CheapThrills

Try on my hair (not for the faint of heart)

At work, the Pontiac team just launched this wacky Cheer-A-Matron site as part of their NCAA Game Changing Performance Pick and Roll promotion. On the site, you can upload your headshot, stick it on an actual cheerleader’s body, and cheer it out to handcrafted 2-4-6-8s.  There are 4 cheers to choose from, as well as a silly assortment of hair options. They did a great job – the site is beautiful and goofy and exploratory, all in one. Exactly as it should be.

While working on the project, the team realized they only had all these super White hairstyles to choose from. So they asked if they could use my curly Q’s, and of course I said yes. Gotta represent, you know. I also supplied my voice for one of the cheers (can you guess which one?).

Anyway, have fun! And if you’re feeling brave, send me your cheer and I’ll add a screenshot to this post.

Horray!

CultureJunkie gets down

Jo rocks out

237 crazy bloggers write a book. The Age of Conversation II now available for sale!

Last week brought a whirlwind of emotions on me, so I’m a bit behind the times on this announcement  (sorry fellow authors!!!): The Age Of Conversation II—Why Don’t They Get It launched last week and is now for sale via Lulu.com. Excite!

I participated in this little blogger experiment last year… 104 bloggers wrote 400-word chapters, which all came together to be part of an e-book called The Age of Conversation. At the time, I had only met 2 of the 104 authors. Now—thanks to my company, Blogger Social and its superstar organizer CK, editors Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan, and this funny thing called the World Wide Web—I think I’ve met around 60. But this year my task might be harder, because the project has become much, much bigger.

237 authors bigger.

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G. Kofi Annan, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw and James G. Lindberg, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem, G. Kofi Annan, James G. Lindeberg

A few months ago I created a page of enticing short chapter excerpts supplied by several of my co-authors. Feel free to check 'em out here. And this is mine:

Sure, some people disagree with my views. Some commenters call me a moron. A loser. LAME. But so what? It’s hard to get a good game going without engaging your Queen.

These blurbs are just teasers though. For the real deal you really gotta buy the book. All proceeds go to Variety, the Children’s Charity.

And a special shout-out to my Digitas co-worker Lori Magno, C.B. Whittemore and Cam Beck - for their general AOC-buzz-generating awesomeness.

I'm a Lemondrop blogger

I’ve been blogging over at Lemondrop, the new lady-focused blog hosted by AOL. More silly than snarky, Lemondrop hit the Internets two weeks ago to much fanfare. I’m psyched to be a part of it.

I cover the Weird News beat on Mondays and Fridays, and also have some features in queue. The first one was posted yesterday, in honor of Wednesday’s America’s Next Top Model makeover episode.

Definitely check out Lemondrop if you’re itching for a lighter, goofier side of Ryan. Because, though I know I can get mad serious up in here, my all-time favorite workout is laughing. Great for the abs.

Here's a run-down of my posts to date. Lemme know what ya think!

Mad Men again... AMC's online casting contest produces gems

The You Could Be On Mad Men Contest: make the best 1-minute video and get flown out to L.A. for a walk-on role in a future episode of the show. Great use of user-generated video.

But also, some of these entries are freaking crazy! It's like, either the actors takes themselves way too seriously (umm, what's up with all the camera cuts here?), or they just kinda suck,

OR they make a mockery of the whole thing. Like this one (clip below), by Victor Fischbarg. He only has 2 votes so far, so he probably won't get very far. But dude. Come on. The hand? That's awesome. You'll win my eternal admiration if you can find a more craptacular character rendition.

The All-New Pontiac.com – I know I never write about work...

Update: The site has been taken down for a bit... so I guess we can just call these screengrabs "exclusive spy shots" (b/c I'm so damn important)

...but what can I say, the new Pontiac.com gets me giddy. The redesigned, rewritten, re-everythinged site launched today after months and months of work by a tireless and tenacious team of some of the brightest people I know.

The new site boasts a ton of fresh dynamic features - my favorites being 1) the ability to save information that's of particular interest to you (favorite vehicles, nearby dealerships, etc) and 2) the myriad ways users can narrow down their vehicle searches.

Customers can even search by the monthly rate they’d like to pay, which is probs the tool I’d find most helpful. Oh, and also, users engage in all this so-called “narrowing down” by sliding a fun little do-dad (see photo above). The whole process is very quick, clean and intuitive.

But from the copywriter on the account’s perspective, I think the coolest thing about the new site is its enhanced visuals and voice (haha, of course I’d say that). Say what you want about Pontiac, the brand's got identity. It’s got presence. And I think that the peeps at Pontiac should be commended for their willingness and enthusiasm to push that voice to its farthest limits (which, in turn, not only made my job easier, but also infinitely more exciting).

