Archive for the ‘canada’ tag
Sympathy for the Devil
On Saturday, two prankster DJs from Quebec got their hands on Sarah Palin’s phone number and managed to convince her that she was talking to Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France. The phone call, full audio of which is below, went on for nearly six minutes. (Note: this is longer than the campaign allows her to talk to the press.) It’s actually very difficult for me to listen to; if I was watching it, it would be through my fingers, cringing. I kind of… feel… bad for her.
Warning, in case you play this out loud, he managed to slip a joke about “fucking” (in a reference to the porno, “Whos Nailin’ Paylin”) that went over her head; it’s all very thickly accented and fast when he says it.
I can kind of see how she would be confused. Kind of.
The best (worst?) part was that her campaign didn’t lie their assess off about it; they confirmed it.
If the woman who, in two days, has a decent shot at being one 72-year-old cancer survivor’s heart beat away from having the most important job on the planet gets punk’d for nearly 6-minutes by two yahoos from Quebec, don’t you think it should have been, I dunno, COVERED UP? Is this part of some master scheme? It seems too far out. Or is the internet really still a “wild west” of information, and these sorts of things will never really be able to be swept under the rug, with people trading information so fast that The Man can’t keep up?
Viva la internet.
Amber at PodCamp?
“Podcamp” is the dorkiest sounding name for an event that I can think of, and when I first heard it, as in, “I’m going to Podcamp, honey!”, I rolled my eyes at Rob, gave him my wifely, “Have a good time, dear.”, and wrote it off as One Of Those Internet Things He Does.
He went to a few, including some overnight, and I figured he was learning, making connections and having a good time doing something that I would never be involved with.
Then he went to Podcamp held in Phillidephia right after we moved to Brooklyn. PCPhilly was a two-night event, and while he was gone everything fell apart at home. The details are unimportant, but it was the collective experience of all of the hard parts of adulthood needing ATTENTION! and SIGNATURES! and the lawyer-landlord-mortgage-insurance swirl of events that you’re allowed to ignore when you’re a kid piling on all at once. I couldn’t deal by myself and he came home early because I had reached my breaking point and he’s the best fucking husband ever.
To make it up to him, I offered to go to “his dorky event” for its second day, so he wouldn’t have to drive the hour or so back to Philly by himself. I figured I would find SOMEthing to do while he went to events all day, but when I saw the names of some of the sessions, I realized that some of them, one in particular, sounded REALLY interesting. I ended up talking to people and making connections, getting business cards, and learning some really valuable information about PR and marketing.
Podcamp in Montreal was held this weekend which I had been planning on going to for months; I wanted to see the city. My plan was to explore the city solo while Rob was doing his thing. It took me less than an hour to realize I’m not a huge fan Montreal (sorry if you’re native), but I really wanted to be at Podcamp. Thus begins a new evolution in my perception of social media participants, what they do, and how they have fun and network.
I still feel not quite as “into it” as most of the people there (and probably never will be), but I was able to share what I had to offer… you know, one of MY specialties: I hosted a party. We stayed in a place that came equipped with a kitchen and I got to work making twice-baked potatoes (the only ingredients I could find within walking distance of my hotel were potatoes and cheese… it was guerrilla party throwing!) I cleaned the hotel room, completely rearranged the furniture for maximum “party flow”, put the ash tray on the balcony, set out glasses and made ice.
The party was a HUGE success in that everyone had a LOT of fun, some more than others, and that’s just about all I’m going to say about that (because I value my life).
Anyway, all that to say I am extremely excited to have met so many amazing people this weekend, and I appreciate the change in perspective. I’m never one to shy away from saying, “Hey, I was wrong!” and these friendly people totally flew against my perspective.
I never thought I’d say this but… I’m looking forward to the next podcamp [Rob breaks out dancing].
Things I Forgot to Pack on my Trip to Canada, in Addition to Warm Clothes
1. Lotion (i’m so itchy!)
2. Canadian money (getting it here is a pain and a rip-off.)
3. Business cards (for my blog, which is mostly unnecessary but would have been nice.)
4. Long pants (I brought one pair! One! And I wore them on the 9 hour car ride up here!)
5. My glasses (the occasional travel snoozes make my contacts feel like tiny plastic potato chips stuck to my eyes.)
And, finally,
6. Enough tee shirts (I feel the need to constantly change.)
With Glowing Hearts We See Thee Rise
I’m off to Canada!
