed disappointment right now.)

Tune in tomorrow for "Social Media Talks on the Film Festival Front Lines" and "A Recap of the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence Awards for one Mr. Henry Segerstrom - The Forefather of Culture in Orange County." 

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Henry T. Segerstrom honored at Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence Award

Hey folks, 

Over the last couple of weeks I've been working a documentary script to be read by one Michael York that will be played at the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence Awards in about 30 minutes. This is the fourth time the award has been given out and tonight it will go to one of the most influential men in all of Orange County, Henry T. Segerstrom. My script was part of a five-minute film covering the life and business achievements of Henry and his family's contributions to the county that have helped it become an influential cultural center, rivaling the likes of Big Brother LA and others. His charity and work in Orange County has helped make events such as the Newport Beach Film Festival possible. 

 

Watch the feed on Ustream to chat live with me about the event while it plays.

 

Well, so here is the live stream of the event, that will be playing on Ustream at 3:30 p.m PST (6:30 EST).

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Little Rock Film Festival 2010

Posted via web from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Why Social Media Rocks

You can knock it all you want, but I now have indisputable proof that social media can make your life way cooler and adventurous. 

Me for instance, I got to meet my favorite band in the world - Dramarama - and... they knew my name. Yes, before I met them.

So a couple of months ago, I found the aforementioned 80's Jersey band on facebook, became a fan and asked to be an administrator on the page. I began posting events, and helping them to get the word out there on shows, mainly in LA/OC area.

I've been a fan since pre-Vinyl yet had never caught the band - that for some reason I can't quite explain, still holds #1 ranking in my musical heart - live. It's been a point of contention with a few friends "How can you be a real fan?" Oh do shut up. 

So moving on to the matter at hand. It was time to see this band I've loved so dearly for decades live. And the opportunity arose with the 2010 Irvine Lake Mud Run - Saturday, April 10, 2010. Dramarama would be there, and I'd know the word to every song. I did, I was proud. 

I've been committed since the 1st time I heard their flagship song "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)". However, I encountered this in a different way than most, not on the radio through KROQ or Rodney Bingenheimer. I heard it as the background music in Nightmare on Elm Street IV - The Dream Master, during the scene where Andras Jones' character practices his martial arts to get away from his nagging alchy dad. 

I was literally hooked. I watched that scene over and over and then, lo-and-behold, they happen to be a favorite of my newly discovered favorite radio station, KROQ. This was 1991-ish, roughly, I was young. 

I went out and bought the album with aforementioned song on it - Cinema Verité. A couple of years later I would discover an old cassette that someone had so shamefully thrown into our neighborhood garbage dumpster of their 3rd album - Stuck in Wonderamaland. I still think it was fate. Bought album number two Steve and Edie, then onto Vinyl, Hi-Fi Sci-Fi - oh I do love that album. 

So back to the race. I watched the concert, front row. Recorded the whole thing with my new Flip Ultra HD. It was fabulous. It's all on You Tube if you'd like to watch on my channel http://www.youtube.com/kellyforniamedia. 

After the concert ended I bit some courage, ambled up on stage and introduced myself to first, Mike Englert. Then down the back of the stage to Tony Snow (has an awesome band, I'm next to catch live), Bruce Kilgour, and of course John Easdale (the voice). 

So I said, "I'm Kelly. I'm a fan and also an admin on your fanpage." and Bruce said, "Oh yeah Kelly Strodl? You post a lot of great stuff on the page." - That was cool. 

Really don't have much else to give. We talked some social media, the upcoming album release, Tony's concert, and then I cooly excused myself from the discussion. Walked barefoot to my car - shoes ruined from the mud - and called my sister and mom and reveled. - The End.

Lesson: social media can save the world, or at least give you a moment of cool with your favorite band. 

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Don't Hate on 3D, what'd it ever do to you?

So lately I've fallen into a number of conversations on the subject of 3D films. And seriously the entire concept seems to be more polarizing than some of the worst political discussions I've ever had the misfortune to witness or engage in. With no exaggeration intended, people seem ready to either laud over or go to war against the new craze in filmmaking. 

