Volcano in Iceland hurts New York City: losing $250 million

Stranded in Europe 

The eruption of the massive Eyjafjallajoekull volcano April 14th has placed not just Europe, but much of the World's economy in slow mode.

This is true in New York City, where events like the Tribeca Film Festival have an international reach and thus draw an overseas audience.

Many of the stars of the 85 films of the Tribeca Film Festival are stranded in Europe according to DNAinfo, and that hurts the ability to draw patrons to see them. The film festival relies on producers and directors of the films to come and talk to the audience. But with the volcano in Iceland, that possibility is thwarted.

The Volcano in Iceland is harming tourist spending as well, with an estimated loss of $250 million from the reduction of visitors from Europe over the weekend. The NY Daily News reports that for every 1,000 visitors that don't come from Europe, New York loses $1.5 million.

But The Volcano will not stop The London Book Fair, which counts on visitors from England as a necessary part of its event. Director Alistair Burtenshaw says "Our view is that the show must - and will - go on and we will provide all the help we can to ensure it runs as smoothly as possible."

Stay tuned.

Space Shuttle Discovery landing delayed due to bad weather

Information Week reports that rain and clouds over the Atlantic Coast in Florida will cause a delay in the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery early Monday. NASA officials say they will try a second attempt to land the spacecraft Monday morning.

Discovery just finished a 14-day mission docked with the International Space Station. Eight tons of cargo were delivered to the International Space Station during that trip using the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.

The module was developed by the Italian Space Agency as a kind of "moving van" in space that takes cargo from the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station. For this trip it had science racks, new sleeping quarters, and other supplies.

Discovery pilot Jim Dutton, mission specialist Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, and mission specialist Yamakazi of the Japanese Space Agency are all on their first Shuttle flight.

Paris Hilton dissed at Coachella Music Festival

C'Mon dude.  Respect the lady!  

Popular Socialite Paris Hilton is without a doubt well-known, especially by people in the entertainment industry and security guards are no exception. According to TMZ.com, which created the photo, Paris Hilton was dissed by "security" guards at the Coachella Music Festival.

Paris Hilton had to give her ID before she was allowed in. Now these guys were just being mean. This blogger has attended thousands of events and gets waved in without showing his ID most of the time, but does so anyway.

TMZ writes "If the security guard legitimately didn't know who she was, we are jealous of the life he leads. Not in this corner.

That guy's probably told his friends "Yeah, I just dissed Paris Hilton. I don't like her." And it's probably the high moment of his life. That's the bet here. That's sad, but there are people running around who get joy from such behavior.

What they tend to forget is that if they're in a position and happen to need something from Paris, the tables would be turned. Rather than Paris thanking them for recognizing her, as others certainly did, it would be her option.

It's situations like this that are the reason some people own music festivals and others just, well, work security at them. Note to Paris: get to know the Coachilla Music Festival owners and make a workaround the security people.

Debbie Reynolds takes over for Ivana Trump at The Globe

The Globe, American Media's classic tabloid, replaced Donald Trump's ex-wife Ivana Trump with legendary actress Debbie Reynolds, it was announced today.

Ivana Trump was a fixture at The Globe for 15 years, and read by 5 million readers a week who grabbed the tabloid from cash register shelves in supermarkets and at newsstands around America and Europe.

Now it's Debbie Reynolds turn.

Her column "Dear Debbie: Got a problem? I want to help" takes on subjects like "My beau is showing his kinky side" and questions like "Is it OK to date my college professor?"

Maybe Debbie Reynolds has some advise for Taylor Swift?

Stay tuned.

"Taylor Swift's Promise" is a mean trick on Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift's the focus of another Internet photo scandal, but it's not her fault.

There's a photo going around the Internet that has country-pop singing star Taylor Swift wearing a red gym jacket and posing with a young man also in red and reportedly known as "Cheeks" and both are holding up a sign made from a napkin that reads "I Heart On TD."

Whatever that means.

That photo was doctored by someone to read something far, far more sexual and sinister that Taylor Swift would promise to do if "Alabama beat LSU this weekend" and then goes on to read "Who are you rooting for now? XOXO Taylor Swift."

Guess which photo's going around the Internet the fastest?

This blogger discovered the photo below after checking the social bookmarking site Reddit.com for news. Right there were the words "Taylor Swift's Promise" If you click on it, as I did, the photo, the doctored one, comes right up in your face. You have to dig through the comments to learn that the picture's not the real one.

Cheeks is reportedly part of a website called "OH NO THEY DID'NT" which has the tagline "the celebrities are disposable, the content is pricesless." But does that mean they replaced Taylor's original napkin with the fake one? If so, that's awful. It's terrible that it happened to her, but if the website created the fake photo they should apologize immediately.

For her part, Taylor's got to be careful. To this blogger, it's like the Swastika episode in that Taylor took a photo with a random fan and got in trouble for an image she wasn't aware of. The difference is that Taylor didn't know some real douche was going to mess with her image like that.

It's sad because Taylor doesn't know who to trust and it's harder to just hang and have fun with people around who are going to mar her image in this way.

Bad form.

