It looks awfully familiar to something I created for a Tory Burch mock strategy final project last year (below).
Coincidence? You be the judge.

I’ll take that check now Tory… or a job—I’m open.

JE: Had Terri Schuester (Glee) stayed on the show, what do you think her charactar would be up to right now?

JG: She would have ruined the wedding for sure. I would have walked in, making trouble and fighting to get my man. That’s what I loved about Terri. She was still misguided but she wasn’t looking for power or fame or that much money, she was just going about it all the wrong the way, but she was always motivated by love for him. We all make these crazy decisions in the name of love. As a kid, you had a crush on a boy and you knew his neighborhood and then you fantasized that you’d run into him at the local store and then it would be on! We all do these silly things to move the forces of love in our favor.

JE: Can we expect some more visits this season or seasons to come?

JG: Yeah. The door is always open. Ryan (writer of the show) and I have known each other for so long now so he knows I’ll always show up if he calls.

JE: This film (Somewhere Slow)  is about risks, what is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

JG: I was young and living in New York and was about to move back to Canada because I was out of money and my visa was about to expire. All of the sudden, I got a check in the mail from an animated movie I did and my first thought was, ‘I’m going to L.A.’ I had no idea what I was walking into but I just did it. It was like somthing just carried me there. I wasn’t looking to get into hollywood, I was just looking for meaningful work and the rest is history.

JE: How was working with costars the young Graham Patrick Martin, and Lincoln’s  David Costabile (Lincoln)?

JG: I called up David and said we needed him because we needed that person who was hilarious but could play someone who’s not the coolest guy in the world but he’s a good person and good husband. It wasn’t like her husband was an asshole, they’re just not connecting. Ya know, we have that so much in our real relationships. You could be living with a person and still feel alone and that’s what they’re doing. I love David so much because he’s absolutely willing to embody that role and he did it so beautifully. I feel like he added so much dimension to the film.

Graham was so lovely, and he was just at that moment in life, where you could see him coming out of his adolescence, and the man was kind of consuming his body but was not there all the way not fully-realized. And he played the role with subtly and patience and we just knew he was Travis.

JE: How was your experience as not just an actor, but also a producer on this film?

JG: First off, I realized how much I knew. Because, as an actor nobody asks you your opinion. Nobody says “Do you think we should start with this scene in the morning or this other scene?” You’re not looking at any logistical decisions around you. But I realized I had been absorbing all that information. It was very different being a part of decisions like scouting locations, casting actors and looking for funding. One guy we went to talk to about investing in the film had like 50 cats. All of the sudden I was sitting in cat piss. I laughed and thought, wow so this is producing an independent film. (laughs)

JE: Tell me about your experience being on the cast of the new TV series Vikings.

JG: A lot of time and care was put into creating this world of the Vikings. Having written the Elizabeth movies and The Tudors, he (Michael Hirst) has this way of doing these historical epics with human element. When I first met him, he said something really beautiful to me, “We can do a piece set in this period but we’re still telling stories about people. If there’s one thing that’s universal, wherever you land in time or wherever you live, it’s that we all love our children.” We’re all just people and I feel like that really comes off in the show because it’s so much about relationships.

JE: Your characters have some serious fan bases from Glee to Nip/Tuck to Heroes. So, which do you get recognized for most?

JG: Surprisingly, Nip/Tuck. It had a very strong and specific following. And Glee is next. Then Heroes with the people who love the supernatural recognize me. But now, with Netflix, people still watch older shows like Nip/Tuck… a lot.

JE: How has it been going from TV to film?

JG: It’s so different it’s all about adapting and being open to the unknown. TV is very fast. We shoot between seven and eleven pages a day. In film, they’ll shoot two to three pages a day. In television, you have to make decisions very quickly and you have to be alert.  On a show like Vikings, you can evolve a character so it’s like doing a film over the course of a miniseries. Really good TV these days is more like film and audiences are eating it up like Downton Abbey and Breaking Bad or these shows where people are committed to these whole series as an experience. I feel like TV’s at this amazing place, where everything we like about film is in television, so instead of a 2-hour movie, we have these 9-hour movies and these epic experiences. So, in a way, I feel like I’m reaping the benefits of this now since I’m attuned to working quickly.