First, the animation and copy on the home page is true-to-form Pontiac: bold and in-your-face.

Second, the flash animation and Pontiac-y highlight tiles on each vehicle’s Model Overview page (here's the '09 Vibe for an example) really work to envelope the user in that “rockin’ out” Pontiac voice.

And finally, no question the new Pontiac.com voice's pièce de résistance is the Experience Pontiac section, which houses all content related to Pontiac culture (music, sports, photos, history, original video content, promotions, etc). This section of the site really uses language, visuals, and supporting content to bring Pontiac's brand identity to the next level.

So there’s a little scoop on the new Pontiac.com from (one of) its copywriters. In my opinion, the new site is more Pontiac than Pontiac... what does that mean? Is it a good or bad thing? Well - that's up to you.

Celebrating Black History Month: Pippi Longstocking braids in all their glory

Yesterday, in honor of Black History Month, Jezebel posted this great piece showcasing retro Black hairstyle photos submitted by their readers. Clicking through these pictures of little girls adorned with barrettes and beads galore really brought me back to the days of 15-hour blowdrying and hair-braiding sessions. Oh, how I dreaded those Saturdays. My mom and I would watch Baywatch or I’d play rented Nintendo games as she systematically parted, blow-dryed, hot-combed and rebraided my frighteningly think hair. In fact, the whole ordeal was so remarkably unforgettable that I recounted it in one of my college application essays.

Judging from these photos, it looks like my hair story is not unique. Also looks like a lot of moms, just like mine, spent countless hours making their babies look beautiful. So it all worked out in the end.

Can you guess which photo is mine? The hint’s in the title of this post.

Some inspirational blog posts, through the eyes of an ad girl

I’m a copywriter at an ad agency here in Boston. For me, it’s always great when my words come together with kick-ass art direction to create a memorable piece of work. But it’s always hard to develop something that’s totally unique and badass, something that says everything I want it to. There are just many hurdles and loops and reviews to jump through. I’m sure this is the case with any job, really, when you’re working for a large company. I’m not bitter or anything—it’s totally understandable.

But it’s why blogging is so great. Because when it comes right down to it, bloggers can pretty much get away with anything they want. I read so many blogs, and what I love most is when a post title brings out something crazy in the paired image, or vise versa. It’s the marriage of copywriting and art direction at its raw and unadulterated best.

Here are a few examples that have had me cracking up for days.

 From Jezebel about a month ago.

She just seems so proud of her footwork.  

From HuffPo about a week ago.   

Down with hot coals! 

 From HuffPo, the same day.

Hello, Nosferatu.  

From CNN's Political Ticker 

And finally, there's this one. Seriously, whoever took this photo is a genius and a visionary.  

Eons.com, social networking for the over 50 - or "Flip Side" - crowd, as described by founder Jeff Taylor

Jeff Taylor discusses his new venture, Eons.com, at MITX's 1/24/08 event Social Media: the Opportunities and Implications for Marketers (click here for a recap of the entire event).

Definitely stole the show for me!

 

Find more videos like this on MITX Exchange

P.S. I took this video with my Pure Digital Flip. Oh little Flip, how I love thee :)

Something haute for the holidays

I always wondered how my broke friends could afford designer clothes. Now I know.

HauteLook made a big splash a couple weeks ago, and now the sales are in full holiday swing. Self-described as an on-line fashion club, HauteLook offers us regular folk access to those elusive sample sales that have forever taunted us and our in-the-know inferiority. Adding to the "must have" appeal, sales only last 48-72 hours (yes, we simply must describe the sale duration in hours). And membership is… well, it’s free.

Other neat things about the site:
- Most sales feature up-and-coming designers. Everyone loves fresh garment concepts (I love you Project Runway speak).
- Fashion show videos let you experience the brand on the runway.
- If you sponsor a friend’s membership, you can receive credit towards your purchases. I put a lot of thought into the five friends I chose to sponsor, and decided on the most fashion-forward bloggers I know:

• Lori (keeps a blog for stylish living and fashions her own jewelry)
• Megan (co-authors A Girl Must Shop... need I say more)
• Kate (her blog, TheDish, is the source for Boston happenings)
• AfroBella (glam guide for ethnic excellence)
• Steph (CultureJunkie’s style never ceases to impress)

Hopefully they’ll get some use out of the site.

