Bain has an excellent track record of monetizing online digital properties. According to sources reporting to TechCrunch, News Corps.’ self-service advertisements are generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue for the company. There was even a plan in the works to spin-off the Audience Network into a separate entity, but the deal never came through.

Now, Bain will get a chance to build another digital property into a profitable revenue stream. While Twitter has already set up a couple of small advertising programs thus far, the company has plans to ramp up revenue – and quickly.

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1. What got you started in acting to begin with?
I knew I wanted to be an actress ever since I starred in “Chicken Little” in Miss Neigh’s first grade class at Oak Knoll School in Menlo Park, California. Haha. When I was little I always wanted to be an actress like my Aunt Polly. She’s an actress and I’ve always looked up to her. She’s one of my best friends and has always mentored me in terms of my acting career. She helped me prepare for my UCLA theater school audition. Even throughout college, I would call her and say, “Polly, I need a 15 minute monologue by tomorrow!” and she would either find me something or write me something. I felt really lucky to have such a great mentor and friend. She’s an incredible actress and I hope to have even half of the career she has!

2. Growing up in Silicon Valley, were you exposed to a lot of important business people, trend-setters?
I have to say I feel oddly comfortable in a room of suits. I did grow up around a lot of entrepreneurs that I have seen become huge successes. Because I grew up in Silicon Valley with a Dad who is in the technology business, I was definitely exposed to many of the latest trends in tech. As a kid, I was sometimes used to test various prototypes such as new computer games like Math Blaster or Gazillionaire Deluxe. I used Gazillionaire Deluxe to learn how the stock market works by selling alien goods to different planets and we also tested things like Skype and AIM. I feel like I had a cell phone pretty early on, and I was probably instant messaging before everyone else could say the word “Internet.” AOL was eye-opening to me. I am definitely a technology girl!

3. What made you decide to start The Valley Girl Web show?
Growing up in a business-oriented world, I looked up to these great entrepreneurs who were doing amazing things that I was always hearing about: the Google guys, Hotmail, Skype. I always wondered why there wasn’t a fun talk show for business people like “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” After being in the entertainment industry for a few years, I soon learned that in order to be really successful as an actress, you have to do it all! You have to act, create, write and produce in order to control your career. I was the only actress who began attending production meetings when I was on Nickelodeon’s “The Naked Brother’s Band” to learn how a show was run. During hiatus after our second season, I started “The Valley Girl Show” and filmed a pilot season. Once we decided to call it “The Valley Girl Show” we sort of had to paint everything pink which has been GREAT for branding and there you have it!

4. Who has been your most difficult guest so far?
No one has actually been ‘difficult’. Everyone has a lot of fun on set. People write me emails afterwards telling that was the most fun they have ever had doing an interview. Ronnie Lott wrote me this email saying “You are gonna be a star!” The idea is to get the guests out of their typical routine interview and have them kick back a little. The show has been pretty successful in doing this. I have to say, there are things I do occasionally worry about beforehand like… “I hope that Elon Musk will eat escargot”…it turns out Elon really likes escargot! Or “Do you think Le Var Burton will be okay acting in a movie with me?” There is always the risk that they won’t do it, but we haven’t had a “No!” yet!

5. Who has been your most enjoyable guest so far?
So many come to mind! MC Hammer is just plain amazing and was so much fun on set! He just had a great attitude coming in and was ready for anything. Can’t touch MC Hammer! Elon Musk is one of my favorite entrepreneurs of all time and a personal hero, so that was a blast too. I’m always looking for great female entrepreneurs too. Someone who surprised me the most was Sinead Norenius who runs a social media inspired skin care line called Beautisol. It’s great to see rockin’ female entrepreneurs and she blew me away!

6. If you had to do everything all over again, is there anything you would change?
I have no regrets! And in terms of the show, I feel like I still have a way to go and I’m gonna take this thing all the way! There is still so much we haven’t done! I wouldn’t change a thing, we are ever-changing, ever-improving and “The Valley Girl Show” is something I built from scratch and it feels F—ING AWESOME that is has come this far. Why stop now? As long as no one stops designing pink inspired outfits, the show will go on! Does life get any better than doing what you love?!

7. Where do you see yourself in five years? Where do you want to be in your professional life?
In five years, I want to be known as an incredible entertainment entrepreneur and actress. I want to have created a worldwide approachable business and media brand with my business partner Jonathan Polenz starting with a talk show on network television. I want to be a role model for entrepreneurs and businessmen and women of all professions. I hope to encourage and inspire people everywhere to start their own company. I want to change the world!

8. Any time for a personal life? Are you single? (I’m sure there are a ton of single guys out there asking this question!)
I have a boyfriend who is absolutely incredible. I am not married and I am not looking to get married anytime soon. I’m a busy girl, I have too much to do first!

9. Who is the most important person in your life?
I never understand how people can answer this with one person. People shape people, not one person. If you know me, you know that my family and my friends are literally THE most important thing in my life. I would give the clothes off my back to any one of them. So here is what I am going to say; My family comes first and these are the most important people in my life; Mom and Dad! Adam, Billy, El! Coulter, Lisa, Nat, Alex, Aunt Becky, Grammy, Pops, Aunt Polly, Uncle Mike! Aunt I-Di! Brian! Kat, Kristin, Lisa, Lyndsey, Nisha, Ali, Mo, Gretchen, Alex, Kendall, You can’t do anything alone and I couldn’t do anything without the support of every single one of them.

10. Who has had the single biggest impact on your life, helping you to become who you are today?
My parents. Hands down.

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She’s kicking off this season on July 28th with an interview of none other than media mogul Ted Turner. What kind of questions will she get Turner to answer? You’ll have to tune in to find out! You can view previous episodes as well as catch the new season premiere on The Valley Girl website. In the meantime, check out the season three teaser below:

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In the exclusive interview given to the Daily Mirror’s Peter Willis, Prince actually says that the Internet is over:

The Internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it. The Internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.

Really, Prince? Apparently he’s serious about his stance on modern technology. He’s gone so far as to ban his music from high-profile websites like YouTube and iTunes and has even closed down his own official website. Worst of all, check out the Prince MySpace page. And finally, in a move to somehow exclude all geeks from acquiring his music, his latest album, 20TEN, will only be released on CD format and distributed solely through the Daily Mirror.

WTF?!?

Previously on lalawag:

• ITVFest: Who To Watch
• SXSW: LA Does It Better
• Highlights from the #140Conf

We all know that sites like FailBlog routinely feature pictures and/or videos that the general public will find humorous and labels them as “fail.”  But these are real pictures and real videos. Is it really fair of Whitman to spoof the site with Brown’s picture and thereby make the viewer think that he was once listed on the site? No, not really. What about the newspapers featured in the commercial. These appear to be fake, with fake headlines also touting Brown’s failures. But if none of the images and clippings in the commercial can be counted on as being real, then what about the facts?

I’m not registered to vote in California, since I don’t live there. But I can guarantee one thing…if I was, I would do my own fact checking instead of relying on Whitman and her advertising campaign to tell me the facts. And you can bet with her eBay millions and fundraising efforts, this won’t be the last manipulation coming out of the Whitman camp.

So what was the Whitman team’s response to the accusation by Huh and the request for an apology? You’re going to love this …

Jerry Brown owned failure 35 years before FailBlog launched its website. The only entity with an ownership stake in failure is Jerry Brown Incorporated.

In case you haven’t seen the offensive commercial, check it out below. The FailBlog spoof appearance takes place around the 50 second point in the video.

Previously on lalawag:

• Tech Roundup: Tumblr Scores $4.5 Million
• Tonight: Social Media Club LA
• @andrewwarner Smackdown

She’s someone I’ve been lucky enough to met and get to know recently. I guess first you should understand that @ranajune embodies a lot of things that make our industry so amazing. I’m talking about things like drive, creativity and of course a passion for the craft.

That craft (which previously included work with master composer @bt) is something totally new. Actually she’s probably the first iPad DJ out there using nothing but two jesustables and a mixer. Gizmodo recently caught up with her and I was also able ask her a few questions.

Here is what she had to share:

A lot of people bought iPads during the launch – you bought several. What are you up to with all those magical devices?

I was one of those crazy people in line overnight to pick up my iPad, even though I had a reservation!

The inspiration for Destroy the Silence came from my research the night before the launch of the iPad as I scoured the App Store for the coolest iPad apps available pre-launch. I kept finding these amazing apps and for some reason, I decided to download them, even before I even had the iPad! I suppose I thought there was a chance that the App Store would go down or something ridiculous like that, leaving me with this magical iPad and no apps to play with.

So here I was, $200 later (that’s a lot of apps, by the way), with a ton of cool iPad apps I couldn’t use, and I realized that most of them were music creation apps. Fortunately, the IK Multimedia apps, the Groovemaker series, were also available on the iPhone, so I spent about 4 hours of my time in line waiting for the iPad to go on sale doing beat-matching with these apps. I was instantly hooked. I checked out the screenshots of the apps I’d downloaded and it seemed that they made the process of live music sequencing pretty easy. I purchased my iPad and got to work that day.

How does it work?

