There was one bathroom and unknown to most of the occupants there was a camera in the corner of it  that was broadcasting onto a TV set, everything that happened in the bathroom. I saw everything from girls doing lines, to couples getting it on, all while the unsuspecting people in line waited to pee.

I’ll admit, the idea of being watched kinda excited me. Even though I was aware of the camera, I still made my way into the bathroom. I wanted to see what it felt like to be watched. Call me a voyeur, call me an exhibitionist, but there is at least some small part in all of us that likes that feeling. Otherwise you would be spending your time in front of the TV and not on the computer.

Photo from weliveinpublic official photostream

We live in Public, winner at this years Sundance Film Festival, is a must see. I attended the screening in LA and was absolutely blown away. I had never heard of Josh Harris or his crazy parties and experiments in New York, but watching it all unfold under the direction of Ondi Timoner really opened my mind to the dangers of exposure on the Internet. Some of us don’t realize what we are putting out there for the world to see, and others don’t care as long as they get recognition for it.

When I was offered the chance to see an online screening of the movie I jumped at it. Interloper Films had received permission from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to perform a live, private password-protected online screenings for press only. Never before had something like this been allowed. Academy eligibility rules dictate that for a film to be eligible for Oscar nomination, it mustn’t be shown to the public in any venue or medium other than in theaters for 60 days after the initial theatrical release. This was the first time in film history that the Academy  granted special permission to do so.

Eager to see it again, I sat riveted to my screen as I watched Josh’s life unravel in his quest for fame. Instead of trying to describe what the movie entails I thought it would be better for you to see for yourself. Here’s a look at what We Live In Public is all about:

*Some footage may be NSFW

We were given a chance to do a Q&A with the director, Ondi Timoner, after the screening. It was fascinating to hear her talk about Josh and the film and how it all came together.

“The internet is the most powerful invention in our lifetime. We are connecting to more people with less depth, this movie raises consciousness about how we raise our kids.”

This statement could not be more true. Everyday I see more and more people who spend their time trying to promote themselves on the Internet and get their 15 minutes of fame. Two recent examples would be Balloon Boy’s family and the solider who live tweeted the events at Fort Hood. These people were not concerned about how their actions would affect others, they just wanted to be noticed.

Photo from weliveinpublic official photostream

It took quite some time for this film to come to fruition. After viewing the rough draft of the film, Josh told Ondi that he didn’t like the way he looked. This was during the time when he was living in public with Tanya and it had all fallen apart. He had lost his money and his fans were turning on him. So he threw it out and left Manhattan. That was the last contact Ondi had with Josh until 2008, when she received an unexpected phone call.

It was Josh, he wanted to start the movie up again. He was offering 50% of the profits from the movie and full creative control, something that had not been an option before. Ondi was intrigued and took the bait. Josh was ready for the film to be made. He told Ondi:

“I dont care how you make me look just make a great film”

According to Ondi this was around the same time that Facebook status updates came out. She said that this made her realize she needed to make the film. The internet space had changed.

“I couldn’t have put this movie out without the internet and things like Twitter and Facebook.”

In August of 2008, they were able to get independent financing and won the Grand Jury Prize at this years Sundance Film Festival. An amazing feat for Ondi as she is now the only director that has a double win at Sundance, the other for DiG!. Josh flew out for the event and was supposed to be in town for just one week. Last I heard he is still living “off the grid” in Jason Calacanis’s pool house and driving his yellow corvette.

His house in Ethiopia is unoccupied and Josh has grand plans for it as well. He wants to lend out his house to people who need to get away from the Internet for a while. They can choose how much money they want to pay and then go stay in Josh’s house. More info regarding this endeavour should be on the website soon.

Josh’s next project is called Wired City, a studio of self surveillance. The idea is for a group of people to document themselves, then Josh would take the best bits of film and turn it into entertainment.  The group would consist of 400 hand-picked people at a time, then a new group would come in. Think of it like the Truman Show, it would be live 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Kind of a new wave for reality tv.

Personally this idea sounds just as damaging as the first two to me, but I doubt he will have any trouble finding people who want to be involved in something historic.

The movie is tentatively scheduled to be released on DVD and iTunes on 2/10/2010, and will contain tons of extra footage from the bunker where “Quiet” took place. Until then you can check out their website which is releasing a new 15 second clip each day with never before seen footage from the film.

Follow them on Twitter @wlip and check out video interviews and extras on the official website, weliveinpublicthemovie.com. If you’d like to help promote the film, there is a special widget featured on the site for you to use.

Usually you can read all about her latest developments in sex and relationships in her weekly column on Blogher, but now AV is giving you and herself another outlet and this one is for all things sex. Here’s and idea of what you will find on Sex and the 405:

“Here you’ll find news about the latest research being conducted to figure out what drives desire, passion, and other sex habits; reviews of sex toys, porn and other sexy things; coverage of the latest sex-related news that have mainstream media’s panties up in a bunch; human interest pieces about sex and desire; interviews with people who love sex, or work in sex, or work to enable you to have better sex; opinion pieces that relate to sex and society; a raunchier kind of celebrity gossip; and more…”

We happen to have an exclusive photo of miss Flox that was used to create the header image on her site. Yes, ladies and gentlemen that is her body riding high above the city. Yowza!

Header Photo used on the site

Original photo from the shoot

Congrats on your new endeavor AV.

Like a delectable piece of chocolate that you discover and just can’t help eating, your site is mouth watering. I have a feeling it will do wonders in bed for some, others will just continue to be vanilla.

Check out the interview she did last week with Melissa McCarty on KCal9 News about the site.

Thanks to Wm. Marc Salsberry, lalawag has 10 RSVP codes to give out at our discretion. To enter, just tweet out why you want to go. Be sure to include @lalawag and @undergroundpdc in your tweet so we can find it.

You have until Tuesday at 5pm to get your tweets in. We will pick a winner based off of how much we enjoy your tweet. Here’s a few tips, we like sarcasm, wit and humor. Good luck!

Details

The Underground @ PDC 2009 – An invite only event taking place after the PDC conference. Sponsored by INETA, Microsoft and local Southern California partners. We hear this is one party you don’t want to miss. See pics from last year’s event.

Date: Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
The Conga Room
800 W Olympic Blvd
Stes A160 and A260
Los Angeles, CA 90015

(Photo from chelliepingree.com)

Monday, November 16, 2009

Digital LA- Sci-Fi Panel @ Star Trek: The Exhibition – Sci-fi movies rank at the top of the box office: Transformers 2 is #1 for the year so far, plus Star Trek, and Monsters vs. Aliens. Sci-fi TV shows includes remakes like award-winning Battlestar Galactica and highly-anticipated V. Join them for a discussion on online sci-fi communities and marketing sci-fi to the mainstream, on the day before the Star Trek movie DVD release and in the Star Trek Exhibition.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Star Trek: The Exhibition @ Hollywood & Highland
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: $19 advance registration required by November 16th at 4pm

Myspace Redcarpet Livestream of Twighlight New Moon Premiere – fans of ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ can experience the Los Angeles premiere, exclusively on MySpace. Anya Marina, writer and performer of “Satellite Heart” on the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, will co-host the broadcast with the winner of the Red Carpet Correspondent Contest.

Time: 6:00pm

Location: anywhere with a computer and an internet connection

Tuesday, Novembers 17, 2009

GIT LA Presents: The Impact of Tech on Good & Green – taking a look at how the tech industry is jumping on the green bandwagon and what kind of impact it will have on the industry and on the good and green companies it supports. The panel will also discuss how we as business people can do some good and make money in the process.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
The Organic Panaficio
4211 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets: $10 RSVP
*A portion of the ticket sales will go to Free Arts For Abused Children

SMCLA November Corndog Social – Simply keep next Tuesday night open for a rockin’ good time.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm
Location: To be determined
Tickets: No RSVP yet

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Underground @ PDC 2009 – An invite only event taking place after the PDC conference. Sponsored by INETA, Microsoft and local Southern California partners. We hear this is one party you don’t want to miss. See pics from last year’s event.

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
The Conga Room
800 W Olympic Blvd
Stes A160 and A260
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Tickets: Invite only, you must have an RSVP code to attend. Thankfully we were given 10 tickets to give out at our discretion. Details on how to enter are listed in a separate post on lalawag.

The Los Angeles MySQL Meetup Group - join them for an evening of networking and conversation regarding performance optimization for MySQL with InnoDB & XtraDB and updates on Infobright. Hosted by Joe Devon and Scott Metcalf with guest speakers Carl Gelbart and Morgan Tocker.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm

Location:
Sun Office in El Segundo
222 N. Sepulveda Blvd
El Segundo, CA 90245

Tickets: Seating is limited, RSVP deadline is November 18th at 6:00pm

Digital LA – Video Game Marketing panel @ OTX – Join them for a panel discussion on console video games (xbox, PS3, Wii) trends and marketing. They’ll discuss marketing both hardcore (action/shooter) and mainstream (music, party) games, niche and portal strategies, social media, and more.

