Katrina Joy Plam

FISHNETS AND VODKA

“Clean-up on aisle nine.” A nasally voice interrupted the low drone of soft rock tunes that I was humming along with. “Can we get a clean-up on aisle nine, immediately please.” The second time around, the voice on the intercom spoke louder, enunciating each and every syllable.

Simmer down, I thought to myself. What’s the urgency at eleven o’clock in the evening on a weeknight? I wandered down the chip aisle, running my hands along the cool plastic bags filled with cheese and salt dusted delights. I could hear a commotion on the next aisle over and considered checking it out….

INNOVATIVE WAYS TO TELL A STORY

In the tale, in the telling, we are all one blood. Take the tale in your teeth, then, and bite till the blood runs, hoping it’s not poison; and we will all come to the end together, and even to the beginning: living, as we do, in the middle. - Ursula K. Le Guin

Storytelling has always been a collaborative work of art, thriving within the symbiotic relationship between reader and author, each experiencing the tale from beginning to end as an invention of the imagination. Now, with the myriad of social tools found online, a different kind of alliance is evolving.

SOCIALIZING YOUR BRAND

With peer-to-peer marketing and advertising now ubiquitous online, new platforms designed to create sociable widgets and embeddable media rich content are propagating across the web. Widgetbox, SpringWidgets, and Sprout are among countless new applications empowering users to create personalized widgets, social networking badges, RSS feed readers and living content.

WINE TASTING ETIQUETTE: STOP, DROP & ROLL

This three part series will explore wine tasting etiquette from the tasting room to the barrel room to the living room. Don’t be that guy who asks if they can drink the contents of the dump bucket or makes inappropriate jokes about the bung hole. Taste like a pro and be proud of it.

COMMUNITY BUILDING: DOES SIZE REALLY MATTER?

With so much focus on “building” and “adding” friends, karma, votes, points, followers, kudos et al, we may tend to lose sight of the quality of our online connections and friendships. Does size really matter when it comes to building your online community? In short, more could equal less.

DA’ VINE WORDS

If you are anything like most wine-heads I know, you are always traveling to undiscovered territory, varied by both varietal and producer, on the hunt for the next perfect glass of high. Wine-heads don’t seek to conquer our unquenchable thirst but rather to indulge it.

INSPIRING PEOPLE TO CARE

You’ve got the thing – a blog, product & services, an OpenSource application, a non-profit, a work of art. And you have the tools – social bookmarking groups, networks, LinkedIn & FB profiles, internet connection *cough*. So now what? 

OBSERVING BLOG COMMENTS

As I settle down to scribe about blog commenting, small cup of tar they call coffee from the company kitchen in tow, the irony that I don’t have commenting active on this blog is not lost upon me. A comment system, for better or worse, is in the queue for installation, but for now we roll old school, one-way styles.

CREATIVE WEBVERTISING

Question: What does a successful LA producer, a famous photographer, world-class museum, and a universally celebrated restaurant all have in common?

Answer: Why the web, of course!

I realize the famous are already famous so it might seem redundant or perhaps greedy to want more but really, is there ever too much beauty and talent and yummy to revel in? The other day, I started to root around to see how ‘the established’ were utilizing the web as extra arsenal in their marketing strategy.