The Rock and Republic sale began today at 5am and ends tomorrow, December 19th, at 11pm. I think I’m going to make my first HauteLook purchase on the jeans pictured… I’m loving that Deconstruction Blue.

My celebrity look-alikes include David Beckham and Mother Teresa

Oh Christ. There are no words.

A smiley Ryan photo still yields strange results. Like... Anne Hathaway? Random!

And for my final trick, I will morph into Jessica Alba!

PETA’s Trollsen Twins site: Almost makes me want to run out and buy a chinchilla scarf

Whoa! Way over the top!

Let me just say that I’m not a fur-wearer. The whole skinning process makes me pretty sick. But PETA needs to get a grip. It’s one thing to throw bloody furs on Anna Wintour’s lunch table. She’s an avid supporter of fur, and has been for decades. It’s quite another to launch an all-out offensive and character attack on two 18-year old girls. This site is terrifying, and not in the way PETA intended it to be.

I watched the whole Full House of Horrors spoof that I imagine PETA thought would be highly effective. Here are my reactions:

• “Hairy Kate” “Trashy Trollsen” super is over video of a little 2-year old actress.
• FutureMan is verbally abusing that little 2-year-old actress!
• You advised the Tanner family to evict the 2-year old actress. She has to pack and leave, all alone. The dog even hates her. I feel sooooo bad for her. My eyes well up.
• You called a 2-year old a “trashy fur hag." That brings me back and makes me laugh a little, actually.
  
• You poked fun at anorexia: “[It’s not just that the twins] are a pair of fashion causalities who hide their shrunken bodies in entire families of dead animals…” ehhh—I just don’t see how fur and anorexia have anything to do with each other. Please explain.

I think the most horrific thing about this video is that the laugh track plays incessantly while FutureMan is showing animal cruelty charts. Is that a mistake? Is it supposed to be funny? 

Final takeaway:
Wow, the Olsen twins look pretty awesome in those fur coat photos! Thanks for the memories, PETA.

WebInno 15: Take a vacation, drink some cool lemonade

In 2005, I worked on a marvelous web-based nightlife start-up called BarFrog.com—a company that introduced me to many new people, places, and experiences, including Web Innovators Group (WebInno) events. The first one that I attended took place in a smallish conference room and about 40 people showed up. Seemed like a good turnout to me. But now, a year and a half later, WebInno packs large ballrooms. At least 150 people came to last night’s event, including a few friends of mine (Stephanie and Jon, who also happen to be tremendously fun Boston-based bloggers).

The three main dishes: iiProperty, Lemonade, FlipKey. I was very impressed with Lemonade and FlipKey. Though iiProperty seemed like a great idea—a tool for landlords to track their properties—the site is way too busy. It’s utterly confusing. But maybe that’s just because I’m not a landlord? Landlords, please test this out and report back.

FlipKey: If you love searching for vacation rentals, then FlipKey is the site for you! Users can post and search for rentals, as well as rate and comments on rentals they have visited. Though I haven’t had a chance to play with the site (it doesn’t officially launch until December), I imagine that the rentals with the highest ratings float to the top of the listings. The element of credibility is key here (hehe, FlipKey, key… I’m a nerd). Though many people search and utilize the Craigslist vacation rental listings, there is no way to assess credibility. I’ve had positive experiences with the Craigslist service, but I’ve heard that many of the postings are scams.  FlipKey’s comment and rating components will definitely weed out the con artists. I’m excited for the launch!

Lemonade: Create a virtual lemonade stand and sell your favorite stuff! Embed your lemonade stand widget on your blog (though it’s not set up for Typepad yet, booo)! But it works on Facebook (yayayay)!  And then make money!

Looks like the best way to utilize Lemonade is to create several stands based on specific categories. That way, people perusing your stand won’t get confused and/or bored looking through all the random knick-knacks that you think are cool. I made one for movies. Here’s my lemonade stand and description:

I have this strange quirk: I ALWAYS rummage through the 50% off DVD bin at any movie store. Because I do it so often, I'm good at spotting good deals on great movies. Here are my picks! Enjoy.

I posted the best deals I could find (The Cell for $4.99?! Amazing!). You can scan my stand here, on my Facebook profile, or on the Lemonade site. Then go ahead and buy some movies so I can make money and find an awesome vacation rental on FlipKey... ahh, the fruits of the virtual world!

What? Biggie Smalls was from Boston?

Fox Searchlight's Biggie biopic is set to cast an unknown as Notorious himself (though some knowns, like Beanie Sigel, tried out for the part!). They even got Biggie’s momma, Voletta Wallace, on board. I guess it would have been disrespectful not to.