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
OTX Research
10567 Jefferson Blvd
Culver City, CA

Tickets: $22 Space is limited, Advanced registration required by Nov 18 at 3pm

Mindshare Event – Program for November 18th includes:

Alex Lightman / Executive Director of Humanity Plus – The Ten Minute Transhumanist
Jamie Zigelbaum / Oblong Industries – Augmenting Human Intellect
Alexandra Hall / CEO, Airship Ventures – Zeppelin Tourism Takes Off
Dr. Tristan Ursell / Adventurer & Biophysicist, Stanford – Off Silk Roadin’: A Rally Across Eurasia!

Time: 7:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
Downtown Independent
251 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, Ca 90012

Tickets: $25 Early bird $30 Regular

Thursday, November 19, 2009

DIY Days LA 2009 – an evening of talks and networking, with a mix of both structured and free form activities to encourage open discussion. Plus the night will end with a rooftop party.

Time: 6:00pm to 11:30pm

Location:
Downtown Independent Theater
251 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, California 90012

Tickets: Free but you must register in advance

Friday, November 20, 2009

Digital LA – Digital Drinks @ Janes House – Join the digital la folks for their pre-Thanksgiving Digital Drinks at Janes House. After last month’s Halloween party at MyHouse, they are continuing their Cozy House Party tour at new Hollywood “House” hot spot, Janes House. Citysearch says this house party lounge “keeps things modern with bold earth tones, moody lighting and a DJ, with plenty of plush retro seating on the front porch patio under the stars, or in the jungle themed Monkey Room.”

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
Janes House
6541 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: $10 advance registration required by November 20th at 4pm

Angels United Benefit – Stylit.TV is proudly co-hosting the Angels United Benefit to support Vitamin Angels, who supplies 10,000,000 undernourished children with vitamins to make them healthy. This is going to be a great night with celebs, a hosted open bar, a silent charity auction, gift bags, hors d’oeuvres, and more. All proceeds go to the charity, with the suggested donation is $35 (though if you give $100 you receive a special gift.)

Time: 7:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
Marrakesh House
The famous eco-green, sustainable living, Marrakesh House, built by Hollywood’s legendary filmmaker, Chris Paine.
6310 Tompkins Way,
Culver City, CA 90232

Tickets: $35 recommended at the door RSVP

Start- Up Weekend- November 20th to 22nd – Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects. lalawag founder Sean Percival will be speaking on Sunday afternoon, be sure to check him out.

Time: Full Schedule here

Location:
BLANKSPACES
5405 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: $75

Here’s a video I had on my phone of the lalakitteh’s going crazy over catnip. I applied a few of the techniques they suggested and voila!

I can tell this app is going to be a lot of fun, though it does have a few drawbacks. You have the ability to do black and white, speed up the frames, and add piano music, but once you set the selections, you cannot edit them again. I would like to be able to preview how the video is going to look before saving.

Your completed video automatically saves in your photos section, which is great because you can then just email, MMS or send it to YouTube. It would be nice if there was an easy way to share it on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube directly from the app. Hopefully some of these features will be added in later.

Additional features of the app include 60’s style home video effects and the ability to adjust the speed of the frame however you like. Overall I think it’s worth the three dollars but before you rush out and download it you should know that you must have the iPhone 3GS for the app to work.

In fact, if I was a single man in Los Angeles, the GIT events are the ones that I would be sure to make an appearance at. Where else are you going to find a concentration of intelligent women who are interested in the same geeky stuff you are?

Girls in Tech is giving you another opportunity to meet new people and learn a little bit about going green and making green. This Tuesday, join them for cocktails and conversation at The Organic Panaficio, where they will discuss how going green and doing good is impacting the tech industry and the companies that it is embracing.

Because you’re awesome and you read lalawag, you have the chance to win a ticket to the event. Just send out a tweet with a few key pieces of into in it and tell us if you would rather learn how to do good or make green. For example, your tweet could look like this:

“Hey @lalawag I would rather learn how to make green at the GIT Good and Green Panel because you can’t buy Jimmy Choo’s with monopoly money.”

Be sure to include @lalawag, a reference to the Girls In Tech panel and if your’e interested in good or green. Other than that you are free to be creative with your remaining characters. We’ll pick the best two tweets and those lucky people will get a free ticket to the event. We will pick the winners by end of day on Friday, good luck!

Not funny or creative? No problem, just click here and purchase your ticket now.

(Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

Details

GIT LA Presents: The Impact of Tech on Good & Green – taking a look at how the tech industry is jumping on the green bandwagon and what kind of impact it will have on the industry and on the good and green companies it supports. The panel will also discuss how we as business people can do some good and make money in the process.

Speakers:

Sandra Sanchez – creator of orGLAMic.com, and Reality TV Host and Producer
Sara Townsend - editorial Director at Social Vibe.com, creator of TechDarling.com
Tracy Helper - Co-founder of Yourdailythread.com

Date: Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
The Organic Panaficio
4211 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets: $10 RSVP
*A portion of the ticket sales will go to Free Arts For Abused Children

(Photo from amctv.com)

When I first saw the new feature in my stream, I have to say I wasn’t entirely pleased. Tweets started showing up from users that I don’t follow, great more noise. But after reading @Ev’s post on his personal blog, Why Retweet works the way it does, I started to see why it makes sense for them to design it this way.

Ev goes into great detail about the current challenges that  ”organic” re-tweets have. Since re-tweets are something that grew out of the service naturally, there is no standardized way to re-tweet someone. Many have argued over the proper way to do it and some have even written guides on how they think it should be done. The team at Twitter took this and many things into consideration before rolling this new feature out and I have to say I think they did a pretty good job.

Here’s how it works. Once the feature is activated you have the ability to easily re-tweet someones message by clicking the button on a tweet. You are not allowed however, to change any part of the tweet. This helps ensure that attribution and the orgianl message stay intact.

Seeing the original poster of the tweet in your stream doesn’t necessarily create more noise, in fact it is supposed to reduce it. Instead of seeing all 10 of your followers RT the same message, you see it one time from the original poster but with a list of all the people you follow that re-tweeted it below.

This should encourage more people to re-tweet a message and hopefully affect Twitter trends in a more positive way. Right now most of the time the trends mean nothing to me. I don’t really care about things your girlfriend doesn’t do. What I do care about are things that matter and are news worthy.

Currently people use different verbage, different twitter names in a tweet, etc. so it makes it hard to not only see how far you are reaching into the twittersphere, but it then becomes more difficult to trend on a topic. If the original tweet is re-tweeted using this new feature, it should reach farther while staying intact and thus affect the trends.

One of the other great things about using the Twitter RT feature is you gain the ability turn RT’s on and off on a per user basis. So if someone has gone a little RT happy and you just want to see their regular tweets, you can silence them, hooray!

Personally I am enjoying the new feature, I’m sure there are some kinks that will need to be worked out but overall it’s a great experience and was well thought out.

Do you have the re-tweet feature yet? Tell us what you think in the comments.

(The term retweetarrhea is referenced from Evan Williams blog post, Why Retweet works the way it does.)

His birthday wish is to raise awareness and money for BlameDrew’sCancer. He set a goal of $600 and incredibly it has already been met. The auction of his Twitter name, @Drew, also ends today. It goes to the highest bidder that includes the hashtag #drewbid.

But the birthday fun doesn’t stop there. eGuiders is also trying to raise awareness and wish @Drew happy birthday in a big way. They want to help raise $20,000 today by encouraging people to follow @DrewFromTV and use the hashtag #drewbday in their tweets.

If we can get any one of these hashtags to be a trending topic think of all of the people we could reach. Reaching a new audience means more followers for @DrewFromTV and that directly results in donations for cancer research.

Happy birthday Drew, if there was an award for Tech Philanthropist of the Year you would be the hands down winner in our book. Thank you for opening so many hearts and minds.

Photo from Drew Olanoff flickr

Get Involved

Here are a few ways you can raise awareness and contribute to helping cure cancer.

1. Follow @DrewfromTV – just by clicking on that one little button you are essentially donating $1 to cancer research. For every person that follows him (up to 1 million) from now until the end of 2009, Drew Carey will donate $1 to Livestrong. No brainer, just follow him.

2. #BlameEthan’sCancer – Now that @Drew has royally kicked cancers ass, there’s another one we need to tackle. Ethan Zohn has Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Raise awareness by tweeting anything you’d like to blame on Ethan’s cancer, just include the hashtag #blameethanscancer and it will show up on his site just like Drew’s did.

3. Bid on @Drew for Charity – Drew is auctioning off his sweet four character Twitter name and it ends today. To be considered, just tweet out your bid with the hashtag #drewbid. Highest bid wins, and all of the proceeds go to Livestrong.

4. Donate to BlameDrew’sCancer for Drew Olanoff’s birthday – Drew has already received his birthday wish of $600 being donated to BlameDrew’sCancer but why should we stop now? There is plenty of cancer out there that needs a good beating, you can still donate to Blame Drew’s Cancer by donating as a sponsor. This fund will go to paying $1 for every blamedrew’scancer tweet.

5. Donate Directly to Livestrong – By supporting the Lance Armstrong Foundation you are helping to provide grants, programs and services for survivors as well as making continued cancer research possible.