The first 10 days of my experiment were spent getting accustomed to the sound libraries that are currently available on the App Store and within the apps. It was really important to me to only use apps that are readily available on the App Store. I wanted to showcase the capabilities of these devices, so importing my own sounds and other plug-ins seemed like it was defeating the purpose of the experiment. I got pretty comfortable with the loops and drum machines and sequencers on iPad by day 10.

I purchased my second iPad on day 11, along with the set-up I currently have. I wanted to make it as simple as humanly possible. I’m using three audio splitters from RCA to 1/8th inch jack – two for the iPads and one for the output – and one very basic DJ mixer. All I needed was a crossfader, really. I have no effects on the mixer. I would eliminate that entirely if I could but the reality is that without a USB connection on the iPad (for now) and the fact that the apps are still pretty buggy, I needed a hedge in case something went wrong during a live performance. So for now, that’s my set-up! I also use a pre-amp/audio interface for recording, but I am adamant about not using any laptops or synths for the performance – just two iPads, that’s it.

What apps are you using to make this happen?

I really like Looptastic HD. I’d say that’s my favorite to use for this project because I can morph beats from hip-hop to breakbeats to progressive house seamlessly. I use all of the IK Multimedia apps, as well as the Korg iElectribe app. iDaft has become a favorite for throwing people off during the set. Pianist Pro is fantastic and I open the set using Beatwave. All of these apps were deployed before the iPad even launched, so I know that the capabilities and sound libraries are only going to get better and better and better. I can’t wait!

You recently had your first iPad gig, how did it go?

It went much better than I expected, to be honest. I was not sure what people were going to think seeing this simply set-up with so many crazy sounds and effects and loops going on, but I ended up playing for almost an hour! It had only been 4 days since I’d created the set-up I’m currently using, so I expected some glitches and hiccups, but all in all, it was a great set. I’m planning some amazing surprises for my shows this summer.

What’s next for the iPad as a music platform?

Now that a fair number of people have seen the iPad, played with it, and thought carefully about the modality of creating music apps on it, I’m sure that the next generation of apps that will be developed will really push the boundaries of what’s possible on not just iPad, but mobile platforms in general. I am really fascinated by the implications of moving from hardware devices to software. The ease of pulling out two iPads, plugging in a few cords and playing makes me wonder about the fate of these complicated and ornate audio systems that are currently the standard. When DJs moved to Serato from turntables, it ruffled features but eventually the industry grew to adopt the new protocol and I think that’s what’s going to happen with the iPad. I think a lot of bands are going to start including iPad elements into their live sets, particularly when multitasking comes into play. I’d love to be able to record audio from the iPad as well. All of this will come, it’s just a matter of time. I’m just glad to be able to watch the growth of mobile computing from the driver’s seat. It’s a great time to be alive.

—

It certainly is, thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

For more:

Catch the video @scobleizer did early today.

Follow the rest of the story at www.destroythesilence.com and on Twitter @ranajune.

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Back in October 2007 while preparing for a holiday party, a sneaky Google Street View car just happened to pass by. Why doesn’t this ever happen to me when I’m bathing on my front lawn? Anyway, shown below you can almost make out where it says ‘Blob in the bath’. Higher resolution photos found on the bands MySpace page and the below video go on to mega confirm whatever this strange scene is.

Blob in the Bath! | MySpace

I guess if you’re going to get caught on Google Street View why not go all out? What would you want the Google Street View car to capture you doing? Let us know in the comments.

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Alex revealed the news in an email to friends today:

Well, it’s official: I’m excited to let you know about a couple big changes in my life: starting next week, I will be moving to New York City and taking a new position as Vice President of Operations with Yext.

In case you aren’t familiar with Yext yet, it’s the “Next Yellow Pages”; offering superior local services for advertisers, publishers and users, and is focused on perfecting the local advertising experience for business and consumers.

So while I can certainly appreciate that cushy new title… the next yellow pages, really? The only thing that’s next for my yellow pages is the recycle bin. Please let us know once you’ve done some of that operating so we can really get excited for you.

Oh and your membership to the Calacanis Protection Agency is in the mail.

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The accidental visionary behind Blame Drews Cancer took many of us on an emotional ride in 2009 as he personally battled cancer. However beyond his personal fight he also took the streets, or to the tweets I should say. Drew raised EPIC amounts of awareness and some significant money for the Livestrong foundation along the way. You can catch up with our previous coverage of Drew here, here and here.

I heard a wonderful rumor that Drew was back in Los Angeles so I caught up with him for a few questions. Let’s see what’s new in his ever changing and increasingly awesome world.

1. You had a huge year in 2009, what single moment really stands out to you?

I think the moment that stood out the most was how quickly BlameDrewsCancer.com got embraced and supported.  My original blog post didn’t have the title “I have Cancer”, I didn’t tweet “I have cancer”, just tweeted out the link.  It spread like wildfire.  It meant people actually read what I wrote and it struck a cord.

2. And how are you doing these days, health wise?

I’m doing well.  Had a biopsy a month ago and it didn’t go so great…a salivary gland was removed instead of a lymph node.  Kind of scared me, but it seems like my ability to spit is fine ;)  Feeling better and better every day, more energy, I feel more like “myself”. Mentally, I’m beat.  There’s a certain sense of “what just happened???”, but overall I have a way clearer perspective on life.

3. I hear you are living in LA now, whats are you up to?

Indeed, I’m in Marina del Rey (LOVE THE WEATHER!).  I’m Director of Community at GOGII, creators of the free texting app textPlus (iPhone, Touch, Android, Blackberry soon).  I worked here during my chemo treatments back home.  They were amazing to me.  I was diagnosed literally weeks after I was hired.  They stood by me then, and stand by me now.  I am very blessed and I love what I do.

4. Who inspires you?

People who don’t take no for an answer.  Anyone who has a passion to do whatever it is that makes them feel happy and centered.  If that’s volunteering, great.  If that’s building houses, awesome.  Whatever it is, doing it and not asking permission inspires me.  I came up with the idea for BlameDrewsCancer before I was officially diagnosed.  I knew that if I had to go through this, I was going to fight back the best way I knew how.

5. What’s next for drew?

Welp, Drew Carey now owns the Twitter name @Drew – I’m getting used to being @ThatDrew – sounds silly, but I feel tied to the “name”, since I went through such a difficult time with it and the folks on Twitter played such an integral part in my treatment and now healing.  But a million bucks for LIVESTRONG?  Not so bad.

Other than continuing to fundraise and help others who are battling cancer (I get emails and calls daily..and welcome them to call me at (623)-BLAMEIT any time), I have a few pet web projects that I’ve decided to put into action after sitting on them for a few years.  I have a project underway that I came up with 2 1/2 years ago and it still excites me, which means its time to build.

Afterall, tomorrow is never promised, and if you don’t do, you’re done.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Drew, and welcome back to lalaland.

(Top photo by: KK)

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But first let’s get to the headline and learn why Jason is in fact Tony Montana from Scarface:

Security Spy & Remote Patrol: Security Spy is a $300-400 software product that allows you to connect dozens of IP-based cameras to your home network. I’ve put six cameras in my home and I’m adding another four this week. In Month One, I’ve become a combination of the over-protective father and Scarface, sitting in my loft office with a big screen TV displaying video cameras from around the compound.

One can’t help but think of Jason actually doing this, cigar in hand each night while he asks the bulldogs “whosaaaa good girl, whooosa good girl?”.

Jason also goes on to give a lengthy rant about Obama and the middle east:

For over a year now, I’ve had the privilege of driving the world’s only in-production electric car and it is the most delightful and exciting driving experience of my life. RANT: For over a year, I haven’t visited a gas station and have been able to give the finger to the bastards in the Middle East who believe that women and gays are about as valuable as dogs, and that the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are the root causes of all evil. If Obama had any leadership ability, as opposed to his consensus-building nonsense, he would have taken the billions we’re going to spend in Afghanistan and simply spent that money on electric car and solar subsidies in America. We have to stop wasting our money building schools and bridges for backwards societies that don’t appreciate them and start spending that money on energy independence. There is no reason we couldn’t put solar panels on every rooftop in America, and electric cars in every driveway, instead of spending money fighting enemies that don’t want the freedom we’re promoting. Sorry about the rant, but I’m really frustrated that Obama, who I voted for, is such a disappointment. He was supposed to bring some innovation to politics and his policies feel no different than the failed strategies of Cheney/Bush (in that order). If I was president, I would cut our losses in the Middle East and stop sending any money there, instead investing it in nuclear, solar, wind and EVs. This is such an obvious solution to everyone except the idiots we put in power. Shame on all of us. END RANT

Now normally I would go on to make fun of such hippy talk…

However the way things are looking right now I’m more inclined to agree completely. The rant however was less popular with some of the commenters of TechCrunch where the email was syndicated. After reading some of those comments you might just think Jason needs that complex camera system after all.

To get these little gems in your email every so often sign-up for Jason’s list here.

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Don’t worry, we didn’t either until today when he opened up a little bitchfest on the BarCampLA Google group. The exchange was funny enough to make HackerNews under the title “How not to promote your new startup“. Certainly an appropriate title if you take a few moments from your busy day to follow the train wreck.

Pratt starts by telling his side of the story surrounding the recent failure of his company Fundable.com. We aren’t sure exactly what they did, but it sounds like they helped startups get funded or throw parties or something. I couldn’t be bothered to do much research, plus their site appears to be offline.  Actually Pratt has it redirected to his new venture, something about cell phones for hippies.