If it's big budget and it's coming out in theaters, dammit it will be in 3D, objects popping out of the screen in every manner, color, and biological representation. And this seems to offend a number of people to the extreme. Well then, why not IMAX, or color film, or talkies... I mean the last time it seems this type of rumble and explosion of activity occurred over an evolution in the process of making film - talkies - people were up in a roar, but not because they didn't think it was a good thing for film. More that time around it was a fear of the unknown. A fear of losing employment, etc. 

Now though, people seem truly irritated about the idea that should they choose to view a film at the theater, all three dimensions may be thrust upon them. Well at least the simulacra of said dimensions - really I think they're just pissed about having to wear the glasses. 

I truly don't know where my opinion rests on this one but, I will agree with my friend Amanda that Avatar - no other way should it be seen. Yes, we all know it's simply Dances With Wolves meets  the Smurfs, but, dang that was one beautiful film. The rest of them out there, should they be wasting money this economy already doesn't seem to have, to go supremely over budget just to ride the coattails of all the rage? 

Jury's still out...

Writing again for those watching overseas, who may or may not be reading. But I'm blogging. 

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

My online course lost all my tests... and all I got was this lousy retake.

So as part of my quest into the social media sphere - the great unknown space where technology and human nature meet - I enrolled in the an Advanced Social Media online course through University of San Francisco. Great course, great learning experience, great instructors for the most part, and wonderful insight through case studies of how this burgeoning use of the internet in all it's glory creates an interconnected web of communications and how that applies and can be utilized by business to a.) connect more intimately with an audience and b.) make money! 

Ok so eight weeks of my life (Midnight Feb. 1 through 11:59 p.m. March 28th), poured endlessly into more than 12 hours of video instruction, online lab chat rooms, and eight weekly assessments (or test for the laymen.)

Amid the educational time suck, a few bumps in the road entered my life - loss of job, searching for jobs, beginning of no less than five social media consultation contracts with businesses of all varying degrees. My time was stretched a little thin, and although I began ahead of schedule, I soon feel far behind in my coursework and tests. 

Fast forward to the last weekend of class: I locked myself in my home, neglected all social activities besides a family dinner for my cousin who leaves for Costa Rica for the next few months on a teaching gig, and a dinner break with my husband at his work on Sat. Other than that I was all class, all day. And I was running ;). Zooming through each of the remaining weeks with zeal and speed, not leaving any test until I scored a 100%. 

By 8:30p.m. I had completed the 7th of eight tests, took a snack break, came back to finish up - taking the 8th test as a practice (you can take them an unlimited amount of times until you accept the grade.) I signed back in and the test was already graded, the class closed and I lost it! 

Spent most of the night crying. Although the class is through USF, the course closed promptly at 11:59 EST. not PST. 

Called the next to find out that if I wanted to take the final test over I had to pay another $200 dollars to reopen my course. Fine no problem. I just want to finish and get my certificate. Well... 

I paid my money, got back in and...

All of my tests were ungraded. The hits just keep on coming, as I've just got off the phone with Tech Support for the school being told that I have to take all of the assessment test over again. Awesome! 

Seriously, if technology is here to make our lives easier, ie: me attending a class from a university more than 400 miles away, at any time of the day I choose. Why can they not just click a button and reopen a virtual course that still holds the information of my already completed tests and save me a bunch of wasted time? 

They just can't, they said. Just can't. It's a virtual world where everything can be changed, rewired, recovered, reformatted, revisited, retaken... You get my point. 

So I began again, from scratch, and scratching my head quizzically at the absurdity of the confines of the very frameworks we set up to make our lives more manageable and less stressful. 

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Possible Yahoo Mail PHISHING SCAM

I just received an email, supposedly from Yahoo Members Services however, when I looked at the email address, it was from freeman_boy@hotmail.com. 

The email then states that my account will be suspended and all of the information lost if I do not respond with all of my acco...unt info in a reply to the email. Doesn't quite add up. Please if you get this don't respond before getting in touch with Yahoo 1st.

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Andy Garcia talks Social Media and Promoting Films @ City Island OC screening

Last Thursday, I attended a screening of a new film starring

Andy Garcia

, called

City Island, hosted by the

OC Film Society

, a sub group of the

Newport Beach Film Festival

that holds screenings of independent films when the festival is not going on. They’re pretty on-the-money about indie-film, having shown the following hits over the last few months:

The Young Victoria

,

Precious, Serious Moonlight, and The Blindside.