6. Tweet about it – You’re on Twitter anyways, why not throw in a tweet now and then that gets the message out there? Here’s a few hashtags you can throw in as well: #blamedrewscancer, #blameethanscancer, #drewbday, #tweetstrong, #beatcancer.

(Photo from Drew Olanoff’s flickr)

Web TV Prep Classes – The four-week long course will cover the four major areas of: creative development/casting, production, Post Production/Web Design/Technology, and Social Networking/Viral Marketing/Sales. Each week will be team taught by Damian Pellicione and Brian Rodda, pioneers of the on-line media movement in a supportive and creative space. Students be given the tools via handouts, homework assignments, contacts, etc…to immediately make their dream web series a reality. Additionally, a panel of expert guest speakers are brought in each week to give each student further perspective on the changing landscape of new media.

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Dogma Studios
4136 Del Rey Ave.
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets: $125 for New Media Vault Members

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Digital LA – Movie Marketing: Publishers Panel – Join them for a discussion on the latest techniques and trends in movie marketing. With scheduled speakers from AOL, MSN, Rotten Tomatoes, Yahoo Movies, Fandango, Google, and Eventful.

Time: 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Location:
AOL
331 N. Maple Drive
Beverly Hills, CA
*Free parking in building parking lot

Tickets: $60 Advanced Registration Required

Media Leaders Networking Mixer – Bring your business cards to take part in a cutting edge junction of leaders in PR, media, marketing, advertising and tech while discussing current events and new ideas. Media Leaders is a group of influencers that come together to discuss, exchange and thrive on meeting new people and making lasting connections.

Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm

Location:
Bodega Wine Bar Santa Monica
814 Broadway (at Lincoln)
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: $12 for one, buy two and they are $9 apiece

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Digital LA Comedy Panel – Join them for a Comedy panel on stage at the world-famous Laugh Factory on the Sunset Strip. Immediately after, will be the VIP reception to watch the night’s comedians, including scheduled comedian Tim Allen.

Time: 5:30pm – 9:30pm

Location:
The Laugh Factory
8001 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Tickets: Advance Registration Required by Nov 11th
$65 includes Panel, VIP Buffet and Show
$30 Panel only

Surge. An apple approved solar charger for the iPhone. No more are the days where you are stuck inside a building near an outlet. Talk or tweet for hours if you want, just not around me, without your battery draining, as long as you have a few rays of sun your in business.

Available in 8 colors, some with a metallic sheen, Surge claims to be lightweight and ergonomic. According to their solar planning on the site, you can charge your phone regularly before a trip and then never have to charge it again. Once on your trip you just need to have your phone in the sun for a few hours each day to keep up a charge.

It works with the iPhone 3G and 3Gs and they even make a case for the iPod touch as well. You can pre-order yours now to ship out once released.

If you are planning on getting one I wouldn’t wait to long, these might just sell out before the holiday.

Follow them on Twitter @solararcadia to get eco-friendly fact tweets.

(Photo from iphonefrenzy.com)

One very cool app that I have as a iPhone user that is also available for the BlackBerry is Twitvid. A video sharing app that works with Twitter and is the one and only video tweeting app available in the RIM store. Twitvid is the fastest and most reliable way to tweet video without compromising speed or quality.

I recently caught up with Mo Adham, one of the founders, to talk about Twitvid and find out how they started and their plans for the future.

1. Tell me about the app.

It’s a simple way to upload videos to Twitter. We built it to do robust uploads that way we could ensure that all videos would go up. We took into consideration flaky cell reception as well.

2. Have any other BlackBerry video tweeting apps been released?

No other apps that upload video for the blackberry have been released. We have partnered with others. Ubertwitter recently started using our technology in their app.

3. Do you have plans for any updates or changes for the app? Like integrating some of the features of the site where you can search other members videos and seeing celebrity and suggested videos?

Yes. We are working on making the experience better and improving the speed. We will also be picking a few features to implement and do updates to the app.

4. When did Twitvid launch and how was the idea born?

I met Adil Lalani, the co-founder, in college in Canada. We came up with the technology to make video faster in our dorm room. We started seeing the growth of Twitter and decided to apply the technology to it. We felt it was a good match with Twitter. It launched in July for iPhone and in August for the BlackBerry.

5. So you decided that San Fransisco would be the place to move to launch your app, eh?

Well, entrepreneurship is encouraged in SF. You get support from lawyers, advisors, venture capitalists and you can network with other entrepreneurs and get valuable advice. But we love LA, a lot of our users are from Los Angeles.

Check out their site Twitvid.com to see popular members and videos including ones from celebrities. Keep up with them on Twitter by following @Twitvid.

They have picked quite an interesting selection of men for you to vote on, many that you are probably quite familiar with, though not so intimately. The boys are not required to pose naked, though the site does have a bit of a reputation for being racy, I’m sure they would be happy with whatever the brave men are comfortable with.

(Photo from zivity.com by Corwin PrescottII)

Here’s the list of eligible men to vote for, I highlighted a few that I recognize:

Paul Carr
Enrique Gutierrez
Robert Scoble
Pen Jillette
Tim
Teller
Jason Kinkaid
Phillip Kaplan
Jim Fischer
Kevin Rose and Aston Kutcher in a bromance
Keane Li
Michael Arrington
Val Emmich
Jacob Mullins
Dexter Morgan
Mickey_77
Jonathan Joseph
Greg Kumparak
Rubin Starset
Jay Brannan
Tj Thinakaran
Sage666
Barack Obama
Peter Reeves
Sean Percival
Evan Handler
Lucas Nealan
Ashton Kutcher
Michael Shermer
Chris Saad
Brian Singerman
Gabe Rivera
Jay Adelson
Owen Pallett
Zev Ubu Hoffman
Kevin Rose
MG Siegler
Barney Pell
Terry Chay
Chris Messina
Pete Cashmore
Loren Feldman
Tantek Celik
MG Siegler and Paul Carr in a bromance
Andrei Zmievski
Tim Ferriss
Eston Bond
The Woz
rpreece
Adam Savage
Jeremy Pepper
Tom Kittenbomb
Andrew Mager

To vote for your favorite, just visit the site, select your hunk and click the vote button. My money is of course on the irresistible Mr. Sean Percival. Good luck boys!

The Magic Castle, nestled in the Hollywood hills, is an exclusive club for magicians and members only. I recently had the pleasure of having dinner there and meeting the founder Milt Larson. A charming gentleman that has added his castle of magic to Twitter and did his very first tweet that night from @adventuregirl’s account. He told us a little bit about an event they have coming up, and the best part is,  it’s open to the public.

“It’s Magic!” will give the general public a chance to see many of the magicians that perform at the exclusive private club. With an all star line up including Lance Burton and special guest host Neil Patrick Harris, this evening promises to be a memorable one.  Including magic for the whole family, stage illusions and slight of hand, I can see why this event is having their 53rd anniversary.

Keep up with the latest news and special promotions by following them on Twitter @MagicCastle.

(Photo from modernmechanix.com)

Details

Featuring Performances by:

• Lance Burton
• Mac King
• Rudy Coby
• Joseph Gabriel & Katalin
• Kevin James & Company
• George Blass
• Shimada

*Special Guest Host: Neil Patrick Harris

Date: November 8th, 2009

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
The Kodak Theatre
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Range depending on seating

The Tweeters’ Cup will mark the first time a Tweet-Up will be held onsite during a Championship event. It will have its own exclusive area in Santa Anita’s Seabiscuit Court, which also includes designated frontside seating for ultimate live tweeting of the races. Ticket price includes a betting voucher, buffet, gifts and chances to win prizes like a trip for two to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs.

Be sure to follow them on Twitter @BreedersCup to see the feed from both days of the championship races. Hope to see you there!

Details

Highlights of the day include:

• 11:15am – Betting the Breeders’ Cup Handicapping session with Joe Drape (@joedrape) of the New York Times, Ed DeRosa (@EJXD2) of the Thoroughbred Times and Tom Quigley (@Quigleys_Corner) of Horseplayer Magazine
• Q&A with prominent jockeys
• Appearances by ESPN personalities and jockeys from Animal Planet’s critically acclaimed reality show “Jockeys”

Tweet-Up will include:

• Betting voucher
• 2009 Breeders’ Cup gift
• Buffet (including non-alcoholic beverages)
• Two will Win a Nikon Coolpix camera – Perfect for a TweetUp

* Best Tweeter on-site will Win a Trip for Two to the 2010 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs including airfare and hotel.

Date: Friday, November 06, 2009

Time: 11:00am to 5:00pm

Location:
Santa Anita Park
285 W Huntington Dr.
Arcadia, CA 91007

*Enter at Gate 3 or 5 proceed to Clubhouse Entrance

Tickets: $25 Tweet Up only, $15 If you already have a Breeders’ Cup Ticket

(Photo from zimbio.com)

If you know of an event that we didn’t include, please tell us about it in the comments.

