Megan's 4th Blogiversary!

 

As y'all know, it's Valentine's Day, but more importantly, here at Megan's Minute, it's Blogiversary Number 4!

Four years, I can't believe it!

Ironically, as a direct result of starting Megan's Minute, I don't have much time to write in celebration because I'm just a tad too busy.

I'm still writing for BlogHer but I'm also in graduate school, working full-time, working another job part-time--to help pay for school--and all around trying to keep my sanity.

But no way could I let this day slip by without a little toast to Blogiversary Number 4.

Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm Shutting Off TV for a Week

It's a brand new year and I'm ready for some brand new challenges.

For me, one of those challenges is time management, and that's why starting right this minute January 8th at 8 AM, I'm turning my TV off for a full week.

Now you might be asking, Hey Megan, you love TV.  You write about TV for God sakes!  Why would you go cold turkey for a week?

Well here's my answer:

Personally and professionally, last year was an exhausting one, and one way I coped was with mindless television.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of mindless television.  Sometimes it's better than Valium for soothing shattered nerves or simply getting out of your own head.  Old shows like "Green Acres" and "The Love Boat" pioneered the concept of mindless television.  More recently, shows like "Bridezillas," "UFO Hunters" and pretty much anything on Lifetime did the trick.

But lately I've been using old episodes of "America's Next Top Model" like a drunk uses Jack Daniels.

Add to that the time I spend watching quality shows for fun like "The Good Wife," "Dexter," "True Blood," and "Mad Men,"  or like during the holidays, a notoriously bad time for quality TV pickings, when I happily indulged in a three season DVD marathon of the excellent British spy series, "MI-5," and you can see that the time I've been spending in front of my TV lately is getting a little out of hand.

Why this week, you say?  Well that's easy.  It has to be this week because the Australian Open starts on the 17th and no way am I missing out on watching Rafael Nadal run around on a tennis court on my beautiful flat screen HDTV.

I'll still use my DVR, recording some shows to watch in two weeks, but I'll only record the essentials.

Here are the other rules I've set for myself:

• No TV viewing
• No DVD viewing
• No YouTube, Hulu or other online video viewing.
• No video viewing on my Droid X
• Going out to the movies is fine but only once during the week. 

And because, when it comes to time sucking behavior, the only thing more menacing than television is the video game, I'm allowing myself no computer games of any kind.  No Farmville, Cityville, Frontierville, or Cafe World.  No Solitaire or Jewellust on the Droid X.

Of course this isn't a new idea.  Individuals and even whole towns have been trying this out for years for a variety of sociological, moral and rebellious reasons.  But I'm not a member of the "anti-TV" movement.  This is not a moral statement on how low television has sunk.  No I'm not directing this at you Kate Gosselin--I'll save my blog posts for those rants.

I'm simply trying to become more a member of the "productive time use" movement.  Then in seven days, I'll get back to enjoying my TV and my games, hopefully a bit less willing to allow them to keep me from doing other things I'd like to get accomplished.  For example:

• Doing research/interviews for a couple of article ideas, and sending out queries.
• Reading a couple of non-school related books.
• Cleaning that dark corner of my house that's been neglected for the last six months.
• Reorganizing a closet or two.
• Letting my mind breath.

I'm sure there may be a TV publicist or two of mine out there screaming:  "Nooooooooooo!"  Never fear, I'm not giving up TV for good, merely trying to break some time-suck habits and jump start a fresh new year.

To follow along with my little experiment, check in daily.  I'll tell you what I've been doing with my time and what kind of withdrawal symptoms I may or may not be having.

I'll post each morning on the previous day's progress and let's see where I'm at in a week.

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/dont-turn-off-the-tv-week/

Cooks Source Steals from Web Writer: Internet Screams

Have y'all heard that anything written by anybody on the internet is "public domain" and can be stolen by any two bit magazine for their own gain? 

And then when you complain about said theft, their editor can say you should be grateful they published it and cleaned it up a bit before they did?