I planned to use the event as a rehearsal of sorts for my intended coverage of the 2010 NBFF. Garcia was actually penned in to attend and participate in a Q&A following the screening – almost unheard of in the biz.

Despite a few setbacks, including my forgetting my Flip camera at home, the event was probably one of the most successful thrown by the OC Film Society. The Q&A with Garcia went on longer than most do. And he was more than gracious in answering any manner of inquiry about the film, even one from a woman so unimaginative as to ask the actor how she should describe the film to others (did she forget that she just sat through the entire thing? Sub question: do you ask the cops how to describe a car accident when you were the one in it?)

One of the topics brought up was about the difficulties of making getting independent film made in today’s economy. This he turned into a secondary point on how social media has altered the way studios promote films, and they way a film now gains a following.

On the former: Although it seemed for years that independent filmmaking is on the rise, and a growing number of indie films winning numerous awards, including Oscars (Hurt Locker, Best Picture 2010) – many of the smaller studios, responsible for those films, are closing their doors. However…

 On the Latter: Although money is tight, the rise of social media allows for independent filmmakers to engage their (potential) audience in an entirely new, and more personal, manner – giving them a leg up on the big-budget competition. You can engage more people in less time, and make it more intimate. Now you can connect with 1,000 people with the click of button, “before you had to physically make contact with 1,000 people,” Garcia said.

The word-of-mouth aspect of social media has also laid an interesting groundwork for the movie release, Garcia said. The very dynamic of social media gives the little guy a fighting chance against marketing budgets that overshadow the indie film’s entire funding.

All it takes is one bad clip…

“Social Media could kill a big-budget film, with enough bad response,” Gacia said. If say a scene gets leaked over YouTube or some other outlet and gets negative feedback from the public, it has spelled the end of some recent releases.  “The cream rises,” in this new media environment.

And it’s that very new/indie media mentality that Garcia attributes to the success of City Island, a film that was passed over and almost found itself collecting dust on some shelf, a number of times. Yet throughout the filming, the passion of the director and cast kept the project not only moving forward, but building interest like a snowball.

Read Director Raymond De Felitta’s blog on the making of the film “Movies ‘til Dawn: Making City Island.”

“City Island has become a grass roots indie fave, a movie that audiences feel belongs to them--a perfectly appropriate reaction given that the films success began with it winning the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.” – De Felitta

The film opens in Orange County on April 2.

For video clips from the Q&A: http://www.kellyforniamedia.com/index.php/nbff/ocfilmsocietycityisland/

And for more info on my 2010 NBFF coverage go to - http://www.kellyforniamedia.com/index.php/nbff/

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Creative & Entertaining Uses of Twitter (occurring right under our noses)

Tonight, I downloaded the Mashable app on my iphone and one of the top stories I read talked about how some "genius" (more specifically, Jonah Peretti of Buzzfeed and Huffington Post fame) found a way to merge the thrill of the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) line of books with Twitter.

Like me, I'm sure many of you born (or growing up) within the era known as either the 80's or 90's are more than familiar with the lore of the CYOA books. A mystical invention, where rather than having to be drug around by the author's whim or fancy, YOU, yes YOU, are given a forked road and a decision, to take the fate of your own personal reading experience into your own hands, AND, either triumph, get lost in a cave for all eternity, die by alien hands, or a million other increasingly more unfathomable and bizarre, and thoroughly enjoyable conclusions.

And, I'm sure, like me, many of you cheated ;) marking one or more of your previous choices leading to your current path with a finger or two. So that in case you should die, fate could in fact be reversed and you could go back to a better time, before that final blow - don't worry know one knew but you. Oh, and how the guilt killed. But, heck you couldn't just let it end there.

And it didn't! Which leads to yet another ingenious facet about these books - Multiple adventures and story lines, available in multiple combinations all within one jacket and one title. Wow! I mean, this was Twitter before there was twitter, following threads that lead you down conversational patterns, tracing back to other story lines and patterns. Why weren't these two combined before? It almost seems silly now.

However, like most of these stories do - this got me to thinking, "What other creative uses of Twitter are being engaged in right now, under our noses even? How are people utilizing the tools provided by the micro-blogging site, twee-king these tools to create adventure within the Twitterverse? How hard do you have to look to find them? Are we already and just don't know it?

