There are major changes taking place in PR Industry and PR professionals must make a concerted effort to educate itself about new PR channels such as search engine marketing and marketing with social media. PR agents that embraced these shifts at their core, will be best prepared to represent brands in a win win situations over those that skim social media with tactics and without a full understanding of the medium.

Emerging Online PR Tactics:
Email and smile/dial pitching as we know it may be on the way out, but journalists will always benefit from reputable sources and being presented with great story ideas relevant to their audiences.

Technology has increasingly provided PR practitioners with tools to make it easier for journalists and the media to cover their clients’ news. RSS and blogs for example, provide excellent channels as well as the social bookmarking of concentrated clusters of information. The social media news release attempts to achieve this effect, but has yet to be accepted as a standard format.

When establishing a relationship with a particular publication or journalist, including links to short podcast and video interviews in email pitches have proven productive in that they provide examples of what it might be like to interview executives relevant to company news and provide sound bites. Subsequently hosting these various media using blog software in the form of an online media room makes the content discoverable on its own via traditional search as well as social media channels.

However, regardless of effective technology is for communications, there is no substitute for human contact whether it’s in person or via phone. In the end, technology can only facilitate what’s been important for the media since day one of the PR business: Find reliable sources and interesting story ideas that help the publication serve it’s readership and advertisers.

Crisis Communications Has Changed:
In the past, PR professionals could call their contacts within the media to keep a negative story from getting coverage. With more and more editorial decisions in the hands of user generated content, there’s nothing any company or PR professional can do to stop negative news from being posted, ranted, commented and spread.

Todays participatory web requires companies to be involved with online communities in order to gain any kind of foothold on what’s being said and discussed about their brands. The notion that, “Conversations are happening with or without you, so get involved or get left behind”, rings true for brands and PR as well as for advertising and marketing.

Brands need to be monitored continuously and when dissention is detected, it must be qualified and responded to quickly. Corporate PR and communications need to allocate ongoing resources to this end in proportion to the value of their brand equity. The bigger the brand, the more you have to lose by not paying attention to what social communities and the blogosphere is saying.

At the end of 2007, approx. 2.27 million Poles were residing abroad temporarily, according to GUS estimates. The vast majority of migrants (about 1.86m) had taken up residence in EU member states, an increase of 310,000 compared to end-2006. The largest number were resident in Great Britain (690,000) and Germany (490,000). Ireland came third with 200,000 registered temporary
migrants. Interestingly, the Netherlands climbed to fourth place following the opening of its labour market to Polish workers last year, with the number of its temporary Polish migrants almost
doubling to nearly 100,000 at end-2007.

Since Poland’s accession to the EU, the number of Poles living abroad has more than doubled, rising from approx. one million in 2004. Most of the migrants who have left the country since 1 May 2004 have done so for employment reasons. In 2006 – the latest figures available – their share was estimated by GUS at 80-90%. However, this is likely to have fallen somewhat since, as the number of family dependents grows both in absolute and relative terms.

I went to see Dark Knight yesterday and am craving a fix for another joker performance. From the opening scene I was lost in the fantasy world and taken on a wild ride.

“The Dark Knight” rides on Ledger’s performance as the Joker. He did not disappoint. We are used to the Devil having all the best tunes, but Ledger’s performance amounts to an aria of enigmatic menace. There’s the chalky face with its charcoal eyes, obscenely smudged kisser and an untamed tongue that he can scarcely keep in his mouth. Further creepiness comes from his hunched posture and scuttling, dance-like movements. When he finally manages to fell Batman, he is beside himself with glee - he hops up and down, spitting and jabbering, too overjoyed to inflict much damage.

He elevates his character beyond a good comic book villain to a great movie villain. Ledger’s acting invokes deep pain even if the stories he tells of his past keep changing. The Joker ceases to be a grinning cartoon and returns to his noir roots as serial killer who questions whether ideas like morality and order really exist.

The Dark Knight challenges the typical comic book plot. Seriously, how many comic book villains threaten to kill people for power or money? Almost all of them have a goal. The Joker’s simply wants to turn society insane and have loads of fun doing it.

Clearly, the late Heath Ledger as the Joker steals the show. Ledger’s performance is absolutely original, captivating, and as it happens, poignant. After a long time, then, here’s a must-experience.

A few months ago I decided that I wanted a dog. I decided on an Afghan Hound. The breed is stunning, their temperament matches mine. I decided to get a rescue young adult. I contacted AHCA for a dog, but they did not have one available. But Debbie White, owner of Hatari Afghans (http://hatari-afghans.com), a rescue rep and Evangers rep from Texas had a young adult ready for adoption. Debbie sounded like she cared about her dogs, was knowledgeable and professional. I bit and entered into a contract with her. TRUSTING HER WAS MY GREATEST MISTAKE.

I started talking to her in mid May with the understanding that she will send me the puppy after my event in Tahoe, mid June. She got the money, I did not get the dog. She charged me $700 for his adoption, $400 for flight, $200 for a kennel, $100 for health certificates. Thatís $1400. AGAIN, she got the money, I never got the dog. First he needed grooming, then he got into fire ants, then Debbie got busy, then, well, something else happened. Delay turned into another delay and finally ended in silence as Debbie stopped communicating with me completely. I reported her to AHCA. It took a call from AHCA director Barb Hastings for Debbie to actually email me back, letting me know that she will return my money. But guess what! Though she promised the refund, she never sent it.