BarCampLA founder Sean Bonner had some issue with Pratt’s posting. Not just because Sean is literally too cool to be marketed to but because it just seemed out of place for the BarcampLA Group. It’s also really bad form to trash a former colleague while trying to promote your latest thing. Pratt started it off by responding with:

Sean, what have you even accomplished?  No one cares what you think.

You are a troll.

-John

Prompting Citrusbyte’s Will Jessup to add:

Holy crap – Don’t even respond. Who can ban this asshole from the list?

From there the conversation degraded to the point you might expect. However it seems that few extra nasty messages were held for moderation and not posted to the group. We’ve obtained copies of some of these emails and pulled out some of the more entertaining rants:

From Pratt to Jessup:

Great Will, you learned how to link to web pages with poor journalism. I would say most blogs consist of poor, unethical journalism. Is it a coincidence that NONE of those writers e-mailed me to get my side of the story or even ask what happened.

Mary Robinette’s project was VERY suspicious and looked completely like fraud. Over 90% of her donations were made in her name. The project was flagged for deletion. For whatever reason, it didn’t get deleted.

Guess who did e-mail me to ask what was going on? A New York Times writer.

Do you know why? Because he is a professional. That book, “Cult of the Amateur” sounds apt right now.

Anything that comes out of Cory Doctorow’s mouth goes right into your brain, doesn’t it?

From Pratt to Bonner:

You’re still a troll. Your accusation of “douchebaggery” is unjustified.

You should be on my side. I am one of the few individuals on this list who has significant experience starting a web startup from scratch and getting major media attention, such as NPR Marketplace. There are a few others on here that I know.

Organizing the first Barcamp event is a good thing, but I don’t have much patience for you when you attack me after I explain the emotional turmoil of 4-year startup that crashed and burned.

Maybe you like to watch it like a celebrity entering rehab. “What a loser!!”

From Pratt to who knows, perhaps his defense attorney:

I don’t care what you think, if you haven’t noticed. I do whatever the fuck I want.

Thanks for joining us for Great Moments in Google Groups, till next time.

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I’ll be looking each week off the official lalawag twit list, if you’d like to be included please let us know in the comments. If you’d like to be excluded please let us know so we can double up on your coverage.

Basically Sean tells me that most of you are horrible tweeters and really need a good smack. Since he is too “busy” and “nice” to do it right he has hired me to. Yes he is actually paying me to do this so I’m pretty sure that does make me a professional troll.

Fine by me, lets see what has the uppercrust of LA tech been up to this week.

Sean Percival hates people having cyberflirts:

whatever girl is flirting with @tonyadam on IM please stop so we can finish our conv. about upcoming events and SEO etc

Later his wife did the “I overheard this…” to inform Sean that he needs to look into some of those nose strips:

OH via wife: “you have a snoring problem that only surfaced after we got married, if I had known this going in…”

Maybe if he spent less time passed out in his omgawesome desk chair Laurie wouldn’t wake up thinking a train was coming through the living room.

Alyssa Milano is pimping the shit out of some show:

I’m sitting here day dreaming about going to work on @RomChallenged. I can’t wait to start shooting.

It’s about a group of friends that are “romantically challenged”. RT @SCB8: Sounds like fun! What’s the premise of the show?

I’m going to need everyone’s help when “Romantically Challenged” premieres. Small window of opportunity for success.

Since everyone’s already seen her boobs I’m not sure what the draw to watch it is, but hey, in 6 months when it comes out I’ll be sure to forget to watch.

Shira Lazar hates holiday spirit…

People that put decorations on their car- somewhat questionable…

…unless it makes her the center of attention:

just performed summer lovin’ with my co-host at xmas party! i think i lost my voice trying to reach those notes

AV Flox is either trying to write an Evanescence song or trying to sound deep. Either way, ewww:

Wallpaper Los Angeles in napkins covered in desperate songs–that’s how I love, in pixel and ink

I hand over my flesh and my secrets, my skeletons, torments and truths, and hope that you’ll kiss them and put them to sleep.

I can’t ask for anything. You’ll come on your own. In the meantime, I’ll wallpaper Los Angeles, write you these things and set them to sea.

She’s like one of those girls you knew in college who wore a beret for no fucking reason, and quoted Emily Dickinson. Then she would drink all your Boone’s and cry about how she was so deep that no one understood her, and she doesn’t care if she IS alone forever, she won’t betray who she IS. You know, that girl.

Francisco Dao is still sitting around being a sexually frustrated loser:

Earlier tonight I was at a party with peeps about 50 years old. All I can say is I have seen the future and it is grim :(

Everyone knows Social Media is a whole lot like High School but I’m hearing some SERIOUS H.S. drama now #DramaLikeASoapOpera

Awesome and Bizarre – I just got a call from the restroom attendant at Bare Elegance strip club trying to buy my book

For all the single guys out there…snatch her up before someone else does RT @iamlawless is this a good time to say I’m now single?

That’s right. The Man Who Can’t Get Laid is giving you dating advice. How long has it been since he’s seen a vagina? Maybe he should email Flox.

Stayed tuned next week as I deface even more of your pointless ramblings!

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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.

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Maybe it’s because I’ve had so many jobs.

So when she asked me about a possible daily gig with Yahoo! I was concerned. Shira after all is typically all over the map, both figuratively and literally. With appearances on everything from CBS to Mahalo Daily, a heavy travel calendar, and afternoon massages, how would she ever find the time?

Well Shira assures me she can do it, and I don’t doubt her. So what if Tubefilter is calling her the Ryan Seacrest of Web TV, we know that’s not true. For one Shira is actually enjoyable to watch.

So now you can see her daily over on new Yahoo! show “What’s So Funny“. Sponsored by Conagra Foods, the series takes a look at the funniest moments from TV the night before. Shira and Co-Host Mike Bachman both present their favorite clip and viewers can vote on which one they liked the best.

You can watch the first episode below, and please, don’t make any more job offers to Shira, she’s now officially booked.

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Being a social founder isn’t for everyone, but there are a few who have done it well. Let’s go through some of the best, look at their numbers and learn some of their secrets.

Who are some of your favorite social media founders, and what are their super powers? Let us know in the comments.

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If you’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Jason you’d probably agree. Sure he doesn’t have any super powers, and he needs to find his Lois Lane, but Jason is still a superhero to many.

The LA Business Journal seems to agree. They just awarded him with the 2009 Most Admired CEO of the Year Award. Check out the video below to see Jason accept the award and share his experiences of growing up in LA, starting Docstoc and his mentors.

(Photo (CC) Brian Solis. www.briansolis.com)

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Writing your first blog post somewhere always feels like a big deal. How do I begin? It’s like making your grand entrance on your own red carpet or to a big meeting. Do you stomp in and make your presence known, be fashionably late (I guess I can’t do that on my own blog), or just play it super cool and casual?

Of course for those who know Shira, she is pretty much always fashionably late. Just don’t tell CBS that. Either way, we vote for cool and casual!

She also picked up an interview with Katie Couric. Let’s see what these two ladies had to say:

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It was only 9 months ago we first met Alexia in of all places the girls bathroom. Since then she has become a fixture at most tech events, usually sitting front row and center. Along the way she learned a few things and made a notable impact at the LAWeekly. Now she plans to do the same up north for the SF Weekly.

From Her Blog:

Yes, the rumors are true.

I am moving to San Francisco to become web editor of the S.F.Weekly, which, much like the L.A. Weekly is part of a group of websites known as Village Voice Media.

I am extremely thankful for all the support I have received from the technology sector in both Los Angeles and San Francisco and gratefully hope that we can continue to work together and grow under the auspices of my new role.

We want to wish Alexia the best of luck with the new gig. In this case our loss is certainly San Francisco’s gain.

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BillShrink provides a free service for consumers to help them make better purchasing decisions on items like cell phones and credit cards. Earlier this year they scored a huge marketing deal with T-mobile appearing in national commercials along side Catherine Zeta-Jones.

I would be lying to say I haven’t been egging Tony on for months now to leave Yahoo!. I guess I just never thought he would do it! Here at lalawag we’re just happy he managed hookup with such a great company. Now if we could only find him a nice girl to settle down with…

Unfortunately this means Tony will be relocating back to San Francisco for the job. Of course we’ll miss him down here in lalaland, but happy to know he has finally stopped bleeding purple and started to make some green.

(Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

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“A lifelong dream has come true,” Jeffrey said in a blog post announcing the news. “I’ve known this was coming for a few weeks now, but the reality of it finally hit today, and it is amazing.”

This is a one-book deal. “In this financial climate, publishers are very risk-averse, whis is why they didn’t go for the series: the want to see what book one will do first,” says Jeffrey. The book will be released in hardcover in the spring of 2011 and Jeffrey will be going on a multi-city tour after its release.

The first time I met Jeffrey–at a New Year’s Eve party at Paige Craig’s house, of course–Jeffrey was carrying a backpack full of copies of this same book. He let me page through one and we spent some time talking about it. It was endearing to watch him watch the book like a hawk. This series is his brainchild and I’m glad that Harper Collins has chosen to make the investment. They won’t be disappointed: there is a reason why the book has been downloaded over two million times since it was first released in 2007.

Congratulations, Mark. You’ve earned it. Don’t you dare leave us hanging for book three much longer.

