This week’s assignment

The reason why I didn’t post any assignment on here is to see who was paying attention in class last week when I assigned it. You were supposed to experiment with different trends via Google Trends and Twitter trending topics and blog about them and see if you saw an increase in traffic. You were supposed to come and share your findings on what work and what didn’t work on Tuesday.

If you didn’t catch that, then we’ll just scrap that and call it a dead-in-the-water assignment. Meaning, it will just be useless since no one did it.

However, be prepared to share your three ideas on how to increase your blog traffic for tomorrow’s class.

FSH 278 SCAVENGER HUNT for Fall ’09!

For those of y’all who lost the list for the scavenger hunt, here it is in it’s entirety. Remember this is all due the week before the last class, Dec. 8.

Be sure to create a new category in your blog called “FSH Scavenger Hunt” and mark every scavenger hunt post you do. This will make it easier for them to be sorted out when I grade them.

The following is a list of 50 items to blog about for your final. You are required to complete 25 items to fulfill the assignment. Anything beyond the 25 will be extra credit and be factored into your final grade accordingly. Each post must be well-written, thoughtful and up to the class’s standards. They must also contain at least one picture (unless it’s a video post).

Good luck and happy blogging!

1.) One boutique profile
2.) One movie review
3.) One restaurant review
4.) 50 tweets on your twitter account (starting from Oct. 13)
5.) An interview with a local artist
6.) A non-Photoshopped picture with Gavin Newsom (counts as five posts)
7.) A picture of your instructor taking a morning run in front of the Ferry Building
8.) Beauty product review
9.) A haiku about any topic of your choosing
10.) Three famous quotes from an iconic figure in the arts
11.) A post about your biggest pet peeve
12.) One book review (a fiction or non-fiction work that was released in the past year.
13.) Five street style pics (in separate posts)
14.) CD review
15.) Music video critique
16.) One link page
17.) A photoshoot styled and shot by you
18.) A profile on your least favorite designer
19.) A profile your favorite designer
20.) A picture with a celebrity
21.) A museum or art gallery review
22.) A DIY post using VUVOX
23.) A post dedicated to the color red
24.) A recent San Francisco street festival
25.) A fashion-related post that integrates the following words in a relevant manner: somnambulating, bourgeoisie, cantankerous, callipygian and undulate.
26.) A post about the best dressed celebrity
27.) A post about the worst dressed celebrity
28.) A picture of you riding a ostrich
29.) A fashion review of your favorite TV show
30.) An ode to your favorite clothing item
31.) A post about a cool “tech gear” item
32.) A profile on a model who has not been in a Victoria’s Secret show or ad.
33.) A blog about pageant kids
34.) A picture of you skydiving
35.) A picture of you rock climbing
36.) 10 signs that you are an urban hipster
37.) A post about Miley Cyrus
38.) A critical deconstruction of a fashion magazine’s latest issue
39.) A picture of a vampire or werewolf
40.) A picture of Anna Wintour eating a pumpkin pie
41.) A concert review
42.) Video (taken by you) of a loud and disruptive argument in a public place (but it can’t be started by you).
43.) Video of you (and a minimum of two other people) doing the entire choreographed routine from Beyonce’s “Single Ladies;” complete with costuming and white backdrop set.
44.) An in-depth social analysis of “New Moon” (once out in theaters in November).
45.) An interview with Barack Obama (Michelle will be acceptable too).
46.) An analysis of a recent article written by Robin Givhan, Suzy Menkes or Hilary Alexander.
47.) A commentary about the relevance (or irrelevance) of Lady Gaga in pop culture.
48.) A post explaining the top five most fashionable neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area.
49.) A picture of someone completely styled in Ed Hardy (with commentary).
50.) A picture (with commentary) of someone wearing Crocs and a Northface fleece pullover (immediate “A” in the class if it’s me).

‘Mad Men’ style and culture analysis

For your assignment this week, you are to do a critical series of blog posts on the show Mad Men. You have an option of doing one of the following posts but doing more than one can give you some extra credit. You can even do all of them if ya want:

1.) The relevance of Mad Men in regards to modern society: What is the show’s cultural relevance? Why are people so intrigued with such a somber show? How does the show’s plotlines parallel what is happening in 2009?

