Follow Friday #6: Josh Groban

16 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment

by Unna in Follow Friday, Music, Weekly (-ish) Tags: , , , ,

On Follow Friday this week:
1. Introduction
2. Blog
3. Twitter
4. Drop Me a Line.

Okay, so I thought I would have done a political FF as my next move – but then I came across the front page of Twitter, revealing yet another laughable tweet from my favorite mainstream big shot proffessional scribbler, warbler, and ivory tickler all-in-one these days, Josh Groban (of course, my not-so-mainstream ditto is Anders Filipsen).

When it comes to blogging, Josh has a tendency to vlog when there are more than one thing to mention – and not only does he upload the video to his Vimeo vlog, but he adds it as a blogpost as well (thus I don’t add the link to his vlog around here, unless I have to link to a specific video (say, if I need to point out something about stocking up on canned goods – and you’ll only have to see the first 23 seconds to get it)).

You can find his blog at joshgrobanblog.tumblr.com.

And yes, you can also find him on Twitter. Go to @joshgroban to follow him.

Twitter topic for today…Intelligent Design Vs. Evolution. GO! <runs behind wall made of 140 bricks or less>
about 3 hours ago via web
Source: @joshgroban

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Follow Friday #5: David Letterman and Roskilde Festival

09 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment

by Unna in Denmark, Follow Friday, Roskilde Festival, Uncategorized, Video, Weekly (-ish) Tags: , , , , , , , ,

On Follow Friday this week:
1. Introduction
2. Twitter: The Late Show with David Letterman
3. Roskilde Festival
4. Drop Me a Line.

I was just watching Letterman, and although it’s usually only on a week’s delay, they had a rerun of an episode from March starring Jennifer Aniston. This episode contained a bit and a top 10 on Twitter – so I thought I would check up on it.

Secondly, the Roskilde Festival ended on Sunday – so Monday (or at least sometime this week) would actually have been the proper day/week to start stalking following their planning yet again.

I think there is no doubt that David Letterman wasn’t too into in Twitter to start with – but finally gave in – so now rumor has it that he’s occasionally gives it up on the Late Show’s Twitteraccount, @Late_show.

Here he is, giving it up for the first time:

The Roskilde Festival is well over this year – and for you who were in contact with me around this time know that I didn’t go, contrary to what I said earlier this year. Finances were in question – being a student saving for a trip to New Zealand really tightens up the personal economy.

But now that it’s over, it’s just about time to obsess about what’s going to happen next year.
First of all, you can sign up for the newsletter (which I did a few years back).
You can do this by registrating on their website – link to registration form – where you can opt in on both e-mail newsletter and text messages on your phone. And not to worry if you haven’t worked as a volunteer – this is also an option in the drop-down menu as I write.
Second of all, you can subscribe to the RSS newsfeed.
I found the link on the front page, but here’s the link directing you straight to the feed. You can also dive right into the news archives at the website (where I found the link for the newsletter).
Third of all, check out the blogs on the website! Übercool!
Last, but not least, check them out on Twitter. You can find the festival itself on @orangefeeling – and you can check out relevant posts by going for the keywords #RF10 and #RF11.

I think that this is just what I needed; an RF break. Before this year’s festival, my brain didn’t really find finances and heat compatible with how I felt – but after checking blogs and the comment from Reverend Asser Skude (yes, him again – he was there in his cassock and ruff, helping out Morgencafeen, speaking the case of the homeless and being otherwise Reverend-esque in that subtle, National Church kind of way – good one on ya, mate! (disclaimer: photos snatched from an article at Kristeligt-Dagblad.dk)), I can’t wait to get back in the filth there. I’ll keep you posted.

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Follow Friday #4: Downing Street no. 10

02 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment

by Unna in Follow Friday, Politics, Weekly (-ish)

On Follow Friday this week:
1. Introduction
2. Podcast
3. RSS: DS #10 Website Newsfeed
4. Twitter
5. Next Week/Drop Me a Line.

