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Posts Tagged ‘TweetDeck’

Jamie Jungers wins Howard Stern’s Tiger Woods Mistress Beauty Pageant

Posted by andreaitis on March 10, 2010

For the first time in a very long time, I miss Howard Stern.

I used to listen to Howard and the gang on WXRK in New York,  way back when commuters carried Sony Walkmen and still read newspapers.   In 2006 Howard moved to Sirius satellite radio, and I moved on.  I’ve thought about Howard over the years, but mostly with nostalgia and fond memories.  Until today, when my Tweetdeck informed me of the Tiger Woods Mistress Beauty Pageant.   I felt a pang, a sudden craving for the Howard I used to know and love.  So I did the next logical thing:  I googled.  And, lo and behold, Howard spoke to me from the inner workings of the internets as the story popped up reported by Jewish Business Magazine.  What?!?  I mean, who even knew jewbiz.com existed let alone would be a source of Howard Stern’s Tiger Woods Mistress Beauty Pageant news and information?  So, I googled some more and found the press release from JBM’s “successful launch.”

Andrew Cohn, decided to launch the Jewish Business Magazine to fill the need to connect the worldwide Jewish business community for Jewish business discourse and debate, Jewish business news, Jewish business networking events, Jewish business advice and tips and profiles of Jewish business leaders, executives, professionals and Jewish-owned Businesses.

That’s 7 Jewishes in a single sentence.   Certainly a publication ripe for Howard-worthy mockery.  Give them the benefit of the doubt, I thought.   Perhaps their Howard Stern coverage falls under the category of  Jewish business news or, um, Jewish discourse and debate.

What have we learned from the Howard Stern’s interview with the girls of the Tiger Woods Beauty Pageant?

Howard Stern is the greatest interviewer of all time, and the King of All Media.

On March 10, Howard hosted the Tiger Woods Mistress Beauty Pageant with Jaime Jungers, Loredana Jolie and Jaime Grubbs.

The winner received $75,000 courtesy of Ashley Madison, which is a dating site for people in a relationship and want to have an affair.

via Howard Stern’s Tiger Woods Mistress Beauty Pageant | Jewish Business Magazine

Not a very auspicious beginning, jewbiz.com.   I chased down googled the story one last time.  I had to know: what did we really (allegedly) learn from the Tiger Woods Beauty Pageant?

Reader/blogger Todd Dery from Waiting for Next Year chipped in with these highlights:

LAS VEGAS - FEBRUARY 13: Jamie Jungers hosts ...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

– Tiger didn’t use condoms with Jungers for 18 months. Jolie said he did and she was sleeping with him for two years. Tiger’s nickname for Jamie Jungers: “Jamie Juicers.” Think about it.

– Tiger flew Jamie Jungers COACH on Southwest to see him! Dude is a zillionaire.

– Tiger asked her about a three-some, but she said, ‘if your wife is involved’ and Tiger never brought it up again.

– Jungers was with Tiger in bed the night that his father passed away. She said he went to the hospital earlier in the day to visit his dad, and then later that night, he and Jungers had sex. She claims Tiger call the call about his

dad’s passing around 2 am.

– Jolie said Tiger was “very into role playing” he would put a suit on, then go into a room with “several” naked chicks and he’d order these chicks to do stuff in front of them.

– Jolie said she “dated” Michael Jordan and Bruce Willis and that Tiger’s penis was larger than Jordan’s.

– Jaimie Grubbs was up third. First thing right off the bat – she banged Tiger two days after the birth of his kid!

– Grubbs did not Tiger was married when they met, and he was not wearing a ring. It took him three days to kiss her. “A lot of 8th grade flirting, he was definitely shy.”

– Grubbs said Tiger called her “skinny fat” because she ate like a “fat person” but was skinny.

– Grubbs thought that he would leave Elin for her. After she found out he was married, she didn’t see him for a year and he continued to text her and begged to see her. Meanwhile she was 21 when all of this was going down.

via Jamie Jungers Wins Howard Stern’s “Tiger Woods Beauty Pageant” — The Big Lead

In the dramatic final moments of the pageant, Jamie Jungers was crowned the winner.   A dubious title, certainly, but also a reminder of why Howard Stern still reigns.  This def goes into the greatest hits album.