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Digital LA – South Bay Cocktails @ Twelve+Highland – Digital LA wants you to join them in Manhattan Beach for super-casual South Bay Cocktails, taking place at Twelve + Highland. Relax in this renovated bar/restaurant’s classy white beach house feel. Try its Thursday night specials: $3 beers + $6 calls + $9 premiums from 8-10pm.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Twelve + Highland
304 12th St
Manhattan Beach, CA

Tickets: No guest list or registration, just show up and look for the Digital LA nametags!

Where’s Waldo? Finding Social Influencer’s and Decreasing Your Costs – Find, connect, empower, then what? This panel will dive into the next step – discussing the value of key social influencer’s in action sports, where they are on your social network, and how targeting these potential brand evangelists will have a positive influence on your social media network and your return on investment.

Moderated by Denise Garciano -Social Media Manager for PacSun

Panelists Include:

Jonathon Rosen – luckyny.com
Cameron Olthius – 5ones.com
Scott Tilton – loopd.com
Emily Goligoski – federatedmedia.net
Jonathan Nafarrete – jonathannafarrete.com
Greg Cargill – bigmethod.com

With Special Guest – TechZulu

Time: 6:30pm to 9:00pm

Location:
BlankSpaces
5405 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets: Free, RSVP here

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Tweeters’ Cup – Spend a day at the races! This Tweet Up will include an exclusive area in Santa Anita’s Seabiscuit Court, designated front row seating for live tweeting of the races, food, prizes, guest appearances, a chance to win a trip for two to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs, and more.

Time: 11:00am to 5:00pm

Location:
Santa Anita Park
285 W Huntington Dr.
Arcadia, CA 91007
*Enter at Gate 3 or 5 proceed to Clubhouse Entrance

Tickets: $25 Tweet Up only, $15 If you already have a Breeders’ Cup Ticket

(They’re so cute!)

Meghan recently teamed up with ShopNBC during their Fashion and Beauty Week to debut the first style in her collection, an absolutely stunning suede ankle bootie with a throat-cut silhouette and bow detailing. Available in three colors, purple, brown and black, you can pick up a pair of these suese booties for under $40.

Meghan will be live on ShopNBC today at 4:00pm to talk about her collection and the new style she just launched. I suggest you get your orders in fast, these shoes won’t last long at this price. Congrats Meghan, I can’t wait to see what you come out with next!

Get to know her

Meghan Cleary, aka Miss Meghan, is America’s Shoe Expert, an internationally recognized resource on shoe trends, tricks and tips, cultural and societal footwear movements. She is  the creator of Shoe Therapy ™ and author of The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say About You. Check her our on Facebook, Twitter and her site, MissMeghan.com.

Have other ideas? Please let us know in the comments.

(Photo from Adam Tow)

@Dom- Dom Sagolla impressed me with his words of wisdom up on stage during his panel, so as soon as he finished I immediately ran up to him to ask about a program he had mentioned. Dom was kind enough to take a few moments and talk with me. I learned that he helped create Twitter along with Jack and a team of entrepreneurs in SF.

Previously unknown to most of us, he is “coming out” in a big way. His new book “140 Characters; a style guide for the short form” just hit shelves last week and is a comprehensive guide on how you can best utilize the service. It also gives a very in-depth account of how Twitter was hatched, very cool.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

@Drew- If you have ever met Drew Olanoff you will understand what I mean when I say you can’t help but love this guy and immediately want to hug him. He just radiates warmth and happiness despite the fact that he has Cancer. His story is one that has touched me many times and brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it.

During his panel, Drew used his time to get people to connect with each other. He encouraged everyone in the room to stop tweeting and take a moment to reach out to someone close them and share a message of love. It was great reminder that no matter how important the knowledge and information we are gathering at a conference is, the people in our lives are so much more important.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

@Wmmarc – Wm. Marc Salsberry is LA’s resident photographer. He has shot most of the avatars you see the LA tech crew sporting on their profile pages. He got into this business to meet people and he figured the best way to do it was to make people look good, and boy was he right.

His speech, Passion + Cancer = The Perfect Wingman, talked about the overwhelming support he has seen from the community and the tremendous gratitude he feels towards everyone who took part and helped spread the word about his brother Robert. Marc touched so many people in the room with his speech that he got a standing ovation.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

@JessicaGottlieb – There is definitely one word you will hear in a presentation from Jessica that you don’t usually hear from other speakers, Fuck. That’s right, this mommy blogger drops the f-bomb like there’s no tomorrow and we absolutely love her for it. If you think all mommy bloggers are sweet and innocent and talk only about diapers and soccer games you are in for a big surprise and a real treat.

In her panel, Jessica expressed the fact that she is not a marketer but a mommy and shared her tips on how to monetize your Twitter stream. She may have advertised or paid for tweets in her stream but she is up front and honest about it. Like she said, if you know her and trust her and an occasional tweet with an ad in it bothers you, then don’t follow her. Simple as that.

(Photo by CuriousJosh.com)

Monday, October 26th, 2009

The Perfect Pitch 2009 Entrepreneur and Investor Conference – Hundreds of influential entrepreneurs and investors will converge for a day of learning and dealmaking. Powerful speakers and panelists will show you what it takes to build a successful startup in 2009.

Time: 9:00am to 5:30pm
Doors open at 7:30am
Speakers begin at 9:00am sharp

Location:
The Ritz-Carlton
4375 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets:
Full-Access Conference Ticket $295
Live Online Streaming Ticket $49

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

#140 Characters Conference – The #140conf is not an event about microblogging or the place where people share twitter “tips and techniques” but rather where we explore the effects of the real-time Internet on Business.

Dates: Tuesday Oct. 17th – Wednesday Oct. 18th

Time:
Doors open at 7:00am
Conference begins at 8:45am

Location:
The Kodak Theater
7080 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Range depending on access

Girls In Tech Social Fashion and Beauty Summit Part Deux – Are fashion and beauty blogs the new magazine? Join them as they discuss the ever-changing face of beauty and fashion, touching on everything from the new FTC guidelines for bloggers to why the fashion industry should use social media at all. There’s going to be a fabulous cocktail party as well and they will be collecting gently used purses and shoes to help Dress For Success.

Time: 7:00pm to 11:00pm

Location:
LIVE! ON SUNSET
8801 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Tickets: $20 (a portion of ticket sales will be donated to Dress For success)

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

140Conf Official After Party – Media Mixer LA – Demand Media and Mashable have teamed up for the 140Conf after party at the posh H. Wood lounge. With two floors, a full kitchen and large patio, it should be a great venue for networking with the tech and social media scene.

Time: 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Location:
H.Wood
1738 N. Orange Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: Free, RSVP

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Startups Uncensored “Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs” –  This months installment will focus on what it takes to build a successful business and how to distinguish yourself as an entrepreneur. They are joined this month by Jason Calacanis the CEO of Mahalo, co-founder of Weblogs Inc and publisher of Sillcon Alley Reporter. Jason is one of the best known internet CEOs and hosts the popular show This Week in Startups.

Time: 6:30pm to 8:00pm (Townhall) 8:00pm on, Reception

Location:
Santa Monica Public Library (Auditorium)
601 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: FREE but you must RSVP

Friday, October 30th, 2009

NeighborGoods Costume Share – NeighborGoods is throwing a Halloween Party with a twist. It is for members only and completely in the spirit of the idea behind Neighborgoods, sharing. Don’t wear a costume to the party, instead bring one with you to share and pick one out from the costumes in the share pile. Feel free to bring a snack or a bottle of something to share, this party is not catered. NeighborGoods members only. Space is limited!

Time: 8:00pm

Location:
Idyllic Nerd Commune
923 E 3rd Street #307
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Tickets: RSVP with your NeighborGoods’s username. Not a member, join here.

Saturday, October 31st, 2009  HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Mother of all Halloween Parties – Hosted by Francisco Dao. This time the stage will be all about strutting your costumes, NO Karaoke, just a party. Chippendales vs. Strippers vs. whoever else wants to strut their costume on stage! So get your costume appropriate dance routines ready because we’re going to battle!!

Time: 9:00pm to 2:00am

Location:
On The Rox – at The Roxy
9009 W. Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA

Tickets: Free but you have to RSVP if you want to get in. Drinks are up to you.

LACMA Muse Heroes and Villains Party - The Muse Costume Ball has quickly emerged as one of Los Angeles’s premier Halloween parties after just five years in existence, attracting more than 1,000 revelers for a night filled with art, music, drinks, and costumes. This year’s event takes its inspiration from Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India’s Comics. Featuring installations and projections from Mindshare Labs.

Time: 8:15pm to midnight

Location:
LACMA
5905 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90036
‎
Tickets: $30 for Muse members / $50 for non-Muse members
Prices includes admission, entertainment, open bar, and parking

This coming Monday, October 26, the Perfect Pitch 2009 Entrepreneur and Investor Conference is taking place at the Ritz Carlton. Sir Richard Branson will be starting off the day as the Keynote Speaker. Next up is a series of panels and breakout sessions, followed by Christian Audigier closing out the day.