Picking up from the cleaning up of all the links of Follow Friday and Music Monday, I checked up on a lot of them – including @DowningStreet. Thing is, the PM has “moved” in the Twitterverse… So now that I’m making such a deal of keeping an eye on world leaders, I thought I’d update you on the matter.

Oh, and sorry for being late. I know it’s Saturday by now.

When following the link to the official website of Downing Street no. 10 from Twitter, I learned that a podcast has been launched. This has been done as part of the plan of putting documentation out there so people won’t feel like something is being hidden in the shadows (the PM explains this in the second podcast).
While I may not agree on everything David Cameron says (he IS conservative, after all – and I’m not), I find that to be an admirable position to take. And since I love podcasts (there’s nothing like that to distract you while doing the dishes!), I think this is one of the ideal ways (of many) to do it.

You can download the podcast from iTunes or from the official website: http://www.number10.gov.uk/footer/podcasts

And you can check up on the episodes/podcasts containing the Prime Minister’s Questions as part of the newsfeed: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/prime-ministers-questions
(I haven’t heard all of the podcasts myself just yet – but I can see there’s something on foreign students in the latest round of Questions! If my dream come true, that’ll be me in a couple of years).

I haven’t found a particular blog relating to the Prime Minister or Downing Street, but I do recommend subscribing to the newsfeed (RSS) from the official website of Downing Street no. 10. The tab marked News on the homepage will take you straight to the latest news, from where you can browse the general categories: http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news

Going Twitterverse on your hineys once again before wrapping up, the PM moved to @number10gov.

Ya know, checking up on this has made me start checking up on other political leaders. I think I’ll have to do special political features/issues of Follow Friday in the future!

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Dusting off the blog

27 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment

by Unna in Follow Friday, Media, Music Monday, Photos, Uncategorized, Weekly (-ish) Tags: , , , , , , ,

As you can see, a little bit has happened here and there.

I’ve changed the theme (=Wordpress-lingo for look or skin) of the blog a couple of times, and now I have found something I think will last for a long time to come: a theme both pretty and random enough for what I intend with the blog (…the wonder that is an organized mess).

Besides that, I’ve been organizing the links of my Follow Fridays, so in addition to the usual Blogroll (which also includes a couple of blogs I need to introduce to you in a following Follow Friday or two), I added a Twitterroll (with all the people I believe you should be keeping an eye on on Twitter) and a Podroll (with all the podcasts I believe you should know so far – of which one link, De Sorte Spejdere, leads to a 404/Not Found, but I would find it odd NOT to have it there. It can be found through iTunes, though – plus one that I will have to introduce later).

Something else I need to do is to make a menu (OH YES! The new theme is custom-menu compatible! Yay!) – something with the links/categories I find to be important and odd enough NOT to be left in one of the boxes in the sidebar. So far there’s only “Home” (directing you to the blog) and “About…” (leading you to the page about me). It’s gonna be good!

Besides that, I need to

  • fix a better way of making a gallery (flickr sucks, I couldn’t get all of the pics from the Brocktour up), and speaking of which…
  • finish off the last part of the Brocktour (there are a couple of bits and pieces in my mind I want up here).
  • dust off some of the drafts I’ve got lying around here… Somewhere… Where’s the damn hatbox?!

Did I miss anything??…
Ah, well. I’ll think of it if I did. Though I do know that I got a bit of inspiration for a following Follow Friday (besides whatever is on the blogroll)!

Oh – and I might have to mention to you that due to skipping a Monday, the theme I was teasing for recently isn’t up for Music Monday tomorrow, but next week instead.

Follow Friday #3: President Medvedev

25 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment

by Unna in Follow Friday, Politics Tags: , , , , ,

On Follow Friday this week:
1. Introduction
2. Twitter: Pres. Dmitry Medvedev of Russia
3. Drop Me a Line.