Posted in Entertainment | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

From fawn to yawn: How social media is killing the awards show

Posted by andreaitis on February 2, 2010

Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and they were as boring as Anne Hathaway’s beige pantsuit.

Announcing 2010 Oscar Nominations. Y-a-a-a-w-n.

Announcing 2010 Oscar Nominations. Y-a-a-a-w-n.

Sure, the people  who win awards care about them. And the people who are nominated care about them until they don’t win and then they rationalize the superciliousness of awarding one another trinkets for perceived validation.

Aside from the winners and the wanna-be-winners, does anyone one else care anymore?  After nodding off during the Golden Globes and then the Grammys, I’m thinking not so much.  To be fair, most of the Grammy performances were worth watching.  It was the awards part that felt like filler.  T/S’er Leor Galil noticed as well in  Another ‘Grammys are irrelevant’ post.

So, what gives?

Two words:  Social. Media.

That’s right, social media is killing the awards show.    We used to watch awards shows because they were the only chance we had to live vicariously, to see celebrities as themselves or dolled-up versions of themselves.  We could relate — Sandra Bullock winning a Golden Globe is kind of like when I came in third place during that district spelling bee in 5th grade.   Dressed up?  Check.  Trophy presented?  Check.  Accomplishment recognized?  Double check.

But now, I no longer need to wait for an awards show to get an intimate glimpse of a celebrity, and I no longer need to rely on the “expertise” of those selecting the winners.   Social media gives me access to celebrities and experts on my terms, allowing me to call the shots.   Rather than a network programming my awards season for me,  I can do it myself through blogs, twitter feeds, podcasts and videos.    Social media is, to a large extent, the great equalizer.

I watched the Golden Globes specifically because Ricky Gervais was hosting, and I was disappointed.   Mel Gibson joke aside, it was a multimedia dose of ambien.  Lesson learned.  I’m much better off going to Ricky’s blog, where I learn he just did a photo shoot, his mate’s missing dog was found and  his day consisted of “More junkets.  Went for a run.  Drank wine.  Watched telly.”

I can follow celebs on twitter, including my fave awards show host and current crush Neil Patrick Harris (@actuallynph on twitter and yes I know he’s gay but I’m still crushing).  I can even interact directly with celebs, responding to their twitter messages or commenting on their blogs.   Sometimes, a-hem,  Jon Favreau might even retwitter you.

jon favreau twitter 2-2-2010 9-53-47 AM

But mostly, it’s about the ever-growing voice of public opinion.   It’s about what movie or music my Facebook friends favor, rather than the Foreign Press Association.   It’s about what’s trending on my Twitter feed, with my carefully-curated list of people I follow.  It’s about technology giving us an all-access pass, letting us in behind the velvet rope.  I imagine many actors watched the Academy Award nominations much as I did this morning, viewing the live stream on my laptop.  They will follow the media flow in the same way as well, googling and twittering and clicking on multiple devices.

We’re no longer handcuffed to the entertainment experts presented to us through traditional media venues.  Celebrities can listen not just to the professional critic,  but also to the amateur and fan.   I listen to the opinions that matter to me;  I can find, choose and follow those voices.  Through social media we are achieving what art is all about — freedom of expression — and in doing so we are de-valuing the monopolistic voices that drove public opinion for so long.

I’ll still watch the 82nd Academy Awards on March 7th, to see how Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin fare as  co-hosts and to see the dresses and drama.   It will no longer be a Big Event for me, though.  I’ll likely be multi-tasking with the TV on and TweetDeck open.   Like the Golden Globes and the Grammys, the Oscars have lost their luster.   To shine again they need a significant overhaul that takes into account how we consume media today.  That means more than a go-to-the-website -to-vote-for-a-Bon-Jovi-song gimmick.   Seriously, that’s the best you can do?  For an industry that is grounded in story-telling,  imagination, creativity and magic, remaking the awards show should be a worthy opportunity and challenge.

My six-year-old put it all in perspective when I told her about the Oscars.  She said, simply,  “Oh, they just want you to go to the movies so they can make more money.”

Members of the Academy, the future generation of awards-show-watchers are waiting in the wings.   Go ahead.  Make their day.

Posted in Entertainment, technology | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Why he's screwed: 9 holes in the Tiger Woods story

Posted by andreaitis on November 30, 2009

ORLANDO, FL - FEBRUARY 17: In this handout fro...

