dangerous candy

Evolving Yoostar into the Future of Gaming

2010-03-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Last week the Yoostar team and I traveled to San Francisco to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) where we met with a number of gaming industry insiders to discuss our plans to evolve Yoostar into more of a "Social Video Game"™ over the next year. (Though we can't tell you our specific plans publicly yet, we will reveal more information at the E3 Gaming Expo in June 2010.) We can tell yoo that what we are planning is exciting and moves Yoostar into the future of gaming.

This Fall, console gaming as we know it will radically change when specialized add-on peripheral cameras for Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 will enable motion control of select games.

Last week at GDC Sony officially announced that it is launching The Move™, PS3's wand-like motion controller that will work with PlayStation Eye camera to track the users' gestures during game play. If you haven't seen it yet, check out the video of the demo Sony gave last year at E3:

At last year's E3, Microsoft wowed gamers by showing off Project Natal, which is their code name for the depth-sensing camera add-on for Xbox 360 which will allow a completely controller-free gaming experience. Natal will be available in stores this October, and Microsoft plans to announce the real product name for Natal and a list of Natal titles at this year's E3. The demo that Microsoft gave last year at E3 made Natal look pretty amazing; check it out:

What do yoo think of these new motion controlled games that will be coming out later this year? Which products and games are yoo most excited about? Tweet your comments at me (I'm @p0pvulture), and let me know.

We Gave William Shatner a Yoostar System...

2010-03-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

After making my red carpet entrance in front of a wall bearing the Yoostar logo, I was inside the pre-Oscars "Suite of 100 Stars" at the Beverly Hills Hotel to introduce Yoostar to the celebs. William Shatner, Captain Kirk in the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies, Bridget from "Girls Next Door," James Pitt from "Avatar," Candace Cameron Bure (a.k.a. D.J. Tanner from "Full House"), Brody Jenner's mom (Linda Thompson), Mimi Rogers, Lou Diamond Phillips, Candy Spelling, Amy Yasbeck, John Heard, former NBA player John Salley and his wife Natasha, Charlene Tilton, Margot Kidder (Lois Lane in the original "Superman" movies), Lorenzo Lamas and his new fiance Shawna Craig, and Lou Ferrigno (the original "Incredible Hulk") all took home Yoostar systems.

I demo'd Yoostar for Joyce ("notaspringchick") Chow from MBN; check out the video:

As for those who stepped up onto the stage to try Yoostar, what movie scenes did they jump into?

John Schneider (the original Bo Duke from "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV series) put himself into a scene from "Beverly Hills Cop."
Alessandra Torresani (from "Caprica") put herself into scenes from "American Pie" and "The Addams Family"
Sofia Milos from "CSI: Miami" tried out the "Blues Brothers" scene "It's 106 miles to Chicago."
Alexa Vega (Carmen Cortez in the "Spy Kids" films) played the role of the girl scout in "The Addams Family" scenes.
Jessica Hall (Sirius XM radio personality) sat beside Kevin Bacon in an iconic scene from "Animal House."
Nia Long from "Big Momma's House," jumped into "The Blues Brothers" car and told John Belushi, "It's 106 miles to Chicago..."
Chris McDonald sat on the park bench in a scene from "Forrest Gump"
Susan Blakely played Goldie Hawn's character in "Foul Play."
Molly Shea from "Sunset Tan" played Cheech's role in a scene from Cheech and Chong's "Still Smokin.'"
Darris Love also chose a scene from "Still Smokin.'
Alice Greczyn (best known for the 2005 "Dukes of Hazzard" movie) put herself into "Forrest Gump."
Gina La Piana (best known as Gabby Ortiz from "Days of Our Lives") took a turn jumping into"The Blues Brothers" car with John Belushi.
Sheryl Lee Ralph did a bang-up job of a scene from "Blacula."
Stefanie Powers (best-known as Jennifer Hart from "Hart to Hart") jumped into "The Blues Brothers" car with John Belushi.
Joyce Chow from MBN also jumped into the Blues Brothers car.

Judging with Jamie Kennedy

2010-02-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

From October to December, the Yoostar Casting Call Tour van traveled from coast-to-coast, stopping at college campuses and malls so that thousands of people could record themselves in movie scenes to compete for a chance to win the grand prize -- a walk-on role in a 2010 LionsGate film.

We watched over a thousand of these video performances on Yoostar.com, and gathered users' input via our Facebook voting application, to choose the top 10 finalists.

Yesterday I met with fellow judges Jamie Kennedy and Jonathan Small (Editorial Director from Break.com) at Jamie's Hollywood studio to watch the finalists' videos and choose the grand prize winner and two runner-ups.