Some notable members of the LA tech community will be speaking, moderating, or presenting at the conference and we’d like to wish them all good luck. Mr. Tony Adam will also be in attendance, so if you didn’t get the chance to say goodbye before he whisked off to SF, now’s your chance.

Jason Nazar – CEO / Founder – Docstoc
Mark Suster – Partner – GRP Partners
Frank Addante – Founder / CEO – Rubicon Project
Jackie Peters – Founder – Heavybag Media
Tony Adam – Director of Search Marketing – BillShrink

Details

The Perfect Pitch 2009 Entreprenuer and Investor Conference - Hundreds of influential entrepreneurs and investors will converge for a full day of training and dealmaking. Powerful speakers and panelists will share the secrets on what it takes to launch and build a successful business… Your business

Date: Monday, October 26th, 2009

Time: 9:00am to 5:30pm
Doors open at 7:30am
Speakers begin at 9:00am sharp

Location:
The Ritz-Carlton
4375 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292

Tickets:
Full-Access Conference Ticket $295
Live Online Streaming Ticket $49

Speakers:
Key Note: Sir Richard Branson – Founder – Virgin Group
Closing: Christian Audigier – Founder – Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier & Audigier Brand Management Group
See the complete list of Speakers and Judges

Conference judges represent the following firms:

• August Capital
• Cal Cap Partners
• GKM Ventures
• Price Waterhouse Coopers
• Rustic Canyon Partners
• Baroda Ventures
• Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• PerfectBusiness
• Qualcomm Ventures
• Virgin
• Tech Coast Angels

(Photo from Manolith.com)

It’s taking place on Wednesday, October 28th at the posh H. Wood lounge. With two floors, a full kitchen and large patio, it should be a great venue for networking with the tech and social media scene. We hear @Brett, the Events Director for Mashable, will be in attendance. So cougars, watch out! We hear he’s feisty.

Details

Date: Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Time: 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Location:
H.Wood
1738 N. Orange Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

*Valet parking available

Tickets: Free, RSVP

Conference Details

140 Characters Conference – At the #140conf events, we look at twitter as a platform and as a language we speak. Over time it will neither be the only platform nor the only language. #140conf is not an event about microblogging or the place where people share twitter “tips and techniques” but rather where we explore the effects of the real-time Internet on Business

Date: Los Angeles, Oct 27-28th, 2009
Location: The Kodak Theater
Tickets: Range depending on access
Highlights: 140 different “characters” that are speakers so there is a large amount of variety. This is the first #140 conference to come to LA, which makes it an experience in itself.

(Photo from H.Wood.com)

It takes place tonight at Largo, and promises to be three hours full of geeks and music. This event has previously only been in SF but now with the help of Eventful you can demand it in to your city. So spread the news to your friends and let geeks everywhere partake in the fun.

Photo from laughingsquid.com

Details

Special Guests: screenwriter Josh A. Cagan (Bandslam); singer/songwriter Molly Lewis; actor Jeff Lewis (”Vork” form webseries “The Guild“); several extra-special guests that we are not allowed to name, but we swear are awesome!

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Largo (At the Coronet Theatre)
366 N. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90048

Tickets: $25 (Call 310-855-0350 for tickets)

Get to know them

Adam Savage has spent his life gathering skills that allow him to take what’s in his brain and make it real. He’s built everything from ancient Buddhas to futuristic weapons, from spaceships to dancing vegetables, from fine art sculptures to animated chocolate — and just about anything else you can think of.

Wil Wheaton’s successful acting career began in 1986 with acclaimed roles in “Stand By Me” and “Toy Soldiers”. He continued to build his resume through his teen years as series regular “Wesley Crusher” on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and opposite Robin Williams in “Flubber”. But Wil is much more than just an actor; he’s an author, blogger, voice actor, Columnist for the LA Weekly and Suicide Girls, widely-followed Twitter user, and a champion of geek culture.

Paul and Storm have been writing and performing funny songs together for a long, long time, starting with their stint together in a cappella band Da Vinci’s Notebook. Their music tends to make people laugh and feel good, and Paul and Storm believe that this makes their pursuit noble, right and just

(Header Image and Bio info from paulandstorm.com)

The two companies worked together, along with NewTeeVee, to host the very successful Streamy Awards, which had over 40,000 people tune in over the course of the transmission. In the article posted by Marc Hustvedt on Tubefilter, he had this to say about the merger:

“This is a new chapter for Tubefilter as a company. We’re bringing onto the team a pair of experienced and passionate co-founders in Josh Cohen and Jamison Tilsner. These guys get it, and share our deep concern for the web creative community.”

Marc outlined some of the changes that would be occurring with the acquisition. Tubefilter will now be a bi-coastal media company, expanding their News coverage to include NY. Their Web TV Meetups will be signature events in both cities, and articles that were previously on the Tilzy.TV site have now been migrated over to Tubefilter News.

(Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

With the merger comes new responsibilities and positions for our friends at Tubefilter. Brady Brim-DeForest will continue in his role of CEO, Mark Hustvedt and Drew Baldwin will take on the positions of Senior VP and EIC of Tubefilter News, and Senior VP of Product.

Congrats guys! With the future of online entertainment in your hands, I can’t wait to see what’s in store.

Here are some pics of them in action:

Amanda Coolong being ridden by Fransisco Dao, Natasha Wescoat turns away in horror

(cc) Kenneth Yeung - www.thelettertwo.com

Mike Prasad throws up signs with Ken Yeung

(cc) Kenneth Yeung - www.thelettertwo.com

The Man – Francisco Dao as usual with his shirt half off

(cc) Kenneth Yeung - www.thelettertwo.com

Serena Ehrlich shakes her money maker

(cc) Kenneth Yeung - www.thelettertwo.com

To see the rest, check out Kenneth Yeung’s photo sets on Flickr.

For more pics and comments check out the Whrrl BlogWorld Story.

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Digital Hollywood Conference – Four full days of sessions and workshops. For details check out DigitalHollywood.com, I can’t look at the blue and red text any longer.

Date: Monday, October 19th – Thursday, October 22nd

Time: Conference starts at 8:45am. Full Schedule

Location:
The Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
1700 Ocean Avenue
Santa Monica, California, 90401

Tickets:
$685 – All-Access Registration
$365 – One Day Digital Hollywood Ticket
More options for Tickets here.

Hollywood Web Television Meetup: Going Live! – Tubefilter’s infamous Meetup is back for the first time this fall, and this time, it’s all about going live online. With a top-notch panel, high-end electronics giveaways, and the best networking in online entertainment, this is one Meetup you won’t want to miss.

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Busby’s East (Mid Wilshire)
5364 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets:
Panel & Mixer Ticket $14.95
Mixer Ticket Only $8.95

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Digital LA – Horror & Entertainment Panel @ Magic Castle – Join them for a very special evening at the Magic Castle for a panel on Online Horror Entertainment: Communities and Marketing. Usually you can’t get into the Magic Castle unless you know a member so this is a pretty cool opportunity. If you have never been I highly suggest you go, it’s definitely worth seeing.

Time: 7:00pm to 11:30pm

Location:
The Magic Castle
7001 Franklin Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: $60 advance registration required, space is limited.

Social Media Club LA: Games Go Social – With all of the major console and PC video game companies in Los Angeles, it only makes sense to discuss how more and more games are bringing in aspects of social media to enhance game play. We’ll discuss this, the evolution of casual social games in Facebook (ex: Mob Wars) and Twitter (ex: Spymaster) and how social and mobile are key areas of development for game companies.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Rubicon Project
1925 S. Bundy Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Tickets: Free (RSVP)

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Digital Drinks – Trick or Tweet Halloween party @ MyHouse – Show your tweet with @digitalla to get candy at our Halloween party at the hip Hollywood club, MyHouse. MyHouse is designed to look, well like a house: huge living room to network, the kitchen is the bar, upstairs bedrooms are VIP, even a backyard jacuzzi (bob for apples anyone?). MyHouse is very velvet rope to get in usually, but you’ll walk thru walls with us, right on in for the fun

Time: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Location:
MyHouse
7080 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: $10 Advanced Registration Required

Check out Tubefilter Web Television Week Events.

We have two tickets for the meetup that we are giving away separately. To win, all you need to do is hit the little retweet button at the top of this article and type the words “I want to win” in your tweet. We will randomly pick two winners that will be announced tonight. Good Luck!

Details

Hollywood Web Television Meetup: Going Live! (Oct. 19)
Tubefilter’s infamous Meetup is back for the first time this fall, and this time, it’s all about going live online. With a top-notch panel, high-end electronics giveaways, and the best networking in online entertainment, this is one Meetup you won’t want to miss.

Time: 7:00pm

Location:
Busby’s East (Mid Wilshire)
5364 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Tickets:
Panel & Mixer Ticket $14.95
Mixer Ticket Only $8.95

The Line Up: Tubefilter Web Television Week Fall

Digital Hollywood Fall (Oct. 19-22)
This year’s Digital Hollywood Fall, held at Loews Hotel in Santa Monica, is primed to be the best one yet. Tubefilter readers are eligible for a discount on passes to the four day event. Make sure to register here.

