Nat & Marie2013-05-21T04:44:21-04:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=nat-marieCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Nat & MarieGood old fashioned elbow grease.Top 5 Coolest Instagram Accessories on the Webtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.14991492012-05-09T12:56:10-04:002012-07-09T05:12:04-04:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/Instagram, has the ability to turn even the most ordinary photographer into the next Annie Leibovitz or National Geographic front cover photog.
Perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration. But with its easy-to-use uploading process that includes a post-production rack focus and over a dozen filters to choose from, it's hard not to feel like a semi-pro when you see yourself producing one gorgeous photo after another. It's a no-brainer that Instagram reigned as the most popular free application in the App Store after it was acquired by Facebook. And then it went on to gain over five million Android users in less than a week once it launched on that platform. It enables us to portray our world in the uniquely beautiful ways we view it.
As is customary on the web, when one thing explodes, you can expect to find a wave of websites, applications and services to offer you various ways to enrich your experience. Here are five unique ways to enjoy your Instagram gems online and offline.
1) Enjoy and interact on a web interface
One of the not-so-great features of Instagram is you can only view one photo at a time when you pull it up on a web browser, and creeping an entire album is not that user-friendly. Luckily that's where no-nonsense web interfaces like Webbygram come in. All you need to do is login with your Instagram account and it lets you view and interact with all the photos on your stream and your album like you would on the app itself. If you want something a little more interactive and social, perhaps Webstagram is more to your liking. You can not only view, like and comment on photos of your followers, but you can browse Instagram for the most popular photos as the site features a Photo of the Day where they encourage users to submit their best pics to #photooftheday. A daily winner is featured. (Psst prizes are available as well.)
2) Create Magnets from your Instagram
And now we bring your 2-D photos into the real world with a service called Stickygram. They describe themselves as a "personalized printing service that turns your Instagram images into lovely little magnets." Simple as that. They seem to be flexible 50mm x 50mm images, come in packs of nine and you can order them straight to your door for $14.99. Booyah.
3) Poster-ize your Instagram gallery
As an avid Instagrammer, this one made me squeal with delight. Mostly because I love the idea of turning my gallery into a giant poster.
Printstagram, I salute you! Not unlike Stickygram, they take the idea of bringing the photos into the offline world, enabling you to enjoy and share them in an entirely different way. You can turn your Instagram photos into posters, mini prints, stickers, T-shirts (coming soon!) and even teeny tiny books. Let's not question the point of why one might require a teeny tiny book, but rather squeal with the adorable notion of it.
4) Square photos for unsquare people
Alright I took that title right from Snapstagram's Kickstarter campaign. But it's catchy and describes exactly what you're getting: your Instragam photos as high-quality 4" x 4" prints. It's funny because with all the digital advancements in the world, this just takes you right back to where we started; this is perfect for anyone who yearns for that retro analog experience. You use your mobile phone and an app to take beautiful shots, and then Snapstagram "develops" the photos for you to put in an album, frame around your home or simply share them with family and friends. Check out their video from their Kickstarter campaign.
5) Cherish your memories on...a ceramic tile?
As random as this sounds, after browsing through the service, I couldn't help but feel like Imagesnap has got a cool thing going. This is definitely more about presentation, but this service offers the option to get your favourite Instagram photos printed onto tiles in seven different sizes. The Teeny Tile includes self-adhesive magnets you can stick onto the back. The Classic is encouraged to be enjoyed on an easel or even as backsplash for your bathroom or kitchen. And then there's The Slab, which is a 12" x 12" ceramic tile of your best shot that is meant to make a bold statement.
The best thing about all these services is they're all very reasonably priced and seem to ship not only in the U.S. and Canada, but all around the world.
BONUS:
I have one last gem, that didn't quite fit into the Top 5, but it's for all you real photographers, the purists, that love the look of Instagram filters but can't bear to create those shots with anything other than vintage cameras and talent? Then you should spend some time on 1000 memories' Old School Instagram Filters. Enjoy!]]>Stop the Traffik's Trending Video Shows Girls Going Wild in the Red Light Districttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.14689892012-05-02T09:38:00-04:002012-07-02T05:12:13-04:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/
It seems that Amsterdam's reputation has begun to precede itself, and people are starting to finally take notice of its worldwide reputation. Known for it's unconventional and alternative way of life, the city of Amsterdam appears to be receiving it's fair share of pressure and scrutiny under the media spotlight -- and for good reason.
A topic worth concern, this is also the subject of one of the web's most recent globally trending videos. International anti-slavery organization Stop The Traffik has launched a campaign in an effort to bring awareness to the epidemic of human trafficking. Since it's release on YouTube on April 4, the video has gone completely viral with nearly one million views in just under a month.
