by Mike Spiegelman
Plug: Luggage Tuesdays Returns to Proudly Resents
The latest from the cult movie podcast Proudly Resents has hosts bemoan the performances of Michael Caine and Mario Van Peebles in "Jaws 4." It also features me reading one of my favorite bits from Luggage Tuesdays, "Fun Facts About Brunch."
Take a listen!
Take a listen!
Editorial: Will Comedians Still Spam Me on Google +?
Even when I'm not in them, I do like knowing when stand-up comedy shows are happening. I used to read the comedy listings in newspapers - when they published a list - and I knew those listings were also and only read by other comedians. Comics now also read each other's promos on blogs, tweets, emails, Tumblr reposts, and Facebook. Facebook alone has event invites, event invites notifications, event invites "gentle reminder" emails, shared event invites, and then there's the inevitable countdown statuses before the event invite expires and the show finally begins.
That's what it's about, anyway: the show. The promotions are there to get butts in seats. Ostensibly, they promote the comedy scene; and the comedy scene, let alone the ego of a comedian, cannot exist in a vacuum. But to aggressively blast promotions, buckshot-style, to fellow comedians comes off as noise and after a while treats fellow comedians more like civilian rubes holding dollar bills.
But I don't hate, I participate. I try to offer content in my promo. To promote my weekly showcase at the Layover Music Bar in Oakland, I photograph the shows and post it on Tumblr. I opted for a Facebook group over a Facebook page under the impression it could serve as a community message board. I have a "one in five" rule on Twitter: At the very most, I only promote shows in one in five tweets, with the other four tweets being jokes, retweets, replies, hashtag gags, links, and other normal tweets that normal tweeters read and tweet. Those Twitter posts appear on Facebook. I use Facebook event invites only for special shows. Yes, I include comics to "let them know," but usually a week later I'll remove them from the events list when they don't reply or reply "no." Follow-up emails are reserved for show cancellations. I try to separate comedians from civilians when promoting. As for the din in my inbox, I don't follow, friend, or subscribe to comedians that solely self-promote.
These last two points are why I'm excited about Google Plus. I can separate comics from civilians. I won't circle comedians who will solely spam me about shows that I don't give a fuck about. Which is a shame, because I'd like to include comedians in a circle to discuss and share things other than shows. What would we talk about?
Comedian and Luggage Tuesdays guy Mike Spiegelman will be performing at the 31st Annual Comedy Day in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on September 18, 2011.
That's what it's about, anyway: the show. The promotions are there to get butts in seats. Ostensibly, they promote the comedy scene; and the comedy scene, let alone the ego of a comedian, cannot exist in a vacuum. But to aggressively blast promotions, buckshot-style, to fellow comedians comes off as noise and after a while treats fellow comedians more like civilian rubes holding dollar bills.
But I don't hate, I participate. I try to offer content in my promo. To promote my weekly showcase at the Layover Music Bar in Oakland, I photograph the shows and post it on Tumblr. I opted for a Facebook group over a Facebook page under the impression it could serve as a community message board. I have a "one in five" rule on Twitter: At the very most, I only promote shows in one in five tweets, with the other four tweets being jokes, retweets, replies, hashtag gags, links, and other normal tweets that normal tweeters read and tweet. Those Twitter posts appear on Facebook. I use Facebook event invites only for special shows. Yes, I include comics to "let them know," but usually a week later I'll remove them from the events list when they don't reply or reply "no." Follow-up emails are reserved for show cancellations. I try to separate comedians from civilians when promoting. As for the din in my inbox, I don't follow, friend, or subscribe to comedians that solely self-promote.
These last two points are why I'm excited about Google Plus. I can separate comics from civilians. I won't circle comedians who will solely spam me about shows that I don't give a fuck about. Which is a shame, because I'd like to include comedians in a circle to discuss and share things other than shows. What would we talk about?
Comedian and Luggage Tuesdays guy Mike Spiegelman will be performing at the 31st Annual Comedy Day in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on September 18, 2011.
Unpopular SAT Advice
SAT is short for "SAT Reasoning Test," which is short for "Scholastic Aptitude Test," which is short for "Scholastic Destroy Your Life Aptitude Testamahickey." This advice is not affliated with the non-profit College Board, which is funded by George Soros.
- "Clean the pipes" beforehand for endurance and focus.
- No need to end essay paragraphs with "You know?" This will be implied.
- Solve grammatical analogies questions with this quick tip: Count the letters of each word. Correct answer will have either a third of the letters of the first word or three times the letters found in the shortest word.
Example: loquacious:gregarious::taciturn:_______
a. calm.
- When panicking on math problems, just remember to keep adding all the digits of the numbers into a single digit. If that digit is a multiple of 3, then the original number is divisible by 3. If the single digit equals 9, then the original number is also divisible by 9. There's also another trick with double-digit numbers multiplied by 11, but there's no time for such diversions.
- Drink before the test, not during.
- It's always BADCABBACDD.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)