Adrian Peterson Orange Peanut Awesomeness

I love it when real life and entertainment collide for humorous effect, and social media is especially great for that.

My favorite example of this lately is Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson’s now-famous post-game confession of his passion for orange peanuts.

This comes courtesy of Bad Lip Reading. If you haven’t seen their full set of YouTube videos, your life is not as rich as it could be.

Culture Jamming? Orange Peanut!

The best part of this is when Peterson was presented with a real-life orange peanut at an autograph session. And he was a great sport about it. Look at that smile.

Image via tchrox

Importantly, as USA Today notes, “The craftsmanship on the peanut is spot-on.” Excellent.

What do you think? What’s your favorite example of real/online/entertainment world convergence? Have you ever participated in culture jamming? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Adrian Peterson Gets His Orange Peanut (thevikingage.com)
• Yes, Adrian, An Orange Peanut For You (dailynorseman.com)
• Orange Peanut! Bad Lip Reading Finally Does the NFL and It’s the Best (VIDEO)(manolith.com)
• A Healthy Perspective on Peanut Butter (leanonlife.com)

Is There Really No Such Thing As Bad Press?

You know the saying, “there’s no such thing as bad press?” Only to a certain extent do I believe this. The phrase would be more accurate if tempered with two qualifiers:

Potentially, eventually.

Lady Gaga, Oscar Wilde.
Both adept at capturing press attention.

This is because in the event ofbad press, it can be manageable to varying degrees – but it always takes deliberate, meaningful effort, and it definitely takes time.

I absolutely don’t believe, “hey, there’s no such thing as bad press, so let’s just go for it all…” is wise PR strategy, unless the goal is simple notoriety along the lines of Paris Hilton or Lady Gaga. In these cases, I’m reminded of what could be the inspiration for this concept: Oscar Wilde’s quote, “There is only one thing in the world that is worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

The problem with the idea of no bad press is that with today’s A.D.D. news cycle and the everlasting searchability of the Internet, missteps can take an extraordinary effort to overcome, although it can be done. National Strategies Public Relations CEO Jennifer Vickery sums up the concept: ”While there is such a thing as bad press, the main take away should be that good press can come out of it, provided the situation is handled properly.”

Proper handling would mean execution with transparency, honesty and consistency over an interval long enough to shift focus to the present and future more so than the past. In this way, and ifdone right, bad press can become a real opportunity and cataylst, not just in terms of spin, but also toward doing the right thing.

What do you think? Is there truly no such thing as bad press? What are some examples of bad press being handled properly? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• The 5 Unbreakable Rules of Public Relations (under30ceo.com)
• How Bad Press Can Get You Canned, Tarnish a Reputation and Destroy a Brand (Jennifer Vickery)
• The Oatmeal Sucks, Even if Buzzfeed Was Wrong (Gawker)
• Ultimate list of online public relations tools (raventools.com)
• What Good’s PR? (Dick Martin)
• The Biggest PR Myth of All: There’s No Such Thing as Bad Publicity(ereleases.com)
• Looking Back: It’s Not Always A Bad Thing (moveintoaction.com)
• Leveson inquiry (nickclarkeconservative.wordpress.com)

Your Own Personal Grammys

Are your favorite performing artists underrepresented for their work? Does the mainstream “best of” not reflect your tastes? Then make your own awards. This is my blog, with my completely biased opinions – The Grammys, this is not. That said, thersmithing.com music awards for the past year go to…

Best Video: Melodysheep, Happy Little Clouds

I interview the mastermind behind Melodysheep, and all-round cool dude, John Boswell, here.

Best Concert: Beats Antique, Cat’s Cradle, May 4, 2012

I recount how I discovered Beats Antique here and document another of their gigs here.

Best New Artist: How To Destroy Angels

It’s atmospheric Nine Inch Nails with a female voice. Totally works.

Best Comeback: Quicksand

The band’s breakthrough album, Slip, is a certified classic.

Best Shoutout to Me: Garbage

One of my favorite bands featured my artwork in a promo video. Full story here.

Album of The Year: Deftones, Koi No Yokan

The Deftones‘ enduring talent surges ever forward.

Best Electronica: Photek, KU:PALM

Photek came back after many years with a sparse-yet-rich new record.

Best Topical Humor: CollegeHumor, Look at This Instagram

Thanks to Sarah Khanna, food blogger at butteredup.com, for turning me on to this. I think.

What do you think? What were your best musical moments of the past year? What other categories would you include? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Photek’s KU: PALM Embraces Past, Present, Future (rsmithing.com)
• Deftones December Wrap Up (cgiovanniwrites.wordpress.com)
• Melodysheep: ‘The Face of Creation’ – Higgs Remix (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
• Who is Skrillex and Why Did He Win Three Grammys? (…What is Dubstep Anyways?!?!) (CA Music Industry Summit)
• Abum Review: Photek – KU:PALM (Five Fist Reviews)

Stylized Instamatic 104

Stylized Instamatic 104, a photo by rsmithing on Flickr.

