A Role Model? Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair

My little sisters are two of very many young girls that adore the 15-year-old actress and singing sensation Miley Cyrus (aka “Hannah Montana”). News has run rampant about her recent photo shoot with well-known photographer Annie Liebovitz for Vanity Fair magazine.

I understand PR stunts – hell, I work in PR – so I can actually understand why Miley (and most likely her management) decided to move forward with the photo shoot.  However, I’m pretty disappointed in the photos. I don’t think many of Miley’s young fans read Vanity Fair, but nonetheless, to the ones that do see this photo of her, it sends a negative message.

This reminds me of Britney Spears career shift years ago – young singer becomes idol for millions and then decides to break out of her “good girl” image by sexing herself up. I understand that sex sells, but at some point entertainers need to ignore their managers, think less about making the most money or winning the most awards, and just entertain fans. Being a “role model” for millions puts a huge amount of pressure on teen stars, but this is the choice they made when they got into the business. More importantly, the star’s parents should have considered this pressure before taking their 7-year-old child to their first audition.

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‘Revolutionary’ CO2 Maps Zoom In On Greenhouse Gas Sources

Researchers from Purdue University’s Vulcan Project have created the most detailed picture yet of human sources of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. There is an article on this featured in today’s Boston Globe. This video is a really interesting animation presenting the data – you can see the emission levels pulse as emissions increase during the day and fall off at night.

You can get their data and rank the emissions of carbon dioxide by county - Middlesex County, MA, where I’m from, has the 16th highest level of CO2 emissions among all counties in the country (Middlesex is #1 nationwide in carbon emissions from the commercial sector and ranks 6th in terms of emissions from residential sources – i.e., “McMansions” abound).

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New York ComicCon – Geeks are Glorious

Last weekend hundreds gathered in all their geek glory for New York ComicCon (a couple of my clients were there, but I didn’t make it out.) I did, however, stumble across a post and video on Boing Boing about the conference – a great video. Love this guy! I mean c’mon, how great is his assesment that you can tell how good a game is based on the weight of the box?  :-) I had some trouble embedding the video in my post, but you here’s the link.

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Eaves Dropping on the Train – Boston Marathon Stories

I very rarely overhear interesting conversations on the MBTA commuter rail. When you are on a commuter’s schedule (i.e. on the train between 6 and 9 in the morning and 4 and 7 in the evening), you will usually hear miscellaneous and very BORING work-related cell phone conversations or the occasional commuter buddy chats to the tune of “how was your day” or “what’s going on this weekend.” Nothing worth listening to.

Today, however, the 112th Boston Marathon took place. My office (and Back Bay station) is conveniently located a couple blocks from the finish line. So, there were a bunch of runners sporting reflective silver plastic wrap (they get these to keep warm after they finish the race) on the train ride home. Among them was a unique fellah sporting an all pink jump suit sitting next to a pile of pink clunky plastic and cardboard. I didn’t ask questions and took my seat.

After a few minutes, he starts talking with some other runners and tells his story. He just started a charity dedicated to raising money for cancer research and he ran the marathon today in a huge pink hairdryer costume! Wouldn’t you listen in too? His charity, My Hairdryer for Cancer, gets celebrities to sign hairdryers which are then sold to auction with all proceeds going to cancer research. He was also on the Matty in the Morning radio show this week to help spread the word (photo below).

I didn’t get to see the costume in full effect, but I hope someone cheering him and the other runners on took some photos today and will post them online.

To the guy on the train (blonde one in the photo below) - best of luck with your charity! You have a great story. Continue to tell it in crowded places, so people can eaves drop.

 

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April 19, 1775

Let’s not forget that 95 American patriots – the first American patriots – gave their lives on this day in 1775 at Lexington and Concord in the first battles of the American Revolution.

When British General Thomas Gage sent a force out of Boston to confiscate weapons stored in Concord and capture patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington, those men stood defiantley on the Lexington Green until – in an instant – the silence was broken by a musket shot from the British line that would forever change the world.

Most of those men could hardly conceive the improbable chain of events that would follow – they just wanted to be free. They believed in the principle of self-governance; that no one should hold power over them without their permission. In standing up for that belief, those men catalyzed an experiment in republican democracy that shattered the long-standing idea of concentrated, inherited political power and recognizes the self-evident rights of man.

That experiment, called The United States of America, continues to this day and so long as it does, will require patriots to represent and defend her. So on this revolutionary anniversary, let us also not forget about our American patriots – of whom we could not be more proud – stationed in this country and around the world today, April 19, 2008.

