http://www.mediapost.com/publications/ A media industry social diary. en-us Copyright 2010 MediaPost Communications http://www.mediapost.com/rss Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:11:36 EST Next week I'm heading to San Francisco with the bloody-knuckled, sweaty-browed (No tears, people! No tears!) MediaPost Marketing and Events Team for OMMA Global! I'm geeked up as all hell because I always feel shot with energy and part of the team around event time. Scoff and chortle all you want, but there is nothing like being swept up in the storm that is a group working to make a huge industry event successful. That and I've never been to San Fran and I'll grab whatever tiny moments I can to see. AND I'll be giving YOU ALL this column, West Coast style! So what's what? http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=124204Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:15:51 ESTLast night I headed to "Top of the Week," a name I'd never heard of and thought I'd read wrong. It's not the penthouse, which is a logical assumption when "top of the..." is part of the name. No, it was the 3rd floor of the building that houses Newsweek, Slate, and The Washington Post. It was also the location of the celebration of Budget Travel's 100th issue and ground zero for the stinky cheese plate. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=124098Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:00:16 ESTI'm not meant to cover The Shorty Awards. I'm either assaulted verbally by others, or I assault myself with my own feet. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123799Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:30:18 ESTLast night Guvera threw a party just for me - with musical performance playing practically in my lap and sequined burlesque dancers swaying and twitching for my eyes only. Well, not really, but it sure felt like it. Step into the scarlet chamber of love, my friends, where Alice Cooper is the guide and the ice luge is the mood smoother.http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122851Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:20:42 ESTI do like piand#241;a coladas, but I am not into getting caught in the rain. Perhaps getting caught without an umbrella in this hard city has stripped the plips and plops of any hint of romanticism they ever held, if they ever held it at all. The good people at Rums of Puerto Rico did their best to wipe my memory clear of grey skies and slush-filled streets, replacing it with the sounds of the rum capital of the world and the sweet and sultry coconut taste of summery piand#241;a colada as they celebrated "Reflections," their new ad campaign. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122764Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:33:55 ESTWelcome back from the weekend-long celebration of my birthday! Truly though, while I was celebrating my advancing age (and one gray eyebrow hair... what's up with THAT), love, and my childhood crush Abe Lincoln, some of you may have been shoveling snow, napping, or (gasp), working. This week is already making noise, so let's see what the fuss is all about http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122616Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:01:00 ESTYou know, when I was a kid, we'd have to wake up early and watch the scroll as Wilma Smith read through the school closings. We'd be all geeked-up, sometimes craning around the stairs until the very last minute, holding out hope that today would be a day for "The Price is Right" and "Days of Our Lives." Most often we'd be disappointed, and the bus would roll up through the blowing snow - a bright yellow nightmare delivering us from our cozy couch and into the math tests we hadn't studied for. New York kids don't know what hard times are - what's this finding out about school closings the night before? http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122217Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:15:59 ESTAt 8:30 a.m. Friday I swooped into The Princeton Club for The Social Media Society's contribution to Social Media Week New York: "Social Media Marketing and Millennials," an interactive focus group moderated by Doug Akin, ringleader and Chief Engagement Officer at Mr. Youth. Akin was actually the last to arrive, which no doubt had the coffee stinging Society founder Persia Tatar's belly a bit, but he had good reason for his late entry: he'd gone to the wrong Ivy League Club. How did he straighten himself out? "I saw a bunch of people from Mr. Youth checking into The Princeton Club on Foursquare." http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122036Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:59:05 ESTClomp clomp clomp clomp, I heard my boots thumping into the street as I made my way from 42nd to 44th to 46th. I breathed in the night air and second-hand smoked my way behind some arm-waving unfiltered cig puffer as I discovered I still had four more long blocks to clomp before reaching Hudson Terrace. That's where Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus; Nick Denton, CEO of Gawker Media; and Joe Marchese, President of SocialVibe, were about to tell us if we were indeed F#cked. Moderator Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM, was on hand to keep the panel lubed. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121984Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:17:19 ESTI left Hammerstein punching my fist into the air and chanting "GTL! GTL!" (Gym, Tan, Laundry), wrestling with choices: Do I turn around as quickly as Ronnie moves his hips on the Karma dance floor and do a shot with a monkey puppet? Or do I stay the course: honoring my commitment to attend "Digital Cocktails: Keys To Social Media Success" as part of my Social Media Week New York coverage? The whole -wheat side of me pulled stronger than the frosted side as I hiked into the black, cold NYC night, blinking through the snow toward For Your Imagination Studios. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121843Kelly Samardak <kelly@mediapost.com>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:45:57 EST