Well that's what happened to Monica Gaudio, a woman who posted an article online only to discover that the magazine Cooks Source had lifted it.  When she contacted the editor Judith Griggs to complain, this is part of the response she got:

 

"Yes Monica, I have been doing this for 3 decades, having been an editor at The Voice, Housitonic Home and Connecticut Woman Magazine. I do know about copyright laws. It was "my bad" indeed, and, as the magazine is put together in long sessions, tired eyes and minds somethings forget to do these things.

And here's the best part:

But honestly Monica, the web is considered "public domain" and you should be happy we just didn't "lift" your whole article and put someone else's name on it! It happens a lot, clearly more than you are aware of, especially on college campuses, and the workplace. If you took offence and are unhappy, I am sorry, but you as a professional should know that the article we used written by you was in very bad need of editing, and is much better now than was originally.

Twitter and Facebook blew up into a frenzy of internet fury. 

The hashtags, "buthonestlymonica" and "cookssource" have been the hit of Twitter-ville today and Judith Griggs has been skewered six ways from Sunday over her response.

Here's a sampling:

For an even more details on the brouhaha, check out Edward Champion's very thourough post on what happened, Jenna Hatfield's excellent post on BlogHer, and all the comments on the Cook Source Facebook page.

Turns out Monica wasn't the only one Cooks Source lifted material from.  Names being bandied about as other theft victims are Martha Stewart and the Food Network.

Um, Ms. Griggs?  You don't want to play with Martha.

 

 

An Awesome BlogHer '10 from a New Yorker's Point of View

New York, New York--it's a helluva town, and last weekend it was a helluva BlogHer town.  If I must say so myself, I thought New York did a first class job of hosting the biggest gathering of women bloggers in the world, but as a native New Yorker, I'm biased.

From the Battery to the Bronx, BlogHers were all around the town, taking in all the Big Apple had to offer.  Some did it in tutus, walking and running for a good cause, while others partied like it was 1999.

The hub of activity of course was the New York Hilton on 54th and 6th Avenue, where the conference took place.  The Hilton and I go way back.  One of the first Star Trek conventions ever was held there and as a kid, I ogled William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and George Takei in the Hilton's hallowed ballrooms.  Ah, the memories!

Five Special Things I Learned From BlogHer '10

BlogHer Founders Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins

Last week, remember how I was saying I felt a little nervous about this year's BlogHer '10?  Well that feeling disappeared quickly enough!  Right after I ran into BlogHer assignment and syndication editor Rita Arens and we exchanged a big hug.

I was sweating like a cheap tart in church but that was all I needed to have the nerves disappear.

Humor Writing Panelists at BlogHer Awesomely Luvvie, Jessica Bern, Lizz Winstead

I learned a whole bunch of things at BlogHer '10 and I'll be writing more about them in the coming days, but first I wanted to give you a quick review of five special things I learned at BlogHer '10.

1. The energy and inspiration at the conference was so strong and so exhilarating, I need to bottle all those good feelings of support, and learn to trot them out when I'm feeling the most down about my writing or about life in general. 
2. The women who spoke at the international bloggers keynote put things into perspective when you think we were told we couldn't take pictures or video of a couple of them because they might be killed because of their work.
3. On a decidedly less serious note, Magnolia cupcakes are a sin sent from the devil himself.  The nice folks in the Mozilla Firefox suite were showing off a beta of the new Firefox 4.0 and the awesome new BlogHer toolbar add-on, and if that wasn't enough, provided the cupcakes.
4. Don't squeeze eight women into a tiny, elegant elevator with one handsome, slightly frightened young man.  We were in the Warwick Hotel on our way to a "decorate your sex toy party" sponsored by Eden Fantasys, and the poor guy almost didn't get out of there alive.
5. The lemonade spiked with Vodka at Volstead on East 54th Street is to die for.  I knocked back two of those suckers when I hung out there with Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess), Mochamomma and a group of other fabulous bloggers on Saturday night.