Curious? Re-writes and edits are in the works, but the original book one and two of the Max Quick series are available from maxquickseries.com–they’re only there until this weekend, so hurry if you don’t want to sit around waiting until 2011!

Previously on lalawag:

• Weekend Housekeeping
• Mysterious Take-down Notice Kills 70K+ Blogs At Once
• Guess the Tweets, Win a Book -Updated

Enter Help A Reporter Out, or HARO. This is a sweet little service that ties journalists and bloggers with the sources they need–for free. Yeah, you read that right: free.

Here’s how it works: sources, whatever their field, want publicity. They sign up to receive three daily e-mails from HARO with queries from reporters and bloggers. When a query comes along that’s in the source’s area, they answer, and the journalist or blogger turns around and includes the source in their story. The writers meet their deadlines and the sources get exposure.

The bigger the Rolodex, the better the writer, they say. Sure thing–and your Rolodex just got significantly fatter.

And who’s responsible for all of this? Meet Peter Shankman, the CEO of The Geek Factory, a PR and marketing firm in New York City, and founder of HARO.

Some Background with Peter Shankman

1. How did it occur to you to start HARO?

I know a lot of reporters. Over time, I’d help them whenever they’d ask. “Peter, I need a source.” I never asked for anything in return. It was simply good karma. Good karma begets good karma. We’re now the largest source repository in the world for any kind of media, including bloggers.

2. When you say “everyone is an expert” do you suggest everyone should be signing up–even my little sister in college? Do you take queries from small time bloggers?

Everyone IS an expert at something. Your little sister might be brilliant at knowing every episode of the Simpsons, or a whiz at astronomy. Whatever it is, someone, somewhere is writing a story about it, and needs a source. We take queries from major media such as the NY Times, CNN, and The Today Show, and small bloggers such as random entertainment and healthcare blogs.

3. How do you manage to condense the number of questions you must get into three e-mails per day with less than 50 queries each?

We’re over 100,000 members strong, as well as have 30,000 journalists who have used the service since we started it a little over a year ago. We base everything on a deadline system. Queries come in all the time, we organize them via deadline so we never overwhelm the reader. I never, ever expected this. I’m thrilled by it every single day. I’m like a kid in a candy store. Or more technically, me in a candy store.

4. Are you planning on expanding the service?

We are planning on expanding. We just hired a new COO to help us grow. Expect to see the list separated into specific categories, so you can sign up for as many or as few as you like. Expect new implementations to make it easier to find the queries you’re looking for. Heck, expect an iPhone app. :)

5. What’s the business model there?

Each HARO list has a small, 5-6 line text ad at the top of it. Those ads have turned HARO from a fun little idea into an-over-one-million-dollar-per-year-in-revenue business in just over 14 months. I’d say we’re onto something.

Photo by Ged Carroll.

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I’m sitting in a restaurant on the west side of Los Angeles called the California Chicken Cafe. It’s awful, I just know she is going to hate it.

Given the last minute arrangement of our meeting, her location and many pending appointments, it was the best I could whip up. I nervously wait while the patrons around me proceed to gnaw on various chicken bones. I’m pretty sure she’s a vegetarian. She is really going to hate this place.

My iPhone dings, it’s her texting while driving one of those eco friendly Smart Cars. Loaned to her for the week, this is just one of the many perks of being Julia. I go to meet her at the street, anything to get out of this cafe. I see her right away, holding up traffic as she slowly makes her way down Westwood Blvd.

She pulls up the curb, smiles and waves. She has the sunroof open, through it I get my first good glance at Julia Allison. Immediately I can’t help but notice how hot her body is. I say that not to be crude, but because it’s something that is often critiqued online. As I get an even closer look, I can tell you the only thing turning me off about Julia is her inability to park. Everything else is quite nice.

We go inside, and sure enough Julia hates the place. She apologizes about being such a snob, not realizing I’m one too. We see another restaurant across the street and decide to check it out. Julia leads and walks right out into traffic, gracefully floating across the street. I remind her this isn’t New York and that Los Angeles drivers tend to not stop for pedestrians.  She laughs it off as we enter the next place. It’s even worse, Julia barely makes it through the door before turning around.

This wasn’t going well at all.

I need to get her to Westwood proper, I need somewhere with overpriced parking and food stat. We squeeze into the Smart Car and head up the street, finally getting a chance to really chat. Julia has a lot to say, I don’t mind. I’m getting a chance really understand her, beyond the hokey videos and reblogging.

As we locate a nice cafe, Julia has some trouble parking once again. I guess that’s OK though. After all, Julia doesn’t stand still very often, let alone park. We find a table outside where she agrees to a quick informal interview before she dashes off to her next adventure.

Thanks Julia, for taking the time to chat with me. Next time, I’ll find a better place to dine. I’ll even make reservations.

(Photos by Julia Allison)

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Introducing Smaknews, a local startup providing social news voting for women. I had a chance to talk with the Smaknews Editrix, Gina Mom, about the site. Here’s what she had to tell us.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Gina. You can follow Smaknews on Twitter and of course through their website.

Previously on lalawag:

• lalawag Does Erotica LA
• You Really Only Have 150 Friends.
• Get In Shape with FitOrbit

Everyone except geeks that is. Insert Alexia Tsotsis. Prior to her coming back to LA, there was no coverage at all in the weekly of what tech was up to. Thankfully she brought it to the attention of her Editor, Erin Broadley, and was rewarded with the task of covering the scene. Everything from new start-ups to events and conferences, she is giving the LA Tech community a voice, and has been doing it quite successfully now for the past few months.

LA Tech needed someone to help share our story, and we couldn’t have asked for a more intelligent, or passionate person to pen our experiences. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s an ex-model and very easy on the eyes, further proof that women can have beauty and brains.

Get to know the woman who makes us all look better, and find out why she would want to tackle tech in the first place. I for one, am very glad that she did.

Five Questions with Alexia Tsotsis

1. What brought you to LA?

I was actually born here and went to USC for undergrad. Most recently though, I was working at Deitch Projects Gallery in New York and a couple of opportunities came up which eventually led me to work at my present gig at the LA Weekly. There’s obviously a lot going on in Southern California, and I’m really lucky to have lived both in New York and Los Angeles.

2. Why did you want to write about tech? What drew you to it?

While I was in New York, I ended up taking some classes in “new” media, and thought the convergence of technology and media and what they were subsequently doing to human behavior was pretty amazing. My background is in writing and art, and the same things which drew me to those are central to what is happening in technology at the moment. Getting the chance to cover technology and society for the LA Weekly has been a great opportunity to talk to the people who are on the forefront of things I really care about, from social change to connecting people in new and different ways. I’m also a dork. I really love getting the opportunity to be creative and play around with all this innovation.

3. What piece of advice do you have for someone coming into the scene?

Be excellent at what you do, whatever that is. People will respect you for it. The LA tech scene is a pretty small place, and I can’t always cover everything, or say what people want me to say about their company or product, but if people like what I write about, I can do a lot more good and help the entire community out. Making an effort to give back to the community I cover goes a long way, and I’ve gotten tons of (duly appreciated) support from people within the scene, which I try and keep in mind even when one of them sends me a press release as an attachment.

4. Name one thing that people don’t know about you that would surprise them.

I can jump a cue ball in pool.

5. What’s next for you?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I’m having an awesome time getting to see what people are up to in technology and then bringing their stories to a wider audience. So, I think I’ll be doing that for a while. I’ve gotten the chance to cover events like SXSW in Austin, Web 2.0 in SF and the Wired ‘Disruptive By Design’ conference in New York, so doing more to connect both the LA Weekly audience as well as the people in the LA tech scene to wider group of people in other areas is definitely a priority, with further cross pollinating people and ideas as the eventual goal.

Photo (CC) Brian Solis. www.briansolis.com

Photo from Alexia Tsotsis Facebook

You can keep up with everything Alexia Tsotsis does by following her on Twitter at @alexiatsotsis, Friendfeed, Facebook, LAWeekly.com, and of course her blog, www.alexiatsotsis.com.

(Photo from Alexia Tsotsis Facebook)

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How To Find Things

My great grandmother gave directions in reverse so we’d know where not to go. She’d send me looking for things by saying:

- You know the cabinet by the window? It’s not in there; look under the sink and you’ll find it.

The lesson here is that knowing where to go is important but knowing where NOT to go can help too.

I wish she lived long enough to meet my wife so she could have said.

-You know the girl with the boots and the wine?  Stop looking; you found it.

Curious about his wife, I clicked. There she was again, Ms. mysterious red boots. I was amazed to learn that they were engaged after only dating for five weeks, and were married a mere five months after that. And that they have been doing a live show for a year now, letting viewers into their lives and giving them a real he/said she said take on what it’s like to be married to someone that you have known less than a year.

Wanting to know more about them, I asked if they would give lala a  glimpse into their lives, he said/ she said style. You can catch them live each Saturday on BetheMarriage Live (On Ice). Considering most people thought they wouldn’t even make it to the one year mark, you may want to pay attention to a couple that is so clearly doing something right.

Five Questions with Nina and Will

1. What brought you two together?

Nina:
That was all Will. I had commented on someone’s Flickrsteam, Will saw my thumbnail and thought it was cute, followed it back to my profile page. He soon discovered that I lived in LA and was single. So he sent me an email. Which I promptly ignored. I didn’t mean to, I swear!