JE: What did you think of opening night at Cinequest with the film Ginger and Rosa?

JG: I really liked how it was a slow burn. You’re like ‘where is this going’, is it going anywhere? And then all these characters that had never interacted appeared in one room together in the scene at the end and it had that amazing payoff. In a way, you were worried like, ‘I don’t know if there’s enough heater to a climax.’ Elle Fanning, the emotion she brought it was excrutiating and really excellent. It called into question, this idea that we have to have these social codes, we have to have some kind of restriction on our behavior, but we have to respect others.

You can catch the last showing of Somewhere Slow at Cinequest this Friday, and you can read the full magazine spread here.

I got the chance to sit down with actress Jessalyn Gilsig to talk about her work and life while she was in San Jose for the annual Cinequest Film Festival. Alongside an uber-talented Content Magazine team, we bombarded her Fairmont hotel room with light fixtures and hair stylists for a high-fashion editorial photo shoot. I got the chance to chat with her about her eccentric charactars and her latest role as producer in new film Somewhere Slow.

Jessalyn Gilsig is no stranger to playing complicated roles: ex-wife of Will Schuester (Glee), destructive nymphomaniac (Nip/Tuck), and fire-starting superhero (Heroes) just to name a few. But this weekend, she debuts her most risky and complicated role yet and she’s giving Cinequest viewers a front row seat.

You can (and I hope you do) read the full feature  here.

I’m very much stoked that my profile on Sarah Austin became the cover story for the latest issue of Content Magazine, “The Underground Issue.” You may or may not recognize her (most-likely the latter) from Bravo’s reality show Start-ups: Silicon Valley.

You have to buy the magazine to see the story, but here’s an excerpt:

“Viewers of the show had a new personality to hate, but that was her role to play. ‘I think the strangest thing about being on a reality TV show is they try to play you into character archetypes,’ Austin indirectly admitted the majority of ‘Start-Ups: Silicon Valley’ is staged in many situations, but she says she had no idea she would be painted as the villain.”

For more where that came from, check out the Content’s 5.0 The Underground Issue which is also sold around downtown San Jose. I hope you’re able to read it- I’d love to hear your feedback!

His holiness will be learning a new language, he announced today. This new language? Twitter.

Pope Benedict XVI announced his official personal twitter account today, under the name @Pontifex.

“It’s going to be a challenge to find the appropriate language to produce a sweet, short message and to learn the fluency of the language,” said Monsignor Paul Tighe, an Irish priest who is the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications according to the Christian Science Monitor.

San Francisco-based Twitter wrote an excited blog post about acquiring a holy member to their dance card called “Welcome, Pope Benedict XVI!”  Twitter’s Manager of Social Innovation Diaz-Ortiz wrote,

“Perhaps not surprisingly, we see a very high level of engagement with religious and spiritual content.”

According to Twitter’s website, The Vatican will give people a a chance to ask questions using the hashtag #AskPontifex while the Vatican staff will answer in a live  tweet starting Dec. 12.

Cool with me. I have a lot of questions for the big guy upstairs.

According to Bloomberg News, the Pope is not estranged from new technology.

His holiness used an iPad to tweet a non-personal Vatican account message: “Dear Friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI.”

The 85-year-old already surpassed 200,000 followers in his first several hours of existence, but no holy tweets yet. Probs still talking to God.

Content consistency was the key theme (and sweet music to my ears) at last night’s Silicon Valley Tweetup at the Women’s Club of Palo Alto. 

Hosted by One Medical Group, the panel discussion included Jennifer Leggio (Sourcefire, Forbes), Lasandra Brill (Cisco Systems), Ted Sapountzis (SAP) and Michael Brito (Edelman). Ideals were discussed, arguments were made, but one theme remained the same: relevant, non-gimmick content is key in social (business).

1. Consistency and Repetition. Jennifer Leggio consistently repeated in our minds throughout the night. The Sourcefire firecracker said she doesn’t have marketing people write on the blog, supporting her ideals that content should not be a direct promotional tool and blogging just for SEO’s sake is stupid.