***Honorable Mention***

Jason Mayo's community keynote rant, Valentine's Day is A Greedy Whore was one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time.  My favorite line? 

"F**k you and the winged unicorn you rode in on!"

Good times.

More later this week, but first check out some of my photos from BlogHer '10 in my Facebook photo album.

Real Life Getting in the Way of Blogging

Hey guys, just a quick note.  I know you long time readers have been wondering, where the heck are Megan's "Damages" recaps!?  And what about "Idol" Chit Chat!?

Well the truth is life has been a bit complicated lately and I don't have as much control over my time as I used to.  Family issues and the fact that I'm going to graduate school have caused me to have to cut back on my Megan's Minute posting schedule.

Unfortunately that means no "Damages" recaps this season and no "Idol" Chit Chat either.  That doesn't mean I won't post about "Damages" or "American Idol," it just means I won't be able to do it as regularly as I was.

That's the bad news.  The good news is this is all temporary.

Thanks for understanding and for being so supportive.

What I Learned About Writing from Bestselling Mystery Writer Dick Francis

Photo copyright Dick Francis

When I was in college trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, I dabbled in writing.  I wanted to be a writer, but I was afraid to be a writer.  Afraid to make mistakes, afraid to show my work, afraid to put anything down on paper that might expose too much of who I was.

Then I read the mystery novel Reflex, by Dick Francis.

Though I'd always loved mysteries, I'd never read anything by Francis. I tended to stay away from mysteries written by men (too violent, or bad women characters), or mysteries written in the first person (too personal).

I made an exception for Reflex because the protagonist was a jockey whose hobby was photography, and at that time I was very much into photography.

After reading a couple of chapters of Reflex, all of a sudden, a light bulb went off. This was the style of writing I had been looking for.

Photo copyright Megan Smith

All of my writing attempts up to that point were stories written in the third person. Though writing that way made me feel safer, less exposed, it never felt right. What did feel right was Francis' sparse, yet descriptive, first-person style.

The other thing I loved about Reflex was that the main character, Philip Nore, liked women. Not just loved women, had sex with women, or was raised by a woman -- he liked women. That theme carried through many of Francis' novels.

Add to that a murder and several photographic puzzles it took our hero, some bruises and a darkroom to solve, and by the end of the book I was a devoted Francis fan.

It's Megan's Minute's 3rd Blogiversary!

Today is the 3rd blogiversay of Megan's Minute and I couldn't let it pass without putting up a quick post.

Yes, I know it's also Valentine's Day too, and a happy one to you all.

But more importantly it was three years ago today that I started on this blogging adventure and little did I know then the wonderful places it would lead.

I've met great people, online and off and I've grown as a writer in more ways than I can count.

Life has been very complicated lately and I haven't been posting nearly as much as I would like, but I'm totally committed to Megan's Minute and finding out where it takes me next.

Of course none of this would be possible without my readers, some who are steady visitors and some who just stop by once in a while.  I treasure all of you and the time you take to read what I have to say.

So a big Thank You to you, and a big Woo Hoo to me!

Megan on Blog Talk Radio - Controversy Surrounding "The Princess and the Frog"

Last night I was interviewed by the fabulous Renee of the blog Thinking Out Loud for Blog Talk Radio.  Our discussion was about the Disney film, "The Princess and the Frog" and some of the controversy surrounding the star Tiana, Disney's first black princess.

The interview runs about 50 minutes but feel free to skip around.

If you have difficulty with the volume on the podcast, you can download it from iTunes and adjust the volume accordingly.

 

We Have A HomeGoods Giveaway Winner!

I'm excited to announce we have a HomeGoods Giveaway winner over at Meg's Rad Reviews!  As you may remember, I used a $500 HomeGoods gift card to redecorate my computer room last month. 

Then anyone who commented on that original post was entered to win a $100 gift card from HomeGoods of their very own.

Well the random drawing was held two days ago and the winner is.......Betty N!

Betty's blog is Grandma's Goodies.

