Wow, I Can’t Believe It!

I can hardly believe this blog entry from the New York Times. It is just crazy. I mean, even nytimes.com proved that membership revenue pales in comparison to ad revenue, so I think this is just snobbery for snobbery’s sake.

The Gated Social Network

By Brad Stone from the New York Times

“I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member,” Groucho Marx famously said. He would have loved the Web’s newest social networks.

Sites like MySpace and Facebook are designed to attract a broad base of users. A newer breed, like ModelsHotel.com and the forthcoming Diamond Lounge, are building business plans based on exclusivity and the age-old custom of keeping out the riff-raff.

The Wall Street Journal wrote about ModelsHotel.com earlier this month. The name says it all; you have to be invited by others to join and the company rejects about half of all applicants based on appearance.

Last week, I spoke to a similarly inclined entrepreneur, Arya Marafie, managing director of the London-based startup, Diamond Lounge. Mr. Marafie said his site would be even more exclusive than the four-year-old, 270,000-member, A Small World, which the Times wrote about earlier this month. A Small World has lost its intimate feel, Mr. Marafie charged. “If you look at other sites trying to be exclusive, they let every single person in and over the long term that’s a disaster. We’d rather have 100 members than 5000 of the wrong kinds of people.”

Diamond Lounge is in beta testing now and will launch more broadly in October, aimed at celebrities and the affluent. An independent committee that approves members has accepted only 5 percent of about 5000 applicants, Mr. Marafie said. The company will ultimately charge members around $60 a month (can’t they afford more?) and forgo advertising.

At the end of our conversation, I tremulously asked Mr. Marafie if I would qualify for his exclusive new online club. After reviewing my qualifications, he generously said that I probably would, depending on what I could bring to the community. When I told him I would most likely bring nothing to the community, he changed his mind and said that I would be excluded.

“We are trying not to be elitist but we recognize the way things are on the Net, there’s a need to have an element of a gated system in place,” Mr. Marafie said in conclusion. “Once you have the wrong people on these social networks, the whole thing is over.”

Greg Shipe

Greg’s murderer is still at large. A Washington D.C. station recently ran a clip about his case. Please watch and forward it to your friends. I hope his killer is found one day.

So You Think You Can Dance?

Not really. I don’t think I can dance at all. That is why I enrolled in a Hip-Hop Funk class at Vanderbilt. The first class was this week and let me tell you what…I looked ridonkulous. But the instructor was very upbeat and fun, and Susanna and I just had a total blast! I have already practiced my moves and can’t wait until the next session. Hopefully, some folks will beg out because with 52 bodies in a dance studio hip-hoppin around, it gets a little stuffy. Not to mention, when a move calls for “kickin’ it out”, best believe I gonna need a little space.
Watch out! I’m gonna bust a move the next chance I get! However, it might look a little out of place if the next chance I get happens to be downtown at a honky tonk.

Better Than Original Version

I am rather tired of hearing wind bags blow on and on about the war in Iraq. Totally sick about it. So in lighter news, I will hop on the truly “fluffy stuff” bandwagon and post this video. Twins doing an acoustic version of Britney’s new single, Gimme More. Clearly better than the original. Move to Nashville, sons, you’ll get a record deal.

I Hate to Say It - looks cool….

Let’s discuss. I haven’t really blogged about my one true love in awhile, simply because some readers might find it frivolous and shallow. But when I saw these, I had to say something. How…How…How cool! I mean, I really am amazed. Perhaps sherbet orange isn’t the best color, but still. Just wild and quirky. Props to Marc Jacobs!

Step Off, Home Slice!

That’s right, I’m talkin’ to you, else we gonna have a dance off. That’s right, I said, “DANCE OFF”. See, I just get signed up for a hip-hop funk dance class and I’ll show you if you give me any lip. I’ll go all Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance on yo ass. Sit back, hilarity is sure to ensue.

i love these guys!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

Facebook = Wastebook

Did you know that the fastest growing Facebook demographic are individuals older than age 25?
Did you know that the average amount of time a person spends on Facebook is 20 minutes?
I am older than that and (sadly!) spend more time on it than that. OMG! What is my world becoming? In all seriousness, I was just wondering why no one had poked me or messaged me in like 12 hours. SAD SAD SAD.
New goal: stop screwing around on that stupid thing and put more effort into my personal goals - like figuring out Twitter, reading more non-fiction, career, etc. JEEZ!

AdBlock Plus: I seriously heart you!

I just found a new lover - who cares about me and my time and what I do.

I just downloaded AdBlock Plus have fallen instantly in love. Deep, lasting, sincere love. No more whack-a-mole ads on yahoo, no more slow loading blurbs on Perez Hilton, the New York Times and New York Post open scorchingly fast.

I love you, my hero, my AdBlock.

Ironic isn’t it that this open-source, virally spread mini-program is shockingly Web 3.0…as described by the big GOOGs head cheese?

Late

I have been meaning to post this very interesting blurb from the GOOG…Web 2.0 vs. Web 3.0…actually sounds more like Web 2.5, you know, widgets and all that. Not sure if this is pure “next level”, but rather “next step”.