|
Posted on 12.23.11 by Danny Glover @ 3:14 pm
But first a bit about Pinterest: As the name implies, the site is a place where you “pin” pictures of the people, places and things that “interest” you. But this virtual pinboard also has a social aspect to it. After you pin photos to your topical boards, other people can “like” them, “repin” them to their own Pinterest boards or comment on the photos. The network is especially popular with women, who use it to create collections of recipes, clothes and other items. But as I poked around the site today, I realized that it’s a great forum for creating photo essays and themed albums on topics that interest me, too — sports, politics, West Virginia and, of course, rednecks. I decided to make my trial run on Pinterest a fun one by pinning photos from past “Redneck Humor” entries on this blog. (One potential benefit is new readers.) I also scoured the Internet for other photographic displays of redneck humor and pinned several of them to my board. This photo album is a win-win for both you and for me. It makes it easier for rednecks who love to laugh at and with their kinfolk (in spirit, if not reality) to find “snapshots of happily uncultured American life” in one place. And It’s much easier and quicker for me to pin multiple photos to Pinterest than to blog about each photo individually. When it comes to redneck humor, pictures tell the story far better than my words anyway. So if you have not done so yet, click on over to my new Pinterest board and get your fill of redneck laughs. And if you’re so inclined, request your own invite to Pinterest and repin or like the photos that make you laugh the most. Filed under: Blogging and Human Interest and Just For Laughs and Photography and Redneck Humor and Social Media Comments: None |
|
Posted on 12.05.11 by Danny Glover @ 7:42 am
Twitter has released its picks for the top 10 tweets of 2011. Some of them will make it into my new Tumblr-blog-in-progress, the Twitter Hall of Fame. I’m covering the flip side of Twitter on a second Tumblr, the Twitter Hall of Shame. The “fame” blog recognizes previously unknown people who found their proverbial 15 minutes of fame through Twitter, and the “shame” blog is a memorial to famous folks — celebrities, politicians, athletes and more — who tweet before they think. Feel free to recommend stories past, present and future for both blogs. Email your nominations to danny@enlightenedredneck.com. Filed under: Blogging and Business and Social Media and Video Comments: None |
|
Posted on 10.29.11 by Danny Glover @ 10:15 pm
Back in the late 1990s, I briefly joined the National Conference of Editorial Writers while I was working at an e-zine called IntellectualCapital.com, which we liked to think of as the op-ed page on the Web. At the time, many NCEW members held the freewheeling Internet masses in contempt. I was among the few who didn’t and had some rather pointed debates over the issue with my skeptical colleagues. I had forgotten that I wrote an article about the issue for the NCEW magazine, The Masthead, back in 1999. I just rediscovered that article online. It’s as relevant in today’s era of blogging and social media, where the power of editorial gatekeepers is greatly diminished, as it was more than a decade ago, so I’m going to reprint the article. Here it is:
Filed under: Blogging and Media and Social Media and Technology Comments: None |
|
Posted on 09.24.11 by Danny Glover @ 11:28 am
I discovered an awesome blog and website called Snoburbia in the latest issue of SOJ Insider, the magazine of the journalism school at West Virginia University.
Snoburbia is the kind of blog enlightened rednecks can appreciate. I love this insight into the blog from the SOJ Insider story:
I love Nutella, too, and I’m not ashamed to “check in” at fast-food places via location-based services like Foursquare or to eat at chain restaurants like Applebee’s — two decisions which have surprised some D.C. friends. One day I may even order a Redneck Snack Basket. Sullivan has turned Snoburbia into the kind of brand I’d love to have for enlightened rednecks. She sells t-shirts and an array of other products that illustrate the absurdity and condescension of suburbia. The image above of a U.S. map as coastal snobs see it is my favorite. Filed under: Blogging and Food and Rednecks and West Virginia Comments: None |
|
Posted on 08.20.10 by Danny Glover @ 12:10 pm
I like the way Tim Carney thinks. The newly promoted senior political columnist at the Washington Examiner had this to say when the media blog FishbowlDC asked, in its lighthearted interview series, who he would want as his lone companion on a desert island:
And here’s another great Carney quip from the interview: “When and why did you last laugh so hard you had tears in your eyes? When I asked my 3-year-old the president’s name, and she answered ‘Big Government.’” It’s pretty clear that Carney talks politics in front of his kids as much as I do. Mine like to buy me Obama knick-knacks as gag gifts. I cherish them all because it’s the humorous thought that counts. Filed under: Blogging and Government and Just For Laughs and Media and News & Politics and People Comments: None |
|
Posted on 08.07.10 by Danny Glover @ 12:01 pm
