Tonight from 10 - midnight, Reni Lane & I are going live on web cam (sexy kinda!)

to host an online PJ party celebrating her debut album’s release.  The show will include streaming of Reni’s album “Ready” which is out March 16th, live Q&A with friends and fans, and “special guest appearances.”  

You can participate via chat with your facebook, twitter, aim, ustream account or a bunch of other fun ways (technology is crazy!)  You can SUPER participate by bringing deep and not-so-deep questions, cookies, nail polish, pajamas, and your truth-or-dare skills. Spin the bottle is optional. 

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/reni-lane-and-mallory-blair-present-ready-album-listening-party-sleepover

(via Annie Werner for NYULocal)

WTF GALLATIN MAJORS: “The Semiotic Parade of the Creative Class”

That’s the tentative title at least. Mallory Blair says it changes practically everyday. She’s one of those Gallatinos who studies a little bit of everything–sociology, urban studies, art history, cultural theory, economics, etc. She’s probably even studying you—if you’re creative, that is. Mallory aims to understand the intermediary between creativity and commodity, where all of that happens, and what makes people tick.

Annie Werner: What got you interested in this?
Mallory Blair: I came to Gallatin interested in human behavior and marketing, but the classes I took, because of the nature of Gallatin, were very centered around the arts. So the arts really became a lens through which I looked at marketing and psychology.

AW: So what do you do with that?
MB: I’d like to teach eventually, but right now I work for Paper Magazine and do market research at a brand consultancy firm called WHY-Q? We look into how to make a brand thrive by connecting them with their consumers.

AW: Can you give an example?
MB: This past year WHY-Q? partnered up Adidas with “New York Minute”—an art exhibit in Rome that featured 60 New York artists, curated by the Dietch galleries. By sponsoring these artists, Adidas enhanced their brands alignment with the creative community, bolstering their brand ethos and therefore, down the road, their profits.

AW: And what do you do for Paper Magazine?
MB: I’m their on-air arts and culture correspondant—so that means I go out and interview celebs and New York socialites at their parties and events. That gets recorded and put on their website. So it’s a marketing scheme for Paper but also good PR for the celebrity.

AW: Who do you mean by ‘celebrity?’ Olivia Palermo five years ago?
MB: Well it’s a very loose term! But in the last year I’ve done Katy Perry, Joanna Newsom, Betsey Johnson, and Patricia Fields. It’s a really good exchange between the public and the creative community/private sector.

AW: So who is this creative community you speak of?
MB: Anyone who creates something. Artists, engineers, architects, filmmakers, musicians… Steve Jobs.

AW: So a CEO-type can be in the creative class?
MB: Absolutely. As long as they’re creating, be it traditional art forms or technology or what-have-you. I was recently talking to a Physics major friend of mine, and he was telling me how beautifully artistic it can be, so there’s really no statute of limitations when it comes to creating.

AW: What do you predict is next for this so-called creative class?
MB: I think it’s upbeat positivity and nostalgia. And I don’t mean nostalgia for another generation’s past like we’ve been visually exploring for a while now but for our own– the past we maybe didn’t fully embrace because we were busy getting burnt out on cynicism. Or perhaps that we did fully embrace and want to go back to playing instead of playing it cool.

AW: And what will they play?
MB: I’m talking Ska music, Gameboys, and Capture the Flag. I think where we’re seeing this now is the wild “mainstream” potential for online applications that emphasize hyperfriendly playfulness–things like Foursquare, Farmville and Chatroulette.

AW: So you think Chatroulette can be a positive sign?
MB: Man, the power of play and spontaneity is no more present than in the exponential popularity of Chatroulette. The economy is pulling itself back together, it’s been a decade since 9/11, so where else is there left to go from here but up?

While Chris is getting his hair cut in this meta metal world, I am hanging out with the salon’s doggie dogg.  I think I am going to take a break from “blogging” and spend more time “channeling my puppy spirit animal.”  Nothin’ melodramatic, just more time chasing after frisbees, sniffing tails, that sort of thing.  I will be leaving up the “ask” box (finally added the anonymous feature as I was a little e-nept before) as well as a “submissions” section so you, dear friends, can keep Malz Werld running if and when you feel like it.

Fred caught me in the library.  Wearing CURE clothes.  Again.

We have all officially become this girl.

You betta recognize.

*But if you don’t, it is the goddess that is Cleo from Sugar and Spice (2001) whose obsession with Conan O’brien leads her to interject her thoughts and fantasies about him into every conversation.

The Tibetan Fox thinks He’s Better Than You

I just want you people to drink in this world-class douchebag known as the Tibetan Fox. Have you ever seen such a holier-than-thou fucking look on a non-dolphin before? I’m not one for slapping foxes, as I generally think they know what they’ve done, but this one really has that look, like the asshole boyfriend of the girl the main guy wants in an 80s movie. Unsurprisingly, he is extremely rare. That’s probably because he thinks if he has too many babies, some of them will turn out to be commoners and he wouldn’t be able to show his square face at the country club anymore.

How’s your ivory tower, Tibetan Fox? I’m sure it must be terribly stressful to stand in judgment of the rest of us little people, so why don’t you just retire to your cabin and play lacrosse? You know what, on second thought, WHY DON’T YOU WANDER THE DESERT LOOKING FOR RODENTS. Some of us have to work for a living, Tibetan Fox. We don’t get everything handed to us by a lifetime of hunting and scavenging, you stuck-up snob.