www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0htl3nHLBg

“Empower women who have overcome adversity to be leaders in their lives, their families, and their communities.

Through her vision & the Women’s Leadership Institute, Dana Bristol-Smith changed my life (so much so, that I’ve recently been offered -- and accepted -- a position on its Advisory Council).   We are currently in the running at the Pepsi Refresh Project to make it possible for more women to experience the same!

YOU can help us win a
$50,000 grant to
Expand the Women’s Leadership Institute throughout California

The top ten highest vote-getters in our category will be funded,
so please vote daily and encourage your friends to do the same!

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One of the most vital lessons I’ve learned this past year is the importance of reaching out for help.

The Speak for Success Women’s Leadership Institute is accepting nominations for its “Women Changing the World” Award.

As I’ve expressed in my most recent blog posts, the Women’s Leadership Institute was a life-changing experience for me. Over the past decade or so I’ve participated in my share of leadership trainings, goal-setting workshops and motivational seminars at some world-class organizations. Hands down, I gained more during my 10 weeks with Speak for Success than I have from all of my other experiences combined.

What does this have to do with asking for help?
(Be patient, grasshopper, I am getting there!)

I’ve yet to figure out how to succinctly articulate the impact the Women’s Leadership Institute has already made in my life – as well as in the lives of my classmates. (The words that come to mind just sound cliche and don’t embody the spirit of the organization quite well enough to do it justice.) Equally difficult has been finding a way to adequately express my gratitude to Dana and the other women who gave me this opportunity.

One way I am able to demonstrate my gratitude is to lend my voice – and my community – to  spread the information about Speak for Success and its events to as many people as I can reach.

Will you help me? By giving just two minutes of your time, you can help give countless women back their lives.

To make it simple, below are 10 ways help Speak for Success change other women’s lives as it changed mine (most of these can be completed in 2 minutes or less):

1. Tweet a link to this post
2. Share this post on Facebook
3. Share this post on LinkedIn
4. Email a link to this post to your friends
5. Link to this post on your blog
6. Write about the “Women Changing the World” Award nominations on your blog. (copy & paste this to make it easy)
7. Nominate a woman who is changing the world (details below)
8. Are you a woman changing the world? If so, encourage others to nominate you!
9. Consider sponsoring (or asking your employer/company to sponsor) the event
10. Have another idea to help get the word out? Please share it in the comments below!
11. (bonus!) Connect with Speak for Success on Facebook
12. (another bonus!) Follow @Speak4Success on Twitter

Thank you for helping me!

Note: Although the awards event is in San Diego, I’ve confirmed that nominations are open to any women – regardless of location – as long as they can be in San Diego to attend the awards ceremony

Nominations for the 2010 “Women Changing the World” Award are now open. Entering its second year, this program recognizes San Diego area women leaders who have made significant contributions encouraging, supporting, and empowering women and families in their organizations and communities.

The “Women Changing the World” Award is sponsored by the Speak for Success Women’s Leadership Institute, an extraordinary program that provides an enriching empowerment and leadership program to women overcoming serious adversities including domestic violence, homelessness, addiction, and mental illness. Graduates of the Women’s Leadership Institute go on to become inspirational leaders in the community, helping others as they help themselves succeed.

This year’s winners will represent some of the finest examples of leadership, inspiration and community service. The Call for Nominations plays an integral role in that process. We encourage your participation, and invite you to join us in celebrating the contributions made by these extraordinary women who are your colleagues, peers, mentors, friends and family. Nominations across the diverse sectors and industries of San Diego are welcome. Examples include but are not limited to community, government, business, nonprofit services, science, medicine, law, arts, media, academia, philanthropy, family, and so on.

Previous recipients including Karny Stefan, CEO, Walden Family Services; Mary Marcdante, author and motivational speaker; Dr. Carolle Jean Murat, physician and medical director of the Wellness and Retreat Center, San Diego; Helice Bridges, Founder & President of Difference Makers International; and Gael Strack, JD, Co-Founder and CEO, National Family Justice Center Alliance.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS Friday, August 27. Nominations may be submitted as an attachment via email or completed online. No exceptions to the deadline, please.