We judged the videos "American Idol"-style, and commented on each of the top 5 performances. Jamie was our Simon. He made the most entertaining and most scathing comments. I channeled my inner Kara DioGuardi. We recorded a video - showing the judging and announcing the winners - that we'll post next week on Yoostar.

In the meantime, enjoy some behind-the-scenes photos from the crazy shoot, which involved a clown, a scantily clad woman, a cameraman "Nick Nolte" doppleganger, and a stolen kidney. Just another day in LA.

Snuggie Shenanigans

2010-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year - as something of a joke - Chris' sister Elizabeth got us Snuggies. (Mine is a stylish leopard print.) Elizabeth has a great sense of humor, and she is the person who convinced us we should dress up as Nadya Suleman and Kate Gosselin for Halloween this past year.

Between me and the dawgs, I'm not even ashamed to admit that my Snuggie is getting some serious usage. Yes, the rest of our living room decor is solidly mid-century modern (to suit our tastes as well as the extreme mid-century modern styling of our 1969 townhome). But if you look beyond the cream-colored flokati shag rug, atop the low Italian leather modular sofa you will find one of the greatest home decor/clothing inventions of the 21st century - the Snuggie. So, needless to say, Snuggies have been on our minds. (Come to think of it, from the Radiskull and Devil doll doll (circa 2000) on my dresser, to the pair of Thinkgeek Tauntaun sleeping bags I purchased for us this Christmas, we *do* have a lot of internet phenomena ephemera around in our house.)

Yesterday Chris found this photo and posted it to Facebook with a link to this blog post on "The Baby Snuggie". Chris wrote: "Pure genius - It's like the Snuggie is giving birth. I know a couple of people who need this now, and some who'll need this VERY soon."

Eighteen people commented on his "Baby Snuggie" Facebook post, and Chris wrote, "Hell, you might see me carrying Jess around like this before too long." And then while we were watching the season premier of "American Idol" he was inspired to create this image which he posted to his Faceobok wall last night.

Being engaged to a creative guy with serious graphic design skills has its advantages. For example, say you want to take a picture of yourselves in an authentic Sid and Nancy pose when you're dressed up for Halloween. Or if your mom just graduated nursing school and you want to make her a personalized "Nurse Jackie" poster. Also, he might be inspired by seeing a "Baby Snuggie" and decide that he would want to carry his fiance around inside one.

When Chris posted this picture to his wall on Facebook, he wrote:
"Jess is totally at home in our new Baby Snuggie... she can't wait 'til it comes out in the zebra pattern."

Mindy's response was, "now i know what NOT to get jess for her bday!"

THEN, Joanna (another talented graphic designer) created this "Baby and Bunny Snuggie" and posted it to Facebook, with the message:
"chris, if jess ever decides to adopt a bunny you will be all set with this snuggie."

Chris wrote back, "Forget going into outer space or widening the 405, this is truly one of the best things humans have ever created... genius."

Now this "Baby and Bunny Snuggie" is Chris' current Facebook profile pic. Should I be afraid, or just give in to the lahv of Facebook and graphic design shenanigans?

3 Unique Christmas Traditions in Los Angeles

2009-12-17T06:55:00.000-08:00

Some people might think that it wouldn't feel like Christmas living in Los Angeles (especially for someone who was born and raised in New England), but I'm here to tell you that LA, particularly the West Side, has its own unique and fun holiday traditions.

Last week, Chris and I rode our bikes to Santa Monica to see the Christmas tree made out of shopping carts. It's called "The Bright Side." and it's been put together by artist Anthony Schmitt at the Edgemar shopping area on Main Street for the past 14 years. It's a great piece of public art because of its multiple meanings; it not only makes you consider excessive holiday consumerism, it makes you think about homelessness at the holidays. Check out my photoset of the Shopping Cart Tree.

This was our third Christmas living in Marina del Rey, and our third year heading to Fisherman's Village to check out the Marina's holiday boat parade. The parade has been happening for 47 years, since 1963 before the marina itself was actually completed.

We went to view the Marina del Rey Boat Parade with Devora and Ethan, who had been living in a houseboat on the Marina for the month of December.

This year the boat parade theme was "Holiday in paradise," and the best boat was definitely the "Cheeseburger in Paradise." It played the Jimmy Buffet song, and the burger actually opened up and then the bottle of ketchup poured in. It was hysterical.

Check out the full photoset from this year's Marina del Rey Boat Parade, and then see my photos from the Marina del Rey Boat Parade 2008.

Just one day after the Marina del Rey Holiday boat parade, Chris and I biked to the Venice Canals Holiday Boat parade and met Roshanna there. The Venice Canals boat parade has been going on since the late 1970s or early 1980s.