I eventually responded, we eventually met, he eventually started writing “The Detective Posts” which were a series of posts that were written to a “Mystery Girl” (me) who he wanted ‘to be Detective Partners with, like Nick and Nora.’

He charmed the pants off of me. Literally. When we started dating, he announced that I was the Mystery Girl and five weeks after that he proposed, and five months after that, we were married.

Will:
Persistence. I liked her and let her know as much right away, although not in a creepy way. Then I just waited and hoped she’d give me a chance. I thought of it like a job interview, if I could just get a chance to talk I could show her I was the right person for the job. Of course I didn’t call a thousand times (or even once). I just said “Hey, I’d like to get to know you and when you’re ready I’ll be here.”

2. How did he propose?

Nina:
Via blog post. It was on his old blogger blog, so when he moved to Worldpress he didn’t have all of the comments transferred, but you can see it here.

Will:
I began proposing about three weeks into dating and after saying “we should just go get married” for a few weeks she called me on it. We had been dating about 5 weeks at that point. I actually proposed via blog comment and she accepted the same way.

3. Why did you decide to document your relationship on the web? Where you inspired at all by Josh Harris’s project We Live In Public?

Nina:
I had to Google Josh Harris. Eeek. I don’t actually work in tech, so some of those touchstones are occasionally lost on me. Although you could probably classify my current job as tech-adjacent since I’ve started writing  on a couple of web series.

I’ve been blogging since 1997 – was blogging even a word back then? My former manager once said to me that I should forget blogging, ’cause the Internet doesn’t matter.” I’m nearly 37, so that’s nearly a third of my life that I’ve been writing as the slackmistress with the public at large.

His blog readership and mine basically watched our entire relationship unfold, and the proposal happen, so it seemed only natural to continue inviting them in. We didn’t want to combine blogs, so we decided on “BetheMarriage” which started out as a he said/she said videoblog. We (meaning me) got sick of having to record and edit, and it morphed into a Saturday night chat show on Ustream.

Will:
I was not inspired by We Live in Public. This happened almost accidentally, our first co-videoblog was the result of a plumbing issue in our apartment.

If I had to pick a inspiration I’d probably say I was inspired by couples who have lived very public lives as a result of their professions. Specifically I think of Richard and Linda Thompson who lived together, created together and preformed together all out in the open.* Of course you don’t see everything they did but their work was a window into their lives.

We have never intended to show EVERYTHING we do. For starters, no one cares about 90% of it and secondly we’re not exhibitionists. We show what we think is important, good and bad and the show is really a back and forth with the audience. We aren’t performing so much as we’re communicating with people we’ve grown to really like. It’s become a community for us but it’s not all about us. We just take the stage for an hour or so once a week.

*For the record Richard and Linda Thompson divorced so we hope the similarities end there

4. What do you hope people will take away from this?

Nina:
Oh crap, we’re supposed to have a message? Let’s see…Will rocks my socks, and anyone who spends 30 internet seconds (or 30 real-life seconds) can tell that. Hopefully we make people laugh (whether it’s with us or at us, I don’t really care) and show them that marriage isn’t SO SERIOUS. But we take it seriously. Does that make sense?

Will:
That there is no traditional path to happiness and that being with someone isn’t always going to be bliss but it should be fun more often than not. Mostly I just hope people laugh and have fun.

5. You started doing videos, then moved to a live show, what’s next for Be the Marriage?

Nina:
We’re going to start marketing Transformer-type toys of your favorite bloggers that you can assemble together for the UBERBLOG. Oh, I don’t know. A booze sponsor would be nice. Hopefully I won’t have to take off my shirt for that.

Will:
We both have our own career aspirations that don’t always require us to work together so the show is out one regular collaboration. We both write separately from this and ideally we’d like to do more of that. As for this show we want it to be fun and we hope that people aren’t mortified by us.

(Photo by Slackmistress)

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It’s no wonder she was recognized by Nielson two years in row as one of the “Bloggers and Influencers Who Made a Mark.” They gave her the name “Power Mom” and that is exactly what she is. Her blog, Jessica Gottlieb.com, was started in 2008, and gives its readers a fresh look at the views and ideals of a modern mom. We wanted to get to know her a little bit more and thought you might want to as well.

Five Questions with Jessica Gottlieb

1. What brought you to Los Angeles?

My parents and I grew up in Manhattan Beach and then later in the hills. I left for college in Colorado and came scurrying back. I think Los Angeles is my natural habitat and I would fail to thrive anywhere else.

2. Your voice regarding the Motrin Moms campaign was highly publicized. Why did this particular issue speak to you so personally?

I believe in women and in motherhood. I love to make fun of myself, but I can’t bear to watch new moms take a beating. They really need to remain off limits, that and our babies. Do not mess with our babies.

3. What do you hope your readers take away from your writing?

A smile. Sometimes I really want my readers to take an action. Right now I’d like to ensure that tech conferences don’t become a hostile environment. I’d like to hold everyone accountable, from organizers to sponsors to attendees. We need to keep our own space clean.

Mostly though, I hope people realize that being a Mother and a Wife is enough. I don’t need to do any more than just those two things in order to have value. I want Moms to feel good about their parenting and know that they aren’t alone.

4. Name one thing that people don’t know about you that would surprise them?

I met Dick Cheney in my formative years. He is not, in fact, Satan. He was nice, but he was always old.

5. What’s next for you?

Typically #CocktailHour follows tennis, but we are finessing DisruptHer and I do have Nag Mobile in the iphone app store. It’s more fun than what ought to be legal.

We asked Jessica how her wonderful supportive husband would describe her:

He says he doesn’t know. But he has been known to say things like “Are you still doing that New Media shit?” but this morning when I spent 3 hours in a conference room brainstorming with Peter Chernin he didn’t think it was dumb.

Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry

(Photos by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

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Violet Mae gets hot for old media.

Paige Craig reminds us why summer is a magical time in Los Angeles.

Shira Lazar got goosebumps.

Joanna Lord didn’t have the most exciting Saturday night, but at least she turned on a few SEOs with this tweet.

Social Media *EXPERT* Maria Andros can’t be troubled with this bullshit. Period.

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We look for tweets that feature one or more of the following traits:

• Over indulging ego tweets (aka tweeting too hard)
• Bragging about the fabulous places you are traveling to
• General hilarity
• Those rare and wonderful tweets that actually make us think
• All forms of drunk tweeting

Since you just can’t seem to stop oversharing, you really make this all too easy.

Enjoy.

Media empress Shira Lazar confuses Twitter for Weather.com

Twitter celeb Ashton Kutcher offers his unique take on sex ed.

Let’s hope no one tells Kim that 500,000 of them are bots.

Actor/Producer Casey McKinnon renames SQL, makes it 10 times cooler.

LAWeekly web editor Alexia Tsotsis goes deep.

KogiBBQ gamer Mike Prasad searches for Francisco Dao while Francisco searches for love?

Apparently he didn’t find it.

Alana Joy and many others spammed Twitter with their latest #spymaster exploits.

Professional gambler Jason Calacanis dreams out loud of a life that more closely resembles a hip-hop music video.

Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.

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However, what happens when someone steals your image and creates a double life for you? That’s just what happened to local tech darling Sarah Townsend, Editorial Director for Socialvibe.

Photo by technotheory

Apparently unknown to Sarah, her image was being used to represent a well known avatar in the World of Warcraft, by the name of “Ferarro”. Given how cute Sarah is, these stolen photos no doubt quickly found their way into the hearts of many in Azeroth (the WoW nerd homeland). 

Photo by Tessa Horehled

For the entire ‘saga‘ check out WoW.com and the Google Cache of the imposter’s blog (they’ve since made it private). 

If you’re a WoW player coming here as result of Google-stalking Sarah, you can find the real thing on her blog, or her Twitter account.

And hey, we know you don’t find many girls this pretty outside of Azeroth, so please do your best to be a respectful Orc.

Photo (CC) Brian Solis. www.briansolis.com

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So while most of us are trying to change the world one pixel at a time, it seems someone behind the ol’ printing press took notice. Out today, the latest issue of the LAWeekly spotlights the people making things happen in Los Angeles. The issue features several folks from the LA tech scene, including your lalawag editors.

Here’s the list:

• Tweethearts – Laurie and Sean Percival
• Power BFFs – Nicole Jordan and Jackie Peters
• Beautiful Streamer – Efren Toscano
• Tech’s Popular Girl – Shira Lazar

We want to send a huge thanks out to Alexia Tsotsis as we owe this great privilege to her. Shes is the one who told, or maybe even demanded her editors take notice of the resurgence of LA tech. Her passion for the craft is inspiring, especially to those living a 140 character existence. So if you see her at a local tech event, please do say hello and thanks. Just try not to get too seduced by her captivating eyes and infectious laugh.

You can see everyone featured in this issue here.

(Photos by Kevin Scanlon)

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Special thanks to Francisco Dao for arranging it!

Video

Photos

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Michael was introduced to Macala at a LA Mixers event.  Even though they both had a presence online their meeting each other was completely organic.  Michael saw her from across the room, thought she was cute, and asked a friend who she was and for an introduction.  He then immediately went home and followed Macala on Twitter.  This is when the stalking began she tells me.