The Selection Committee is looking for nominees who meet the following criteria:

• Is available to attend the September 25, 2010 awards event from 6:00 – 9:30 p.m. in person to receive her recognition.
• Has achieved personal and career goals.
• Has overcome adversity in her life.
• Is an inspiring role model.
• Is a leader in the community and/or her organization.
• Empowers other women to reach their full potential.
• Gives back to the community in a significant way.

Please click here for the 2010 Nomination Form. Complete your form online, or email a copy of your completed nomination to womenleaders@speakforsuccess.com

For 2010 Women Changing the World Sponsor Information, click here or email dana@speakforsuccess.com

For additional information regarding nominations call Debbie Lousberg: 760-941-5166 or email: womenleaders@speakforsuccess.com

Visit: www.SpeakForSuccessWomenLeaders.org

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Chris Blake is an example of why I love sites like Twitter. 
I’m not sure how our tweets crossed paths, but I am glad they did.

95.5 KLOS-FM Battle of the Fans finalist Chris Blake writes passionate alternative pop/rock songs about relationships, the environment and life. His music and videos have been featured on VH1′s Best Week Ever, BoingBoing, Chris Brogan, Mothering, Huffington Post, GigaOm, Cosmopolitan, ShinyShiny and hundreds of other sites around the world.

Chris is a talented musician.  I love his music, but music reviews are not what I do best.  Instead, to give you an idea of why I <3 Chris, I’m “borrowing” from another TV institution.  Today’s installment of Inside the Bloggers Studio will be prefaced by my own “Top 10 List”.

Top Ten Tweets I’ve seen from Chris recently:

1. Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. But it seems we’ve gotten to a point where it’s overkill.
2. In the last minute, 45 people have tweeted the word love. Only 10 tweeted the word hate. :)
3. Bird just hit the window and fell to the sidewalk. Darwinism.
4. Punk rockers should never die. Should be a rule. Like relish should never be put on toast.
5. I really like turtles. I respect their need for privacy.
6. Don’t ask me why but I just Twitter searched “I’m so awesome.” The results go on and on and on and on. People sure do thinK they’re awesome.
7. How come the price of petroleum jelly doesn’t fluctuate like gas prices do?
8. I love looking at maps. Don’t ask me where anything is, but I still like looking at them.
9. Miss my kid. (He’s with mommy in Fla.) Tried to teach the cats how to play light sabers. Didn’t go so well. Lots of cat hair to vacuum up.
10. Daily Confession: I worry about running out of good daily confessions.

(I know if this was a true “Top 10 List”, David Letterman style, I’d have started at 10 and ended at 1.  I left it this way either because I didn’t want to get sued by “the network” OR because I couldn’t figure out how to reverse the numbered list order in WordPress. I’ll leave it to your imagination to determine which.)

When I made my “wish list” for Inside the Bloggers Studio, Chris was at the top.  I was stoked to get to hear Chris’s take on life, without the limit of 140-characters-or-less.

At this point, I must take a moment to make my own daily confession. I don’t always connect the people I interact with online with who they are in “real life”.  That is, when I first connect with someone on a site like Twitter, I generally check out their profile, try to find out a bit about them, nose around their website, check out their photos and links .  .  . Then I usually forget which links went with which people.  It’s a little lame, admittedly, but I’m just as bad with names and faces in “real life”

Back to Chris.  I remembered he was a musician in L.A.  I remembered he’s a dad.  I remembered Chris’s MySpace page and liking his songs. I’d forgotten that Chris was the guy behind this:

I love that video
(don’t you?)

To see – and listen – to more of Chris’s work:

• @chrisblake on Twitter
• Chris Blake fan page on Facebook
• Chris Blake Music on MySpace
• on iTunes 
• on Amazon.com

To better acquaint you with the talented Chris Blake, I will now delve deep into my improv soul and pull out my best James Lipton impression for you, my dear readers.