IAWTV Prospective Member Meeting (Oct. 19)
Want a say in determining next year’s Streamy Awards winners? Make sure not to miss this informational meeting for prospective members of the International Academy of Web Television, hosted at Digital Hollywood.

Digital Cocktails (Oct. 20, by invite only)
A very special event brought to you by blip.tv and Tubefilter. Join us for a get-together of content creators, advertisers, journalists and digital execs and friends.

Digital LA – Digital Drinks (Oct. 21)
Don’t miss the October edition of Digital LA’s Digital Drinks at MyHouse, one of Hollywood’s hottest spots.

Open Entertainment Alliance at Digital Hollywood (Oct. 21, by invitation only)
The Open Entertainment Alliance will be holding a limited engagement event on Wednesday at Digital Hollywood.

iHollywood Forum Presents: Social Media for Hollywood (Oct. 21)
Join a panel of industry leaders to discuss social media applications for film, television, brands, games and music. Hear success stories from experts designing clever applications for social media, branded entertainment, audience tracking, interactive ads, and integrated marketing strategies.

Make sure to follow @tubefilter and @webtvweek for updates.

(Photo from digitalvinorge.no)

From the brilliant minds of icanhazcheezburger.com comes It Made My Day, a site that provides sweet little nuggets of goodness like this one:

In a recent interview with EntertainmentWeekly.com, Ben Huh, CEO of Pet Holdings Inc, described what IMMD is all about.

We have a new site called It Made My Day. It’s the opposite of FML. It Made My Day is either really cool things that have happened in your life, or things that happen to other people that you laughed at.

Like the douchebag who tried to bypass his truck over the median and got stuck. It’s like other people failing, the customer who complained about not getting the right change and leaving his wallet behind. Stuff like that. It’s schadenfreude. Laughing at the misery of others.

My how Ben knows his audience. I mean really, honestly, who doesn’t enjoy laughing at the misery of others, especially when those others are douchebags. The site is also full of random acts of win that really should be shared, like this one:

The site launched a little over a week ago and is steadily gaining traction. Already hundreds of people are using the acronym IMMD on Twitter.

Pet Holdings Inc, the parent company for IMMD and icanhazcheezburger, is consistently putting out new sites. One a week in fact, and they currently have 26. If a particular one doesn’t take off they kill it and move on to the next. With that kind of turnover and considering their history, soon enough they’ll  have a nice little nest of high traffic sites to play with.

Follow IMMD on Twitter at @itmademyday.

Neil Gaiman, known on Twitter as @Neilhimself, along with BBC Audiobooks America, have teamed up to make an audiobook using only tweets. Neil provided the first one and now it’s up to Twitter users to keep telling the story.

It all started on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 3pm PST, and the tweets keep coming in. They plan to log around 1,000 of them before they edit the material, compile a script and record and produce the audiobook. Once finished it will be available online to download for free from various audiobook retailers, iTunes and the BBCABA website.

To participate :

• Read the opening line of the story tweeted by Neil, and you should probably catch up with the story in progress by checking the hashtag #bbcawdio.
• Then follow them on Twitter @BBCAA and @reply the next sentence of the story
• Tweets should be formatted like this:@BBCAA Your Tweet Here #bbcawdio

They will be searching for entries based off of the @BBCAA and the #bbcawdio tags so be sure to include both if you want them to see your contribution.

Tell us what you think of this experiment in the comments. Will we see more projects like this in the future?

Get to know him

Neil Gaiman is the author of the novels The Graveyard Book (New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2008 Audie Award for Best Audiobook of the Year), Coraline, Neverwhere, Stardust, Anansi Boys, the Hugo-and Nebula-winning American Gods, the Sandman series of graphic novels, and several collections of short fiction. Visit his blog at www.neilgaiman.com.

Creating a list is very simple. On the Twillist site, you select create New List, name it and enter the Twitter names of the users you want in the list, then hit Create. Voila! You have an easy to digest stream of information. You can also make a list directly from Twitter just tweet out:

@twillist @name1 @name2 #list-name

Twillist will then tweet you back to a link to your list.

Because you have to sign into to Twitter when connecting with the site, you can easily tweet right from Twillist. You can also browse lists and sort them by newest, most popular and most active. Some of the other features of the site include:

• Browsing users by: Most popular, Most Influential, Most Active
• See what lists you’re included in
• Subscribe to a list and it’s added to your favorite’s section

When you are looking at a list it will not only show you the tweet stream of everyone in that list, but you can easily follow them on Twitter. Once the community starts building a base of lists this could be a great resource for finding someone with a special skill, someone in a specific location, etc. The possibilities are endless, if a list doesn’t exist you can create it. Then you can tweet about it so others know that it’s there.

As reported previously by TechCrunch, Twillist also plans to integrate with the upcoming Twitter list API.

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Action Sports Entertainment Marketing Panel – Digital LA and the SoCal Action Sports Network are teaming up to chat Entertainment + Sports: Marketing & Developing Content with Athletes, Video Games, TV, and Movies to reach ages 16-25. Speakers include: Mayhem Miller (MTV’s Bully Beatdown), KP Anderson (E! Sports Soup), Activision, FUEL TV.

Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm

Location:
The Parlor, Santa Monica
1519 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Tickets: $15 advance registration required

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

A Masquerade Mindshare – Open bar (8pm-10:30pm), music and a number of installations on display from the great brains from Mindshare Labs!

Time: 8:00pm to 1:00am

Location:
Lot 613
613 Imperial St.
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: $35

Technology Council, Public Relations Workshop – This interactive workshop will cover working with Traditional and Social Media to help your company stand out from the crowd. Join the Technology Council along with industry-leading journalists and PR professionals for a series of breakout group sessions. Key Note speaker: Charles Proctor, Technology Industry Reporter at the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Time: 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Sheraton Four Points
5990 Green Valley Circle
Culver City, CA 90230

Tickets:
Technology Council Members $35
WITI Members $35
Non-members $60
Link here to become a member

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Goodreads and Vroman’s Book Swap – join Goodreads and Vroman’s for a book swap! Bring all your summer reading and leave with some great stuff to carry you through the fall. All leftover books will be donated to Upward Bound House and the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Let’s Be Frank Hot Dogs will also be onhand to sell their famous gourmet hot dogs and sausages.

Time: 4:00pm

Location:
Vroman’s
695 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA

Tickets: RSVP

Based off of the screen shots below, some of the features will be:

• Find the best restaurants
• Search by date, venue or category or use GPS to find what’s going on nearby
• Get the latest event and music listings
• Find our what happened last night in LA
• See the latest photo slideshows

Look for the LAWeekly iPhone app in the app store, and while you’re there you might as well check out the lalawag iPhone app. It’s free too!

A fun, visually pleasing free app from Warner Bros., Wild Things gives you a peek at the upcoming movie, Where the Wild Things Are. It has photos, videos and music, and will link you to a featurette with the author of the book, Marice Sendak.

But the most fun to be had is with Carol, a lovable monster from the film. Carol will dance, eat pictures and contacts that you have stored in your phone and throw giant rocks back and forth. The app is quite beautiful and fun to mess around with.

Here are the items you can do from the menu:

• Switch scenery from day to night
• Have Carol eat the contacts in your iPhone
• Have Carol eat the pictures in your iPhone
• Play a song from your library and Carol will dance to it
• Throw rocks at Carol
• Make Carol howl and wave

*If you get the monster angry enough, Carol will crack your iPhone screen.

Here are a few things we found you could do with touch and movement:

• If you shake the phone, leaves will fall down and so will Carol
• Rub the tummy with your finger tip and the monster will giggle and shake
• Tap him and he reacts as if you have poked him
• Tilt the screen to either side and he will stand on one foot

Directed by Spike Jonze, Where the Wild Things Are opens in theaters on October 16th, 2009.

(Photo from Wild Things app gallery)

Chamillionaire, Grammy award-winner and successful entrepreneur.

Marsha Collier, author of eBay for Dummies series, and radio show host.

Sean Percival, founder of lalawag, online and mobile experience consultant, SEO expert.

Heather Meeker, Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Pelago, makers of Whrrl.

Check out the rest of the videos on SingularCity.com.

(Photo from RocketGenuis.com)

Full disclosure has been a hot topic around the web lately with many bloggers being proactive about disclaimimg endorsements they received for blogging. Others are not so keen on the idea of having to disclose their relationships when newspapers are not required to do the same. The new guidelines have some bloggers afraid they will receive hefty fines, up to $16,000. Thankfully the FTC has stated they will be looking mostly at the advertisers when passing out fines and not at individual bloggers.

The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed.

These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.

What is not clear from the press release is how this will apply to social networking. Will you have to disclose your endorsement in a tweet? According to an interview with the FTC’s Richard Cleland by Caroline McCarthy, this could be a real possibility.

Prominent users of Twitter and Facebook won’t be exempt from controversial new Federal Trade Commission guidelines that keep tabs on blogger freebies and giveaways, The agency absolutely plans to keep tabs on social networks as well as blogs.

The new guidelines go into effect on December 1st, 2009. How do you feel about this change and the way it will impact blogging?

