BlogWorld, Gnomedex, Web 2.0,..too many blog conferences?

Gnomedex: cool logo, lots of people on computers

This blogger's just plain dizzy from all of the blog, new media, and social media conference opportunities.

Consider that we have BlogWorld in October, Gnomedex this weekend in Seattle (missing that), Web 2.0 Expo already happened (skipped that), but Web 2.0 is approaching (not interested), and then there's SXSW next year (which I ranted about), and a whole slew of conferences not even mentioned until then.

Do we really need all of these blog, new media, and social media conference conferences? There are only three things all of these events have in common: 1) the are offline gatherings of humans, 2) they cost money to attend (and in some cases a lot of it, upwards of $300 per person) 3) they have speakers on panels in the pedestal format I've come to just hate, 4), oh, and they concern blogs, new media, and social media.

Why?

What does one get out of all of these conferences?

Here's my rant again:



It seems to this blogger that the number of these events has increased because the producers of them need the money. Think about it. Some one says "Well, I'm really not making the money from blogs, new media, and social media that I want to, so I'll do a conference. After all, I've got a lot of Twitter followers."

And so it begins.

No Way To Determine What's Worth Attending

There's no freaking way to determine which one of these events is worth going to. BlogWorld's in Las Vegas, so that seems like a no-brainer because, well, it's Vegas. Gnomedex? Well, Gnomedex is in Seattle, and it's got a cool logo. But for a profession that's supposed to be online, it seems like there would be some kind of online way of determining which one of these offline things one should go to.

Some kind of informal network should just "be." Something that saves us from all of this event junk in our midst.

If we're really good at this online deal, then we're got to start using it to weed out this stuff. ASAP.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Don Perata to skip The Sierra Club Forum

Don Perata 

Breaking Oakland Mayor's Race news!

This blogger just received a late night email announcing that Former State Senator Don Perata will skip the planned Sierra Club Forum for Wednesday, August 24th.

Perata Campaign Manager Rhys Williams explains that...

Senator Perata will not participate in forums that aren't open to all candidates. Now that there is an official list of candidates, Senator Perata believes it is only fair, democratic, and respectful that all those voices have an opportunity to be heard. That was one goal of Oakland's new system of voting.

Readers of this space will recall that The Sierra Club Volunteer Chairperson Kent Lewandowski, sent what this blogger called an awful email explaining that The Sierra Club was going to exclude candidates it considered "not viable."

Again, The Oakland Mayor's Race has thirteen candidates: Tim Brown, Terrance Candell, Arnold Fields, Sharika Gregory, Greg Harland, Marcie Hodge, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don Macleay, Niki Okuk, Don Macleay, Councilmember Jean Quan, Joe Tuman, and Larry Lionel Young Jr.

Now, The Sierra Club Forum has just two candidates, Oakland Councilmembers Kaplan and Quan, and this space thinks they should follow Senator Perata's lead and drop out too.

Chelsea Handler will host the VMA's; Twitter explodes

This is in the un-freaking-believable category, and signals her wild rise to stardom, but Chelsea Handler, Comedian, diva, legs-spreader, skirt-hiker, and host of Chelsea Lately , will be the ...drum-roll-please...HOST OF THE MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS.

What we know as the VMAs. Wow.

And remember a while back when I was asking what the deal was with Chelsea Handler and her humor?



And remember when she dissed Wil.I.Am and asked Rapper T.I. "How was prison?"

Wow.

In explaining why she's the best choice for the gig, Chelsea Handler, said "this has been a huge year for hip-hop and rap, and it is well-known that I have the closest ties with these communities — musically and sexually. I am to rap and hippity-hop, what Warren Buffet is to finance, minus the sex," according to EW.com's Popwatch.

She will be the ring master over a circus of stars including Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Drake, B.o.B, and Florence + The Machine, and presenters Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj, Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Trey Songz, Ashley Greene, Selena Gomez, and Ne-Yo. Yowzo!

