Wake up in the morning, feeling like P. Diddy...

By avkramer |

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

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I've done it. I've gone and done it!

I have made for myself a plan, a list of goals to get me through the next year. I guess this could be called a New Year's Resolution, but if I think of it in that context then it'll never happen.

But, I know some aspects of my life have fallen off wagons, and while I do plan on getting back on them, I am also aware of the fact that in another six months or so, the plan I've been working with for the past four years is over. So, I decided that I needed some direction, a new path to forge, and a new set of rules for myself.

But, in making these, guidelines, plans, etc, I realized that I needed a good mix. Of course there are big things like "get a job" and "become a celebrity" on the list, but a list with only big time goals on it just doesn't work. So, I thought it over, and I have compiled a list of five things I want to accomplish by next year.

In one year:

• I want to land 10 job interviews (it narrows down the "get a job") in radio. (Part time interviews don't count)
• I want a subscription to Cosmopolitan magazine. (Simple, but when I was at school, not possible with my changing address)
• I want a gym membership. (Ship has a great one, but I lose that in May. I hear the one my brother goes to is pretty nice though)
• I want to completely re-do my bedroom. (The plan is to make it a guest room/office for my parents when I finally do move out)
• I want to drop some incredibly unwanted pounds. It kind of goes hand in hand with the gym thing, but I guess this one is more of the whole "stick with some kind of diet" thing.
  

And, after I made that list, I decided I needed an even more upcoming set of goals. I graduate in May so...

In 7 months...

• I want to paint my room. Right now it's covered in horrible dollhouse wallpaper from when I was 5. That needs immediate changing.
• I want a new bookshelf. There's one on Ikea's website that I love.
• I want to replace the curtains in my room. The "dusty rose" I have now is terrible.
• I want to re-do my closet. I'm toying with the idea of putting a new system of organization in there, but I'm really not sure. See, I share the closet with my mom. She keeps her off season clothes in it. And, since I've made such a mess of my things, I have no idea how much room is actually in there. Must investigate.
  

Well, there it is. My New Year's...Plans. I only hope I can actually follow through with them, haha.

~AvK~

*Tik Tok--Ke$ha

Here I am, and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be

By avkramer |

Friday, December 18, 2009

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Well, here I am. There's just one semester left between me and graduation. It's almost surreal...almost.

You see, I used to be the kind of girl that reflected on every second of every day knowing it would be the last one...and then I realized that had "Waste of Time" stamped on it. So, while I'm probably more sentimental about things then most people, I've pulled back alot.

But, I'm not pulled back enough to fore go a "Semester In Review" hahaha.

Summer/August--It was the best and worst time of my life I think. I interned at a radio station and loved it. There was never a day I didn't want to go in. Part of me is still depressed that I'm not there anymore. I made some great connections and friends, and realized this is really where I want to be. I also lost my grandmother too, well, it all started with an open-heart surgery, and ended with I think pneumonia. I forgot about the little details by the end of it. We were really close, and I attribute a lot of my personality and way of life to her. Losing her was probably one of the hardest things I've had to grapple with.

September--I turned 21. And yes, like every college student, I went out and had lots to drink for the night. I think I enjoy being 21 now moreso than I did then. Now I know what I'm doing and know how to make nights fun and not a big mess. Wow, responsible adulthood? Thrilling. I also worked on this blog alot. I started alot of projects in September. This blog and my senior Capstone really. I also had to write a five page fiction story...and I've never written fiction before!

October--My fifteen page fiction story was due this month. I had never worked so hard on a story before. I do consider myself a writer...of non-fiction. I guess you could call me a storyteller more than anything. I tried so hard to keep on top of everything with my projects because I knew I wanted to be done everything before Thanksgiving.

November--Thanksgiving Marathon. A week before the break, I had to run the sound for Act V's shows, "Rabbit Hole" and "12th Night". I actually made some of the tracks for Rabbit Hole. It was so much fun, and I realized throughout the whole process, I never felt like I was working. I was just having fun and letting myself enjoy what I've been training to do for years already. It was such a liberating realization. And, once the shows were over, I needed to finish my portfolio for Capstone, a revision of a fiction story, and other various class projects (mostly for Internet Communication) allll before I left for break. I knew I wouldn't be working on them while I was away, especially since I was staying in Cape May with all 20 of my family members in a giant mansion by the bay. I spent most of my time with them...though one day I was mostly in a hot tub with a glass of wine watching movies on the Plasma. (I've never felt more luxurious).