He was in and out of there in under 20 minutes but was definetly talked about afterwards at the party and all over Twitter. He created such a buzz that “peewee herman” became a trending topic. Jolie O’Dell, former LA resident, tweeted about Pee Wee’s live theatrical show coming up in November.

“OMFG! Peewee’s Playhouse, the live stage show, @ the Music Box on H-wood, starting in Nov. 2009. Oh please, please, someone take me!”

If only there was a man in Los Angeles worthy of such a date.

I can’t help but wonder if this is just good timing or a sneaky PR tactic to get followers to promote the new show? Either way it seems to be working. Last time I checked Paul was up to 11,000 followers in under 24 hours.

Follow Paul Ruebens on Twitter at @peeweeherman.

Demo Fall 09 – Come to DEMO and see the most credible early stage and market-ready products that hold the biggest promise for financial and business success.

Time:
Monday, September 21 – Registration opens at 11:00am, Welcome Reception at 5:30pm

Tuesday, September 22 Conference beings at 8:30am
Wednesday, September 23 – conference ends at approximately 9:00pm

Location:
Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina
1380 Harbor Island Drive
San Diego, CA 92101

Tickets: $2,995 Standard registration rate

Digital LA -Scrum for Entertainment Panel – PROGRAMMERS: join us for our chat with Jeff Sutherland, father/creator of Scrum. Jeff helped co-found Scrum, a process where a team meets frequently to determine and assign task priorities, to ensure the project (programming code) is delivered on time. (non-programmers: if you’ve walked by your IT department gathered around yellow stickies on a board, that’s Scrum.)

Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Trader Vics (In the Beverly Hilton)
9876 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Tickets: $40

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

140|The Twitter Conference L.A. – 140 is the place where developers, business people, and enthusiasts converge to find innovative ways to tap into the Real-Time Web.They’re looking forward to sharing information, discussing ideas, and hanging out a bit. If that’s not enough, there’s an open bar on the first night.

Time:
Conference begins at 8:30am
Wednesday, September 23 – conference ends at 5:30pm

Location:
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 North Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Tickets: $429

Sports and Social Media: The SHAQ Effect” (SMC) -Four panelists will be discussing game changing technologies and the questions they raise about sports, athletes, leagues and sponsors. Panelists include: K.P. Anderson, David Wu, Chris Manning, Tiffany Trevizo.

Time: 7:00pm – 9:30pm

Location:
Blankspaces
5405 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

Tickets: FREE or $10 Depending on When You Register

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Digital Family Summit – This event will bring together leading community builders, social media experts, application developers, marketers and digital media business leaders to explore the very timely topic of “Managing Online Communities.” If you attended last years Digital Family Reunion, I don’t need to tell you this event is a must.

Time: 5:00pm to 12:00am

Location:
Santa Monica
Wokcano 1413 5th St
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Tickets: $50 Tip: Use the promo code (DFR16) for a $30 ticket

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

New Media Vault – The New Media Vault provides networking opportunities in a comfortable, low-key and casual environment, and brings new media into the historic core of Downtown Los Angeles. This month, we’ll be supporting the efforts of the Open Entertainment Alliance.

Time: 7:30pm to 12:00am

Location:
Crocker Club
453 S Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Tickets: Free

“It’s great that people are making calls and sending emails to Congress, but we think that a well-executed social media campaign can add a new and highly effective dynamic to the cause. If we stir it up a little with multimedia and create positive buzz in advance of the Climate Bill hitting the Senate Floor (as opposed to the “it’s now or never for the environment” gloom and doom) we can raise awareness of the issues in the Climate Bill.”

By focusing on the positive aspects of the environment, they are looking for people to send messages of hope. The best messages will be picked and sent on to senators that will be voting on the Climate Bill.

There are three different ways to enter the competition, but I really love the video approach. Especially if people get creative and playful like Shira Lazar did in her sample submission. See below for complete details on how to enter.

Details

“What would the climate have to say if it were happy and healthy and had a voice? What message would it send from its bright future? Now you have a chance to speak for the trees.”

Date: Contest runs from September  to September 25. All entries must be submitted by then to enter the contest, but killer videos received after then will still be passed on to the senators.

Ways to Enter:

• Leave a Voice Mail -thank a senator for improving the world. You can call the number provided or click on the link and they’ll call you so it’s on their dime not yours.
• Facebook Comment -visit the Love the Climate Facebook page and leave a note, a message, a photo or a link to content that demonstrates why senators should pass the climate bill.
• Make a Video – be funny, creative but most of all show how much you love a green world and have fun with it.

Winners: will be picked randomly and 10 “love pack” prizes will be given away.

Love pack:

• One Inconvenient Bag w/ the Love, The Climate logo
• Solio Classic Universal Hybrid Charger + Solio TREAD Case
• To-Go Ware (RePEaT utensil holders)
• Woolly Pocket Gardening Compay (Wally One)
• Sustainable Group’s Full Size ReWrite + ReMark Eco Pen
• Lucky Earth Waterless Carwash and Microfiber Towels
• EcoUsable 33 oz. Water Bottle
• EcoStrip
• Chivas Skin Care

(Photo from wikimedia.org)

We’ve taken the list and narrowed it down to what you really care about, Los Angeles. Now why would you want to follow a restaurant on Twitter you might ask? Because they often tweet about special menu items and offer exclusive deals or free food and booze, hooray!

Twitter tip: We hear 8ozBurgerBar is great and we know firsthand that Kogi is EXCELLENT!

Twittering restaurants in Los Angeles –

Check out the full directory at shoppingblog.com, they claim to have over 1007 restaurants listed, but we did see some repeated.

(Photo from cupcakes.today.com)

There is a great line-up of confirmed speakers covering topics that range from making your own plug-ins and turning a profit, to copyright laws and SEO tricks and tips. Basically this conference has something for everyone from the casual user to the core developer. This is the first time that WordCamp has come to Los Angeles and hopefully not the last.

Speakers:

• Aaron Kronis – SEO Panel / Q&A
• Andrew Warner – How To Add Video To Your Blog
• Beau Lebens – Meet The Family
• Ben Huh – Business For Free and Profits For You
• Darren Rush – Cloud Powered Wordpress: Improved Performance, Search and UX
• Eyal Gura – Copyrights & Content Online Panel
• Jim Turner – Blogging For A Living
• John Hawkins – Creating a WordPress plugin: It’s easier than you think
• Micah Baldwin – Failure is Job One
• Micheal Martin – SEO Panel / Q&A
• Shayne Sanderson – WP Ecommerce and WPMU: Ecommerce for your MU powered site
• Siel
• Tony Adam – SEO Panel / Q&A

Details

Date: Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Time: 8:00am to 5:00pm

Location:
Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive (Main Campus)
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Tickets: Regular Tickets $25

For more information check the WordCamp LA website and follow them on Twitter @wordcampla.

The Swine Flu, which some believe to be nothing more than a regular flu that has been hyped up, is showing up in the media again. With many kids returning school precautions are being taken to keep the virus from spreading, and with the news of an official case of it being reported at the conference I am not taking my chances either.

We are urging anyone in the tech community that is feeling sick and recently attended the conference to get tested. Apparently you can get results as quickly as 10 -45 mins. Symptoms of the virus include: fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. You can get more information about the virus at the CDC’s website as well.

One of the attendees, Mike Prasad Founder of Girl Gamer.com, took immediate action and had his tests done before jetting off again this morning. Thankfully his test came back clean so if you see him around New York this week feel free to invite him for dinner or a nightcap.

With over 60,000 attendees, we know there are more of you running around LA with a possible infection. Here’s a list of LA peeps that we know attended the conference. Consider them quarantined and avoid make-out sessions until further notice.

@chavalaub
@crixlee
@pennyman
@haileybright
@2kamRA
@adamsessler

The possibly infected can post a doctors note in the comments to prove they are bovine free.

When you visit the site Blame Drew’s Cancer you’ll immediately see the message above. One mans approach to raising awareness about his battle with cancer and how anyone and everyone can get involved and make a difference. Drew’s main goal is to find companies that will donate money to the American Cancer Society and the Make a Wish Foundation. Their hope is that every tweet that has the hashtag #BlameDrewsCancer will get a dollar donated to one of the two organizations.

Recently Drew teamed up with Livestrong and starting at midnight on 9/9/09 they are hosting a 24 hour Blame-a-Thon with live bands and raffle prizes. Unfortunately unless you are in Philly you won’t be able to see the show live but thanks to Livestream you can watch it from the comfort of your home.

The event is to raise money and awareness for LiveStrong and just because you can’t go to the show doesn’t mean you can’t help out. There are three ways you can donate to the event.

1. Buy a ticket. All of the proceeds go directly to Livestrong.
2. Buy a raffle ticket. The raffle is electronic so you don’t have to attend to win.
3. If you are feeling extra nice you can make a donation directly to LiveStrong in Drew’s name.

See the complete band line up here, and make sure to #blamedrewscancer on Twitter for everything today. Help spread the word and fight cancer, one tweet at a time.

Follow them on Twitter at @drew, @blameathon, @livestrong.

