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Katy Perry: A Woman of Many Talents

Joined by the sensational Swedish music guest Robyn, Katy Perry hosted Saturday Night Live last night. It was a great episode that proved Katy’s capable of performing more than musical numbers in the comedy series and deserves lots of screen time.

I lost track of how many outfit and wig changes Katy went through, but I sure noticed how quickly she transformed to play Christina Aguilera (one of supposed “thousands” of celebrities in New Year’s Eve), followed by Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine and then Pippa Middleton. In her latter role, she stole the spotlight from Kate and sung a few lines in a British accent.

Katy’s digital short with Andy Samberg initially reminded me of an Old Navy commercial, until surprise guests Matt Damon and Val Kilmer took to the screen to sing along with them, that is. When Community’s Star-burns joined the short and reunited with his ol’ SNL cast, he offered hope that fans have reason to be optimistic about the show’s future, which is currently unknown.

An SNL review of any length couldn’t exclude Weekend Update. Seth Meyers was wonderful as per usual, but the appearances by Stefano and the ‘flirting expert’ were fabulous comedic material. Relationship experts typically wear a mix of conservative and girly outfits for TV appearances, yet the blonde character wore a slinky, sparkly black dress better suited for a holiday party than an interview with an anchorman.

Robyn’s playful solo choreography during her second number, the classic ‘Dancing On My Own’, reinforced why I adamantly tuned in to SNL – she’s brilliant, I love her and I can’t think of a comparable domestic musical talent. Rocking leggings as pants, in addition to beige platform sneakers didn’t defer attention from Robyn’s singing either – she truly exceeded expectations overall.

Canadian export Michael Buble and Jimmy Fallon are scheduled for next Saturday. Count me in! Live tweeting about #SNL is anticipated once again.

December 11, 2011 by

Smitten with Twitter

I have yet to see the new Twitter layout, but then again I stick to using TweetDeck for my tweeting needs, so I’m more concerned with what those changes look like.

Brand pages aren’t the only new development coming soon to your Twitter experience. The new Twitter user interface (or UI, which is a key acronym to understand in 2012) has a lot to offer. All of its incredible functionality is captured in this picturesque video, which beautifully articulates why I love Twitter so much. That’s right, I’m smitten with Twitter.

December 9, 2011 by

Goodnight iPad

Is the bird jumping over the moon supposed to be the bird from Twitter’s logo?

I’ve heard about research studies suggesting to unplug from gadgets 1 hour prior to bed to help clear your head of distractions and ease the falling to sleep process. Well, before you close your laptop tonight, watch this video.

This book might just be the best book for the technologically savvy iPad-toting parent who already knows what to expect when you’re expecting. And if you’re childless, pick it up as a coffee table book anyway – it can be a conversation piece when you’re entertaining guests and they look up from their phones to notice your decor.

I fondly remember reading this book, the original classic:

November 6, 2011 by

CBS Social Week

Just in time for my group’s class presentation about The Good Wife, CBS is embracing social media to connect with viewers next week, including The Good Wife fans.

Each show updated fans via Facebook and Twitter today to announce their plans for everyone’s favourite actors to share their own insights via the shows’ official social media accounts beginning Sunday night.

This is hardly the first time shows’ cast and crews are live-tweeting, but usually the official TV show account retweets their commentary, whereas next week CBS is letting its stars gain control over online interactions. I’m curious to see if the stars will use more shorthand or slang than usually seen in the accounts’ messages and I’m sure it’ll depend on which actors are composing the tweets.

Viewers who watch the shows live during their scheduled timeslots (and aren’t distracted by a phone or computer) may have noticed that some shows have a watermark during the first scene featuring a hashtag, such as #HIMYM for How I Met Your Mother.

Bravo’s Lisa Hsia shared with Mashable that “getting talent actively involved with a social media strategy is essential to building greater community engagement,” so this is clearly a calculated attempt to heighten viewer engagement.

I suspect that the initiative will increase check-ins amongst GetGlue users who will be eager to join the live conversation. Personally, I suggest CBS support their initiative with more stickers for GetGlue fans as a token of appreciation.

As for The Good Wife, I’d like to see what Matt Czuchry has to say about Cary’s new promotion in his own words – not just reiterated by a reporter. That was quite a fabulously dramatic ending in last week’s episode and I’m excited to see what happens next this Sunday.

To save space here, you can peek at the network’s full live-tweeting schedule courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.

November 3, 2011 by

Does Dressing Up Require Social Commentary?

I don’t usually like when people expect listeners to pay attention to their every word as they read aloud long passages of text, but on Monday afternoon, I was captivated by a TA who shared a newsworthy blog post circa November 2010.

Two days after Halloween, Trick or Treating may still be trending on Twitter, but most people are more concerned about finding discounts on candy and the latest gossip about the Kardashians than discussing who cross-dressed over the weekend.

Nevertheless, when a 5 year old boy begged his mom to order a costume resembling Daphne from Scooby Doo for him two years ago, this caused a huge commotion. Uptight mothers in their community were outraged, even though their children seemed unfazed by his costume choice.

                             

The bottom line is that costume choices shouldn’t be a big issue at all, unless of course they are outright offensive or obscene. The boy didn’t dress up as a Disney Princess anxiously awaiting Prince Charming’s arrival at his doorstep; he dressed up as one of his favourite animated TV characters – so what?

In her blog post, the mother (who coincidentally is another Sarah) mentions that her son’s “best friend is a little girl.” When it comes to trick or treating, those kids will remember spending the night or school festivities with their best friend. Early childhood friendships don’t always extend into adulthood or even the teenage years, but if the friends lose touch, they’ll remember who it was running up neighbours’ front steps beside them to collect candy. That’s the memory for him to cherish – friendship and fun, not that a Halloween costume he wanted to wear sparked an online debate about gender and sexuality.

It is one thing to document your children’s funny musings or share advice about parenting, but it is quite another to turn an innocent child’s desire to have fun dressing up into a rant about attitudes towards gender norms. Sometimes I think that moms should just take photos to capture their kids growing up and leave it at that. After all, “it’s just a costume.”

Surely there is a better way to become famous than starring in a controversial blog post.

November 2, 2011 by