…And it all started with an online casting call, complete with uploaded audition scenes and all. Some of them are crazy.

Three things go through my mind at this point:

1. Online casting calls = HUGE. We will see more of this, mark my words.
2. Can anyone really fill his shoes? This film could be one huge disaster!
3. A guy from Boston was the first to arrive?! That’s utterly surprising considering Boston is the whitest  white town in the whole wide world (which isn’t a bad thing… just…. umm, well, a different thing). I half expected Biggie from Boston to be a huge fedora-wearing Irish guy. But then I saw  his photo (pictured). Anyway, go 'head Mr. Kenny Williams! Make Boston and B.I.G. proud!

Check the NY Times article.

A Man's Man? How about a Butt's Toilet?

I heard about the Washlet Clean is Happy campaign a few months ago when New York City would not allow the Happy Bottoms to grace Times Square’s billboard scene. But I didn’t realize how deep this campaign really ran… until two days ago when a colleague brought their site to my attention.

And now, well, I can’t stop thinking about the Washlet. I can’t stop thinking about the five people whose butt curves are now imprinted in my memory. Five new butts, five new happy butts… it doesn’t get any better than that.

Or does it? Visiting the Washlet site for the first time made me so overcome by – let’s say, nouns – that I didn’t have a chance to pick out all of the wonderful things that would make the Washlet such an integral part of my life. But on second, third, and fourth viewing, I really nailed down the golden points. So for a second, let’s do go through a few of them.

• First off, this site promotes interracial relationships. During the technology guy’s intro speech, notice how the older gentleman’s eyes creep over to the Black lady. It’s so obvious that he likes her.
• It’s a toilet seat that’s got more in common with my laptop computer than any other toilet seat I’ve ever encountered (and that says a lot, because I sure encountered many a toilet seat). So that must mean that my laptop is just as similar to a toilet seat—which is really great news for laptop owners when there’s no bathroom in sight.
• It uses technology (much like science in this movie trailer). Technology like “nifty technology,” “remarkable technology,” and “technological wizardry.”
• The toilet seat turns bad air into good air. Eem… I don’t know what that means, but it sounds like a good idea.
• It involves a cleansing wand made of advanced antimicrobial plastic. I think I had one of these in my dress-up bin as a little girl, actually. So I’m familiar with this concept.
• Best of all, you can try the seat at a variety of bathroom supply dealerships. Even BETTER news if it’s an emergency and the store is closer than home.

Please - oh you simply must! – visit the site. Take extra time with Technology, Washlet 101, and Happiness tabs (all playing from the same site: www.washlet.com).

So socialist! Doodle it up and leave the decision to the group

While planning the Boston Age of Conversation meet-up, fellow blogger Scott Monty introduced me to a handy little site called Doodle. The idea is simple, which is perhaps why it’s so smart.

Doodle is an event-scheduling or choice-making tool for larger groups (or for opinionated individuals with things to do and people to see). I've only used the site for events, so I'll go through my experience.

To create an event, Doodle prompts you through 3 quick steps:

1. Provide a title/brief description, as well as your name and e-mail
2. Select however many dates you’d like to suggest for the event to take place
3. Add up to 5 time/location options for each date

After you've created an event, type in your name and check off each date/time/location that works for you. As the creator, you should be free for all the dates and times you suggested ;)

Doodle will email you a unique link to your event. E-mail this out to all of the people you’d like to invite. They can then enter their name and select all the options that they’d prefer. You get an email every time someone has participated.

Once you see a long column of green check marks under a specific date/time option, you know you’ve got a winner!

Easy! But of course, I have a couple suggestions for the Doodle:

• It’s kind of a pain to e-mail a link from a different site (Gmail, for me). Would be better if you could just send an invite to everyone you’d like to participate through Doodle. That way, Doodle would know the email addresses of everyone on the list and send out updates if the creator has edited the event. As is it now, you have to e-mail the invitees if you’ve added new information to the event.
• I’d like a field for time options and another for location options. Now, you have to cram both in one field, and that looks kinda shoddy.
• The “comment” link should be more prominent, or perhaps even underneath the date/time option. I’d never know where to find the comments, and they are usually important!
• Give participants the option of providing their contact info for the group. That way when you’re actually going to the event, you can just print out the Doodle Event page and have everyone’s cell number (in case you get lost and can’t find any of your friends and don’t have a book safety net… you know how that goes).

All-in-all, I think voting on logistics is a great idea. Doodle has really helped me cut down on those ridiculously long email chains that never seem to get anywhere. Check out the service and let me know what you think!