Although government officials are now attempting to control the city's infamous cannabis culture (or at least changing the rules for tourists), there is still much to be done about an issue that rarely receives media coverage.
Whether we hear about it often or not, sex trafficking is an international issue that must be addressed. Newly recognized and not often talked about, this topic is one that certainly deserves some attention for the sake of thousands of young lives.
Created by Dutch advertising agency Duval Guillaume Modem, the 1:40 video features six provocatively dressed women who appear to be sex workers, dancing in the lit-up brothel window's of Amsterdam's Red Light District. The women dance to the rhythm of an electric dubstep beat as a crowd gathers to stop and stare, gazing on as the dancers give the performance of their lives. The surprised crowd becomes entranced by the performance, while having no suspicion that the women are not attempting to entice, but to educate.
As the dance number wraps, jaws drop and the crowd goes into shock as a billboard above the brothel is revealed, reading: "Every year, thousands of women are promised a dance career in Western Europe. Sadly, they end up here. Stop the Traffik. People shouldn't be bought or sold."
As The Nat and Marie Show intern, I became aware of this video through watching the show, as it was featured as one of the viral videos last week. Not only does the video manage to create awareness to this devastating issue, but it also scares people into thinking about what actually takes place while our backs are turned the other way. Maybe what we need is a good ol' scare tactic to get our attention and initiate a much deserved wake-up call to issues that require attention on an international level.
Watch "Girls Going Wild in Red Light District" now and let us know if this video changed the way you look at sex trafficking and if you're inclined to share it.
Let's break it down a little more, so you know the backstory on why Mike Stone, (@madmike42948), is The Boss. When he realized that he was about to graduate without ever been to a prom, Mike hit Twitter and for about a month he sent around 600 tweets to adult film stars as well as, Kreayshawn, Jersey Shore's Deena, Snookie, and Sammi as well as Kim Kardashian, although, the success of her non-porn career is debatable.
Finally, Megan Piper (@xMeganPiper), who admittedly missed her own high school prom, said yes. PornHub offered to cover the limo, the dinner and even the hotel room, and Megan's even picked our her dress (warning: her background image on Twitter is NSFW). As of a week ago, it looked like it was locked down. Until Superintendent Patti Phillips released a statement saying that Stone's "prom date will not be allowed to attend the Tartan prom as her attendance would be prohibited under the Tartan's standard prom procedures and would be inconsistent with two school district policies."
The policies, among other things, prohibit any act that "substantially disrupts the orderly operation of school or school activities." Which, I guess to Phillips, it isn't a far reach to use that policy to justify discriminating against another human being because of her occupation. Furthermore, it's audacious for the superintendent to believe that all this crazy media attention she's generating isn't disrupting the orderly operation of school or school activities. She's a porn star, yes, but does that mean that it justifies sending out a message that not all humans are equal?
"We believe had Mike Stone or any other Tartan High School student secured a locally-known celebrity as an escort/date, the school district would allow it with no problems." Wrote Anonymous in a public announcement available on Pastebin.
"... #Anonymous opposes this blatant example of discrimination, and also believes the school district is reacting to the worldwide publicity this story has brought them, and wishes to distance themselves from bad publicity."
D0X'ing (for those of you who don't know) is the act by which personal information about people is shared online. Information such as, real name, known aliases, address, phone number, SIN and more can be revealed, and for Tartan High School Officials, it's all there, including spouses. Anonymous are bitches and have no problem questioning authority.
At this point it is unclear what effect this will have on the decision being overturned. Since Anonymous made the announcement on March 22, there's been little movement. So, I wrote a letter to Patti Phillips in support of Mike Stone. Why not? If the decision is just then there should be no problem in explaining how Mike Stone is really violating school policy by taking his dream date, Megan Piper to prom?
Sometimes you just gotta fight for your right to party.]]>Pinterest: A Woman's World Men Want to Jointag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.12723752012-02-13T01:55:05-05:002012-04-13T05:12:01-04:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/Pinterest is the rising star of social media networks on the web and women are its main curators.
Pinterest is an invite-only community that works like photo-centric social bookmarking site where users can create virtual "boards" based on certain themes like home décor, fashion, DIY crafts and recipes, and post -- or in this case "pin" -- their favourite images with notes and links back to the original sources. The social aspect is you can follow other users and re-pin their content onto your own boards thus sharing them with your own followers.
Growing from 10 million to 17 million users in three weeks and being named a top five referrer of traffic surpassed only by Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Yahoo!, Pinterest has quickly become one of the fastest growing social networks on the web.
A recent report by Experian Hitwise, a consumer behaviour analytics firm, found 58 per cent of users (a.k.a. Pinners) were of the double-x chromosome variety between the ages of 25 and 44, while data from Google Ad Planner pegs the demographic dichotomy at 80 per cent women and 20 per cent men.