“To be determined” — sounds like a great name for a news outlet. And it is. TBD.com, a local news venture funded by the same company that built Politico, will go online in the Washington region next week. I was immediately intrigued when the talk of the as-yet-unnamed TBD started in media circles several months ago. TBD had big money in the bank (from Allbritton Communications), and it had a digital news visionary at the helm (Jim Brady, who built washingtonpost.com). I also was ending a contract job at the time and eager to work in local journalism again, so I tried mightily to join the TBD team. Alas, with so many qualified journalists in the Washington area looking for work, I never made the cut. So like many others, I’m relegated to watching from the sidelines as TBD tries to win the game of media innovation in a changing marketplace. I like what I’ve seen and heard so far. For the past few months, TBD has been focused on building a network of more than 100 local bloggers whose work will supplement TBD’s original reporting. And yesterday, TBD shared more of its plans for rewriting the future of news. Here’s a recap by tweet from Steve Myers of Poynter Online: Filed under: Blogging and Business and Media and Technology Comments: 2 Comments |
|
Posted on 05.20.10 by Danny Glover @ 10:51 pm
I have been negligent for the past month in my mission to enlighten the world about the ways of the redneck, so I wanted to take a moment to explain my absence. Two ongoing events have robbed me of much of my spare time:
The new job likely means I will be blogging less because I, like politicians who face the prospect of electoral defeat, want to “spend more time with my family.” I also have a book to edit for a friend, a long-overdue project — and I’m a FarmVille addict who needs his fix almost daily. But I want the few loyal readers I have to know that I am committed to preaching the redneck gospel, so please do check back regularly. I appreciate your interest in this blog. Filed under: Blogging and Family and Media Comments: 1 Comment |
|
Posted on 02.19.10 by Danny Glover @ 9:47 am
Hot Air has the proof in picture. By sheer luck, we happened to be chatting with James Joyner of Outside the Beltway when FreedomWorks honored Ed Morrissey of Hot Air as its “Blogger of the Year.” My hot wife, Kimberly, is in the hot pink blouse in the right of the photo, and I’m the dude next to her having a really bad hair night. (I really need a haircut!) Kudos to my friend Ed for the much-deserved honor. He also will be honored as CPAC’s “Blogger of the Year” today. Ed was one of the first bloggers I met after starting Beltway Blogroll for National Journal in 2005, and he is among the most thoughtful and fair-minded bloggers on the Web. If you don’t already read Hot Air, now under new management, then you should. I blog there occasionally myself in Hot Air’s Greenroom. I just posted an entry there this morning in my new role as the editorial director of the free-market think tank Digital Society. The topic is the left’s spooky vision for media reform. Here’s an excerpt:
Read the whole thing, and stay tuned to Digital Society for analysis of technology policy and how it can help or hurt America’s burgeoning digital culture and commerce. Filed under: Blogging and Family and Government and Media and News & Politics and People and Technology Comments: None |
|
Posted on 01.04.10 by Danny Glover @ 5:35 pm
It’s time for a bit of self-promotion: “Danny Glover is the new editor of the Capitol Hill Tweet Watch Report.”
That’s the big announcement in today’s edition of the aforementioned daily newsletter, which tracks all things policy and politics on Twitter for the Beltway crowd. My friend and new media maven David All launched Capitol Hill Tweet Watch Report last month, and I eagerly accepted his invitation to start the new year as its editor. Here’s a snippet from the blurb about my new gig:
While the publication is geared toward people inside the Beltway who don’t necessarily use Twitter themselves, it’s also a useful publication for anyone who wants to keep tabs on the policy and political news in the Twitterverse. If that includes you, please subscribe to the daily e-mail, follow @tweetwatch on Twitter, and spread the word about the publication. Filed under: Blogging and Government and Media and News & Politics and Technology Comments: None |
|
Posted on 12.04.09 by Danny Glover @ 12:59 am
Newsrooms all across America are celebrating this holiday season just like they did last year’s — by handing pink slips to loyal employees. Layoff news has become so common that it’s a wonder there is anyone left to report the actual news. Sadly, the people who run the media show still seem clueless about how they arrived at this depressing point in journalism history. Given every opportunity to embrace emerging technologies to improve the news product, they not only resisted change but scoffed at bloggers and others who led the way. Now they are firing the very people within their own organizations who could help them right the media ship. Here is one telling report from Chris Gray Faust, a long-time journalist who had the foresight to learn new skills but was still shown the door:
I’d like to think her story is the exception to the rule, but it’s not. Looking for places to cut, The New York Times is rethinking its commitment to blogs, which is strong evidence that the Old Gray Lady was never all that committed to them from the start. Why would a struggling news organization lay off the innovators best prepared to help them transition into a technological world they clearly don’t understand? Or as MediaJobsDaily put it, “We don’t know why you’d take resources away from online, in the year 2009, but that’s the report.” Faust at least appears to have learned her lesson. She’s going to invest her energy and talents in herself rather than a news industry determined to fail and destined to make more foolish mistakes, like running to the government for a bailout or implementing “business/news integration” that puts sales managers in charge of editors. “These freelancers-slash-entrepreneurs are smart. They are nimble,” Faust said. “And now they are my role models, as I join their ranks. So to the managers who made this decision, in less than 140 characters I tell you: Good luck steering the Titanic. And thanks for the head start. Now I’m really going to run.’” CORRECTION: As Faust noted in the comments, she’s a she. My apologies for the gender error, which I have fixed in the entry. Filed under: Advertising and Blogging and Business and Media and Technology Comments: 3 Comments |
