Fake Plastic Noodles

Finally!  New Radiohead album, In Rainbows is to be released Oct. 10 by digital download.  The full box set will be available by mail on or after Dec. 3 (for £40 [Yikes!]).  Perhaps a tour this summer?

I promise I’m almost done with the Radiohead posts.  Know that you can expect at least one more… a review on Oct. 11.  I’m sure it will be brilliant.

Even though I read quite a few gossip blogs, I’ve refrained from blogging about any of their scoops. This one, however, I just can’t let go.

Tom Cruise is building a $10 million bunker (£5m) to protect his family against an alien attack. Yes, you read that correctly.

From The Daily Mail:

The Mission Impossible actor, who is a dedicated follower of Scientology, is reportedly fearful that deposed galactic ruler ‘Xenu’ is plotting an evil revenge attack on Earth.

Even though a spokesperson for Cruise has said that the allegation is completely untrue, I wouldn’t put it past him. After all, he is a Scientologist and therefore, completely off his rocker.

And just so this isn’t not completely irrelevant to this blog… I thought Tom Cruise was doing better on the public acceptance meter. He has a fashionable wife, an adorable toddler and hasn’t jumped on any couches in, like, years. We were just starting to warm up to him again and then he goes and does something like this. Even if it’s not true, I just hope his PR people are prepared. They’re going to have a doozy on their hands.

While my lady colleagues are all in Orlando enjoying my two loves, Disney World and blogging, I’m here writing status reports for General Mills. ::Le sigh::

It’s not all bad, though. This weekend, I think I may be able to cross one thing off my list of “Things I have to do in Michigan before I move to another country” - The Cider Mill. Nothing says autumn like hot apple cider and cinnamon donuts except maybe hay rides and watching the leaves change colour. Oh wait, I’ll be doing that too. :-)

I’m getting rather anxious for this move to occur. It’s an odd feeling not knowing when it’s going to happen. I got a bit of an update a couple weeks ago (”early next year”), but that could mean a few things. There’s much to do before the move occurs. I end up feeling completely overwhelmed every time I think about it. That’s probably why I haven’t written it down.

Either way, this will be my last winter in Michigan and with any luck, I’ll be missing the bulk of the cold weather and snow. January through March is absolutely dreadful here and I think I’ll welcome the static rain and temperatures of a London winter.

Photo from HippieDude on Flickr

Robert Scoble says Apple has a PR nightmare on their hands with the iPhone.  Apparently after the nationwide network upgrade, a lot of  people started having problems including the loss of data and call failure.  Yes, that stinks, but I’m not really surprised.  It’s the first generation of a revolutionary product.  There are bound to be problems and so far, there have been a lot of complaints.
I imagine the same sort of thing will happen with the iPod Touch.  Yet another reason why I’ll be waiting a while (at least 2nd or 3d gen) to buy one.

In honor of Google’s ninth birthday, I’m posting some of my favorite Google stories (Stoogles?)

From The Onion: Google Launches ‘The Google’ For Older Adults
From Bologoscoped: Rejected Google Holiday Logos
From Google Operating System: Top 10Funny Google News
From Beyond the Invisible: Funny Google Ads

And of course, Google TiSP

My colleagues and I all have a list of blog contacts that we call our “friendlies” that we’re able to reach out to for any given campaign. I read my friendlies’ posts everyday. In the professional sense it’s because I’m looking for posts that I helped place. In the personal sense, it’s because I genuinely enjoy reading quite a few of them. And in the murky perso-professional sense it’s because I need to know what’s going on with them so I don’t end up pitching someone cereal if they’re getting married next week.

Corresponding with a blogger means becoming a part their personal lives, which I think makes it a little difficult when trying to separate the personal me from the professional – especially when I truly believe that I could be friends with some of these people if I knew them in 3-D. So where do you draw the line?

We’ve always been a little weary of commenting on our friendlies’ blogs. It’s one thing to conduct correspondence through e-mail, but somehow seems a little shadier to comment as a PR. A person’s blog is their home and community and somehow it feels like a weird infiltration to try be a part of that community knowing that I originally found it for professional gain.

