Back in the day, Tina Fey aka Liz Lemon aka Sarah Palin was in her element alongside Amy Poehler aka Leslie Knope tearing it up on “SNL” with her weekend updates. The comic duo were sassy, sharp, and never missed a punchline. They represented a new prototype of feminist - they weren’t your mom’s brand of feminist whose extremist tendencies of either too traditional or too workaholic repelled you from the whole notion of “women’s lib.” Poehler & Fey proved that funny, smart, and confident with a hint of vulnerable could work and moreover, women could be successful at this shtick.
So imagine my disappointment this season as I watch Liz Lemon on “30 Rock” pathetically whining, mooning over past loves, and contemplating the concept of settling for the dreamy Michael Sheen over going at it solo. Her cynicism reaching new heights, Lemon’s once empowered femme drole is merely a shred of her former hip lady self. The compelling storyline involving Liz’s desire to adopt a baby (something many single, career-minded women in their late 30s might be able to relate too) which was ongoing for the past few seasons has all but vanished with her character shifting into more of a slapstick sidekick providing occasional comedic relief for the venerable Alec Baldwin. On a side note: Do I really care if Jack chooses Julianne Moore or Elizabeth Banks? Just bring Selma Hayek back! Note to network television: In case you didn’t notice from the ratings success of “Modern Family,” Latina relief is the only thing working on sitcoms these days…
On the other hand, Amy Poehler has managed to transform Leslie Knope, a rather plain yokel and no doubt the anti-Liz Lemon hipster chick into a comedic heroine by steering clear of the “SNL” footfalls of vitriolic NY-bred humor - the type of bagel humor that might have worked with “Seinfeld” 15 years ago but doesn’t do it for the iGeneration. In contrast to Liz Lemon, Leslie is kind and giving to a fault and like Liz, she is not without her ambitions and her desire to win at all costs. The difference is Poehler’s affable delivery - it’s her refreshingly candid demeanor that endears her to us and also at the same time represents a true shift in in what we want our female role models to look like.
Today’s Mary Tyler Moore doesn’t need to wear black, live in the 100- zip code, walk around all day muttering “oy vey” under her breadth, and sip soy lattes while dreaming up the wittiest retorts in preparation for their next rendez-vous. They can date park rangers, go hunting with the boys, and put it all on the line for a friend in need. They don’t need to arm themselves with sarcasm to shield themselves from being vulnerable or self-deprecation as a means to communicate with others for fear of actually conveying any shred of authenticity.
Today’s lady can be geeky, socially responsible, single, self-aware, and sassy. Welcome to the ’10s ladies. It’s a bold new world and you, too, can be cool in this one - even in NBC’s impossibly hip Thursday night line-up.
Everyone’s still talking Tiger Woods - especially in light of his imminent golf comeback at the Masters. Whether it’s our nation’s president laying to rest speculation of Tiger being the greatest golf player ever (seriously?) or marketing mogul Donny Deutsch going head-to-head with MSNBC’s resident “Gossip” gal Courtney Hazlett and “Today” show commentator Natalie Morales yesterday on subject of Tiger’s harried ethos, opinions are rampant and far too dime-a-dozen when it comes to whether Tiger’s infidelities will do any long-term damage to his career.
But let’s not forget that before he was every sponsor’s wet dream, Tiger was a golf prodigy and had talent to back his brand. This talent will carry him much further than the threat of illegitimate children, genital herpes, or perhaps a worse fate than all of these - the prospect of ending up on an episode of Dr. Drew’s “Sober House.”
In short, while not infallible and undoubtedly smarmy, the guy isn’t ruined, nor should he be condemned to the court of Oprah or any of the other celeb naysayers that try to back him into a sex rehab corner only to resurrect him from the grave of shame at some pre-ordained showstopping date to drive ratings through the roof.
The bulk of your personal brand is measured by how you interact with the people that come into your life on a daily basis - more so than how credible you are. If Tiger can abide by this and go on doing his humble, modest dude thing given enough time has passed and sufficient public statements of apology go by, his transgressions will all but be forgotten. This latter is merely a by-product of the short-term memory pandemic our nations falls prey to on an hourly basis.
So in the end whether Elin takes him back into her arms, sponsors will embrace this humbled Tiger because his golf game will walk the walk. And the rest of us continue to talk talk.
Newly engaged to up-and-coming media mogul and NY Observer owner, Jared Kushner, once one of NYC’s most eligible bachelors, Ivanka Trump must be feeling pretty good these days; that is when she’s not learning how to atone properly for her sins and feel the appropriate amount of guilt for every small action taken (Can you teach that?).
