I have been thinking for a while now to start a series of “how to blog” posts for the blogging beginners - “blogging tips, for novice bloggers, from a novice blogger”.
I think that before we ask “why do we unsubscribe from feeds?”, we need to ask “why do we subscribe from feeds?”
I subscribe to all the blogs I read regularly. This includes blogs from friends and a specific number of blogs in my interest areas. For instance, as of today, the 200 feeds I have subscribed to can be classified into desi blogs, “how to blog” blogs, web 2.0 blogs and movie blogs.
OK, after weeks of procrastination, I’m finally writing the most delayed comeback post ever, making a confession, asking you for a favor, and extending an invitation.
But first, a little background, for those who came in late.
And then, I stopped blogging on gauravonomics.wordpress.com, because I didn’t want to write about my love-life anymore and didn’t know what else to write about.
But, I didn’t really stop blogging; I love blogging too much for that. After a while, I started blogging at desiblogging.blogspot.com as Desi Devil. Basically, it was a filter blog - “The Best of Desi Blogosphere, with a Touch of the Devil” - but I also wrote about desi pop culture once in a while. For a few weeks, I had a lot of fun with it, until I realized that I didn’t want to read four hundred feeds everyday and not write anything of my own.
A blue couch in the middle the street, a friendly man asking people if they want to talk, a montage of people opening up - letting it out - to a stranger and reaching out for a Kleenex tissue, a memorable tag line -
Are people ready to let it out?
Turns out, all it takes is a good listener and a box of Kleenex tissues.
- and an addictive soundtrack - ‘Let It Out’ by Starrfadu -
Do you want to lay your head on my shoulder?
I don’t mind if you cry.
Sometimes we all just need to let it out.
Just let your tears run down my arm,
So I can keep them in a blue jar.
We’ll drink them later, so just let it out.
Let it out.
Let’s take a walk just to clear our heads.
I don’t mind that you’re holding my hand.
You say you love me, so just let it out.
Let it out.
Your smile is a pleasant change from before,
When you thought that you couldn’t take anymore.
Sometimes we all just need to let it out.
Let it out. Let it out.
Last Friday a YouTuber by the name of ‘Mark Erickson’ from ‘Infinite Solutions‘ posted a video claiming to reveal an easter egg in Gmail that unlocked an invite to a yet to be announced Google beta service called Google TV. Mark told viewers they could access high-quality US network TV shows as part of a private test by sending yourself an email and then logging in and out of Gmail multiple times until a TV icon appears in the Gmail logo.
After Google Blogoscoped called Mark’s video a hoax (via TechCrunch and Metafilter), Mark posted another video substantiating his claims and asking viewers to watch his other videos as proof of his credibility -
The clip was viewed more than 100,000 times over the weekend, causing thousands of people to log in and out of their email accounts, some hundreds of times, in a desperate attempt to access the service. Some people have posted videos in response to Mark’s videos claiming that they have indeed got Google TV -
If fake, the video would be one of the biggest ever internet hoaxes and a textbook lesson in viral communication.
The campaign - which first aired in 2002 - featured what the company referred to as ‘real people’ who had ’switched’ from the PC to the Mac.
The commercial featuring Ellen Feiss became an internet phenomenon, partly because of speculation that Feiss was under the influence of illicit drugs during the filming of the commercial, due to her slurred speech and disoriented eyes. She denied these claims and ascribed the ‘drugged’ behaviour to the effect of the Benadryl cough syrup, together with exhaustion.
Feiss’s popularity grew to the point where she was offered appearances on both David Letterman’s and Jay Leno’s late night shows, both of which she turned down. In September 2005, Feiss made her movie acting debut in the French short film ‘Bed and Breakfast’. Ellen recently spoke about the making of the ad, and its effect on her life, in an interview.
Here is the 2002 Joy of Tech cartoon entitled ‘Mona Switcher’ that was based on Ellen -
Here’s the other Ellen Feiss commercial that was never aired -