Twitter Explodes on Chelsea Handler

The news blasted the name "Chelsea Handler" to the Top Trends for Wednesday Night, and with that came a lot of interesting tweets. (I mean, have you ever seen her show?)

cthagod - Chelsea Handler hosting the VMA's this year? Whoever thought of that deserves a gold star and a apple....

about 1 hour ago via web

ruthlessblogs - Look Out, Kanye! Chelsea Handler's Hosting MTV's 2010 Video Music Awards http://ow.ly/18DkLI

AlfredoFlores - Chelsea Handler is hot.. I am glad she is hosting the VMAS.. She's funny and I already know the Biebs is going to hit on her lol

about 1 hour ago via web

To present some of the tweets.

More on this, soon.

American Idol signs Steven Tyler as judge; Jennifer Lopez still in hunt

Steven Tyler

Steven Tyler will become a judge on American Idol, according to Reality TV Today. While a Fox contact reportedly said "no comment" the MSNBC website quotes a "very insider source" as saying the Aerosmith singer "finalized negotiations late last week."

Frankly, this corner is both surprised and pleased that someone as old as Tyler at 62 was selected. That should make him the oldest judge in American Idol history, and scores a big one for health and fitness and makeup.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez is said by the name news source to still be in the hunt for a judges slow on American Idol.

The last news about Jennifer Lopez was that she was out entirely as Fox executives grew weary of her demands. J-Lo wanted $20 million plus her own hair, makeup, and styling team, and, get this, "dressing room compound."

Wild.

Steven Tyler Still Rocks

For those of you who have no freaking idea who Steven Tyler is, here's a video of him singing "You Shook Me All Night Long:"



Steven Tyler would be a good addition as he's rock history, can certainly judge talent, and knows the music business inside and out.

Man films himself jumping underneath oncoming train in Shanghai

This man in Shanghai decided to cross that unseen but known barrier between things we know we should not do, and things we do. The man films himself jumping underneath an oncoming train on the Shanghai Subway. (That's the video, above.)

He was, of course, arrested.

The video-blogger told the police he thought he could get a better angle so he did it.  Now, this video-blogger has never even considered such an act.

For one thing, you don't know what's under the train.  He could have been be-headed or anything.

There's one person who's taken video-blogging to a whole new level.

Movies on DVD: Dorian Gray with Colin Furth Ben Barnes and Rebecca Hill on DVD

In the movies on DVD category we have Dorian Gray, the movie with Colin Furth Ben Barnes and Rebecca Hill, and based on Oscar Wilde’s landmark Victorian - era thriller, is coming out on DVD August 24th. Here's the trailer from the Momentum Pictures film that was originally released September 9th, 2009:



What's the story of Dorian Gray in movie form? It stars Ben Barnes as Dorian Gray, who becomes buddies with Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Furth). The Lord introduces Dorian to a lustful world of women, sex, and other pleasures.

Lord Henry's friend, society artist Basil Hallward (Chaplin) creates a paining of Dorian designed to capture the full power of his youthful attractiveness forever. When Dorian see it, he pledges to give his soul to maintain his looks. But as the portrait ages, Dorian does not; he does everything, including murder innocent people, to hide his secret.

Dorian Gray DVD in two versions

Cover of Dorian Gray [Blu-ray]

The DVD sports 5.1 Surround Sound and the Blu-ray edition featuresDTS-HD Master Audio. Both DVDs have English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, and are packed with bonus features, in cluding audio commentary with director Parker and screenwriter Toby Finlay, multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes including cast/crew interviews, deleted scenes and more.

Dorian Gray DVD comes out August 24th, by National Entertainment Media.

NBC how low can you go? by Suzannah B. Troy

August 19: An addendum:  was sent this info:

This privacy complaint was issued from a person who was at the information desk at 30 Rock

whose face was on the video for 3 seconds his voice was on for 7 seconds

Is this  a ploy by  NBC?  Many people say yes this is and that NBC is doing exactly what the controversial Micahel Moore like YouTube points out suppressing potential candidates that want to clean up Albany!

Here is a question for NBC lawyers:

The employee saw the video cameras and had no objections at the time so why now?

Stay tuned:

Doug Biviano is challenging Joan Millman for NY State Assembly in Brooklyn's 52nd District to fight corruption in Albany.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45YEIwoAnyY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMBKN3_hiM4

Biviano and his campaign people send the media a powerful message media in the opening moments of this sharp and smart YouTube refering to the father of the spirit of journalism John Peter Zenger. You see Doug Biviano standing by Zenger's unmarked grave at Trinity Church in downtown, New York City. Why is Biviano standing there? The British Governor of New York, William Cosby had Zenger thrown in jail for calling the Cosby administration corrupt!

