"We'll Be Right Back After Jane Takes a Cry Break"

Thanks to our lovely beauty blogger, Betsey McLain, for tipping us off. A provocative piece on one of our favorite media outlets, Jezebel.

"We'll be right back after Jane takes a cry break"

See what that statement is all about. Watch it for yourself -

http://jezebel.com/5626523/ice-queens-gold+diggers-and-fascist-feminists-unite

Gender on The Web

"Forty years ago feminists banished "woman's pages" that featured cooking and other highlights from U.S. newspapers, calling them sexist. But now, 40 years later, they have returned. Long time feminist and regular contributor Ruth Rosen, of the website Talking Points Memo, says the resurgence of the women's sections in modern-day media amounts to "gender apartheid online." Host Michel Martin speaks with Rosen, a journalist and professor at University of California Berkeley, about women's presence in news media today." - NPR

Listen to the broadcast or read the transcript here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128215434

Highly Photoshopped Hendricks on Esquire

I love Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, she's very refreshing. She's on the cover of Esquire this month, but she's been photoshopped to the point of nonrecognition. What gives? Isn't it her non-cookie cutter body and image that makes her so damn appealing?

Blood, Sweat and Fears

Blood, Sweat & Fears is a live magazine taking place in Central London, UK. Translating the concept of a magazine from the printed page to a live, interactive event - encouraging public participation and breaking barriers between artist and audience.

The founders of this project are students of Central St Martins School Of Design in London. This impressive venture is working towards to goal of promoting emerging British artists in various media and styles, from illustrators, musicians to hairdressers.

It’s all taking place on London’s Carnaby Street Wednesday March 17 to Sunday March 21. Tons of live events taking place throughout the week, plus free beer provided by Tiger for the evening events. The space will act as a pop-up shop selling the work of young artists and designers. BS&F is working in support of Art Against Knives with 15% of all on site sales and proceeds of the publication going to the charity.

Make sure to RSVP here to get all the updates on this exciting event.

How To Monitor Your Brand on the Web: For Free

You are going to LOVE us after you read this post found by Lily Zhu for Hubspot. Three SIMPLE ways to monitor your brand for FREE.

The importance of brand monitoring increases with the rise of new media. Just as you pay close attention to the things people say about your personal brand online, you should also pay close attention to conversations about your business. This will give you a better idea of the merits and weaknesses of your brand and how to address them.

Still not convinced? Here are three good reasons online brand monitoring matters:

1. The speed by which online comments travel multiplies their impact.

The sheer speed of the Internet -- one of the main reasons people use it for communication -- means comments can travel far and wide in no time. Just as a mere tweet may turn into a blog post and then make national news, a negative comment, genuine or not, may turn away hundreds of people who may have been willing to try your products. You can preempt such situations by monitoring your brand in social media, the blogosphere and on major discussion forums to catch sight of and fend off malicious brand attacks before others do.

2. The collection of individual comments gives you a more objective overview of prospects' and customers' perception of your products, and may help you improve them.

Different people prefer different sites, so gathering commentary from various online destinations enhances the likelihood of obtaining a representative sample of customers/prospects. Setting up tools such as Google Alerts allows you to aggregate relevant comments, making it easy to organize information. As a result, you'll have a better overall sense of how customers perceive your products. This will give you a better idea of the aspects of your products that need improvement and help you facilitate changes that will satisfy potential customers and strengthen your brand.

3. These tools also help you stay up-to-date with new trends that you can integrate into your product design or marketing strategies for your existing products.

Another advantage of online monitoring tools is they help you track news and changes in your industry. By tracking these industry trends, you can learn about the new needs of your customer base and base product design changes or marketing strategies on addressing these needs. By monitoring keywords relevant to your business, you can obtain a bigger picture of industry development to determine where your business stands in its context, helping you stay cognizant of the pace and direction of business development.

The rise of new media bridges the communication gap between sellers and buyers but also presents new challenges such as staying focused in the midst of information overflow. However, with the help of free online tools, businesses can become better equipped to interact with potential customers and, in turn, build stronger brands.

Video: How to Use Social Media to Manage Your Company Brand Online

New Pop Manifesto is OUT!

New Pop Manifesto is out!!

Number SIX of The Pop Manifesto is up www.thepopmanifesto.com featuring Fever Ray, Neon, Vivian Girls and Henrik Vibskov. They also went to Sao Paolo for this issue and profile some of their rising stars. Enjoy... X

Instyle Features LL's Julia Failey

Congrats to Ladies Lotto's Julia Failey for her recent review on INSTYLE.COM!! She's got big celebrities wearing her line (like Kate Bosworth)!