In all seriousness, the vivacious Ms. Trump - no country bumpkin herself - is prepared to going Jewish for love. It wouldn’t be the first time. The big D, otherwise known as Ivanka’s pop or the man of the orange coif, is publicaly thrilled by the news. Who wouldn’t be?
Donald Trump’s thoughts, according to Us Weekly: “I’m very happy about it. They make a magnificent couple.”
True to her generation’s exhibitionist tendencies (which can often manifest themselves in the form of a tweet), Ivanka shared news of her impending nuptials on Twitter first. Be sure to check out the July 16th entry.
As I drift off to the kitchen to tend to dinner, I wonder if all the $$ in the world can teach Ivanka how to cook a simple Jewish meal or as my friend, Hedy, would say, “That’s what all the maids are for.” She does have a point. It’s not like being Jewish is ALL about the food, after all.
Seems like Microsoft did all the right things: A catchy name without any known meaning, an interesting design, Google like appearance, quick response time, and of course, spent lots of dough on PR.
But people are used to using Google, we’ve been living by it for so long. It’s like going to a different supermarket then the one you’re used to, you can’t find anything.
So should Google be concerned?Sure, don’t forget who invented the wheel(Or in this case the window,) but I don’t think they should panic, Google owns the Internet, and it will be a while before we’ll know if Bing can really challenge the landlord.
Loved the TV commercial though (couldn’t find a link to the video on Google…)
Dow Jones gained nearly 480 points after last week’s devastating losses, doesn’t mean that this story is not still relevant. So listen up big Wall Street bosses, Wall Street wise asses, and all other jerks, it goes like this: “Once upon a time, in a village in India, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10. The villagers, seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts. The man then announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it! The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: ‘ Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50. The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man or his assistant again; only monkeys every where!
And the Barack shows up- A real Rock Star… A surprise behind curtain number 2! WHAT A SHOW… What a circus…
A very sad joke. Joe Biden practiced the first rule in advertising, and made more too-good-to-be-true promises the enthusiastic crowd of blind believers at the DNC.
The entire world will be amazed by the beauty of China, and exited with the beginning of the Olympics. I won’t. Not that I don’t like sports, nor was I born yesterday to this cynical-material world, but every day we discover more and more about how the Chinese government managed to pull this production on the backs of it’s poor people, the less I’m inclined to actually watch the games. NBC, who paid $894 million for the US broadcast rights, will show the Olympics no meter what. Here and there, we’ll see an item on the news that gently criticize the Chinese actions, but it disappears between Matt Lauer reporting for the Today Show, and Billy Bush getting a foot massage for $25 in Beijing.
Money talks, as the Chinese and we know, so what are a few million people whose homes were demolished in favor of a shiny stadium? Or a few millions more who are left to starve because they are not allowed to water their rice fields, comparing to Coca-Cola TV commercial?
So, I’m not so exited about the games. Maybe I’ll watch it a little bit, but no more than that.
That’s right folks. Actor Gary Busey, whose last decent film happened sometime way back in the early 80s, and whose most recent credits include drunken rampages on the set of Inside Edition, has his very own series of video shorts (courtesy of GotVMail which must subscribe to the take the most random celebrity-of-the-day and create a series of promos around it aka School of Geico car insurance advertising)
GotVMail heeds us, almost daringly, to “Go inside the entrepreneurial mind of Gary Busey,” but the ramblings of Busey’s inner most thoughts as witnessed on many of these videos feel more like the output/regurgitation of a 5-year-old suffering from ADHD trying to tell mommy and daddy exactly what he/she did in school that day in between back-to-back episodes of iCarly.
Case in point:
Gary Busey has a hobby. He likes to create “Busey-isms.” Here’s two examples of a Busey-ism. Now=No Other Way, Team=Together Everyone Achieves More. You too can craft your own vernacular, according to GB. Just take your last name and make it an “ism.” Extra credit to those who last name starts with “Cynic,” “Bullshit.” By the way I think I just created my very first Busey-ism. Is WTF already taken?
Remember the 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why)? Gary Busey wants you to think outside the box and turn your favorite interrogatives into…Interrogatives? No, we’re not kidding. This particular video had to be the brainchild of at least 4 hours of direct inhalation. Pott-o-meter says: 8. In case you missed it, POTT=Potentially Over The Top
Never ask your family for money because you have to pay them back. Just lean on the bank or get Wesley Snipes’ accountant. If all else fails, hit the kids up from the lemonade stand. You know the ones who’ve been standing in sweltering heat all day just to make a .10 profit?
Busey does a phat WC Fields’ impression and coincidentally doesn’t like lame I’m too sick to go to school/work excuses especially ones that start with, “I got salmonella thrown right square in the face.”