When I let her know she'd won, she wrote:  "Thank you sooooo much!  Homegoods is 1/2 mile from our house and we love that store."

Congratulations to Betty N!

Enter Megan's HomeGoods Giveaway and Win A $100 Gift Card!

Hey guys, I've got a new blog and it's called Meg's Rad Reviews! 

What kind of blog is it, you're asking? 

Well, I've been chosen as a BlogHer reviewer, which means I will sometimes reviews cool products and services so you won't have to.  Meg's Rad Reviews will be where you can read those reviews.  I will also have giveaways, contests and recommendations of other things I think you'll just love. 

And just like you can rely on me to give you the straight lowdown on TV and movies here at Megan's Minute, you can count on my honest opinion at Meg's Rad Reviews. 

My very first post is about a $500 HomeGoods shopping spree.  I was assigned to makeover a room in my house and then write about the experience for all you potential HomeGoods shoppers.

I chose my computer room to makeover and wait 'til you see the results! 

So head on over to Meg's Rad Reviews and read about my computer room makeover, and then enter to win your own $100 HomeGoods gift card.

Good luck!

I Can Has Cheezburger: The Musiclol

I was probably one of the last people on the internet to know what a lolcat was.  See I'm a dog person and if there had been loldogs, I'd have known all about 'em.  But grammatically challenged pussycats?  Not so much.  "I has funnie pitchures and capshuns?  Wut you talkin' bout Kitty?"

Of course I'd seen a couple of funny cat pictures with cutesy sayings and I'd seen the phrase, "I Can Has Cheezburger" but I just thought it was some wise acre blogger poking fun at McDonalds.   It wasn't until I was assigned to go see the "I Can Has Cheezburger, The MusicLOL" at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York that I truly understood the size,  the scope and the power of the monstrous lolcat phenomenon.

"Julie and Julia" A Tasty Review

If you're a movie fan you've probably heard about the film "Julie and Julia" as the latest star turn from Meryl Streep.  A summer confection whipped up by director Nora Ephron. 

But if you're a blogger, you probably know that the movie is the culmination of a blog started in 2002 by Julie Powell that turned into an internet phenomena, a book and now a film.

Several years ago, New Yorker Julie Powell found herself at loose ends in an unfulfilling job and a stagnating writing career.  So she found solace in cooking.  At her husband's suggestion she started a blog about her attempt to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking" in a year.

That story, combined with the experiences of Julia Child as the only female cooking student at Le Cordon Bleu in 1940's Paris, chronicled in the book, "My Life in France," is the basis of the movie "Julie and Julia." 

With remarkable skill, Nora Ephron mixes the two stories from two different time periods into a delightful blend of humor, love and a passion for the culinary arts.  One of the many things Julie Powell and Julia Child had in common was finding the courage to stretch themselves and both ending up in places they least expected. 

Amy Adams easily slips into the role of Julie, a Meg Ryan-esque style heroine.  Streep is marvelous as always, performing with abandon the over the top, high pitched, garbled vocal stylings and mannerisms of the Julia Child that we all know so well.  "We're going to boooone the duck by cutting through the breast and lifting the skin."

Streep is a highly skilled actress who's proven she can disappear into almost any role, but this wasn't one of them.  Her performance works however because this isn't a serious drama and deep down we overlook what sometimes appears to be Meryl Streep at a costume ball playing Julia Child. 

And can I just tell you how hot I found Stanley Tucci in this movie? Yeah, you heard me...hot!  He plays Julia's adoring husband who can barely keep his hands off her and revels in every one of her hard won accomplishments. 

Others in the cast:  "24's' Mary Lynn Rajskub plays Julie's friend Sarah and Julie's husband is played by Chris Messina.

Julie Powell's current blog tells about her recent success.  If you wonder what in the movie is and isn't true, she gives you some answers.

My fellow BlogHer CE, Kalyn Denny of the blog Kalyn's Kitchen wrote an excellent post about "Julie and Julia" from a food blogger's perspective.  She felt in the movie, the real Julie wasn't given enough credit for her accomplishment.

Whether we like her or not, not many cooks or bloggers could have done what she did in that tiny New York kitchen, and her ability to build a community of people who followed along on her blog certainly helps the world at large to understand the appeal of food blogging. And even if none of that was enough, Julie helped to bring Julia Child's life to the big screen, something that every lover of fine cooking can be happy about.

Does the movie pass my, is it worth ten dollars test?  Absolutely.

Blogging While Brown 2009: An Interview with Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters

Have you heard of Gina McCauley?  If you haven't, listen up--this is a woman who's on the cutting edge of the internet and social media and you need to get to know her right now.  If you do know who she is, read the following interview anyway, because I defy you not to be inspired by her story, her passion and her good old fashioned smarts.  Just the kind of black woman the MSM almost never talks about.

Gina's the outspoken publisher of the blogs What About Our Daughters and Michelle Obama Watch, and she's also the organizer of the blogging conference for people of color, Blogging While Brown.  After attending last weekend's successful 2nd annual conference, I had some questions for Gina and she was kind enough to make time to answer them for me.

What did you hope to achieve with this year's conference and do you feel you accomplished what you set out to do?

My goal was to bring people together so that they could meet other people, learn something new and have a good time. My hope before the conference that people would develop relationships with others they could partner with and collaborate. I think we definitely accomplished that. I was afraid that we couldn't replicated the amazing "vibe" from last year, and we didn't. The "vibe" this year was even better than the vibe int he room from last year. People genuinely liked each other, were excited for each other, encouraged each other and enjoyed each other's company to the point that they would leave :)

On the way out the door, three women who live in Chicago who didn't know each other before they came to the conference and attended the bootcamp and conference said they were going to collaborate together and start a group blog. That's so important because blogging can be a very solitary experience. Blogging While Brown makes blogging a family experience. You know you're part of this loud lovely group that loves to get together and chat.

How was this year's conference different than last year's?

First, we added the beginning blogger bootcamp and I think its fair to say that was an overwhelming success. We got raves about that, and we'll be expanding our "nuts & bolts" training next year. We had a really small class that met before the conference began. They got each other. I think it was less intimidating when the entire conference convened because they already had their bootcamp friends. My goal was to take civilians and turn them into lean mean blogging and podcasting machines and we did that.

We clearly had more people this year. We eliminated Sunday morning events, which I think is wise :) We had all conference events in the same location. I actually did very little organizing this year because I delegated logistics to our conference coordinator, Shalon and programming to Shawn P Williams from the Dallas South Blog and literally the conference was able to take without me. I arrived to both the kick reception and the Saturday workshops after they had started and they in full swing without me. So that means from a delegation standpoint, it was successful because I had a good team who made sure the conference could take place without me... AND we had power outlets EVERY WHERE this year! That was something we learned from last year when we blew the convention center power grid during the conference.

Blogging While Brown 2009: Making Money, Making Friends and Making Movies

I learned quite a bit from last weekend's Blogging While Brown conference.

One very productive, not to mention entertaining panel was on branding by Hajj E. Flemings, author of "The Brand YU."  During his presentation, Hajj circulated through the audience Oprah-style and fired questions about slides of a variety of products.

When a photo of a Tiffany box appeared, Hajj asked the attendees the first thing that came to their minds.

 

"Love!" Shouted one woman.

"Expensive love!" Shouted another.

 

After explaining that just the appearance of the Tiffany blue box, without any knowledge of what might be inside created an instant association, Hajj proclaimed, "Branding turned sneakers into Nikes."

 

When using social media he told attendees they should use the same avatar and screen name across mutliple platforms.  For example, his photo on his website, his book, his business card, and his social networking sites, all have him in the same suit, in the same pose and wearing the same expression. 

 

He then went on to emphasize the importance of connections, "Somebody else besides your mother needs to know you're doing great things."   And he added, "Don't be the smartest person in your group."  The implication being that you must find associates from whom you can learn.