Without further ado, I welcome you to Inside the Bloggers Studio!

FB: What is your favorite word?
CB: Meh

FB: What is your least favorite word?
CB: Absolutely (even though I use it all the time)

FB: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
CB: Cold weather

FB: What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
CB: Routine

FB: What sound or noise do you love?
CB: The organ at a baseball game, dishwashers, air conditioners and hamsters nibbling

FB: What sound or noise do you hate?
CB: Car alarms, phones ringing and knocks at the door

FB: What is your favorite curse word?
CB: Why it’s ‘fuck’ of course

FB: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
CB: Sheep herder

FB: What profession would you not like to do?
CB: Spa specialist

FB: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
CB: Bar’s open.

This is a spotlight post!
This spotlight post is part of my series “Inside the Bloggers Studio“.

Next ones in the hot seat: Geek Mommy, Johnny Truant
Upcoming guests: Tony Hsieh, Brandon J. Mendelson, Amber Naslund & more!

To make sure you don’t miss any of the series
you can subscribe to the Fearless Bloggger here.

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• Your Turn: Who would YOU like to see here?
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See, Mitch is an incredibly interesting guy.  It’s only fair to write something incredibly interesting about him then, right?

But Mitch had to go ahead and – *gasp!* – upstage the blogger.

That’s right.  You heard me. Upstaged. Me.   I can’t compete with Mitch’s answers .  Anything I could write would pale in comparison.

Which really is to be expected.  After all, Mitch not only is Executive editor at InformationWeek.com, he writes two other blogs, so he has lots of practice.   Even his tweets are witty.  Mitch makes me almost curious enough to explore Second Life – even though I secretly fear that once I go there, there’ll be no coming back (I tend to sometimes – um-”fixate” on things, especially when they involve a computer.  “Fixate” sounds so much nicer than “obsess”, doesn’t it?).   ‘Nuff said?

All of which is why I heart Mitch!

Rather than detain you much longer from reading his answers, I’ll quickly step aside and let him take the stage.  But before I do, I would feel I let you down if I didn’t share some ways to get an additional Mitch fix outside the Bloggers Studio:

I already told you about Infomation Week, so that’s old news.  Mitch’s personal blog (aptly named: “Mitch Wagner’s blog“) shares his insights on life (ranging from techie to political to pop culture) and gives you a full picture of Mitch’s virtual existence that his IW readers miss out on.  

But wait!  There’s more!  For the same price of *free* Mitch will give you a third blog!  With podcasts!  At Copper Robot Mitch brings you

interviews on technology, politics, literature, television, science fiction, science, and more. Join us in Second Life every other Sunday at 11 am U.S. Pacific time, or listen to the podcast.

All in all, Mitch is a cool dude.  And he gives a heck of an interview when he’s sitting in the Bloggers Studio chair . . .

Without further ado, I welcome you to Inside the Bloggers Studio!

FB: What is your favorite word?
MW: Sussuration

FB: What is your least favorite word?
MW: Cramps

FB: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
MW: Laughter

FB: What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
MW: Pomposity

FB: What sound or noise do you love?
MW: My wife laughing

FB: What sound or noise do you hate?
MW: The Windows error sound. I switched to Mac in Feb. 2007, but that sounds till makes me flinch. Here it is as a remix ringtone.

FB: What is your favorite curse word?
MW: I’ll go with the classic “fuck” on that one. So many to choose from. “Shit” is barely even a curse word anymore. Cunt is very satisfying – the C sound at the beginning, one syllable, the T sound at the end. In Brooklyn, which I grew up near, it’s actually a deadly insult: “You fucking cunt!” Imagine Christopher from “The Sopranos” saying that. “Motherfuck” is also very satisfying — “motherfucker,less so; one too many syllables. Actually, this is boring, but “Crap”is probably my favorite curse word.

FB: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
MW: Billionaire playboy philanthropist.