The heavy female skew explains why Pinterest is most often known for its popular use of helping brides-to-be organize their weddings, foodies organize their favourite recipes via pornographic shots of food, and fashionistas organize their fashion and accessory wish lists.
As a result the network has even been dubbed as "Tumblr for the ladies" and conversations over Twitter seemed to support the sentiment as well.
The fact of the matter is social networking sites are often driven by female users who spend 30 per cent more time on these sites than their male counterparts, according to Comscore. Thus the heavier usage by women is not out of the ordinary in the least. However how the network expanded is.
"When a website or application is launched in new media, it's usually young men that adopt it first until it hits the tipping point and then everyone else joins on," says Mitch Joel, president of Twist Image and digital marketing expert. "But not the case with Pinterest. It has been unique in its growth."
Rather than wooing tech journalists and early adopters first, Pinterest slowly grew a dedicated base of users -- predominantly women in California and Texas, followed by states like Utah, Alabama and Tennessee. As they invited their friends, who invited their friends, the tech savvy eventually caught wind of it, published blogs and articles about it until it has now exploded as one of 2012's hottest websites.
To that point, I wasn't invited to Pinterest by the dozens of social media experts or digital journalists I call my colleagues, but instead by an old high school gal pal who uses the Internet in a minimal capacity back in December 2011.
Despite the strong female user backbone, men have started to jump on the bandwagon, with a popular blog post by Dave Copeland titled A Guy's Guide to Pinterest circulating on various sites making the case for Pinterest having the capacity to be appealing to men.
"After just a few days of playing with it, I'm not sure I 'get' Pinterest just yet, but I like it," writes Copeland. "If creativity is defined as taking two or more seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts and finding a way to link them together, Pinterest may be a breeding ground for visual creativity."
And with 32 different topics for boards ranging from Geek, to Technology, to Photography and Fitness, perhaps more men will share Copeland's curiosity for this highly-visual community site and begin balancing the content being curated on Pinterest.
By: Anastasia "Nat" Tubanos]]>Top Internet Scandals of 2011tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.11782472012-01-01T01:42:45-05:002012-03-01T05:12:01-05:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/
To be fair, perhaps they're not always dumb. Perhaps they're just misinformed. Or misled. Or n00bs. Or perhaps more often than not, it's just full of intelligent people making not-so-intelligent choices.
Either way, the Internet is a globally accessible public forum where one wrong move may not only be scrutinized by your social network, but if you're really unlucky, it spreads like wildfire in the news and you're scrutinized by the world. And then get onto lists like this one where we share the top Internet FAILS of 2011. Starting with Twitter's former celebrity darling, Ashton Kutcher.
Ashton's Twitter trip up
Although he's celebrated for being the first person to reach a million followers on Twitter, even this veteran made the cardinal sin: tweeting before he got the whole story.
In early November, Penn State Coach Joe Paterno's dismissal was top news due to an alleged sex abuse scandal surrounding Penn State's former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.
Kutcher, a fan of Paterno's, assumed the coach was getting fired because of his older age, tweet out the dismissal was in bad taste, moments before realizing the REAL reason he was being let go.
As a result of the Twitter outrage that bombarded him, Kutcher immediately deleted the offending post, issued an apology via twitter, as well as his blog, and relinquished the management of his twitter, @aplusk, to his team at Katalyst Media.
NAT: Personally I think Kutcher did everything right. He owned up to his mistake publicly. Wrote a detailed explanation of why it happened and was transparent about it. He's human. Mistakes happen. That's why celebs have publicists to clean up their messes. Unfortunately, the idea that his Twitter won't be his voice anymore seems like an Internet #FAIL all on its own *sigh.*
MARIE: Yeah, I think people jumped the gun. I get that trolling is the official sport of the Internet, but imagine how it would feel to be one person criticized from a gazillion followers all at once? Ashton Kutcher wasn't a team of people, he's just one guy tweeting his thoughts and it clearly was an error. Clearly. On the other hand, Ashton, Dude. Announce your management is going to be involved? Who hasn't caused a little Internet kerfuffle now and then? Seriously, everything blows over. Internet fact. Don't let the net bully you!
Anthony Weiner's, well... weiner
New York Congressman and former front-runner for mayor of NYC, Anthony Weiner, went from being a respected public figure to an Internet scandal, thanks to Twitter (and bad life choices).
It all started when he accidentally tweeted a picture of his junk onto Twitter (instead of DMing it to the lucky gal who was about to be wooed by this). Then he tried to cover it up by saying his social network had been hacked.