Click this image to see a schematic of the battles at Lexington and Concord 

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Working 9 to 5 (or 6 or 7) – Getting Through the Day

Most of us get up every day to the sound of an alarm, get dressed, grab a bite and its off to work we go for hours and hours….and hours and hours. I switch gears quite often throughout the day with my job- which can make focusing difficult sometimes, but overall it helps to make the day go by pretty quick. Others I know work on the same project for weeks, which can seem daunting. Either way, every now and again, you’ll catch yourself watching the minutes tick by waiting to go home. For me, here are a few things that help me get through those REALLY LONG days.

• Pandora.com- Online radio at its best. Make playlists based on your favorite artists and songs and then Pandora will generate similar songs that you might like. It is a great way to hear new music while blocking out unwanted office noise and keeping your toes tapping til its time to go home….
• Hoops and YoYo - A couple of REALLY adorable animated characters from Hallmark. Their site has great free e-cards, so when you are thinking of someone while at work – friend, loved one, etc. - shoot them a quick card. I love sending and getting these! This one about ”Mondays” is hilarious.
• Go for a walk (sorry no link for this one) - The most practical item on my list. With the weather getting nicer, I’m sure a walk around the block will do you good (I should do this more often myself). 
• Take a Break. Read a blog!

So, what tricks do you have up your sleeve?

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Tax Day: Why Do We Need 893 Forms?

In this video, Dan Mitchell from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity explains a bit about why a National Flat Tax or National Sales Tax would be better than the current system in which we all get screwed. Support for tax reform in the form a Flat Tax and/or Sales Tax has been gaining a lot of momentum in the last few years – and I’m all for it. The nerdiness factor here is through the roof so try to contain your giggling and pay attention.

 

 

 

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Climate Change May Impact Beer Production

No, God, noooo! Come on, people - At some point we need to draw a line in the sand…And the worst part is, we’ll be so much more thirsty in a hot, crowded world

Wellington, New Zealand – The price of beer is likely to rise in coming decades because climate change will hamper the production of a key grain needed for the brew – especially in Australia, a scientist warned Tuesday.

Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said climate change likely will cause a decline in the production of malting barley in parts of New Zealand and Australia. Malting barley is a key ingedient of beer.

“It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up,” Salinger told the Institute of Brewing and Distilling convention.

Similar effects could be expected worldwide, but Salinger spoke only of the effects on Australia and New Zealand. He said climate change could cause a drop in beer production within 30 years, especially in parts of Australia, as dry areas become drier and water shortages worsen.

Barley growing parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales would likely be harder hit than growing areas in New Zealand’s South Island.

“It will provide a lot of challenges for the brewing industry,” even forcing breweries to look at new varieties of malt barley as a direct result of climate change, Salinger said.

New Zealand and Australian brewer Lion Nathan’s corporate affairs director Liz Read said climate change already was forcing up the price of malted barley, sugar, and aluminum.

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A Fenway Park Hecklin’

We attended our first Red Sox game of the season at Fenway park yesterday. The weather was good – although a few degrees warmer would have been nice. Everyone was out, as usual, toting their Red Sox garb. The crowd seemed particularly excited at this game – probably because it was the second home game for the Sox and they had beat the Tigers the day before 5 to zip. Unfortunately, we didn’t win yesterday, but we were thoroughly entertained by a couple of guys sitting in front of us. Our seats were in the second row up from the field right next to Pesky Pole, so the guys in front of us were RIGHT on the field. The whole game they were tossing back beers and heckling outfielder Magglio Ordonez from the Tigers. I’m sure Magglio is used to a heckler every now and again, but I know I would have a hell of a time concentrating on the game with guys yelling crap like “M-A-G-G-L-I-OOOOOOOOOOOOO….Magglio,” “you have such beautiful hair Magglio,” and when Ortiz was up “take a step further back, Magglio…..no, you need to take a few more steps back!” That was just a few of the comments, but they kept me laughing.  Dan even chimed in (trouble-maker) when Magglio raced over to Pesky Pole to make a catch and heckled him about the golden highlights in his luscious locks. Go Red Sox!

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Picture of the Day

The Mars Reconnsaissance Orbiter looks back and photographs the Earth and our Moon (since we’ve been photograhing the Moon for a long time and know exactly its brightness and color, the Orbiter takes pictures like this to help calibrate the color and brightness of its cameras).

 

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Cartoons of the Day

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Off to ‘BlogHer Business’ in New York!

 

Tomorrow morning, along with a couple of my colleagues, I’m leaving good ol’ Boston for New York City to attend the BlogHer Business conference - an event bringing the world’s leading bloggers together with businesses interested in social media.  

I’m really looking forward to the event. I’m getting the sense that there will be a very interesting mix of both PR professionals and bloggers in attendance – as we all know, there are definitely those out there that fall into both these categories (like me)! I’m also curious to see how many men we run into at a women’s blog conference. They’ll probably be at least a few

We just posted our first entry on the brand new 360PR Blog and we’ll also be posting about BlogHer over the course of the next few days, so check it out if you get a chance!

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