The Michael Moore styled YouTube takes you to The New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Daily News and NY1 as well but only NBC is tacky enough and I mean REALLLY tacky and I am being overly polite to pull a William Cosby like move and censor candidate Doug Biviano.

There were security guards there in the lobby of NBC and any employee that did not want their face on camera could have easily spoken up and did not but besides that, it is public space, correction, it is a private space open to the public and NBC has their video cameras there as well so get real NBC!!!! How pathetic to try remove a candidate's YouTube that happens to talk about censorship!!! Welcome to YouTubeland.

The entire point of this YouTube is that the media is censoring opposition to candidates by simply not covering them and I lived it fighting Mike Bloomberg. I had all my YouTubes, 343 YouTubes removed from YouTubeland a month and a half before the election but with the help of famed Civil Rights lawyer Norman Siegel and so many others that spoke up for me Google returned my work to YouTubeland with an apology.

NBC is violating freedom of speech and using YouTube and Google to do their dirty work!!!!!

Shame on NBC!!!!!!!!!!! NBC you make The New York Times, The New York Daily News, NY1, and The New York Post look almost like class acts for at least not contacting YouTube to remove this Michael Moore like video admonishing the media for not covering candidates that want to take on the cronies in Albany and City Hall... NBC's local news resembles Entertainment tonight so I should not be surprised but I am shocked that NBC honcho's actually got their lawyers to attack a public candidate running for office that wants to get rid of corruption in Albany!!!!!!!!

NBC's local coverage really lacks the spirit of journalism but even worse was this move by their big honcho's violating the first amendment rights that is the only reason NBC even exists.

NBC how low can you go?

College Football: Cal Football's Jeremy Ross shows us his crib

Cal Athletics on YouTube' has really improved in videos and creativity over the past year.

One example is this video by Francesca Weems featuring California Wide Receiver Jeremy Ross, #3.

It's part of a segment called "Cal Cribs" that's not only fun, but I wonder if they're going to show it at the Cal Football games this 2010 season.



One thing Ross needs is a real television set. But on second thought, he's got to hit the books, so a new TV set just may be a bad idea.

GO BEARS!

Brett Favre, Tavaris Jackson, and the black / white issue

Tavaris Jackson 

Brett Favre has returned to the Minnesota Vikings, and everyone's happy.

Now, the talk of the Vikings as Super Bowl Contender can, and has started. TV shows like ESPN NFL Live can and have started to waste time with supposedly funny segments on the return of Brett Favre.

All of this, and Tavaris Jackson sits again, waiting his turn to start. One has to wonder if the Vikings would have pushed Favre out of the door if Quarterback Tavares Jackson were fair-haired and white, rather than black haired and black?

The idea came to this blogger after the news that three Vikings, Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson, and Ryan Longwell, flew down to Hattiesburg, Mississippi this week to "get Favre" and coax him back to the Vikings.

The law firm of Allen, Longwell, and Hutchinson, are all friends of Favre and all white, and reportedly laid down the law to get Brett to return. The question runs: where were the black players? Why, on a team with so many African American players, did it take three white guys to go and get Brett Favre?

Before Brett Favre's turn, ESPN's John Clayton said that Vikings players said they would be fine without Brett Favre, but asked if that's the case, why Vikings players are going to get him. What Clayton either failed to see, or did not want to see, was that African American players were saying the Vikings would be fine either way, but that it was a group of white players that went to get Brett Favre.

Are the Vikings more racially divided than is addressed? Is the Brett Favre return indicative of a team that has "blacks hanging with blacks" and "whites hanging with whites?"

It's not that anyone on the Vikings is racist. No. But guys like the late Steve McNair, who was Brett Favre's fishing buddy, may not be in abundance, and may not be on this Vikings team.

Moreover, it also may be that a person like Tavaris Jackson has resigned himself to the idea that the organization doesn't value him enough to give him the team as The Green Bay Packers turned that team over to Aaron Rogers and showed Brett the door. And perhaps Jackson understands there are underlying racial issues at play.