1. #Journchat - my friend @RochelleVeturis, a "virtual force" on twitter, and past colleague at the LA Times, told me about #journchat - an online community meet up of journalists chatting about the state of the news industry through the simple use of the hashtag search function. All I have to do to watch and/or participate in the conversation is add the #journchat hash to my tweets.

I mean take that in, an entire forum of journalist converging across time zones and geography to hold a discussion in virtuality. That's awesome and so simple. It seems too easy to be true.

Right now, conferences all over the world are engaging in a journchat forum of sorts, just on a smaller scale, throwing out hashtags for people to add to the end of their tweets during a conference session or some other event to bring people into another conversation outside, or alongside the realtime event. I just hosted the posting and twitter feed for such an event last month. People both at the conference and at their respective homes or businesses (unable to attend), discussed topics, shared information, quoted speakers and then retweeted said quotes to the masses.

2. Read a Novel - tweet by tweet: Two projects on Twitter are trying to share an entire novel tweet by tweet: James Joyce’s Ulysses or Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Read an entire novel, at your pace, taking in only a thought at a time. My question is how long would it take you to reach the end? 

3. Better yet, Write Your Own Novel: The novel says it is already completed, but I am hoping for a follow-up project in the near future. Even though it’s defunct, you can still read what was written at the 140novel site, color-coded by author. I may start the story up again, complete with my CYOA created story lines. Yes, inspiration strikes again.

4. Alarm Clock? Need to remember something? Send this @timer a direct message, and he'll tweet you back. For example, 'd timer 45 call mom' reminds you in 45 minutes.

5. Track your packages: with @trackthis you can keep your eye on the things making their way to you from FedEx, UPS and DHL shipments. I don't know about you, but I order one thing I need, or want, online a month because I love the anticipation of knowing that soon something is waiting for you, sent to you (yes even if it was from you too), on your doorstep. And I love just as much tracking it across the state or nation. It's just fun.

6. Keep track of who's Adding and Dropping you on Twitter: I recently started using @chirpstats on twitter, a service that once you begin following them, keeps a tally of the people who've followed and unfollowed you over a week or a couple of days, depends on the traffic. I right now, don't have a huge following, but large enough that I can't wade through the muck and find out who stopped following today. This little twitter bound app has actually helped me maintain a customer service base of sorts with people who were thinking of walking away from this tweeter. Almost every time it was someone I was unaware was following me, and so I followed them and they followed back, again.

7. Post like a Pirate: argh maytees, looking to tweet like the ruffians of the sea do? Well, ye be on the right track if yer head toward http://postlikeapirate.com/twitter.php. Simply enter in yer infermation and a message in a bottle yer wish to send out to sea, and the app will reformat it in pirate slang. Oh goodness, if only my pirate-obsessed former editor only tweeted.

I think that's enough for now, but I would love to hear from you about any jewels you've found - Some unexpected and creative new uses of Twitter, be it a complete time suck or the answer to the world's power crisis. Send 'em my way...

––––––––––––––––––––

Btw - I'm starting my CYOA game tonight, right now as a matter of fact. Wanna join in? http://twitter.com/peretti/status/10731245477

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Need to cross the border, but don't know where to start? New cellphone app may help...

A new cellphone application created by three professors from UC San Diego, and one from University of Michigan, will help illegal immigrants to cross the border, providing information on key landmarks and where to find water in their trek across the desert to the land of the American Dream. 

Some applaud it, some call it an "inappropriate use of taxpayer funds and an irresponsible use of technology," according to Fox News story "Critics Blast Transborder Immigrant Tool as 'Irresponsible." here's the link to read more: http://topstories.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=17224&content=34865719&pageNum=-1

It's true that by providing useful information on crossing the desert this new application could save peoples' lives, such as the 111 whose deaths were attributed to border-crossings last year. But the app also tells people when and where border patrols are expected to hit. That doesn't really sound like a safety thing to me. 

But anyways, it got me thinking...

We're narrowing in on all the wrong things here. Let's take a minute to sit back and breathe this one in.

First, are there really multiple university professors out there, right now, getting paid their respective state's hard earned cash to design an application to assist people in technically breaking the law? Funds that could be going to let's say, classes that are getting canceled & causing riots and such in UCs; funds that could be going to my sister's paycheck so that she doesn't get cut from the budget every year because she's not yet tenured, and at this rate, won't ever be; funds that could be going continuing benefits and retirement that were promised to  - but now ripped away from - daycare workers and other non-teaching employees; funds going to improved salaries, new equipment, medical supplies, books, etc. 