Image by Dom Furore/Woods Family via Getty via Daylife

I’ve been following the Tiger Woods real-time twitter stream on TweetDeck, and it’s a mix of speculation:

RT @bdei80 What is the deal with Tiger Woods? What is he trying to hide?

support:

RT @israeljsmith  I love Tiger Woods response to all the hype around his minor car accident….no response! More stupid “news” should be dealt with this way!

and jokes:

RT @FantasyFreaks: “What do Tiger Woods & Baby Seals have in common?…They both get clubbed by Swedes.”

What it is not is dwindling.   Here’s why:
9 reasons  Tiger Woods is screwed

1. He crashed into a fire hydrant… and a tree… in a Cadillac SUV… just outside his driveway… going less than 30 mph… at 2:30 am. Umm.  What?

2. His wife was running around with a golf club. The irony, the metaphor…that visual alone will keep this story going.  Are his golf clubs just lying around the house?  Are they by the front door in an umbrella stand?  How did she get the golf club, and which club was it?

3. After the accident, his agent quickly issued a statement saying Tiger’s fine.  Too quickly. That was clearly a wishful attempt to do early damage control.  Points for trying but that shot backfired, and the initial “He’s fine'” soon seemed ike a desperate attempt at cover-up.

4.  His alleged mistress hired super-attorney Gloria Allred. Not only did she hire her but she immediately flew out to LA to meet with Gloria, and there was even a caught-on-camera  airport arrival hug.  For those of you who don’t remember, Gloria Allred represented Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during OJ’s murder trial.  She also represented Paula Jones in her sexual harassment case against former president Bill Clinton.   And she wrote a letter to California’s Child Protective Services asking them to investigate the safety of Michael Jackson’s children.   That Gloria Allred.   If there is nothing to the allegations, why would Rachel rush into the arms of such a high-profile lawyer?

5. He’s refusing to talk to the police. If there’s a simple explanation wouldn’t you just talk to the cops, hold a press conference,  tweet about it, appear on Jimmy Kimmel, end the speculation and move on?  Sure you would.  Tiger’s silent treatment means there is no simple explanation.  And that means it’s complicated, which brings us back to his wife Elin, Rachel Uchitel, the golf club and the National Enquirer story.

6. His statement was oh-so-carefully phrased. “This is a private matter.” See number 5.   If this was something to make light of and toss away, he would have done so.  Instead, Tiger’s statement only emphasizes the severity of the situation.

7.  The National Enquirer is supremely confident of this story. That’s always a bad sign. They cite polygraphs, on-the-record sources, and a thorough investigation. All to show this is not a frivolous story, and this is not malicious disregard for the truth (an early strike against possible libel or defamation charges).  The last time the National Enquirer was so sure of itself?  When they nailed John Edwards for nailing Rielle Hunter.  We all remember how that went down.

8. Tiger Woods is smug. Like John Edwards,  a smug guy with an attractive and supportive wife taking up with a wacky broad.  People don’t like smug.  They don’t like A-Rod, Roger Clemens, Brett Favre,  Mark Sanford, and even Barack Obama. In fact, Tiger Woods is the Barack Obama of golf.  Or maybe Barack Obama is the Tiger Woods of politics.   Smug is part of what makes athletes and politicians successful in their competitive arenas, but it makes everyone else feel inferior.  As petty as it may be, people like to take the smug ones down a peg or twenty.    You might be the best golfer in the world, you may be a kajillionaire, but you’ll be sleeping on the couch just like the next guy.

9. This wasn’t supposed to happen to Tiger Woods. Smug or not, Tiger is a self-made superman.  No steroids, no cheating (on the golf course, at least), just years of focus and practice to hone his unbelievable talent.  We all remember the video of a 2 year old  Tiger on the Mike Douglas show with his dad.  We watched Tiger grow up, cross boundaries, step through media quagmires to come out on the other side as a respected family man.   He now says  “I’m human and I’m not perfect.”  Well, it’s a little too late for that.  If Tiger Woods implodes, what heroes do we have left?   This crack in his stoic image leaves us wondering: What makes Tiger tick?   And if Tiger — who seemed to have everything — can’t hold it together, what hope is there for the rest of us?

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Posted in sports | Tagged: , , , , , , | 5 Comments »