Once upon a time, I had a city council member read into the minutes that a story of mine was full of crap (it wasn’t), so that the remarks could be preserved for posterity.
In a very different vein, Mayor Rita Vogler this week closed the Hesperia City Council meeting this last Wednesday in honor of one of the city’s newest residents:
“I want to formally welcome James Allen Yarbrough. … So to the Yarbroughs, congratulations, and to you, James Allen, welcome.”
You can find the MP3 or video of it here. It’s in the last few minutes of the file, before they move onto fire district, water district and redevelopment district mini-meetings.
Yes, I broke the comments feature. It will hopefully be restored soonish.
This sounds like good fun:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans have reason to rejoice: the “Buffy Musical Big Screen Extravaganza” has launched a nationwide tour. Clinton McClung, the sing-along’s creator, talks about the musical’s popularity and how it is reminiscent of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The Christian Science Monitor’s take on it, complete with the awesome headline, “Fandom of the Opera,” goes into more detail, as is the Monitor’s wont:
Streaming into the theater, participants receive goodie bags of finger puppets, confetti poppers, kazoos, and plastic vampire teeth. The audience is the show, McClung says. The preshow warm-up includes fan-made videos, Buffy trivia, and audience members acting out scenes from other episodes.
For the uninitiated, “Once More With Feeling” features a tap-loving demon (played by Broadway star Hinton Battle), whose spell forces the residents of Sunnydale to sing and dance out their deepest secrets in songs ranging from rock opera to showstopper.
And, yes, one of the songs is about evil bunnies.
McClung, a former film studies major, mounted his first Buffy singalong in 2004 while working as a programmer at The Coolidge Corner Theater in Boston. To his surprise, 600 people turned out.
After regular screenings in New York and in Austin, Texas, the Buffy Musical Big Screen Extravaganza launched its first national tour this summer, repeatedly selling out shows.
“I think it’s the writing,” says McClung. “It’s so well written you feel like every character is a little part of you. After all, everyone relates to what it is to be growing up.”
As per the official press release:
Freedom Interactive brings social media technologies to its network of over 40 web sites
Teams up with Pluck to expand opportunities for reader engagement and advertising
Irvine, Calif. — July 11, 2007 – Freedom Interactive today announced a strategic arrangement with Pluck, a social media technology pioneer, to empower its audience to share content and create communities of interest among Freedom’s network of over 40 news and information web sites. This relationship is one of many strategic initiatives Freedom is actively pursuing to strengthen audience engagement and loyalty by offering its audience the ability to create, share and exchange content through an integrated social media platform.
Freedom Interactive plans to launch the Pluck SiteLife technology across its network of newspaper, television and magazine websites in August. With Pluck SiteLife, Freedom Interactive will enable its audience to interact with content and each other via tools allowing users to comment on local news, create blogs, share photos, create profiles, and participate in community discussions. Once deployed, Freedom Interactive will support social media activities through innovative advertising opportunities and sponsorships.
“We are eager to adopt technologies that inspire an interactive connection between our audience and the content we provide.� said Michael Mathieu, President of Freedom Interactive. “Our relationship with Pluck enhances our online community with fresh user-generated content that is essential for maintaining user loyalty, increasing web site traffic and providing new opportunities to our advertisers.�
“The world’s top publishers and media companies have recognized that the way their audiences consume and interact with news and information has shifted with the advent of social media technology,� said Dave Panos, CEO of Pluck Corp. “Freedom Interactive is embracing this shift by offering unique social media capabilities that enhance reader experiences, drive audience interaction and deliver new opportunities for advertisers.�
About Freedom Interactive
Freedom Interactive is a division of Freedom Communications—a national, privately owned information and entertainment company headquartered in Irvine, Calif. Freedom Interactive owns and operates web sites coast to coast, each offering up-to-the-minute breaking news stories, extensive content with a unique perspective, and trusted local news coverage on demand. The company’s web sites are associated with various Freedom Communications media properties including over 70 newspapers and magazines, such as The Orange County Register in Orange County, CA, and The Gazette in Colorado Springs, CO, and nine broadcast television stations.
About Pluck Corporation
Pluck Corporation’s social media solutions empower publishers, broadcasters and brands to integrate open content, community and social networking into their web properties driving audience traffic and revenue. Clients include Cox, Gannett, Hearst Corporation, Meredith, Rodale and The Washington Post. Awards include a Red Herring Top 100, AlwaysOn Top 100, and Fast Company Top 101. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas with funding from Austin Ventures, Mayfield Fund and Reuters. More information on Pluck offerings can be found at www.pluck.com.
I suspect, as part of this, we’ll be seeing the current commenting system on the Hesperia Star, Daily Press and Desert Dispatch sites change. I don’t think anyone really loves the current system, so that’s OK.
The social networking stuff is interesting. I’m not sure that MySpace should be sweating any, but I think there’s a large untapped audience of older folks who would like a Web site but not want to get involved with MySpace or any of its rivals.
James has already grown a lot, as evinced by the photos taken by the hospital a day or two after he was born.
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