FB: What profession would you not like to do? 
MW:  Public relations. I’d end up having to talk to people like me all day.

FB: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
MW:   “We have some people here waiting to see you: Your Mom and Dad, your
grandma and grandpa Riva and Abe. Your grandpa, who died in 1968,
wants to talk to you about this ‘blogging’ thing, because he kept
scrapbooks of annotated magazine articles during the 1920s and 1930s
that were sort of like blogs, right?

“Also, your friend from high school Vincent is waiting to see you. He
says he doesn’t mind that the last time you talked, you fought over a
stupid $20 debt — he says that neither one of you knew that he was
going to drop dead before you could get that straightened out.

“Also waiting to see you: Your cousin Janet and Barry’s dog Dusty, who
was a totally sweet dog and made you a lifelong fan of golden
retrievers. And your cat Spike, who died too young at age 11 because
of a kidney infection.

“And after that: High-speed Internet access, and unlimited vanilla
latte that won’t make you fart!”*

*I didn’t bring my wife into the heaven
question, because that raises the matter of whether she dies before me
or I die before her, or we die at the same time, none of which seems
acceptable. I’ve settled that matter by deciding that neither one of
us will ever die. It’s a plan.

Next ones in the hot seat: Chris Blake, Geek Mommy
Upcoming guests: Johnny Truant, Tony Hsieh, Brandon J. Mendelson & more!

To make sure you don’t miss any of the series
you can subscribe to the Fearless Bloggger here.

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Now it’s my turn to share my crush on a company:

MOO.

I swoon over their MOO cards. All of them.  Greeting cards, postcards, business cards . . . the MiniCards make my heart skip a beat or two!   Show me the MiniCard holders and I can’t make any promises to maintain a lady-like demeanor.  My passion for MOO is hard to contain.

My beau patiently puts up with this.  He knows before him, there was MOO. Love me, love my love of MOO. (Plus my sweetie knows I save all my – ahem – sMOOches just for him.)

What kind of hussy would give her affection so freely when she has a wonderful man in her life, you ask? Relax, MOO is a company, not a person.  So your point is MOOt. (I’m on a roll here!)

This second quality unlocks a plethora of uses for MOO cards & stickers.

Some MOOvelous (ok, that was stretching it!) ideas:

• Photographers and artists: feature a number of pictures from your portfolio on your cards
• Musicians (or music lovers): print selected lyrics from your favorite songs on each card
• Entrepreneurs: design cards for each of your companies and ventures, or cards with pictures of the various “hats” you might wear
• Parents have endless possibilities:
  • sticker books with family photos instead of Cars and Sponge Bob for your kids to play with
  • “matching cards” memory game using pictures of your family, your child’s drawings, or just customized to include your child’s favorite places and things
  • photoshop savvy parents can split images across a set of cards to create puzzles made out of your child’s drawings or photos
• Upload pictures of your friends and family to the mini-cards at the holidays.  Use those as gift tags (so each person’s gift is labeled with their picture)
• Create a set of gift cards as a gift for someone: upload some of your favorite scenic vacation photos, images of flowers, scan labels from different wine bottles . . . you get the idea!

Creatively challenged?  Don’t sweat it. MOO also offers a selection of designer galleries to mix and match from as well!

MOO’s API, which facilitates printing from Facebook and Flickr, further enhances its potential.  You can accessorize your cards with the company’s selection of card holders, frames and envelopes.  MOO also offers gift certificates – ideal for new graduates, new/expecting parents, newlyweds or the freelancer in your life.

What would you use your MOO cards for? 

Want to save some MOO-lah?
Great news!  You can save 20% off your first purchase by using the promo code: NU6ZSP (valid until January 31st).

Even better, here’s some news that should MOOve ya!
Win a free pack of MiniCards! Just do one or all of the following:

1. subscribe to the blog (please leave a comment to let me know)
2. leave a comment below telling me who you’d like to see featured in a future “Inside the Bloggers Studio”
3. tweet a link to any post on this blog & include the phrase “This MOOved me”
4. send a tweet saying “MOOcho exciting contest here! http://is.gd/gcpk”

You can enter up to four times (once each way) between now and 1/24/09 11:59 PST.  Winners will be chosen using random.org.