I haven’t been as thorough this week – I don’t have too much to show, but I do like what I found!

You remember how I think it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the leaders of the World?

A couple of days ago, I discovered through @joshgroban (and essentially also through @BarackObama and @whitehouse) that the President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, has joined the Twitterverse. I copy/pasted two tweets I really liked to show here:

“Russia and the US are working to improve global security, but the goal of this visit is to improve our economic relations.
The decision of major American companies to come to Russia and invest shows that we can agree on more than just missiles.”
- @KremlinRussia_E on June 24th around 22:00/10 PM.

As you can see, you can find him at @KremlinRussia_E – but if you know Russian, you can also find him at @kremlinrussia.

There’s a news story on Medvedev’s homepage on creating the accounts – you can find it right here.

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Follow Friday #2: Comic Strips and Music!

11 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment

by Unna in Follow Friday, Music Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

On Follow Friday this week:
1. Introduction
2. Podcast: Best of MySpace
3. Twitter: Comic Strips
4. Blog: Michael Fry
5. Next Week/Drop Me a Line.

I thought I’d try to pick up on Follow Friday again, since I’ve been trying to pick up on Music Monday – and let’s face it, I could use something steady to keep up the blog. And not to worry, I’ll try to simplify it a bit so I won’t give away as much info/take so much confusing space as I did on the first Follow Friday.

Since the last time we spoke, I have finished listening to all of the podcasts of De Sorte Spejdere – so although I might just be thrown into fits of laughter once more if listening to them again, there is nothing new – only repeats. So I have been jumping the internet source of my podcast software – plus re-visiting DR.dk to download the podcasts of a few more programs after listening to the radio. I have also been adding a few individuals to my list on Twitter. Hopefully you’ll like the ones I picked!

The podcast I would like to introduce to you is Best of MySpace, a show made as a podcast by iCast and hosted by Gill Mills.
It’s made to make the way through the MySpace jungle easier to get through, as you don’t have to stop and smell all the flowers on the way. Gill has, with the help of the listeners, picked the most colorful and less smelly of them for you (which does ends up, as she admits, as a very subjective list of artists and songs – but what the heck, so do my Follow Fridays and Music Mondays).
As a last note, I might add that this podcast might speak more to the rockfans in the audience – although she does throw in a bit of hip-hop and R’n'B now and then – but give it a chance anyway. You may be surprised.

(And no, I can’t promise I won’t be using this podcast as a part of Music Monday in the future! But let me just get properly into it, and then see.)

In the Twitterverse, I have come across Hammy the Squirrel (@Hammyhimself). You probably remember him from Over the Hedge (there’s a Hammys through History-thing going on right now – you can go subscribe to Over the Hedge as a daily comic). “Hammy” sends out cute, funny, and at times philosophical statements – like one of my favorites so far:

Today is the the beginning of the ending of the start of the finish of the opening of the closing of forgetting what I was remembering.

“Over the Hedge” is made by Michael Fry, who I’m also following on Twitter (@_MichaelFry) where he is sending out comments and updates on blogposts, and T Lewis.

Plus, of course, the two of them have a tendency to retweet each other.

The blog I’m mentioning today is actually that very blog of Michael Fry. The blogposts with the Over the Hedge-strips aside, I remember one specific blogpost in particular – How to Lose Weight – where he describes the Mike Fry diet and concludes:

Eat less. Exercise more. Listen to your wife. Savor your treats.

It should only take another ten years to lose the other twenty pounds.

I have no idea what will come up next week. Yet again, I can imagine it having something to do with music, languages, and travelling. Maybe even photography. I have no idea!

Suggestions? Reactions? Comments?

Follow Friday #1!

16 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment

by Unna in Follow Friday Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

On Follow Friday this week:
1. Introduction
2. Podcasts: Danish version (one in English) (feat. Rosenkjær-foredrag, De Sorte Spejdere and Det Nye Talkshow, Clement Kjersgaard).
3. Twitter
4. Next week on Follow Friday
5. Drop me a line.