This year, our favorite boats included the Venice trolley, the castle ship, and the viking ship.

There were also numerous Santas throwing candy from their canoes and paddle boats.

Check out the full photoset from this year's Venice Canals Boat Parade and then, see our photos from the Venice Canal Boat Parade last year.

Jimmy Kimmel Plays Rhett Butler

2009-12-16T10:17:00.001-08:00

Last night on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Jimmy played Rhett Butler in a Yoostar scene from "Gone With the Wind." Scarlett O'Hara wasn't very happy with him...

Jimmy Kimmel Tries Out Yoostar (Again!) Tonight

2009-12-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight Jimmy Kimmel will debut another Yoostar video on his show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" which airs at 12 midnight ET and 12 midnight PT on ABC. It's the best one yet. We hope you tune in.

Last month, Jimmy recorded and aired two Yoostar performances of scenes from "The Godfather" and "Friday the 13th, Part 3." Here they are, in case you missed them...

Jimmy Kimmel as Don Corleone in "The Godfather" (aired on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Wednesday, November 11, 2009)

Jimmy Kimmel as Jason Voorhees in "Friday the 13th, Part 3" (aired on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Friday, November 13, 2009)

A Ladybug Hitchhiker

2009-12-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

A ladybug got into Chris' BMW M3 and rode with us from Los Angeles to Prescott, AZ for Thanksgiving and then back to LA. Using the macro lens on my Panasonic Lumix, I documented some of the adventures the ladybug had as it wandered across the various textures of my purse, my hand, the dashboard, the visors, and the windshield as we sped along the freeways through the desert.

This one where the ladybug looks like a gigantic supersaturated red-orange balloon in the sky over the cars below is one of my favorites, because it looks so surreal. In this one (which is also pretty surreal) it looks like a giant ladybug is falling from the sky. Here is a link to the entire set of photos.

Yoostar Among "Today" show's: Hollywood's Hottest Gift Ideas

2009-12-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

This morning on NBC's "Today" show, Yoostar is recommended as one of "Hollywood's Hottest Gift Ideas." "Today" show hosts Matt Lauer and Al Roker used Yoostar to perform in a classic scene from the "Blues Brothers." Check it out:

Yoostar Tops Tons of 2009 Holiday Gift Idea Lists

2009-11-27T08:38:00.000-08:00

It's only November, and Yoostar has already made it onto more than ten 2009 Holiday Gift Guide lists. We are thrilled.

Here are some of the publications and companies recommending Yoostar:

Rolling Stone 2009 "Great Rock & Roll Gift Guide
MSNBC.com "What would Brangelina give? Stars' hottest gifts
Parade "Creative Holiday Gifts (That Don't Cost a Fortune)"
Popular Mechanics "Gadget Gifts for Guys"
Esquire "Best Toys No One Else Will Get Them"
The Baltimore Sun "Christmas gifts for the cool kid"
USA Weekend 2009 Holiday Gift Guide
The Washington Times 2009 Holiday Gift Guide: Best in electronics
Fox 8: Cleveland "Christmas gifts for the cool kid"
Ain't It Cool News "Quint's Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Books! Comics! Music! Electronics!"
The UberReview "Coolest Toys on the Planet 2009"
Switched.com Wacky Gifts for the Holidays
Blockbuster "Hottest Holiday Gifts for 2009"
Christmas Blog "Christmas Gift Ideas"
Networking Audio/Video 2009 Holiday Gift Guide

Where you can buy Yoostar this holiday:

In Best Buy stores nationwide as well as online at BestBuy.com
In Bloomingdales stores nationwide as well as online at Bloomingdales.com
Online at Amazon.com
Online at Yoostar.com

35 Great Movie Quotes on Yoostar

2009-11-25T10:36:00.001-08:00

This week on Twitter the hashtag #classicmoviequotes was a trending topic. When we choose scenes for Yoostar, we are looking for iconic and quotable scenes as well as scenes that might be fun to insert yourself into. I started thinking about how many great and classic movie quotes we have in scenes on Yoostar, and decided to create a list of them so that people could easily find them and/or view the video clips of the quotes.