The Internet and then mainstream media caught wind of this and it has now been exposed, through a teary press conference, that he was engaged in sexy digital tweets and Facebook messages with six different women over three years, including a 26-year-old woman from Texas who had dozens of photos, emails, cell phone call logs and FB messages from Weiner. He has since decided to resign from Congress.
NAT: Did we mention he's married and the wife is preggers? Ya...that's class. Personally, I don't think there's anything unique about his situation. He just happened to be the one that got caught. And the media eagerly made an example of him. Haters gonna hate.
MARIE: Unlike some celebrities, "leaked nude photos" rarely go over with the same panache when politicians are involved. In all cases of Internet porn, the odds of it going over well tend to favour women. Sorry to say, the odds were against Weiner here even before the pictures made their way onto Twitter!
Nancy Upton's AA showdown
Clothing company American Apparel, notoriously known for its waif-thin models and provocative ads, recently opened its doors for 12 to 14-size women by introducing its XL size. What better way to celebrate this than by launching an online campaign looking for its first plus-sized aka. "booty-ful" model?
Enter Nancy Upton, a cheeky 20-something plus-sized gal who recognized the offensive tone of the contest and entered with her own set of provocative pics. She was voted as the clear winner, but American Apparel, not liking the irreverent tone of her entry, refused to recognize her clear victory.
After a bunch of negative press, American Apparel seemingly offered an olive branch by inviting Upton and her photographer Shannon Skolss to its HQ in Los Angeles to discuss what would've been a better way to market to the plus-sized demographic. Whether the face-to-face was truly fruitful is difficult to say at this point, but here's Upton's blog post on how she thought it went.
NAT: Nancy is a doll and she's a good example of how activism online can have legs. Now did David strike down Goliath? Not sure about that, but all the controversial discussion and exposure definitely makes me feel like the people have a little more power with holding big companies accountable.
MARIE: She is a total doll! That was such a fun show too! I mean, Nancy is in that "Don't ask the Internet for an Internet answer if you're not going to listen." The pictures were pretty cheeky, sure, but after American Apparel's old adage of admitting to not designing for or hiring plus-size employees, they had to of been expecting some hazing. I mean, they produce cute looking stretchy knits and it took them how long to increase their range of fits? Good on Nancy.
Gretsky's Daughter - the 20-something Twitter retiree
This scandal hits close to home with good ol' Canadian-born Wayne Gretzky. Well, actually it's his 22-year-old daughter Paulina Gretzky, whose essentially unknown existence exploded when the Interwebs began to realize she was tweeting some naughty photos of herself. Photos include her in lingerie, bikinis, hot-shorts chest out, lips pouted. You get the picture. And if you don't, you can check them out yourself here.
Twenty-four thousand followers later and a pivotal dinner with her pops, she announced she would be taking a break from Twitter for a bit. Rumour has it the Great One was one of the names linked to potentially buying the Maple Leafs, so that may explain her sudden disappearance.
NAT: It's ironic how Anthony Weiner's twitpics are considered lewd while hers are simply sexy. And she's posting them straight to her feed unapologetically. Is that the key? If you're gonna be provocative, do it with intention? Remember kids, if we want to be exhibitionists, don't go into politics! I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of her in 2012. Good PR move on her part.
MARIE: I don't really get it. I mean, she posted Twitpics like everyone does. Of her new dress, going out and whatever. I didn't see anything scandalous. I think the real scandal was her dad wasn't into it. Then she tweeted the family Christmas photo a day ago. It's either it was a genuine mistake, some attempt at publicity to be the Canadian Kardashians or Paulina just isn't that bright and should probably have corks put at the end of her tweeting thumbs so she doesn't hurt anyone anymore.
Kenneth Cole's Cairo Conundrum
Earlier this year, right around the early stages of the Arab Spring, Kenneth Cole gave us an unintentional demonstration on how businesses should NOT use Twitter.
"Millions are in uproar in #Cairo," read the original tweet, which has now been deleted. "Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo."
What seemed like a clever tie-in to current events at the time quickly became a bad PR day. Kenneth Cole issued two retractions recognizing its insensitivity. Shortly after a satirical Twitter account was anonymously launched filled with mock tweets.
NAT: Obviously KC's tweet was in such poor taste. Having said that, I'm beginning to wonder how often companies are willing to put out scandalous tweets and immediately retract them, for the press... I'm convinced its gotta be happening.
MARIE: In retrospect, the tweet wasn't malicious, it's just one of those thoughts you want to keep off the feed. I mean, they didn't go "full Galliano," but it was still offensive.
Sony PlayStation Outage
Remember when Sony's PlayStation Network went down? So do roughly 70 million other people. In April, reports starting popping up that a widespread outage of the popular gaming network had started in Europe and spread to North America and the rest of the world.