It warms my heart to think that some so called "professorial staff" out there, probably getting high, are planning out really important experiments with their research money, not like medical phone apps, or GPS locating apps that could save lives like in Haiti - no let's help people cross the border. 

And why are we making it so easy for people to enter the country all of the sudden? ;) Gone are the days when illegal immigrants had to just run balls out and hope not to get picked up by a floodlight while scaling an enormous wall topped with barbed wire. 

I mean really, marinate on this one a moment. I see a whole new slew of "when I was your age stories from parents." 

I can just see it now, the whole family sitting around the three-foot, plastic Christmas tree. Uncle Reggie, first time in America, joining the fam, gets lauded by gramps because, "When I was your age...

"We didn't have no cellphone gizmos to get us cross the border. In my day, you had the clothes on your back and some tortillas. Son, I dodged minutemen, border cops and la policia, uphill, both ways, with no shoes, and your sister under my arm. That's how we did. You kids don't even know how easy you have it these days."

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the best part: read this quick description from Fox: 

"The Transborder Immigrant Tool (TBT)... a software application that can be installed into a GPS-enabled cell phone. In addition to helping immigrants locate water and landmarks, it also could alert them to Border Patrol checkpoints. And to make the trek a little less arduous, it also plays recorded poetry."

It's the little extras that really make a product sparkle.

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Looking for that little to deduct this year...

...but don't know how to keep track of it all? The new iphone app iDonateit by BMG helps you track what you've donated to various charities and causes, estimating the quality, value and quantity. I'm not quite sure why this fascinates me so much. But it's just amazing what we have at our fingertips these days to help us keep track of what once seemed so daunting/overwhelming - you choose your adjective implying sheer size and scope.

Stuff like this almost makes taxes seem like fun, when you  can play around with it on your iPhone. Did I just imply that doing your taxes could almost be fun? Wow, I'm either getting old or losing my mind. 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/idonatedit/id341013253?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Twsunami-mania

Today, a tsunami, predicted to hit the Hawaiian islands – the after-effect of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hitting Chile hours earlier, killing hundreds – came up quite a bit short of its forecasted strength. Water levels overall barely rose a few feet. Instead, the "titanic wave" produced by the earthquake, came in a surge of web traffic to major (and minor) web media outlets of onlookers awaiting visuals of the anticipated event.

This "virtual tsunami" became something of an odd phenomenon (one of many we've seen in the wake of natural disasters or crises, combined with the increasing popularity of this newer conversational/interactive news coverage.) People were actually looking for their own "off-the-beaten-path" news source, not just following CNN, KTLA, FOX, etc., but accessing a variety of live video coverage on the web, surf-cams, Ustream footage, Skype - you name it. I, the jilted journalist, was surprised by people actually reaching out, creatively, for their own feed of info, not just having it "fed" to them. 

I myself, followed the whole brouhaha on Ustream. What made that particular coverage so unique was the stream of Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and other social media posts from web-watchers, commenting and providing additional information of the incoming tsunami alongside the broadcast. People who had specifically signed up to become a part of that channel's feed.

It seemed that the live video coverage could hardly keep up with the rush of information flooding in from all over the world - updates on the receding of water from the shoreline, water buoy readings of dropping water levels miles out from the coast, even minute-by-minute countdowns from people around the world on when the wave was supposed to hit. 

You don't get more realtime than that! Matter of fact, I found myself getting bored because the slated event itself, could not keep up with the flood of news predicting its arrival. I heard people screaming with their fingers on a keyboard how the reef was showing, the reef was showing...

I watched an onslaught of information, shout-outs, predictions, countdowns, prayers, admonitions, the occasional phishing scheme, and even marketing ploys filing down the right hand side of my screen. The coverage far exceeded the excitement due this disappointing natural non-disaster. 

100% FAIL for the tsunami = an ironic 10% WIN for Hawaii, 90% WIN for Social Media and New News. 

I'm sure there's more to be said, but I'll leave it for someone else to say today, my mind is fried.  