Here are 35 of my favorite movie quotes on Yoostar:
1. "Swallow the diamonds." - "Marathon Man" - Watch the scene.
2. "Last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it." - "Caddyshack" - Watch the scene.
3. "I'll be back" - "The Terminator" - Watch the scene.
4. "Everyone and their mums is packin' 'round here." - "Hot Fuzz" - Watch the scene.
5. "Has the war started yet?" - "Gone With the Wind" - Watch the scene.
6. "How can five people operate one gun?" - "Shaun of the Dead" - Watch the scene.
7. "You fight like a goddamn ape." - "Rocky" - Watch the scene.
8. "They think he's a righteous dude." - "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" - Watch the scene.
9. "That's the way it always is, blind to my own life." - "Eve's Bayou" - Watch the scene.
10. "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'" - "Casablanca" - Watch the scene.
11. "Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa." - "Field of Dreams" - Watch the scene.
12. "A man should have a hobby." - "Psycho" - Watch the scene.
13. "Jake, you get wise. You get to church." - "Blues Brothers" - Watch the scene.
14. "How you think Captain Kirk got all that booty?" - "Barbershop" - Watch the scene.
15. "I want a woman that is going to arouse my intellect as well as my loins." - "Coming to America" - Watch the scene.
16. "Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. 'More human than human' is our motto." - "Blade Runner" - Watch the scene.
17. "It's a household name." - "Forrest Gump" - Watch the scene.
18. "You're terminated, fu#6er" - "The Terminator" - Watch the scene.
19. "Toga! Toga!" - "Animal House" - Watch the scene.
20. "You aren't fit to wipe his boots!" - "Gone With the Wind" - Watch the scene.
21. "I won't try to manage things, because I can't think." - "Wizard of Oz" - Watch the scene.
22. "Have they forgotten what a star looks like?" - "Sunset Boulevard" - Watch the scene.
23. "I'm all about the boobies." - "Good Luck Chuck" - Watch the scene.
24. "You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down." - "It's a Wonderful Life" - Watch the scene.
25. "Call me when you have no class." - "Back to School" - Watch the scene.
26. "Nobody poor was ever called democratic for marrying somebody rich." - "Sabrina" - Watch the scene.
27. "Murder's never perfect -- always comes apart sooner or later, and when two people are involved, it's usually sooner." - "Double Indemnity" - Watch the scene.
28. "Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?" - "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" - Watch the scene.
29. "I'm a businessman. I got to work!" - "Beverly Hills Cop II" - Watch the scene.
30. "You are a walking lightbulb waiting to be screwed." - "Foul Play" - Watch the scene.
31. "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." - "The Godfather" - Watch the scene.
32. "We took a perfectly useless psychopath like Valentine and turned him into a successful executive." - "Trading Places" - Watch the scene.
33. "It's 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses." - "Blues Brothers" - Watch the scene.
34. "Here's looking at you, kid" - "Casablanca" - Watch the scene.
35. "I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is." - "Forrest Gump" - Watch the scene.

Pumpkin Pie Fail

2009-11-25T00:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight I discovered the possible reason why there are always two frozen pie shells in a package.

When I (hastily perhaps) grabbed the first pie crust out of the freezer, I didn't notice that I pulled the crust right out of the aluminum pie tin. As I held the crust in my hand, I thought it looked a bit different, but figured that must be because it was whole wheat and organic. Feeling great about using an organic whole grain crust, I poured the batter into crust, and placed it on a baking tray and into the oven at 425 degrees.

It's a good thing I put a baking tray underneath (thanks to my Mom for giving me this brilliant advice!), because when I turned on the oven light to check on the pie a few minutes later, I saw that the dough had seeped through a crack in the crust and filled the entire tray.

This MUST be why they put two pie shells in the package (to account for pumpkin pie fail). What can I say? I'm a woman of the computer age. I have better attention to detail for handcoding HTML than for baking. The second pie came out great, thankfully.

My friend Dave sent me the link to this cookie sheet/plastic cutting board cookie fail, which also made me feel a bit better. At least I didn't get any plastic melted inside my oven. Nothing was irreparably harmed by my pumpkin pie fail.

This is only my second major Thanksgiving pumpkin pie fatality. A few years back, I had baked a beautiful, perfect pumpkin pie to bring to Jeff and Hillary's for Thanksgiving. The shiny masterpiece was sitting on the countertop cooling and I needed to run out of the house for a quick errand before driving to their house for the feast. When I returned home, I found the pumpkin pie on the floor in the kitchen with the whole center eaten out of it. A trail of crumbs and pumpkin chunks, led me to a guilty-looking dog named Bocce. She had somehow jumped as high as the counter to pull down the pie. Her tiny Italian Greyhound stomach was big and round and full of pumpkin.

It's a good thing I love that dog, because I love me some pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll. Please try to take a tip from me and remember to keep your crusts in the pie tin. Happy eating!

Fun With Yoostar's Thanksgiving Video Backgrounds

2009-11-24T22:42:00.001-08:00

With Yoostar, you can create unique holiday-themed video greetings to share with your family and friends via email, Facebook, or your own blog. We call these Yoocards, and we've launched a number of holiday-themed Video Backgrounds, including 10 for Thanksgiving.