2.) The fashion and design aesthetic: Choose one style-related item in the show (i.e. tie, suit, pocket square, dress, typewriter, desk chair etc.) and do an in-depth evaluation on it’s mid-century modern style. How accurate is it’s portrayal in the show? Then, relate it with a contemporary designer’s aesthetic. Whether it be the silhouette, style or even inspiration, write about how it influences a particular designer or brand of today.

3.) Gender roles: Analyze the gender roles in Mad Men and how men and women acted during the ’60s. Why were women treated the way they were? Why was it acceptable for men do that? More than that, analyze the scene we watched in class where Peter and Peggy meet for the first time and he calls her “amish.”

4.) Fashion character study: Choose one of the following characters from the show and do a “fashion character study” on them:

– Don Draper
– Betty Draper
– Peggy Olson
– Joan Holloway
– Roger Sterling

Don’t just look at the episode we watch in class. Look at pictures and watch episodes of how these characters dress. What does it say about their character? Think of silhouette, color palette and styling. How does it play into their attitude and personality?

5.) Click on this link and Mad Men yourself. This is pretty much a freebie. That said, this one will ONLY count as extra credit. You won’t be able to turn this in as your single assignment. Embed your <em>Mad Men’d</em> self in your blog and create a character name and persona for yourself on the show. Are you a secretary? Door man? Housewife? Ad exec? Are you sleazy? Sweet? Sexy? Be creative here – but remember – this will only count as EXTRA CREDIT.

With all the answers, I want you to be thoughtful, critical and thorough. Til now, all of our posts have been light-hearted and fun. With this assignment, I want you to think and be insightful. Think of this as a critical commentary on popular culture that could also appear in print. Each post has to be at least 500-words.

If you have any questions. Holler.

Did you miss last week’s class?

Well if you did, unfortunately you missed out on the assignment.

If you look through the blogs of your fellow classmates, you will see they reviewed 8 products (well, most of them did). They all did the assignment in class with a tight deadline. It was to demonstrate the sense of urgency when it comes to blogging. It also tested writing under a tight deadline.

There is no makeup for this assignment. However, if you do have a valid excuse, you will be able to make it up.

Please contact me with your concerns.

Are you ready for your ‘View from the Bay’?

Friendly reminder about Tuesday’s class:

We are meeting for a taping of View from the Bay. Meet at 900 Front Street at 2:15 p.m. (DON’T BE LATE. THE DOORS WILL CLOSE SOON AFTER) I will be taking attendance. If you don’t have a ticket, come find me before the show and I’ll give you one. Everyone in the class should be on the list. Expect to leave the show around 4:05 p.m. Your assignment for the following week will be to blog about your experience at the show.

Also, let me break down what the assignment is – for those of you who are attending and for those of you who can’t make it:

For those of you who are attending: Do a blog post of the show that we watch. Think of it as a journal entry. How did it feel to be there? What happened? Who were the guests? This post will basically be a commentary/news report of what went down on the show.

For those of you who can’t make it: Do a blog post of a talk show from the same day and follow the same instructions above.

For the entire class: Everyone will have to do a post about having their own talk show based on your blog. I URGE you to get really creative with this. What will your talk show be called? Would it be a day time or night time show? Family friendly or more mature? What kind of guests would you have? Include pictures – and bonus points if you actually do a “pilot video” of your show. 🙂

Holla if you have any questions.

The great BLAKE LIVELY debate

As per our debate in class on Tuesday, your assignment is to write a convincing blog post on whether Blake Lively is HOT or NOT. Based on the group you were in, you know which side to take.

For those of you who weren’t in class – pick a side and write a convincing post. However, if you were absent, you won’t get the full impact of this marvelous assignment.

Also, next week we ARE NOT meeting in 405. We are meeting for a taping of View from the Bay. Meet at 900 Front Street at 2:15 p.m. (DON’T BE LATE. THE DOORS WILL CLOSE SOON AFTER) I will be taking attendance. If you don’t have a ticket, come find me before the show and I’ll give you one. Everyone in the class should be on the list. Expect to leave the show around 4:05 p.m. Your assignment for the following week will be to blog about your experience at the show.