I #BlameDrewsCancer for the busted pipe in my bathroom that is leaking 2 inches of water into the hall.

It’s a highly addictive game that is really simple in design. Your character, a suited man, is running across rooftops and through buildings of a seemingly endless screen of city. There are office obstacles, a strange mist and a bunch of elements that are designed to startle you and possibly cause you to fall to your death.

Every time you successfully navigate an obstacle the little man starts running faster. Your adrenaline starts pumping and it becomes more difficult to time your jumps. Once you smack into a wall or fall to your death, which you most certainly will, the game will let you know how many  yards you made. Overall I really enjoy the one button simplicity of the game, though I wish there was a scoreboard so you could see how you compare to other players.

The creators recommend that you play the game with great speakers or headphones and that you crank it up. Enjoy your new time suck.

Get to know them

Canabalt – was created by AdamAtomic, a 27 year old guy from Austin Texas. This is the first game he has submitted to Armor Games and he was able to make it in just five days. Music by the one and only Danny B.

WordCamp LA – WordCamp is a conference event that focuses squarely on everything WordPress. Everyone from casual end users all the way up to core developers are expected to show. There are 12 confirmed speakers at the moment, including experts like Tony Adam, Ben Huh, and Andrew Warner.

Time: 8:00am to 5:00pm

Location:
Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive (Main Campus)
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Tickets: Regular Tickets $25

Blogger Cocktails with Digital LA and WordCamp LA – Bloggers assemble! Bloggers and other WordPress users are invited to this casual cocktail mixer / WordCamp LA after-party to chat and mingle. Co-hosted by WordCamp LA and Digital LA, this mixer will be at the Custom Hotel’s pool area.

Time: 6:00pm to 9:00pm

Location:
Custom Hotel
8639 Lincoln Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90045

Tickets: Free to attend, cash bar. RSVP

Sunday, September 13th, 209

Los Angeles Twestival 2009 – Twestival Local takes place in cities around the world on 10-13 September 2009 with the LA event happening on September 13th, 2009.

Cause: LA Foodbank and Chrysalis
Chrysalis helps homeless individuals become self-sufficient. LA Food Bank’s mission is to mobilize resources to fight hunger.

Time: 6:00pm to 12:00am

Location:
Level 3 @ Hollywood & Highland Complex
6801 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles ,CA

Tickets: Prices range from $15 to $100, depending on what you want to give

You too can sound overenginered like the rest of the talent in LA, with the “I am T-Pain” iPhone app.

Personally I think this app is a lot of fun, I dowloaded it today and will be annoying my friends and family with it for weeks to come.

More info on Venture Beat

Bit.ly, one of the most commonly used URL shorteners, announced an even smaller URL shortener today called j.mp. As far as we know j.mp has the shortest URL’s available, knocking Ow.ly out of position. With the growing number of sites that are available to shorten URL’s, features and length start to play an important role in deciding how you will link to your content.

Some of the features of bit.ly and j.mp include a drag and drop toolbar that you can use to shorten URL’s from anywhere, and a sidebar that will give you traffic info, conversations and history. All of the links that bit.ly and j.mp create are unique and will not be re-used. So you can be confident that if the link is saved, it will return that person to the correct site regardless of how much time has passed since you made it. Some of the other URL shorteners offer shorter URL’s but at a price, they reuse them.

Bit.ly will remain available for those who hate change, according to the site it’s not going anywere. But why not save yourself those extra two characters, your friends might need them for the RT.

Get all the facts about j.mp and bit.ly by visiting their site.

Normally it’s your run of the mill celebrity swag like face lift cream and True Religion jeans, which is I have to say, is amazing. The focus of TechStyle will be on the hottest gadgets, the coolest gear and the latest in tech. Which means the swag will be also tech related, yum!

Hosted by Media Empress Shira Lazar, the first episode has her visiting MacWorld 2009. In the video, Shira takes you on a tour of the expo and showcases some of the items for the giveaway. Then she picks one lucky winner to take home the prize; the same prize that you will get a chance at winning.

Here’s a list of the giveaway items. Total value over $1,400

• Commuter Messenger Bag – Rickshaw Bagworks – $180
• Rugged Hard Disk – LaCie – $129
• 1G Pulse Smartpen – Livescribe – $149
• Eyeball Webcam – Blue Microphones – $139
• SE110 Sound Isolating Earphones – Shure – $79
• EazyDraw – EazyDraw – $139
• Ladybug – Vestalife – $109
• Butterfly – Vestalife – $79
• MacBook GelaSkin – GelaSkins – $29
• iPhone Gelaskin – GelaSkins – $15
• BaLens Cap – BRNO – $64
• Trip Auto SmartScan – Griffin – $79
• PowerJolt SE – Griffin – $19
• Learn the iPhone 3G – It’s About Time – $29
• Eco Runner – Marware – $34
• HeatShift Cooling Pad – ThermaPak – $29
• nekFIT Sport – nekFIT – $34
• CoverScout – equinux – $39
• Stylus Pogo – Ten One Design – $15
• Privacy Screen Pro – Case-Mate – $19

Enter the contest by visiting Stylit.TV. Use the code lalawagWinIt to receive 10 bonus credits that increase your chances of winning. The video has a code at the end, not to mention a hilarious reaction from the MacWorld winner, and TUAW.com has a bonus code posted on their site that will give you 40 extra chances as well.

Get to know them

Stylit.TV is an integrated, video-enhanced messaging and retail platform that enables brands to directly reach and engage consumers. Stylit.TV cuts through crowded online advertising and retail environment and highlights products to consumers when they are specifically thinking about buying, enabling instant purchase, and then using social media & game theory to convert consumers into brand evangelists.

The winning script, pasted below, addresses something that hits home with many of us, living beyond our means. In today’s world most people don’t have savings put away in the bank. They live paycheck to paycheck and get the items they can’t afford in the moment, on credit. Unfortunately you can go from having it all, to having nothing, and all it takes is for you or your spouse to lose their job.

Magz Weisman is the author of the script, “A Small Cashflow Problem”, and is just now being discovered for her writing. She’s a 43 year old mother of two from the UK and her script was picked unanimously over a professional screenwriter, and a professional producer. Congrats Magz, time to start a blog!

(Click the Full Screen button for a closer look)

a small cashflow problem by Magz Weisman –

Scripped.com is throwing an event to congratulate Magz on her win, and to announce their next competition. It’s scheduled on October 9th, at the Mahalo office in Santa Monica. During the event Scripped will launch their next contest which involves Alex Albrecht.

Here’s a sneak peek.

The site, FontCapture.com, is still in beta howerver it works quite beautifully. There are four fairly easy steps you follow and viola! You have your very own font that you can name and that is immediately available to use from your PC or Mac. You will need a scanner and printer to complete the process.

Steps

• Download and print out the chart that you need to fill in. It’s a PDF format so you’ll need a reader to open it, you can download AcrobatReader or FoxitReader for free.
• Use a sharpie or felt tip marker to fill in the alphabet, and other characters needed, into the little boxes. There are lines on each box that tell you where the letter should go. The baseline is the imaginary line where the bottom of the the letter should rest. The ascending line is the top point that your letter can reach–anything higher than that and you risk it being cut off of the character.
• Scan your font page then upload the file and name it. Then click submit and wait a few minutes for the page to refresh.
• Preview your very own handwriting as a font and decide if it is to your liking. Then download it and install. Now you can use it almost everywhere!

Here’s how mine turned out:

Try it for yourself here.

Whoever finds them first, wins a Flip UltraHD video camera. Tease tweets will begin tonight, and the moving target will start tweeting his whereabouts on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 29 and throughout the day, as people race to find him. Follow @funnyordie to get all of the tease tweets, and hopefully, the prize.

One you find the moving target, he will immediately turn the Flip over to you and a Funny Or Die T-shirt, (hopefully not the one he was wearing all day). You will then be immortalized in a Twitpic and placed into the internetz. Good luck!

Interested in making your own viral video? Funny or Die is looking for online video submissions of original comedic short videos for their Let’s Go Viral contest. The winner will have the opportunity to produce an original short video with Funny or Die’s creative team, which includes Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy. A little advice from Funny or Die’s Adam McKay:

“Making a viral video is an exact science with a very specific set of rules. Basically do something funny or weird that people want to see,”

Quick Let’s Go Viral Contest Facts:

• You must be 16 years of age to participate, or you must obtain parent/guardian permission
• Videos can be created as individuals or teams
• Submissions can be uploaded at http://www.funnyordie.com
• Submissions will be accepted until September 30th
• The submissions will be viewed and voted on by end users of Funny or Die during the contest period
• The winners are determined solely by the Funny or Die Team judges
• Grand Prize: Free trip for two to the Funny or Die offices in Los Angeles to create a short video with Funny or Die’s creative team, which includes Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy.

Runner-up: Awarded a walk-on role in the winner’s video produced by Funny or Die

Get To Know Them

Funny or Die – is an award-winning website that has become one of the top destinations for comedy on the web. Over the past six months, the site has averaged over 25 million video views per month. With hundreds of exclusive celebrity videos and a steady stream of huge viral hits.