Yeah, I know, I know. Late again. Forgive me for posting this on a young Saturday!

I think I already introduced the concept back when introducing the Music Monday this week. Anyway, here’s a quick intro again:

Twitter have tags on basically anything – mainly, I believe, because the users of Twitter are able to create them themselves – and two of these tags are #musicmonday and #followfriday. This has inspired me to blog on who and what I listen to and follow online; be it music, blogs, podcasts, RSS, Twitter…

First of all, I’ll take a look at podcasts. I know a couple of missionaries, of which I’m sure at least one of them want to keep up their Danish after they return to the US – and since I have a few favorite podcasts in Danish, I think it’s a good place to start! I know that there is a good bunch of excellent podcasts at the website of Denmark’s national broadcasting corporation/public service radio and TV, Danmarks Radio – you can find them right here.

I think I should start with introducing the first podcast I remember subscribing to (at least in Danish, since Jamie Oliver could have beat it to it): the Rosenkjær lectures with Dr.Med. Peter Lund Madsen.

The Rosenkjær lectures are the consequence of receiving the Rosenkjær award. The Rosenkjær award is given to an individual (scientist or cultural personality) being able to communicate difficult and heavy stuff to the public. The award is named after Danmark Radio’s first chief of lectures, Jens Rosenkjær. The position of chief of lectures was founded to have someone to keep track of the lectures being aired; not only when and where, but also who and what. The lectures were often of heavy scientific matter which can’t be made understandable by just anyone – let alone being understood through the radio, ie. with the listeners not having the ability to SEE exactly what was going on.
The recipant of the award holds the right (or rather: duty) to perform a number of lectures, which are then recorded and aired on the radio. You can also check out the rest of the Rosenkjær lectures.

I think that part of the reason why Peter Lund Madsen got the award is the first show he made with his younger brother, Anders Lund Madsen (they made three shows in total up until as I write). They’re both extremely entertaining. While Peter is highly academically educated (dr.med., scientist, professor (I believe, don’t hang me up on it) within the brain, and now educating himself within psychiatry – oh yeah, he’s as much a braniac as unhumanly possible. Litterally!), Anders is quite the unconventional journalist. He DOES have formal training, but he’s unconventional. If you want to check Anders out, take a chance on De Sorte Spejdere (The Black Scouts – Peter has had a couple of appearances through the ages) and the video podcast Det Nye Talkshow (The New Talkshow – which is the only show so far which hasn’t finished yet. Peter has had an appearance on here, too, on the New Year’s special).

Another journalist worth mentioning is Clement Kjersgaard. He may not have the same appearance as Anders Lund Madsen, but is equally entertaining. Kjersgaard has academic degrees from the University of Copenhagen, the University of Oxford, and United World College of Hong Kong. He is critical to just about every single one of his guests, no matter who they are, whether he likes them or not, etc. – one podcast worth checking out is Ugen med Clement (The Week with Clement), another one (which is predominantly in English) is Clement i Amerika (Clement in America).

Receiving the news of Stephen Gately’s death, all media mentioning his last Tweet, I quickly got on to following @theREALboyzone, @ronanofficial, @stephenofficial, and @MRMIKEYGRAHAM. Of course, I DO realize there’s not much point in following Stephen Gately nowadays, but still.

Anyhow, to mention some constructive following (yeah, so sue me for being eclectic enough to like some of the boyband music out there!), I believe that we should keep an eye on the country leaders around the World is doing. Now, I only have a minor handful of them on my following list, but here are some:
@BarackObama
@DowningStreet (the office, not a specific Prime Minister)
@LarsLoekke (the Danish prime minister)
@SFpolitik (my party)
@Christiansborg/politikere (a list of Danish MPs).

I’m not too sure of what I’ll be rambling about next week, but I’m thinking music, languages, or travelling. Whaddyathink?

Suggestions? Reactions? Comments?

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