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ęᄔÿf☼яῆエ@

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Hipster Consignment Stores

So Hipsters, have you heard of Graffiti Beach yet? If not, how much a hipster are you really? Just a question. Well, to help get you in the know ;), Graffiti Beach is an interesting concept geared toward "creating a mobile selling platform for Emerging Brands." Not as novel as it sounds, but done in a new light, with the younger generation in mind. The consignment store has been doing this very thing for years, or maybe more accurately, is the the swapmeet, as sellers sit in their booths, waiting to pounce on the next unsuspecting person happening by. 

Anywhoo - those of you looking for the next counter-sub-indie trend popping up in a (sub)urban/urbanizing area near you:

Graffiti Beach’s Next Pop-up @ The Camp in Costa Mesa!!!
Dates & Time: Sat. Feb 20th 1pm - 8pm, Sun. Feb 21st 12pm - 5pm
Venue: The Camp – 2937 Bristol St., Costa Mesa Ca

Expect a hipster mixture of: 

Beachwear, Graphic Tees, Skateboards, Accessories and Artwork. A bikini fashion show, although it is pretty chilly out (at 6:30 p.m., Flamenco Guitartis Tomas Michaud both days, nouveau portrait artists Ryan Lee and Karla Ortiz will be doing live drawing (SEED People’s Market, 2nd Floor), & my friends, Meleesa and the girls from Meleesa the Salon in downtown HB, will be there as well. Plus, 3 up-and-coming bands - Gorgeous Got a Gun, Hindu Pirates and Semi Sweet - will be performing in The Camp’s gallery space.  

A little about the event from it's own creators:

"Watch out Hipsters — there’s a new scene in town!!! Graffiti Beach is anything BUT boring…it combines fashion, music and art all in one gig! This concept is embracing the new trend in Pop-up retail by hosting 2 to 3 day events at which emerging brands sell their merchandise at wholesale prices directly to the public. Cool and unique vendors that have jumped on the Graffiti Beach wagon include Tavik, MNKR, Love Nail Tree, Reiter Photography, Domestic Doll, Skarf and Bettinis to name a few."

Apparently the latest pop-up shop/event in Hermosa Beach last December, was such a smash that Graffiti Beach owner Melanie Michaud decided to triple its size the next time around. Shoppers at the event were offered "great deals on unique products and listen to acoustic sounds from Veronica Torres and Celeigh Chapman."

Here's the schedule of events for this weekend:

Saturday, Feb 20th – 1pm to 8pm
3pm – Semi Sweet (Band Performance)
5pm – Gorgeous Got a Gun (Band Performance)
6:30pm – Bikini Fashion Show

Sunday, Feb 21st – 12pm to 5pm
1pm – Hindu Pirates (Band Performance)
3pm – Tomas Michaud (Flamenco Guitarist)

Portraits are $50 and you may see samples of both Karla and Ryan’s work by visiting http://karlaortizart.blogspot.com and http://ryanleesketchbook.blogspot.com. You may book an appointment or bring a photo and the artist can draw it on the spot or at a later date and will mail it to you. Portraits begin at $50 depending on size and medium. E-mail Ryan at RyanLeeArt@gmail.com for more information or to schedule an appointment.

And hey, just stop by to check out some great art, eats, and tunes at the Camp, which is a pretty slamming place in itself.

For future events, or to learn more about Graffiti Beach, visit their site @: www.graffitibeach.org

Check out there blog @: http://graffitibeach.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/graffiti-beach-is-revolutionizing-the-world-of-retail-with-a-mobile-selling-platform-for-emerging-brands/

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Quick List on 1st-time Social Media Coaching

There's a lot of need out there for coaching people on the "how tos" of diving into the Social Media scene. Sometimes it can seem like rushing white water rapids passing in front of many a people, and that can be an overwhelming jump to take, just to get wet and try out the waters. So here's a quick list of things to consider offering as advice or training to the Social Media Newbie:

1. It's Ok to just Dive In! Computer software, unlike Typewriters of the past don't cause permanent mistakes. No WhiteOut is needed to make a fix. This is one of the hugest barriers to get through with the Boomer generation exploring Social Media. I like to call them the "Marble and Metal" Gen., because everything for them was so grounded in earth and metal, you can't erase mistakes made on those materials. It's what has helped me be patient in explaining the ways of Social Media to those older than me. Anyways off the soapbox.

