From Turning Pages to Scrolling Bars

I have known that blogs exist for a while, but I really didn’t know much about them. The other day I came across a book that looked pretty interesting. Blogging by Jill Walker Rettberg is a fairly short book about the title subject. It doesn’t have any pictures or distractions, though; it’s all reading. Rettberg outlines what a blog is, how it has evolved, the different ways blogs are used (advertising, storytelling, peoples’ versions of online newspaper articles), and its connection to social media. This book isn’t a how to about creating your own blog; it actually talks about the subject in detail. Which, is a change as we all know, considering most information on the topic is geared toward the do-it-yourself crowd. That’s why it stood out to me. I can actually get something from it.

It's a Marketing Revolution

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how much television advertising has been hit by social media. I happened to be messing around on the internet and came across an interesting article. “Retailers Go Nuts for Social Media in Holiday Marketing” by Natalie Zmuda and Kunur Patel makes some unsurprising points. The article touches on the idea that stores are using social media marketing, especially around the holidays, now more than ever. In it, the authors break down five companies that are using these new ways of advertising the right way and five that need work. Best Buy, for example, has a strong application presence on Facebook and keeps up with its various Twitter accounts. Walmart, Toys R Us, JC Penney, and eBay also keep track of things via the major social networking sites. Some of the stores lacking in this department are Abercrombie & Fitch, which has a surprising low involvement in the new media world, even though it is targeted at the younger generations. Kohl’s has made an effort to increase its social media marketing, but not with giants like Facebook and Twitter. Target and Old Navy can be found in the same boat as the previous two and is joined, surprisingly, by Amazon. What this group has in common is its need to make some definite improvements.

It’s both surprising and not so much so that businesses are embracing social media as way to advertise. But, if all of these companies, and more, are increasing money spent on online campaigns, then where does that leave television?

The Hot Button Issue Isn't So Hot Button Anymore

It’s an undisputed fact that there are a million hot button issues in the world today. In the past, these topics were avoided or discussed in hushed voices. Things like teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol problems, and how children were raised, were not talked about in the open. If you brought them up people gave you disgusted looks. Showing them on television was unheard of and, simply, not done.

Now, that isn’t the case anymore. If a topic had a chance of being controversial, it was taken head on and brought out into the light. You can bet that it, if it’s an issue happening currently, it will show up on TV, one way or another. Today, thanks to shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Celebrity Rehab, Teen Mom, and True Life, hot button issues are being brought into the main stream in full force. These never openly discussed topics are not being held back any longer. The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which is based on the life of Amy Juergens as she faces the struggles of becoming a mother her freshman year of high school, may be based on a fictional storyline designed to maximize drama and ratings. But, Teen Mom brings the real-life trials that face teen moms. The show, in classic MTV fashion, brings out the up and downs these young families face. These girls aren’t being talked about in hushed tones like they may have been in the past. Now, thanks to these shows, the issue is being heard loud and clear.

There are even programs based on every other hop button topic you could come up with. Celebrity Rehab follows drug and alcohol addicts as they progress through treatment programs. Previously, rehab was mentioned in a tone associated with disappointment and disrespect. It seemed to be viewed as the ultimate mess up. Now, with the help of the show, views have been changed and people who seek help are looked at in a more respectful light.

And, what hasn’t the show, True Life, covered. If it was something controversial that a teen had face, the cameras were there to tell the story. Every thing from drug problems, to family issues, to coming out, to being bullied has been fair game. Let’s face it, what was once a hot button issue is now main stream media. It may still be very controversial, but thanks to television, it’s now being talked about like never before. The lines of communication have been opened and there’s no shutting them down.

Fact or Fiction?

We’ve all watched a television show or movie and didn’t believe a bit of what we were seeing. Well, it’s not hard to guess the ideas writers come up with is less the realistic, so to speak. For the most part, storylines are created to amuse the general public, or at least in my opinion anyway. There are several shows that have topics that we have no actual background knowledge about the ideas being featured. You know which ones I’m talking about; the ones that are based on medicine, science, law and various other topics. They are the types of shows that, from the opening dialogue, are over our heads. There is no way, without some extensive research, that we would know if the topics covered were real or not. Well, one show I came across has made that issue a little bit easier to resolve.

Grey’s Anatomy is no stranger to odd and over the top diseases or medical situations that the general public doesn’t have much experience with. Thanks to a section of the Grey’s Anatomy page on abc.go.com, it’s very simple to find out whether or not what you’re watching is real or, at the very least, possible. The Case File breaks down exactly what’s going.

It turns out that a lot research has gone into making sure the medical issues presented on the show are possible. The information on the website is even written by the head of research for the show.

For example, when Thatcher Grey needs a kidney transplant, Meredith steps up to help. Now, I certainly don’t doubt that this is possible, but little did I know there is a lot more to the story than the transplant. Well, the site breaks down the various aspects of a partial kidney transplant, gives you some information on finding out if you are a match for someone, and several other issues.