You can say hello to family and friends in your video or make a video invitation to your holiday feast. Or, you can get creative and tell a story -- real or made up.

Don't have time to clean your house, cook a dinner, or set the table, but want to send a holiday feast video greeting? Leave the "cooking" up to Yoostar's camera and greenscreen. Or "visit" a turkey farm to pick out your holiday turkey, all without leaving your home.

Debbie tried out the Video Background called "An Evening Feast" to record this Thanksgiving greeting for her family. This particular Video Background allows you to choose whether you want to stand or sit in front of the table or appear as if you are sitting at the table as Debbie has done in her Yoocard.

Chris and I chose the "Cooking a Holiday Feast" Video Background to create this Yoocard for our family members who won't be able to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. You can see the water steaming and boiling in the pot on the stove behind us, but that's not our kitchen! (We recorded this standing in our hallway in front of our Yoostar greenscreen.)

Debbie downloaded the "Young Turkeys Video Background to record this video "Reporting live from the California State Turkey Correctional Institution...". Will these wayward young turkeys be pardoned? Watch Debbie's video to find out.

Chris and I downloaded the "Tom Turkey Strut" Video Background to create this video called "Someone Stole our Turkey to send to our friends.

Break.com Checks Out Yoostar on Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade

2009-11-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

I'm interviewed in this Break.com video about Yoostar filmed during the Yoostar Casting Tour stop a few weeks back on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Yoostar Takes Over the MTV Store in Times Square for the Next Week

2009-11-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

Today we announced the extension of the Yoostar Casting Tour. We're adding an additional 11 stops to the initial nine-city, 23-stop journey which has reached thousands of people at college campuses and malls across the nation.

During the Casting Tour tour stops, members of the public use Yoostar to compete for a walk-on role in a 2010 LionsGate movie. Contestant performances are uploaded to the Yoostar Web site and to Facebook for the public and judges to view and vote on. (Go on, get the Facebook app so you can check out some of the finalists and vote. I'm one of the judges...)

To kick-off the Casting Tour extension, starting today (Wed, Nov 18) through next Wednesday, Nov 25) Yoostar is in the MTV Store in NYC's Times Square each day from 12noon-8PM looking for new talent. If you're in NYC, stop by and try us out.

A giant ad that says "Yoostar - the next Wii" is playing on one of the Times Square jumbotrons. For a brief moment, at the Online News Association conference in NYC in 2005, my own face was projected on the Times Square Reuters billboard. It's just like my Nana used to tell me: "So many jumbotrons, so little time!"

In addition to the MTV Store, 10 more Yoostar Casting Tour stops are planned in December at mall locations in Chicago, Cincinnati, and the New York/New Jersey metro area. We'll let you know the additional 10 locations very soon.

Here's what our CEO Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne has to say about it: "The Yoostar Casting Tour is a unique opportunity for people all across the country to enjoy Yoostar and have the chance to showcase their acting skills to the world. We have seen thousands of young people come through already and are thrilled to extend the opportunity to help introduce the world to great, undiscovered comedic and dramatic talent with the only technology that allows you to place yourself inside real films and act alongside real actors."

Judges Jamie, Jess, Jonathan... and Yoo

2009-11-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

For the past eight weeks the Yoostar Casting Tour has traveled coast-to-coast looking for new talents and filming thousands of people using Yoostar. Here are some photos I took from the Casting Tour stop on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

Now, it's your turn to play casting agent. Which performances are best? One talented person will win a walk-on role in a 2010 LionsGate film.

We spent the past month working with Buddy Media to build an interactive Facebook App that will enable you to vote for the best performance for each stop on the tour. From Boston University to University of California at Irvine. Today it launched. Check it out: apps.facebook.com/yoostarcastingcall/

Along with Jamie Kennedy and Jonathan Small from Break Media, I'm one of the judges who will choose the Grand Prize winner based on the finalists you determine from each location. We're watching all the videos and choosing our favorites.

No, don't send me cookies or bribes. That won't work. But you can tweet at me (I'm p0pvulture -- and the 0 is a zero) with links to your favorite performers, and I'll take a look. Also, go to the Casting Tour Facebook Application and cast your votes!

Mo' Snoop Dogg on Yoostar

2009-11-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

Back in August Snoop Dogg recorded some Yoostar videos for us, and here's another one...

Cheech teaches Snoop some Spanish words
In this scene from "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie," Snoop Dogg and Cheech are cruising in a van through LA, and Cheech offers Snoop a Spanish lesson. He says, "When you see a real good friend, you say, 'Hey, bandejo, how ya doin'?'"

What do yoo think? What's your favorite Snoop Dogg Yoostar video. Tweet at me (I'm @p0pvulture), and let me know.