Stay tuned.

Carrie Underwood gets Entertainer of the Year - Twitter update

Carrie!

Carrie Underwood not only scored the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year Award for the second year in a row, she scored Twitter points for her singing and her dress.

Carrie Underwood beat Taylor Swift and six other country music entertainers for the vote cast by fans using online and mobile platforms. Twitter celebrated the news, and while "Carrie Underwood" and "Taylor Swift" did not beat the more questionable hashtags of #TeamWhiteGirl and #TeamBlackGirl the tweets were certainly more fun, all over the place, and less disturbing to read.

Carries1fanOx Carrie Underwood...I love & I am so beyond proud of you! Congratulations on making history tonight! your my hero<3 goodnight #TeamCarrie <3 less than a minute ago from Echofon 

 natsraj23 wow carrie underwood looks gorgeous at the #45thannualacademycountryawards wedding_gown_id Carrie Underwood, Julianne Hough, Reba McEntire Fashion winners at the ACM ... http://bit.ly/a6XibD less than a minute ago from API 

 kaykeebakes Carrie Underwood won entertainer of the year yay!!! I'm so exited!!! :) less than a minute ago from Twitter for BlackBerry® 

SamanthaErin22 Woo carrie underwood Acm artist of the year! Not george straight:( But as long As it wasn't taylor swift Haha! 1 minute ago from txt

myniftynappy what? Carrie Underwood just won entertainer of the year! I like her, but come on! 1 minute ago from HootSuite 

Overall, the fact that Carrie Underwood's Entertainer of the Year win failed to hit the Twitter top trends and stay there for a while is a sign that the country music demographic isn't meshing with the young adult / teen set that generally uses Twitter. One way around this is to have Twitter as a major part of the voting campaign. The Academy of Country Music's Twitter account has just over 5,700 followers. Many of the top award nominees have thousands and in some cases millions of Twitter followers. Some kind of deal should have been struck to get the help of people like Taylor Swift, and the Twitter hastag should have been mentioned again and again on the television broadcast.

That didn't happen and because of that, the Academy of Country Music missed a golden chance to really make sure the awards show was a part of the Zeitgeist beyond Google Trends and with a wider demographic range.

Well, there is next year.

Carrie Underwood's legs and New Media beat Taylor Swift in ACM voting

After all that, Carrie Underwood's legs, and an assist from New Media, did beat Taylor Swift and six other country music entertainers - Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, George Strait,Keith Urban, and Zac Brown Band - in the ACM voting for American Country Music Entertainer of The Year at the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards. That was just announced by show host Reba McEntire, and to a wowser of a yell of approval from the audience.

As of this writing there's no way to tell how much Carrie Underwood won by or who came in second, but it's a safe bet Carrie beat Taylor Swift.

But aside from Carrie Underwood's awesomely hot legs, she got a song that so matched her voice and style it's a 2010 hit: Cowboy Casanova. Here's the kick-ass music video:



But it wasn't just the legs, Carrie Underwood used New Media to advertise her desire for your vote. From the top of her YouTube channel to her website, CarrieUnderwoodOfficial.com, the words "click now to vote" were immediately visible.

And while Taylor Swift had the same notification and a funny video on her website, there was no such request on her YouTube channel and that may have been the difference.

I'll bet it was close.

Well, I like Taylor Swift's voice, but major congratulations to the newly engaged Carrie Underwood. She deserved it.

Stay tuned.

CBS.com/vote ACM Awards: Taylor Swift over Carrie Underwood's legs

The voting is closed at CBS.com/vote for the Entertainer of the Year at the 43rd Annual American Country Music (ACM) Awards. This blogger voted for Taylor Swift and after much consideration and musing. Why? Because her voice is just great. Swift's songs are a habit.

Taylor Swift is also, frankly, the least "country" of all of the entertainers and that includes the drippingly sexy Carrie Underwood.

Carrie's legs 

I've got to admit I was almost swayed by Carrie Underwood's music video about the "Cowboy Casanova;" those toned muscular legs of hers combined with that catchy tune almost made me switch from Taylor and vote for her, but I didn't.

Taylor Swift has a more mainstream sound that just plain rocks.

Yes, Taylor Swift's won a ton of awards and got a bunch of Grammys. Yes, Taylor Swift's still not apologized for that Swastika photo incident. Yes, Taylor Swift has her moments as a diva. But taken as a whole, Taylor Swift's just a person. But a person who can sing and produce her own content.

 Perhaps Taylor Swift's been overdecorated, but time will tell. For now, I'm backing Taylor Swift, regardless of how very hot Carrie Underwood's legs may be.

Ok, are.

Jay-Z and Beyonce at 2010 Coachella Music Festival (video)

Jay-Z and Beyonce brought the house down at the 2010 Coachella Music Festival Saturday night. Hip Hop Wired reports that fans got a big "disappointment" when Dr. Dre did not perform with Jay-Z, but all of that was forgiven when Beyonce, not a listed headliner, came out to the surprise of the 2010 Coachella Music Festival audience.