This is example isn’t the exception. The writer, Meg Marinis, does this for every episode and medical issue. It’s really impressive to know that what I’m watching could actually happen. So, next time you’re watching your favorite TV shows, question what you’re seeing and maybe even do a little research into what’s going on in the story. If you’re lucky, the show will help to explain it for you. This is just another example of television opening up the lines to expand what we know.

A Frozen Spin on Target Practice

I flipped on the TV at one point over the weekend to take part in some channeling surfing. As usual, there wasn’t much on that seemed to hold my attention. So, I decided to see what Olympic events were happening at that point in time. As I searched the channels I came across a sport that managed to catch my attention. Curling is something I had never really given much thought to, but as I watched the match, I became very interested. I realized that, while the concept seemed very simple, there was a lot to scoring. It occurred to me that I knew virtually nothing about the sport of curling. So, I decided to take part in a round of Google searches to see what I could find out about this particular activity.

Thanks to the Vancouver 2010 games website, I found exactly what I was trying to find. It turns out that curling has been around for a very long time, over 500 years to be exact. The earliest records of the activity can found in Scotland. It wasn’t until 1924 that the sport was played at the Olympics, but wasn’t until 1998 that men and women both had events.

How do you play? Well, in the Olympic version, two teams compete with the goal of sliding a stone weighing 19.1 kilograms towards a group of circles. The object is to send the stone along the ice and stop it as close to the center of the circles as possible. Each game has ten ends in which the four member team throws (the term for sliding) a total of sixteen stones toward the rings at the opposite end of the ice. Each team member actually throws two stones a piece. As the stone slides, two members sweep in front of it to control its speed and direction. To win, a team must score the most points or have a higher number of stones near the center of the circles. You might be wondering where the term “curl” comes from. Well, as the stone travels down the ice, its direction is called its curl.

Here is a video if you’ve never seen curling before.


If you want to read more about Olympic Curling check the link below. You can also learn more about your favorite events from the Vancouver 2010 games.
http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-curling/

If It’s Dirty, Disgusting, or Just Plain Strange, They’ll Try It

How many times have you caught yourself flinching, cringing, saying any number of yuck related phrases, or several other understandable reactions just from watching TV. Well, think about if you were actually there. Something tells me you would have a whole new appreciation for the people hosting shows like Dirty Jobs and Bizarre Foods. You can’t help but give these guys, and others, a heaping amount of credit for even considering taking these jobs.

In every episode, Mike Rowe, is faced with some of the world’s most disgusting and dirty jobs, ranging from making fireworks to cleaning the worst of sewers and beyond. I not entirely sure anything could qualify you for the types of things he has to do, but his previous work certainly didn’t in some respects. Rowe is a former opera singer with the Baltimore Opera. He has been “fired repeatedly from the QVC Cable Shopping Channel,” hosted a number of shows on various topics. None of those positions have been quite as extreme as working for Dirty Jobs, which he helped to create.

Andrew Zimmer, a New York native, has plenty of food experience. He started his formal culinary training at fourteen years old. Zimmer is one of the creators of his show. I’m not quite sure how you come up with an idea like that, but he managed to hit on something there. His show is centered on showcasing traditional foods from cultures all over the world. As a result, he encounters some of the most delicious and unusual tasting, looking, and smelling cuisine imaginable.

While both shows offer a unique chance to experience new opportunities and show the world things it might otherwise miss, I can’t help but wonder just how much a person’s stomach can handle. The moral of this story, finding the perfect host is key. Especially if the dirty, disgusting, and down right strange is involved.

Catch Dirty Jobs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the Discovery Channel. Watch Bizarre Foods Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT and the new season on Mondays at 9 beginning April 26 on the Travel Channel.

SLUG BUG!

Think back to just about every car trip you took as a child. You may remember endless hours spent stuffed in the back seat of your family’s car. Finding things to occupy your time, that didn’t end with a parent yelling at you, were hard to come by. But, one game that has stood the test of time and parental bans is the tried and true slug bug game. If you don’t remember it, it goes a little something like this: Someone, we’ll go with an older sibling, sees a Volkswagen Beetle and punches you in the arm. And, the exchange happens similar to the following. “Slug Bug!” “Owww! No, I didn’t see it so it doesn’t count!”

Sound at least somewhat familiar. Well, think about how many times, as you’ve gotten older, that you’ve reverted back to your childhood activities. You may have colored in a coloring book and celebrated because you managed to stay in the lines or been caught playing with your little brother’s race car track.

Well, I think the advertising team at Volkswagen has taken a page from this particular book. I was watching TV the other, big surprise, and came across their latest advertising campaign. Personally, I think it’s rather amusing and puts a whole new twist on the old slug bug game. Now you have all new ways to play this painful game. Take a look and see what you think.