|
Posted on 09.27.09 by Danny Glover @ 3:55 pm
The Internet is a force for good or evil, depending on who’s making the connection. Lots of “morons” trying to score political points at the expense of truth have been online lately. Which brings us to the quote of the day:
Filed under: Blogging and Technology Comments: None |
|
Posted on 08.18.09 by Danny Glover @ 8:18 pm
When I decided to become a newspaperman, everyone tried to talk me out of it. My Dad was at the top of the list. He wanted me to be an engineer so I could earn a good living. Even j-school professors warned my classmates and me that we had better be passionate about the profession because journalism in general and newspapers in particular are no place to make money. They were right. I never could have afforded the rent in Morgantown, W.Va., on my first full-time salary. Thankfully, my two brothers were in college and we shared a one-bedroom apartment. Dad paid the rent, and I paid the utilities. I was reminded of the vow of poverty I had to take in the early days of my career when I saw an ad on JournalismJobs.com for a reporter in Sandusky, Ohio, which is near Cleveland. The paper wants someone “with enthusiasm, energy, a good sense of humor and the ability to report and write a range of stories” — but it’s only willing to pay $20,000 to $25,000 a year for that person. Just out of curiosity, I checked the median income in Sandusky. It’s $34,085. The average house in the city costs $110,000. No reporter could ever afford one. You might think that would make me second guess my career choice, but it doesn’t. I knew the financial realities when I got into this business, but I also believed I had the passion to succeed — and with God’s help I have. Filed under: Blogging and Business and Media and West Virginia Comments: 1 Comment |
|
Posted on 08.01.09 by Danny Glover @ 11:42 am
Extortion has found its way into the blogosphere — and all for a pair of Crocs. A greedy “mommy blogger” at the recent BlogHer conference threatened to write something bad about the maker of Crocs if its representative didn’t find her a free pair of the comfy sandals. No doubt about it, that’s low. As I see it, there would have been nothing wrong with said mommy blogger bemoaning her missed opportunity to get good swag at the conference. But threatening to go negative as a way to get a gift she clearly didn’t deserve is completely unethical. The same is true for anyone who uses social media as a weapon. The blogosphere is an effective check against bad customer service, but customers who abuse it are as bad, or worse, than the companies who mistreat them. The temptation to threaten bad press is strong. I’ve fought it myself many times, and even blogosphere bigwigs like Amanda Congdon of Sometimesdaily have fallen prey to the urge: It’s also not a new temptation or exclusive to the new media world. There’s a reason that people remember Mark Twain for saying, “Never pick a fight with a man who buys ink by the barrel.” Publishers have been getting even with their enemies in print for centuries. But the use of social media as a weapon — an utterly unsociable practice — is a potentially greater threat because anyone can be a publisher these days. Bloggers should roundly condemn such behavior whenever it surfaces because it will make all of them look bad. Filed under: Blogging and Culture and Media Comments: 2 Comments |
|
Posted on 07.09.09 by Danny Glover @ 10:59 pm
Barack Obama is president because people wanted to believe the best of him. He convinced them “hope” that he would “change” Washington. Obama could be trusted; he wasn’t just another politician who would say one thing to get elected and then do the opposite. Wrong! Obama has been in office only six months and already has a string of broken promises or vows that have “changed course” or “stalled.” Actually, Obama’s record is worse than that because promise auditors like PolitiFact and National Journal aren’t tracking all of Obama’s broken promises — like the big one on taxes*. I covered that topic in my latest column for American Issues Project:
Filed under: Blogging and Government and News & Politics and People Comments: 1 Comment |
|
Posted on 06.19.09 by Danny Glover @ 3:39 pm
Congress can’t consider major legislation with someone trying to tack pork onto it. The leading Senate bill to impose a government option for health care is no exception: Eating pork is supposed to be good for your health. That must be the thinking behind the porky projects Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming found in pending healthcare legislation. … The healthcare bill also includes a “Community Makeover Program” to spend up to $10 per person for beautifying streets in select locales. Coming soon to a Pennsylvania township near you — the John Murtha Yellow Brick Road. Maybe Uncle Sam could get Ty Pennington of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to make a reality series based on the program. Those are excerpts from my blog post for American Issues Project yesterday. Read it all. While you’re there, read my post about nuclear energy from earlier in the week, “The Nuclear Option.” Filed under: Blogging and Government and News & Politics and People Comments: 1 Comment |
| previous posts » |
