Lists. The Internet is full of them. I hope you won't mind me adding another one to the few billion currently out there. I like lists -- like Mashable's Weekly Top 10 Twitter Trends (a horrifying overview of what 12 million Twitter followers of Justin Bieber can do on the Internet), and Rotten Tomatoes' 2011 Summer Movie Scorecard (I high-five myself for every movie that sucked that I didn't see.)
Lists offer some semblance of order from all the massive clutter on the web. Every Tuesday, I will attempt to do my own scouring on ye ol' Internet for six things that I found worth my whimsy. Why six? It's just a nice, round number. I like that it has a hole. Plus it's one less than seven, which is just waaaay too much.
So without further ado, here's the list for September 13, 2011.
1. Persist: A Letter of Inspiration from a Pixar Animator
Source: TheNextWeb
Virtually everybody goes through a stretch of creative drought -- even the most decorated and influential artists. Pixar animator Austin Madison (who has an amazing blog!) wrote a simple but powerful handwritten message addressed to those who go through tough times creatively. I daresay the letter has potential life applications too. Have a read at it below, and check out other interesting letters from Letters of Note.
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| Images by Willie Downs |
2. Vizualize.me - Create Your Own Infographic Résumé.
Source: Bleepster
 |
| vizualize.me is currently invite-only, but a simple e-mail can get you in. |
I've recently been updating my résumé (you never know when you'll need it) and I've been bored by how plain and wordy it is. It obviously needed a little sprucing up. Twitter and real-life friend @bleepster tweeted about this fun tool where you can turn your résumé into something you'd probably see on a Mashable List of Unique Résumés (I sure am referencing Mashable here a lot. Hmmm.)
The site is currently in closed beta and is invite-only, but you can sign up with your LinkedIn account, and activate with an email account where you can instantly receive an activation email for you to play around with website's current goodies.
The site has interesting potential, though no word yet as to how far into development it is. More features should show up soon -- hopefully, more themes, the ability to modify specific elements like charts, etc.
Sign up now!
3. Song of the Week: Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People
Source: Wikipedia
This song has been played on my iTunes for 237 times over the last 3 days -- which should tell you that I either need more songs on my playlist, or that I have not gotten sick of playing this song over and over again (Though give me another 237 tries and I might just get there. Thank God this is only a one-week list. I have an excuse to like a new song next week.)
Foster The People hails from Los Angeles, California. The sound like they've been making music since the 60s (their beats have that infectious Beach Boys vibe), but would you believe they only got together a couple of years ago? I know! I couldn't believe it myself.
Expect this band to explode soon. Pumped Up Kicks reached number 1 on the Billboard Alternative Charts (the chart hipsters listen to) and number 3 on the Billboard Top 100 (the chart hipsters secretly like.)
I've listened to the song while showering, taking a dump, reading a book, driving, eating, and editing this article. I don't know how it will fair as a makeout song though, but I'll keep you posted.
4. Movie of the Week: Bridesmaids
I love comedy so much that I've listened to more comedy albums over the past three years than I have music albums. Comedians are unique artists who take you on a tangent of the most ordinary topics. They make me think about things differently. More often than not, the best comedy happens in standup (Luis C.K.), improv (Upright Citizen's Brigade), or sketch (The Dana Carvey Show, God rest its soul.) Comedy gold is actually a rarity in movies -- The Hangover was one such gem. The Zookeeper should never have been made (I'm not even going to honor it with a link to its IMDB page. Forget I mentioned it.)
Kristen Wiig is a real talent -- she is hilarious and gorgeous. Now who else can you say the same thing about in Hollywood right now? There's Kristen and fellow SNL alum Tina Fey. They write their own material and act their way around their material very well. Funny women of Hollywood, you are all on notice.
It's such a treat to see a really good comedy movie with an all-female central cast that pushes the envelope in ways that we've seen male casts have done. The comedy and writing on Bridesmaids humanizes women and pokes fun on how despite being the lovely creatures the are, they will give you moments like puking on an expensive wedding gown or let rip a fart that can signal the start of the apocalypse.
5. Follow This Guy: Doug Benson
Mr. Benson is one of my favorite comedians because --
- he's funny (obviously)
- he panders to his audience like no one else, making his crowd work one of the best parts of his standup shows and podcast.
- despite being perpetually stoned, his wit and improvisational skills are sharp and suffer no loss of effect or humor.
- He hosts a hilarious podcast called Doug Loves Movies where he shoots monkeys at babies (podcast reference!) and his celebrity guests play the Leonard Maltin Game.
- He stars in one of the most interesting documentaries ever shot -- Super High Me. Trust me. Just go check it out.
Doug Benson is a frequent tweeter (some self-promotion of standup dates included) of jokes and puns and hilarious movie reviews Twitter style. Check out his podcast and follow his tweets.
6. Use This Tool: Schedule Your Tweets With Buffer
Every now and again I come up with an idea or an article that I want to tweet about, and most of the time, they come in bunches. However, I don't want to send all these ideas one after the other in the next two minutes. If there is one thing I find annoying on Twitter, it's when someone takes the time to go on a long Twitter monologue and just floods your inbox.
 |
| Use Buffer App to schedule your tweets and maximize conversations on your Twitter timeline. |
This is where Buffer comes in. It's an app (available as a browser extension. Try it on Chrome.) that let's you send multiple tweets at any time from the Buffer app, and the app will distribute it to the times that you designate. Set up a schedule for your tweets to be spread out and sent without flooding your timeline.
Pair it with another handy app, Tweroid, where you can find out when most of your followers are online and when your tweets can get the most exposure and give yourself the best opportunity to engage with your followers. Just send all your tweets through Buffer and schedule it to send during those times and watch your timeline mentions and retweets increase. Pretty cool stuff.
If you want to send links or suggestions for stuff to be included on the list, leave a comment or tweet me at @DonManganar
No comments:
Post a Comment