To better acquaint you with the personality of MOO, I will now delve deep into my improv soul and pull out my best James Lipton impression for you, my dear readers.

Without further ado, I welcome you to Inside the Bloggers Studio!

mini-cards in cute-a-roo holder

FB:  What is your favorite word?
MOO:  ‘Printfinity’.  Actually, we made it up, but basically it means you can print an infinite amount of images. We use Printfinity to put a different image on every card. That technology is quite unique to us, so we thought we were relatively justified in making up a brand new word :)

FB:  What is your least favorite word?
MOO:  Identical.  Not everyone is the same, are they… Really?

FB:  What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
MOO:  Hmm. Well, without wanting to sound sycophantic, our customers turn us on creatively. We make the technology but they’re the ones that take it that little bit further – in so many unexpected ways. We print different kinds of cards and stickers, they’re the ones that use them for lampshades, jewellery, exhibitions, games, swapping, sharing etc. If we’re lacking in inspiration, we turn to them first.

FB:  What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
MOO:  Missed opportunities.  It’s as easy to make something interesting and fun as it is to make something boring. At MOO we always try to do creative things with the task in hand – like the top sheet of StickerBooks,for example. All it really needs is a barcode and information on the colour of the booklet, but where’s the fun in that? We made it into another sheet of usable stickers, because we thought about it, and decided that was nicer. I hope we never miss opportunities to be creative.

images + MOO = nice stuff

FB:  What sound or noise do you love?
MOO:  When we launched the site, way back in 2006, there were a lot less of us, working in much smaller office. On the day the site launched, we had a sound play, every time someone placed an order. It said ‘Hi-di hi!’ It was such a good noise to hear – a quick reminder that we’d launched, and it was all working! Eventually – as we got more orders – we had to turn it off, but it still brings back great memories – as well as all the late nights, junk food, and stress!

idea: family pic sticker books for your lil ones

FB: What sound or noise do you hate?
MOO:  The building site, over the road.

FB:  What is your favorite curse word?
MOO:  We can’t tell you that! Could be the name of a rival company though ;o)

FB:  What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
MOO:  We’d like to go to Mars, please. Many people in the office are avid followers of @Marsphoenix on Twitter, and we’d like to help him out. If you can fix that for us, it would be great.

FB:  What profession would you not like to do?
MOO:  Anything that involves working in total isolation. Working with other people always sparks off new ideas, and a little chatter makes the day go quicker. People are interesting – it’s nice to work with them.

FB:  If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
MOO:  I got my cards – and I love them! Now, would you like a slice of cake, with your tea?

idea: mini-cards with love notes for Valentine's Day

Next ones in the hot seat: Mitch Wagner, Chris Blake
Upcoming guests: Geek Mommy, Johnny Truant, Tony Hsieh

To make sure you don’t miss any of the series
you can subscribe to the Fearless Bloggger here.

Gratitude:  To Denise from MOO for participating in this post and providing the free mini-card prize!
Disclosure: Links are affiliate links. That said, I was a fan first, which motivated me to become an affiliate.
This is not a sponsored post.

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TheBusyBrain Wisdom: If you do stupid stuff, stupid stuff happens!

“TheBusyBrain” is Mike Johnson, self-described “Proud Father, Husband, and Family guy.”   A US Postal Service Letter Carrier by day, blogger and web entrepreneur by night, TheBusyBrain provides his readers with an an eclectic mix of “web, tech, & gadget related content”.

“Veritable Smorgasbord” aptly describes the variety of topics covered.  Travel, web design, money savers, video gaming and technology news are just a few of the categories Mike writes about.  My personal fave is the “Did You Know?” category, filled with a smattering of useful suggestions and tips representing a cross-section of the aforementioned topics.