2. Set a Daily/Weekly "Twittness" Schedule for yourself: (can apply to all Social Media, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) get in the habit of just getting online at the same time everyday to just check the stream of information, and the flow of the conversation. It will also just get you in the habit of posting on a regular basis, it's a discipline like any other. Which leads to point 3.

3. Post at least once a day: this keeps you in the stream of what's going up on Facebook/Twitter - keeps people seeing you. The more they see you, the more likely they are to respond to your posts. It creates familiarity.

4. Stay True to Your Voice: don't be all over the place with what you post. Be intentional on your messaging. If you are posting for a motel ministry, don't include random posts that don't apply to your cause, such as a a sale coupon. 

5. Content is King! keep your posts relevant, and useful. As often as possible include links to articles or another page that you post on. You have a 200% higher chance of someone reading your post when it includes a link, because it A. requires action, and B. is a surprise, like a teaser.

6. Converse, don't just Broadcast: save that for the TV and Radio commercials. The greatest thing about social media is the ability to truly engage with your audience. Talk with them, commend them on a post you like, repost their stuff to others so they can see it. You do this and people will start watching you more, and engage with you, because it builds trust. Get to know your audience, then you can better gage what type of posts to place in each media outlet/venue.

7. Have a Plan: Don't think just day-to-day in your posting. Make a long-term plan that looks at where you are hoping to go with your Social Media, be intentional about your Tweets. 

I think that's enough for now. Seven feels like a good number. Start with those and You will do pretty well. 

Also here's a great blog article on how to better engage Facebook fan page fans. 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-better-engage-facebook-fan-page-fans/#more-1433

And this blog post is for more intensive Twitter users, setting long-term plans for Ministries/Groups that plan on having a larger audience and following. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/8-simply-steps-to-growing-a-quality-twitter-following/#more-1426

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Anti-Social Media

This week I worked the budding "Social Media" angle of a highly-attended conference for pastors in Southern Orange County. And in the midst of my scurried frenzy to simultaneously post sound-bites from the sessions to Twitter and Facebook, get mini-video interviews with attendees for the web, write a blog post, perform some customer service duties with people engaging on Twitter, (you tired yet, cuz I am) and attempt to eat my breakfast between keystrokes - I fell upon some interesting observations. 

During the first day of the conference we doubled our Twitter following by more than 200% and overall more than tripled it by the end of the 4-day event. People were responding to my posts, to my personal responses to their posts, to my responses to their responses - I mean we were all becoming one big happy Twi-family. 

Then I made the colossal miscalculation of asking my Twitter following (or crew) to meet me in person at the conference, during the breaks between sessions. 

Although I myself made some great connections from the experience (five pastors from Italy, two from Tennessee (all new & fast friends)). Over the four days of the conference, we were visited by, I think, 8 people out of the roughly 1,700 in attendance - more than 600 of which were following us all day on Twitter, plus the 1,110 on Facebook. 

Now I know that some of our followers were online and not even physically present at the conference (as per one of my favorite twit pics from a fellow who posted a shot of his laptop in his lap, live-streaming the conference, in the background his feet clad in only socks). However, I also know people saw the posts, as the only time someone did actually make their way over, it was when I promised some Swag on their arrival. 

Which led to my apostrophe, "lightning just struck my brain," (epiphany, for those who didn't get the Hook reference). That although I feel that Social Media is merely a conduit to begin social interactions - ones that should eventually (if possible) be engaged as well, in real time and space - there are many out there who see it as the replacement for such social encounters. 

I see Twitter amplifying the anti-social tendencies of some, while allowing them to feel actually more socially healthy because they are conversing over the web. Of course, these people completely discount the fact that they have near absolute control over when they engage, disengage, respond or pay notice to anyone - the same behavior would not fly in a different setting. 

Could you imagine if our real-time/space conversations were carried on in a similar manner - I just stand there for 20 minutes before responding to a request because I first wanted to answer an email from my boss, and check movie times for when I go out tonight? Yeah right, uh, I think halfway through that wait, the other person in your conversation would have left the room, if they have any dignity, or their own life. 

Yet, people everywhere on Twitter are using this social media thing as a substitution for dealing with people in the here and now, right in front of their faces. I have friends who have virtually cut off all friendships, but are confident that they are socially healthy because of their number of Facebook friends. No joke. As my old editor Carol Chambers says: "You can't make this stuff up."

So I guess if you read this, I'd love to hear your take on the whole thing - what do you think about Media Socializing substituting our real-life relationships?