And Packers Quarterback Aaron Rogers is white.

Perhaps that's why, according to Pro Football Talk.com, he seems indifferent to Brett's return, saying "I really don't care."   It's hard to control overriding social issues, like race and perception.

Race and The Vikings At Play

Don't be so naive as to think this isn't talked about; behind closed doors it is. It's just ignored by much of the media. This blog post isn't meant to be "race-baiting," and using the term to stop a conversation that should be had is really a cowardly act.

Eat, Pray and Love --Pass by Suzannah B. Troy

Photo: Adam Bernstein - Katmandu

I love Julia Robert's smile but I have to pass on this chick flick -- at least for now.  My mom, I lovingly refer to her as "Attila the Mum" gave the film a thumbs up and said I must go see this movie.  Just the travel visuals are sumptuous.

I asked Mom is there any Prozac in the film?  I don't know if you are aware that movies get bucks for product placement?   Sounds like no Prozac but the reason I ask is I tried reading the book and I thought it was awful.   I recall before I threw the book in the garbage I remembered she was popping Prozac.

Please explain to me how people get book deals and movie deals because I would like them and I have more interesting stories to tell.

Anyway, after gobbling up "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy I did walk in to Barnes and Nobles and request they set up a table to console readers and give them a book list of books but so far B&N has not cashed in on my great idea.

I did find a great book on my own with the most awful title possible and you have no idea when it first starts that it is actually a good book.

"Enlightment for Idiots", yes, I did warn you an awful title.  I am half way through and loving it.  I am in India now -- in the book that is...rather visit vicariously  via the author Anne Cushman.  I am only half way through because my brain is so tired I just can't read anything except The New York Post and The New York Daily News and I am looking for corruption in NY politics and the horoscope.  I am also looking at what they don't report...  for the quirky fans of my YouTube on Mike Bloomberg series - including the one where I yell at him on the steps of City Hall and king Mike gives me the thumbs up -- here is yet another YouTube of me complaining the press won't cover any opposition to king Mike pre-the election as I re-work my portrait of king Mike Bloomberg.  Unlike Diane Sawyer, I get bored talking about the same old thing so I have to resort to outrageous actions like "Mike Bloomberg no third term undies", etc.   Okay my point being...I don't need to travel.

If you want to see an unusual strange flick about yoga, spirituality and India than rent "Enlighten Up".  It is the un-Hollywoowood Yoga spiritual film with no Julia Roberts.... a bit strange but I liked it.

And I am ending with a local East Villager's photographs, Adam Bernstein...check out his photos of India if you want to say 12 dollars + another 10 for popcorn & water.  I don't think I have the energy to sit through 15 minutes of coming attractions that I feel they should pay me to watch and a long Hollywoo-wwod movie right now.

I can't wait for the American Hollywoo-wood version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo though.  I am waiting for the 3rd Swedish film in the series, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" to open here in NYC and I will sprint to the movie theatre and get back to you.  Thanks for checking in!

Tila Tequila (or alternate personality) goes off on Juggalos on MissTila OMG

Tila Tequila herself has said she has multiple-personalities (and one of them may have been the one who tried to kill her), so when this blogger took a read at the latest on the "Aftermath of the Tila Tequila attacked at The Gathering of The Juggalos" issue, the blog post that was entered at Tila's blog was too much to ignore.

Someone called "BiG Tits" (which must be Tila Tequila) went on a massive rant aimed, and rightly so, at The Insane Clown Posse's so-called Juggalos.

And "rightly so" because some commenters (of the over 700 now) on my YouTube video on the matter think Tila had it coming to her. Just look at the comments below the video, which you have to click here to see, and here's the video itself if you don't want to:



Here's most of it.

Yo I know I’m a new staff blogger here and I know I should keep my mouth shut about this, but Tila is still my girl so I gotta put my 2 cents into this fucked up shit! I don’t wanna be puttin’ her private business all out there or nuthin’ but I’m at her crib takin’ care of her right now and she fell asleep a lil’ while ago so that means I’m finna go off on some bitches!