“He was relentless for about two weeks and then finally wore me down.”

Macala explained that she was wary of dating someone that she had met once and really only new online as there are a lot of crazy’s that occupy the internet space and try to pick up on cute girls through Twitter and Facebook.  She wanted to make sure that Michael was a stand up guy, so she had a friend that is a private investigator do a little research on him.

“I needed to make sure he was normal, there are a lot of crazies and momma’s boys in LA. I don’t have high standards for Los Angeles, just normal ones”

Michael passed with flying colors and they set out on their first date which happened to be at Digital LA.  They arrived to the event separately, left separately and had such a good time together that according to Macala, “Michael never really left, it all just happened so naturally”.  The couple decided to keep arriving at events in the same fashion as their first date so they could have to opportunity to see where this relationship would go without the pressure of everyone knowing.

“Tech people in LA though we love them, gossip a lot”

The pair has been dating since October and made the jump to living together by early December.  Never in her past had Macala progressed in a relationship so quickly.  I asked if both of them being on social networks had an impact on their relationship, did it bring them closer together to have yet another means of communication?

“I learn so much from Michael, he has been in the industry longer”

Thankfully both of them being on social networks has not had a negative impact on their relationship.  Many couples have a hard time dealing with their significant other being open and sharing so much of their life online for all to see.  The one thing they do have, is a little healthy competition.  Sometimes Michael will get jealous of her followers and will immediately unfollow her to lower her twitter count. For instance when she hit 1,000 followers he unfollowed her to drop her count down to 999.

“We brawl over Twitter all the time…sometimes I think he loves Twitter more than me”, she says jokingly.

She describes Michael as being a technology whore who is addicted to Twitter and has a laptop mistress.  She has never dated anyone that is more into Twitter and Facebook than she is.

“Someone has to take the backseat in a Twitter relationship, that’s my advice about Twitter, and I think it should be the older one.”

In this day and age most people are turning to the internet to meet new people and not just to the typical dating sites.  Services like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter have become the go to places when you want to meet someone new and build a relationship with them, even a romantic one.  Many people are also using these sites after meeting someone in real life, think of it as your own person PI.  What better way to get an insight into a persons life then by e-stalking them.  You can check their twitter to see up to date news of what they are doing, their interests.  Facebook to see what their peers and friends are like, and Flickr to make sure they don’t make horrible hair and wardrobe choices.

During a recent survey that we conducted 46% of the the respondents answered yes to dating someone that they met through a social network, with Myspace coming in at number two for the network that they met on.  When asked what website do you use the most to meet new people, Twitter was the number one response with Facebook coming in at a close second.  It only makes sense that as social networks gain in popularity more and more people would use them as a regular tool for dating.

When asked if they use social networks to research someone they are interested in romantically, most people like Macala said yes.  Twitter and Facebook were the most common sites used but Google, Linked in, Flickr and even Friend Feed were mentioned as destinations for e-stalking.

So if your single and looking to meet your own technology fan boy, get those profiles looking as good as you can.  You never know when you’ll meet that one special person that even though he hates cats, puts up with yours.

And now for the news you have all been waiting for.  In our social network survey we posed the question “Who has the best hair in the LA tech scene?”  Have no fear  Sean Percival still reins supreme!

Honorable mentions are as follows:
Laurie Percival
AV Flox
Macala Wright
Mike Prasad
Shira Lazar
Efren Toscano

My personal favorite answer to this question was “Sean Percival’s cats”.

(Twitter love birds illustration by Yiying Lu, Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry)

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“Coming Correct” in Self-Promotion and Other Tidbits from E! Online’s Leslie Gornstein
by AV Flox

While Celebrity gossip blogs have existed for a while and Hulu, which brings film and television to computers everywhere, won best of show for film and TV at the South by Southwest: Interactive awards this year, in general, the merging of Hollywood and the web has been slow and clumsy.

Enter Leslie Gornstein, the Answer Bitch for E! Online. After working at a start-up that failed and spending some years freelancing, Gornstein got a column online when an editor at E! approached her in 2004.

“He was looking for a sassier, angrier ‘Ask Marilyn’ character,” Gornstein explained over coffee at Caffe Luxxe in Brentwood, where she met with me, Laurie Percival, editor-in-chief of Lalawag and Macala Wright, director of marketing and PR for 1928 Jewelry.

“He said, ‘I’m looking for someone to be the answer bitch, you can be the answer bitch,’” Gornstein recalled. “I said ‘all right.’”

Thus, the entertainment question and answer column ‘Ask The Answer Bitch’ was born. Gornstein never looked back. After living and breathing the celebrity lifestyle for four years, writing a book was natural progression. Her book The A-List Playbook, was released by Skyhorse Publishing last month.

“Despite what’s going on in technology right now and despite the ways that you can push yourself out there to a lot of people, people still see a book as a calling card,” Gornstein said. “I learned some really fascinating basic facts about Hollywood. But there was no compendium of it anywhere—the fact that celebrities have three nannies per child, the fact the average celebrity spends an hour a day with their child, and maybe three to four during a vacation period, the fact that most celebrities get 20,000 dollars a month of free stuff—and the fact that’s how you can gauge if they’re A-list or not. I wanted to put it in a survival guide format because I thought that was the most fun way to read it. But really it’s a window for the rest of us about how those people really live.”

“Are you using social media to promote your book?” Lalawag’s Laurie Percival asked.

“Everything that has an internet connection is now my bitch when it comes to promoting my book,” Gornstein responded, laughing. “Facebook, MySpace—not so much, there is something really disco about that. It looks like a Lebanese disco whenever I go on there! I can’t deal with that. So Facebook, Twitter, E! Online—even World of Warcraft. If it has a line out to the world, it’s my bitch.”

Gornstein, who started tweeting as @answerbitch only last November has almost 2,000 followers. She follows almost everyone back.

Macala Wright can’t get over the information saturation that comes with following that many people on Twitter. She confessed she’d pulled a Loic just a few weeks ago to make her stream more manageable and reflected on how annoyed some people got when they were unfollowed.

“Someone has decided following everyone back is Tweetiquette and you know what? I think people are taking things way too personal,” Gornstein replied. “Because, what does that mean when I don’t return someone’s phone call? Sometimes I’m just not going to return a phone call.”

“I think about this all the time, too,” Laurie Percival pitched in. “Do I have to reply to every @message? How do people do this all day long? There’s no way!”

She described with awe the people who sent personalized direct messages (DMs) after she followed them.

“I just don’t know how they have time,” she said. “So I just don’t do it.”

“You could send out auto-DMs.” Gornstein suggested.

We looked at her with horror. I think one of us even gasped.

“The only reason I think an auto-DM would be offensive, and I got one of these recently, ‘thank you for following, be sure to link my blog’—that’s not cool,” Gornstein defended her position. “When people follow me I send out an auto-message that says, ‘Welcome to the all American festival that is me!’ I don’t see that as a particularly obnoxious thing to do.”

Gornstein seems to have an inherent understanding of how to work new media and leverage the power of real-time user feedback.

“I’m really careful to do it,” she said about self-promotion. “You have to come correct about it, as the drug dealers say. You come to people correct and you say ‘yes, I’m pimping now,’ or I’ll make it participatory and say, ‘correct me if I’m wrong…’ and people like that. It’s conversation. I think that’s respectful.”

She limits the bulk of her self-promotion to Sundays and constantly invites input from her followers and readers. To a large extent, the web has allowed her following to grow and thrive.

“On the internet we have the concept of microcelebrity—being famous for fifteen people, as Momus said in the early 90s,” I told her. “Do you think of yourself as one?”

“I’m definitely famous for fifteen people,” she responded. “My husband loves me!”

“Do you think microcelebrities could apply some of the knowledge found in your book?”

“No,” she said, laughing. “You really need to be visible planet-wide to be able to sling this kind of power around.”

“So you don’t think Julia Allison could get through airport security without having to remove her stilettos?”

“No,” she replied. “Microcelebrities are most famous to themselves. Without the internet, would these people be famous?”

Sounds like a challenge to me. Hear that, NonSociety?

Gornstein pointed to a copy of her book on the coffee table, buried under iPhones, packs of cigarettes and idle Flip cams.

“These people are all cross-media megastars,” she said. “If the internet did not exist, Julia Allison would be a nice intern somewhere, working her microminis and then maybe one day meet Tina Brown and have something nice happen to her for a year. She’s extremely bright and when you read what she writes you see it’s well thought-out, but to be really famous your face needs to be recognizable, your name needs to be recognizable—by more than a small subset of people. If you said, ‘I saw Julia Allison yesterday!’ most people wouldn’t know what you were talking about. But if you said, ‘I saw Julia Roberts yesterday!’ they’d know what you were talking about.”

She’s right. Even so, the section about how Paris Hilton plays the press (“The Paris Hilton Method,” page 65) could be of some use to aspiring fameballers—I’ll trade Laurie’s home phone for Owen Thomas’!

Seriously, though, the way fame is spreading on the web, and with microcelebrity having such a wide and bizarre array of wonders and dangers (from the power you can exert dating the founders of your choice start-up to death by commenter execution) I think there’s a definite sequel there.

Of Possible Interest:
Leslie Gornstein will be signing books and holding a live chat in Los Angeles on Thursday, March 19, 2009, at 7:00PM at the Barnes and Noble at the Grove on 189 Grove Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036. Call (323) 525-0270.