December--Everything's done. I got an A on my portfolio...so as far as I'm aware, I could graduate tomorrow and be perfectly happy, haha. Finishing everything I busted my ass for feels incredibly rewarding, and lately I've been basking in that feeling. And, since I'm done, I did things like convince my roommate to watch the Lord of the Rings movies (I am an expert and I live with someone who hasn't seen them). I even downloaded an Italian tutor on my iTouch and started learning basic phrases. Some would call me bored, I'm leaning more towards cultured.

It has been a rewarding semester, and while I'm glad it's over, I'm nervous next semester won't turn out quite as well as this one.

Cheers to that

~AvK~

**Gravity--Sara Bareilles

Puttin' on the Ritz

By avkramer |

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

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I am from Philadelphia.

I know I have made this a widely known fact, but trust me, it ties into this.

I was asked to review podcasts for class, to go through and sample them, getting a feel for the podcast itself and later produce my own. So, I did. I listened to things like NPR, and The Onion. I listened to funny ones, news ones, art ones, science ones, money ones--I listened to one from every genre on iTunes.

If it was news, money, or science--I was bored. And, maybe that's just me. Science, money, and often news is boring to me. Don't get me wrong, I like news. I read Newsweek every week, and my roommate's a news freak. But, I don't like it read to me. I like to explore it for myself. And science and money? Oh no. I don't even have an interest in any of that. So, I moved on to the funny ones.

The Onion was funny. But maybe my expectations were a little high. I was looking forward to listening to a John Stewart kind of thing. And, it wasn't quite like that. I felt like the Onion, while funny, was very odd. I would have much preferred a Daily Show style podcast. I also listened to a random one called, "Yoda and Me". It was a guy who could mimic the Yoda voice, and had a conversation...basically with himself. He made Yoda, the Star Wars character, sample breath mints, and had him answer questions on Star Wars.

It was stupid, and I could not listen to more than two of the five minute podcast. Eeks.

But, ultimately, I think when it comes to podcasting--I am biased.

Being a radio person, and growing up in Philadelphia, I have listened to a show called "Preston and Steve" since I was about 10 years old. When I was a senior in high school, the show came out with podcasting. I didn't really look too much into it, because I was up listening in the morning on my way to school. But when I came to Shippensburg, I had no choice.

The Preston and Steve podcast is one of God's gifts to Philadelphia natives. It is the entire show, sans the music and the commercials. So, therefore, it's all of my favorite parts of the show. I get to listen to the hilarious jokes, the witty commentary on the world around them, and the huge guests they have on the air. They've had guests like the Hogans, Dave Attell, The Boondock Saints (Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flannery), and a huge list of other guests. It has everything you could ever want in a podcast. Sure it's a little long as podcasts go, but you can scan through and listen to whatever chunk of hilarious conversation you want.

I love Preston and Steve, and I love listening to them in the far away land of Shippensburg.

~AvK~

*Puttin on the Ritz--Shiny Toy Guns

The Trouble With Love Is...

By avkramer | 3 comments

Rupert Murdoch.

He recently wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal.

These are my thoughts:

When I first read this article, I thought back to my summer internship with a Philadelphia radio station, and Greater Media as a whole. For a time, I worked exclusively with Mr. Bill Shultz (affectionately called just Mr. Bill). He was the imaging director for two of the five Greater Media radio stations. And one afternoon, we stumbled upon the topic of radio's future. Now, I know Mr. Murdoch's article is mostly about Journalism as a whole, but stick with me. Mr. Bill told me that the initial mistake that radio stations made was to try and format themselves like an iPod. He told me that stations fell away from local content, and tried to play as much music as they could, hoping the listener liked what they were hearing. And the result of that was lower ratings and even shutting down of some stations ( ex: about a month after my internship was over, the station I primarily worked for was shut down.) According to Mr. Bill, and to some extent Mr. Murdoch as well, the only hope radio (and journalism) has is to get back to the reader/listener.

Local content is where your listeners, readers, and subscribers are. And, in the midst of all the new innovations in technology, alot of journalistic mediums forgot that.