Jamie Kennedy's Yoostar Videos

2009-11-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

Back in August, we were lucky enough to have Snoop Dogg stop by our studio in NYC to perform in some classic Yoostar scenes, and earlier this month Jamie Kennedy recorded some Yoostar videos of his own. (Jamie is working with Yoostar as spokesperson and a judge of our Casting Tour.)

In his performances, Jamie deviated from the original dialogue and made up his own lines, riffing off the original actors with some funny results.

Here are my 3 favorite Jamie Kennedy Yoostar clips:

Jamie does Jigsaw
Jamie Kennedy confronts Donnie Wahlberg face-to-face in the "Saw II" scene called "I want to play a game."

Jamie brings the party to Dracula's castle
Showing no fear at all, Jamie Kennedy boldly brings a new flavor to the original 1931 "Dracula."

Jamie swallows the cookies
Dustin Hoffman confronts Jamie Kennedy over snagging a bag of cookies in this scene from "Marathon Man."

Those are my three faves. Check out Jamie's Yoostar profile to see the rest of his performances. Tweet at me (I'm @p0pvulture) to let us know which one yoo like best.

"Wild" About David Lynch

2009-11-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

Today I achieved one of my lifelong dreams of appearing in a scene from a David Lynch film. (Thanks to Yoostar!) I put myself into a scene from "Wild at Heart" alongside Nic Cage, and I improv'd some advice for Nic. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

This particular scene is an excellent example of how seamlessly Yoostar works. Side-by-side two-shots are some of the best kinds of scenes, because you appear as if you're actually sitting side-by-side with the actor (in this case Nic Cage). Also, when you view the video, you can see that the beer bottles in the foreground that are sitting on the bar in the actual movie scene appearing in front of me. This adds to the realism of the video.

One of the most frequent searches we're seeing people type in on Google is "How does Yoostar work?" Yoostar is a greenscreen video product. This means that in the box, you get a 6-foot-by-6-foot greenscreen and stand and video webcam with audio echo cancellation. You set up the greenscreen in your house, plug the Yoostar camera into your PC via USB connection, open the application on your PC, and choose a scene from a famous movie or TV show. Then you sit or stand in front of the greenscreen and position yourself for acting in the scene. The dialogue goes across your PC screen karaoke-style, and you can say the real dialogue or make up your own (as I frequently do). Two other recent Yoostar performances where I improv'd some dialogue are Something wrong with feather boas? ("Witness" clip opposite my first movie star crush, Harrison Ford) and my mash-up of What if Scarlett O'Hara met Lou Costello?

Should a CEO Take His Burning Man Pics off Facebook?

2009-11-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today I was drawn in by a headline on BNET "A CEO's Dilemma: Should I Take My Burning Man Pics off Facebook?" As someone who has been to Burning Man eight times over the past eleven years and has posted the photos on my own website, as well as on Flickr, and on Facebook (there was even a photo of me at Burning Man 2005 published in "The Economist"!) I have often grappled with the same question as I entered managerial and then executive roles at tech companies.

Is it appropriate/distracting for someone in a leadership position to be seen in photos online frolicking in the desert in a tutu?

When I noticed that the BNET article's question was the dilemma of Chip Conley, I read it top to bottom to see what he had decided.

I have always admired Chip Conley's style of doing business. For those who aren't acquainted with Conley, at the age of 26 (fresh out of Stanford's MBA program) he purchased a seedy pay-by-the-hour hotel on Eddy Street in San Francisco's Tenderloin and against all odds turned it into a cool mecca for musicians and artists which you may know as the aptly-named Phoenix Hotel.

When I started hanging out in San Francisco in 1998-2001, the electronic music scene (particularly jazzy SF house) was huge, and I spent countless days/nights watching DJs spin at pretty much every SF venue imaginable -- from DNA Lounge to Kelly's Mission Rock. By far, some of the most legendary parties were the Phoenix Hotel's Sunday afternoon pool parties. The line of people waiting to get in would stretch down the block to Polk Street. The aggressive SF panhandlers had a captive audience who would wait for hours to get up inside the Phoenix Hotel.

Conley grew his success with the Phoenix hotel into California's largest boutique hotel chain called Joie de Vivre. All of the hotels have their own unique personalities. In SoCal's Huntington Beach (Surf City USA), they have the surfer-themed Shorebreak Hotel.