Dressed in country music female sex symbol star style - torn t-shirt that reads "Punk Ass Motherfucker," cowboy hat, boots, short "Daisy Duke" shorts, and long hair - Beyonce was nothing less than hot and at her soulful best, singing Forever Young.

Before she took the state to sing with her husband Jay-Z, Beyonce was hanging with some great company: California's First Lady, wife of Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger, and Twitter friend to this blogger Maria Shriver. (Interestingly, Bayonce's holding a can of Red Bull positioned so the words and logo on it can be picked up by photographers.

Yes, Beyonce is a supporter of Red Bull, which is at this point is far more tolerable to many than the Tiger Woods / Nike association (even though that didn't bother this blogger at all). It proves how powerful images can be and how they impact style, fashion and commerce. I'm surprised Beyonce's not holding a drink with her name on it.

Stay tuned.

MGMT at Coachella Music Festival pleases, but new stuff fails

MGMT is a group and a sound new to this blogger and just introduced at last week's YouTube Happy Hour at 111 Minna Street (video coming).

MGMT is a new group from Brooklyn that rose fast, having formed just outside of five years ago, recognized by SPIN Magazine three years ago, hit the British scene in two years ago, and got its first Grammy nomination this year, you'd be forgiven if you'd never heard of MGMT.

What drew me into MGMT was its pulsating, unmistakable, soulful sound. At the YouTube function I asked "Who's that?" and was told "MGMT." I was hooked.

MGMT's rocking, or perhaps given its sound pulsating, The Coachella Music Festival this weekend. Here's a video from their performance:



While MGMT pleased the Coachella audience, Billboard reports that the crowd wasn't too keen on some of their new material. The rule is don't mess with a good thing.

Stay tuned.

A YouTube tale: The Seattle Freeze

The video below, created using YouTube / Google's searchstories application, tells a story of a California marijuana addict who seeks to start a new life in Seattle. Along the way, it seems that person ran into something called "The Seattle Freeze."

If you recall the Super Bowl Google ad, it was essentially an introduction to Youtube.com/searchstories and told the tale of a man who meets and marries a French girl. Well, this video, shown below, is in that sprit:



What's interesting about the YouTube Seattle video is what it says about Seattle through the eyes of the video maker who's channel's called RyanNoir. Is it that hard to find love in Seattle? Is is easier than finding a job or an apartment? Why?

What's the Seattle Freeze? According to a video that could not be embedded here, an action which is a kind of social network freeze itself, so here's the link, Seattlites are described as being, well, cold. One woman says she doesn't give hugs to friends or family. I'm thinking, what the hell's wrong with her? That's just plain weird. Moreover, it's neurotic because of the weird misunderstandings it creates. People like that become their own worst enemies.

On Yelp, the Seattle Freeze has its own forum, where people write their experiences with what The Seattle Times calls "Our Social Disease" that for some on Yelp seems justified...

The Seattle folks seem passive -- but they're not -- they're cautious because of all of the apparent nutjobs out there. I've observed that these people don't respond well to being confronted on any level;, hence the incidents you read about in the Seattle papers about the "after the bars close" violence in this area that starts over very minor shit.

Learning more about The Seattle Freeze, it could just as much apply to San Francisco or Atlanta. I hear similar stories from transplants to Atlanta, and San Francisco has changed such that there's a large problem of anti-social behavior. I do find that people in Atlanta reach out far more than they do in San Francisco, but not as much as in Los Angeles or New York or Chicago.

The Seattle Freeze also applies to race. While there's no discussion of The Seattle Freeze from a racial persective, observation by this blogger is that people who practice this "freeze" in many cases have a few friends, and all of the same color. There's an indirect correlation between freeze behavior and diversity.

Perhaps that's why there's no "freeze" in Los Angeles or New York or Chicago.  People who exhibit that kind of fear of others in the end are the last to get good jobs or be really good friends to anyone.   A city's a reflection of the people within it.  The most dynamic and successful cities aren't the coldest ones socially.

Stay tuned.

World Cup Soccer coming to Barbacco in San Francisco

While Oakland's Lake Chalet is still this blogger's favorite restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area and followed by The Balboa Cafe in San Francisco, Barbacco, in downtown San Francisco, is moving up the list fast. Barbacco, owned by the same group that started Parbacco next door on 220 California Street near Front Street, is more in the style of a futuristic deli cafe that you'd expect to see in a Star Trek movie.

The lively Barbacco's the perfect place to watch The World Cup Soccer games starting in June. If you're going to go over there, I recommend visiting their website to reserve a table now Barbacco.com.

Now you may ask why do this blog post? Did anyone ask me to do it? No. Was I an official spokesperson for them as was the case for the Lake Chalet (which was my favorite place before they asked me to help them with New Media and of which I still enjoy after the engagement)? No. Was the video paid for? No.

I did the blog post just because every time I walk in to Barbacco or Perbacco  before it, the service and the food are excellent, the staff's really nice, and the owner, Umberto Gibin always greets me and has done so for years before he knew I blogged.

If I'm having a lousy day, Barbacco's a great pick-me-up. Plus, all of my friends raved about this place, so I had to try it.

Check it out.