Mr. Murdoch goes on to critizice the government for their outdated rules and regulations.
"Unfortunately, too many of the mechanisms government uses to regulate the news and information business in this new century are based on 20th-century assumptions and business models."
While I believe this to be true, I believe that simply writing about it for the Wall Street Journal does nothing. The only way the government changes things is when they are brought to the forefront of arenas such as the Supreme Court. There needs to be a monumental case in order for the government to change. And yet what I find contradictory in Mr. Murdoch's article is his claim further on that the U.S. Government helping the commercial journalism industry is chilling, and we can basically kiss our Freedom of Speech goodbye.

If you don't want their help, then don't ask for it.

We, as journalists, have the tools to save ourselves, and just because the government doesn't let us own radio stations and tv stations doesn't mean we can't pull ourselves out of the rut of innovation.

So, while I believe and agree with Mr. Murdoch that the future of journalism is writing for the reader and not the editor, I disagree with his claim that the government needs to help us.

Don't call us, we'll call you.

~AvK~

*The Trouble With Love is--Kelly Clarkson.

It's a Heartbreak Warfare...

By avkramer |

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

comments

How are enterprises using Twitter and/or other social media sites to draw in more customers?

Alot of people don't "get" Twitter. They don't understand it and therefore they don't use it. I am not one of those people. I use Twitter almost every day to check on all the celebrities that I follow. Did you know that Joel McHale of "The Soup" is "Sitting with Donald Glover(Troy), Danny Pudi(Abed), and Chevy Chase(Pierce) in Community's fake cafeteria"?
And lately, a lot of businesses have caught on to the Twitter phenomenon, and jumped on the tweet-wagon. When I was an intern over the summer, one of my jobs was writing a commercial getting people to follow the station on Twitter. It was one of the harder assignments I had been given, because a lot of people didn't know what Twitter was or how to use it.

But the station had one anyway. They had it to get their name out there among different companies more than anything else. And there were a lot of companies that followed us. The reason, I think, is because companies and other different enterprises are trying to reach out to their customers in the most personal way possible. And what's more personal than Twitter? I mean, I follow celebrities, and simply from seeing their "tweets", I feel infinitely closer to them than I did before Twitter. Now that I know the message they sent to their friend, I feel like I'm their friend too. And while I'm sure this entire Twitter thing is messing with everyone's psychosis and I'll probably need a very expensive psycho-analyst later in life, I know what John Mayer thinks about the weather on Tuesday afternoons.

And if I chose to follow a buisness, I would think that the products they Tweet about were catered especially for me. Twitter can be so personal, that while I think that John Mayer is telling ME about sunny skies in New York City, I'll also think that PhillyJoePizza is making a large white pizza for ME. And that will start the whole chain of events that traditionally happen with advertising. I see the pizza, I want pizza, I find PhillyJoePizza, and bada-bing-bada-boom, white pizza for me.

Where buisnesses don't have Twitter, they make up for by having things like Facebook, Blogs, and MySpaces. Those three sites are littered with ads for different things, and it's a really smart move on their part. If you're looking to get that 13 year old girl to buy your perfume, you better have an ad on MySpace. Hell, go ahead and make a MySpace and add those girls as your friends. Buy some MySpace air time, where the homepage background is dedicated solely to your scent. Or, create a facebook and send me private messages telling me about your newest color ipod you have.

The point is, businesses are learning that their targets are moving to the internet, and moving into social media sites. And, if they want to reach their targets, they'll move in too.

~AvK~

*Heartbreak Warefare--John Mayer

Oh Baby I'll Give You My Hand--WHAT?!

By avkramer |

Thursday, October 15, 2009

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Wow, holy lack of Glee--right? You're probably going through withdrawal. I'm a horrible updater, I know.

I'm sorry for that, but I've just been so bogged down with work (work? ew, I know) that I've been neglecting this. Don't worry, I am totally hanging my head in shame. But, here I am!! :-)

So You Think You Can Dance has been happening. And they're still in the audition process. I find this process annoying, and I can't wait for next week to happen when they finally pick their Top 20 and we can start the real show. They've had two weeks of Vegas already, and some of my favorites are gone!! Ryan, my favorite tapper, was axed early in Vegas. I was so sad!! But, Bianca, my second favorite tapper, is still there! Woo-Hoo!! But last night I almost hurled. This girl, Paula, fell on her ankle and there was a lump the size of a tennis ball on her leg. It was DISGUSTING! Ughhhhh. And they kept showing the fall!! I was sick, haha. My pre-med friends tell me I'm a wimp for being grossed out by that. Well, if that makes me a wimp--then so be it.

