Are you for REAL?

Today's hot topic: Photoshop!
While every girl would love to be on the cover of Glamour or Seventeen magazine, many don't realize that the images they see in those magazines are far from the truth. The topic of photoshopping has sparked many people in the industry to speak out and do something.

From Christina Aguilera's hit song "Beautiful" back in 2002, to the Dove Real Beauty Campaign, launched in 2004, to celebrities like Kim Kardashian now insisting that they not be photoshopped in magazine spreads.

It amazes me how much people have to say about this topic, but photographers, models, celebrities, and others still insist on creating this ideal image with photoshop. As a child I think I got lucky in the sense that I didn't watch a lot of TV or read a ton of magazines because I was too busy playing sports and trying to be like my brother, but there are many girls that fall into that gap.

Our society places so much emphasis on either creating a perfect image, or criticizing those that create that image, which sometimes just makes everything a much bigger deal than it was in the first place. (I mean honestly...I played with Barbie my whole life and I never really thought about the whole boob to waist to arm to leg ratio crap that they talk about...the focus was on dressing and playing...PLEASE!)

Picture courtesy of Dove RealBeauty Campaign

However, this article from Read Write Web did catch my attention because I do think it is a step in the right direction. French member of Parliament, Valerie Boyer, has "proposed a law to include a disclaimer at the bottom of all enhanced press, political, art and advertising-based photographs." The reason why I like this is because I think it is reasonable. Asking photos not to be retouched is, lets face it, not going to happen anytime soon. However, just like the food industry has to add disclaimers if their food might contain nuts, the fashion industry should include a disclaimer if their image is altered. Fair enough right?

While there are many details to work out I hope that this law is approved! Tell me what your thoughts are and if you have heard of anything else related.

Song of the Day:

World Wide Open- Love and Theft

"Second Life" Comes to Life

There are many things that I will admit to.

1) I am addicted to reality television

2) I can't get enough of celebrity news

3) iCarly is one of my favorite shows (and I constantly watch Disney and Nick)

4) At this very moment I have a Hello Kitty Band-Aid on my finger

However, one thing that I never really got into was the whole video game thing. While I will never hate on Nintendo and Super Nintendo, and I have caught a little Wii fever (I mean who doesn't want to get into an intense game of Wii table tennis), I just couldn't understand how my guy friends could spend days playing the new Halo or Madden.

Anywho, one thing that has been the new buzz on the web and in my classrooms is Second Life. Second Life is "virtual world launched...in 2003....that enables it users to interact with each other through avatars." Here is the the video one of my professors showed us in class over the educational uses of Second Life.


After watching this video I became somewhat familiar with the in's and out's of Second Life, however I was not sold on just how much relevant Second Life was to my life. Then as I was riding the bus to school the other day, I was reading a copy of the Daily Texan and came across this article which outlined how our University hundreds of thousands of dollars in virtual realty in Second Life. It amazes me that cyber-space can cost that much, and that in the middle of an economic crisis UT deems it important to buy virtual land. What are your thoughts on this expenditure?

A couple days later I was going through some articles on my Google Reader, and came across this article on ReadWriteWeb, which outlined the investment that The University of Texas made in Second Life and the implications it would have on the future of Second Life.

Are we starting a new phenomenom? Is the classroom going to go entirely virtual? How do students feel about this? Personally I like going to class, creating relationships not only with my peers but with my professors. I don't think that relationship can be made through avatars. Plus, not everyone is going to be who they really are in person, online.

Jimmy, You Know the Way to My Heart

Anyone that knows me knows that I am an avid follower of Jimmy Fallon. I have loved him since his days on Saturday Night Live. How can we forget his lovely song parodies in his early days, and of course his co-anchor new desk days with Tina Fey?


I think my favorite think about Jimmy is his ability to just laugh at himself. When he just looses it and laughs out loud on camera it gives him a realness that not too many comedians have today...I LOVE IT!


Since the premiere of his Late Night show in March, I have watched nearly EVERY episode. This week Jimmy started a new video series, "The Real Housewives of Late Night."