Full disclosure—Leslie gave me a copy of her book. Yes, I’ve read it, but I’m not gonna tell you just how juicy it is. I’ll leave it by saying that two friends have already attempted to steal it.

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Info

Name: A.V. Flox
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Blog: OMG. OMG! OMFG!

Five Questions with A.V.

1. What brought you out to Los Angeles?

The same thing that brings everyone to Los Angeles: dreams, based on wild hopes and great expectations.

A couple of weeks ago, I read a piece by Mark Groubert in the LA Weekly called “Box of Broken Dreams,” about a box he found on a sidewalk.

“You know the box,” he writes. “The box that’s left by folks who are not moving to another place in Los Angeles, but home. Home to Wallace, Idaho, or Quincy, Illinois. Home to Greenville, Alabama, or Ardmore, Oklahoma. Small-town America. The places where dreams are born. The box is the stuff that can’t fit in the back of the U-Haul. The box is the life being left behind. It is the box of broken dreams.”

Sometimes I imagine Los Angeles as a vampire entity that runs on dreams and sweat and cum and youth and blood. It’s this stark contrast of illusion and tragedy that makes me love it so much more.

Or maybe I’m a drama queen.

2. Some people would say that you over share on the internet, is anything too personal?

Six years ago the author Cathrynne Valente wrote that reading my personal blog was “a lot like watching someone else masturbate: you are startled, not really knowing what’s going on, somewhat interested in the grotesquery of the rhythm, but the perpetrator doesn’t give a Christmas fig whether you like it or not.”

She’s still right, even now that I blog mostly about social media and web culture more than my own life. My Twitter stream is replete with information that many would consider TMI. It’s a form of self-expression in the way that painting is. A lot of times I’m surprised to receive replies or direct messages from people I don’t know about something I’ve said. It’s like, “oh, someone’s watching?”

People get confused when they meet me in person because I’m much less open, yet they feel this bond with me because so much has already been shared by me. They don’t realize how much of my sharing is a conversation with myself. It’s really startling to meet someone IRL and see them go from the handshake to, “wow, so how’s your marriage?” in 2.5 seconds.

It’s, like, whoa. What’s your name again?

3. When did you start your blog and what was your inspiration?

I rarely call people because I hate the phone, so when I do, it’s usually for a reason. My friends always joke that they’ll know it’s not me if ever they answer and don’t hear me scream “OMG. OMG! OMFG!” before dishing some juicy details. So, you know, I did what anyone would do: I bought omgomgomfg.com.

I had no idea what I was going to do with it at the time, and even after I set it up and actually started writing in it last year, I still didn’t know where I was going with it. It’s started to take shape as a running commentary on how the web is developing and how this is changing the way we interact with one another, as well as how it’s catalyzing the fall of old media. It’s happening so fast and it all feels so full of consequence. Will it matter in ten years? It matters in the same way that old pictures matter–because we were there.

4. Name one thing that people don’t know about you that would surprise them?

My favorite animals are the nudibranch and the chironex fleckeri. I am fascinated by the dangerous illusion of vulnerability.

5. What’s next for you?

I’m currently collaborating on a book of interviews called Dear: Americans Talk About Love, edited by journalist John Bowe, who wrote Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs and the film Basquiat.

It’s a really exciting project because it’s all about crowdsourcing: anyone can be a part of it. If you’re an American and you have a story about love that needs to be heard, whether wonderful or tragic, or if you know someone with one and want to interview them for us, you can contact us and get involved.

I’ll have more information available on my site as the project develops. In the meantime, tune in to Salon, which runs one of the love interviews bi-monthly. It’s great stuff–especially if you’re into other people oversharing.

Photos of A.V.

Photo by Sean

Photo by A.V. Flox

Photo by A.V. Flox

Meta A.V.

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I first met Jun Loayza at one of Andrew Warner’s Mixergy events. The format was American Idol style, I was playing Simon, Jun the hopeful entrepreneur. A panel of judges tore apart his site, offering advice on SEO, PR and social media. Jun followed up with me after the event and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. I’ve got to know Jun and can’t help but admire his spirt, now its your turn.

Info

Name: Jun Loayza
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Blog: http://www.junloayza.com/

Five Questions with Jun

1. Are you originally from Los Angeles, and if not where?

I was born and raised in Orange County, California. I know what you’re thinking and NO, I didn’t grow up near Laguna Beach or any where near where The OC took place. I live in Westminster, which is located 25 minutes from the beach. Picture the Little Saigon of SoCal and that’s where I live.

I actually did love growing up there; nothing really to complain about. The only thing is that asian people really are BAD drivers. Driving on Bolsa is a nightmare!

2. What brought you to Los Angeles?

I came to LA to study at UCLA. What people say is true: college is definitely the best time of your life!

3. What’s your favorite thing about Los Angeles?

My favorite thing has got to be the beach. My friend, and former team member, Stephen Johnson and I would go surfing out in Venice last summer for our breaks from work. The startup life is tough, and having a relaxing surf at the beach really eases the stress and gets the creative juices flowing.

4. You share a lot of experience about the startup life, what’s the hardest part of it, and what do you do persevere?

The hardest part about the startup life is the uncertainty. I have no idea if our startup company will succeed; I have no idea if next week I’ll be able to pay my student loans. But you know what? We always some how always pull through, get a client, and are able to survive at least for another month. I will compare the startup life to one big giant rollercoaster ride. When things are going well, you are soaring throught the air. There is absolutely no greater feeling in the world than to see your company succeed.

On the other hand, the rollercoaster has to come down sometime. And when you’re down, you’re way down. A lead developer can leave the company right before launch, a company sponsor could be lagging behind on payments, or your founder may be unable to stay in the states. It’s an absolute crazy lifestyle.

So how do I persevere, and even more importantly, why would I want to persevere? You will always here career coaches talk about, “You have to find your passion in life.” Blah blah blah… personally I feel the word “passion” is WAY over used in our society. But, I do feel they have a point here. I have tried to corporate life and I hated it. In the entrepreneurial world, I am self-motivated and am able to watch my baby grow and succeed.

When I really think about it, I’m not really persevering; instead, I’m just living my life the way I should be living it. I am built to build companies. Hopefully, I have it in me to build successful companies rather than just failures…

5. What is next for Jun?

I have a few things under my wing right now.

Number 1 is Viralogy.com. Viralogy is a social media rank that ranks your online influence and compares it against your peers. For example, who has the most blog subcribers, unique visitors, twitter followers, digg popular ratio, facebook friends, linkedin contacts, and I could go on and on. We aggregate your social media influence and create a rank that you can compare against your peers.

Who is most influential in society: Gary Vaynerchuk or Guy Kawasaki? We’ll soon be able to find out the anser.

Number 2 is FutureDelivery.tv. This is the funnest most productive show in the world. During February and March, we will be focusing on brinigng Venture Captialists in as guests so that you can find out first hand what it takes to be funded.

Number 3 is Site Vitamin and Pro Buiness Blogger. We are creating a web tutorial that we teach companies step-by-step how to leverage social media to brand and market their company. If we’re successful, then companies won’t need to hire social media consultants anymore :P. I bet a bazillion people right now are hoping that we don’t succeed, hahahaha.

Thanks for chatting with us Jun, keep hustling.

Meta Jun

Photos of Jun

All photos by Wm. Marc Salsberry

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It seems his name is attached to a quote about how easy it is to score a private island. Brady, buddy, we had no idea TubeFilter was so profitable. Full quote and snapshot follows:

“Buying a private island may sound expensive, but it doesn’t have to be”  says Brady Brim-Deforest of Los Angeles

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Wonder if she is having any fun?

Let the photos do the talking…

Lucky for him, they do allow 2 carry on shiras

Whoa, the Chile BlackBerry is huge!

Muy

Nice view

If you look close enough, you’ll find two of the worlds most unobservant guys

See more from Shira’s trip over on Jaunted.com.

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Martin Schaedel’s final tweet.

I didn’t know Martin, but from what I’m reading today, his final status update will always echo how he spent his time here. As a local start up advisor and VC, he had no shortage of friends in Los Angeles.  He lived life to various extremes, sounds like he loved every minute of it.

Cheers to you Martin.

(Photos by Martin and Mike Jones)

Learn More About Martin:

• Official Site
• Flickr Stream
• Twitter

Related Blog Posts:

• A VC
• LA Times
• All Things D

Recent Twitter Talk:

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Me too.

Well no more,  it seems we have our own group of dynamic woman right here in Los Angeles. Unlike your usual suspects, these ladies actually take care of business. While the those other girls flip their hair, they flip companies.  

Called The New Power Girls, they grace the pages of the HuffPost through serial entrepreneurPatricia Handschiegel. Follow along as we meet a few of them, click through to learn more.

Patricia Handschiegel

Jackie Peters

Meghan Cleary

Nicole Jordan

Kathrien Ahn

Shira Lazar

Sayeh Pezeshki

Paige Rolfe

Latest New Power Girl News
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Notable photographer Thomas Hawk was recently in our fair city, photowalking and doing what he does best. Along the way he managed to get harassed by not 1, but 3 separate security/cops who wish to redefine your right to take photographs in public. He details all the encounters over on his blog.