2. Behavioral Change. Edelman Digital’s Michael Brito (my former social media professor, holla!) said he thinks the biggest push must be made internally with behavioral change being the priority when it comes to a consistent voice in content. It’s something Cisco’s Lasandra Brill knows a thing or two about managing several hundred channels and departments in a robust corporate business. Brito added an example of Barack Obama’s “Change” message from the last election and how this year’s election lacks a clear message for either party.

3. Quality, not quantity. Commenting on the current state of social in business, SAP’s Ted Sapountzis said that businesses are understanding this content concept more today but that we still have a ways to go. “People are asking better questions and not just paying attention to vanity metrics.” Sapountzis concluded the panel saying “Good content is the only good way to grow a community.”

Formula: content – marketing + consistent voice = quality community growth.

Props to this panel for preaching valuable points on this concept, now let’s go make some good content.

Sincerely,

The Choir

Photo Courtesy of San Jose Mercury News

Exactly a week before graduation, nostalgic feelings became even more surreal after learning of the death of the man who I owe my invaluable storytelling education and experience. As a writer and editor of several SJSU publications including The Spartan Daily, Dwight Bentel’s namesake became virtually (and sometimes literally) my home for the past five years.

At the center of SJSU’s campus the beautifully-aged, ivy-covered building still holds Bentel’s legacy of young, passionate journalists whose blood spikes at breaking news and eyes settle on every imperfection.

Known as “The Father of Journalism,” Dwight Bentel was a Bay Area legend and nationally known for pioneering an ethically informative journalism and fighting for a free society. These are just a few of many intriguing facts about the late Dwight Bentel:

1. Wrote two books

2. Lived through 11 U.S. wars dating back to World War I.

3. Oldest living former member of the San Jose Mercury News staff.

4. Wore white gloves because he was ironically allergic to newsprint.

5. Spent 40 years as an SJSU professor, including one as “teacher of the year.”

6. Avid advocate and defender of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

7. Produced at least two Pulitzer Prize winners, who’ve collectively won six Pulitzer Prizes.

8. Began the SJSU Journalism degree, The Spartan Daily  becoming one of the top departments in the country.

The coincidentally refined 29-year-old Katie Hintz-Zambrano @MrsZambrano

Spearheading one of fashion’s biggest hit site’s Refinery 29‘s latest and most-successful locale, Katherine Zambroza sat on the other side of the interviewing table with us SJSU media students.

Conceived by San Jose Mercury News reporter Matt Marshall, VentureBeat covers the tech, people and money that innovate our lives. On the forefront of the tech news cycle, Venturebeat’s tech-savvy journalists allowed us SJSU media students to join the obsessive conversation in their small, humble offices where we had the pleasure of speaking with Executive Editor Dylan Tweney and Senior Editor Heather Kelly .

An unlikely sight in tech, VB is comprised mostly of women writers and editors. Geek-chic staffers Heather Kelly and writer Jolie O’ Dell coined the term “Pink-collared”  when referring to the small staff. On the ball, VentureBeat’s Jennifer Van Grove was responsible for revealing Twitter’s secret offer for Instagram that made Facebook pay $1B.

Editors make a conscience effort  to make shareable headlines that will attract clicks. Following a story posting, they retreat headlines to make it twitter and google search-friendly. For instance, they will make a headline read “Facebook IPO Zuckerberg” as opposed to “Zuckerberg Earns Facebook’s IPO On A Grand Scale.” While it may seem awkward, it’s definitely an effective sneak tactic. But more than SEO, Tweney advocates readability as a must-have. “Readability always trumps SEO. You can’t go wrong with read-friendly material.”

VB Quick Stats (Averages):

 Tweney’s advice for young, prospective obsessors:

• Be aware that first impressions are important when communicating through initial emails.
• Show reporting experience. Working on a school newspaper is a plus.
• Don’t include too many links of your work, but just use between three and five of your most relevant work.
• Always following up.
• Show you can write things fast. “I push people really hard at first to gage what they can do best. I like timing people” Tweney says.