For those who aren't familiar, the show is a parody of the The Real Housewives series that Bravo produces. There are currently four cities featured in the series, Orange County, New York, Atlanta, and New Jersey.


Back to Jimmy...When I heard about it on his twitter account (yes, I follow him on twitter) last Thursday the anticipation was almost too much to bear. When it finally premiered on Monday it was all I could have ever wanted and more. Jimmy and other workers at the show dressed in drag as their wives and played on the set of the show. For those of you who don't watch the show, go and check out a clip of the Real Housewives of Late Night on Jimmy's Website (HILARIOUS!)

Song Recommendation Of the Day:

No Scrubs- TLC (It was produced by one of the stars of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kandi)

Working it Out

For awhile I never really saw the impact of social media in the workplace. I didn't use it in the workplace, wasn't hugely involved in it, and didn't go home and do much research on it. I wasn't extremely interested in creating a blog, I am still reluctant to create a twitter account (although I have as a result of MUCH pressure), I didn't join Facebook until I got to college, and I was never part of a social network until I got to college.

I guess you could say I was more into human contact than about getting on the computer and connecting. Well I was guilty of late night chat sessions on AIM, I mean what middle schooler wasn't...and who doesn't remember their first ridiculous screen name. Mine was halogurl125 (where in the world did that come from???)

However, working in marketing at the Frank Erwin Center I have realized how EXTREMELY important social media is not only for our work, but for all the people that we are involved with. In the past six months we have launched a Facebook page and a twitter account, and we have started keeping track daily of all the social media that our clients are involved with. For example, since Jay-Z is coming in November we have begun tracking his twitter account and all the media attention he gets for anything interesting.

In doing this I have learned so much about social media. Not only about how important it is in the sense that it does make a difference in getting the word out, but that there is so much you can do with it. For instance, Jason Mraz was here last night. One of his interesting social media tactics were a series of comedic webisodes called Grati Tube. The series really had nothing to do with Mraz's music, but they were really popular because they showed a completely different side of him. Jason Mraz is known for being a soulful and thoughtful musician, so viewers were interested to see him being playful and comedic. The videos got thousands of hits on his official Youtube website.

I think that doing things like Jason did that show you have a different side to you than what you always show the world are important not only for celebrities, but for other people in the spotlight. In light of all the recent outbursts in the public eye lately, social media might be one of best outlets to shed a new light to the situation. The way people look at news is definitely changing, and perhaps being real can be the best remedy to some situations.

Song Of the Day (in light of Jason Mraz):

"Live High"

Yes I am a Wine-o

Yesterday in my PR352 class we had an amazing guest speaker named Andy Lark. Among many things Andy was partner at Fleishman-Hillard, he co-founded of Google, dabbled in the video gaming world, and is now the vice president of global enterprise marketing at Dell computers. Oh I almost forgot...on the side Andy helps fund and run a successful clothing company in his home country of New Zealand. Talk about a man of many talents.

In his presentation yesterday Andy filled our minds with buckets of information on how the climate and landscape of the media world is changing right before our eyes. He also gave us hope that PR is not dead...thank goodness since my parents have spent thousands of dollar on what will soon be my PR degree. (It will all be worth it mom and dad!)

But what REALLY made me want to write about Andy today is how strange and odd it was that yesterday he mentioned in his presentation one of my favorite entrepeneurs, Gary Vaynerchuck. For those that don't know Gary he is the founder of Wine Library and the hilarious host of Wine Library TV. I discovered Gary's blog for the first time about 2 1/2 years ago working for a small wine company here in Austin and have followed him ever since. But what REALLY takes the cake is that while skimming the news in the New York Times this morning I came across this article featuring Gary Vaynerchuck.

Gary has really capitalized on the new social media frontier. He not only does Wine Library TV, but he has also racked up 900,000 twitter followers. He also stays in touch with his followers and readers through e-mail.

Gotta love Gary and Andy...what a small world.

Song Suggestion of the Day:
Watcha Say- Jason Derulo (the new song with the Imogen Heap song "Hide and Seek mixed in!)