When I worked at Yahoo and commuted frequently between NorCal and SoCal, I stayed at many Joie de Vivre hotels including Wild Palms in Sunnyvale, Hotel Avante in Mountain View, and Hotel Rex in San Francisco. In fact, Chris and I got engaged this past July while staying at Joie de Vivre's Ventana Inn in Big Sur. One of the best things about staying at the Joie de Vivre hotels is the fun unique spirit and that the hotel employees are willing to go the distance. For example, while staying at the Ventana Inn, Chris and I accidentally slept through the buffet breakfast one morning, and we called the kitchen frantic and hungry they packed up some of the treats and brought them to our room.

Conley is a brilliant businessman who also seems to actually be a cool and authentic person. When Conley published a management/leadership book "Peak: How great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow"a few years back, I snatched it up and read it in 2 sittings.

In the book, Conley presented theories of running his business that he gleaned from his reading of psychologist Abraham Maslow's self-actualization pyramid. Conley presented his idea of the customer satisfaction pyramid and the employee satisfaction pyramid, and how they fed into each other to create a business ecosystem that brought both customers and employees toward greater (peak) happiness and satisfaction. I highly recommend "Peak." Conley peppers the chapters with anecdotes from other peak-performing companies with unique corporate cultures, including Google and Southwest Airlines.

In the BNET article, Conley concludes that he will keep his Burning Man photos up on Facebook as they are not sexually suggestive and he doesn't deem them to be a violation of his company's social media policy. His company's mission statement is "To celebrate the joy of life" and he says that was exactly what he was doing at Burning Man.

So far in my online life, I have come to the same conclusion that Conley did. I am leaving my Burning Man photos up. They are not sexually suggestive and I don't believe they violate corporate social media policies in any way. Not to mention, I am well-acquainted with the idea that once something is on the internet, it doesn't ever really "go away" even if taken down.

But I wonder if I will ever change my mind on the Burning Man photos? Conley built his company on being true to himself and his own instincts and personality. He defines himself as a rebel. And I see him as perhaps similar to other successful "rebel" businessmen such as Steve Jobs or Richard Branson.

As a female leader in business would I feel as comfortable about people seeing me dressed in a tutu at Burning Man? Are there highly successful "rebel" woman leaders in business? Who are they? Tweet to me @p0pvulture (the 0 is a zero) and let me know. I'm almost certain we would never see photos of Carol Bartz, Carly Fiorina, or Meg Whitman in tutus at Burning Man. For female CEOs, dropping F-bombs may be deemed OK (thankfully, we've come that far at least), but having fun and enjoying life may still be off-limits. What do you think?

Yoostar Video Backgrounds... for Blogging and More

2009-11-03T02:43:00.000-08:00

Yoostar allows you not only to insert yourself into scenes from popular movies and TV shows, but also to put yourself into just about any type of scene you can imagine with Yoostar Video Backgrounds.

With over 100 different backgrounds -- from urban cityscapes such as Times Square New York and Hong Kong at night to well-known wonders of the world like the Taj Mahal and the pyramids, you can put yourself almost anywhere without leaving your living room.

What kinds of clips would you make with video backgrounds? Here are 5 different ideas that Debbie and I had:

1. Video backgrounds are perfect for video bloggers or vloggers. It's quick and easy to record a video, and incredibly easy to embed the video into your personal blog. For example, I recently put myself into an underwater background to create this video blog about three of the best digital underwater cameras of 2009. I was standing in my kitchen the whole time, but was able to transport myself to a location that better suited the topic I was talking about.

2. Send a quick personalized message to someone. Debbie posted this video showing her lounging in a tropical beach setting, assuring her boss that she's working during her vacation. (For some reason, I'm not 100% sure I believe her, by the way...) If you want to send a personalized message telling someone you miss them or Happy New Year, video backgrounds are a cool way to add some style and creativity to your communication. The Yoostar widget makes it easy for you to embed your video messages into Facebook or send them in an email.

3. Perform a poem or sing a song. During a recent stop in Austin, Texas on the Yoostar Casting Tour, there were a number of people who used Yoostar's Video Backgrounds to showcase their original poetry and music. Texas State University student and Austin slam poetry champion Faylita Hicks gave a performance of one of her original poems in front of the Times Square at night background.

4. You can use Yoostar's video backgrounds to tell a story -- real or made up. I tried out the video background called "Letters Rain Down" to share a "Matrix"-inspired tale about a recent evening out at a club. I called my video "Don't take the red pill," and you can decide for yourself whether it's fact or fiction.

5. Give us a report. Yoostar's Video Backgrounds are great for independent journalists posting video updates. There are great backgrounds specifically for financial reports and even legal reporting from the steps of the Supreme Court. I created this quick report on the housing market as an example. (NOTE: I'm no economics expert, but I have been known to play one on Yoostar.)

Those are just five examples of ways to use video backgrounds. We can't wait to see more of what people do with them.