For those of you who can’t make it to the taping because of class, you will have an alternate assignment of doing a commentary on any talk show (Oprah, Ellen, Conan, etc.) – but it has to be the most recent one. And please, be on your best behavior folks – you’re representing the university…

Remember all assignments are due by 5 p.m. Monday.

Have any questions? Holler.

Interview with a vampire

Okay. Not a vampire – but you can if you want.

Consider this picture of me interviewing Matt Damon a blatant pictorial name drop

Your assignment this week is to conduct an interview with anyone of your choosing – but make them interesting. Make the questions intriguing and captivating so that you get a very good interview out of it. There should be a minimum of 10 questions. Use the techniques we practiced in class and post your interview by 5 p.m. Monday October 12. Again, that’s 5 p.m. Monday October 12. And remember – I am not taking ANY late posts this time around.

Click here for an example of an interview blog post with Rachel Zoe via Fab Sugar.

So to recap here are the requirements of the assignment:

1.) A brief introduction along with ten question Q&A with an interesting person.

2.) One (JUST ONE) photo of your subject.

3.) Tag and categorize accordingly.

Also, don’t forget to answer my weekly Twitter question!

Same class time, same class channel

In our last class, we discussed possibly going to a taping of View from the Bay next week. Unfortunately, they have a full house for their taping – BUT I did reserve a spot for us for their Oct. 20 taping – which is just as good. They will have a men’s fashion show and Sandra Bernhard will be a guest.

That said, we will be having regularly scheduled class next week.

Also, I will no longer be sending you emails alerting you about new blog posts concerning assignments. I will, however, tweet about them. Other than that it will be your responsibility to check the blog to keep track of weekly assignments. Also, I will start leaving comments and grades on your various posts. This will make it easier for all of us. If you don’t want people to see your grades, then either delete the comment as soon as you see it or make it private. Most of you will have the option to moderate comments meaning as soon as I leave a comment on your blog, you have the option to make it available for public eyes or you can delete it.

If you have any questions – you know where to find me!

It’s link time!

For this week’s assignment you need to create a link post on your blog. Use this post from 7×7’s Glamwatch blog as an example (Here’s another one just for kicks).

This will get you familiar with how to use the link function on WordPress and it’s a great way of networking your blog.

If you look at the examples above, they are clever with re-reporting the news. They use bite-sized morsels of information and have it all contained in one single blog post. The news should be under the culture, entertainment and style umbrella and they should come from different blogs and news sites that you have plugged into your Google Reader.

Make sure your link post has at least 10 news story links and one picture from one of the news stories. The assignment is due at 5 p.m. Monday, October 5. No late assignments will be accepted.

If you have any questions you know where to find me!

P.S. Don’t forget to start tagging and categorizing on your posts!

Your fellow Twitterers…

Hiya folks!

Here is a list of all of your classmates’ Twitter accounts. Make sure you follow all of them! If you don’t see your account on here, then I haven’t received it yet. Please have it into me by the end of the week or suffer the consequences…

http://twitter.com/carolinececilie

http://twitter.com/mylesjoseph

http://twitter.com/suedefoot

http://twitter.com/Annie3985

http://twitter.com/chhavinanda

http://twitter.com/vivianeastwood

http://twitter.com/TheShimen

http://twitter.com/anniewehby

http://twitter.com/fashiondiva06

http://twitter.com/alliebaau

http://twitter.com/cg278

http://twitter.com/SFCJulius

http://twitter.com/syds4578

http://twitter.com/shy8380

http://twitter.com/RaechelRenee

http://twitter.com/hannahtrevino

http://twitter.com/SeanieSean22

Tweets by MardiVanis

You are required to Tweet at least once a day – and I’m not looking for one-word Tweets. I am looking for thoughtful, clever and fun ones. In addition, I will pose a question on my Twitter account (make sure you follow me too: http://twitter.com/dinoray), specifically for the FSH 278 class (you will know it when you see it) and you are required to answer it by 5 p.m. on the Monday before class. This is to insure that you guys are actually making use out of Twitter. And remember that you can use your Twitter account to promote your blog posts – just do what we did in class and you can make a great marketing tool for your blog.

Happy Tweeting!