I dig the convergence of technology and time here in one brief second, now extended to the world and infinity. Here’s a snapshot of one of our modern photographic ancestors I modified with the amazing ToonPaint iPhone app, after shooting with Hipstamtic (a modern-retro simulator, no less). I found the camera at a sweet vintage shop called “Ideas” on Burke Street, Winston-Salem, NC. Original here.

What do you think? Do you see a connection between analog cameras and today’s mobile photography? What apps or camera discoveries have you made lately? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Product placement for hipsters: Kodak Instamatic (brandsandfilms.com)
• Waterworld (tawcabout.wordpress.com)
• Gothic Stylized Shoot (specialeventrentals.com)
• photography with low end cameras (tingilinde.typepad.com)

For When You Don’t Feel Like Blogging

Writing a blog post shouldn’t be a big deal, especially if you’re serious about blogging. That said, there are going to be days when you just don’t feel like it.

Check out the full series of blogging-themed images
I created over at Flickr and feel free to use them on your own blog.

Having done this for over a year now, a couple times per week steadily, I can fully attest to the occasional lack of motivation – but I always fight through and deliver the goods. Along the way, I’ve picked up these tips for those dark moments when you might not feel like keeping up with your own blog.

1. Have some posts in the bank

In those spells when you feel like writing, or when an idea hits, try to go with it. Take two minutes to get your thoughts into a few sentences or headings you can easily expand upon later. I’ve found the best tool for doing this is dictation software, or at the very least, the drafts feature in WordPress. I’ll even email some ideas to myself as a way of quickly capturing a subject or notion I know can be expanded upon down the road. That way, when the time is right, the content is ready to go.

Another great site for
writing inspiration:LanguageIsAVirus.com

2. Know your inspiration

Have some role models or examples of sites you enjoy on hand to get you thinking about material for your own blog. Or, as Janet Aronica aptly states over at Shareaholic (among the many other excellent tips there):

“Consume the content you want to create.”

By being able to easily refer to your sources of inspiration, you’ll be more likely to generate your own material with your unique perspective – which is the very best part of having your own blog. Set up some bookmarks, feeds, subscriptions, or whatever aggregation method works best for you so you can get inspired and have your own creative juices flowing.

3. Keep it simple, genius

A blog post does not have to be 10,000 words, nor should it be. In fact, brief is often better. I’ve found some of my most popular posts are sometimes the ones with just a compelling image and only a few sentences. Being handy with the phone cam and always on the lookout for quality visuals to share is something I enjoy, and also something I recommend for having interesting blog fodder at the ready.

What do you think? Are these suggestions useful? What tips would you suggest for drumming up motivation or inspiration in blogging? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Ask an Expert: Does the Length of Your Blog Post Really Matter?(blogs.constantcontact.com)
• Don’t Go Slick (stirrup-queens.com)
• So you want to start a blog… (lipglossismylife.com)
• How To Blog Successfully About Anything (seomoz.org)
• I love blogging but can’t find the time (awesomeelo.wordpress.com)
• An Amateur Blogger’s Tips For Creating A Better-Than-Amateur Blog(sitdownatatypewriterandbleed.wordpress.com)

Solarized Tree – Rainy Day Inspiration and Flickr Feature

One good thing about rainy afternoons is how the ordinary can take on more beauty. Here’s a snapshot of a tree I noticed in the post-rain haze of my neighborhood. It takes on new depth thanks to the Dynamic Light app’s “solarize” function and some finishing touches with the TtV Photo Studio app.

Update: We Made Flickr’s Explore Page!

About 24 hours after this post, I visit the source image atFlickr to respond to any comments, and whaddya know: it’s featured on Flickr’s Explore: Recent Photos gallery!

Flickr’s “Explore” galleries arecurated collections of 500 select photos each day. Considering the site gets photos uploaded by the thousands every minute, that’s very flattering. Other categories include “The Commons,” and “Galleries” – and all are fun ways to discover interesting new art and artists.

What an honor – thanks, Flickr!

What do you think? Have you ever been inspired to turn the ordinary into art by way of a rainy day? What are your “go-to” apps for photo editing? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Trade Street & Tree – Single Image Sundays (rsmithing.com)
• NASA on the sun: ‘…tiny variations can have a significant effect on terrestrial climate.” (wattsupwiththat.com)
• Big Sunspot Unleashes Intense Solar Flare (space.com)
• Rain and Memories (spilledcookies.com)
• A rainy, crocheting kind of day (crochetandyarn.wordpress.com)
• rainy thursday afternoons (mosthopeful.com)

What Smartphone Apps Have Changed Your Life?

Has the way you live evovled by way of a smartphone app? What’s a non-standard add-on (besides maps, texting, etc.) that’s changed – hopefully for the better – the way you conduct daily life? Not necessarily saying they’re the very best, here are my immediate top three:

1. Instagram

This app has literally changed the way I see the world and connected me with people from all over the globe through a very user-friendly interface, turning ordinary snapshots into art with the barest minimum of effort. I now see the world through “Instagram Eyes” and have gotten so much from what it offers Although the recentspam influx and terms of service update now have me exploring elsewhere, there’s no denying Instagram’s impact.