I was made aware that she is helping with the pretty bad “puppy mill” situation in New Mexico. But if this is the way she treats people, I wonder how she treats her dogs. For example, she mentioned that the dog I was supposed to have gotten was house trained. Then she let it slip that he only lives outside. Afghans need constant care and companionship. If she did not clean him take care of him, how much socialization has he gotten? And other dogs in her possession? For Afghans that’s imperative. On the website she lists a few more pups for adoption. These are just from her own breeding. And now with the other pups in he possession, if she has no time for her own dogs, how will she be able to handle others? I think that with her bubbly personality she taking people and the dogs in her possession for a ride!

I don’t want other people to go through this sort of experience. Getting an animal is an emotional experience. I prepped for this dog. Debbie works for Evangers Dog Food. I purchased the food she suggested. I got a whole bunch of toys, I prepped the house for the animal only to get suckered in and screwed. Please pass this along to anyone who is thinking of purchasing an Afghan / getting one from a rescue. Hatari Afghans is a scam. Debbie White and her operation should be closed. She is not to be trusted and should be avoided at all costs.

An ancient gold cup mysteriously acquired by an English scrap metal dealer is expected to fetch close to a million dollars at auction after languishing for years in a shoe box under its current owner’s bed.

Owner John Webber says his grandfather gave him the 5.5-inch (14-centimetre) high mug to play with when he was a child, back in 1945.

He assumed the golden cup, which is decorated with the heads of two women facing in opposite directions, their foreheads garlanded with two knotted snakes, was made from brass.

But he decided to get it valued when he was moving house last year and was told it was actually a rare piece of ancient Persian treasure, beaten out of a single sheet of gold hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

Experts said the method of manufacture and the composition of the gold was “consistent with Achaemenid gold and gold smithing” dating back to the third or fourth century BC.

The Achaemenid empire, the first of the Persian empires to rule over significant portions of Greater Iran, was wiped out by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.

Auction house Duke’s, in Dorchester, south-west England, will put the cup under the hammer on June 5, with an estimate of 500,000 pounds (630,000-euro, 988,000-dollars).

Webber, 70, told The Guardian newspaper that his grandfather had a “good eye” for antiques and picked up “all sorts” as he plied his trade in the town of Taunton in south-west England.

“Heaven knows where he got this, he never said,” he added, revealing that as a child, he used the cup for target practice with his air gun.

Some forty thousand people have come to Malbork Castle in northern Poland to take part in a re-enactment of the siege of the castle, the largest stronghold of the Teutonic Knights in medieval Europe. It was attacked by Polish and Lithuanian forces on their way back from the victorious battle of Grunwald on 15 July 1410 but the two-months long siege proved unsuccessful. Four hundred knights in shining armour participated in the re-enactment. It was the highlight of the four-day show which also included knights’ tournaments, concerts of early music and a replica of a medieval settlement, with shoemakers’ workshops, smithies, market stalls and beggars. According to local police estimates, over 120, 000 tourists have visited Malbork during the four-day event.

MTV is expected to announce on Monday that Guns N’ Roses is releasing a track from their as-of-yet unreleased album Chinese Democracy on the video game Rock Band 2. The album has been in the works for over a decade. Read the rest of this entry »

Previously unseen documents belonging to writer Franz Kafka are now available to literary scholars due to the death of Esther Hoffe, who kept them private in her Tel Aviv apartment for 40 years. Hoffe is the former secretary and love of Max Brod, Kafka’s literary executor responsible for the posthumous publishing of Kafka’s largely unfinished works. Read the rest of this entry »

My mom has been in the floral business for almost 30 years. She’s won numerous accolades for her work. Now she has decided to take her work private and cater exclusively to brides in the bay area with her selection of exquisite floral designs and accessories in any combination, color or theme. From traditional elegance to minimalist modern or bright and exotic, she knows that the flower choices reveal a lot about personality. Stylish floral arrangements guarantee a gorgeous celebration. She hopes to create romantic atmosphere for the exchange of vows with elegant floral ideas. And whether a bride plans to throw it to her bridesmaids or preserve it forever, she hopes make sure the bouquet says it all, beautifully.

Check out samples of past work at flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/stunningweddingflowers/… If you know someone who is need perfect flowers for that most important day… pass on her info…

I haven’t felt like sewing much in these last few weeks and have procrastinated on a few projects I shouldn’t have. Namely Martin’s leather doublet. Now, I think the trouble here is not that I just did not want to do it. It is actually that I want to do it well. Martin looks amazing in the new garb I made him and the over doublet needs to be just as splendid. To do so I recently purchased a new toy, a leather sewing machine. This will make the whole project so much simpler.

I have embroidered most of the leather already and I started putting together the whole thing. In addition to sewing on the machine I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the detail work in addition to proper lining fitting and trimming will be done in hand. This is to make sure that the first pass on the project is impeccable. Deadline is San Francisco. And I’m pretty sure it will be done by then. 

Other projects at work are Curtis’ and Clint’s pants. I need to get the measurements of my men. These should go fast and smooth, I hope.  Finally, new dress for me. I have to say that sewing it put me back in the mood for sewing. So, lets hope it lasts. 

Speaking of which, I’m taking commissions.