Sony initially tried to pass it off as downtime due to sporadic maintenance. Then a week later revealed that a hacker had obtained personal information including home addresses, passwords and credit card numbers of PSN account holders and subscribers of the Qriocity streaming service.
Service wasn't fully restored until June.
There are reports hacktivist group Anonymous may have been behind this attack, though they have denied it.
NAT: It's definitely a PR blunder it took Sony a WEEK to reveal to its network of 70 million subscribers that sensitive personal information may have been compromised. Having said that, considering their blockbuster successes this year, I don't think even this outage can affect gamer loyalty.
MARIE: It was annoying and it's kind of atrocious that they were hacked into so easily. I just couldn't get over how much news there was, like every day there was something on it -- you would have thought the world was ending!
This one didn't get as much coverage, but is a fail worth mentioning for all of you that don't read the small print. A student in Cork, Ireland ended up racking up a phone bill of more than €1,650 because he mistakenly thought he got unlimited Internet with his new Meteor Bill Pay phone.
How does one rack up such a bill you ask? Porn. Several gigabytes of porn, some videos up to 25 minutes in length, downloaded onto one mobile device.
The phone company took some sympathy on the chap and cut the bill to €400.
NAT: All I have to say is, dude, watch South Park season 15, episode 1 -- HUMANCENTiPAD. It'll make you always read the fine print. And also consider a side job in the online porn industry to pay for that habit of yours.
MARIE: LOL NAT! Hahaha yeah, screw the college education and go into porn, especially since he's got such a keen eye on the scene. That's over 80 gigabytes of porn he downloaded in one billing cycle! Is that a normal amount? How did they find out he downloaded porn, did he admit it or did the phone company have to go in and examine it his account? It makes me giggle.
Can't wait to see what other scandals make our list in 2012!
]]>Ashton Kutcher Takes a Break After Twitter Fumbletag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10865032011-11-10T14:28:39-05:002012-01-10T05:12:01-05:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/
With a tweet of course.
Wednesday night, Ashton Kutcher, the granddaddy of all Twitter influencers committed the cardinal sin of Twitter: He tweeted before he got the whole story.
The man celebrated for being the first person to reach one million followers on the uber-popular micro-blogging service, may have also been the first person to simultaneously piss off his over 8.2 million followers and cause him to take a break from the service.
"How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste." Tweeted Kutcher from his account @aplusk on Wednesday night.
The tweet was in reference to the dismissal of longtime Penn State Coach Joe Paterno. As information surrounding Paterno's termination was released on Wednesday evening, Kutcher promptly tweeted his dissatisfaction a little prematurely. That is before the 33-year-old Two and a Half Men star had the key piece of information about the reason behind Paterno's dismissal and the primary factor of provocation to his normally loyal "Tweeps."
The firing was in the wake of an alleged sex abuse scandal surrounding Penn State's former defensive coodinator, Jerry Sandusky. Paterno reported allegations of child rape to his superiors, but not to police.
Thirty minutes after Kutcher's tweet, he followed up with the following:
"Heard Joe was fired, fully recant previous tweet! Didn't have full story. #admitwhenYoumakemistakes"
"As an advocate in the fight against child sexual exploitation, I could not be more remorseful for all involved in the Penn St. case. "
"As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed. I feel awful about this error. Won't happen again."
UPDATE: Kutcher posted a blog entitled "Twitter Management" where he goes into detail on how he made the error and how bad he feels over the mistake. Sadly, it appears as though Kutcher now is relinquishing the management of the feed over to his team at Katalyst Media.
"...Clearly the platform has become to big to be managed by a single individual... It seems that today that twitter has grown into a mass publishing platform, where ones tweets quickly become news that is broadcated around the world and misinformation becomes volitile fotter for critics."
Now if someone makes a mistake, Ashton Kutcher has someone else to blame instead of himself.
Lame.
RIP transparency.
]]>Web TV Organization Celebrates Content Producers With Awards Showtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10654442011-10-30T09:37:41-04:002011-12-30T05:12:01-05:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) want to make sure its content producers feel the love.
Digital business analytics firm, comScore, published last week that 182 million Internet users in the U.S. watched online video in September, averaging 19.5 hours per viewer. Perhaps not surprisingly, a majority of those views came from Google sites (most props going to YouTube) with 161 million unique viewers, while VEVO ranked in second with 53.7 million viewers. The most eye-opening figure posted by comScore was that the total U.S. audience engaged in 39.8 billion video views (wowee!)
"A lot has changed in the five years since I begin in web video and a lot more will change in the next five years," says Paul Kontonis, VP/Group Director, Brand Content at Digitas and chairman of the IAWTV. "I am watching the evolving media consumption habits of our audiences and watching web TV become prime time viewing, this will bring additional advertising dollars into our industry as more and more shows achieve meaningful audience scale."