2. Dragon Dictation

This app listens to what you say and turns it into text. It’s like magic. It’s fast, intuitive, and lets you easily email, MMS, or copy and paste what you say. I’ve used it for years to handle texting and  composing blog posts, and it accurately gets the job done every single time. It’s been life-changing by by bringing my phone new functionality with incredible convenience and capability. Now that speech-to-text is built into the iPhone, I’ve been using Dragon less, but they were the ones to get it right first.

3. Pandora

This is the mobile version of the already robust website, but I mention it here because of how it’s impacted my enjoyment of music. Pandora is streaming radio where you create stations based on artists, songs or themes. It serves up related music, and gets better over time as you thumbs-up or thumbs-down what plays. I couldn’t begin tell you how much great music I’ve discovered this way. It’s a simple premise: “if you like this, then you might also like this” — and Pandora’s highly personalized  approach wins the day for me, even though I also enjoy similar services like 8Tracks. Even TheStreet.com says Pandora has “rendered terrestrial radio, on a grand scale, obsolete.” Consider how long radio has been in our lives as you consider that statement.

What do you think? What apps have made a difference in the way you do things? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Know Your Apps: Pandora (samsung.com)
• First Test: Pioneer AppRadio (motortrend.com)
• The Next App Store Is in Your Car (adweek.com)
• ‘Cheap iPhone’ Could Launch This Year: WSJ Report (huffingtonpost.com)
• Pandora Announces December 2012 Audience Metrics; Adds Intergration With Chrysler (allaccess.com)

Who’s Been Commenting?

A great reward of blogging is making connections with professionals whose work I respect. Here’s a look at some recognizable figures commenting at rsmithing.com in the past 12 months. Check out the posts to see their remarks:

Mack Collier

Mack Collier commented and said thanks in my post, Blogchat: Sundays on Twitter. As a strategist, trainer and speaker on social media, Collier helps companies better connect with customers. He has been actively immersed in social media since 2005, and in that time has helped businesses of all shapes and sizes better connect with their customers via these amazing tools and sites. [Mack's Site]

Neil Strauss

Neil Strauss commented a couple of times on my post, Last Book Read: Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead. Strauss is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and also writes regularly for The New York Times, having repeatedly made its bestseller list with books such as The Game, Emergency, andEveryone Loves You When You’re Dead. [Wikipedia]

John Boswell

John Boswell generously answered my questions in this post: Interview with MelodySheep and Symphony of Science Mastermind. Boswell is the artist behind autotune projects Symphony of Science andMelodySheep, gaining international recognition and millions of YouTube views for his inspiring musical tributes to Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross andJulia Child, among others.

Mike Sager

Mike Sager said thanks for my quick post inspired by his writing, From Music and Words into Movement – The Fun of Art. Sager is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist. He has been called “the Beat poet of American journalism, that rare reporter who can make literature out of shabby reality.” [Wikipedia] In thirty years as a journalist, writer at large Mike Sager has immersed himself in the lives of pit-bull fighters, heroin addicts, Tupperware saleswomen, and an actress named Roseanne. [Esquire]

Jay Baer

Jay Baer stopped by after I reached him on Google Plus to weigh in on my post, How to Talk About Social Media In Business: 5 Points, Video Interview. Baer is a social media strategist, author, speaker and President of Convince & Convert. Founder of five companies, he’s worked with over 700 brands (including Nike, Cold Stone Creamery, Sony, ExactTarget, and ConocoPhillips) since 1994, including 25 of the Fortune 1000. His blog is ranked among the world’s top marketing resources, and was named #3 social media blog in the world by Social Media Examiner. [Wikipedia]

Alexis Madrigal

Alexis Madrigal noted his use of contrast in my analysis of his work: Contrasts Make Connections. Madrigal is a Senior editor at The Atlantic, author of Powering the Dream, and has previously contributed to WIRED, covering science and technology as a contributor to the Wired Scienceblog. [Twitter]

Also engaging via brand representatives were McDonald’s Corporate in: Fast Food and Fast Lessons in Public Relations and, as a bonus from 2011: Delta Airlines in my post, An Airline Gets it… Right?

What do you think? Have any well-known figures or organizations commented on your work? Have you ever had any brushes with celebrity? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Randi Zuckerberg Just Reminded Us Why It’s Important to Understand Your Customers (Mack Collier)
• Neil Strauss picks up Jessica Alba on Jimmy Kimmel (YouTube)
• Introducing John Boswell – Creator of ‘Symphony of Science’ (Scientific American)
• Mike Sager by Mike Sager (Esquire)
• How The Grinch Saved Social Media (ConvinceAndConvert.com)
• You Know What I Want to Do in 2013? Talk to My Television. (The Atlantic)