But next week we find out the Top 20! So, here's to the end of the horrid audition process! Cheers!!

Aaaaaand now...GLEE.

Let's just do a rundown of each character and what's been happening:

1. Finn--Is emotionally struggling. He loves Quinn, his pregnant girlfriend. But he has feelings for Rachel. At one point, he struggled with staying awake and balancing everything. He even took a "pep pill" so to speak and ended up tweaking out. Eeks!! He's been leaning on Mr. Shuester for help, and their relationship has grown into something I really enjoy watching.
   
   
2. Rachel--has been battling for the spotlight. She thinks Mr. Shuester is punishing her by making her sing back up on songs. She quit Glee to do the musical Cabaret. But Sandy, former Glee teacher and now Arts Administrator, pushed her too hard. She realized that she needed Glee just as much as Glee needed her. She had friends there, and came back in the knick of time (they were performing in an invitational and needed a female lead since Kristen Chenoweth bailed) She's been trying to win Finn's affection, lately giving a nerd a pair of her underware to stop him from blogging about Quinn's pregnancy.
   
   
3. Mr. Shuester--Got a little star crazy and brought in Chenoweth to perform in Glee (she technically never graduated high school, so he made her a senior so she could perform). He wants them to win so bad that he started losing sight of the kids in the group. Because of the pill popping incident, he has to work with Coach Sylvester on Glee. The two hate each other, and as of last night they blew up at one another causing all the kids to walk out. Sue then dropped Glee, and the group re-united happily. But Will feels like he doesn't have much control over things, especially at home.
   
   
   
4. Mrs. Terry Shuester--is still not pregnant. She is going to take Quinn's baby, but has not told Will anything. She became the school nurse because she thought Will was cheating on her with guidance counselor Emma. As the nurse, she's the one who gave the kids those pep pills. Her relationship with Will is now quite strained, and he came to his breaking point and scheduled her next Ob/GYN appointment, and insisted on being there. Terry's sister, Kendra, bribed the doctor to trick Will and go along with the whole "Terry's Pregnant" charade. I hate her.
   
   
5. Emma and Ken--ENGAGED?!?!? Hates that. Emma is the obsessivly clean Guidance Counselor, and Ken is the sweaty and gross football coach. Per Terry's pushing, Ken asked her to marry him, and she said yes! Not right away, because she went to Will and almost asked him to ask her to say no. It was a really intense moment! But, she did say yes, and I'm upset. They should not be together, neither should Terry and Will. Booooooo
6. Quinn--still pregnant, and not really struggling with telling Finn the baby's not his. At least, not that I can see. She was more concerned with Coach Sylvester finding out, because she knows she'll be off the Cheerleading Squad, and her parents will kill her. This last episode, Coach DID find out, and the episode ended with the club singing "Keep Holding On" and Quinn was performing and crying at the same time. It was really emotional, and even I was a little choked up. While Quinn drives me crazy sometimes, moments like that really make me like her.
   

The rest of the kids haven't really been prominent in the past few episodes, though next week promises to bring them a little closer to the forefront. Can we say SLUSHIE WAR? hahaha I can't wait!!!

Till Next Week!!

~AvK~

*Serious--Legally Blonde the Musical

Lights up on Washington Heights up at the Break of Day

By avkramer |

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

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So, I realized that I had said this blog would include some of my daily adventures.

And there are none.

So, here I am to change that.

First, let me apologize for my lack of update about last week's "So You Think You Can GLEE Wednesday". It was my birthday, and with all the birthday festivities that took place, I never got around to telling you all about Glee. I'll be sure to catch everyone up in this week's update though. No worries :-)

Saturday though I went to New York City with my brother, Alex, and the rest of Shippensburg's Activities Programming Board (APB) to see the musical "In the Heights". My brother...is absoultely nothing like me. He likes sport-ish things and enjoys drawing and other art things like sculpture and charcoal. Over the summer, since I was the one with the car, he was forced to listen to my music--i.e. showtunes. When he heard the soundtrack for "In The Heights", he insisted that he had to see this show. Stunned, I looked into tickets. Turned out that APB was doing a trip for it! So, I bought his ticket and he was in Ship Friday night ready to head to the Big Apple Saturday morning.