While Busey is no business brainiac, his Yogi Berra, dumbed-down approach to business might be an asset to GotVMail’s marketing strategy in terms of visibiiity of their brand in the marketplace. However with soaring rates for plans starting at $10/mo for 50 minutes of VOIP, GotVMail will need more than Busey’s bravado and clever topspin to remain competitive with companies like AOL and Cisco.
Akin to Quizno’s infamous gerbil fiasco commercial ploy a few years ago, whether you’re aligning your company brand with gerbils or rats, either way, you’re bound to build buzz, but that only lasts for so long before you’re consumers start to look elsewhere.
Amy Winehouse is going to model in London Fashion Week in September. Designer Julien MacDonald wants to sign her because of her ” great style” and because ” She’s unique.”
Therefore, I ask again:
3 Years ago, Skype was the hottest thing in town. Then the bidding started, and when it comes to bidding no one knows how to do it better then eBay, who, with plenty of woo ha, paid a modest sum of $2.6 billion for their new toy. But, a while later, eBay, who also own PayPal, realized, that its harder to integrate the technology into its auction business then they first thought, Skype has become the hot potato that no one wants, even the appointing of Josh Silverman as the new CEO in February did not seem to help, and now eBay is considering selling the VoIP provider. Skype is quite good actually, it allows free PC calling, and saved me a lot of money when I used it to call computers internationally.
I recently discovered a new site, Linkory.com which allows you to connect with others through memories and shared experiences. It’s Web 2.0 facade aside, Linkory is more than just another one of those community sites geared to make people feel less lonely. Through surfacing stories of childhood and memorable events, users get to evoke their experiences and make them come alive again using media such as text, photo, and video. Even cooler, you can “send” any of the memories (video, photos, etc) you find on Linkory to Facebook buddies. Like most sites out there these days, you don’t have to pay to use the service which is always a nice bonus feature.
What I enjoyed most scrolling through some of these memory threads is realizing how much history I’d neglected or forgotten. I could scarcely remember Elian Gonzalez and yet the little boy preoccupied so many of our lives for months in 2000. Taking a stroll through Linkory is like cuddling up with a cozy warm book you’ve read at least twice, but whose in company you will undoubtedly always find an old friend.
I want to know.
I want to know if George Clooney’s ass has some sort of a mythical flavor to it. Because, otherwise, I can’t understand why everyone who is someone in showbiz, have their tongue stuck in there for so long.
We all know Hans Christian Andersen’s tale about The Emperor’s New Clothes, and how the crowd realize the emperor is actually naked only after a small child cries out, “But he has nothing on!” Hollywood and the entire entertainment industry is exactly like that Emperor. They wear George Clooney because they were told that it is the most beautiful cloth, and only those who are smart enough can see it. They even compare him to Cary Grant…. But in the end, you know what; someone, maybe a child, or someone else in the crowd will figure it out and will cry: “But they have nothing on!”
No offense Clooney I really don’t hate you, it’s just thet much ado about nothing around you I dislike.
Have a nice weekend.
So, she finally made it, she shook the tree, and got her $48.6M from Sir Paul. “I’m so, so happy with this,” Heather Mills told the many reporters following the closed hearing. “I’m so glad it’s over, It was an incredible result in the end to secure mine and my daughter’s future and that of all the charities that I obviously plan on helping and making a difference with — because you know it has been my life for 20 years” she said. Oh…..so noble…. What she forgot to mention, was that she was offered this amount from McCartney in the past, but the greedy dancer wannabe refused to settle, and sought almost $250 million.
I just hope that we can now have a break from Heather Mills’ circus, and concentrate on what’s really important… American Idol…..
Now it’s official, msnbc reports tonight, that the The Writers Guild of America voted to end it’s three+ months strike and go back to work. The writers will start on Wednesday. As a result of this development, the Academy Awards will take place as planned, on February 24 without any pickets or boycotts in sight.
