Catch the virus

Wile I was reading  chapter 10 of Paul Gillin’s book “The New Influencers” Got me reminiscing. I remember being totally obsessed with Numa Numa.  My friends and I learned the song and would dance around at school, our houses  and in public. I can still sing most of the words to the song even though I don’t know what they mean. And then it hit me…we didn’t even have YouTube till 2005… I survived the majority of my high school career without YouTube. How did manage that? At this very minute I am watching "Cage The Elephant" songs on YouTube wile I am writing this post.  I probably got a lot more done back then but I’m still very happy to have it now.  

Cheers,

JoJo

PSP: Performing Shakespeare in Public

This week I did something that was more nerve racking than anything I have ever did before. I performed a sonnet and a monologue with the rest of my class in the lobby in front of the Macintosh cafeteria. That’s right on Friday 23, 2009 we shared the bards words with passers by. In the end it was extremely fun and there are going to be more public displays of theatre through out the rest of the year  as part of the new ONU Theatre Company ,and this  public performance was a good way to kick it off. I performed sonnet 10 and a Desdemona monologue from Othello.  Look for our story in the Northern Review and on Cable3.

The Players

Cheers,

JoJo

Social Media is Creepy!

Just in time for Halloween social media finds a way to freak me out. I will start with Facebook. A wile ago my friends and I began to notice that the ads on Facebook seemed applicable to our interests. Then we noticed the tie between our interests that we had listed on our profile pages and the ads popping up.

These are some screen shots of what I’m talking about.

My Interests

The ads I get because of my interests

Since I have certain things listed, like U2 being a band that I like I get ads on Facebook about U2, scrap booking, film making, the list goes on and on. And that’s ok with me. I volunteered that information and I’m sure that there is something in the terms of service that I agreed to that say they can do that. What really freaked me out was this.

It may not seem like much but it did me in. How does YouTube know that I know this person. I’ve deduced that we are both subscribed to a couple of the same YouTube channels of friends from school. Still it is very big brother of YouTube to know who I know… they already know what I watch often and that freaks me out a bit too. What do you think folks, have we given the social networks too much information about ourselves or not.

That’s so last year

This week when I was doing my reading for class I all of a sudden felt like a huge snob. I thought to my self “this book was published in 2007, it’s not accurate anymore, how am I suppose to read this and take it seriously when the information will be even more different next year and then the next year.” In true millennial form I also wondered why there wasn’t a newer version of the book out yet because I want it now! After I had my moment of millennial craziness I calmed down and then got freaked out all over again. How is anything I learn going to help me in life if it’s changing so much, I’ll be 24 and younger kids won’t think I’m cool because I don’t know how to most effectively use my Blackberry… or even worse that I’m so old I have a blackberry  which is so old fashioned to them… is there anyway to win when the world of technology is moving so quickly? Then I heard @alisaagozzino ‘s voice in my head “ it’s all about building the relationships.” We hear this a lot in our social media class.  Even though I won’t be able to keep up with the youngins and their newfangled technologies as long as I keep to the basics everything should be fine.

Cheers,

JoJo 

The State of Our Universe...Kinda

 "The State of the Blgosphere 2009" on Technorati is wort reading. Just like the blogosphere there is an abundance of information in this series. So I picked one article to write about today.
the article Day 1: Who Are The Bloggers? SOTB 2009 talks about.. you guessed it who is blogging. Something that surprised me was that half of bloggers have a graduate degree and the majority of bloggers earn  $75,000 per year as a household. 


Go check out some of the Articles, it's definitely worth your time.


And just if you were wondering Richard Jalichandra says "The state of the blogosphere is strong." 


Cheers


JoJo   

Podcasting!!

Podcasting is crazy!  It's a very cool idea and in theory it's easy. In practice though? If you don't know exactly what you are doing, stop, go find someone who does and then make a podcast.
This is the result of my first attempt. If you would like to download it to your computer click here . IF you want to find it on itunes... well I'm still working on that one.
Here is my podcast that I uploaded to YouTube so it's easy to watch.


Cheers,

JoJo

Podcast

This is a podcast about what Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS  is and how you can help support ONU Theater Company's campaign against AIDS.

Click here  to watch

The Great Lakes Theatre Festival

This weekend my Shakespeare acting class went to the Great Lakes Theatre Festival to see “Twelfth Night” and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” .

After the production of  “Twelfth Night” we had the opportunity to talk with some of the actors and ask them advice about pursuing a career in theatre. They were more than willing to give us more than their two cents.  By the time we left that night I think we had roughly $10 worth of two cents, all of it helpful.