Check out the complete library of Yoostar video backgrounds, and leave a comment below to let us know if there is a particular background you want to see. We're adding new ones every week.

The (Frog) Princess and the Pea(pod)

2009-11-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that I blogged about our Halloween costumes this year, and neglected to mention the dogs' costumes. What good is Halloween if you don't get a chance to dress up dogs in costumes? Any excuse to dress dogs up in outrageous outfits must be visually documented. Searches for "Dogs in costumes" needs to give "Funny cat viral videos" a run on Google trends, right?

This year, we dressed Maggie and Bocce up as the (Frog) Princess and the Pea(pod). Bocce was a Dalmation puppy sidekick to my Cruella De Ville for her first Halloween in 1998. This is Maggie's first time dressing up.

'The Crazy Eights' - Nadya and Kate

2009-11-02T03:16:00.000-08:00

After much deliberation this year for Halloween, Chris and I dressed up as "The Crazy Eights" (I was Octomom Nadya Suleman and he was Kate Gosselin).

We packed up sixteen of our children and went out to meet Bri and Derek at a Halloween party at the W in Westwood. Bri and Derek wore traditional German outfits -- she carried a giant beer stein, and he wore lederhosen. There were two Michael Jacksons and plenty of scantily-clad ladies, but we were shocked to find that I was the only Octomom in the entire place, and Chris was the only Kate!

We made out at the bar and made up a story of how Kate and Nadya went from catfights to kissing and became lesbian life-partners and started their own new reality TV show called "Nadya and Kate Plus Twenty-Eight."

It Takes Two

2009-10-15T08:16:00.001-07:00

Chris and I have two great ideas for our costumes this Halloween. Unfortunately I can't tell you what they are so that you can help us decide, because that would ruin the surprise. We take Halloween VERY seriously, and we don't like to announce our costumes ahead of time. It would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?

Last year we dressed up as Sid and Nancy and imitated their classic poses. When we were out at a party in Santa Monica at Joanna's house, to complete the effect, we made sure to shout key lines from the 1986 film "Sid and Nancy: Love Kills." Of course, this meant I was saying things like, "Siiiiid! They wouldn't send us any money! They said we'd spend it on DRUGS!" Check out our pics from Halloween 2008 in LA.

For Halloween 2007, we dressed up as Rick Deckard and Rachael the replicant from 1982's "Blade Runner." We are both HUGE fans of the film, so we didn't forget the important details. For example, I don't even smoke, but I held a clove cigarette during the Voight-Kampff test "interrogation scene" photos. See our pics from Halloween 2007 in LA.

For Halloween 2006, we dressed up as Britney and K.Fed. They were still married at the time. And we had the babies, and everything. No detail was spared. Chris wore huge diamond (well, Cubic Zirconia) stud earrings and white sneakers, and I drove the car with the babies on my lap. See our pics from Halloween 2006 in LA.

For Halloween 2006, we made a video of trying to decide what to wear. We posted it on Yahoo! Video and YouTube and it went viral and received over 13,000 views. Check it out:

Chris and I Went on CNN

2009-10-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

When we woke up yesterday, we were supposed to look at a wedding location in Malibu, but they canceled on us. Then we got a voice message from a friend who said, "You should call me. CNN is looking for people for a segment that you guys would be perfect for."

A full week after the announcement of David Letterman's affairs, office relationships are still something everyone is talking about. CNN wanted to speak with people who had gotten engaged/married after meeting in the workplace.

Chris and I met in 2005 when we were working together at Yahoo!. We met in a company-wide editorial meeting in Sunnyvale in a conference room called Apollo. There was an initial attraction for both of us, but since our careers at Yahoo! were incredibly important to us, we debated whether or not it was worth risking an involvement with a co-worker. We sat 30 feet away from each other in an open newsroom.

Overall our advice to anyone contemplating a romance with someone in their office was to take it slow, and be aware of the rules in your workplace. Chris and I waited four months before we ended up kissing each other. We also researched our company policy about workplace romances. I was an editorial manager at the time, and I didn't want this to reflect poorly on either of us. We were honest and up-front with our co-workers when we started dating, and we tried to be self-aware with no PDAs or flirting in the office in order to make sure none of our colleagues were uncomfortable. I was nervous about telling them about the relationship, but surprised at how supportive our co-workers were.

My hope is that we had some good advice to offer, but sometimes I think luck plays
such a big part in success. There is no doubt about it that we were lucky. I'm not entirely sure I would recommend a workplace romance to anyone who is contemplating it. I have heard the opposite side of this tale (the horror story) from many friends, and I know if the relationship ends up badly it can have uncomfortable consequences. I guess the important thing is to go in understanding the risks involved. Here's the video from CNN: