Bookish Journal #9: That Thing You Do

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks here in New York City. We’ve encountered spring weather, and then winter and rainy, and now back to 90 degree summer heat today.Pietro is currently putting together a space station of a cat litter box while I type this, but he would be mad that I’m revealing how domestic he is. I hope the cats like their new poop box because it cost a fortune and is the size of an R2 unit.

Two weeks ago my friend Nate from California spent a week here on the east coast. I took him to great New York attractions such as Shake Shack, the bridge from Spider-Man 3 and the finale scene of Avengers- both in Central Park, FAO Schwartz toy store, Rockefeller Center, Times Square and more. The best part was that we got frozen chocolate bananas from an Arrested Development Banana Stand in Columbus Circle! We also caught a showing of the Broadway hit musical “The Book Of Mormon” which was exceedingly offensive and very well done. Nate is one of my dearest Twitter friends and we met at SDCC a few years ago. He has a great big beard and understands my obscure movie references in normal conversation.

A day after Nate left the best of the best, Angela, then came to stay with me for a night. It was the last Liverpool football match of the season and we wanted to watch it at the Liverpool bar downtown. She

Angela ^

brought Pietro and I jerseys to wear and we drank beer at 10 in the morning, singing along with other fans when our team won.

Angela left Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon my other long time friend from Twitter, Dawson, came to stay. Dawson is from Missouri and we met over three years ago when he came to visit for New York Comic Con. Over a weekend of crazy Cosplaying, a ridiculous MTV party, and riding the Path train drunk- we became great friends. He only stayed for a few nights and we spent our time wandering Central Park, watching movies, and creating a website dedicated to terrible marketing. As one does.

And then, a few days later, Alyssa also came to visit New York! Known as @Instalyssa on Twitter, she is one of the very first people I became friends with on Twitter over four years ago and we finally met after all this time. I was able to show her ‘You’ve Got Mail’ and take her to the restaurant from the movie, Café Lalo, for some delectable dessert.

For someone as quiet as myself, this was more social interaction that I get in two months! No, but really it was great seeing so many of my favorite people. I’ve also picked up a ton of books about Hemingway lately. I read The Paris Wife, which is a fiction bestseller about Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson and it was a brilliant read. I highly recommend it. I’m also in the middle of a few other books including The Hemingway Women and The Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn. Gellhorn is Hemingway’s third wife, and my personal role model. I’ve never really had one before, besides Jo March from Little Women, but she’s a fictional character. I’ll write more about Gellhorn in the future.

In short, life is good my friends, and I hope you are all doing well too.

The Force For Fun: "Sounds Like a Party"

Two of my favorite companies, Pringles and Star Wars have put together "The Force For Fun" promotion which resulted in over a thousand fan made ideas to be crowdsourced on Tongal.com. Now, after months of hard work, there is only seven final videos competing for the grand prize of $25,000 and to be chosen as Pringles national advertisement! As I mentioned before, I was chosen to be a The Force For Fun Influencer so I'll be bringing you behind the scenes footage and the chance to win your own Star Wars and Pringles swag! 

                Last week's video was 'Wookie Mistake'. This week I'm bringing you the third of seven commercials:

                          Here is Jared Hedges & Dave Cain from "Team Spaceman"'s video "Sounds Like a Party"

I love this video so much because of all the ingenious ways they tried to recreate Star Wars in their home, especially the use of a spatula for Darth Vader's mask! Who knew Pringles gave you the ability to sound like a Star Wars character. Make sure you go to www.YouTube.com/Pringles to check out the seven The Force For Fun videos!

          Check out this quick video for more scenes and a side by side comparison of the commercial and "A New Hope"!

                                                   Now enter to below to win Pringles chips and Star Wars earbuds!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Her Universe Apparel at Star Wars Weekends

2013 NEW YORK, NY - MAY 13th, 2013 - 

 The Force is back at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park as Star WarsWeekends returns May 17th through June 9th. Fans from all over the world come to share their love of all things Star Wars and Disney during this special event. Returning for the fifth year in a row is actress Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and founder of the popular sci-fi merchandise line for fangirls, Her Universe™. As with previous years, Eckstein will be bringing an all-new, unique range of Star Wars by Her Universe designs to the month-long event at Disney's Hollywood Studios including fashion tops, tunics, tanks and dresses located in Darth's Mall. Eckstein will be meeting fans and signing autographs every day during the event and she will also be returning as host for Behind the Force: Star Wars Voices each weekend. "As a lifelong Disney fan, it's a dream come true for me to return to Disney's Star Wars Weekends and debut my new Her Universe merchandise," said Eckstein. "It's been an honor to work with Disney to create designs for this event. We have an assortment of new items for female fans of all ages, including our new exclusive Return of the Jedi necklace in honor of the 30th Anniversary!" 

                                                      

Her Universe has only made 1,250 necklaces to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of this beloved movie. This extremely limited edition piece will come with an autographed certificate by Eckstein and will only be sold at select Her Universe events debuting at Star Wars Weekends. Only 500 necklaces will be available for sale at Disney starting on May 17th. They are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Also debuting at the event will be will the highly anticipated Rogue Squadron dress and X-Wing Pilot tank top. Other items premiering will be matching youth and adult R2-D2 tunic tops, an adorable youth Princess Leia tunic top, retro women's fashion tops and a limited edition Asajj Ventress costume top. 

Pretend that you are a part of the Rogue Squadron in this colorful hooded racer-back tank. With the hoodie up, you're ready to pilot an X-wing yourself!

Personally, this R2D2 hoodie is my absolute favorite! However, all of these items will be a part of my summer wardrobe!

Source: Her Universe

The Force For Fun: 'Wookiee Mistake'

Two of my favorite companies, Pringles and Star Wars have put together "The Force For Fun" promotion which resulted in over a thousand fan made ideas to be crowdsourced on Tongal.com. Now, after months of hard work, there is only seven final videos competing for the grand prize of $25,000 and to be chosen as Pringles national advertisement! As I mentioned before, I was chosen to be a The Force For Fun Influencer so I'll be bringing you behind the scenes footage and the chance to win your own Star Wars and Pringles swag! 


The first video was 'Jim vs Vader'. This week I'm bringing you the second of seven commercials: Here is the video by Jordan Allen, Luke Rocheleau and Brooke Dooley, team "Side of Fries" called 'Wookie Mistake'

The best part about this contest is that hardcore Star Wars fans are the ones creating these commercials, which adds that extra spark. Fans who love these movies are the ones bringing you the advertisements, so they know what other fans would love to see! Make sure you go to www.YouTube.com/Pringles to check out the seven The Force For Fun videos!

 Here are some behind the scenes with Jordan, Luke, and Brooke!

Now here is your chance to win some swag! Last week Laura Begley won cans of Pringles and a Star Wars usb stick! This week you can win more Pringles and an adorable Ewok! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Also, check out Google+ Hangout featuring all seven filmmakers as well as Lucasfilm and Pringles reps.

The Force For Fun: 'Jim vs. Vader'

Two of my favorite companies, Pringles and Star Wars have put together "The Force For Fun" promotion which resulted in over a thousand fan made ideas to be crowdsourced on Tongal.com. Now, after months of hard work, there is only seven final videos competing for the grand prize of $25,000 and to be chosen as Pringles national advertisement! As I mentioned before, I was chosen to be a The Force For Fun Influencer so I'll be bringing you behind the scenes footage and the chance to win your own Star Wars and Pringles swag!

This week I'm bringing you the first of seven commercials:
Here is the video by Erick Beck and Justin Johnson called "Jim Vs. Vader"!

 

Some awesome facts about the minds behind the video: "Justin’s very first video he directed as a child was a recreation of the battle of Hoth in the snow with his toys. And then, one of the first props Erik ever built was an AT-AT walker out of a shoebox and a soda cup. It had a working escape hatch; he was 8 years old."

                                                  Here is a Behind the Scenes Video with Erick and Justin!

Make sure you go to www.YouTube.com/Pringles to check out the seven The Force For Fun videos!

Now enter below to win Star Wars and Pringles swag! 
Earn points by Liking the Pringles Facebook page and tweet using #TheForceForFun!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lost in Manhattan: Is It Cheating If You Have A Sleepover With An Ex?

"Just because he's staying with his ex girlfriend and her family for a week doesn't mean he's gonna fuck her, right?"

 -Parker

        Last night I was up late killing time on Tumblr, like one does at one in the morning, when I got a Facebook chat from Parker. After asking if I was still awake, she sent a a series of hysterical messages about The Tardis and how she thinks he's cheating on her. I couldn't understand the gibberish of mistypes and spelling erros so I told her I'd go up to her apartment if she wanted. She begged me to, with the promise of sharing her Strawberry Vodka. 

I had never been inside Parker's apartment before. It was twice the size of mine (which really isn't a big feat) and if possible, even messier. The walls were covered in Doctor Who framed prints, Supernatural posters, and a portrait of Albert Einstein. We climbed over her bed (which was covered in clothes, text books, and a Mac Book) to go out on her fire escape. She had obviously been crying and was drinking Smirnoff out of a Boba Fett mug.

"So what's going on?"

"I think he's cheating on me."

Now I could recall the conversation in a well written recap, or I could just copy down the rant that I reordered on my iPhone. And seeing as how I was up until 4am on a fire escape, here's a shortened version of Parker's low down:

"We're both broke, you know? We don't have a lot of money or else we'd spend it seeing each other. We've been saving up for San Diego so we can share a hotel room and everything. But get this! He casually tells me today that he's going to spend the next WEEK in California! He says he has a meeting with some people from Marvel about a possible job opportunity. I say that's great but how is he affording everything? He said his dad lent him some money for a plane ticket and he's staying with some friends in LA. But then I get confused. Marvel comics offices are in New York, not LA so why would he have a job offer there? And then hours later I ask who he's staying with and it turns out, his ex girlfriend and her family! Now I know they dated for like, forever before her family moved to the US but it doesn't make sense! His meeting is only ONE DAY and yet he's staying a whole week. He could easily fly out to New York or take a bus or something and stay with me for the rest of the trip! But I know how his dad bought him the plane ticket and everything and it just sucks. He doesn't even think its weird that he's staying with his ex girlfriend's family. I just don't know. I see him tweeting at her sometimes and he doesn't with me because he's trying to keep our relationship a secret so people don't harass me even more than they do now. But, how fucked up is this? It's fucked up right?" 

I've been in long distance relationships before, a few shorter ones and one that turned into an actual relationship. All of whom I've met off of Twitter. Parker and The Tardis met through Tumblr (if you recall) and have been dating since August but have not actually met. Here's the thing, obviously this situation isn't right for Parker at all. It isn't right that she's in a relationship with a guy who is staying with his ex girlfriend for a week when she hasn't even met her in person yet. But that's the thing: is it a real relationship because they haven't met?

She doesn't have any "real" rights as a girlfriend because they haven't crossed that boundary of actually touching each other yet. It doesn't seem fair and people in LDR would probably argue with me that love is love no matter and all that other bullshit. Then again, a relationship is a relationship and if he loves her, which he tells her he does, wouldn't he care about how she feels? And isn't his Marvel interview in LA and not New York kind of shady?

These days long distance relationships between people who have met on the Internet is shockingly common. You search the "LDR" tag on Tumblr and you've met with hundreds of stories about love affairs reaching around the world. A guy in Australia connected with his "true love" in Maryland, USA. Everyone from lovesick teenagers to business adults are making connections in a way that has never been done before this generation.

Last month Durex announced their "Fundawear", a series of underwear that can be stimulated over the Internet. Your significant other can get to second base, operating sensors over a bra of your man's under roos. Couples like Parker and The Tardis can please each other without having to meet, ever. When I mentioned this to her, Parker said the Fundawear isn't available yet but she would buy a set in a heartbeat. That is, if they were still together by the time it came out.

I didn't have much advice for her, except that if she trusts him then it shouldn't be too big of a problem. So instead we shared a black and mild on her fire escape, watching taxis speed down Broadway at 2 in the morning and hoped for the best. 

P.S. -Let's also take a moment to fawn over the amazing artwork Chris Flocco did of the girls! Without seeing actual pictures of them (to keep their identities anonymous), Chris was able to perfectly capture them all. I especially adore the Rebel Alliance shirt/sweater combo. Even though 'Parker' has different tattoos in real life, she loves the ones her character has. Thanks again so much Chris!

Previously on Lost in Manhattan:

1.) Gelato & an Idea

2.) Dirty Underwear and The Tardis

3.) Enter Olivia
4.) SnapChating Your Way to Internet Fame (or Just To Secure a Date)

Pringles® & Star Wars™ Brings You "The Force For Fun"!

I am so excited about Pringles and Star Wars teaming up to bring you the "The Force For Fun" contest! I have been selected as one of ten bloggers to be a Force For Fun Influencer to bring you exclusive behind the scenes content of the contest, interviews with the filmmakers and Lucasfilm representatives as well as Star Wars and Pringles swag for YOU guys! This means that in the upcoming weeks you'll have chances to watch the contest finalists and voice which video entries you like best to win out of this world prizes. Read more about the contest below and check out all the videos at  www.YouTube.com/Pringles

SOURCE Kellogg Company

One video will win $25,000 and a chance to be featured as Pringles national advertisement

BATTLE CREEK, Mich., May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Until now, the will of the Force has sought to bring balance to the universe, and with Pringles® in the picture, the Force has a new mission – to deliver snackable fun. As part of thePringles® and Star Wars™ "The Force For Fun" promotion, more than a thousand fan-generated video ideas were crowdsourced through Tongal.com and narrowed down to seven final videos competing for a grand prize of $25,000and the chance to be featured as a Pringles® national advertisement.[1]

The filmmakers behind the seven videos are David Brashear, Erik Beck and Justin Johnson, Ryan O'Rourke andJohn Griese, Colin Duffy and Matt Sklar, Jared Hedges and Dave Cain, Brooke Dooley, Jordan Allen and Luke Rocheleau, and Steven Houser. Each spot was required to merge the iconic Pringles snack brand with the Star Warsuniverse and characters. The 30- and 60-second videos are available online now at www.YouTube.com/Pringles. The winning video will be selected by representatives from Lucasfilm and Pringles.

"Pringles and Star Wars fans are clearly passionate about the same interests – fun times, tasty snacks, and galaxies far, far away," said Teresa Lindsey-Houston, Pringles Marketing Director. "We can't wait to see our fans' reaction to the winning 'The Force For Fun' video, which will be unveiled in June!"

Adding some pop to the snacking masses, Pringles and Star Wars appointed 10 die-hard fans to spread the word about the seven videos on their blogs and social channels where they will highlight exclusive behind-the-scenes content, interviews with the filmmakers and Lucasfilm representatives, as well as reader sweepstakes[2] featuringPringles product and Star Wars swag. Participating bloggers will be featured at www.YouTube.com/Pringles.    

Visit www.YouTube.com/Pringles and www.Facebook.com/Pringles pages to check out the videos, watch interviews with the filmmakers and Lucasfilm representatives and join the conversation using #TheForceForFun. Stay tuned to Pringles YouTube and Facebook pages for the announcement of the winning video at the end of June.

Suggested Tweets:

• Click to Tweet: 7 filmmakers vie for a chance to have their #TheForceForFun video featured as a national @Pringles commercial
• Click to Tweet: Visit Youtube.com/Pringles to watch videos set in a galaxy far, far away and join the conversation using #TheForceForFun

About Kellogg Company 

At Kellogg Company (NYSE: K), we are driven to enrich and delight the world through foods and brands that matter. With 2012 sales of $14.2 billion, Kellogg is the world's leading cereal company; second largest producer of cookies, crackers and savory snacks; and a leading North American frozen foods company. Every day, our well-loved brands nourish families so they can flourish and thrive. These brands include Kellogg's®, Keebler®, Special K®, Pringles®,Frosted Flakes®, Pop-Tarts®, Corn Flakes®, Rice Krispies®, Kashi®, Cheez-It®, Eggo®, Coco Pops®, Mini-Wheats®, and many more. Because we believe in the power of breakfast, we focus our philanthropic efforts global hunger relief through our Breakfasts for Better Days™ initiative, providing 1 billion servings of cereal and snacks -  more than half of which are breakfast - to children and families in need by the end of 2016. To learn more about our responsible business leadership, foods that delight and how we strive to make a difference in our communities around the world, visit www.kelloggcompany.com.

About TONGAL

Tongal is a social content development platform that helps global businesses connect with global creativity. Tongal's unique Content Evolution process opens the creative door to loyal customers, fans, even employees -- creating immediate, relevant content by tapping their (frequently, great) ideas, then pushing the very best of these forward to the talented folks who can translate the vision into living color. http://www.tongal.com.

About Lucasfilm Ltd. 

Lucasfilm Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is a global leader in film, television and digital entertainment production. In addition to its motion-picture and television production, the company's activities include visual effects and audio post-production, cutting-edge digital animation, interactive entertainment software, and the management of the global merchandising activities for its entertainment properties including the legendary STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES franchises. Lucasfilm Ltd. is headquartered in northern California.

Lucasfilm, the Lucasfilm logo, STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © 2013 Lucasfilm Ltd.  All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

[1] For official "The Force for Fun" video contest rules, please visit http://tongal.com/TheForceforFun/rules.

[2] http://pringlestheforceforfunprogram.com

Source: ©2012 PR Newswire.

Lost in Manhattan: SnapChatting Your Way to Internet Fame (Or Just To Secure A Date)

"He called me Daisy! This has got to mean that he loves me."- Meg

During her last semester at Columbia last Spring, my friend Meg fell in love with her "Military & History" seminar professor, whom we'll call simply call "The Professor". He is a 29 year old native New Yorker with a slight beard that wears tweed jackets and often made 'Indiana Jones' references during class. Meg wound up spending a significant amount of time in his office to talk about papers and became obsessed with him. One day in April 2012, they ran into each other at the Intrepid (aka she stalked his Twitter page & saw he was going that day) where they had a lovely afternoon together. He even paid for her dinner and walked her back to her apartment. 

For weeks they exchanged casual emails on topics such as their favorite history books and movies. She tried to coax him out for another outing but he reasonably refused. However, one night they agreed to grab a quick meal at a food truck and ended up walking in Riverside Park well into the night where an inevitable kiss occured. After that their days were full of sneaking glances during class, arguing over the ethics of their relationship, and going out for late night dinners away from campus. However, The Professor was always in fear of getting caught and finally ended it their relationship right before finals. 

This caused broken hearted Meg to fail his final exam horribly (out of sadness and a bit of resentment I gather). This prompted him to beg her to secretly retake the exam so that he didn't have to fail her for the class. She agreed, but only if he would give her a recommendation for a job position at the college she was applying for. Out of desperation he agreed but seemed disheartened when she did get the job.

Meg's intention was that as coworkers, her and The Professor would be viewed as equals and they could restart their relationship. However, he viewed the situation as even worse since he helped her get the job. Now, after nearly a year of working at Columbia as a secretary, Meg and The Professor have yet to get to "banging". They've had a few casual work lunches but their interactions don't stray far from emailing and SnapChatting. 

SnapChat is an app where (according to Wikipedia) "users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their photos, up to 10 seconds, after which it will be deleted from the recipient's device and the company's servers." In other words, this is meant for people to send naked pictures & naughty videos to each other without fear of them being sent to everyone on Facebook. When I pointed this out to Meg she, rather disappointedly, said that no nudes were exchanged "yet". Mostly their chats are of random things they both see, and the occasional funny faces.