To better acquaint you with the blog’s author, I will now delve deep into my improv soul and pull out my best James Lipton impression for you, my dear readers.

Without further ado, I welcome you to Inside the Bloggers Studio!

photo credit: TheBusyBrain

FB: What is your favorite word?
BB: Absolutely

FB: What is your least favorite word?
BB: Curdle

FB: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
BB: Walking, and Listening to various audio books or podcasts

FB: What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
BB: Daily Stresses

FB: What sound or noise do you love?
BB: A large fishing reel unwinding!

photo credit: TheBusyBrain

FB: What sound or noise do you hate?
BB: Grinding Teeth

FB: What is your favorite curse word?
BB: I’m sorry, I don’t curse. What the fuck would you ask such a question for?

FB: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
BB: If fiscal benefits are the result of the profession, CEO of any Fortune 500 co. I’ve heard bankers get heafty pay and free bailout money. Maybe that!

FB: What profession would you not like to do?
BB: Factory worker in a Perfume factory! Allergies.

FB: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
BB: What? Mike? Oops! You were supposed to be on the “Live Forever” list along with your friends and family! Go back!

TheBusyBrain & family

To make sure you don’t miss any of the series
you can subscribe to the Fearless Bloggger here.

similar posts you might enjoy

• Your Turn: Who would YOU like to see here?
• Inside the Bloggers Studio: Chris Blake
• Inside the Bloggers Studio: Meet Mitch Wagner
• Spotlight Post: On “Who is Jon Ray?”

Who is the man behind the mustache?Read Who is Jon Ray? to find out!

Confession Time.

I have a crush.    

And it’s not my boyfriend.

It’s a . . . blog.

I’m twenty-something & embarrassed to buy myself ice cream. I switch my career focus constantly. I used to wet the bed. Yeah, I’m that kid.

 “Play it cool,” I told myself, “You’ve only just met this blog, it may turn out it’s really not going to work out long term“. 

To better acquaint you with the blog’s author, I will now delve deep into my improv soul and pull out my best James Lipton impression for you, my dear readers.  

Without further ado, I welcome you to the first installment of Inside the Bloggers Studio:

FB: What is your favorite word?
JR: Translucent

FB: What is your least favorite word?
JR: Dingleberry

Jon Ray bares his soul for us

FB: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
JR: Confidence

FB: What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
JR: Indecision

FB: What sound or noise do you love?
JR: When a beautiful woman laughs (and I mean uncontrollable belly laughing and snorting) at something I’ve said or done.

FB: What sound or noise do you hate?
JR: The silence in the room after you tell someone you don’t want to be in a relationship with them anymore.

FB: What is your favorite curse word?
JR: Fuckstick

FB: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
JR: Rock Star/Musician

FB: What profession would you not like to do?
JR: Grocery Store Security Guard

FB: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
JR: They would have had more fun if they’d listened to you, Jon.

For more Jon Ray visit whoisjonray.com!

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James Lipton's got nothing on The Fearless Blogger!

Starting very soon, I’ll be kicking off a new series on my blog called Inside the Bloggers Studio.

I’m a big time movie geek and love A&E’s Inside the Actors Studio.   For those not familiar with the show:

“Inside the Actors Studio” is the Emmy-nominated, longest-running original series on the Bravo cable television channel, hosted by James Lipton . . . Since its premiere, Inside the Actors Studio has had over 200 guests. Of those guests, there have been 74 Academy Awardwinners: 8 directors; four screenwriters; 61 actors and actresses; and two musicians. While most of the show is a one-on-one interview conducted by Lipton, this is followed by the host submitting a questionnaire to the guest. The questionnaire concept was originated by French television personality Bernard Pivot, after the Proust Questionnaire.¹

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
5. What sound or noise do you love?
6. What sound or noise do you hate?
7. What is your favorite curse word?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

The way I see it, why should actors get to have all the fun?  

There are plenty of other interesting folks out there whose answers I’d like to hear. 

Folks in the tech industry, for example. Or Bloggers. 