Anyone else feel odd about this?

Well, it’s finally happened. I got my first pitch today. I was undecided if I should even write about it, but have since been convinced that is actually a newsworthy item considering the subject of my blog. I’m not going to turn this into a “what not to do” post, although I think the letter will speak for itself.

Hi,
nice blog site! You have a good page for almost any kind of info.
I am interested in purchasing an ad on
http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/2007/08/08/i-really-need-to-learn-to-consolidate-these/
for a site that helps with hair removal products. I can pay around $30 for the ad.
I can send a check or pay with pay pal. Does this work for you?
Thank you,
[NAME REMOVED]

I was under the impression that Second Life was “over.” It made a big splash last year, but as far as I know, things have all but fizzled out. The only real Second Life news on the radar was in April when it was questioned whether online affairs constituted infidelity in real life. (That, and the fact that one of the most purchased items in Second Life is genitalia. Ew.) So why is it that everyone is getting all goose-pimply about all the rumors that Google is going to launch its own Second Life-esque virtual world?

Maybe I just don’t get it, but what is it that Google can offer that other virtual worlds do not? Because it’s going to take a lot more than virtual boobs to get me interested.

Interesting story:

My friend writes a post about Crocs being the ugliest footwear on the face of the planet. The post gets picked up by a popular aggregator as a “hate blog” for Crocs. And while many new people come and laugh at her post, one man comments about how immature she’s being by ranting about shoe styles.

if you dont want to wear them, thats cool, but do you really care about the shoes the lady in the bank line infront of you has on? does it really matter? i think life is too short to really spend any more time on this.

Point taken, surely, but then this man goes on to plug what looks to be his own web site (the URL is linked to his name as well).

oh yeah and check out this Canadian lifestyle products company that makes the best foam shoe on the market!

I’m assuming he works for the “lifestyle products company,” but why doesn’t he just come out and say it? It makes him look a lot worse just slipping the link in a follow-up comment like no one is going to put two and two together.

Has anyone seen Gossip Girl? It’s the sort of like The Hills or The O.C., except that this batch sex-crazed, drug-addled, over-privileged teenagers live on the Upper East Side instead of on the West Coast. (Great review of the first episode here, by the way.) I bring up what is sure to be the new show you love to hate for two reasons…

The first is that, besides Doogie Houser, M.D., this is the only show I can think of that’s told through blogging. (Ok, well, Doogie wasn’t exactly a blogger, but had he been born 15 years later, he sure as hell would have been.) From the Pilot’s synopsis on the CW:

“The privileged prep school teens on Manhattan’s Upper East Side first learn that Serena van der Woodsen is back in town the way they learn all the important news in their lives — from the blog of the allknowing albeit ultra-secretive Gossip Girl. No one knows Gossip Girl’s identity, but everyone in this exclusive and complicated vicious circle relies on her website and text messages for the latest scoop.”

Ah, the parlance of our times! How much do you want to bet Gossip Girl is revealed as Perez Hilton in the series finale?

The second reason I bring it up is the show’s brilliant use of online and offline PR, marketing and advertising. While movies and TV shows have been strategically placing products (labels facing forward!) on behalf of sponsors for years, Gossip Girl takes it one step farther and allows people to actually buy what they’re seeing right as they’re watching. Gossip Girl is working through StarBrand, a company that lists - by character - who is wearing what, how much it costs, where it’s sold, and a direct link to an online store. Meaning, that if you really thought that Serena’s Tory Birch sparkly tunic in the first episode would be perfect for your homecoming dress, head on over to the Gossip Girl homepage with Daddy’s Visa in hand and get clickin’. Just hope that he doesn’t notice that extra $450 on the bill.

All kidding aside, it’s a really smart move. I remember this idea on The Truman Show as well, where instead of advertising, everything on the set was always for sale. Even H&M recently incorporated something similar by allowing people to purchase clothes they see in ads via their mobile phones.

What a great way to play on our inherent impatience! After all, you may forget what you were looking for by the time you get all the way to the mall, right? Now if they would only learn to perfect teleportation, there’d be no reason for commercials at all!