Guess Who I Will Be For Halloween?

Posted by Lady Mel On Wednesday, October 27, 2010 5 comments

Me.
There is no room.
For Lady Gaga or
Snookie costumes.
Just Me.
Me.

I have decided not to dress up for Halloween this year. Booo Booo. Halloween is just one of those days where a woman can be a slut and its acceptable. Why do I want to be a slut for a day when I can be yourself? I am just going to enjoy the candy, the movies, the escapism without wearing a mask. Plus, I'm too old and I have better things to do. Like building my empire and personal worth. When that's established, then  I can trick and treat all I want.

So don't worry about me.
Have fun
With your latex and Halloween candy.
Enjoy.

Just some food for thought. What will you be this Halloween season?

Lady Mel in the City

Posted by Lady Mel On Saturday, October 16, 2010 3 comments

Hi everyone! This is the lovely Lady Mel! I will now start every Friday or Saturday with the "Lady Mel's Corner". It's a space where I get to answer three Twitter questions from my lovely fans! And I'll conclude each session with my most favorite picture or word or something of every week. It's more of a weekly recap of all things happening in my world. Lets begin! (Disclaimer: LadyMel is MY alter ego. We will have slight differences of opinion sometimes, but that is why alter egos are oh so awesome. Carry on.)



1. @HappyGoLucky- What do you think about this week's Glee episode?


I absolutely loveddd it! All the duets were awesome especially Kurt's solo, and Santana's and Mercedes's. However I find it rude that Santana and Mercedes sung together and there was not a problem but since Kurt is openly gay and wanted to sing with Sam [isn't he hot?!?!] , it becomes a major problem on the show. I don't blame the creator, it's our society.


2. @PrincessDivine45- Which movie this weekend are you looking forward to see?  XOXOXO


Red! Redddddd! Watch it. No one can resist Bruce Willis's and Helen Mirren's ultimate badassness. It's a comedy/action packed film. 


3. @JohnAHoe- I go to Yale. Did you hear about the Yale Delta Kappa Epsilon sexist fiasco?


Of course I have. And what makes it sad is that these young men will one day become our next executives, leaders, and future presidents. I did not know the state of manhood was this bad. But never fear, John! Since I am a loyal Jezebel.com fan, I wrote a counterargument in the form of a rant similar to the one the fraternity boys were raging in the video. You can find it here just scroll down.


My name is Kat (not really lol)
And I hate these frats
I'll challenge all of them
In the name of feminism!

No means yes
Yes makes you have issues

Fuck patriarchy!
Fuck patriarchy!
(repeats)

Fucking douchebags
Fucking douchebags
(repeats)

Jezebel!
Jezebel!




Finally, here is my Picture of the Week! Isn't he precious?! 


New Windows Phone 7 Ad is Brilliant!

Posted by Lady Mel On Tuesday, October 12, 2010 2 comments

 

Smart-phone users are insane. My sister is one and I can imagine how much time she spends on her Sprint E-Vo everyday. I recently participated in a Harvard Business Review discussion on Linkedin.com about the use of texting while in a meeting or other social function. People these days are using technology and forgetting how to conduct themselves in even the most intimate settings like the bedroom as shown in the YouTube clip. I am a product of this phenomenon, I admit. Five seconds after watching "The Social Network", I told Radale that I was going to log onto Facebook to check my updates once I returned home, despite my harsh criticism of the film. And I did.

Luckily, I do not have the luxury of owning or using a smart phone because of my financial situation or I would have been enchanted by the screen of a iPhone 4 or Android. I am aware of Microsoft's slow process to produce a reliable smart phone over the years, but I guess now you have to save say the best for last, right? But this commercial is absolutely brilliant.

From a marketing perspective, Microsoft wants us to understand as the audience that, "Smart phones are bad, but smart phone users are even worse. We have to mock other smart phone brands like Apple and RIM because it is fun and legal. But the new Windows 7 Phone is also a smart phone but who cares because our commercial is so epic." Love the concept, Microsoft!

How did you like the commercial?

The Social Network: The Movie Behind the Brand

Posted by Lady Mel On Tuesday, October 5, 2010 1 comments

This is more than just a movie review. This is a critical social analysis of my generation. Generation Y. By now, almost everyone you know uses Facebook. I do. You do. Probably your mom or stalker ex-boyfriend will by the time you finish reading this post. But that's not the point. The point is that the "The Social Network" provides not only a pretty accurate account of the way my generation sees the world, but the way in which the world will see us once we take ownership of it. (Disclaimer: When I analyzed this film, I talked about the actors and their fictional characters, not the actual people the film was roughly based on.)


As I  was watching this movie with my friend Radale Sunday night, I made a mental note on certain themes that played throughout the film and profoundly aroused my curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat, I guess. 


1. This is Our Time. When I heard Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) said that line to Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Einserberg) at a Silicon Valley nightclub, I knew it would speak volumes. The founding of Facebook pivoted a cornerstone in the social media revolution; the urgency to create change and rattle the status quo. Facebook embodies the Generation Y culture, and the future of other young innovators, leaders, and entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckenburg and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Zuckerberg had a clever idea, the idea to create an online social space that connected people with members of their own tribes (as Seth Godin would digest). And as I saw Facebook's transition in the film as a brand from the dorm rooms of the prestigious Harvard University to Silicon Valley, the innovative hub for tech start-ups, I understood that this social revolution was bigger than anything I could have imagined of. 




