here's my byline

i work, therefore IM

i keep forgetting about other articles i need to archive

two stems forward, one stem back

my friend and former red herring colleague ryan blitstein has his first big story at SF weekly!

onward, christian lawyers

why lawsuits filed by anti-abortion activists may be a blessing in disguise for the California stem cell institute

postcards from the middle

dubious but bylined!

troutgirl and i were talking the other day, and figured out that the real currency for journalists is a byline.

that means that i got paid in gold by usaToday

and it means that i'd work for free at the chronicle. i miss working at a newspaper so much. daily.

money for blogging and clicks for free, part deux

ok, so this was a totally insane night and "blogging" through an editor seems to create, ahem, mistakes. lol

but here's the usaToday blog of the concert

eminem and 50 cent managing their anger in san jose

by way of two friends/colleagues-- thanks jackson @ sfist.com --  i'm getting to blog the anger management 3 tour concert tuesday night in san jose. big concerts are a pain, but this kind of assignment is usually a mix of hilarity and ridiculousness that i throroughly enjoy. pop culture's  entertainment for the masses and self-conscious pseudo-intellectuals like me is a joy to behold.

so usaToday wants me to blog it on a blackberry, which they are fedexing to me as we speak. i've never used one but i'm sure i can figure it out.

they are going to run a newspaper article in the paper (the physical paper and the online paper, lol) for the thursday edition as well.

fun all around!

no she didn't!!!!!!!!!!!

i LOVE she spies, my new favorite show. forget pamela anderson and company in VIP. this is SO much worse and, ergo, SO much better.

and they're constantly doing the technology mumbo-jumbo talk that chloe got so busted for on 24 last season.

"i work for a clandestine government organization seeking to rid the world of evil-doers." that's what they say every time they get caught. i love it.

the writers of this show -- clearly burdened with writing a horrendously ridiculous show -- can't hide the fact that they are still funny and clever and have talent way beyond their current jobs.

on the other hand, i might have lost too many brain cells to notice that i'm really not that smart any more.

blond ambition

  it's all bidness with rifkin 
  Originally uploaded by irina slutsky.

 

i had lunch today with Adam Rifkin and we ended up having a very interesting conversation that led me to make these statements outloud.

if i don’t post a pic of myself on Flickr for a few days, my view numbers go down drastically. it’s all about VALUE. to be viewed, i need to offer something of value to those viewing my pictures.

during times when i am not in a position of power or interest in terms of what i do, say or create (for example, stories from SXSW, iLaw, etc.) the only power i have (in a certain sense) is that i'm a woman and i'm BLOND.

bad or good, at this moment and time, BLOND  has value on Flickr.

we have been trained to pay attention to blond women. most ms. americas (and every variation thereof, whether ms. usa or actress or super model) have been blond. so when the thumbnail shows a BLOND, my Flickr contacts click on it without thinking.

for example, only three people thought it was interesting that there is a Fox Channel News store in the minneapolis airport. but more than 50 people found it interesting that i ironed a shirt in a hotel room.

inadvertantly, it’s guaranteed that after i post a most fascinating picture of myself driving, more people will have found the presense of Fox News at the airport interesting as well. leftover attention initially intended for BLOND spills over to BIASED JOURNALISM.

this kind of stuff is surely marketing zero (that’s the class before marketing 101) but it works, so why mess with it.

 

monogamy: is it real or is it memorex?

my friend mike albo was just in town doing a reading at a clean well-lighted place. his second book,  the underminer, is doing very well.

his essay on bisexuality just posted today on nerve.

Was Stoli Stolen?

                  

Was Stoli Stolen? Unraveling the trademark mystery behind Stolichnaya Vodka By Bernice Yeung. Freelance writer Irina Slutsky assisted in reporting and translating. California Lawyer Magazine  Russians love vodka. A lot. In fact, it's so beloved that there's a word, zapoi, devoted to its overuse. it means "binge" or "hard-drinking," a useful word in a country that annually consumes an estimated 4 billion liters of vodka-or about 35 bottles a year for every person in the country. A little more than a decade ago the Russian government enjoyed a monopoly on the product. That ended with the privatization reforms of President Boris Yeltsin, a vodka lover himself. Since the reforms, the country's most popular brands, including Stolichnaya, known as Stoli, have ended up in the hands of an elusive Russian entrepreneur, Yuri Shefler. Shefler controls the global trademark rights to Stoli and other leading varieties. He also happens to be wanted by the Russian government for allegedly threatening to dismember a government official.

location, location, location

i've been in and out of town so long, i can't remember where i am after i walk out of the movies.

i had a job interview at yahoo! last week

and tho it was a great experience, i think my days of trying to work as a non-journalist are over.

i'm excited to get cracking on a story for california lawyer about blogging and  labor law (excited if only to be able to explain to a whole new audience the concepts behind blogging, since i don't recall any labor laws applying specifically to blogging from previous stories i've written)

also, i've never worked with mary hodder and she and i are planning to meet for the story above as well as several possible other stories i'm considering.

it feels good to stop dillydallying and get back to work.

AND

i finally saw "cinderella man"

it was an empty theatre in schaumburg, illinois on a sunday night.

let me tell you -- i laughed, i cried

AND

after having seen donut vapors of movies like "fantastic 4" and "mr and mrs smith," etc., it was SO nice to see a movie with real ppl and real problems and even tho surely the Bulldog of New Jersey (go Jersey!) ended up portrayed as a larger-than-life hero, who cares?

at least he wasn't throwing a fireball with his bare hands. i was getting tired of those explosion movies. a good ol' pugilistic battle was perfect. (i looked up that word on four different sites, including the latin dictionary).