They SnapChat more than actual talking due to the secrecy of the app which appeals to The Professor's paranoid nature. However, last week Meg tried taking their relationship to the next level. She sent him a video of a taxi cab with an advertisement for the new "The Great Gatsby" movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio with the caption "Our fave! See it w/ me?" In return he sent a video of the same movie poster taken somewhere in the city with the caption "Sure thing, Daisy."

In turn it led to much enthusiasm on Meg's part, swooning over the fact that The Professor called her Daisy, a reference to the woman Gatsby loves in the story. (These were apparently the two characters Meg and The Professor used to refer to each other as during their affair.) Meg is ignoring the fact that they don't have a set day for the date (as the movie doesn't come out until May 10th, nor did he respond to her texts for the next few days). Meg is too good for him, and I suggested that she go after someone who doesn't have a beard but she can be very stubborn.  In turn I suggested that she start sending nudes to figure out if he's gay or not. Maybe he has a tiny penis and doesn't want to show it, which would probably explain everything.

According to their Wikipedia page, SnapChat is mostly used for children to send pictures to their parents of their whereabouts (yeah right). When searched online, there is a Internet phenomena called "SnapChat Sluts" that started as hashtag on Twitter turned Tumblr, the latter of which has been deleted since this article was published on Gawker. However, there is a new website called Wastechester where is seems girls voluntarily send nudes to a specific SnapChat user. Forbes even posted an article about the app yesterday about the sexting fears.

Welcome to dating in 2013: all you have to do is SnapChat your way into someone's pants (or even just a date).

Previously on "Lost in Manhattan":
1.) Gelato & an Idea
2.) Dirty Underwear & the Tardis
3.) Enter Olivia

Hot Topic & Her Universe Join Forces for Star Wars Day

Her Universe is one of my favorite companies, and I'm so excited about this announcement made earlier today about their products being sold at Hot Topic!

NEW YORK, NY - May 1st, 2013 - Star Wars fans already know that the Force is everywhere but on May 4th the stars align for those who live and breathe every moment of the Star Wars saga. This day is a special opportunity to celebrate all things in that "galaxy far, far away" and, of course, to say, "May the 4th Be With You!" For the second year in a row, Her Universe™, the leading sci-fi merchandise line for fangirls, is teaming up with Hot Topic to offer new exclusive Star Wars dresses and fashion tops created by actress and entrepreneur Ashley Eckstein, voice of Ahsoka Tano fromStar Wars: The Clone Wars.

On May 4th, the popular Star Wars By Her Universe line will debut six new fashion pieces exclusively on Hottopic.com. The first 500 customers who purchase a Star Wars by Her Universe item online at Hottopic.com beginning at 1am PST on May 4th will receive a FREE Star Wars by Her Universe cinch sack. In addition, all day on May 4th Hottopic.com and Starwars.com (the official Star Wars website), and their social media sites, will celebrate this special fan holiday with fan-themed content and giveaways. 

"I am thrilled to be working with Hot Topic again to celebrate May the 4th Be With You," said Ashley Eckstein. "I am also excited to debut a new design with one of our favorite guest designers, Denise Vasquez. Denise brought her unique 'Day of the Dead' inspired style to a new design featuring Boba Fett."

With the growing audience of female Star Wars fans, Hot Topic and Her Universe have a number of new tops and, for the first time, Star Wars by Her Universe dresses to offer them. The new Hot Topic apparel line features popular villains Boba Fett and Darth Vader as well as fan favorite Rebels Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia.

In celebration of "May the 4th Be with You," Her Universe will also be offering 20% off of all currentStar Wars apparel on www.HerUniverse.com on May 4th (Hot Topic product only available on Hottopic.com). In addition, while visiting the Her Universe website, fans can also view the past and present honoree's for "fangirl of the day" - part of a very special year-long campaign, the "Year of the Fangirl," which spotlights and recognizes fangirls of all ages showing their diversity, dreams and interests. Anyone can nominate a fangirl to be highlighted on the site. Go to www.HerUniverse.com for more information.

Source: Her Universe