It all sums up to one simple question: When was the last time you actually got a good customer service? And if your answer starts with something like: I do remember getting a good service…. you just prove my point. We are so surprised when we call to ask something and get a courteous and knowledgeable response that we remember when it happened. We all know how it works. You walk into a shiny store, or go to a fancy website, find what you want and buy it. But it’s not so fancy anymore when you need something from the dark side of the moon: the call center. And it is literally the dark side of the moon because all call centers were outsourced a long time ago to India, The Philippines and other countries that are about 10 hours ahead of us. In the dark side, a simple question turns to a Via Dolorosa of repeating your private information and random answers that are being scripted to the poor representative who can barely speak the language, but will tell you a thousand times in perfect English that he or she understand you, and that a supervisor will give you the same answer. I admit, I snap. I rise my voice and won’t let go until I get what I want, but I know its not worth the effort. And this brings me to my next question: How much more are you willing to pay for a good, local based customer service? 10% more? Maybe 20%? I know I will, maybe…
It seems like the beginning of this year belongs to Apple. The impact is being made not by the sounds and sights of smiling presidential candidates, making empty promises of a change to a brain washed crowd, but the new ultra thin MacBook Air, the iPhone and iTunes upgrades, the Time Capsule wireless hard drive, and basically, everything Steve Jobs. The magazine Fast Company, dedicated its latest issue to Apple, and had a computerized Steve Jobs portrait. Also, everybody talks about MacWorld Expo. So if there is one man that will bring a change, it’s not going to be McCain, Obama, Clinton, or God forbid racist Romney, it will be an iChange, and Steve Jobs will iBring it.
Ilana Donna’s new video is sure to give some amount of thought to the validity of psychic networks, but really how much of your future do you want dictated to you? In short, is there any consolation to be found in knowing your fate or is there something to be said about a the element of the unknown when it comes to romantic entanglements?
A few days ago I wrote here about my horrible experience with Buy.com. I just thought I should report what happened after I wrote that post in this short follow up post.
First, a quick reminder. I bought something from this site, and never got it, after contacting UPS, I found out it was sent to the wrong address. Buy.com would not refund me for the item, and was giving me the same answer all the time, saying that it was shipped and somehow it’s my fault I didn’t get it.
Lucky for me, there is one company that does stand behind what they say, and this company is PayPal. After exhausting my efforts with Buy.com, I remembered that I paid for the item using my PayPal account. So, I logged into my PayPal account, and filed a claim against this headless stupid company- Buy.com and guess what?
Not 3 days have past, Including a Holiday weekend (!) and I got my money back. So tell me this, Mr. /Ms. Buy.com hotshot, was replying my 3 emails, talking to me for about an hour over the phone (Buy.com customer service phone number: 1-800-800-0800, a number you do not advertise on your site), getting all the bad publicity, and having to deal with a PayPal claim worth the money you had to refund me? After all we are talking about less then $10…
I know that we don’t normally write about consumer issues in this blog. But I am so angry at this lousy web site, that I’ve decided to write my story.
I placed an order with Buy.com, it was a 3 user any- virus software for a very low price, when some time had passed and I still didn’t get the package, I tracked it on the UPS website and was surprised to find that it was already shipped. then I tried to contact Buy.com customer service, and I hate to say it, but sometimes you get what you pay for…The worst customer service ever. Shipped to the wrong address (I spoke to UPS and confirmed it) and then denied my claim saying that it was shipped to the right address. They don’t advertise their phone no. online, and when I finally managed to get a No. I waited over 30 minutes only to speak to someone who couldn’t give me any information regarding their claim department. She couldn’t even transfer me to the supervisor, because “She is too busy…”
So please be careful next time you want to buy from this site, they will take your money alright, but then you are all alone.
Everyone’s still talking Tiger Woods - especially in light of his imminent golf comeback at the Masters. Whether it’s our 
Newly engaged
Seems like Microsoft did all the right things: A 
The entire world will be amazed by the beauty of China, and exited with the beginning of the Olympics. I won’t. Not that I don’t like sports, nor was I born yesterday to this cynical-material world, but every day we discover more and more about how the Chinese government managed to pull this production on the backs of it’s poor people, the less I’m inclined to actually watch the games. NBC, who paid $894 million for the US broadcast rights, will show the Olympics no meter what. Here and there, we’ll see an item on the news that gently criticize the Chinese actions, but it disappears between Matt Lauer reporting for the Today Show, and Billy Bush getting a foot massage for $25 in Beijing.
That’s right folks. Actor Gary Busey, whose 
I want to know.
a good service…. you just prove my point. We are so surprised when we call to ask something and get a courteous and knowledgeable response that we remember when it happened. We all know how it works. You walk into a shiny store, or go to a fancy website, find what you want and buy it. But it’s not so fancy anymore when you need something from the 
It seems like the beginning of this year belongs to Apple. The impact is being made not by the sounds and sights of smiling presidential candidates, making empty promises of a change to a brain washed crowd, but the new ultra thin MacBook Air, the iPhone and iTunes upgrades, the Time Capsule wireless hard drive, and basically, everything Steve Jobs. The magazine 
A few days ago I wrote here about my horrible experience with Buy.com. I just thought I should report what happened after I wrote that post in this short follow up post.
I know that we don’t normally write about consumer issues in this blog. But I am so angry at this lousy web site, that I’ve decided to write my story.