The day was incredible. I don't think we could have had a better time of it. With a handful of my friends, the two of us went to a small place called "Ellen's Stardust Diner" which I HIGHLY reccomend for lunch. The prices weren't too crazy (for New York), and the food was really really good! And the best part is that the entire wait staff is comprised of Broadway wanna-bes. So, everyone sings karaoke...the entire time!! It's really the ultimate dinner and a show. We couldn't get enough of it!! Our waiter was wonderful, and did a wonderful performance of a song from the musical "Rent". We loved Phillip!!

After lunch and a small photo shoot in Times Square, we headed into the theatre. As Alex and I looked at the cast list, we realized 90% of the Original Cast was there, including his favorites, Christopher Jackson (Benny) and Eliseo Roman (Piragua Guy). Of course, we were both thrilled--him to see his favorites, me to see him so excited. I had that "Best Big Sister" Award in the bag.
Before going to our seats, we purchased some "Piragua"(i.e. snow cones) simply because, well, it's Alex's favorite character, favorite song, favorite part--we couldn't NOT get some.

Then we took our seats and watched the show. And it was INCREDIBLE. The dancing, the music, the ensemble, the leads--it was phenomenal. I loved loved loved it, and Alex couldn't even speak. Words can't even express how much he loved it, and by association, how on top of the moon I felt. And as we floated out of the theatre at the end of the show, we noticed a small crowd gathering by a small door. It was the stage door.

Now you KNOW we were all there, clutching our playbills and hoping against hope someone besides dancer number three comes out. They were shouting that we had to get on the bus, but Alex and I, along with about 7 other Shippensburg people, stood firm. We.Were.Getting.Autographs. First it was Priscilla Lopez, the original Camilla. That was exciting. Wow, my first Broadway autograph! My first Broadway photo op! Alex's first too!!
Then it was Robin DeJesus, Original "Sonny". He was another favorite of Alex's, and he was so so so sweet. I mentioned that this was my little brother's first show ever, and Robin was so happy that Alex came to see In the Heights!
And then...(I hope you're sitting down)...Mandy Gonzalez and CHRISTOPHER JACKSON came out. Original Cast Nina and BENNY! Alex instantly started shaking and screaming. I had to take the camera out of his hands because he was five seconds from dropping it then fainting. Mandy made it over to us first, and Alex was a grade-A Stuttering Stanley. "Hi...hi...um...can you...umm...sign this...and umm...can...can I...I...get...a.a.a. picture with...with you...and...and...hi-hi-him? I...I'm sorry...this is my first...first...show and I'm...I...I'm just really nervous" Mandy smiled kindly at him and said "Oh of course! This is your first show? Oh wow! That's awesome!" she laughed with him, hugged him, and told him it was all okay. She called Chris over and they took a picture with him. I thought he was going to cry. Hell, I thought I was going to cry.

Then Mandy moved on and Chris started signing things. He shook Alex's hand, asked his name, and started talking to him. When he asked where Alex was from, he said "my sister and I, we're from Philly". "Philly? GO EAGLES!" We were both stunned. An Eagles fan? On Broadway? I knew my brother knew how to pick his favorites.

And, if that wasn't enough--Mr. Piragua Guy himself came out. I had to literally steady Alex because I knew he was teetering on the edge of losing it. When he got to our circle, Alex could stop staring at him. My brother, standing in front of his favorite character ever, blurts out "YOU'RE MY IDOL". Mr. Roman laughed...hard, he hugged my brother and thanked him over and over again.

It was a great moment.

We climbed back on the bus, and Alex sat in shocked silence for an hour.

It was by far one of the best trips we've ever taken, and I'm so happy he was with me in NYC.
I love writing, and I am a writer. But I could never describe how happy and wonderful that day was, and how I feel post-trip. Elated doesn't cut it, and every other word is horribly cliched.

Just know...I had a good time.

~AvK~