This is

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ęᄔÿf☼яתּエ@ and I walk the social media beat.

Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Whaaaat!?!?!?

<p>Created by Oatmeal</p>

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Whuffle Envy

According to some random person who posted from somewhere in the world onto Wikipedia: 

Whuffie is the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctorow's science fiction novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. This book describes a post-scarcity economy: All the necessities (and most of the luxuries) of life are free for the taking. A person's current Whuffie is instantly viewable to anyone, as everybody has a brain-implant giving them an interface with the Net.

The term has since morphed into a synonym for social capital, including its use in the title of the Tara Hunt book The Whuffie Factor. 

Basically, what Wiki was trying to say is that Whuffle = your popularity factor. 

If you want to think this concept is still just a think of futuristic sci-fi fantasy, not applicable to today's capitalism, money-grubbing based global marketplace. Wrong! Whuffle is here, now and prevalent in our culture; you've seen it. Look to the left bar on your Facebook profile or better yet, fanpage, and look at that number of friends of fans. How many followers do you have on Twitter?

That's your whuffle. 

Do you not find yourself continually checking that number and rating your "worth" in the Twittersphere by said number? Gosh knows I do. 

Think about it: wanna get a message spread. The more friends/fans, increases the probability of your message getting seen and /or sent exponentially. I want people to know me so that they will spread my messages. I want to be as quick to the punch and as effective as those other people with 5000 +, 10,000 + or more followers. What am I doing wrong? Why is my whuffle so low? I'm suffering from severe Whuffle Envy. I long to gain more friends. I feel follower greed creeping inside of me, and realize that, like my father once said, "you can take money out of the picture, but you will always have currency and with it, always people greedy to make it all theirs." 

and then...

I realize that I'm worrying about a word called Whuffle, and I laugh. Twitter on fair Kelly, at least 118 people are listening somewhere, ooh just went up to 121. My stock's ah-rising. 

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

PASSIVE EXPLOITATION = lame mini trend abuse of wife

I'm writing this to tell you that I will not be discussing Crying Wife, EVER except for this warning: If you've heard about crying wife, don't go there, have some dignity. It's a lame exploit of a person, period.

As the rock pillars say in the underground passages in the Labyrinth: "Don't go, Turn back before it's too late."

Or the worm before them, "Don't go that way, never go that way!"

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

The Spandy-Mom

You know what really chaps my hide? Actually this one makes me giggle a bit, the not-so-in-shape mom wearing super high-tech exercise gear. (I see dozens of them, twice a week during my daily stops for my own addiction fill at the local Bucks.) Those of us who actually exercise, and by this I mean sweat, know that more often than not you wear grubby comfy clothes, like those old loose sweatpants, the tank with holes in it that is just too banged up to where in public otherwise.

It's like taking a busted car in for a paint job. Each Friday I enter the coffee shop to a Music-Man mass of women "Picking and talking" a little, and I have to constrain my laughter, pulling it inside for what I call the Snicker Giggles. (or sniggles).

But, I do fear these women, because one day, biologically I too could become one of them. So if you ever see me at Sports Chalet, with a pair of high-priced Nike spandy-pants stretched out in my hands, Please, Please, Please smack me in the face and remind me that I have multiple old sweat pants at home for the sweating in.

"Spandex: a privilege, not a right." - Matt Lillard 

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Mammoth rock band

Mammoth, first day on the slopes. I love powder!

Posted via web from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.

Traveling to Mammoth by Moonlight...

Time: 8:22 p.m. Thursday, January 28, 2010

Place: Somewhere on the 395 Highway, midway to Mammoth Mountain.

Situation: 214 miles away from our destination and one Nick Jenkins is helping keep me awake as I drive along the immense trek of road to Mammoth.

            The mountains, all the way south along the Sierras, are covered in a white snow that glows the softest palest blue white under a full moon. The moon has lit up the snow enough that we can drive without our headlights on and navigate as if it were daytime. I wish I could’ve taken some picture with my wonderfully adept iPhone. Alas, I was driving – that could not take place.

            And my co-captain, Jenksy, tried his best, yet was unsuccessful in figuring how to disable the flash. So all we got was a bright image the my windshield. No harm, no foul.

Time: Unreasonably late. We’ve arrived safely. Till tomorrow.

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.