The biggest question I had for them was what advice they had for applying for grad school since that’s what I am interested in doing after I graduate. They gave me a lot of good advice about how to find what I wanted in a school and what to do when I auditioned. The two things that resonated with me were that when I go in for my audition I am auditioning the school as well, I can’t just go into the audition hoping they will love me and that’s it, I need to make sure that I like what they have to offer and how they work. The second thing was that the audition isn’t about being the best actor at the audition, more importantly it’s about who I am in the audition room before I even start acting. If I seem like a confident interesting person that interests them first and then when I show them that I can act it makes a much better impression on them. In the end what should happen will happen it’s just a matter of taking the cards I have been dealt and playing the heck out of them.

The actors who spoke to us were extremely kind and helpful. The shows were wonderful and I can’t wait to return. 

Cheers,

JoJo

Here Social Media Comes to Save the Day!

Small business is the place to be right now, I’m convinced. Even though the economy is bad,  small businesses have an incredible tool in social media, namely blogs and podcasts.  In  “The New Influencers” Paul Gillian makes a compelling argument in, chapter 6, for why “Small is Beautiful”.

Though the idea of “bigger is better” is still a popular concept, everything around us is becoming smaller and more efficient. Phones can now fit in your pocket, blogging it’s self has become micro in the form of Twitter, and to top it all of ,the smart car exists.  While life continues to get physically smaller, the opportunities to make new connections continue to get bigger.

Small business can now grow quickly at a relatively small cost basically for free by using tools like Podcasts,  Facebook, blogs and Twitter.

Two of my favorite examples from this chapter are EnglishCut.com and A Painting a Day .

EnglishCut.com is a blog started by Thomas Mahon, a tailor from London.  Mahon started the blog in an effort to make people understand the importance of a well-tailored suit. He started posting when he would be in different towns to sell suits and his business tripled in six months.  All Mahon did was have a good idea, stayed faithful to it and now his business is booming. Even a 30 min documentary about his business has been because of his success.

A Painting a Day  by Duane Keiser is almost self explanatory. Keiser paints a painting a day and posts them to his blog, making the art available for people to purchase them. He started selling his work for $100 a piece, but eventually started taking bids on e-bay to sell the paintings.  He began to receive $400 to $800 dollars for his work, and never gave a cent to an art gallery where he would have paid  a commission of 50%  to sell his art.

I have said it before, other people have too and we will all say it again, SOCIAL MEDIA IS HERE TO STAY! These are two wonderful reasons why it will never go away.

Cheers,

JoJo

Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS

Of all the things I’m involved in I am extremely excited and proud to be in the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Concert at ONU .

Never heard of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA)? Let me inform you.  In 1992 the separate fundraising organizations combined to create BC/EFA in an endeavor to more effectively support The Actors' Fund and twice a year award grants to AIDS service organizations nationwide.

What makes this organization different than most organizations like it?  Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS must raise every single dollar of their philanthropic budget, every year, in order to fulfill their mission.  In addition to that BC/EFA has two emphases when it comes to grant making. The first grant making project is for The Actor’s Fund of America, which provides direct assistance to performing artists and industry professionals with AIDS, HIV, HIV-related illness, and a variety of other problems.  The second grant making effort is for the National Grants Program , through this organization BC/EFA makes grants available to hundreds of community-based AIDS service organizations through out America.

This is such a wonderful organization that means a grate deal to myself and many other actors because of how the AIDS virus has affected our friends in entertainment industry.  Not only is it a cause i believe in but "BC/EFA is one of the nation’s largest HIV/AIDS-related foundations, granting approximately $6 million annually and over $92 million dollars since 1987."  I am proud to be involved and can’t wait to start raising money for a cause that is so important in our day and age. 

If you are reading this I hope you can help us out, just leave a comment to ask what you can do. Keep checking back for updates about the show and how much we are making to support this cause. 

Cheers,

JoJo

Happy Birthday Complements of Social Media

Many times people talk about how social media is a waste of time, won’t last, the list goes on and on. For instance I was working in the computer lab and over heard a video conference call to a client in florida. The gentleman on the call made the comment that Twitter wasn't going to last and not many people use it in his aria. So I decided to do some research. I went to Twitter search and looked up tweets made with in 100 miles of the Florida Keys and after 60 second there had been over 300 tweets. Needless to say Twitter is just a small part of social media but it communicates quickly to many people.

These are two examples of how cool social media is and how it's anything but a waste of time.

I personally love this commercial from AT&T below. The commercial is a prime example of how social media allows people to communicate quickly, and effectively to a large group of people.

This week my brother turned 18! My baby brother is officially an adult. My parents went to visit him in Cleveland wearer he goes to school. The plan was for me to go with them to celebrate his birthday but I was unable to because rehearsal for the christmas show, a.k.a Holiday.Needless to say I was bummed out about this. I could call him but I wanted to do something cool for him because I couldn’t be there. Before I went to Holiday practice for the night I have a stroke of genius.

YouTube was the answer to my dilemma. This is what I sent to him after practice that night. He loved what I sent him, he called the video "epic".

What's the coolest thing you have ever used social media for?