In the meantime, below are two clips for both those familiar and unfamiliar with the show to enjoy. The first, is an interview of James Lipton in which he shares his tales of being a pimp in France (yep, you read that right) and answering his own questionairre.  The second is Will Ferrell doing his James Lipton impression (one which Lipton has said he is a fan of).

Stay tuned for the first installment!

similar posts you might enjoy

• Your Turn: Who would YOU like to see here?
• Inside the Bloggers Studio: Chris Blake
• Inside the Bloggers Studio: Meet Mitch Wagner
• Inside the Bloggers Studio: TheBusyBrain

The app (currently available at the App Store for $ .99) lets you take three photos (or choose three photos from your iPhone library) and then record 12 seconds of audio. The photos and audio make a slideshow which outputs as a 12 second video to your 12seconds account. Since the iPhone does not yet include any video capture functionality, this has the potential of serving as a bit of a work-around.

Why 12 seconds?

According to the site, “because anything longer is boring”!

As of today, 12seconds has opened up the site in a public Beta to allow anyone to register.

You don’t have to have an iPhone to be able to join the fun. The 12second site features a video interface for users to record videos; or you can upload a previously recorded video. The videos need to be – of course – 12 seconds or less.  The site is pretty nifty, every video has its own page (sort of like Flickr) and any video can be emailed, downloaded or embedded.  Provided widgets make it easy to share your videos elsewhere.

And since Twitter integration seems to be a “must” these days,  profiles can be linked to Twitter accounts to (optionally) send tweets linking to your most recent videos.

One thing I like about the site in particular is that the site features daily challenges for members to upload video responses to.  Recent challenges have included topics such as “What Celebrity Do You Look Like?” and “Tell us your birth story in 12seconds”. This is especially handy for the creatively challenged, who might need some inspiration for their videos!

Viva Las Vegas!

I’ll be trying the iPhone app as I make my way from San Diego to Las Vegas which should start showing up in the widget below.  You can also view updates in my snazzy new sidebar widget, visiting my 12second profile page or following my twitter updates to see how my road trip is coming along!

faryl on 12seconds.tv

Stay tuned for a follow up post on my thoughts on the app as well as the newly launched site.

And while I’m road-tripping, head over to the 12seconds site to create your own profile and start sharing your own videos.

(Keep in mind that this is their first day in Beta – so some bumps and glitches are to be expected.  The team is gathering feedback at get satisfaction and has been extremely responsive thus far.)

Be sure to post links to your profiles in the comments so I can check your videos out!

this is a spotlight post

Special thanks to:

@joyofzen for turning me onto 12seconds

David Speiser of stage two consulting for connecting me with 12seconds

Jacob Knobel, founder/lead developer of 12seconds for getting me set up so quickly

Disclosure: At my request, I received a preview version of the iphone app so I could use it prior to writing the review

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One cousin just learned to drive, a nephew is learning to walk, an aunt just started a new job . . . and Grandpa sits back smiling, observing, absorbing, basking in the glow of bringing family together.

photo credit: Bryan Ledgard

It occurred to me that Twitter is a bit like that family gathering; and we’re all a bit like Grandpa.

We tune in and tune out: overhearing snippets of conversations between other people in the room;  (hopefully) catching any words directed specifically at us and forming responses appropriate to the person posing the question.  Sometimes people talk about us like we aren’t there; other times as if we just wouldn’t understand.  The art of selective listening is relied up; equally is the ability to absorb the chatter as a whole.

My grandfather always was interested in what his grandkids were up to – the newest fads, latest trends.

I wonder how I would describe Twitter to him?

Ideally, what are ways they might use it themselves?  How might it compliment or replace something they already use?   The key to an effective explanation is making it something your audience can relate to.

Your parents?

How might the way you describe Twitter to you mom be different than the explanation you’d give your dad?

Do you have a story about introducing someone new to Twitter?  How did you do it?

Please share your stories in the comments below . . .

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photo credits: “Happy Christmas, war is over” by Bryan Ledgard | licensed under

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