“Unfortunately our photowalk around the Port of Long Beach was not without incident. Three times we were blinted while photographing. I’ve been stopped plenty of times while legally shooting in the past. Most of the times I’ve been able to be respectful but insistent on my legal rights to shoot wherever I’m shooting. Every so often though an incident turns into a more serious altercation. ”

We can’t help but like the Hawk here at lala, his take no bullshit attitude both online and offline is refreshing. He has been challenged like this countless times before, each occasion stepping up to defend his rights (and yours) while he professionally documents the exchange and reaches out for support. He usually he gets it too. The Port of Long Beach’s Media Relations Department has already responded and are looking into the issue. 

(Banner photo by Thomas Hawk)

Previously on lalawag:

• Dealmaker Media at Clearstone
• Geeks Want To Rock And Roll All Night
• Media Leaders at Shade Hotel

Home broadband would cost $100,000 and never work. (link)

Access to the information super highway would be limited to Audis only (link)

Every day the web would close at noon for a 4 hour lunch. (link)

All emoticons would be changed to reflect Loic’s face. (link)

All email would be done via Seesmic video conversations. (link)

(Banner photo by: Joi)

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Well you could always sell and store most of your belongs, ditch your apartment and head south of the border. In fact that’s just what Sloane Berrent is doing. Recently laid off from do good 2.0 start up Causecast, Sloane is putting some of that ol’ Internet money to good use. She’s traveling throughout South America to find her way and help some folks along the journey.

Before she could leave, I sat down with Sloane at her favorite local dive bar The Cozy Inn Lounge. Let’s learn about what’s next  and send our best wishes through the comments.

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Both ladies are savvy, hyper connected, and make up the wet dreams of several tech CEOs.

But who does it better?

(Banner Photos by (CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com, bub.blicio.us)

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I had to attend about a dozen tech events in LA before I got to meet Andrew. Each time I tried to meet him he was always surrounded by folks, looking to share ideas or ask questions. To many, Andrew is considered a true showman of the Los Angeles tech space. Like a carnival ticket caller, he brings you in to share his own experience and that of others.

His website Mixergy initially took on the electronic invite space, when that failed Andrew changed it’s focus to connecting us all through compelling content and events. Since Andrew almost got me sued because of an interview I did with him, I figured he owed us at least 5 questions.

Info

Name: Andrew Warner
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Blog: www.mixergy.com

Five Questions with Andrew

1. What brought you out to Los Angeles?

I came to LA after selling my previous internet company. I wanted to have fun. Till that time, my life was 100% work. I had no life–and I was proud of it. But at some point, I realized that I needed something else. So I came to LA to hang out. Every morning I’d wake up and ask myself, “what do you feel like doing today?” and then I’d go do it. No responsibilities, no obligations, no constraints. It was wonderful.

2. Hey that sounds *VERY* LA. And since then you’ve become well known for hosting literally 100s of mixers, how did this all get started?

Even though I swore never to work again because I was so burned out, I found myself wanting to be around business people. I wanted to talk business with smart people. So I started throwing parties that eventually became known as Mixergy. It was my way of meeting doers.

3. Andrew, you say that your own startup Mixergy was a failure. You’ve since changed the offering to adapt. What was the biggest take away from all this?

At the time I started throwing parties, the only invitation site I could find was evite. I said to myself, “evite is a terrible site. It doesn’t let me find out anything about who’s coming to my events. It doesn’t let me stay in touch with guests. It’s junk.” So I hired some developers to build out an invitation site. I thought it’d be easy because everything I touched in the past seemed to become a hit, but it bombed. I found myself throwing more and more money at the invitation site without any idea of how I’d earn revenue from the site. One of my big lessons is to keep costs down next time.

4. You’ve interviewed many great minds from our industry, people like Tim Ferriss and myself. Who was your favorite interviewee, and why?

There are two kinds of people who I think make good interviews.

The first is the person who has a systematized way of looking at the world. It’s easy to use what they teach. Tim Ferriss is a good example of that. He really thought through every step of making his book, “The Four Hour Workweek” into a best seller. He gave me a list of steps that anyone can follow to promote a book or any other project. It’s a very useful interview.

The second type is someone who’s open. When Mark Jeffrey told me about feeling depressed when his past company was collapsing around him, I could identify with that because I’d been there. Even listeners who never had a failure could relate to his story. So when he told me what he did to rebuild himself and create a hit business, it drives home the message that a failure doesn’t have to define you. That it can pave the way to something better.

5. What’s next for Andrew Warner?

I want to connect with as many ambitious people as I can. I want to keep interviewing them on Mixergy. I want to keep meeting them at my events. And I want to keep learning from them.

Andrew thanks for taking the time to chat with us, you can learn more over at Mixergy.com.

Meta Andrew

Story photos by Wmmarc

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I first got to know Jackie Peters at a Los Angeles Tech mixer. The atmosphere was about as exciting as watching the paint dry. So instead we spent most of the night on the patio, chain smoking and debating various topics of business and life. Over time I’ve got to know Jackie pretty well, now its your turn.

Info

Name: Jackie Peters
Location: Los Angeles, CA (usually westside)
Blog: blog.heavybagmedia.com
Company Site: www.heavybagmedia.com

Five Questions with Jackie

1. What brought you out here to Los Angeles?

In no particular order: weather, sushi, legs, weather, getting the %*#$ out of Connecticut, business, weather, avocados, adventure, the possibility of meeting obscure celebrities like Tina Yothers or “Tootie” from the Facts of Life.

2. Other than meeting me, what has been your best experience out here so far?

Getting to be here at ground zero as the next evolution of the web unfolds

3. What makes the LA tech scene unique from other cities?

A few things: The web is becoming more and more about content, LA is the content capital of the world. It makes sense that the two worlds should exist in close proximity. Also, the people, maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the smog, but there’s something that sets the people here in LA apart. LA gets a bad wrap; outsiders think everyone here is phony or out for themselves. In the LA tech scene I’ve found the opposite, a group of genuine and amazingly intelligent individuals who are here supporting each other.

4. What are you up to these days?

My marketing firm, Heavybag Media, is in it’s 8th year, hard to believe! We’re working primarily with technology and entertainment clients, so this is really the perfect spot for us. We help brands find and connect to the communities that matter to them both on and offline. I’ve been trying to maintain my blog as much as I can, and am also the director of the LA chapter of the Social Media Club.

5. Is this lalawag thing a great or horrible idea? Honestly?

I LOVE the lalawag idea, Sean. It only made sense that you would do this. Now you have a single place to aggregate all of your online antics ;-p

Agreed, if there is anything Internet needs its more me. Thanks for chatting with us and enjoy the show.

Meta Jackie

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Sarah is one of those wonderful people you stumble across online. Even though we live in the same city, and run in similar crowds we’ve yet to meet. So while we haven’t, I can already tell Sarah is someone who just gets it. Her passion for the “craft” shows through in the work she does and other social activity.

She even agreed to take a few questions for the first ever lalawag profile. I’ll be doing this for folks in the LA area and elsewhere, please drop me a line if interested.

Info

Name: Sarah Atwood
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Official Site: www.sarahatwood.net

5 Questions with Sarah Atwood

1. Sarah, like many in Los Angeles you came from elsewhere. What brought you here?

I moved to LA in 2001 promptly after graduating from college to pursue an acting career. I started doing local theatre at 5 years old, majored in acting at Florida State University and knew that I had to come to Hollywood to be a part of the entertainment industry.

2. What’s your favorite thing about LA so far?

My favorite thing about LA is everything! I immediately fell in love with LA as soon as I arrived. The weather is perfect, the scenery is beautiful and I’ve met some of the most creative people here. The vibe in LA is very fitting for me.

3. You took part in the 40+ day Mahalo Idol contest, do you think that was long enough or should they have run a few more weeks?

I actually feel the Mahalo Vlog Idol was just the right amount of time. It was long enough to really see who would be the best fit for Mahalo Daily.

4. Recently you were working with the Epic Fu crew but thanks to the recent economy issues and general VC nervousness, they’ve had to reduce the staff. What’s the deal with Rev3, total jerks or what?

EPIC FU was a very short but fabulous experience for me. Steve, Zadi & Rick are great producers and I hope to work with them again. The staff reduction wasn’t really anybody’s fault. I don’t know all the details of what’s going on at Rev3 but I do know that brands are fearful of this economy and don’t want to risk spending money. Therefore Revision3 isn’t getting the money they need to pay their shows. Unfortunately, layoffs are happening all over this country. I’m just one of many unemployed right now.

5. Tell us what’s next?

I’m actually not sure what is next for me. I’m at an interesting crossroad in my life. I am open to and excited about a variety of possibilities since I love being in front and behind the camera. I am actively looking for a show to work with and developing my own ideas. At this very moment, I’m trying to figure out how to use this fancy schmancy N96 that Nokia was kind enough to send me.

That sounds like a plug to me! Good job, Nokia I’m telling you hire this girl!

Thanks for chatting with us.

Meta Sarah

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Sarah on Twitter
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Sarah on Flickr

(Photos by Wm. Marc Salsberry and Sarah Atwood)

Previously on lalawag:

• Chart of iPad Comparison Charts
• CES Closing Curtain
• Twiistup 80′s Prom Ticket Givaway: Trust Me You Don’t Want to Miss This