First of all, who the fuck are all of you idiots hiding behind your stupid computers talking shit to a woman who clearly is one of the sweetest chicks I ever met in my life! Fuck the media and fuck all the haters! Tila is a down ass chick who got nuthin’ but love for people of all kinds! When she got booked for this bullshit Juggalo hoody hoo shit, I remember her tellin’ me about it and she was genuinely excited to go! Ya’ll don’t know her like I do so just stop all the shit talkin’ and actin’ like you’re so gangsta over the internet ok?

First of all, if it were any of you bitchasses who went up there onstage, the minute you got booed or something thrown at you, I know your scared ass woulda ran off the damn stage with the quickness! Secondly, majority of people wouldn’t even agree to go to some trash infested hoody hoo bullshit festival KKK gathering or whatever you call yourselves! But Tila did! you know why? Because she’s down like that and shows LOVE and that’s how you morons treat a damn lady?

You know I remember another time when I was with her in NYC for her press tour there and she was booked to perform in The Bronx, and her team and people who were “SCARED” of the Bronx told her that she shouldn’t perform in such a “DANGEROUS” place! But guess what? She fucking did it anyway! She’s got more guts and balls than half of you twerps here talking shit about her! You’re all just a bunch of internet gangstas when really, Tila would kick all ya’ll asses in a fucking minute in real life!

Tila took blow after blow to her head and everywhere else, bleeding non-stop! Yet, homegirl STILL managed to stay onstage, all while bleeding, covering her face with a towel over her bloody eye, to finish performing her full set for you idiots! Now THAT is a REAL Gangsta! I don’t care what you say about ma girl but the truth of the matter is: TILA IS THE MUTHAFUKING TRUTH! The girl stayed up there like a damn trooper! So fuck alll ya’ll who wanna talk shit on ma girl! Talk all you want, but you know damn well that girl has heart, balls, and more guts then you will EVER have, sitting behind your computer talking shit at her website!

Click here for the rest.

Sadly, Tila, regardless of what friend, personality, or staff blogger is talking for her, has a right to be upset. It's not just the attack, but it's the zenith of a kind of pergatory Tila's created for herself.

While they should not have done that to her, Tila Tequila also didn't need to be at The Gathering of The Juggalos. Moreover, they pelted her website with warnings.

Once Tila gets over this crazy desire to be harmed by her haters, which means she has to place herself before them, she will find the lucrative sanity that if not she, then I'm certain her parents want for her.

T-Mobile G2 - Hoping it works better than the T-mobile G1

This blogger misses his Apple iPhone, but not the tirany of AT&T, which posted a monthly charge of $1,033.36 on the account, said it was wrong, then (amazingly) another group of AT&T drones tried to defend it.

By contrast, T-Mobile service has been a slice of heaven; but the T-Mobile G-1's another story.

The problem with my currently inactive T-mobile G1 is that for some reason the widgets stopped working one by one, until eventually I could not send a message, then the phone would not even allow me to make a call. The entire device just plain went black.

Now, I have insurance, but unlike my trusty T-Mobile phone store on Lake Park and Lakeshore in Oakland, Ca, the T-Mobile phone stores here in Suburban Atlanta treat the idea of providing a loaner phone or a replacement like it's a big headache. One retailer here told me I had to wait until I returned to Oakland!

I wound-up buying a cheap phone to use until I return to Oakland.

(Hey, watch my video on this, soon!)

So, now the T-Mobile G2's coming out, and it promises to be a better phone from the perspective of what I call "doable coolness," at least the description implies that:

The T-Mobile G1 was the world's first Android - powered phone. Launched nearly two years ago, it created an entirely new class of mobile phones and apps. Its successor, the T-Mobile G2 with Google, will continue the revolution.

The T-Mobile G2 will deliver tight integration with Google services and break new ground as the first smartphone designed to run at 4G speeds on our new HSPA+ network. In the coming weeks, we’ll share more details about the G2 and offer exclusive first access to current T-Mobile customers.

Which means me.

But considering the problems I'm having with the T-mobile G1, T-mobile should give me the T-Mobile G2 for free.

I mean, why pay for a new G2, just to take the chance the T-Mobile G2's going to go the same supercritical route as the T-Mobile G1?

Right?