2. The Tortured Creative Genius or the Jerk. I believed Zuckerberg represented two dichotomous identities: the tortured victim and the jerk. I do not know if the real Mark Zuckerberg is this way as in person, but the fictional Zuckerberg clearly was a jerk. From the moment I tried to decipher the opening dialogue between Zuckerberg and his ex-girlfriend Erica Albright, I knew that he was a hard person "socially" to deal with. But was he also a tortured soul because he was a nerd and did not quite fit into the Harvard social scene? Did Zuckerberg create Facebook to fit in with his peers or achieve fame, power, or greed? We will never know.


But this film drew more questions about Facebook and Zuckerberg than answers in my opinion. What bothered me the most was that why was a computer science genius somewhat "antisocial", when his Internet empire is all about interconnectivity and social networking? 


My answer: Radale and I concluded that Zuckerberg was not an efficient communicator at all. In the movie, he manipulated Saverine, probably the only friend he even had, from knowing about the Winklevoss lawsuit at first and then the Facebook contracts. He humiliated Albright by blogging about her on his "FaceMash.com" experiment. Does anyone found it ironic that Zuckerberg did this to Albright long before cyber bullying and the use of Facebook as a cyber bulling tool became major national investments? What a coincidence.


His behavior led me to more questions. Even if Eduardo was not an effective business manager and a Facebook co-founder, why did Zuckerberg tell him directly about this idea called Facebook and why did not he tell Saverine that he was inefficient before the final confrontation in the movie where Eduardo confronted Sean Parker and Zuckerberg about his lose of Facebook stock? Communication is a must to becoming a leader of the future and for Zuckerberg to be portrayed in this light is quite paradoxical to the current times.  Honesty should be a major priority when dealing with starting a business with your friends because I know that sometimes mixing friendship with business causes problems down the road. So in other words, creating a marketing brand requires transparency and communication.


3. Where are the women?  I am not surprised by the the limited role(s) for women in this film. To Mr. David Fincher, why groupies? For instance, if you say to someone that you went to Harvard, people will perceive you as extremely smart and privileged, regardless of background. If Harvard women are smart and I bet many are, why did Fincher portrayed these women as the typical gender norm: young, sexually curious women with the sore purpose of attending exclusive Harvard parties to get laid. Who remembers the strip poker and the Katy Perry's I Kiss a Harvard Girl esque scenes at the beginning of the film? Almost every female in the movie except Albright and Delpy (Rashida Jones) were half-naked, child-like, and sought male attention and the "male gaze" from Zuckerberg, Saverin, Parker, and other male actors in the film. 



Albright was the only female in the film that eloquently challenged Zuckerberg's ego the most (and in some respects his social equal), yet Zuckerberg humiliated her for those opinions online for emasculating him at the pub. Hollywood [or society]  hates it when a powerful female character speaks her mind, but then has to be ridiculed for it. I would have loved to have seen intelligent Harvard women in conversations with Zuckerberg, Parker, and Saverin about Facebook, the state of the digitalization of information and other Millennium (Generation Y) issues. But no! I had to watch a female Facebook intern snorted cocaine off of another female Facebook intern's bare chest instead! 


When will Hollywood ever learn that female actors should be not used or defined as background noise for a male-centric film? Young women these days are using Facebook in great numbers and to have women misrepresented in this film, in the social entrepreneurial scene, in American college culture, and in the greater society is truly troubling given that there are fewer women running Fortune 500 companies, majoring in math and the sciences, and starting their own businesses. I think the lack of good female roles in this film was one of its major flaws. 


Overall, it was a good movie to watch and I encourage those who haven't seen the film yet to see it with their own set of eyes. Remember, these are my opinions. Everyone is entitled to their own point of view. I think decades down the line, we will have sociologists, economists, and researchers analyse this film to reflect on the generational impacts of Generation Y in the first decades of the 21st century. Only problem is that I beat them to it! 


What are your thoughts about this movie? Zuckerberg? Facebook? The Lawsuits? Do you agree or disagree with the questions and points I brought up in this discussion?

October Blogging Schedule: Sheer Epicness!

Posted by Lady Mel On Monday, October 4, 2010 0 comments

For this month, I've decided to tailor my blogging schedule a bit differently:

October 4th-October 9th- 1-2 blog posts
October 10th-October 16th- 1-2 blog posts
October 17th-October 23rd- 1-2 blog posts
October 24th-October 31st- 5 blog posts, all tailored to Halloween week!

Due to volunteer work, you will see fewer blog posts from me. I did not want to create blog posts without substance and without my signature blogging style, so the ones that I will produce will not be garbage. If you are a new reader, last October, I dedicated the last week of October to Halloween. I wrote this insane story about a Halloween "triple homicide" party and even my Halloween costume picks. I hope this year I can top it off with even more sheer madness. If you want to check out my cool story, look no further: 

Murder at the Million Dollar Halloween Party, Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.

So don't worry about whether or not I will finally get my driver's license or finish reading my Seth Godin books. I won't anymore. Life is in the now. So expect some surprises and maybe a special guest or two this month. Muhahahahahaha!