Here's the link, see for yourself!

http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/general/photos/0,,20278123_20283772_20630776,00.html

And check out Julia's line at juliafailey.com.

Crazy Like A Fox

We love Esther Kim and so does Nylon as she regularly contributes her illustrations. Check out the latest issue (pictured above). And remember, Esther loves you (dot com).

The "Rules" for Women Who Engage in Social Media

Lipsticking guest blogger, Lena West, Chief of Social Media Strategy at xynoMedia recently posted "Rules" of Social Media Engagement for Women. They are:

1. You're not one of the guys nor will you ever be.
2. Use emoticons and exclamation points sparingly.
3. IM'ing at night, is IM'ing at night.
4. Keep your beau to yourself.
5. The women are watching.

For an in-depth explanation of her rules, please visit Lipsticking. http://www.lipsticking.com/2009/04/rules-of-social-media-engagement-for-women.html

Curious to know your thoughts about these. Is she on point or just plain wrong? Would you add or take anything away?

LegWork En Vogue

Legwork is a class created by LLNY's CeCe Chin (80%20 Shoes), Kylin Brady and Victor Chu where participants workout in their finest heels. Last January Ladies Lotto had the pleasure of previewing the class and we were back this weekend along with some editors from Vogue. They liked what they experienced, check out the article - http://www.style.com/vogue/voguedaily/#overheard-heel-to-toe

If you're interested in taking a class, contact Victor. victor@legworkvideo.com

How to Sell Social Media to Haters

"I don't need to twitter or facebook man, I'm too cool for that shit." Anyone know those types? Sure you do. Here's cool article from Interactive Insights Group with tips on how to sell social media to the haters out there. Catch up or get left behind.

Growing Up In The Bush Era: Now What?

Venus Zine is a nationally available magazine that celebrates DIY creativity, cultural happenings and musical diversity. The Fall issue, with Kid Sister on the cover, will be on newsstands on Sept. 1st.

There is an article in this issue entitled "Growing Up In The Bush Era: Now What?" featuring a section "Anarchist on the fence", where they interview LL's Bambi Weavil on her political views, what issues are important to her in her voting and (of course) discussing of her generation. It's a positive article because it allows for Bambi's (perhaps) alternative definition of anarchy-- causing positive change and an open revolution-- and how, although her parents are Conservative, they still taught her to value her intelligence and as a result, she is an activist, artist and news junkie.

Bambi Weavil is the CEO of Out Impact, Inc. an online national gay publication. She also writes regular music columns for MachineGunFunk.com, regular wrestling columns at PulseWrestling.com, and is also a talent agent at OutImpactProductions.com; her talents including two former WWE divas, a psychic medium and a great band from Baltimore!

Letting Go of Perez

I've been addicted to Perez Hilton since March, ever since I added the subscription to my google reader. It's been a tool for distraction. Whenever things get crazy with a project I stop and check the latest. At first it was more in line with not being able to stop staring at an accident. Then it moved in to a disbelief of the "importance" of celebrity culture. Soon after it was pure fascination and finally, just a a regular part of the routine.

I never cared for or followed celebrity culture like this before. Sure, I was aware of it, it's totally pervasive in our culture. I went to grad school for Media Studies and I am a "fan" of the Frankfurt School and critical theory. I am NOT supposed to buy into the gossip machine. But somehow it was like I was huffing computer cleaner, I just couldn't stop! It was killing too many of my brain cells and causing severe delays with work.

So today I kicked the habit. Went COLD TURKEY and unsubscribed from the feed. There's a possibility I might go back but with help from friends I think I can overcome. I don't care how effed up Amy Winehouse looks or if Lohan & Ronson ever come out publicly. I cannot waste anymore time and braincells!!!

For those of you who share my addiction, please feel free to contact me in support. YOU TOO CAN STOP READING CELEBRITY GOSSIP!!

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil: Media Slackers

Is it me or has the media been slacking a lot more lately?

With news like a bipartisan Senate report concluding that President Bush and his aides built a public case for war in Iraq by lying about intelligence and ignoring information from spy agencies that did not concur, you would think the media would be all of it, right!? Shouldn't people be up in arms about this?

Interested in perhaps learning more? Click here. Do us all a favor and pass the news along. Maybe somebody better call up CNN or NBC and tell them to perhaps REPORT on stuff that matters.

If media is one of your interests, check out the organization Media Matters.