Aside from being the most viewed online video platform on the web, YouTube just announced on Friday that it is investing $100 million in original web content in the form of 100 new channels.
According to YouTube's blog, the first of these new channels will be unveiled in the next month, and they've already signed on "some of the most innovative and up-and-coming media companies in the world" along with, you know, some big names like Madonna, SNL's Amy Poehler and the Wall Street Journal.
I think it's safe to say, web video is where the cool kids are coming to play.
Founded in 2009, the IAWTV is a non-profit organization created to help "shape the rapidly evolving web television industry."
According to Kontonis, the organization's goals are to promote excellence in web television, develop standards within the industry (like the definition of a video view and the disclosure of sponsored content), to encouraging the evolution of quality content through workshops and to foster a strong community that encourages cooperation and support for one another.
On Jan. 12, 2012 in Las Vegas, NV (during the Consumer Electronics Show, actually), the organization is holding its inaugural IAWTV Awards, which Kontonis describes as "the only awards [show] by the creators for the creators with proceeds from the event going towards growing the worldwide creator community and expanding the educational resources of the IAWTV."
"Being recognized by your peers is really a mark of distinction," says Kontonis.
Looking through the website, there are over 30 categories web producers can nominate their series for and with a submission fee of $95 (for non-IAWTV members) you are eligible to submit your show under five categories.
Submissions close on Oct. 31 at 11:59 p.m. PST and are open to web series producers from all corners of the globe. So if you're flip flopping about applying, or didn't even know about the awards show, be sure to decide before Monday.
Considering it's the first year the organization's holding this awards show, there's no saying what the turn out will look like or what its implications will be for the industry moving forward. However, Kontonis mentioned in an interview on our show, Nat&Marie, that there will be viewing parties in different cities around the world for those who can't make it to Vegas, as well as an opportunity to engage with the live show in unique ways.
"Legitimacy is defined through infrastructure, financial results and quality content," says Kontonis. "When you look at our industry's ecosystem of talent, agents, producers, studios, networks, advertising agencies, technologies and more, it is remarkably built out for such an early stage medium. Couple that with the unbelievable content that is being produced and right there you have a compelling story."
What do I think as a web producer who's been creating online video content for the last six years? I think creating a body of standards, a supportive community, and celebrating our achievements will only help to evolve and legitimize the industry. Some of my peers have argued that this sort of model makes it seem too much like the traditional TV or film industry or that web video still has a long way to go to bring in the views and big bucks the way traditional media has. What do you think?
Written By: Anastasia "Nat" Tubanos
]]>Viral Videos: Halloween Light Show, Czech Parkour and a Marriage Proposal Ruined!tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10277922011-10-24T12:50:04-04:002011-12-24T05:12:01-05:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/
Let's start with some Halloween spirit! Remember last year's musical Halloween light show that featured Michael Jackson's "Thriller"? It got 1.5 million views, made the rounds like woah and had us all scratching our heads wondering, how, why and, more importantly, if his neighbours really hate him? Well KJ92508 is back! On Oct. 21 he released his house singing LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem"....
Then on Oct. 22 he released his house singing "This is Halloween" from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas...
Will there be more? And will this seasoned viral video pro be able to duplicate last year's record? Let us know!
This video is just so stupid I had to post it. If only for the beat-boxing Chipmunk (0:28) and the Dancing (or DJing) Badgers (1:28).
How do you develop skills like these?
Czech - Czech - Czech it out! Parkour video that comes to us by way of trending topics in Czech Republic. Love it enough to think it'll go viral?
AND, the weekly bonus: dog ruins marriage proposal!
That's it. The end. Now time to prep for this week's show featuring Jay Adelson from Revision3. Yep, you heard me, one of Time Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People in the World is going to be on our show this week! Tune in!
Later,
M
]]>Viral Videos: Hidden Treasure, Pug POV and Yo-Yo Trickstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10148092011-10-17T16:56:34-04:002011-12-17T05:12:01-05:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/Nat & Marie:
It has at least a million views
It's not (necessarily) a big budget production
It's got that "OMG!" factor to it that makes you want to share it
It's pretty simple when you get down to it. While Beyonce released her music video for "Love on Top," Drake took it all with his Saturday Night Live performance and the video of Indy Car racer Dan Wheldon's last race, after a 15-car wreck, is making the rounds. I had to dig through the noise and find a few other videos that are totally worth sharing and are all entertaining.
Happy Monday.
Deena from Jersey Shore sings Alicia Keys "Fallin.'" Singin' outta your nose and lovin' life -- it's a #MeatballProblem!
Toronto pug goes out with a camera! We had to include the home town fav for everyone. Feelin' this track. In respect for the Internet's love for animals and cameras and POV videos, this one has a good chance of going viral so it got included.
Is it real or is it fake? Your guess is as good as mine! Well, it's a creepy tale about an Internet-based scavenger hunt and it's got a lot of Blair Witch-esque vibes all over it. Considering Halloween is 13 sleeps away, I figured you might like the scare.
Finally, base jumping in Spain. These dudes climb on an elevator that carries them to the top of the hotel, then they do what I can barely bring myself to do five feet off the ground. Thankfully it wasn't as scandalous as this other sky diving video from earlier in the week
This kid needs to go pro.
And just because a bonus is always fun...
Check out the squishiest bus in all of Russia.
Enjoy and until we check out what comes up next weekend!
m
]]>Viral Videos: Cute Animals, Re-Animations and a Japanese Game Showtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.10045212011-10-11T16:18:45-04:002011-12-11T05:12:01-05:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/Nat & Marie stuff and somehow, Sucker Punch. Now I need to erase those last 90 minutes out of my mind. How could a movie with so much action and awesome Halloween costume ideas be so bad?
I definitely am a girl that prefers her online content. I mean the one thing about online videos, they rarely disappoint. You want a funny video, you got it. Like last week, you tweeted us and left comments on Facebook that your favorite video was the little boy video bombing his sister. Laughs for the whole family guaranteed, right? I mean, it's the Internet and if you have a craving for something entertaining, there's some tried and true content that you can rely on. This week we got some solid contenders with no twist endings. Cute animals, hilarious re-animations and to start it all off, there's a video from Japan. No description is available, necessary or even possible for this clip, but, trust me, you'll love it.
Perhaps you got a hankerin' for some hyper-dense cuteness, so you want a video of a dog fetching its deaf dog-friend after a day out playing? Well here you go, delivered as promised.
What about if you wanted to see mountain biker, Evan van der Spuy of Team Jeep South Africa, get side-winded by red hartebees? Well let's call him #BuckNorris and yes, the Internet has the perfect video for you.
Or maybe you're a footie -- a hard and fast sports-lover who just needs a giggle. You want a magical 5:44 compilation of El-Hadji Diouf tripping in a never-ending animated loop of hilarious possibilities. Yeah, YouTube's got you covered, as well.
The point here is, Sucker Punch tricked me with that good ol' Hollywood one-two. Thankfully, I have the Internet, to bring a bit of old fashioned entertainment to the table and remind a girl that it's not procrastination if it's her job.
Until next week,
Marie
P.S. -- What do you think of this as my Halloween costume? ]]>Will it Go Viral?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9915472011-10-03T13:35:47-04:002011-12-03T05:12:02-05:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/Nat & Marie. Because of the timing of the show, a lot of the stellar finds that we could use for segments like #WillItGoViral have already gone viral by Wednesday. So instead of overlooking those finds, or just sharing them with our private social networks, I've decided to put it to good use and post the best of the weekend's videos here for all of you to enjoy on a Monday.
So I present to you the first instalment of "Will it Go Viral? The Weekend Edition." For your entertainment, we have kids doing hilarious things, cats doing unexpected things and Russia... doing what it does best -- blow our minds.
1. Son's reaction to Empire Strikes Back reveal.
By the look on this kid's face you would have thought Darth hooked up with Aunt Beru! That's a Star Wars joke if you didn't get that.
2. Бременские музыканты. Наши дни. (Trans: The Bremen Town Musicians. Today)
Wow, these guys sure listened when they were told to take their act "on the road."
From what I can tell from the video description, this motorcycle was constructed in Moscow by Alexander Ishutin who apparently believes there aren't enough things that are out of the ordinary. Definitely solved that problem, not only in Moscow, but for those of us watching in Canada as well!
3. Kittens activate vacuum monster
Awe, cats, always getting up to mischief!
Bonus Pick: Smack that- ORIGINAL! (Little brother video bombs sister)
This video was uploaded on Sept. 24, 2011, but I didn't come across it until Sunday. It's less then a million views, so it still qualifies to be included under the "Will it Go Viral?" banner. Plus, the girl awkwardly practicing her routine had no idea that her little brother was actually the real star of this video!
That's it for me!
Catch you later,
Marie
]]>Jack Layton's Final Words Go Globaltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9342052011-08-23T15:09:15-04:002011-10-24T05:12:01-04:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/
As many as 1,000 individual tweets were shared per hour during that period, or so we were able to ascertain by using Topsy.com (a handy tool that extracts real time intelligence from the social web).
While most trending topics stick for an average of 11 minutes at a time, we were stunned that for over 11 hours, hashtags #JackLayton and #RIPJackLayton were popping up on Trendsmap.com from places as far away as India. While breaking news and politics often fair well as trending topics, it was the special timeliness of Jack Layton's final words that captured people's imagination the world over.
"Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic and we'll change the world," he wrote in a letter shared by his partner and NDP colleague, Olivia Chow on Monday.
These words, tweeted verbatim over 3,000 times on Monday, were also the status updates for thousands on Facebook. The words were immortalized in Twitpics as many Canadians attended impromptu memorials across the country and etched the sentiment in chalk over and over again.
The most shared image featuring chalk art, taken by MP and NDP Foreign Affairs Critic @PaulDewar, which shows an Ottawa sidewalk emblazoned with the famous quote, quickly became one of the most retweeted images of the day with close to 5,000 views. However, sidewalk art wasn't the only thing that Layton's words inspired. Enter Stuart Thursby, a Toronto Art Director who was inspired to create a series of 11X17 printable posters featuring many of Layton's final quotable moments. These images went viral almost immediately, appearing on Facebook, Twitter and everything in between as the commemorative profile picture of choice.
While a myriad of Canadian musicians came forward to share condolences, from Broken Social Scene to Barenaked Ladies, it was British singer/songwriter Billy Bragg who showed that Layton's passing had meaning even for those not originally from Canada. "A sad day, both for Canada and for those of us on the Left: Jack Layton, leader of the NDP has passed away" tweeted Bragg.
Images and tweets also emerged to document the immediate installation of a special Ghost Bike installed in front of Layton's office on Broadview Avenue in Toronto, Ontario. These bicycles are apart of an international art project, installed as "somber memorials for cyclists who are killed or hit on the street." In this case, the bicycle commemorates Layton's ongoing support of cyclists.
A day later, the memorials online are far from over. We were among the first to retweet Christiaan Rapcewicz's (@queerbeat) Twitter campaign to support the creation of a new trending topic. Rapcewicz is asking those with Twitter to sign an online petition and include the hashtag #PaintTheCNTowerOrange in their tweets in order to make it trend globally. As it has done so brilliantly for the past 24 hours, the social web can do what it does best to influence Toronto City Hall to change the LED lights of the CN Tower to Orange on Saturday to mark Layton's state funeral at Roy Thomson Hall. If not to commemorate Layton's legacy, then to globally embody his final words: "Don't let them tell you it can't be done."
#PaintTheCNTowerOrange
]]>London Riots: Extraordinary Speech to Looters Goes Viraltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.9221732011-08-09T12:35:04-04:002011-10-09T05:12:01-04:00Nat & Mariehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/nat-marie/fearless West Indian woman" has been rising above the rest on social networks.
A TwitVid shot by Matthew Moore, a journalist at UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, shows woman from Hackney scolding youth for their violence after two days of fiery, property-damaging, looting chaos.
Although Moore didn't get a chance to identify the woman after he filmed her, The Australianreports it has identified the mysterious lady as Pauline Pearce, a mother of four from Hackney who felt people's anger over the incident were using it as an excuse to incite violence.
Moore's now-viral upload was accompanied by a tweet that read, "Truly extraordinary speech by fearless West Indian woman in face of #Hackney rioters. Pls watch."
"That woman in the shop there, she's working hard to make her business work and you lot want to and burn it up, and for what? Just to say that you're warring and you're bad men?" she shouts in the video.
"This is about a f---ing man that got shot in Tottenham, this isn't about having fun on the road and busting up the place."
"Get it real, black people, get real. If we're fighting for a cause, then fight for a f---ing cause."
"You lot piss me the f--k off. I'm shamed to be a Hackney person. Because we're not gathering together and fighting for a cause. We're running down Footlocker and thieving shoes."
The feedback via Twitter ranged from one person tweeting:
"This Woman has restored my faith in humanity somewhat today. I want to marry her." (@Paddykell)
To another comment whose sentiment seemed to showed up repeatedly:
"This woman needs to replace Cameron on No.10." (@KhalDusan)
The violence erupted late on Saturday following protests over the controversial shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan on Thursday.
Although we've recently seen several game-changing examples of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, as well as instant messaging with mobile devices, working as powerful tools to help mobilize like-minded protestors to achieve revolutionary movements like in Egypt and Tunisia, we're also beginning to see how these tools can be used to bring together like-minded sh*t-disturbers and work as a sort of accelerant to violent riots spiraling out of control (like we recently also saw in Vancouver, B.C. following the Stanley Cup finals).
However, the Internet and social media are also exactly the forum where spontaneous gems like Moore's video of an impassioned speech, a voice of reason, amidst utter mayhem can get captured, posted and spread like wildfire through online networks.
At the time of writing this article, the video has been online for about nine hours and has surpassed 770,000 views. Within the span of 45 minutes I've seen Moore's original TwitVid jump up by over 50,000 views.