Cheers,
JoJo

It's Starting to Feel a lot Like Halloween and Christmas Everywhere I Go

On my way to my voice lesson I saw this.

Apparently one of my professors got mad at their neighbor and rushed through the hiding process;)

This is what I love about this time of the year, when Halloween is around the corner, Seeing fake arms and legs hanging out of a teachers car isn't strange it's normal!

And in honor of the beginning of October I will be singing Christmas songs all night! that's right ladies and gentleman it's christmas time, at least in the Freed Center. So wile the rest of you are dreaming about candy corn, I'll have sugar plum fairies dancing with scarecrows in my dreams.

At least they are my favorite holidays, might as well combine them!

Cheers,

JoJo

Games Games and More Games

Today was the final performance of Games at O.N.U. What does that mean? 24 houres of freedom!! tomorrow is the first meating for "Holiday Spectaulr" but in the mean time I am free from responsibility (besides writing this blog and cleaning the disaster that is my room.)


Before I was oficially free tonight I participated in strike after the dance show. I have never been involved in a strike at O.N.U. and I must admit that I was anxious about how it would work. I don't know anything about lighting, or sound in the theatre. On top of my lack of knowledge in this field i'm a cluts, what happens if I break an important/ expencive piece of equitment?  I must admit I was dreading the experiance all together.


Once strike began, I started looking around at al the commotion and i realized something. If the cast of the dance show was not helping there would only be about six people taking down and putting away over 60 lights, reweighting things, cleaning the dressing rooms taking apart the set and countless other jobs. As I looked around I thought about the one percenters. I had been trying to figure out how to incorperate the idea of the one percenters in my blog for a couppl days and then it just hit me.


Techies ar not the fellons in motercycle clubs, nor are they the one percent that contributes the most to social media but they are the perfect example of wht it means to be a one percenter.




According to Citizen Marketers " what they [the one percenters] do is well beyond the norm, but with innate talent and a lot of passion, citizen marketers are building conciderable audiances." ( page34 of citezen marketers) This quote applies  to thoes people dressed in black running around back stage during  a show. Without this small group of people, there would be no show. As performers, we need them. We may get the gory while they clean up but without them noting would work. To quote our director " thou shal not tick off the thechies or thou shal dance in the dark to the wrong music." 


Without the one percenters who supply us with the bulk of the internet, we too would be in the dark, social media wouldn't exist the way it does now,Wikipedia would say that George Washington was the first president and owned a t-rex breeding farm. 

We may take advantage of the hard work they put in, but we are grateful for it. 

The 1% badge ( FTW: For The Win?)

Cheers

JoJo

Social Media Plus Mom and Dad

Wile doing homework in the living room with my roommate last night, she all of a sudden exclaims “ that’s so weird”. Curious, I asked her what was up. Her father had just sent her a Facebook message… bum bum bum!  If you haven’t experienced this, the first time a parent sends  a Facebook message, writes on your wall or comments on a picture it’s a little bit like being contacted by aliens, or like if you came home and your cat was talking on the phone and making you dinner, it’s just a little strange.

The fact that he father contacted her on Facebook was funny in its own right but the content of his message got us talking. The message he sent was about some papers he needed for something official. She made the comment that the content wasn’t really Facebook appropriate. 

After a little discussion this is what we decided:

*Facebook is for chit chat and the less important messages in our lives.

*E-mail is for more official information like meeting dates, or getting official paperwork from your daughter.

For instance I’m not going to e-mail my friend and tell her that I saw her across the tundra today and her coat was super cute. That doesn’t deserve an e-mail. But I will e-mail her to tell her and other people that our meeting will be Friday at 8:00 and to let me know if they can’t come for some reason. That is e-mail worthy.

We also realized that we don’t communicate between social medias much. For instance if a friend sends me a tweet about this cool new band, I will not e-mail that friend back and say “ wow they rock, thanks for sharing the song with me.”

But our parents don’t really understand or subscribe to the norm of how we generally communicate via social networking. In the mean time we might as well roll with the punches and send an e-mail about their tweet about the Facebook message they send us.

Cheers,

JoJo

Trust Me

If you are a person who has problems with trust then you probably have a problem reading and trusting blogs. Especially since the accredited New York Times claims that this guy  was the first blogger.  It's very easy to ignore and discredit a blog.
So how do I make you trust me when so many people are blogging, not everyone can know what they are talking about, right?
" You can trust me" are famous last words but I'm going to tell you why and when you an trust me.
When can you trust me?
When I'm talking about social media you can trust me.
Why?
I'm taking a social media class! That should make me an expert right?  Not really but what I'm writing is being monitored and graded by a person who is an expert, so if I should ever lead you astray it will get corrected.  Also I try to include as many links as possible to back up and enhance the information I write about.

On top of all of this, you can trust me because this blog is my opinion. I don't claim to be an expert on anything except for my own thoughts. Blogging is like a healthy debate I have my opinion and you have your opinion